Meanwhile, on Taotie Street in the Eastern District.
Haicheng was divided into five main districts—East, West, South, North, and Central. Taotie Street was located in the suburbs of the Eastern District's old town.
Before the first round of urban boundary expansion, this place had been the old town's waste disposal center. Sewage, garbage, and even corpses from the entire eastern half of the city were funneled here.
The filthy environment birthed filthy professions. Perhaps because of the foul stench that repelled both humans and dogs alike, ordinary people rarely ventured here. Over time, various shady underground factions took a liking to the area, monopolized the local industries, and began panning for gold in the trash.
Where there was gold, monsters and demons of all kinds naturally gathered.
Taotie Street eventually grew into a gathering hub for the underground syndicates of old Haicheng.
True to its name, anything that came to Taotie Street would be devoured clean down to the bone.
These underground factions were deeply entrenched, sucking Haicheng's blood from the dark corners like leeches. They accounted for the highest crime rates, yet the Bureau had failed to clean them up despite multiple crackdowns.
Yu Jin had once wondered how the Bureau, which possessed enough immense power to handle even Nightmare Disasters, could possibly fail to clean up a single small district.
Later, it was Old Zhang, a veteran from Group 4, who pointed out the crux of the matter.
“It's not that we can't clean it up, but that we shouldn't.”
Prevention was not as effective as channeling.
Against the backdrop of constant Nightmare Disasters, Haicheng's environment was far too complex. It was like a settling basin into which sewage was constantly dripping. If you did not allow the sediment to settle to the bottom, the filth would only contaminate the clean water above, making the entire pool even more turbid.
Thus, when there was no way to shut off the valve of dripping sewage, letting it settle at the bottom was actually the optimal solution.
At that moment, Yu Jin understood.
Indeed, a grey balance was the true balance.
And now, Old Zhang was also dead, killed by Xia Jie.
Blood debt +1.
Just as Yu Jin stepped into Yu Xiang's room, the red-haired Yu Jin was buying a hat in a convenience store on Taotie Street.
His appearance was not his own, so logically, there was no need to hide.
But this was Taotie Street, a place where everyone wrapped themselves up tightly and dressed mysteriously. If he didn't wear a hat, he felt completely out of place with the vibe here.
He was simply too conspicuous.
Everything was going smoothly at first, but just as the red-haired Yu Jin was about to pay, Yu Jin felt the black goat's shock and alarm transmit over, triggering a stress response in the red-haired Yu Jin, who crumpled the hat in his hand into a tight ball.
The cashier, thinking he was here to cause trouble, scowled and looked ready to call for backup.
Yu Jin repeatedly warned him, prompting the red-haired Yu Jin to frown, unrumple the hat, and ask in a deep voice:
“How much?”
Believing he had run into a lunatic, the cashier gave him a price with a disgruntled tone.
The red-haired Yu Jin quickly paid, but before leaving, he asked:
“I've been short on cash lately. Is there anywhere around here to test drugs?”
Black-market drug testing was a common side job for those at the very bottom of Taotie Street, and Yu Jin knew a bit about it.
The authorities were not the only ones researching Nightmare Disasters and dreams; ever since the first Nightmare Disaster descended, countless people had attempted to solve the mystery of nightmares.
Whether in academia or the underground scientific community, it was generally agreed that dreams were an extension or projection of consciousness, and the brain was the carrier of consciousness. Consequently, brain science experienced a development that, while not exactly glorious, was certainly rapid.
In particular, underground brain science was highly esteemed by countless rogue scientists, giving rise to innumerable branches.
One highly famous branch was chemical consciousness.
Yu Jin had once investigated a victim in this field during a post-disaster case. The so-called chemical consciousness was about injecting various drugs to affect a person's dreams—either to accelerate lucid awareness in a dream, to prolong a fleeting dream, or even, in the case of some drugs, claiming that a single shot could alter brainwave frequencies to synchronize with a Nightmare Disaster, thereby increasing the probability of a Nightmare Disaster descending...
There was such a massive variety that nothing was too wild to be made, so long as underground science could conceive of it.
Yet, aside from earning themselves a host of severe side effects, the test subjects had almost zero chance of success.
But even so, countless people still threw themselves into drug testing, one after another—partly to gamble on a future, and partly to resolve their current financial desperation.
Drug testing paid cash. Although it wasn't much, it was at least enough to fill their stomachs.
Yu Jin couldn't get in touch with Taotie Street's core factions as a newcomer, so he could only try to blend into the lowest tier of the population first.
Of course, this wasn't purely a desperate move either. After all, the lowest tier often represented the most widespread demographic, which meant there would be plenty of information about Haicheng's underworld here.
His plan was to collect information as quietly as possible, avoiding trouble whenever he could so as not to cause more headaches for the Bureau.
If he ran into an unavoidable situation, it wouldn't be too late to act then.
Hearing this question, the cashier was stunned.
He stared at the red-haired Yu Jin for a long time, only realizing that this guy wanted to test prohibited substances—not conventional medicine—when the red-haired Yu Jin's gaze turned impatient.
His eyelids twitched violently. Since when can you just ask about this stuff on the street?
Under a security camera, even if you dare to ask, I don't dare to speak!
He glanced at the camera, lowered his head, and pretended to be completely engrossed in his own business, ignoring the red-haired Yu Jin.
Yu Jin also knew that asking such a direct question wouldn't yield results. After thinking it over, he gave the red-haired Yu Jin a reminder.
