Chapter 1033: This Place Suits You
Lin Sanjiu furrowed her brows slightly and peeked out the window.
In what felt like the blink of an eye, the sky had already turned into a deep purplish-blue, devoid of any stars amidst the dark clouds. Under the cover of night, the various piles of garbage in the distance transformed into black silhouettes resembling hills.
"Where are you going?"
Perhaps sensing her doubt, the round-bellied man hurriedly steadied his breathing. "I... I have to go to work... There's a lot of garbage that needs to be moved and recycled after it gets soaked in water to prevent losing its reuse value. It was hard for me to do it in heavy rain... I-I mean, the company will send people over soon. You'd better leave quickly..."
If she believed in such a clumsy cover-up, Lin Sanjiu wouldn't have survived until today. But instead of exposing his lies, she had a better idea. She looked up, and coincidentally, Bohemia also glanced at her. When their eyes met, they both wore a knowing expression.
Releasing the hostages immediately would be too suspicious.
"A team of about ten people is coming. They have trucks and compactor vehicles. They're expected to arrive as soon as the rain stops!" The round-bellied man increased his pace, afraid that she wouldn't believe him. "If you want to avoid being caught, you can go west from here. It's less than a hundred kilometers to the border... If you go abroad, they won't catch the mentally ill."
"You go and collect some things that we can use," Lin Sanjiu immediately instructed Bohemia as they stood up.
She looked down at the round-bellied man, and in a flash, her short knife disappeared from her hand. She tore down the curtain, pulling it off the rod. "As for you, for safety's sake, just lie here a little longer. After all, your colleagues will be here soon, right?"
The round-bellied man took a deep breath but didn't end up with a chance to respond. Lin Sanjiu stuffed the torn curtain fabric into his mouth. It was only after they had rummaged through everything and left that he could even start to come to terms with what had happened. He lay motionless in the darkness, dumbfounded.
He really hadn't lied. After about fifteen minutes, a convoy slowly entered the junkyard.
The glaring headlights cut through the night, and as the convoy advanced, piles of garbage continuously appeared and disappeared in the light beams. The roar of the engines and the blaring of horns stirred the night, and the shadows of the massive functional trucks seemed like moving hills. When they approached the buildings, a head poked out from the driver's seat, "Hey! Old Da!"
"Mm!" came a muffled groan from inside the house, but it was drowned out by the engine noise. Someone got out of the car and knocked on the door, only to find it open. Inside, they discovered the potbellied man, tied up in a bundle.
"T-They are... two mentally ill people," the round-bellied man, still struggling from being bound for so long, walked with a limp. "Yes, the two from the television. What, did they leave? Of course they left! I told them people would be coming soon... you idiots! They won't inform the police. Hurry up, there are more important matters at hand!"
Lin Sanjiu and Bohemia, sitting in the shadows behind the water tank, exchanged silent smiles upon hearing his words.
The potbellied man had exposed himself without realizing it. Although he had said that anyone who discovered the "mentally ill" must immediately report it to the police, when Lin Sanjiu and Bohemia had just teleported to this junkyard, he had used every means to drive them away but never called the police.
Now, the current situation further confirmed their speculation: this garbage recycling company was indeed involved in some shady activities that they didn't want to exposed.
Crime was often a way to reveal the essence of a society.
Taking advantage of the night and shadows, the two of them moved silently like ghosts and circled around to the back of the convoy. With her growing familiarity with her Hypersensory State, Lin Sanjiu could even walk next to the men without being noticed. As she took a step forward, it would coincide with the swaying of the person blocking her, and by the time the person noticed anything, she would have already disappeared into the shadows again. The gleaming metallic garbage behind her, reflecting the blurry silhouettes of people, easily dispelled any suspicions that might have arisen.
When they crouched down behind the massive crane excavator, Bohemia whispered, "I want to learn how to do that too!"
"Sure," Lin Sanjiu dismissed her nonchalantly, then shifted her attention back to the group of men.
The convoy consisted of four vehicles: two excavators, one loader, and one compactor. They seemed to know exactly where their target was located, as they didn't even spare a glance at the other piles of garbage along the way. They continued straight through the junkyard, heading directly for the farthest edge.
The junkyard was vast, and even though Lin Sanjiu had driven around inside before, there were still areas she hadn't explored. The convoy had been driving for twenty to thirty minutes, gradually approaching the edge of the junkyard. The engines roared as beams of strong light illuminated the garbage hills scattered across the ground.
