Chapter 67 – Sin City (1)
◎ Black on Black ◎
A high-chassis six-wheel off-road vehicle raced through the desert.
After leaving Tongwan, V587 traveled a distance with a private transport convoy. They were dropped off on a stretch of road hundreds of kilometers away from the F180 District.
The convoy leader knew he wasn’t being fair, having taken the money without completing the task. He explained with an embarrassed expression, “I can only take you this far. It’s not that I’m being difficult, but I fear going any further might be a one-way trip. You’ll have to go the rest of the way on your own.”
Song Ke and the others had no choice but to change to a different mode of transportation. From District C to District F, the level of technology plummeted, and they couldn’t find any autonomous vehicles along the way. In the end, they had to opt for primitive gasoline cars, with Su Cha taking the wheel.
In the daytime desert, the sunlight was particularly harsh. The group wore protective goggles and progressed smoothly following the navigation prompts.
“Have any of you b-been to the F180 District before?” Song Ke asked.
“No,” everyone replied.
Song Ke looked at Zhuang Qingyan, who also shook his head.
This was a completely unfamiliar city to them. It made sense; why would ordinary people, living their lives well, come to District F?
The navigation indicated that they were approaching the western border of the Alliance, entering the destination area. Song Ke pulled off her goggles, put them back on, and climbed through the sunroof. She leaned out of the car, facing the scorching wind and sand blowing on her face. As far as the eye could see, it was a desolate desert with no traces of a city.
She couldn’t help but be surprised. Was this it? The Sin City?
The group circled the desert for countless rounds. The location on the navigation seemed within reach, but they couldn’t get there. There were no city gates nearby, no watchtowers, and no human figures. The only distinctive features were several towering, oddly shaped quadrangular pyramids, somewhat resembling the pyramids of ancient times, standing in the open desert, reflecting a silver-white luster on their surfaces.
Song Ke and the five others got out of the car and walked toward these pyramids. Upon approaching, they found tightly closed gates. They tried various methods, pulling, tugging, and prying. Su Cha tried using poison, Xu Xing used ice, and Song Ke attempted transformation (but gave up due to rapid mental exhaustion). None of them could break the access control. The surface of the pyramids was made of a material that exhibited extremely strong resistance to supernatural attacks.
Wheelchairs were impractical in the desert, so Zhuang Qingyan switched to crutches. He walked slowly around the pyramids, observing the structure of the gates with lowered eyes.
His gaze lingered for a few seconds on the overhead monitor, the closed gates, and the adjacent groove. He spoke, “It seems like this is the gateway to Sin City.”
“But we can’t open it,” Song Ke said.
“Don’t worry. If it’s a gateway, there must be a ‘key.’ Let’s look for it again.”
Su Cha drove and circled the area for nearly half an hour until they saw a few blurry figures by the side of the road through the rolling dust.
Through the rolling dust, those people heard the sound of the engine and ran to the middle of the road, waving to them from a distance.
“There are people,” Song Ke reminded.
The off-road vehicle slowly decelerated and came to a stop.
A girl with colorful braids and brown skin approached the driver’s seat and knocked on the car window.
Mia waited by the roadside for almost three hours. Apart from two desiccated zombies passing by, she didn’t see any other living people.
Finally, just before the sun set, she spotted an off-road vehicle. Mia knocked on the car window.
The glass slid down slowly, opening a narrow gap. In the front seats, on the left and right, sat two young men.
Mia smiled and said, “Friends, our car broke down. Could you tow us for a short distance? It’s not far ahead.”
As she spoke, she pointed to the pickup parked by the road, its hood open, with a man tinkering there.
“Are you also heading to the F180 District? We’re going the same way. Please help us. I’ve been waiting all afternoon, and you’re the only ones passing by.”
Mia folded her hands together, her tone very sincere. “The desert is terrifying at night. I really don’t want to stay outside.”
The two men exchanged a glance but before they could speak, the back door was suddenly yanked with force.
“Bang – Thud!” The person outside was rough, not expecting the car to be locked from the inside. He couldn’t open it in one go.
“Amu, don’t be rude. It’s very impolite!” Mia scolded loudly, then turned back to the two men with an apologetic smile. “I’m sorry. We’ve been waiting for a long time, and my friend was worried you wouldn’t take us, so he’s a bit anxious.”
