A brave man may not live, but he cannot die

Chapter 226 CST Monday UTC+8: 1:40 PM (Bonus chapter for monthly pass winners)
Quinn followed the young man who called himself "Little Liu" to another room in the hotel.

As soon as the door opened, an even stronger and more intense smell of smoke wafted out.

This is a luxury suite—though Quinn doesn't consider it luxurious at all. His single room is already considered luxurious, and the regular rooms don't have air conditioning. The luxury suite adds an old-fashioned television and a mahjong table to that.

There were people sitting around the mahjong table and on the bed. Compared to Quinn and Xiao Liu, who were very trendy by 1990s standards, the ten people in this room were dressed much more simply.

As soon as Quinn entered the room, a young man complained in the Guangxi dialect, "Damn you, you old codger dressed in a tattered suit and you're always late for work, no wonder you can't catch anyone!"

Although Quinn couldn't speak it, he could understand most of the dialects in his homeland. He knew that the young man was secretly cursing him, but he kept his expression unchanged and pretended not to understand.

Sitting at the head of the mahjong table was a middle-aged man in his forties, with dark, rough skin and a short but very muscular build. He also spoke in dialect, sternly: "Shut up. These two were sent by higher-ups. Whether they're just getting a gilded appointment or here to investigate, serve them well and send them on their way—Jiang Hai got promoted directly to the ministry level; we from this small town might not even be able to climb to his position in a lifetime."

Xiao Liu followed behind Quinn, looking at the people in the room with some displeasure.

Although he couldn't understand what the two men were whispering about, speaking in dialect in front of people from other provinces was a form of xenophobia, and he could sense the hostility of the local police towards him.

This might be related to his complaint about the hotel environment yesterday, even though it was already the best hotel in this small city. He wasn't really complaining; it's just that as a millennial youth who grew up in the Jianghai region, he's not quite used to the backwardness of a border city.

The streets here look like the countryside, and there are even oxcarts.

The middle-aged man stood up, extended his hand to Quinn, and greeted him with great enthusiasm: "Hello, Comrade Zhang. I am Lan Naniu, the captain of the Second Investigation Detachment of the Guangxi Provincial Public Security Department. I am in charge of this arrest operation. Everyone here is a top-notch member from the Provincial Department and the Beibu Gulf City Narcotics Enforcement Detachment."

Blue cow.

What is the name of the Zhuang ethnic group?
Quinn grasped one of his hands with both of his own, his eyes lowered respectfully. "Hello, hello. You're the senior in this matter, you can just call me Xiao Zhang."

Lan Na Niu was clearly taken aback. Although he was of a higher rank than him, the prevailing social hierarchy was that provincial officials were one rank higher than officials from the Jianghai region, and officials from the capital were three ranks higher than officials from the capital. In this era, the social atmosphere was still very much based on personal connections. He hadn't expected someone from Jianghai to be so humble.

Not only him, but everyone around him also changed their opinion of Quinn.

"Not at all, you're too kind. We're all brothers working on the front lines."

Quinn was still unaware of his true identity, but after exchanging pleasantries with Lan Na Niu for a while, he gained a general understanding of the current situation.

The year was 1999. He and Xiao Liu were both police officers from Jianghai District, Guangxi Province, and they came to Beibu Gulf City to investigate a case involving suspected transactions and acquisitions.
The luxury suite had a window. Quinn glanced out the window discreetly. This was the city center of Beibu Gulf City, but there weren't many tall buildings obstructing the view. With his eyesight, he could even see streets a hundred meters away.

Unlike the "Jianghai City" in the fallen layer, this city, although not developed, has no signs of desolation or apocalypse, and there are people in every street and alley.

Whether on the streets or in the rooms, everyone was a local; there wasn't a single white person from the Southern Continent or a black person from the Western Continent. This was a city in its purest form.

If Xiao Liu hadn't called him "Captain Zhang," Quinn would have thought he had returned to Earth.

Although Quinn has forgotten his name, he is certain that his surname is not Zhang, as he was born in 1999.

Am I "playing" a role in some abyss?
The first layer of the Abyss [surface] is the Forbidden Forest. When Earth's waste products appear in the gray fog within the forest, it indicates that you have entered the Abyss.

Quinn hadn't seen the second layer, the "Contaminated Layer," but according to the academy's records, it contained all sorts of incredible illusions, and Earth's waste products became reusable there.
The third layer, the "Falling Layer," is a city—a dilapidated city with distorted time and physical laws. There are no people in the city. When playing a role, the Temurians affected by the abyss do not change their appearance, but they do change their clothing.
Which floor is this?
Following the logic of layers one through three, the fourth layer, the "Abyss Layer," is very likely to be inhabited, and the city may also return to normal.
The Abyss Transcendent beings encountered in the abyss had the same Earthly appearance as the people before them. They couldn't have simply "played" police officers out of thin air; clearly, there existed a matching environment.
If it's the fourth level, then it saves a lot of trouble finding your way in the abyss.

