Hell Game: Starting from Metropolis

Garcia's tone was somewhat dismissive.

"It seems you don't know me as well as you thought."

His tone was even more disdainful than Garcia's.

"I've been out of the city center, not just the metropolis, and I'm about to go out for the second time."

What is the world like outside the metropolis?

Garcia asked with great interest.

"How would I know? My memories have been blocked."

"Hehe. Your words seem to be somewhat untrue."

Garcia did not believe his story.

"Believe it or not. Anyway, we're talking about escaping the city. If you want to escape the country, then let's not talk about it. Let's just wait and see."

Liu Zhengcai wouldn't fall for his trick.

It's hard to say who the city hall would rather arrest: a fugitive under joint law enforcement or a citizen who escaped memory obfuscation.

It would be utterly ridiculous if Garcia were to perform a meritorious service and end up in jail.

"You are indeed very cautious."

There was a hint of admiration in Garcia's eyes.

"Then why don't you tell me how you plan to help me escape from the city?"

"First, you need to tell me where you're going, since there are so many places outside the city."

Liu Zheng said.

"Either is fine. What right do stray dogs have to choose? They're just trying to survive."

There was a hint of sadness in Garcia's tone.

"If you had known this would happen, you wouldn't have done it in the first place. If you hadn't captured that unfortunate princess, none of this would have happened."

"If one could simply choose not to do things in this world, then people would have no need for gods."

Garcia said calmly.

"What, did someone hold a knife to your throat and force you to make this?"

He pursed his lips.

"No customers, no ingredients. Do you think we'd bother catching something as troublesome as the Little Mermaid if no one ordered it?"

Garcia countered with a question.

"Isn't that what the restaurant wanted?"

"Then who did the restaurant request it for?"

"Oh~"

Having said that, Liu Zheng understood.

“Apart from the Bloody Restaurant, you’ll run into trouble no matter where you eat this dish. But the Bloody Restaurant won’t catch it themselves; they’ll just hand it over to a third party.”

"Time, place, and tools are all provided to us by someone; we are just tools."

Garcia said.

"I know, the black gloves."

"Black gloves? What does that mean?"

Garcia asked, puzzled.

"White gloves are for prestige; they keep you clean and pure, and only allow you to do glamorous things."

"The black gloves are the lining, stained with dust and blood, used only for dark and dirty things."

He explained.

"That's a fresh and vivid way to put it. You're clearly an intelligent and cultured person, so why would you be working as a food delivery driver?"

"You just said that if you can simply not do things in this world if you don't want to, then people won't need gods."

"Moreover, the city hall is far more terrifying than any god."

Liu Zheng shrugged.

"On the other hand, you don't look like someone who can't find a job, so why would you join a heretical sect and do this kind of thing?"

"Whether something is right or wrong depends solely on one's perspective. At least my Lord has been much kinder and more generous to me than the City Hall has been."

Have you ever heard of the Three-Eyed Tribe?

Garcia suddenly asked.

"I know. They are a remnant of an ancient civilization. They grow a third eye when they are a few years old. When the third eye is revealed, they become a second personality, intelligent but tyrannical."

Liu Zheng nodded.

"What's this mess?"

Garcia frowned.

"We are born with a third eye, and whether or not it is covered up has no other effect besides affecting our vision."

"Ah, maybe I made a mistake."

The three-eyed race he mentioned is a race from a real-world comic book, which he hadn't read, but he had played related games and later learned more about the lore.

“We three-eyed people are not violent; in fact, we can be considered law-abiding citizens. We mainly do jobs such as scholars, teachers, and engineers.”

"As a race that migrated to the metropolis very early on, they have made great contributions to the construction and development of the metropolis."

"But just because of our characteristic of passing on knowledge through blood, we were classified as a high-risk race and were exterminated by the city hall."

Garcia's tone was somewhat angry.

"Ah, you are the unlucky race that has passed down your knowledge for hundreds of generations, resulting in your bloodline being filled with forbidden knowledge. As a result, you were listed as a high-risk race by the city hall, and then the whole race was put into a match-3 game."

