Chapter 148
Mu Xiaohu planned everything well and his disguise was perfect, but the only problem was that he couldn't find Lin Qingsi.
He sneaked deep into Lin Qingsi's home and saw a patient wrapped in bandages and barely breathing in a specially prepared ward. Although the patient's appearance could not be seen clearly, his physical features were very similar to Lin Qingsi's. In addition, Yunxi stayed by his side almost every step of the way, which gave everyone a clear signal - this was Lin Qingsi himself.
But Mu Xiaohu sneaked in when no one was paying attention, looked left and right, and sized things up, but still shook his head and left before being discovered.
Not only did he discover that this was not Lin Qingsi, he also discovered that this man only had some minor injuries, and those were almost healing. It was incredible that he could lie in bed all day without moving, and even when there was no one around him, he would not move his body at will, acting like a seriously injured and dying patient all the time.
But since he could get someone like this to pretend to be him, Lin Qingsi himself should be fine, and the assassination might have been within his expectations. But if he hadn't seen Lin Qingsi intact with his own eyes, Mu Xiaohu couldn't just go back and use his own guesses to fool Lin Qingge.
But the question is, where is Lin Qingsi?
Mu Xiaohu contacted Luo Er and hacked into the surveillance network of the imperial capital to search. However, the surveillance of Zhongwu Star was very primitive. Most cameras could only monitor a small area at a fixed point. It was very easy for someone to avoid surveillance. Moreover, these simple surveillance cameras did not cover the entire city. Especially in the areas where foreign races lived, there were only a few cameras on a few major traffic arteries, and more than half of them were broken! Under such hardware conditions, even if Luo Er mastered technology that was hundreds or thousands of years more advanced than Zhongwu Star, it would be useless. Mu Xiaohu could only rely on himself.
Fortunately, Zhongwu Star is not a completely primitive society, and no matter what Lin Qingsi wants to do in hiding, he cannot completely cut off contact with the outside world. Following some clues left by Yunxi and others on the network and communication signals, Mu Xiaohu tracked them to Daye District in the north of the city.
Daye District is a transitional area. From here to the south, the residents are basically all Celestials; to the north, most of them are aliens. And the area around Daye District is a mixture of many poor humans and some aliens.
The people here did not become harmonious and understand each other just because they lived together. On the contrary, the hostility between humans and aliens in Daye District was among the highest in the entire imperial capital, and the hatred between the two sides was extremely deep. Therefore, when the military control was not strict, many incidents of mutual slaughter occurred. Many people were killed by their neighbors who climbed over the wall in the middle of the night. Even today, even though bloodshed rarely occurs under strict control, the deep hatred in the eyes of both sides is still so strong that it is difficult to resolve.
Mu Xiaohu didn't know much about the history of Daye District, but he could see that there were still black and red bloodstains on the walls, the ground, the tree trunks, the bushes... and there were traces of knife and axe on the windows and doors of some houses. People built very high walls, and the alleys looked very gloomy, like a prison. Even people with nothing would put many sharp objects such as broken glass, thorns, and iron pieces on the walls, revealing their defense and hostility towards others.
Mu Xiaohu walked in the narrow alley. He was not afraid of the hostility here, after all, the people here were not capable of hurting him. But the signal tracking was cut off here, and this place was obviously not convenient for him to search. Mu Xiaohu could only wander around aimlessly, hoping to find some other traces.
After walking through alley after alley, he still didn't get anything. Suddenly, Mu Xiaohu stopped and felt something strange.
He walked back a few steps, then turned his head to see a long and narrow alley next to him.
It was very narrow and dark. Even at noon, the walls on both sides kept out most of the sunlight, making the alley look eerie.
Of course, you can't expect a place like this to be clean. The walls on both sides are covered with graffiti and obscene words, and the ground is also covered with all kinds of dirt. In some places, there are piles of garbage that even beggars don't want to look at.
But... not that... there's something else inside.
Mu Xiaohu walked in cautiously . He was not afraid of encountering any danger, but was afraid of stepping on the excrement on the ground.
In the shadows, a pair of eyes looked at the dark-skinned boy walking on tiptoe, with contempt in his heart. But then he thought of the lesson he had received, and he restrained his desire to take action, silently curled up his body and hid deeper, but at the same time, a hand covered with scars also tightly grasped an iron rod.
He watched the young man walk from one end of the alley to the other. He was only looking at his feet the whole time and didn't notice anything. He was as dull and stupid as the other Celestials he had met along the way.
After a long while, the person hiding in the dark came out. He was wearing a tattered bed sheet, wrapping most of his body tightly, but when he walked, one could still see a layer of silver-white hair covering the back of his feet.
In the center of the unusually spacious hall, there is a translucent glass stage, on which stands a hot, brightly dressed woman wearing a colorful butterfly mask. Two pairs of wings as thin as cicada wings are fluttering behind her, and the tiny scales are sparkling with dreamy colorful light. The golden phosphorus powder sprinkled from the top of her head and the constantly changing neon lights make the surroundings look like a dream.
