"I don't know... I really don't know."
Ber To broke. Tears and snot streaming, he shook his head, then all at once the desperate struggling drained out of him like a deflated ball. He hung limp from Cheng Shi's grip, going still.
Only his mouth kept mumbling: "Don't kill ... I don't know... don't kill ... I really don't know."
"..."
True.
Embarrassingly true.
Cheng Shi had assud the deputy would be useful, but it turned out that aside from his "armrest" duties, the man was genuinely useless.
'What now?'
Cheng Shi frowned, dropped Ber To at his feet, thought for a mont, then began questioning the surrounding scavengers about the current situation.
He wasn't holding out much hope. If even Well Si's armrest didn't know Well Si's secrets, what could these underlings possibly add?
His plan now was to squeeze out every scrap of intel he could and then hustle to the nearest stronghold — east or west — to find other scavenger leaders who understood the Devout Land and the Faith Theater, and pry secrets from their mouths.
What he hadn't expected was that this round of questioning actually turned up sothing.
A scrawny young man wrapped in layers of cloth scraps — dressed like a barrel — poked his head out from behind a heap of scrap tal near the barbed wire. Eyes anxious, voice trembling:
"I know of a way..."
"!?"
Cheng Shi's brows shot up. Zhang Jizu's eyes narrowed. Ai Si whipped around. All three fixed on the thin youth.
"Co here and talk. What's your na?"
"My na is... Pro To." The youth clearly didn't dare approach. He ducked lower and murmured, "I'll tell you, but... I have one condition."
Cheng Shi smiled. He strode behind the scrap heap, hoisted the terrified Pro To upright, and grinned at the brown-haired, blue-eyed scavenger.
"As long as you've got a way to get us in, I'll grant any condition.
Hmm, let
think — the southern stronghold just lost its owner. How about you beco the new boss?
Sound good, Mister Pro To?"
Despite Cheng Shi's gentle tone, Pro To was thoroughly spooked. He sensed overwhelming threat from all three of them and almost regretted showing himself. But thinking of his long-held wish, he bit down on his fear, drew a deep breath, and spoke.
"I don't want to be anybody's boss. I only ask that you three lords grant
one request."
"Good. I like people who know what they want." Cheng Shi smiled, set the shivering Pro To on the ground, patted his shoulder, and straightened the young man's crooked collar. "But before your request — why not share the thod first, so I can inspect the goods?"
Pro To was clearly a green scavenger. Between mortal fear and seamless coaxing, he never once questioned why he had to show his hand first. He blurted the answer out.
"Well Si used to say — if the living can't get in, send the dead.
He and Ye Nuoli, the eastern district scavenger boss, had a plan. They were trying to restore Tower of Logic chanical Engineering constructs from the waste, and use those constructs to push open the Theater doors.
I know where those chanical constructs are hidden..."
Before he could finish, Cheng Shi and Ai Si both turned to Zhang Jizu.
'The dead?'
'We happen to have a man who's very well acquainted with the dead.'
Cheng Shi raised an eyebrow with a grin. "Zhang-lao, care to put on a show for us?"
Zhang Jizu studied Pro To for a long mont before nodding. "A show requires props..."
Before he could finish either, Ai Si moved. She drove her sword straight through Ber To's chest, then tossed the liberated deputy's corpse at the Death Chosen's feet.
"There. Fresh."
"..."
Zhang Jizu's eye twitched. He was increasingly certain he was the person furthest from Death in this group.
"I can indeed create undead puppets through props, but it's extrely taxing — both in energy and ti.
Cheng Shi, you have a simpler thod. Your turn this ti."
"?" Cheng Shi's expression stalled. He squinted at Zhang Jizu for a long suspicious mont, tempted to ask 'Are you really Mi Laozhang?' but ultimately held his tongue.
Stiffly, he nodded. He extended a hand toward the corpse and unleashed a massive bolt of lightning.
BOOM —
Blinding purple light and deafening thunder sent every scavenger in the vicinity to their knees. Pro To, closest to ground zero, went white and scrambled backward on all fours.
Under terrified gazes, a skeleton peeled free from the corpse, leapt up, and charged straight for the barbed wire.
It cleared the barrier with agility, plunging headfirst into the fog. But monts later — without warning — it collapsed in a heap of shattered bones on the ground of the Devout Land.
Cheng Shi's face turned grim. Processing the skeleton's feedback, he spoke in a low voice.
"Even a dead creature tainted by the living fails. Its consciousness wasn't fully independent, but it apparently still counted as a 'living thing.' The mont it entered, I lost contact.
It seems we have no choice but to try Well Si's chanical construct plan. Let's hope... it works."
"Lead the way, Pro To. Take us to see your 'new assets.'"
Cheng Shi shoved the stunned Pro To forward and set off. The scavengers left behind watched the four disappear, a flicker of heat in their eyes. Not envy for Pro To's new status as boss — but burning curiosity over whether these powerful outsiders might actually push open that door.
After all, whether the motive was escaping this "garbage pit" called San Dales or satisfying the hunger for godhood, every veteran scavenger's single hope was the sa: open the Theater door.
That door stood within plain sight, tantalizingly close. But the gap between here and there was a chasm — one that had swallowed countless scavenger lives over the years.
The roaming specter was the gatekeeper of godhood, rcilessly turning away every uninvited guest.
Cheng Shi had no intention of being an uninvited guest. So he figured it was ti to give the traditional, old-fashioned Theater a taste of the Tower of Logic's technological shock.
With Pro To leading, the trio traversed the stronghold. The town center's scope was genuinely impressive — clearly this had once been a thriving place.
Only now, all forr glory lay frozen under heaps of refuse and waste, reduced to the most conspicuous stain in this world of ice and snow.
...
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