Welcome to the Bizarre Games

Chapter 619 Abnormality
When they arrived at the destination, several gang members were already waiting.

Zhou You also discovered a rather strange problem—this place is called a city, but in reality, public power is severely lacking. There are only a few key locations where the police maintain order, and the rest are all managed by residents' self-governing associations, or simply by gangs.

What's this? The world is just a giant makeshift operation.

Upon seeing Zhou You and his companion arrive, the gang members breathed a sigh of relief. One of them threw away his cigarette butt and said with great dissatisfaction.

"You're just reinforcements? You're way too slow!"

Without Zhou You saying a word, Luo Liangde had already skillfully gone to greet him.

With a forced smile, he whispered something in the other person's ear and discreetly slipped a banknote into their pocket—and all the anger vanished.

After exchanging a few polite words, the gang members turned their attention to Zhou You.

"Is this the guy who paid off his debts and offered his pledge of loyalty? He doesn't look like much."

Zhou You smiled but did not respond.

On the contrary, Luo Liangde was somewhat dissatisfied.

“Brother, how can you talk like that? This guy was personally handpicked by Boss Yi. He may not be the best-looking, but he has real skills.”

Upon hearing the words "Boss Yi," the other party became respectful—or rather, fell silent in fear—and quickly replied.

"Excuse me, excuse me, we've been waiting for too long and we're getting a little impatient. May I ask who this gentleman is?"

"Travel around".

"So it's Brother Zhou, sir."

Before he could continue with his usual pleasantries, Luo Liangde interrupted.

"Let's get down to business. What's the situation inside?"

Upon hearing this, the other party sighed.

"Don't even mention it. This morning, three more brothers tried to go in, but they all failed inside. Now we only dare to guard outside; no one dares to go into this house."

Upon hearing this, Luo Liangde frowned, looked past the gang members, and gazed into the distance.

It was an ordinary house, just like all the others in the underground, made of various sheet metal and garbage. At least from the outside, there was nothing unusual about it.

He glanced at Zhou You.

The person showed no fear or dread, but simply gazed at the house with great interest.

What on earth is this person thinking?

Even someone as shrewd as him couldn't discern someone's thoughts, so he could only continue speaking to the gang members.

"Then tell us what happened, so we can at least prepare accordingly."

The other person lit another cigarette—it didn't seem to be a nicotine addiction, but simply a way to relieve stress—and after taking a deep drag, he slowly spoke, accompanied by a series of coughs.

"Well, the man of the house is surnamed Liu. Although he's a scavenger, he's not really skilled. He usually just follows people around picking up scraps. About seven days ago, he returned to the underground from the wasteland, paid his usual fee, and then went home."

"It's a perfectly normal action. Where did you see the problem?"

"Things have been normal so far, but the problem started later." The gang member's expression turned grim. "Normally, scavengers like this would go on a shopping spree after returning home, stocking up on supplies for their wives and children. But for some reason, this guy disappeared after going home, and his wife and children haven't shown up either."

"Perhaps he was slightly injured and is recovering?"

"—Let me finish!"

The other party was a little impatient, but after this interruption, they sped up a bit.

"This guy got along fairly well with his neighbor. After seeing that he hadn't gone out for a few days, his neighbor went to check on him. And then, he never came out again."

"At first, the neighbors thought they were just visiting each other, but when his son went to check—he was a clever guy—he found a lot of blood seeping from the corner of the wall. It was far more than just one or two people could have gotten there, so instead of trying to save Grandpa with the Calabash Brothers, he immediately notified the gang."

At this moment, Zhou You, who had been silent all along, suddenly spoke up.

"So how did Boss Yi handle it?"

The gang members were much nicer to someone like him who was "capable," and quickly said...

"The boss sealed off this area and then sent a few members of the gang who were good at navigating deserted areas to check the situation—but those guys, just like the previous neighbors, disappeared without a trace as soon as they entered the house."

"No warning, not even any screams?"

The gang members immediately let out a wry smile.

"—There was nothing there. After they went inside, the door closed automatically, and then it fell completely silent."