“Be smart about it. Don't just ask with empty hands.”
The red-haired Yu Jin understood. Letting out an impatient tsk, he avoided the camera angle and discreetly slipped several banknotes into a gap in the counter.
The cashier stared, dumbfounded.
And he says he's short on cash?
Testing those crappy drugs doesn't even pay this much, does it?
But he said nothing and asked nothing. He simply cleared his throat, leaned over the counter to quietly pocket the money, and then mumbled behind his hand:
“Number 4, Scorpion Tail Alley.”
“Thanks.”
The red-haired Yu Jin put on his hat and quickly departed.
...
Scorpion Tail Alley, true to its name, was shaped exactly like a scorpion's tail, with Number 4 situated right in the middle of the poisonous stinger at the very tip.
The place looked like a slaughterhouse, still sporting a battered, broken sign above the entrance, though it was clearly abandoned.
By the time the red-haired Yu Jin arrived, the rusted iron gate creaked shut, having just let a figure inside.
Seeing someone else inside, he raised an eyebrow, finally feeling like the money he had just spent was worth it.
He stepped forward and lightly tapped on the gate.
A moment later, the viewing slot on the gate slid open, revealing a suspicious eye that stared at the red-haired Yu Jin without a word.
Yu Jin pondered. They likely needed some kind of secret code or slang here, which he didn't know at all. But just as he was thinking about how to handle it, the red-haired Yu Jin stared directly back at the eye and got straight to the point.
“Drug testing.”
...
Do you really have to be so blunt?
Helpless, Yu Jin could only let the red-haired Yu Jin do as he pleased.
Upon hearing the words “drug testing,” the suspicion in the eye didn't vanish; instead, it grew even more alert.
The person inside the gate asked in a raspy voice:
“Who referred you?”
You need a referral just to test drugs?
Yu Jin was startled, thinking things were about to go south. But the red-haired Yu Jin didn't panic at all. Recalling the cashier's name tag, he spoke honestly:
“Wei Ma.”
The person inside was also stunned. He thought for a long while but couldn't recall who Wei Ma was. Assuming it was some lackey, he asked again:
“Who does he work for?”
The red-haired Yu Jin thought for a moment and stated confidently:
“Woer-Niu.”
“?”
What the hell? First a horse, now a cow? Why does this sound so much like a corporate job? Are these guys in the underworld or the rat race?
The person inside grew impatient.
“Where does this Woer-Niu hang out?”
“I don't know where he hangs out, but I know where he is.”
Pointing down the path he had come from, the red-haired Yu Jin replied with equal impatience, “Take this road, turn left, left, and then right. Go straight to the end, then turn left again. There's a convenience store there called Woer-Niu.”
...
Silence fell inside the gate. A few seconds later, a muffled roar erupted:
“Are you fucking playing me?!”
The red-haired Yu Jin scoffed.
“Who's playing whom? Weren't you the one asking? The cashier there pointed me in this direction. If you don't believe me, go see for yourself.”
You motherfucker...
The gatekeeper was absolutely livid. He had practically combed through his boss's entire family tree in his mind, only to realize that "Wei Ma" was just a convenience store clerk.
So he really was just a corporate drone.
But how dare you knock on my door based on a corporate drone's directions?
The man inside cursed up a storm, on the verge of turning violent.
Hearing the angry commotion inside, Yu Jin, with lines of black sweat running down his forehead, knew that the red-haired Yu Jin's "plan" had succeeded.
The copy personality never had any intention of asking for information politely. He simply wanted to fight his way through and squeeze the answers out afterward.
Just like Father Xia, the hot-tempered old man—if you don't submit, we fight.
If they were in any other district, Yu Jin would have definitely tried to talk him down. But this was Taotie Street, a lawless place to begin with. If he really could carve out a name for himself here... it wasn't the worst idea.
Sensing Yu Jin's compromise, the red-haired Yu Jin rubbed his hands together eagerly. But just as he raised his foot to kick the gate open, the gate creaked open on its own.
The hinges groaned as if taking their last breath. Through the widening gap, Yu Jin got a clear look at the man who had been speaking to him.
He was a skinny, emaciated man with long hair. A palm-sized patch of hair above his left ear had been shaved clean, exposing a scalp riddled with a dense pattern of needle-puncture scars.
While Yu Jin sized him up, the man glared back with a pair of beady, slanting eyes, looking Yu Jin up and down to confirm his identity.
In truth, it was obvious that someone like Yu Jin was a complete greenhorn on Taotie Street. He didn't know the slang or codes, acted with zero structure, and possessed a haughty attitude without a shred of etiquette.
With the recent crackdowns, he shouldn't have risked opening the gate. Besides, that "corporate drone" cashier from the Woer-Niu store had absolutely nothing to do with him; at best, the cashier just knew of this place and had pointed the way.
Yet, he opened it anyway because he believed that someone as stubborn and blunt as the red-haired Yu Jin couldn't possibly be an undercover agent from the Bureau.
Bureau operatives would have done some homework before trying to infiltrate this place. Only a brainless fool who was truly desperate for cash would try to barge in like this.
And when it came to fools, he never turned them away.
“Get in.”
He grabbed the red-haired Yu Jin and yanked him inside, casting a vigilant glance left and right before quickly shutting the gate.
...
Seeing things take a turn, Yu Jin quickly urged the red-haired Yu Jin not to act rashly and to observe first.
The red-haired Yu Jin gave another impatient tsk and did as told.
...
Rate on N.U.
