Bai Wanyang was completely unaware that he had been under a form of subtle psychological conditioning by Yue Shi throughout their journey.
The two walked east for two streets, arriving at a relatively prosperous area.
The streets here were lined not only with restaurants but also clinics, furniture stores, and clothing shops.
Peace Alley was, after all, an orderly place. It lacked nothing in terms of basic necessities; though small, it was fully functional.
However, it was still a far cry from a proper city. Domestic waste was strewn everywhere, appearing exceptionally filthy under the wash of the rain and emitting a foul odor.
On this torrential day, there was no activity on the streets. Occasionally, someone inside the buildings on either side would peek through the glass, quietly sizing up Yue Shi and Bai Wanyang.
“Do you hear that sound?” Bai Wanyang asked suddenly.
Yue Shi nodded. Even with the interference of rain and thunder, he could still faintly hear a strange musical melody. It was cheerful—so much so that hearing it just once made it feel etched into his mind.
Despite the thick fog obscuring their vision, the two could see the glowing sign of a milk tea shop from a distance.
As they drew closer, the music grew louder.
“Sweetness Milk Tea,” Bai Wanyang read the name on the sign softly.
This milk tea shop was completely out of place among the surrounding buildings, as if it belonged to a different dimension. Even the art style felt wrong.
The storefront was brand new, spacious, and clean. Music blared from within, and a sweet scent wafted out before they even stepped inside.
Business seemed incredibly booming. The shop was packed with people, and many stood outside the door, taking shelter from the rain while staring longingly through the glass windows.
“Could a Bee Woman have opened this shop? Is she really being this blatant?” Bai Wanyang said with some hesitation.
Yue Shi replied, “There are too many people. I can't see the owner or the waitresses. If a Bee Woman really opened this shop, they're likely doing it to spread contamination.”
The Honey brewed by a Bee Woman was poisonous.
“Let's go inside and take a look,” Yue Shi added.
Soon, the people gathered at the entrance noticed Yue Shi and Bai Wanyang approaching.
The way the two were dressed and their overall demeanor made it clear they were not residents of Peace Alley.
Yue Shi and Bai Wanyang stepped under the awning of the milk tea shop and closed their umbrellas.
“Hey, you two. Where are you from?” a man with a lip ring asked.
Yue Shi glanced at him. The man was tall, but his legs were of different lengths, and his arms were mismatched as well. One was fair and thin with slender fingers, while the other was thicker, darker, and covered in calluses.
He was so grotesque that it looked as if he had limbs from different people transplanted onto his body.
Not only that, but the man's facial features also looked stitched together, giving off an uncanny valley effect of someone who had undergone too much plastic surgery—both beautiful and hideous at once.
“What's wrong with your face and limbs?” Yue Shi asked bluntly.
Bai Wanyang was about to remind Yue Shi that asking such a question was rather rude, but then he remembered Yue Shi's abilities and swallowed his words.
The lip-ring man replied, “One of my arms and one of my legs were hacked off, and my face was disfigured. Dr. Luo helped me fix them.”
“Dr. Luo? Who is he?” Yue Shi stared at the man's fair arm. The connection point looked as if two melting candles had been crudely stuck together, rather than the result of surgical precision.
“Dr. Luo is the doctor of Peace Alley. Everyone here goes to him when they're sick. But he has a nasty personality. He only helps people when he's in a good mood; when he's in a bad mood, he'll treat you to death,” the man said, a clear look of fear surfacing in his eyes.
Every word he spoke was the truth, which left his companions standing nearby feeling incredulous. Usually, this man was the most sharp-tongued and difficult, so why was he being so honest now?
Yue Shi stroked his chin. This “Dr. Luo” was likely a transcendent. If he were just an ordinary doctor, he wouldn't have the confidence to act solely based on his mood.
“What's the deal with this milk tea shop? Why are there so many people?”
“Everyone in Peace Alley likes coming here. The stuff is cheap, and the owner and staff are exceptionally beautiful,” the lip-ring man chuckled.
“When did the shop open? Has anything strange happened here?” Yue Shi asked again.
The man thought for a moment and said, “I'm not sure when it opened. It was already here when I arrived in Peace Alley.”
“Nothing strange should have happened. Our boss usually doesn't let us get close to this place, but I sneaked in once. After the boss found out, he stopped bothering me about it.”
Hearing this, Yue Shi and Bai Wanyang exchanged a solemn look and then headed into the shop.
As they pushed open the door, the strange music tunneled directly into their ears, constantly stimulating their nerves. The sweet aroma hitting their noses became even more intense, making them feel an instinctive urge to eat something sweet.
The shop was wall-to-wall with people, seemingly even more crowded than it had appeared from the outside.
The mental state of these people was visibly problematic. They held their milk tea with exaggerated care, and after taking a sip, their faces would take on a euphoric expression, as if they were on drugs.
Yue Shi and Bai Wanyang pushed through the crowd, moving slowly forward.
“Do you see the Bee Woman?” Bai Wanyang shouted.
He didn't want to yell, but the volume of the music in the shop had unknowingly increased, and he had to raise his voice just to be heard.
Yue Shi shook his head. Ever since they entered, the owner and staff seemed to have vanished. The customers appeared to be dancing like demons aimlessly, but in reality, they had already surrounded the two of them.
Just then, a tall, thin man suddenly lost his footing and toppled toward Yue Shi. However, he had an excited smile on his face, and the milk tea spilling from his hand was aimed perfectly at Yue Shi.
The liquid, which gave off a sweet fragrance, stopped a centimeter away from Yue Shi as if hitting water-repellent bird feathers. It beaded up and rolled away, splashing onto the floor.
Before the man could even register his surprise, Yue Shi had already grabbed him by the throat and gave it a powerful twist.
A life was snuffed out just like that.
Whether by design or accident, the music stopped abruptly the moment Yue Shi killed the man. The customers all fell silent, and the sound of the cervical spine snapping was heard clearly by everyone.
Pairs of eyes stared directly at them, filled with malice and scrutiny.
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