1983 Double Dragons City
“It is the entire world… that has been wrong?”
Han Te and Liu Li did not expect Li Yao to give such an answer. Complicated feelings beamed out of their eyes that had been bulged wide. Looking at the bloodstained lake, Han Te summoned his courage and said, “If our belief is wrong, we can change it. What are we going to do if the world is wrong?”
Li Yao smiled. “What do you think?”
Han Te and Liu Li both fell silent.
After the fierce battle, or rather, after spending half a month with Li Yao, the two little fellows had grown a lot. They had vaguely touched the truth of the Land of Sins, and they better saw the hope that they had been searching for and never given up on.
Han Te mumbled, “Can the world be changed?”
“Didn’t Liu Li’s mother try to change the world?” Li Yao said.
“But she failed.”
“Did she?”
Han Te and Liu Li looked at each other and descended into deep thought again.
Li Yao chuckled and changed the topic. “Let me ask you a question. If the truth about the Land of Sins is not as simple as it appears to be, just as Leader Gu said, and deeper darkness and evils are hiding behind the scarred Land of Sins, the world of the angels may not be the paradise that you imagine but a place even more dreadful than here. In that case, will you still search for Manjusaka?”
Han Te thought carefully for a long time. Then he clenched his fists and nodded heavily. “Yes. In any case, I will certainly go to the City in the Sky to find my sister and figure out the truth about Judgment Day and Land of Sins!”
“I’m going there, too!” Liu Li held her chest high and spoke determinedly. “I’m going to the City in the Sky to find a way to pave the Gold Barley across the entire Land of Sins. Also, I will ask the ‘angels’ what mistakes we have made for us to deserve the torture of such a fate. If they truly mean to help us, why do they have to choose such a cruel method? We are human beings, not sinners. Even if our ancestors once committed unpardonable crimes, it has nothing to do with us!”
“Therefore…” the two little fellows said at the same time, “we are definitely going to the City in the Sky to find out the truth!”
Looking at the two little fellows who were so solemn that their eyes had almost frozen into crystals, Li Yao could not help but feel amused. “Alright. After the issues in the Village of Peace come to an end, let’s set off and find a way to go to Manjusaka together!”
“Grandpa, are you going to the City in the Sky, too?” asked Han Te curiously.
“Have you recalled something from your past and are looking for something in the City in the Sky?” Liu Li asked.
Li Yao was slightly dazed. Then he smiled and said, “Yes. It’s true that I’m going to the City in the Sky to search for something. But more importantly, it is about making certain ‘sc.u.mbags’ pay for everything they did!”
Li Yao’s killing intent pierced through the iron sh.e.l.l, condensing into tentacles with tusks and sharp claws around him. The two little fellows could not help but feel as if their internal organs were constricting. They shuddered in fear and said, “Grandpa Yao.”
Li Yao’s soul spread out feeble ripples. It appeared that fighting against the many tough bandits of the two gangs on his own last night had been too burdensome after all. His soul was somewhat exhausted, and he could barely control his killing intent.
Calming himself down, Li Yao said, “Let’s go to Warehouse No. 3. You can give me a hand and help me strengthen the sh.e.l.l with the fragments of the crystal suits collected just now. Also, find a large, sealed cabinet that has tires or tracks below it and load it with crystal bombs and ammunition. Then, connect the cabinet to my body. Life’s troublesome without Cosmos Rings.”
Han Te and Liu Li were confused. “A mobile, sealed cabinet that is fully loaded with crystal bombs and ammunition? Are you going to war, Grandpa Yao? Where?”
“To solve the problems of the Village of Peace, of course,” Li Yao said casually. “I need to pay Double Dragons Valley a visit.”
…
The Double Dragons Valley, as its name suggested, was made of two mountains that looked like furious dragons.
The two mountains extended into countless branches. They were rough and steep. The highest parts were more than three thousand meters long and scourged by tempests all year long. The deep valley was as complicated as a maze and rife with interconnected caves, which allegedly led to the deepest level of h.e.l.l. Those places were also frequented by the most ferocious mutated reptiles. Even if an unparalleled expert dropped into them, the only outcome for them would be becoming a pile of dry bones in the caves.
The two mountains, named Green Dragon and Red Dragon, were like two walls that rose high into the sky and separated the Thousand Lakes Area, where the Village of Peace was located, from the b.l.o.o.d.y Plateau Area to the northwest of the mountain, which was more prosperous and compet.i.tive. At the joint of the two mountains, perhaps due to the conflicts of the tectonic structure, a narrow, long, and flat valley had been generated, which was known as Double Dragons Valley.
Double Dragons Valley was an important road that connected the Thousand Lakes Area and the b.l.o.o.d.y Plateau Area. If anyone chose to climb Green Dragon Mountain or Red Dragon Mountain instead of taking the road, they would have to walk thousands more kilometers at much greater risk.
The Land of Sins was terribly barren. Other than the mutated beasts that were everywhere in the wilderness, there was barely any yield. Everybody’s life depended on the blessings from the angels.
