Chapter Six: Entering the Mountain

  That car was actually the black Nissan off-road vehicle drawn on page two of the Book of Revelation.

  I recall the incident with the bus and can't help but think: Is this off-road vehicle going to get into an accident too?

  His cursed luck seemed to be at work again, dominating the course of all events around him. It used to be just a little better, at most only making him poor and destitute, but after that car accident, it began to threaten his life.

  He had a change of heart and suddenly felt like backing down.

  The tall and thin man turned his head around and shouted back: "Hey, whoever you are, the one without a seat, come sit in this car."

  Xu Mo wiped away a cold sweat, gradually calming down in her heart. She said to the tall and thin man, "I get carsick on small vehicles, and when I do, I vomit all over the car." Then she turned around and asked the people in the vehicle, "Who can switch with me and go sit in that other car?"

  All I can think of is: If no one swaps places with me, I'll just go back. No matter how important making money is, it's not as important as my own life.

  The driver also chimed in: "Who's going to swap with him? Who's going to swap with him?"

  A two-hundred-plus-pound fat man stood up and looked out of the window, "I'll trade with you."

  Xu Mo was taken aback, then thought: this person swapped seats with me, isn't that equivalent to replacing me to die? In that case, didn't I harm him? Should I tell them about the car accident and let them be on guard?

  But who would believe me if I said so? And was that car really going to have an accident?

  He was hesitant, but the fat guy had already gotten off the bus. The tall and thin man had already opened the front passenger door, preparing to sit down, looked at the fat guy and said, "Dizzy! You go sit in the front passenger seat."

  With this chubby body, sitting in the back row with two other people may not be able to fit.

  The fat man walked to the front passenger seat with a smile, the tall and thin man and two others sat in the back row, and the off-road vehicle set off immediately.

  Xu Mo was still in a daze when the driver turned around and urged, "Hurry up and sit down, we're about to start driving."

  Xu Mo let out a soft "oh" and walked over to the spot where the fat man had given up his seat, sat down, and the bus started moving. He stuck his head out of the window, looking at the off-road vehicle, his mind in turmoil, with one thought constantly turning over in his mind: Is this off-road vehicle really going to have an accident?

  Someone in the front row suddenly turned around and looked at Xu Mo, "Hey, buddy, it's rare to see someone fainting like this."

  The man with a seemingly smiling expression on his face was the one who originally stood beside Xu Mo and was the first to ask questions. Looking at his expression, he appeared to be skeptical of Xu Mo's words.

  "Yes."

  My eyes were still fixed on the off-road vehicle, and my thoughts had changed to: When will this off-road vehicle have an accident? Can I think of a way to stop it?

  The man suddenly pulled out a pack of cigarettes from his body, took one out and asked Xu Mo: "Do you want to smoke?"

  Xu Mo shook his head. The seat by the window was a young woman in her early twenties with big eyes, who looked like she should still be in school, probably a university student from a nearby school, taking advantage of her free time to do part-time work. Seeing this scene, she couldn't help but frown and show a look of disgust on her face.

  The man pulled out a lighter and was about to light a cigarette. The driver saw him through the rearview mirror, suddenly turned his head around, pointed at him and said, "Get off the bus if you want to smoke."

  Xu Mo couldn't help but glance at the man, seeing his robust physique and thinking he must have a bad temper. At this moment, hearing the driver speak like that, he secretly thought it was not good, and assumed the man would be unable to bear it and would lose his temper on the spot.

  Unexpectedly, the man listened to the driver's words, was stunned for a moment, didn't say anything, and obediently put away his cigarette, the whole process was very calm.

  Xu Mo was greatly surprised and let out a soft "hmm".

  The man heard his voice and couldn't help but turn his head again, glanced at him with a faint smile, and didn't say anything.

  The man, however, seemed willing to chat and asked: "What's your surname?"

  Xu Mo was taken aback for a moment before responding with "Xu Mo." He then asked casually, "And you?"

  "Me?" The man smiled, "Liu Qian, Liu from Han Gaozu, Qian from Qianlong, how's that? Isn't this name pretty good?"

  Xu Mo couldn't help but feel amused by his own name, and the woman beside him couldn't hold back a snort of laughter.

  Liu Qi immediately turned around, facing the woman, and smiled slyly: "Beautiful girl, what's your name?"

  The big-eyed girl obviously couldn't stand his attitude, her expression suddenly turned serious, but still replied: "Su Yan."

  Liu Qi immediately praised, "Good name." His expression was exaggerated, and then he leaned forward some more, leaning on the back of the chair, smiling at the woman to ask: "Which SU? Which YAN?"

  Xu Mo couldn't help but think: You don't even know which character the other person's name is, how can you say it's a good name?

  Seeing Liu Qian's expression on his face, he suddenly realized that this person was pretending to be familiar with him, and the real intention was to flirt with the woman beside him.

  Su Yan felt a sense of disgust towards this pickup line, and she didn't want to pay attention to him. But suddenly, she remembered something and asked: "Have you been to the mountain lodge in Beishan? What's the environment like there? Is the scenery beautiful?"

  Liu Qian saw Su Yan talking to him and was delighted. He continued: "It's okay, Shen Bancheng opened it."

  Sink half city?

  Hearing this strange title, Fang Xing couldn't help but shift his attention from the off-road vehicle rushing forward to Liu Qian.

