Welcome to the Bizarre Games

Chapter 646 Goodbye
The wasteland is more chaotic than before.

It was probably the chain reaction of Zhou You's visit to the apartment building that made many people feel that there was an opportunity to find bargains, which led to a significant increase in the number of scavengers who were already numerous.

Of course, the vast majority of them joined without any prior knowledge, simply hoping to get rich quick.

And what are the consequences of this?
Or rather, the strange occurrences in the wasteland have also begun a frenzy.

Once again on the ground, Zhou You looked around and saw all sorts of deformed creations. Skeletons were made into strange plants, chunks of flesh were laid out as winding floors, and pieces of peeled skin were used as colorful flags. Even more shockingly, dozens of people were sewn together to make a huge Christmas tree.

However, to avoid scaring these people away, all the alien creations were disguised, so to the naked eye, it just looked like a celebration.

Therefore, the greedy adventurers remained greedy, and everyone was rushing around for the overnight riches in Huang Xiangzhong, completely unaware that danger was right in front of them.

To this, Zhou You could only offer a word of advice if he could, and if he saw any living beings, he would finish them off. As for what happened afterward...
He's hard to manage, and frankly, there's no way to manage him.

The root of the problem isn't here, but in this distorted world. If you truly want to save everyone, then consider destroying that blood moon first.

"I think I can take back what I said. The last script wasn't the worst; this one is."

With a casual slash, Zhou You severed the still-groaning flower, then pulled the envelope from his pocket.

The blood-red words gleamed under the moonlight, and as the seal was opened, the blood-red light naturally began to spread, eventually converging on the paper and turning into a few lines.

"Brother Zhou You, it's like we've been in touch. I wonder how you've been lately? I'm doing alright, though the wasteland is a bit chaotic, there are also more opportunities. I've managed to acquire some valuables, and a few items might be helpful for your leg injury. Oh, by the way, I also got a few dolls for Miss San San; I hope she likes them."

"The Blood Moon is becoming increasingly restless, but we don't know where it's coming from—it can't be caused by just a few people, can it? To be honest, things haven't been very peaceful these past few days, and even my appetite has been a bit off. I only managed to eat a few pieces of dry rations today before I couldn't eat anymore. Oh right, there's a place on Donglin Alley that makes pretty good roasted rat necks. I heard it tastes similar to duck necks. Well, I've never had duck necks before. When I get back, we can go try it together."

"Hey, I wonder if your debts are cleared up, brother. That's quite a lot of money. I don't have the ability to persuade Boss Yi to let you go. But you're a lucky guy, brother. This amount of money shouldn't be a big problem for you."

"Oh, one last thing, I wonder if you have any free time lately, brother? I've missed you these past few days. If you have some free time, I hope we can get together."

"Well, to put it simply, help!"

The first 90% of it was basically nonsense, which shows that Luo Liangde was also a man who cared about his reputation—after all, he had made such bold statements back then—but under the threat of death, he had no choice but to swallow his pride and beg Zhou You for help.

"This guy..."

Shaking his head with a wry smile, Zhou You slid his finger down again.

The words instantly disintegrated and transformed into a map.

This envelope was a strange item that Luo Liangde bought at a high price. It is said that he invested almost all the money he had spent on the crystal into it, just to save his life in a critical moment.

After carefully observing the surrounding scenery, Zhou You followed the map and traveled around.

We didn't encounter anything strange along the way, but for some reason, as we went deeper into the area, our pace slowed down.

The familiar feeling resurfaced, but this time it was even stronger—it was as if there was a layer of hazy window paper, and as soon as it was slightly pierced, everything would be remembered immediately.

—I have indeed been here before, but I am certain that this city is completely unfamiliar to me.

so.

why?
Taking a deep breath to calm his increasingly strong heartbeat, Zhou You turned another corner.

My eyes suddenly opened up.

There stood a temple or a building resembling a Taoist temple, but due to the extensive collapse, it was impossible to tell exactly what it was—and a group of thirty or forty people were gathered around it, blocking all the exits.

