There is a thin layer of haze in Smile Town. The polluted lights evaporate and spread in the air. The buildings in the town lose their outlines. From a distance, they look like observation towers dissolved in the light and fog.
It is also a sense of desolation with bright lights. Unlike Zicheng, Smile Town is not cold.
Pedestrians in the streets and alleys are constantly flowing, and the roads are constantly flowing.
Chi Nan leaned on the car window and looked out, and found that whether these pedestrians were walking alone or walking together, they had the same smiles on their faces as on the posters from beginning to end.
Smile as if carved out of a mold.
"This is too intrusive..." Pei Mo, who was sitting in the back row, shuddered as he looked at the crowd of smiling people.
Chi Nanzao rolled up the car window to avoid eye contact with these strangely smiling pedestrians.
He also noticed that in addition to the neat smiles of everyone in this town, the walls of the buildings are mostly made of glass material. Pedestrians pass by and look at the mirror subconsciously, so countless eyes overlap in the glass wall. Confused.
The streets are also filled with slogans—
"Please keep smiling, treat people politely, and build a happy smiling town"
After the slogan is often graffiti drawn with spray paint, and the picture is also eerie uniform.
The characters on the graffiti are very abstract. The eyes, nose, ears and other organs have been reduced or even omitted. The only existing mouth has been multiplied. torn or cut.
There are also a few graffiti characters whose lips are sewn with fine stitches, as if they had just had cheek-cutting surgery.
Chi Nan took a few glances and looked away. He always liked scenes that ordinary people thought terrifying, but the weird scene in front of him made him uncomfortable.
There is a sense of depression in these propaganda posters, and he hates this kind of unfreedom that is forcibly unified.
"What the hell are these paintings?" Jiang Yu frowned uncomfortably.
Lu Baizhou: "There is an inexplicable sense of sight of a 'black dahlia'."
Everyone: "..." It's even more terrifying to say that.
You Yu drove past the town center square, Chi Nan glanced at the big bronze clock on the square, which showed 0:10.
He turned his head and asked Lu Baizhou, the only one with a watch: "What time is it on your side?"
"0:10." Lu Baizhou quickly looked at his watch and said the truth.
Chi Nan nodded: "Smile Town is the normal flow of time."
Everyone also noticed this and breathed a sigh of relief.
Although it takes six hours to find three corpses, the average time for each corpse is only two hours, which is no different from the welfare home, but six hours sounds very safe.
But it didn't take long for Pei Mo to be dejected: "This town doesn't look small, how can I find the three corpses, where can I find them...?"
Jiang Yu was very calm: "I used the method corresponding to the room number to find the room of Chi Nan's role in the welfare home. I think we can continue to use this method if there are no more clues and ideas."
Lu Baizhou: "You mean, find the corresponding building according to the corresponding room number?"
Jiang Yu nodded: "Let's go to the newsstand to buy a local map, please Mr. Driver." She looked into the rearview mirror and said to You Yu.
You Yu asked Chi Nan's opinion: "What do you think?"
"Just as Jiang Yu said." There are too few known clues now, and the complexity of the town's environment is much greater than that of the orphanage. Chi Nan is not particularly sure of the next step.
You Yu quickly found a newsstand. He had just stopped the car, and the resolute Jiang Yu had already unfastened her seat belt and opened the car door, but as soon as she stepped out of the car, she suddenly stopped: "Your characters are wearing Any change? My wallet is gone."
Hearing this, everyone cooperated and reached out to take out their pockets and trousers, and finally shook their heads helplessly. Their characters were all penniless paupers.
"Then what to do? I don't know if Smile Town can take credit..." Jiang Yu regretted it very much now, knowing that he had taken out the change in his wallet alone.
No one would have thought that in the 404 dungeon background in this wilderness, there would be situations where money would be required.
Chi Nan was silent for a moment, then turned to You Yu: "Can I borrow some money?"
You Yu looked at him with some playfulness: "Borrow?"
