Peach Blossom Spring

Chapter 3: Hidden guard

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"What do you think it is?" asked the old man.

"I don't feel anything right now," Qiu Shi flicked his finger on the screen, "Delete this part from Li Datou's copy, and also delete the part that shows me."

“Didn’t I say I wouldn’t delete yours?” the old man started to operate.

"That girl is quite smart," Qiu Shi said. "She may not have forgotten the length. She knew there was something wrong when she deleted just that part."

The old man shook his head: "Most people wouldn't be this careful if they weren't prepared."

"I want to use this to negotiate with the Security Bureau," Qiu Shi leaned back in his chair and swayed slightly, "I have to make sure that no one else but me notices this thing before I give it to him."

The old man stopped what he was doing and turned to look at him.

"Just don't think of yourself as a human being." Qiu Shi waved his hand at him.

"It's okay if you don't want to be a human being. There's no point in being a human being anyway," the old man said, "but I want to share some of the benefits."

Qiu Shi frowned.

"Then kill me." said the old man.

"What do you want?" Qiu Shi asked.

"Map," said the old man.

"Get lost," Qiu Shi stood up. "If Li Feng wants a map, you should just take the map. Why are you joining in the fun?"

"I want something different," said the old man. "Just find me a railway map. Any kind of map will do."

"Railway?" Qiu Shi asked.

"Like this," the old man took out a piece of plastic map from an iron box next to him and handed it to him, "Do you see it clearly? It's different from what Li Feng wanted."

Many people are collecting the maps before everything started, for different purposes. Most of them are for collection, as they are valuable, and some are for finding other places of refuge.

This seemed very mysterious to Qiu Shi, after all, there were refugees who found Yuncheng with a map.

The map that Li Feng wanted was a little different. It contained the locations and structures of various special underground buildings. However, Li Feng had corrected him before, saying that those could not be called maps, but should be called something else. Qiu Shi was not interested.

He has lived here ever since he could remember. It is this kind of sky, this kind of wind, this kind of mountain, this kind of world, and these are the rules.

As for the rest.

"Who cares?" Qiu Shi said, "These are things that no longer exist."

When he went downstairs, he looked up and met Li Datou's anxious gaze. Qiu Shi threw the memory in his hand over to him.

Li Datou was indeed a loser from the inner city. He tried to catch it with both hands but failed. The memory stick hit his face and then fell into the girl's hands.

The girl turned around and stretched out her hand to him: "Deng Ye Ye, just call me Old Deng."

Probably meant to high-five.

Qiu Shifei would not have too much interaction with someone who might be in trouble. He just glanced at her hand and turned to go to the bar.

After a few drinks, they left the pub.

When leaving, the boss gave Zhao Lu two bottles of wine, saying they were good stuff from the inner city.

When the boss dies, he hopes to be burned instead of being thrown into the endless cave outside the city like garbage. This can only be done by the corpse collectors.

"Burn me too." said Hu Xiaoling.

"Yeah," Zhao Lu nodded, then turned around and said, "Brother Shi, what about you? Do you want to be burned?"

"Make it into a specimen and place it next to your bed for display." Qiu Shi said.

When we returned to the corpse collector's bunker outside the city, the sky in the distance had begun to turn white.

Everyone else was still sleeping, but Captain Xiao Lei was standing on their path with two people.

"Do you usually stay out all night like this?" He asked before Qiu Shi could speak.

"Are you in love with me?" Qiu Shi asked.

Xiao Lei was stunned.

"How long have you been waiting for me here?" Qiu Shi said as he walked inside. "Come on, come to my room."

"Qiu Shi!" Xiao Lei was a little annoyed, and his voice suddenly rose. "Can you and your people cooperate with my work? Do you really think you are the boss?"

Zhao Lu sighed.

Just as Xiao Lei was trying to figure out the meaning of his sigh, Qiu Shi had already kicked him in the chest, sending him flying backwards. Hu Xiaoling reached out to grab him twice but failed.

Without waiting for Xiao Lei to catch his breath, Qiu Shi pulled him up from the ground again and swung him onto the rock next to him.

The kicking and throwing made Xiao Lei lie on the ground and he kicked his legs several times but couldn't stand up.

"I'm the boss here," Qiu Shi stood in front of him. The two blows didn't even change his breathing. His voice was calm, "But I'm reasonable. If you don't bother me, I won't hit you."

Xiao Lei didn't say anything.

Qiu Shi turned and entered the bunker, and only then did the two people led by Xiao Lei dare to go over and help him.

"What's wrong with this guy?" Zhao Lu was a little confused. "Why send such an idiot to such a complicated place outside the city?"

"Li Feng's enemy, probably," Hu Xiaoling said, "sent here to get beaten."