When the angels sprayed the relief a.s.sets, they were often highly imbalanced. It was often the case that daily necessities were thrown to different coordinates that were very far away from each other.
Therefore, a strong demand for resource communication had been generated, which resulted in the prosperity of business and commerce. Even the atrocious b.l.o.o.d.y Worlds could not stop the commercial teams from travelling all over the world. Or rather, in the b.l.o.o.d.y Worlds, commercial teams and gangs were essentially the same thing, and the role could be switched at any moment.
Since the Double Dragons City was a hub that connected the Thousand Lakes Area and the b.l.o.o.d.y Plateau Area, countless commercial teams inevitably had to pa.s.s the place. Although the strong experts did not fear the magnificence and steepness of the two mountains, it was impossible for them to carry the goods that weighed hundreds of tons while they climbed the mountains.
The many gangs lurking in Double Dragons City at the center of Double Dragons Valley, taking the advantage of the terrain, were themselves large commercial groups that sold dangerous a.s.sets. They had also deployed checkpoints to levy a steep tax on the pa.s.sersby. The black markets that were of a reasonably large scale attracted the sinners from the Thousand Lakes Area and the b.l.o.o.d.y Plateau Area to trade. In such a case, the daily income was already astronomical. An abnormally prosperous city was gradually built on the devastated, disaster-stricken Land of Sins.
At noon, the sunlight was so dazzling that it was practically impossible to keep one’s eyes open.
However, even if the sunlight was ten times stronger, it would not be able to illuminate Neltharion, which was lurking in midair in the stealth mode.
Li Yao’s soul and the mental devil both crammed into Neltharion and observed Double Dragons City from above. The iron sh.e.l.l that was strengthened and modified with the components of the crystal suits had been hidden inside an inconspicuous ravine.
Double Dragons City must have been an enormous center of trade a thousand years ago. Although it had been completely destroyed in Judgment Day, a lot of splendid buildings were still left behind, reminding the offspring of the city’s past glory and prosperity.
A large area of buildings inside Double Dragons City had been abandoned, but the central district had been greatly upgraded. All the buildings there had been strengthened with rebar and iron plates, and a lot of bunkers and shooting holes had been installed, transforming them into dense iron fortresses. It could also be seen that countless tanks, shuttles, and unmanned crystal cameras were patrolling everywhere.
Looking from the above, Li Yao also discovered a lot of brawny, intimidating men who all carried blades and guns. They could not have looked more ferocious.
Han Te had told Li Yao that there were more than ten gangs in Double Dragons City and almost ten thousand elites. They were all well-trained, fearless bandits. People like Fei Zhong were everywhere there.
Li Yao had also learned that there was also the cla.s.sification of the Refinement Stage, the Building Foundation Stage, the Core Formation Stage, and the Nascent Soul Stage in the Land of Sins. The experts in the Core Formation Stage were not rare in the b.l.o.o.d.y Worlds, and those in the Nascent Soul Stage were not just tales, either.
Also, what the sinners in the Land of Sins trained themselves with were the most dominating and risky arts. While the odds of injury and death were appallingly high, the power of such arts was often much greater than the regular arts if the trainers miraculously grasped them.
Therefore, the combat ability of the sinners in the Land of Sins could not simply be cla.s.sified by their levels. It was possible for experts in Core Formation Stage to have some ultimate skills or some powerful but highly unstable magical equipment, which could be a fatal threat for both their enemy and themselves once activated.
In other words, the b.l.o.o.d.y Worlds were places where the lunatics who practiced ‘evil arts’ gathered. Li Yao naturally could not rush into Double Dragons City blatantly to confront almost ten thousand such lunatics.
Moreover, besides the almost ten thousand tough bandits in Double Dragons City, countless commercial teams pa.s.sed by the place every day. Those ‘commercial teams’ who travelled among the b.l.o.o.d.y Worlds openly were certainly unparalleled bandits themselves.
“There are about ten famous gangs in Double Dragons City. The Red Fire Gang and the Black Water Gang are certainly the best,” the mental devil said. “The Red Fire Gang is a seasoned gang with decades of history. Their main business is the black market and the arena in Double Dragons City. When the tough bandits have nothing better to do, they always gamble and fight in the arenas. Such businesses are endless sources of wealth that cannot be stopped.
“The Black Water Gang, on the other hand, only rose in recent years. They only grew under the nose of the Red Fire Gang due to trading in exhilarants and slaves.
“It is said that the Black Water Gang has connections with a few major cities in the b.l.o.o.d.y Plateau Area. One of them is even an Elysian World that leads directly to the Heavenly Rails. They have imported abundant exhilarants from the city, which could drive anyone crazy and even significantly build up their bodies!
“I estimate that the exhilarants are intentionally sent to the Land of Sins for testing by the Immortal Cultivators. However, the life in the Land of Sins is difficult and hopeless. The sinners who struggle to survive have a high demand on the exhilarants.
“The Black Water Gang get countless exhilarants from the cities in the b.l.o.o.d.y Plateau Area and send sinners from the Thousand Lakes Area to the b.l.o.o.d.y Plateau Area as slaves. How can they not be rich?”