I write obituaries for the gods

"The director said you were coming," the old man said without looking up, his voice hoarse. "It's strange. In previous years, it was always researchers who came, but this year it's the Rapid Response Division. Has the situation gotten that serious?"

“Yes, senior,” Jiang Zhengge offered the old man a cigarette, “our troubles are bigger than in previous years.”

"Then be careful, especially you young people." The old man glanced at Lin Chen and Li Zhanyi.

"Were all the visitors in previous years researchers?" Lin Chen asked the little elf Li Zhanyi in a low voice.

“Yes, usually when there are really unsolvable problems in scientific research and experiments, people will come to ask the ‘newsboy’,” Li Zhanyi nodded. “‘Water Puddle and Rain Alley’ can only be entered once a year, so basically we wait until the end of the year to identify the really unsolvable problem, and then send a small team to go there.”

"Now that you mention it, I feel like the comrades will have a problem with us..." Lin Chen murmured.

"No way, we're saving the world," Li Zhanyi said with a grin, tilting his head. "We have to trust our comrades' resolve."

The two then waited. Jiang Zhengge chatted with the old man for about five minutes, confirming some things, and then turned and waved to the two of them.

"Come on, we're in luck, it won't rain for the next ten hours."

The group entered the dilapidated alley and continued forward under Jiang Zhengge's guidance.

This alley looks like it hasn't been visited in a long time. Rusty scrap metal is hidden in the damp corners, the walls are covered with blurry advertisements, and moss has crept into the cracks between the bricks.

Sunlight streamed into the alley, but a sinister atmosphere still lingered around.

After walking a distance into the alley, Jiang Zhengge suddenly handed his umbrella to Li Zhanyi and Lin Chen:

"Here, take the umbrella, it's almost open."

Lin Chen obediently did as he was told. He picked up the umbrella, opened it, and continued to follow Jiang Zhengge.

As I walked, without realizing it, tiny raindrops began to fall from the edge of the umbrella.

It's raining.

"stop."

Jiang Zhengge made a gesture, and everyone stopped in their tracks.

For a moment, all Lin Chen could hear was the sound of raindrops hitting the ground.

"Who's walking in the middle of the group?" Jiang Zhengge asked.

“It’s me,” Lin Chen said.

“Check the depth table,” Jiang Zhengge said.

Lin Chen raised his wrist to check the depth gauge:

"3.14."

Before they knew it, the group had entered the subspace.

Unlike the gradual descent of the slope when they went to the bunker before, this time they fell to a depth of 3.14 meters in just a moment!

If Jiang Zhengge hadn't stopped, Lin Chen wouldn't have even noticed the process of falling.

When is it

After a brief moment of thought, Lin Chen understood:

It's raining!

No wonder they chose to enter on a sunny day; the sudden change in weather serves as a reminder.

"Remember that feeling you just felt," Jiang Zhengge whispered, "It didn't rain at all. Now, it's not Yudu that's raining."

"Understood." Lin Chen nodded.

After entering so many ruins, Lin Chen had gained some experience.

Warp can distort one's perception. Even if being exposed to ruins doesn't cause the kind of warp hallucinations seen when riding the Orca, the distortion of perception is still terrifying.

As long as you can remember the point that "it's sunny outside, but it's not raining outside," your cognition is essentially anchored, and you'll be less likely to be affected by subspace.

“Now, turn around,” Jiang Zhengge said softly, “and lead the way out of the alley.”

"receive."

Lin Chen turned around and followed Li Zhanyi toward the alley entrance.

After exiting the alley, a wide street comes into view, and across the street is a square, surrounded by a small commercial area.

Through the fine rain, a bunch of strange moving geometric color blocks were playing on the screens of the commercial complex, looking like advertisements with the resolution reduced by more than ten times.

In the square, a crowd of people with indistinct features walked by, each holding a red umbrella. The boundaries between them were blurred, and sometimes they even walked right through each other.

This place looks like a replica of Rain City, with the same layout, but the details are blurry and distorted.

"Umbrellas, umbrellas, 10 yuan each."

A stiff shout came from behind him. Lin Chen turned his head and saw an expressionless old man holding a bundle of red umbrellas, handing it to him.

Lin Chen ignored it and followed Li Zhanyi slowly down the street.

If an ordinary person were to stumble into this city on a rainy day without warning...

They probably didn't even realize they were inside the ruins.

The rain here was very cold. Even though Lin Chen was wearing a trench coat and vest, the biting chill still eroded his spirit.

In such a situation, a person who has strayed might actually buy an umbrella from the old man.

Then become a member of this waterlogged city.

"..."

After walking for a while in Shuiwa City, Jiang Zhengge suddenly stopped and turned to look at a convenience store on the side of the street.

"This way."

He led Lin Chen and Li Zhanyi into the convenience store, and then found a door on the side of the dessert freezer.

The door was grayish-white, with geometric symbols engraved on it that Lin Chen couldn't understand, making it stand out from the rest of the convenience store.

“Remember the rules,” Jiang Zhengge whispered, “we’re going in.”

......

Chapter 120 Newsboy (Second Update)

"Click".

After pushing open the door, a small courtyard comes into view.

Jiang Zhengge led the way into the courtyard, walked straight to the red brick wall at the end of the courtyard, and gently tapped the wall with his hand.