  All she heard was Su Yan asking: "Shen Bancheng? Is there someone else with this name?"

  She raised her voice slightly, Liu Qian hastily made a 'shh' sound to stop her, and then lowered his voice, "Speak softly, that's the big boss of Beicheng."

  "Big Brother of Beicheng?"

  Xu Mo furrowed his brow, feeling like he was in a triad.

  Su Yan had a similarly puzzled expression. Liu Qian saw her look, hesitated for a moment, and then said: "It turns out you don't know who the Old Master of Beicheng is."

  Su Yan saw his expression and also became nervous, whispering: "Is it a triad?"

  Liu Qian hastily said: "Shh! Don't talk nonsense." He stretched out his hand and pointed behind him.

  Xu Mo and Su Yan exchanged a knowing look, understanding that he was referring to the driver. Su Yan's curiosity got the better of her, and she asked again, "Why did you call him Shen Bancheng? Is that his name?"

  Liu Qian explained in a low voice, "That's not it. Half the city refers to the entire Huai City, and half of it is his sphere of influence. Within this sphere of influence, almost all the discos and nightclubs are opened by him."

  Su Yan thought for a moment and then said: "Just now you mentioned Beicheng Lao Da, this half refers to Chengbei?"

  Liu Qian praised: "You are really clever."

  Su Yan seemed extremely interested in this rumor and immediately asked: "If there is a big boss in the north of the city, then what about the south? Is there also one?"

  Liu Qiandao said: "There are two in the south city, one is Feng Lao Da and the other is He Lao Da. Feng Lao Da is on the east side and He Lao Da is on the west side."

  Su Yan continued: "In that case, among these three people, Shen Lao Da has the greatest power."

  This is a very simple truth, anyone can think of it, but Liu Qian still praised, "You are really clever, that's right, Shen Lao Da's power is the greatest, far surpassing Feng Lao Da and He Lao Da, but He Lao Da and Feng Lao Da together, their power is even greater than his. The relationship between the three of them is like Wei, Shu, and Wu in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms."

  Xu Mo was completely uninterested in the underworld and shifted his gaze to the off-road vehicle in front, vaguely hearing Su Yan's worried words: "Since it's the underworld, what if we finish the job and they cheat us out of our money?"

  Liu Qian burst out laughing: "Others are doing so well, where do they lack this little money?" Then he lowered his voice even more, half-kneeling on his own seat, and leaned forward a bit, whispering: "I'll tell you, in Shen Lao Da's nightclub, there are hallucinogenic drugs for sale, the effect is extremely good, not addictive, it's said to be made by himself."

  Su Yan heard this and let out an "oh", suddenly becoming afraid and no longer daring to ask.

  Xu Mo's heart skipped a beat, the hallucinogenic potion, he had concocted it himself, wouldn't be addictive, what kind of medicine was this? Since this medicine had a hallucinogenic effect, would it have any impact on his current tranquil breathing exercise?

  He had intended to ask Liu Qian a few more questions, but suddenly lost his smile. What's the use of this medicine anyway? It's much more expensive than a quilt, if you can afford to buy this medicine, why not use the money to buy a quilt or clothes instead? You won't be cold anymore, who cares about quiet breathing then?

  Then I thought: after this part-time job, I earned some money and immediately bought a bed quilt. As for the quiet breathing, it was just something that came to mind when I was desperate, how could it be true?

  At this moment, looking back, I find it laughable. I told myself: no matter how difficult the future is, how bad the luck is, as long as I don't give up, no matter what, I won't starve to death.

  He looked ahead at the off-road vehicle, and suddenly became tense. If this off-road vehicle really had an accident, would the tall thin man die in the accident? Would it affect my part-time job this time?

  Thinking of his own bad luck, he had a faint feeling that this kind of situation might really happen.

  He then recalled the Book of Revelation, the green fruit behind the off-road vehicle, the man with hair covering his face, and the frozen river. He couldn't help but wonder: this river and the green fruit are obviously things from the mountain, if he hadn't reached Beishan, how could these two things appear? If the thin man had a car accident and died on the way, how did he reach Beishan?

  What implications does the Book of Revelation bring? If it's true, did the tall and thin man not die after a car accident? Or did he die and someone else took over his part-time job?

  Who is that man with hair covering his face? He appeared on the fourth page, what did he explain? Could he be one of these part-time people?

  He couldn't help but glance around at the people in the car, trying to pick out that person among them, only to realize that the person from the Book of Revelation wasn't showing their face and had also taken off their coat, so how could he be recognized?

  Two cars drove out of the city and headed into the suburbs, soon entering the mountains. Xu Mo's heart grew increasingly tense.

  －－－

  PS: Suddenly discovered a cliche plot, writing urban articles, it's almost impossible to avoid writing about the underworld. Thinking about it, if you don't write about struggles and conflicts, then it can only be a simple romance novel.

  It's actually not that hard to understand if you put yourself in their shoes. The so-called "black society" is equivalent to the various schools of thought in ancient fantasy novels, isn't it?

  Finally, I want to mention in advance that as the protagonist's abilities become stronger and stronger, I will try my best to avoid weakening the functions of the government, or even not write about this institution at all, so as to avoid being censored. If you feel that some aspects are unreasonable, please be more tolerant, just treat it as a free country, anyway, it is an empty city novel.