It turned out that they had done some garbage sorting here... Lin Sanjiu covered her nose and thought to herself.
Unlike the jumbled mess of garbage earlier, this area only contained kitchen waste, paper products, and wood waste. This meant that after being soaked in rain, the stench was so strong that it made her wonder if someone had punched her nose—
Bohemia suddenly approached quietly.
"There are bodies below."
Lin Sanjiu turned her head and saw her wrinkling her nose. Despite her face turning pale from the stench, her expression was firm. "In this smell... there's a strong odor of corpses mixed in."
With that reminder, Lin Sanjiu endured the discomfort and carefully identified it. She faintly detected the terrifying scent of corpses beneath the putrid odor of kitchen waste decay—
"Why haven't they come out yet?" a driver shouted amidst the engine noise.
Old Da, sitting on another loader, extended his short and chubby hand and waved it heavily. "They must be coming soon! Just be patient."
"Have you ever done this before?"
"Who the hell hasn't had a first time?" Old Da cursed, covering his nose. "This is a big job. The manager has been preparing for a long time. There won't be any problems."
Everyone fell silent, and for a while, only the buzzing of the engines could be heard, as beams of bright light from the company swept across the garbage piles.
"Could it be the zombie virus?" Bohemia crouched behind the engine, feeling unhappy. She shifted around a few times and covered her mouth. "There must be bodies down there, and they're waiting for something to come out... Could they be trying to cultivate zombies? Maybe this world is really screwed up."
It sounded reasonable, but it didn't seem to match with name of the world.
Lin Sanjiu remained silent—mainly because she felt that if she opened her mouth, the pungent smell would slide down her throat like a piece of rotten tofu. Apparently unable to tolerate the smell, the workers lit cigarettes one after another and took deep drags. They waited for a long time together, but nothing "came out" from the garbage pile.
"How strange."
Old Da seemed to finally become uncertain. After hesitating for a while, he ordered, "The loaders were prepared for this, right? Come on, all of you drive over here, be careful, and clear away the top layer of garbage."
As the loaders rumbled forward, Lin Sanjiu and Bohemia skillfully slid down and hid in different areas where the garbage was piled up. All the light beams were focused on the massive pile with the bodies under it, and none shone toward the back. They were completely hidden in darkness, and even if they took a few steps outside, it was unlikely anyone would notice them.
The two loaders worked side by side, their speed not slow at all. The two enormous shovels rose and fell, digging away more and more garbage. After a while, the dark ground and pale human figures were uncovered—
Even though they were posthumans who had seen many corpses, the two of them didn't expect to find so many bodies hidden beneath this garbage mountain. A thin layer of garbage still clung to them, and the bodies were entangled, limbs intertwined, lying on the ground as if someone had woven a thick net of flesh. Some still had clothes on, while others had fallen apart from the mold and mildew. As for the flesh, it emitted an ever-increasing odor of decay.
And this was only a small portion of the bodies that had been uncovered. Under the yet-to-be-lifted garbage mountain, who knew how many more bodies were waiting to be "developed." The loaders were indeed cautious, avoiding direct contact with the bodies with each scoop, not even scratching their skin.
'How many bodies were there? Dozens? Hundreds?
'Did this garbage recycling company really want to cultivate zombies? Did these people kill them?'
Lin Sanjiu thought to herself. She slightly leaned out of her hiding spot and carefully observed the bodies under the bright light beams.
It seemed that there were more elderly people than she had imagined...
With just a glance, she spotted several gray-haired heads. Most of the bodies showed no obvious signs of injury, except for occasional bruises in shades of purple and blue. They didn't look like they had died violently. She even saw a few faces that appeared calm, as if they were peacefully sleeping.
In the next second, her breath caught in her throat.
At the same time, Bohemia's shadow straightened up—the two of them couldn't believe their eyes. They stood still, stunned for a few seconds before finally processing what they had just witnessed.
Among the sea of bodies, one person's black leather outfit emitted a faint glow under the light beams. His face was pale, his body frail, and his chest remained still without any movement— at first glance, he didn't look like a person, nor did he look like a corpse. Instead, he resembled a doll that had never possessed life in the first place.
Puppeteer had been transported there too!
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