"Are you really going to investigate something?" Zhao Lu frowned. "What can you find out about someone like this?"

"Maybe they are investigating us." said Qiu Shi.

"Why?" Zhao Lu was anxious. "We have been doing the dirtiest jobs and living the hardest lives these years. We are uncomfortable even going to the outer city, let alone the inner city. And they don't care about anything..."

"That's it," Hu Xiaoling said, "We are not under their jurisdiction."

"Really?" Zhao Lu looked at Qiu Shi.

"Hmm?" Qiu Shi also looked at him.

"Are you pretending to be stupid?" Zhao Lu asked.

"I am really stupid sometimes," said Qiu Shi.

After the "Jungle" passed through, the damage reports from various parts of Yuncheng have been summarized and placed on the table. The Security Bureau needs to arrange supplies and personnel to these places according to their urgency. These are Li Feng's jobs.

Li Feng called his secretary in: "Let's do these things that I have already signed. I have to go to the warehouse later. I will not be in the office all afternoon."

"Do you want to meet the body collector? I see it's in the itinerary." asked the secretary.

"Yes." Li Feng nodded, "By the way, let's find out what happened outside the city yesterday."

The secretary looked down at the documents in his hand and said, "There is a big shortage of workers in the forest."

"Find someone from outside the city to come in," Li Feng said. "Singles are preferred. Ask the company's engineering department for the specific number of people."

"Okay." The secretary went out.

Li Feng glanced at the time. Qiu Shi was a punctual person, so it should be almost time. He got up and left the office.

Qiu Shi changed his clothes and stood at the gate of the inner city, waiting for the guards to check his pass.

For many refugees, the gate to this city in the clouds is the Great Black Mountain, a mountain that can block all kinds of disasters and dangers, and can also block everyone.

However, the real gate of Yuncheng is actually in the inner city, on the side and rear of the Big Black Mountain. It can be seen from afar after passing through the tunnel, but it cannot be seen when you get closer, because the gate symbol, the three stone statues, are standing on the cliff.

The original scope of Yuncheng was the inner city. Later, in order to accommodate the continuous influx of refugees, it gradually expanded to the outer city.

Qiu Shi raised his head and looked upward.

These three are the creators of Cloud City. The one on the left is the person in charge of Cloud City Mining, the one in the middle is the first general, and the one on the right is a secret guard, but the stone statue’s head has been chopped off.

One of the creators of Cloud City, which does not allow biological organisms to exist or enter, is a hidden guard.

Qiu Shi went to school for a few days. The school mainly taught various skills and also introduced history, but not in much detail. However, Qiu Shi studied very seriously.

According to the records in the book, biochemical organisms were entrusted with important tasks because their abilities and resistances far exceeded those of humans, but some of them chose to betray when the disaster occurred. After humans destroyed most of the rebels, they left behind a small number of biochemical organisms to perform guard work, that is, submerged guards.

However, the uncontrollability of biochemical bodies could never be resolved. Their characteristics, which were infinitely close to those of humans but not human, led to the Submarines being eliminated eventually because they posed a threat to human survival. Cloud City no longer allowed any biochemical bodies to exist or enter.

But regarding this part, who is the righteous side between humans and the subterranean guards, the official and private opinions are different.

Of course, the so-called folk sayings, for Qiu Shi, are just the old man’s sayings.

The old man stood firmly on the side of the Qianwei, full of distrust for the company.

"Because we have been there," the old man said.

Qiu Shi chose to believe a little bit of both, but not completely, after all, he only lived for the present. The company was naturally untrustworthy, and there was no one as old as him who could corroborate the old man's words.

In order to enter the inner city, Qiu Shi needed to be "summoned" by the Security Bureau, and his activity area was also restricted. Normally, he could only go from the inner city gate to the Security Bureau warehouse to pick up some miscellaneous items, such as car repair tools, non-lethal weapons, simple protective gear and the like.

Begging with a license is a yes.

The guard checked and approved his pass. The guard's surname was Lu, and he was quite familiar with Qiu Shi, so the inspection was quite fast. The delivery truck at the warehouse was also waiting there.

When Qiu Shi was about to go over, another guard glanced at the inspection machine and said with some disdain: "The corpse collector."

Qiu Shi turned and looked at him.

"What are you looking at?" The guard also looked at him.

"Are you new here?" Qiu Shi asked.

"Come in." Guard Lu nodded at him.

"What are you looking at? Why do you care if I'm new here?" said the new guard.

"Recognize your face," Qiu Shi smiled, "I'll collect your body tonight."

The new guard glared and was about to come over, but was stopped by Guard Lu: "He is Qiu Shi."

Then he turned to Qiu Shi and repeated in a raised voice: "You come in!"

Qiu Shi turned around, walked through the gate, and got on the delivery truck.