The woman held the microphone, swaying gently, and singing a decadent song. Around her, there were several slender girls with two pairs of transparent cicada wings on their backs dancing gracefully. These girls only wore tube tops and feather-like short skirts, revealing their slender waists and slender legs that seemed to be made of jade. There were golden ribbons and bells tied on their bare ankles, which made a slight but pleasant sound as they danced.
Their singing and dancing were exquisite by any standard, but they didn't attract much attention. There were many people coming and going in the hall, dressed in fancy clothes and elegant in appearance. Some sat at the table enjoying delicious food and wine, some gathered in groups of three or four to chat, and some sat alone in the corner smoking. Most of the women's necks, shoulders and arms were sparkling with jewels, but they all wore intricately crafted masks to hide their true appearance.
However, although I couldn't see their appearance clearly, I could see that many of them had lost their figure, and their obesity and old age could not be concealed by any exquisite mask.
In addition, there were many waiters walking around in the hall. Most of them wore the same silver-white half-mask and almost the same clothes, revealing their graceful chins and smiling lips. It can be imagined that the face under the mask must be very beautiful, whether male or female.
At the same time, these waiters have some non-human features - such as a pair of long and pointed ears, or hands and feet that look like animal claws, or fluffy tails that swing back and forth unconsciously, or thin and long tentacles on the top of their heads, etc. However, these features do not make them look weird, but add a different kind of temptation.
Sometimes, a masked man in luxurious clothes would take a fancy to a waiter and pull him to his side to rub him, or take him to a nearby room to do whatever he wanted. Regardless of how he was treated, these waiters always had a sweet or gentle smile on their faces, without any other expression.
After a while of drinking and feasting, the singing and dancing women on the stage all left. Instead, a man in a white uniform, a white mask with gold edges, and shoulder-length hair that looked like green seaweed came on stage. He opened his arms and said happily as if hugging, "Welcome! Welcome to all the distinguished guests! It's an honor to see you all here in this stormy time! But I have to say, I'm not surprised, because we all know..." He stretched out his voice, as if he was hinting at something, and as if he was proudly proclaiming, "No matter how violent the wind and rain are in the future, they can't destroy the towering mountains!"
Many people laughed softly, as if he had said something very funny.
Perhaps it was because everyone at this moment thought of the death of the high and mighty Ka royal family father and son, the tragic death of Yang Siyu who almost became the ruler of the empire, and the unknown life and death of the once invincible Lin Qingsi, but these people were like mountains, no matter who came to power, they were the same - towering and unshakable, and could not be driven down by wind and rain.
The green-haired man took a glass of wine from the tray in the hands of the waiter next to him, raised it high, and said loudly: "Let us raise our glasses together to toast this beautiful era!"
"Cheers to the good times!" Many people raised their glasses together and said happily.
After finishing a glass of wine, the green-haired man said nothing more. He casually tossed the glass to the waiter waiting in the audience and said, "Now, let's get to the point of today. Our first guest is from the Crane Clan - Cynthia!"
Instantly, most of the lights in the hall went out at the same time, and the surroundings immediately became much darker. After the lights on the stage flickered and changed for a while, several beams of light focused on the center of the stage at the same time, illuminating a girl standing there in every detail.
Although she was a "guest", the girl's limbs were tied to a tall iron frame with exquisitely made chains. She looked around in panic and kept struggling. Her watery eyes looked like she would cry at any time, and she seemed to be filled with infinite unspeakable despair.
She looked very young, about thirteen or fourteen years old, tall, with long snow-white hair, skin as shiny as jade, and a delicate face as if she had walked out of a painting. Behind her was a pair of snow-white wings half-opened, as if they would take her to the sky at any time. The girl only had a few pieces of white gauze wrapped around key parts of her body, and under the strong light, the gauze was almost transparent, and the looming temptation made people's blood boil.
In an instant, the temperature in the hall seemed to rise by several degrees.
The green-haired man directed the people backstage to turn the iron frame that the girl was tied to twice, making sure that everyone could see the details they wanted to know. He also reached out and pulled hard on the wings on the girl's back a few times to prove that they were not fake, causing her to scream in pain, but the people in the audience became even more excited.
The green-haired man said loudly, "Cynthia, a fourteen-year-old girl from the Crane Clan, a top-notch product that has never been enjoyed! The starting price is three million, and each increase in price must not be less than one hundred thousand! Now - start bidding!"
"Three and a half million!"
"Three million eight hundred thousand!"
"Four million!"
"Five million!"
Almost at the same time, the crowd in the audience started shouting loudly. The price kept rising, and soon it reached a number that an ordinary person could not earn in a lifetime. The waiters around seemed to be unaware that the girl on the stage was also one of their kind, and they always had a perfect smile on their faces like a mask. However, under such dim light, the slightly curved corners of her red lips brought a sense of horror for no reason.
