Walking the Path of a Workaholic in Cliché Novels (QT) Chapter 126

Cold sweat ran down his back. The noises around him quieted down and he could only hear his own heartbeat. An Yinong raised his hands: “I don’t know if you are asking for money or something else, money, house, luxury cars and watches, I can provide better, and it is completely legal.”

Seeing that the person behind him didn’t say anything and the thing on his back didn’t move, An Yinong continued, “If you make ill-gotten gains, you have to hide from place to place. Even if you don’t care, your parents, wife and children also need a stable environment. I promise, you will be fine.”

He must stay calm. The more panicked he is at this time, the braver the other party will be.

“Master He, you speak very nicely, but unfortunately, I don’t need it. Turn left, we don’t want to kill you.”

An Yinong had no choice but to turn left. He saw from the corner of his eye that there were not just one person but several people surrounding him, one of whom was holding a handkerchief and a glass bottle. He could already smell that smell, the smell of ether.

There were even a few people mixed in the crowd, with bulging pockets, one corner of which was exposed, and it was a gun. At this time, the group of thugs had already left, and An Yinong realized that although these people looked aggressive, they actually did not have any murderous intent on their faces.

This had been a trap set for him from beginning to end.

But how did they know he was going out today? How did they know he would pass this road? Did they wait for him for a long time?

Now these people spent so much effort to kidnap him, it was impossible that they wanted to kill him to vent their anger. If they wanted money, they must have wanted “big money”. It was precisely because of this that his life was not in danger for the time being, but it was hard to say after they get the money.

“Host?” The system crawled out and lay on An Yinong’s shoulder.

“Don’t be nervous, it’s okay, trust me.” An Yinong comforted the system, “Can you help me take a look at this person, what does he look like?”

“Host, they have guns in their hands. The one pointing the gun at you is a man who looks to be in his twenties, with a crew cut and a scar on his cheekbone.” The system reported the situation tremblingly.

“Very good, thank you system.”

Seeing An Yinong’s calmness, the system calmed down for some reason. It thought, although the mall cannot be opened now, its host was An Yinong, so he must be able to do it.

An Yinong walked into the alley under gunpoint. The three people who were late looked at each other in bewilderment.

“Boss, it’s them, Wu from the Crocodile Gang…”

“Shh.” The boss shrank to the other side of the alley, and the other two did the same.

They didn’t walk out until all these people disappeared.

“Boss, this is such a big show, it doesn’t seem like an ordinary nouveau riche. Is ten thousand dollars worth it to mobilize that ruthless guy?” They were big gangsters in the city, and they could tell at a glance that the leader was the grandson of the famous “Uncle Wu” in the city. He was not someone that low-level gangsters like them could provoke, let alone mobilize with ten thousand dollars.

The boss gritted his teeth and said, “Let’s go back and find that kid named Zhang. How dare he play tricks on us?”

An Yinong was definitely the kidnappers’ favorite hostage. He did not struggle or resist, but was quiet and did not make any noise or noise. Because of his “knowledge”, An Yinong’s hands were tied, but he was still conscious and his mouth was not sealed.

But this was also terrifying. He saw their faces and heard their real voices…will they be murdered in the end?

An Yinong’s heart was pounding, and he wanted to find someone who could help him, or a way to escape, but there was none. These people were holding guns, and unless he got rid of them within a few seconds, there was no way he could escape.

They drove around for a long time until they arrived at a strange and complex complex of buildings. An Yinong and others got off the car. In front of them were layers of neon lights and red-painted signs, as well as layers of buildings, giving a feeling of a strange and magical forest of buildings.

This was probably the famous walled city. The tall buildings looked like they were casually stacked by a child using wood. They were crooked and looked like they would collapse at any time.

The gaps between the buildings were very small, and there were many small houses built on top, so that when you walked between the buildings and looked up, you couldn’t see any light, only dense electrical wires, clothes hanging out to dry, and another house.

This was the most special piece of land in the entire Hong Kong city. It was an “enclave” within the Hong Kong city and was still under the jurisdiction of the mainland government.

The residents here did not have local household registration, and all the shops, factories, and hospitals here did not have business licenses from the port city. Water and electricity must be obtained from nearby street lamps and public water pipes. Many people who committed crimes in the port city fled here. Over time, a large number of wanted criminals gathered here.

“This is my first time here.” An Yinong seemed to have forgotten his identity as a hostage, and couldn’t help but capture all the bizarre things with his eyes.

“A vertical human community, abandoned by nature, is surrounded by human creations.” Dark, crowded, without rules and order, another set of conventional rules and order is formed…

This was a special community that many people in later generations wanted to preserve. He didn’t expect to have the opportunity to see it with his own eyes today.

Although this series of actions was tentative, An Yinong was indeed shocked. His world was filled with frantic, hissing electronic music, and bright, contrasting images flashed. The drum beats matched his pounding heartbeat, and his fingers twitched unconsciously.

Abandoned corners were the final destination for people with nowhere to go, where evil breeds and spreads, and hope quietly takes root. An Yinong suddenly had an inspiration.

Many inspirations emerged from his head that had been sealed with wax for a long time. The fortress in front of him took on a different look in his world: “It has a different kind of beauty.”

The kidnappers who followed him couldn’t help but look at him as if he was a psycho. They had lived here for a long time, and even grew up here, so they really didn’t have such a strange feeling.