"Did you try to destroy the house, or try to break in from another angle?"

"I tried it, or rather, I did it this morning, and the result—"

He pointed to the dilapidated house.

"This thing is perfectly intact, but somehow we suddenly got stuck inside the house and then there was no more movement."

Zhou You rested his chin on his hand, lost in thought.

After a while, seeing that he didn't move, Luo Liangde suddenly tugged at his clothes, then smiled apologetically at the gang members and made an excuse to pull him aside.

"Brother Luo, what's wrong?"

Without the gaze of others, Luo Liangde immediately became gloomy.

"Hey bro, how about we find an excuse and figure out a way to sneak away?"

"Brother Luo, you asked me to come over before, why did you suddenly change your mind?"

Luo Liangde sighed heavily.

"I didn't expect that. At first, I thought that the one who could bypass security and get to the residential area was at most a zombie, something you could handle with some effort, but look at this."

Zhou You's expression was ambiguous, a half-smile playing on his lips.

"What's wrong with looking at this?"

Luo Liangde stamped his foot.

"This is clearly a big one—brother, even though I've never been a scavenger, I know a lot more about the ins and outs than you do. This thing is definitely very dangerous; it's probably not something an ordinary person can handle."

"Hmm, probably at the level of Chef Zhao at the restaurant?"

"That's not quite it, but they're not easy to deal with either."

So Zhou You nodded, then turned and walked toward the gang member.

"Hey, you!"

Seeing him leave, Luo Liangde hurriedly tried to stop him, but before he could even reach out his hand, someone had already spoken to the gang leader.

"I have a question I'd like to ask."

The other person stubbed out their cigarette and quickly said with a smile.

"You tell me."

"Since the trouble is this big, isn't anyone from the government going to come and solve it?"

The gang member immediately revealed a mocking smile.

"If the government were this responsible, the West District wouldn't have fallen so quickly—our mayor talks a lot of nice words, but he doesn't do anything practical. Those successors in the government are just there to protect the big shots. As for the lives of ordinary people underground, who cares unless things get really out of hand?"

"But you took on this not just because it was an act of heroism, right?"

The other person shrugged.

"Indeed—because the inspection didn't find anything at the time, the boss deduced that this guy must have been hiding some treasure, which is why he ended up like this—strange items in the wasteland can be sold for high prices, plus recently people from the amusement park have been patrolling. So he didn't want to let others benefit for nothing."

"I see." Zhou You nodded, then walked to the front of the house without saying another word and carefully examined it.

Then, without hesitation, he pushed open the door and went inside.

In the blink of an eye, the view changed from dark to bright.

The lights inside were on full blast, indicating that the electricity bill had been paid, making the entire room as bright as day. As for the decorations, they were quite ordinary. The only noteworthy thing was that the homeowner had dug a basement, turning the house into a two-story structure.

When Zhou You looked up, he saw Zhang's astonished face.

It's very ordinary, very common, just the face of a normal person.

There was nothing unusual.

After staring at each other for a while, the other person spoke first.

"who are you?"

Zhou You didn't answer, but instead carefully examined the other person.

—A prematurely aged face, dirty clothes, and hair that looked like a bird's nest, as if it hadn't been washed in ages.
It's a typical underground resident, not even a weird or unusual corner.

He glanced behind him again.

It's unclear when, but the iron gate has been closed for some time now, and it's locked—and judging by how secure it is, it probably won't be able to be broken open anytime soon.

Upon seeing his action, the man frowned instantly, then subtly picked up a wooden stick from the side and repeated the action.

"who are you?"

This time, Zhou You finally spoke.

But it's not an answer; it's a rhetorical question.

Before asking others, you should at least introduce yourself, right?

The other person paused for a moment, then actually answered instinctively.

"My name is Liu Ming. No, this is my home. You've barged in without permission. Why should I introduce myself?"

Zhou You raised an eyebrow.

"Liu Ming? That scavenger?"

However, the other party also seemed increasingly impatient.