A seventeen or eighteen-year-old girl leaned over from the back, speaking to the man in the front passenger seat. After the man listened to her, his gaze stayed on Mia for a moment and then nodded gently.
Three people.
Mia made a mental note of that.
“Alright,” said the handsome man sitting in the front passenger seat.
“That’s great. Thank you. I’ll ask Amu to hook up the towing rope, and I’ll sit in your car to guide you.”
Finally, the car door opened, and Mia eagerly climbed in. It was then that she noticed, besides the young girl, there were three more people in the back row – a middle-aged man dozing off with half-closed eyes, a child with a clean face and clothes, and a brightly dressed woman wearing sunglasses.
She blinked, smiling warmly, and greeted them, “Are you a family of four traveling together?”
The dad, the elder daughter, the young son, and this must be the stepmom, right?
“Pff~” the girl in the front couldn’t help but let out a light laugh.
Mia looked at her in confusion. “Did I say something wrong?”
The girl shook her head, her lively expression somewhat mischievous. “They are a family of three. I’m not.”
“Hey!” The glamorous woman took off her sunglasses, glared at the girl, and moved her lips, but in the end, she didn’t say anything.
Mia muttered to herself, thinking the stepmom’s temper wasn’t great at all.
She turned to the little boy, trying to strike up a conversation, “Little brother, where are you guys from?”
The bratty kid gave a disdainful hum, completely ignoring her.
Mia’s forehead veins throbbed. Damn brat.
The two cars, one in front and one behind, drove for about ten minutes in the desert and reached a desolate and rudimentary campsite.
Apart from a few tents and makeshift structures, there was nothing else.
“We’re here. Do you want to get out and rest for a while?” Mia offered an invitation.
“No need,” the man in the driver’s seat coldly refused.
Mia held the handle of the car and said meaningfully: “I suggest you take a break here. The upcoming journey will be quite challenging. As a gesture of gratitude, I can give you some… gifts.”
The people in the car fell silent.
After a while, the man in the driver’s seat and the girl got out of the car, following Mia towards the campsite.
Mia led the way, glancing back a few times midway. The footsteps of these two were too light, like ghosts, always making her think they hadn’t followed.
At the camp entrance, Mia sighed with regret, “You know, you could have gone somewhere else for a trip. Why pick Sin City? Could it be that you believed those rumors outside and thought there are fewer zombies here?”
“Is it not okay?” the girl asked in confusion.
“It’s okay, of course it’s okay. I should thank you for coming.” Mia beamed and turned towards the direction of the tents, shouting, “Azha, it’s time to slaughter the sheep!”
As she finished speaking, a sandstorm suddenly erupted in the camp!
The solid ground disintegrated abruptly, and over a dozen people burst out from beneath the yellow sand, surrounding the off-road vehicle parked in the distance.
On the side of the man and the girl, another group of people emerged from behind the tents. Glinting knives were placed at their necks. A muscular man named “Azha” had his body covered in swirling yellow sand, his eyes fixed greedily on them, licking his lips.
These ambushers were all awakeners.
“Are you… robbers?” the girl asked bewildered.
Mia laughed heartily, “You’re mistaken. Robbers want money; we don’t. We want your lives. After all, you lost sheep willingly walked into our trap.”
She flickered flames at her fingertips, her expression gradually turning fierce, “You’re surrounded. Give up resistance, and I might consider giving you a quick death.”
Without further ado, she transformed the condensed flames into sharp blades and thrust them straight towards their necks.
The girl swiftly moved, and somehow, Mia didn’t touch even a strand of her clothes.
She chuckled, revealing two faint dimples on her cheeks, and imitated Mia’s words, “You, are, surrounded.”
Mia snickered. Was this person daft? Just the two of them, and they thought they could surround over twenty of us?
A beautifully curved crescent moon blade appeared out of thin air. The girl held it in her main hand, lifting it up in a move that severed the knife at her neck. Following swiftly, she struck again. In the wind and sand that surged up, there was a flash of dark light, Mia’s eyes widened, her colorful braids were chopped off, falling all over the ground.
Mia rolled in a sorry state, and the tall man also made his move, weaving through them like a ghost. Soon, two companions fell.
“Kill the people in the car first!” Mia shouted loudly into the distance.