People outside the city avoid the Walled City, thinking it was a den of devils and full of crime. But after living here for a long time, you will know that the Walled City is just an ordinary place to live. Once you are familiar with its rules, you will not be afraid.

“Is this how you, a rich man, feel?” asked the man behind him.

This was a signal. At least at this moment, the conversation had moved away from the mode of kidnappers and hostages and entered the mode of people and people. Once their empathy is aroused, An Yinong will be treated much better.

“Ah?” An Yinong came to his senses. “No, I draw comics and I think this place is worth recording, either with a brush or an image.”

“Do you draw comics?” another kidnapper asked again. He had also somewhat forgotten his identity as a kidnapper.

“Well, since I’m a poor student, I have to learn a skill that can help me make a living.” An Yinong said with a smile, “I think drawing comics is good. I feel much more comfortable when I see pictures than when I see words. When I read textbooks, I always feel like the words have wings and are flying.”

“So you read like this too?” the younger brother asked in amazement, “When I read, I also feel like the words are flying.”

An Yinong was also surprised. He half-seriously showed an expression of meeting a similar person: “So, after reading a sentence, did you also turn around and forget what you just read?”

“Yeah, yeah, I can’t get into it at all. Our Brother Bai is different. He used to be a very good student. If he hadn’t been poor… cough!” The younger brother was bumped into, and he remembered where he stood. He immediately put away his smile and said seriously, “Keep walking, don’t talk.”

Being interrupted… But it did not matter, these people’s attitudes have softened. An Yinong calmed down again and looked for the next opportunity. They continued walking, and ignorant children were running and playing in the alley, some looking at them in amazement.

An Yinong smiled at them, and then he turned to his captors and said, “Can you use a piece of cloth to cover the rope on my wrists? It will scare the children.”

He saw the kidnapper who was pointing a gun at him. He was in his twenties, very young, with a buzz cut, and good-looking, except for a scar on his cheek.

The scarred man looked at An Yinong, staring at the smile on his face: “The children on this street often see knives and guns, and some people even trade in front of them. They were born and raised here and will never leave here. Do you think they will be afraid? The naivety of a rich young master.”

“No, I won’t leave here forever. As long as I have the will, I can climb up to the rooftop and enjoy the sunshine even if I’m in the mud. When Hong Kong City returns, we will be one country and one family, and this place will no longer be the same as it is now.”

An Yinong said with certainty, as if his eyes had traveled through history and found the answer from the future. There were many historical reasons for the existence of the walled city, one of which was the political game between the two countries.

The foreign government once wanted to demolish the city, but was resisted by local residents and protested by the mainland government. At that time, the mainland government emphasized that the walled city was the inherent territory of the Chinese and the jurisdiction belonged to the Chinese government.

The demolition plan was then shelved.

However, when An Yinong said these words at this time, he was not discussing the reason for the existence of the walled city. His purpose was “one country, one family”.

He wanted to tell these people that they were his compatriots and that he was just an ordinary person like them, with all kinds of troubles, dreams, joys and sorrows just like them. Don’t think of him as a sum of money, he was a person.

The scarred man stared at An Yinong for a while, then turned around and said, “Find him a piece of cloth.”

After a while, they found a not-so-clean silk scarf and covered the rope on his wrist. An Yinong continued walking in the alley.

Because there was no sunlight for many years, water accumulated in the alley, and the walls on both sides were covered with moss. Rats crawled by without paying attention to others. As he walked in, he could vaguely smell the stench of the underground sewer.

The alleys in the walled city were interconnected, and the buildings here were similar, with layers of illegal buildings stacked up on top of each other. If it was someone who walked in here for the first time, it would be easy to get lost.

An Yinong’s ability to recognize roads was pretty good, but after walking for a while, he could no longer remember the way he came. These people led him in circles on purpose, so he gave up the idea of writing down the route map and instead paid attention to the landmarks around him.

They had walked out of the alley and onto a slightly larger road, where they could see the sky and the densely packed antennas on the roofs on both sides.

Suddenly, there was a roar coming from far away. An Yinong was still wondering why the sound sounded so familiar when he saw an airplane flying across the sky and a huge shadow passing over him. It was the first time he was so close to a flying airplane, so close that he seemed to be able to touch it with just his hand.

Airplanes, tree-like antennas, buildings added vertically and horizontally, doors covered with advertising paper, some broken couplets and red lanterns, flowers peeking out from the window bars…

This place had a different kind of vitality. In An Yinong’s mind, there seemed to be images of giant whales swimming across the sky and punk planets, and strange tunes full of electronic music elements were playing.

Seeing that he didn’t move, the scarred man wanted to call him, but when he saw the pair of eyes that seemed to be condensed with light, he stopped. It was not until An Yinong lowered his head that he snorted lightly: “City people are always surprised by things they don’t see.”

An Yinong smiled at him: “Thank you.”

The scarred man was stunned for a moment and wanted to say something, but his mouth opened and closed again. After passing through the walled city, they changed to another car, and An Yinong sat in the car and looked at the scenery along the way. He saw the coast, reefs, seabirds hunting for food, and the sea under the scorching sun.

One of the kidnappers took out a can of beer and a bottle of water and asked An Yinong if he was thirsty. The driver also turned on the radio and played music. If his hands were not tied, he would have looked like an “invited” guest. Soon, they arrived at the destination.