Today he did not simply go to ask Li Feng for a meal because he did not want to waste time. In the past, his plan today would be to attack the police, attack the new idiot, and then go to jail for three days.

I'm very familiar with it. I don't know how many times I've done it.

The Security Bureau's warehouse is located in the center of the inner city, inside a single-peaked mountain. It has several floors and goes deep underground. It was the former mine of a mining company.

However, although the warehouse is in the center of the inner city, the delivery vehicles will not pass through the central road, but will go through the Tanxia District at the edge of the inner city. When the vehicles pass by on the small road, they can hear the impact of the huge waterfalls in the distance.

Drive all the way into the warehouse, then into the transport warehouse, and all the way down to the bottom floor of the warehouse. Li Feng is already waiting there.

Seeing Qiu Shi getting off the car, he turned around and walked inside and asked, "What do you need?"

"Gun." said Qiu Shi.

Li Feng looked back at him and said, "Corpse collectors are not allowed to carry guns."

"Why?" Qiu Shi said.

"Except for the military, even the people in the company don't have guns in the outer city. That's the rule." Li Feng said.

Qiu Shi didn't say anything.

Li Feng stood still and turned around: "Use the ones you have if you can. If I pretend not to know, you should know better and don't push my luck."

Qiu Shi smiled, leaned against the shelf next to him and said nothing.

"What's missing?" Li Feng asked again.

"Bullets." said Qiu Shi.

Li Feng almost couldn't control his expression, his eyebrows jumped several times because of anger: "It is said that the corpse collectors should be recruited. I think this is true."

"So this is Captain Xiao's job, right?" Qiu Shi asked, "He said he wanted to check, but he didn't leave the bunker all day, just staring at my people and thinking about them."

"Where is what I want?" Li Feng did not answer his question directly.

"I didn't bring it." said Qiu Shi.

Li Feng's face darkened, and his originally gentle eyes suddenly showed a sting: "Qiu Shi, you need to figure out why you can stand here and talk to me..."

"Look at this." Qiu Shi took out a storage device and threw it on the cargo box next to him.

Li Feng stared at him for a long time before reaching out to take the memory card and put it into the portable reading device. The video projected on the cargo box was not clear, but the clip Qiu Shi gave him was a clip that the old man had enlarged from the video. Although it was blurry, Li Feng's reaction proved that he could still tell what it was at a glance.

"Is he a secret agent?" Qiu Shi asked.

"Where are you from?" Li Feng asked.

"It was taken from the video at the end." said Qiu Shi.

Li Feng looked at the next video again.

"Hello everyone, I'm Li Datou, I'm fine..."

The moment Li Datou's face appeared in the video, Qiu Shi saw Li Feng was stunned, and then his brows furrowed.

"Do you know him?" Qiu Shi smiled.

"This Li... Big Head," Li Feng turned off the video and put away the storage device, "In his hand..."

"I've cleared out my copy from him," Qiu Shi said. "Now there are only two copies, one for each of us."

"You want a gun?" Li Feng asked.

"I just wanted a gun originally," Qiu Shi said as he took out a piece of paper from his pocket, "but I suddenly realized that this Li Datou should have some background, and you should be able to do a lot with it, so..."

He handed over the paper: "Now I've changed my mind, I want these again."

"Change your mind?" Li Feng stared at him, "Didn't you write this a long time ago?"

“That’s true,” Qiu said, “but I never thought I’d really have the chance to use it.”

Li Feng took the paper and looked at it: "Cellphone? What cellphone?"

"The old-fashioned kind," Qiu Shi gestured, "the square kind."

"What do you want that for?" Li Feng said, "You can't do anything with that thing."

"Play." Qiu Shi said, "You can also take photos and videos."

"Is this considered corpse collecting equipment?" Li Feng said.

"The things I gave you can only be exchanged for corpse collection equipment?" Qiu Shi asked, "Have I ever scolded you for being cruel to your face?"

"Yes." Li Feng put the note into his pocket. "There are a lot of things. I will have someone deliver them tonight. You can ask someone to receive them at the tunnel entrance."

"Yeah." Qiu Shi nodded, stood up and prepared to leave.

"Qiu Shi." Li Feng called him.

Qiu Shi stopped.

"You're not as..." Li Feng threw a pack of cigarettes to him, "Powerful."

"Oh." Qiu Shi responded.

The playback equipment in the conference room was very clear. The lurking guard who flashed by and the words "Hello everyone, I am Li Datou" appeared repeatedly on the screen.

The three people in the room looked at the screen in silence.

When Li Datou said "Hello everyone" for the twenty-seventh time, Director Zhang of the City Defense Bureau turned off the video with a gloomy face, ending the brainwashing-like cycle.

"If Sihai sends the video directly," Li Feng frowned, looking worried, "it would be troublesome..."