Liu Zheng blurted it out.

"Hmm? How did you know that, sir?"

I saw it in an old newspaper.

He said this half-truthfully.

"Ha, it's disgusting that the city hall is using such an unreasonable thing as a political achievement to promote it."

Garcia said with disgust.

"From the city hall's perspective, they should have a pretty good point."

"It's all about who has the bigger fist. There are clearly better solutions, but in order to save a little administrative cost, we, the entire race, have become the price to pay."

Garcia sneered.

"That's how bureaucrats are. If they can achieve high efficiency by making the people suffer, that's already good enough. More often than not, the more the people suffer, the slower the efficiency becomes."

Liu Zheng shrugged.

Even saying something like "I'll bear the blame for the suffering of the people" isn't something everyone dares to say; most bureaucrats are absolutely smooth-talking.

"You seem to understand the city hall very well, so why are you still aiding and abetting evil?"

Garcia questioned.

“Even the worst order is better than no order at all, and the city hall has done a pretty good job managing so many different races.”

“There must be an order that is better than the order of the city hall, but it is definitely not yours.”

He said.

"maybe."

After a moment of silence, Garcia spoke.

"Alright, we've gone off on a tangent. Let's get back to discussing how to escape."

"Then I have three options."

"Your Excellency, please speak."

"My first plan is for me to order takeout and have it delivered outside the city. You can hide in my car and we can go out together."

He raised a tentacle, though the other party couldn't see it.

"You're being a bit naive. Do you really think the police won't check the food delivery trucks from the Bloody Restaurant?"

Garcia said.

"I've already told you, you don't know me at all. Since you know I handed over the bodies of your followers to the city hall, don't you know I have connections in the Public Security Bureau?"

"Have you seen these tickets?"

Liu Zheng took the ticket he had received last time out of the Legendary delivery box, opened the top hatch, and stretched his arm out.

"As long as I put it on the car and report the number, I can travel without any obstacles."

he said proudly.

"Ah, City Hall. What about the second option?"

"Garcia asked."

"As for the second option, I'm an old acquaintance of the cemetery caretaker. You can take my car to the cemetery, find a grave to hide in, and the city hall shouldn't come to arrest you there."

Liu Zheng raised a second tentacle.

"What's the difference between that and being dead?"

"The living dead are still alive, after all. You can hide there until things calm down, then sneak out again, right? The city hall has so many things to deal with, they can't keep bothering with a little smuggler like you forever, can they?"

"Please tell me about the third option."

Garcia was clearly not satisfied with the plan.

"The third option is that there's an outlet to the sea in the sewers. I can take you into the sewers, and then you can find the outlet to the sea yourself."

Liu Zheng raised the third tentacle.

"Are you joking, sir? Putting aside the fact that my followers were killed in the sewers, we are being hunted because we captured the mermaid princess of the Deep Sea Empire. Going to the ocean would be suicide."

Garcia scoffed.

"What are you pretending for? You went into the sewers to find the sea, not to settle down there and make a living by fishing!"

"Although I don't know how you manage to evade the Deep Sea Empire's eyes and ears, you must have a way."

he said firmly.

"Then how can I be sure that you haven't set a trap?"

Garcia neither affirmed nor denied it.

"I've already said, we don't have any deep-seated hatred for each other. In fact, you were originally planning to ask me to be your holy son, weren't you?"

"Moreover, those believers were not killed intentionally by that person. They were justified in self-defense because they were overly sensitive and launched their own attacks."

"As long as you let this go, he won't hold it against you."

Liu Zheng said.

"All three of the plans you mentioned put you in a position of power."

Garcia thought for a moment and then said.

"What else? If you can take the initiative, why would you need my help?"

He rolled his eyes.

"Then let's take the fourth option."

Garcia said.

"A fourth option? What option?"

"I'll place a restriction on you, and I'll remove it after I successfully escape."