Every now and then, shouts and curses could be heard.

"You bastard, get out here! You're having a good time hiding like a coward, aren't you?"

"You think you can really run away after stealing our stuff? You might as well come out cleanly and neatly, and our brothers will give you a quick death."

"What kind of man dawdles like that? Did a dog eat your thing? Come out and fight me one-on-one if you dare!!"

The crowd was extremely agitated, as if the people inside had actually done something extraordinary—but despite their cursing, no one dared to take a step forward.

Everyone kept at least ten meters away, as if afraid of touching the vermilion wall.

The location specified on the envelope was this place, so it seems that Luo Liangde was surrounded by this group of people.

However, Zhou You did not make a move. Instead, he held his breath and hid behind the building.

Perhaps not believing that Luo Liangde was capable of scaling such a high wall, there weren't many people left here. Zhou You approached silently, strangled him unconscious from the shadows, then crept to the corner of the wall in the dark, grabbed a protrusion, and leaped up several times.

He had already flipped to the back without making a sound.

But immediately, he was startled again.

The sense of familiarity grew stronger, and a certain name was almost on the tip of his tongue—however, he just couldn't recall which name it was. While he was deep in thought, he caught a glimpse of a figure not far away, so he could only shake his head and walk over.

At this moment, the guy was still crouching on the wall, peering out through the gaps between the bricks with trepidation, completely unaware that Zhou You had already crept up behind him.

With a gentle pat, the guy jolted awake.

"who!"

As soon as he turned around, he saw Zhang's teasing face.

At first, his face was full of disbelief, thinking he was hallucinating. But the disbelief quickly turned into ecstasy, then into sorrow, and finally he couldn't help but kneel on the ground and wail.

"Brother Zhou, you've finally arrived!!!"

Zhou You looked at the guy who was crying tears of joy and said with a smile.

"Brother Luo, how come you always seem to get into trouble every time I see you? The first time you stole from someone you shouldn't have and ended up being used as a bargaining chip. The second time you walked right into a trap and almost got beaten to death. And this time? What happened this time? Did your professional habit kick in and you steal something again?"

Luo Liangde, who was lying on the ground, was stunned for a few seconds, and then hurriedly pointed to the sky and swore an oath.

"Brother Zhou, do I look like that kind of person?"

Zhou You showed him no mercy whatsoever.

"picture."

Luo Liangde choked.

But immediately, he began to complain.

"Okay, brother, I do have a bit of a criminal record, but I've retired from that kind of work."

Zhou You gave an ambiguous answer, then pointed outside and said...

"Brother Luo, what's with all these people yelling for you to return your things?"

To everyone's surprise, it would have been better not to ask. Once asked, Luo Liangde immediately became hesitant and refused to speak.

Zhou You's response was also very simple.

Then he turned his head, as if to leave. Luo Liangde panicked immediately and quickly grabbed Zhou You.

"Brother Zhou, no, Brother Zhou, Grandpa Zhou, we've been through thick and thin together, how can you bear to just abandon me and leave like this?"

Zhou You turned his head slightly and said with a smile.

“Brother Luo, you won’t tell me what happened, so how can I help you? What if those people outside really are debt collectors? Do you expect me to kill them all just because you say one thing?”

“Well, given our relationship, it’s not impossible.” Luo Liangde sighed as he secretly glanced at Zhou You’s expressionless eyes. “Alright, alright, I’ll tell you. Those people outside aren’t really mortal enemies. In fact, we were even partners not long ago.”

"What do you mean?"

Luo Liangde pointed to himself.

"Brother Zhou, you should know that I have some... um... skills in helping people move, right?"

"I know you're a notorious thief in these neighborhoods, so what?"

"Don't put it so harshly. What stealing? I just wanted to even out and transfer my wealth." Seeing Zhou You about to kick him again, he quickly got back to the point. "Anyway, with these skills, I've managed to salvage quite a bit in the wasteland these past few days. It's not anything particularly valuable, but it's enough to start a small business back home."

"What does that have to do with the group of people outside?"