Chi Nan: "Don't you have any money?"
You Yu smiled: "Yes, yes, but when will you pay it back? As far as I know, brother is penniless, and it is not easy to make money in the dream world."
Chi Nan: "Does Dawn Base still recruit service personnel?"
You Yu pouted: "There is no such demand for the time being."
He likes to deliberately tease this serious little evil spirit to see what choices and commitments he will make.
Chi Nan thought about it very seriously: "I'll work for you."
You Yu was very interested: "Huh?"
Chi Nan stretched out his hand: "The storage fee for the pocket watch."
You Yu was stunned for a moment, then smiled: "Okay, the deal."
Saying that, he handed his wallet directly to Chi Nan, thinking that this serious little evil spirit is not very good at fooling around.
But for Chi Nan's actions today, he felt a little sense of accomplishment.
Chi Nan opened the wallet and saw a thick stack of hundred-yuan bills. He only took out one of them and returned the wallet to You Yu: "Thank you."
You Yu didn't answer: "You don't have to pay me back."
Chi Nan blinked in confusion: "It doesn't take so much."
You Yu smiled: "Keep it for me together."
Chi Nan was stunned: "Okay."
He didn't think too much about it, and gave several hundred to Jiang Yu, "Is it enough to buy five maps?"
Jiang Yu was a little speechless: "...Absolutely enough."
She took the money and jumped out of the car quickly and walked towards the newsstand by the roadside, "Please bring me five maps of Smile Town, thank you, you don't need to look for the money."
She put a hundred dollars on the newsstand's pile of magazines, whose covers were as uncomfortable as the graffiti on the walls.
This town that worships the standard smile seems to be obsessed with lip-slicing surgery, very perverted.
The old lady at the newsstand had a smile on her face, but her eyes were cold and ruthless. When Jiang Yu met her gaze, she hurriedly pulled the corners of her lips and tried to smile, but when the old lady saw her smile, The expression did not ease because of this, but his eyes became more penetrating.
Seeing that Jiang Yu was very irritable, he wanted to hit her face with a stack of maps.
"What? Am I not paying enough?" Jiang Yu asked impatiently.
The old lady then looked away, turned around and took five maps from the shelf for her.
Two minutes later, the slow-moving old lady handed over the five maps to Jiang Yu.
At the same time, the old lady took out something similar to an infrared cat-friendly stick from somewhere. A rapid red light was shooting right on Jiang Yu's lips, and the infrared light on the old lady's hand made a harsh 'dipping' sound.
Jiang Yu was irritated by her impolite behavior: "What are you doing?!"
The smiling old lady said coldly: "This guest, your smile is not up to standard, I have to give you a violation warning."
Jiang Yu heard that this was part of the rules, so he calmed down and asked cautiously, "May I ask what happens if you receive a warning?"
Old lady: "If you receive one warning, you will be listed as a suspect, but it will not have any real impact; if you receive two warnings, you will be listed as a restless person, and no matter where you go, you will become the supervisor of the town residents. Subject; after the third warning, it will become a dangerous element, and will be forced to clean up by the residents of the entire Smile Town."
"Forced cleanup?" That's definitely not a comfortable phrase.
The old lady pointed to the photo of the cheek cutting surgery on the cover of the magazine: "It's like this."
Jiang Yu's expression changed, and while holding the map, he took a magazine: "Is there enough money?"
The old lady nodded, Jiang Yu hurriedly carried her things back to the car and closed the door tightly. While distributing the map to everyone, she conveyed the words of the old lady of the newsstand to everyone.
"Just smiling is not enough, you have to smile like the people in the town." Jiang Yu concluded with a heavy expression, pointing to the magazine cover, "Otherwise, it will be cleaned up like this."
With just one glance, everyone can vividly imagine the pain of tearing lips and cheeks.
Lu Baizhou sneered: "What is the definition of a standard? Do you have to use a ruler to measure or what?"