But if it is the fifth layer [the layer of no return], or even the unnamed sixth or seventh layer, based on the changes in the first, second, and third layers, then what Amamiya Yu said about "there is a door in the abyss that leads to Earth" is very likely true!
However, the Abyss requires Sequence One, and based on the information revealed by his fellow countryman, Quinn did not believe that he had already passed through the door and fallen back to Earth.

What we should do now is gather information, be wary of the Abyss Beings who might be "playing" someone hidden among the crowd, or even in this room, and search for Amamiya Nene, to find a way back or to the bottom of the Abyss.

And there is something extremely important for Quinn to do: find out why he fell from the abyss.

“Sanzi—” Lan Na Niu started in dialect, but after glancing at Quinn, he switched to Mandarin with a strong Guangxi accent: “Bring the samples and analysis report.”

A plainclothes officer nearby took a file folder from his briefcase, untied the sealing cord, and pulled out a stack of provincial laboratory reports and a small handful of blue crystals sealed in a transparent plastic bag. Quinn's eyes narrowed slightly; his intuition told him this stuff was extremely valuable.

The plastic bags were labeled with their weight. Even in an era when the system was not yet advanced and perfect, the country maintained absolute high pressure on the control of prohibited items, and not a single gram of the sample in the sample bag could be missing.

Lan Niu placed the report on the mahjong table and said succinctly, "It's basically the same as the conclusions of Jiang Hai's experts; the purity is astonishingly high."

He picked up the plastic bag and held it up to the chandelier on the mahjong table. The crystals inside the bag shone with a glacier-like blue color under the light, and had extremely high light transmittance.

"Although we're not as well-off as those in San Francisco, we've still managed to catch quite a few 'mahou' (traitors) when we went to Vietnam by boat. We're quite knowledgeable; a typical Vietnamese kitchen couldn't make this kind of stuff."

Xiao Liu, standing nearby, couldn't wait to ask, "Since he's trading here, that means the goods come from Vietnam. Have there been similar cases in our area?"

As soon as he asked the question, everyone present looked at him as if he were an idiot, and some even chuckled out loud.

Lan Na Niu rested his chin on his hand, sizing up the young man from the big city: "Graduated from the police academy?"

Xiao Liu, unaware of what they were laughing at, said, "Shouldn't we be looking for clues locally?"

A mocking voice in dialect came from behind: "This Jianghai guy thinks everyone is as rich as them."

Lan Na Niu said slowly, "This is crystallized, not powder. It can't be diluted with anything. It's sold exactly as it's delivered. Don't even mention here; even in America, there aren't many people who can afford this kind of stuff. See? Snowflake crystals. Once you start, you can forget about quitting. You won't even want loose powder anymore; you'll find it boring and only crave this."

Lan Na Niu nodded.

"To catch him red-handed, we need to arrest enough people to warrant the death penalty before we can get him to talk. Comrade Zhang, is there any other information you want to share about the person you're looking for?"

Quinn, of course, knew nothing.

But he gave Xiao Liu a mysterious look, his eyes filled with an ambiguous meaning.

Xiao Liu immediately understood: Team Leader Zhang was giving me a chance to show off.

He was usually very diligent at work; otherwise, he wouldn't have been qualified to accompany his superiors to handle such a major cross-provincial case. He quickly recited the suspect's information, which he knew by heart:

"Qin Weizheng, 31 years old, from Jianghai. He has a university degree and used to work as an accountant in a state-owned enterprise in Jianghai. He was later dismissed for frequently being absent from work without cause. He has a history of drug use and is currently unemployed."

Lan Na Niu sighed with deep regret; college students were still a rare sight these days.

"Looks like he went from drug use to trafficking. How much did he make?"

Xiao Liu shook his head: "I'm not sure. He probably just started doing this recently, so he doesn't seem wealthy. His wife just gave birth last year, and even the baby formula is paid for by his parents. His mother is a farmer, while his father is a retired soldier who received a commendation back then, so his pension is decent, just enough for the family to live on."

"Sigh." Lan Na Niu wanted to say something, but in the end he just put the bag of crystals back into the evidence bag and carefully sealed it.

"No matter what, this level of contamination is too dangerous. The sooner we arrest and kill them, the better. We should save as many as we can. Qin Wei is in a hotel just two streets away; we've already put him under surveillance. According to information we obtained from phone tapping, he and the Vietnamese will be making a transaction at the dock in three days. We'll act together then."

He looked at Quinn, then paused slightly, and asked with concern, "Comrade Zhang, why do you look so pale? Are you feeling unwell?"

Quinn smiled.

"No, I'm perfectly comfortable. Of course you have to arrest them. We, the Jianghai police, will fully cooperate."

Monday, July 12, 1999, Earth time.

(End of this chapter)