"Has the source of the video been cut off?" Director Zhang interrupted him rudely.

"Which source?" Li Feng was very calm.

"Nonsense!" Director Zhang lowered his voice, "Did he strangle Zhang Sihai?"

"There's no need to pinch Qiu Shi, he won't tell anyone," Li Feng glanced at the man who had been sitting in a corner of the conference room without saying a word, "He will be of great use."

This person is Director Wu of the History Exhibition Hall.

The exhibition hall preserves various objects and documents related to the history of Yuncheng for everyone to visit and study.

Of course, this is just a superficial function. If it were just this, Director Wu would not be sitting here.

"Old Wu, what do you think?" Director Zhang turned and looked at him.

"I still agree with my original opinion," Director Wu said, "This matter is not something that a secret guard of that level can solve. If you delay it any further, more accidents will happen. It was Li Feng who stopped him this time, otherwise you might not be able to keep your position as Director."

"The problem over there is very serious," Li Feng said. "Now they are trying to lure people in to block the forest in the name of repairing the damage to the 'jungle'. Once those people from the outer city find out that none of the people who came in have gone back, it will be difficult to deal with them."

Director Zhang glanced at Li Feng and said nothing.

"Let's change people." Director Wu said.

"Xing Bi?" Li Feng asked.

When this name came out, Director Zhang and Director Wu looked at him at the same time. Although the three of them knew in their hearts that it was Xing Bi they were talking about, when they actually said it, even Li Feng himself was a little hesitant.

"There is no guarantee that he is 100% controllable, and the general will not approve it," said Director Zhang.

"He must be 100% controllable," said Li Feng.

Director Wu lowered his head and remained silent for a long time, as if thinking, and finally raised his head: "It will take at least 24 hours."

"Can we take a look?" Director Zhang glanced at Li Feng, "I need to confirm."

Li Feng understood what he meant, so he followed up with a sentence: "I second the motion."

"I need to ask for instructions." Director Wu said.

Perhaps because the situation was urgent this time, the company and the general approved their request three hours later.

This is the second time Li Feng has come here since he joined the Security Bureau. The last time he came here was as the assistant director of the Security Bureau.

Historical exhibition hall, storage place for heavy weapons.

The transport cabin kept going down, making creaking noises and shaking slightly.

He would not want to come here unless it was necessary. This place made him feel very uncomfortable, suffocating and depressing. Staying here for a few hours would make it difficult for people to tell day from night.

Li Feng leaned against the wall and said, "Director Wu, you can apply to the Security Bureau for maintenance of the transport cabin. It will be approved in two hours."

"Hmm?" Director Wu looked at him.

"This thing needs to be fixed," Li Feng said, "It's not worth it to kill three important people with one thing."

"It involves security issues," said Director Wu. "We can't just do it casually."

Security issues.

It is estimated that during the sinking process, there are other confidential spaces outside the bulkhead.

"I'm writing a will." Li Feng took out a piece of paper from his pocket, opened it and found that it was the list that Qiu Shi had given him before. He let out a click of the tongue and put it back into his pocket.

"We're here. Let's write some more before we go back." Director Wu said.

Walking out of the teleportation cabin, there is a tunnel. Different from the common tunnels in Cloud City, this tunnel has not been leveled, but it has been reinforced with special materials. The whole space has a metallic luster, and there are three heavy protective doors that require on-site authorization to open. No matter what is locked in here, it seems to be locked in hell.

The inside of the protective door is spacious, with a laboratory style. There are two rows of rooms in a corridor on the side, where the controllable submersibles, which are the ones captured in Zhang Sihai's video, "live".

"Hello everyone, I am Li Datou..."

Li Feng quickly shook his head.

Inside the booth-like glass cover in the middle of the laboratory is the submerged guard that must be 100% controllable within 24 hours.

Without any physical restraints, the man sat on the chair in the middle, upright yet relaxed, with his head lowered as if he was asleep.

"He can't see us. The glass is one-sided." Director Wu walked to the control console, tapped the microphone, and greeted the person inside, "Xing Bi."

Xing Bi did not respond.

After waiting for a while, when Director Wu leaned closer to the microphone and was about to speak again, Xing Bi suddenly moved and slowly raised his head.

Although the glass was one-sided, when he looked up, his sight was still accurately looking in the direction of the three people.

This kind of "eye contact" made Li Feng feel uncomfortable instantly, as if he had a strong sense of oppression. He moved to the side and stood behind Director Zhang.

"Good evening, everyone." Xing Bi said.

There was no trace of murderous intent in the slightly hoarse voice.

The author has something to say:

Oh yeah! That man has a name!

I originally wanted to take a day off tomorrow, but since Xing Bi is about to appear, I can’t stop, so I will still update tomorrow.