"Whether I'm a scavenger or not is none of your business. I'm telling you, if you don't get out of here, I'll—"

Just as the man was about to make his move, the basement door suddenly opened.

A man with a gloomy face walked out from inside.

"Liu Ming, what happened?"

The man named Liu Ming pointed at Zhou You and said with a very ugly expression.

"Another intruder has come in, but he's a new face. I'm afraid he barged in by accident, so I was just about to kick him out."

The man with a gloomy face looked at Zhou You, and after a moment, suddenly uttered a sentence.

"Someone from the gang? Are they there to clean up the mess, or to pledge their loyalty?"

Upon hearing this, Liu Ming instantly gripped the stick in his hand—but was immediately stopped by the gloomy man.

Zhou You, however, remained completely calm and composed, simply observing the two individuals before speaking.

"I've never seen you before, so why do you think I'm one of your gang members?"

The gloomy man replied.

"It's nothing, I was just thinking that it's about time someone came. By the way, let me introduce myself. My name is Wang Hu, and I was one of the first people sent to investigate."

"."

"."

Suddenly, Zhou You burst into laughter.

—This looks interesting.

However, the other party ignored his attitude and continued speaking.

"Judging from your appearance, you're not here to finish things off, so you're here to pledge your loyalty? You're really pathetic, ending up with this kind of job."

At this moment, Liu Ming, who was standing next to him, could no longer contain himself. In fact, due to his nervousness, he gripped the stick so tightly that the veins on his hands bulged out.

"Wang Hu, why waste your breath on him? Since he's in your gang, let's go together."

However, Wang Hu shook his head.

"Don't rush. Anyone who pledges their loyalty can be won over. Every extra person adds to our strength, all for the sake of our plan."

"But the risk is too great. Who knows what will happen to him?"

Zhou You watched the argument between the two and suddenly spoke up.

"Um, can you explain this to me? I came here to deal with the strange things, but I haven't seen anything. How come the people who were reported dead have suddenly come back to life?"

Wang Hu glanced at Zhou You, seemingly judging whether he was trustworthy—and finally let out a silent sigh.

"Well, I can't explain it to you. Come down with me and you'll see."

After saying that, Wang Hu ignored Zhou You and led Liu Ming back to the basement.

Zhou You looked at the door thoughtfully for a while, then followed.

The basement seemed to be used as a bedroom, and it was a bit cleaner than the outside. There were quite a few people inside—a housewife with two children was hiding in a corner, holding a frying pan in her hand, her eyes full of fear and vigilance; there were two corpses in the corner, which had not yet decomposed and should have been dead for a few days; and in the innermost part, three people were tied up like pigs, and judging from their appearance, they should be the ones who got trapped this morning.

What's going on here?
However, Wang Hu did not answer directly. Instead, he first comforted the woman and child, then asked Liu Ming to prepare something in the kitchen. After that, he pulled out a chair and sat down with an air of authority.

Then, he pointed to the chair opposite Zhou You.

"Don't be shy, just make yourself at home."

Zhou You looked at him with interest, but still sat down opposite him and then spoke.

"Well, can you explain it now?"

Wang Hu tapped the table with his index finger for a while before speaking.

"Before I explain, let me ask you this: how did those people outside describe the situation to you?"

Zhou You explained simply.

"It's nothing much. It's just that a scavenger here apparently found a treasure, and two groups of people who came in to investigate got caught up in it. The gang didn't want to just throw more people in for nothing, and luckily, I was the one who ran into trouble, so they sent me to scout things out."

"Did they really say that?"

"There is a bit of artistic embellishment in it, but it is generally correct."

Wang Hu sighed.

"What they said is indeed correct, but there is one very serious oversight."

What oversight?

Wang Hu stared at Zhou You and said, word by word.

"Their characterization of the treasure is a bit problematic. Liu Ming did indeed bring something back secretly, but this treasure isn't just any strange item; it's a..."

"A ticket to the park—or rather, a pass that would allow me, Liu Ming's family, and even a few others to enter the park together."

(End of this chapter)