The cramped silence spread in the car, and they looked at the smiling pedestrians coming and going outside the car window, only to feel terrified and depressed.
Now in their eyes, these NPCs who are set to be human are much more difficult than evil spirits. After all, Chi Nan has the ability to deal with evil spirits, but he can only do nothing against humans.
Moreover, the walking dead are far more ferocious than real ghosts, and they are more likely to kill each other.
At the same time as the silence, everyone in the car began to look at the magazine, grinning hard and sadly practicing smiling.
The habit of following the rules is contagious, even when faced with absurd and ridiculous rules.
You Yu turned to Chi Nan: "Do you really need me to teach you?"
He imitated Chi Nan just now, and pushed his two fingers up against the corners of his lips, "Brother, this may not meet the standard."
You Yu looked like a mischievous little brother who deliberately imitated his brother's expression and acted like a spoiled brat.
"I can't learn," Chi Nan shook his head, "I think of a way, I try not to make eye contact with them."
He is self-aware of his expression management.
Chi Nan remembered the original words of the toll booth staff at the time, that you must keep smiling politely when you meet strangers in sight.
You Yu put down his fingers and sighed very lightly: "It's a pity."
Although Chi Nan's fingers are so cute that the corners of his lips are pulled up, he is also very interested in Chi Nan's smile without any external force and is looking forward to it.
"Yes! We try to avoid eye contact as much as possible!"
"But in the case of dense crowds, we have the task of looking for the body. It is not easy to avoid eye contact, right? It also affects the progress of the search."
"It might be okay to wear sunglasses!" Lu Baizhou Fuzhi suggested in his heart, "and the light in the town is very bright, so wearing sunglasses should not make you invisible. Even if you really want to find the body carefully, we can take it off when the time comes."
Jiang Yu's face suddenly became clear, and he pointed to the optical shop sign on the map and hurriedly said to You Yu, "Please take us to the optical shop first, probably here, thank you."
The map shows that there is an optical shop on the corner of the street. You Yu is a conscientious driver who turns around immediately after receiving the passenger's demand. Chi Nan carefully counts the banknotes in You Yu's wallet, in his impression. Sunglasses are not cheap, and you have to buy five pairs for this one.
No...you can save your share, after all, this guy's smile is good, and he doesn't need to use external force.
Pei Mo hesitated: "That... If I want to buy sunglasses later, someone has to get out of the car, right? This process... If you accidentally make eye contact with the clerk, who is sure to avoid it successfully, or is confident not to be warned…"
Everyone's faces were complicated, and no one spoke for a while, and Pei Mo added in a low voice, "Anyway, I'm not sure, the muscles on my face are slack when I'm older..."
Chi Nan: "Jiang Yu has already been there once, let's make a decision by casting lots for the remaining three of us."
Lu Baizhou immediately agreed: "Okay, this is the fairest way now."
Pei Mo was obviously reluctant, but he didn't dare to reject Chi Nan's proposal. Lu Baizhou looked at him and sneered, "Even if it's your turn, if you receive a warning, you won't be cleaned up. Why panic?"
Pei Mo mumbled: "Don't panic, you go down? Really."
Here, Chi Nan has taken out the sticky notes and pens from the armrest box, tore off three sheets of paper, drew a circle on one of them, and folded the other two blanks into small squares in turn, holding them in his hand and was about to shake them.
Pei Mo: "Wait a minute, since we want to be fair, let's be more thorough and let Jiang Yu shake us for three draws."
"No problem." Chi Nan was about to hand the piece of paper to Jiang Yu, when You Yu had already reached out his hand.
"Let me come, I'm an outsider, the most fair," You Yu raised his eyelids and looked at Pei Mo, "Are you right?"
The moment he received You Yu's sight, Pei Mo shivered in fright: "Yes, very right."
You Yu put on gloves, smiled and took the piece of paper handed by Chi Nan, and shook it in his hand.
"Okay, let's draw lots." He opened his palms to the three of them.