Soft persimmons had to be picked first. First, eliminate the four useless people, young and old, inside the car, and then turn their focus to deal with these two troublesome ones.
Amu and Azha immediately charged towards the off-road vehicle. In an instant, the number of people attacking the vehicle reached twenty.
“All the greedy rivers~ Drying up in the fragrant desert~”
The sandy ground under their feet suddenly started to flow, sinking like a swamp. They were trapped and unable to move. At this moment, a furry head popped out of the sunroof of the off-road vehicle. The haughty little brat clung to the roof with both hands and jumped up on tiptoe. Around him, numerous ice blades swiftly flew out, piercing the people trapped in the sand, turning them into hedgehogs.
Mia cursed under her breath, “Damn it!”
She had misunderstood. What stepmom and brat, what family going on a trip—these people weren’t fat sheep; they were more like butchers!
They were the fat sheep!
“Act quickly and retreat!” Mia shouted in a panic, then turned and ran.
A cold mental force pursued her like a shadow. Mia didn’t have time to struggle. Her figure paused and fell to the ground.
The last thought that flashed in her mind was—sloppy, these people did it on purpose, and we fell into their trap… a trap within a trap.
Time rewound half an hour ago.
“People,” Song Ke alerted.
The others focused and saw several blurry figures ahead.
Lin Youyou frowned slightly, “Blocking the road in the middle, they’re deliberately not letting us pass.”
Su Cha: “Hostile approach.”
Zhuang Qingyan’s mouth curled into a cold smile, “It’s getting dark soon, appearing at this time is deliberately exploiting the vulnerability of newcomers. It seems we’ve been treated as fat sheep.”
“Who p-preys on whom is yet to be seen,” Song Ke muttered.
“Since we can’t find the entrance for now, why not try targeting them?” Zhuang Qingyan smiled.
“Agreed, fat sheep should act like fat sheep and offer th-themselves,” Song Ke’s eyes brightened.
Mia thought she had encountered lost lambs, but little did she know, this was clearly a group of cunning and sly wolves.
…
Song Ke and Su Cha took a few minutes to clear the area.
They hadn’t found a way to enter the F180 District yet, and they were already encountering robbers. Could this be said to live up to the name of Sin City?
“Hey, what’s this?” Song Ke flipped out an object resembling a sign from Mia, which had many gray bars, three of which Mia had already marked in red.
She fiddled with it for a while, unable to figure it out, and casually threw it to Zhuang Qingyan.
The last trace of the setting sun disappeared below the horizon, and it was now dark.
In the dark desert, something was stirring, and danger lurked everywhere.
Zhuang Qingyan rubbed the sign he had taken from Mia, his eyes lowered in thought. “Let’s go back to the pyramid we were at earlier. I have some new ideas.”
The group drove back to the vicinity of the pyramid.
“I’ve always wondered, what permissions do we need to have for the passage here to open for us?”
“Have you heard of the Seven Deadly Sins? Pride, envy, wrath, sloth, greed, gluttony, and lust, as well as the resulting killings. Why is the F180 District called Sin City? Perhaps… it’s because only those guilty are accepted here.”
The monitor above identified the smell of blood on Song Ke and Su Cha, prompting a new response.
“Please show introducer information.”
A line of text suddenly appeared on the facade.
Zhuang Qingyan raised his hand and placed Mia’s sign in the depression.
The tightly closed door slowly opened, revealing a spacious space resembling an elevator in front of Song Ke.
The six of them stepped in, and the elevator started, descending rapidly.
“Ding—” a crisp and pleasant reminder sounded.
“Welcome to Sin City.”
The tightly closed elevator doors opened again, and Song Ke, Lin Youyou, and Xu Xing couldn’t believe their eyes.
A bizarre underground world presented itself before them.
“Tonight at 11 o’clock, Ross Casino’s grand opening, free drinks for all!”
“New biomimetic materials, take a look, medical technology from Tongwan.”
“Auction of zombies and fierce beasts!”
“We buy crystal stones of all qualities.”
Just a few meters from the entrance, two pedestrians erupted into conflict. Supernatural abilities clashed on the street, and the loser was blasted into pieces, while the winner laughed heartily and walked away.
Chaos, violence, rampant crime, contempt for life…
This was the real Sin City.
**TN
Black on Black – (of a villain) to do the dirty on another villain
Soft persimmon – weakling