Luo Liangde gave a bitter smile.

"Well, these guys somehow found out about my skills, so they came to me and said they wanted to recruit me to join them on a big business deal."

Zhou You was taken aback.

"What big deal?"

Luo Liangde gestured to a tall building not far away.

"Do you see that?"

"I'm not blind, of course I can see."

Luo Liangde sighed.

"That place is considered a dangerous area. Although there's no administrator there, there are many strange creatures roaming around, and few people dare to go there on ordinary days. But they found a shortcut that allows them to bypass the main force and directly break into the vault. The only problem is that all the boxes in the vault are locked, and any forced entry will trigger an alarm."

Having said that, Zhou You roughly understood what was going on.

"So they came to you?"

"That's right. After all, like you said, I'm quite famous. The original agreement was that I would help them unlock the door, and whatever the first thing they retrieved, whatever it was, would be mine. I thought that since this was a dangerous area, even the worst item would be worth a lot of money, and this deal should be worth it, but who would have thought..."

Zhou You's interface.

"They offered a particularly bad one?"

Luo Liangde let out a bitter laugh.

"No, quite the opposite, a big prize has been won."

After saying that, he rummaged through his tattered leather coat and pulled out a thing as if it were a precious treasure.

Zhou You recognized this thing.

Tears of the Blood Moon.

Of course, it's much smaller and less desirable than mine, but as the mayor said, it can still be exchanged for two or three amusement park tickets.

For this group of people—no, for 99% of the people in the underground city—the value is self-evident.

Seeing Zhou You's reaction, Luo Liangde also sighed.

"It seems you do know this, brother. This is the thing in the first safe. Some of those guys knew its value and wanted to back out on the spot—but why did I fight so hard? It was all for peace of mind, so I couldn't do it. That's how the disagreement started, and then I ran away here."

Zhou You observed Luo Liangde's expression, confirmed that he was not lying, and then nodded.

"But I have another question—given the high value of this item and their advantageous position, why didn't they just break in, kill, and steal it, instead of just guarding the door?"

Luo Liangde gave a wry smile.

"Brother, you've never been here before, have you?"

“I haven’t been here.”

"This place is a special safe zone. It seems to have been occupied by strange entities before, but it was abandoned. So it has some special abilities—one of which is that if someone activates a mechanism inside, no one else can harm that person under any circumstances, or they will suffer annihilation."

Zhou You interjected.

"A completely safe house?"

"That's roughly the idea. But they just can't get inside to hurt me, that doesn't mean they can't lie in wait outside. There's no water or food in here, and if no one helps me, I'll starve to death sooner or later—to be honest, I haven't eaten for three days."

At this point, Luo Liangde spoke up somewhat shyly.

"Speaking of which, bro, do you have any food with you? Sure, I can."

Without saying a word, Zhou You took out a wine bottle from his bag—a gift from the mayor before he left—and threw it over.

"There's no food. I rushed over as soon as I received your letter. I didn't bring any dry rations, but I have some water, which should be enough."

Luo Liangde took it, and then a look of astonishment appeared on his face.

"This is...red wine?! Holy crap, where did you get this luxury item?"

"Don't even think about hiding the things that others gave you. I don't want you to die of dehydration the moment I arrive to save someone."

Luo Liangde stopped hiding with an awkward laugh. Under Zhou You's glaring gaze, he could only reluctantly open the bottle cap—but still couldn't bear to drink much, only taking small sips.

Zhou You dusted himself off and walked towards the door.

"Um, Brother Zhou, where are you planning to go?"

"It's nothing. I'll go out and talk to those guys, and see if I can get them to stay away from here. I can indeed climb over the wall, but Brother Luo, with your physical condition, and if they find out and chase after you, it will be a problem."

"No offense, Brother Zhou, but how do you plan to negotiate?"

"Let's see if we can persuade them with reason first. After all, I've never liked fighting and killing, but if reason doesn't work..."

Zhou You patted the sword at his waist.

"Then let's use this to talk."

(End of this chapter)