He kept tapping away in the drizzle, and apart from the sound of the bricks hitting the ground and the raindrops, there was complete silence.

After an unknown amount of time, Lin Chen suddenly noticed something unusual.

The raindrops seemed to fall much slower, and the raindrops splashing from the edge of the umbrella spread out slowly in the air like a slow-motion shot.

"Lower your head," Jiang Zhengge said softly as he turned around.

Lin Chen looked down at the ground and realized that, at some point, the puddles no longer reflected his image.

In the puddle, the scenery of an unfamiliar alley floats silently, illusory and unreal.

Upon realizing this, Lin Chen suddenly felt the world spinning around him. His five senses vanished for a moment, only to return the next second, as if he had just passed through a thick, viscous water surface.

When he came to his senses again, Lin Chen was standing in an unfamiliar alley.

"Crash..."

The rain resumed its normal pace, and a light white mist lingered around the three people who had ventured into the rainy alley.

At the end of the white mist, Lin Chen saw a figure.

She was holding a black umbrella, her back to Lin Chen. From her gothic-style long dress with lace trim, one could vaguely make out that she was a young girl.

A yellowed newspaper floated directly in front of her, turning automatically every now and then, with what appeared to be countless characters scrolling across it.

"Newsboy!" Jiang Zhengge shouted, "We need some information, brand new information!"

The newsboy seemed to nod slightly, and as the newspaper was turned, the bricks on the alley wall began to assemble and arrange themselves, forming a structure that resembled a bank deposit box.

“A token of sincerity.” Jiang Zhengge looked at Li Zhanyi.

Li Zhanyi stepped forward and took out the sincerity he had prepared beforehand: three azure crystals, all obtained during the "Ideal Country" incident.

She dropped the crystals in one by one. When she dropped in the second one, the deposit slot suddenly closed, and the blocks began to rearrange themselves once again.

“It’s cheaper this time,” Li Zhanyi muttered softly, “The economy is down... even physical stores are lowering prices.”

Li Zhanyi took two steps back, and the bricks on the wall rearranged and combined to form the structure of an old-fashioned projector.

"A scar."

Jiang Zhengge stepped forward, placed his hand on the film reel of the projector, and closed his eyes.

Lin Chen could clearly see some discomfort on the section chief's face—something that was truly rare for him.

What kind of scars could the section chief have?

An old-fashioned projector projects light onto the brick wall opposite, and fragmented images gradually emerge.

In the scene, Lin Chen saw tide Lena Boswell.

That demigod from the Foundation who appeared at the Rain City Star Carnival!

The sea is in the background, and she is currently tying her hair up and putting on a diving mask.

"Stage goal achieved!" tide Leina gave a "V" sign to the camera.

"There's a significant difference between diving and going into space, isn't there?" Jiang Zhengge's voice came through.

"So it's only a phase!"

tide Lena twirled twice on the deck, her movements light and her expression joyful.

"When I finally go to space, I want to sing my songs to the whole universe, just like your Dongfanghong-1!"

The screen suddenly turned into snowflakes, with countless fragmented scenes flashing by.

Lin Chen saw the group jump into the sea and dive down, and saw them enter a certain subspace ruin. He heard screams and wails.

Then, Lin Chen saw Wu Hao—the former investigator from the first division who appeared in the Walduff Hotel incident, now a black web mercenary.

He raised his gun and aimed it at Xileina.

"Wu Hao! No!" Lin Chen heard Jiang Zhengge shouting.

"Oh!"

Gunshots, and blood spreading in the seawater.

The projector image suddenly disappeared, and the brick walls began to rearrange and reassemble once again, forming an old-fashioned telephone booth.

Jiang Zhengge took two steps back, looked at Lin Chen, and calmly said:

"A secret."

Lin Chen nodded, opened the door of the old-fashioned telephone booth, and went inside.

Beforehand, the three had already assigned their respective responsibilities, and for Lin Chen, "a secret" was the most suitable task for him.

“The secrets that the newsboys ask for must be known by only a very few people,” Lin Chen remembered Jiang Zhengge saying to him, “and they must have a certain weight; they can’t be something completely meaningless.”

“Let me give you an idea. We used to exploit a bug: some logistics personnel have very weak awareness, which is not usually used and few people know about them. In such cases, they are pulled over and sold to newsboys as secrets.”

"You can try it too. Don't worry, the newsboy only wants a secret and won't do anything else. Someone once showed her his secret of wetting his pants as a child, and although he didn't succeed, he didn't die either."

Lin Chen still believed in Jiang Zhengge. After all, those amazing people in the Investigation Bureau would even exploit bugs to fleece abnormal entities. If there were really a problem, they wouldn't dare to be so rampant.

He picked up the phone, put it to his ear, and closed his eyes.

"Newsboy, let me show you..."

As the white light fell, the mirage city quietly descended.

Lin Chen opened his eyes and gently exhaled in the pure white city.

I wonder if the newsboy can understand this?

Just then, he heard breathing behind him.

Lin Chen turned around and found the newsboy standing behind him.

It was facing Lin Chen, its eyes hidden by a lace-patterned eye mask, and the lower half of its face was as delicate as a porcelain doll.