Returning from the abyss

Chapter 1379 Lingjiang

Gou Chen used a maze of mountains to repel the enemy, while Lingjiang was a foreign land in the water. Of course, Lu Ning had a waist badge on her at this time. Although it looked ordinary, it was enough to prove her identity. When she really entered the scope of Lingjiang City, the surrounding river water turned red. Not only the river water, but also the land under her feet was mixed with some red sand.

The defense here is even stricter than that of Gou Chen. If Lu Ning came here without credentials, he would probably be attacked directly.

At this moment, a man dressed as a fisherman suddenly emerged from the water. After silently looking at the badge in Lu Ning's hand, he waved and led her to a nearby reed marsh, and then pushed out a tattered wooden boat from it.

This person didn't speak at all, but only gestured, which made Lu Ning think that he was a mute. However, after entering the city by water, this person actually spoke.

"After entering the city, walk along the waterway. Don't go to a place where you can't see the red water, and don't turn back. Walk until you see a house with blue tile eaves. There are four guards at the door of the house. If there are not that many, wait for a while. When there are four guards at the door, go forward and submit your badge. If you don't do as I say, don't blame anyone if you die."

Lu Ning was slightly stunned. When she turned around, there was only a piece of wood floating on the water behind her. The boat and the fisherman were gone. It was as if she had seen a ghost.

She could only follow the fisherman's instructions and move forward. She had originally wanted to see how a city like Lingjiang, which was surrounded by water, could defend itself against enemies. Now it seemed that water itself had some special effects.

Continuing to walk forward, there was hazy fog all around and the weather was quite cold. Even though Lu Ning didn't feel cold, she could feel that the temperature was very different from that of the spring days outside.

Is this Lingjiang? Then Gouchen is indeed quite normal in comparison.

Lu Ning just looked forward with her demon eyes and did not do anything extra. After walking about six hundred steps along the waterway, she saw the house that the fisherman had mentioned.

The house itself looked normal. Although the blue eaves were a bit strange in color, it was still a normal house. Lu Ning glanced at the door and saw that there were three guards. So she waited at the door for a while. After a guard came out and stood by, she walked forward.

"Everyone, I'm from the Gou Chen Shang Xuan Camp. I have an investigation mission to handle. Please let me know." Lu Ning took out his badge and showed it to a guard.

The guard was wearing armor, even his head was covered by a helmet, and only his eyes were staring at the badge in Lu Ning's hand, looking quite scary. But he didn't stare for long, he turned around and walked inside. Another guard said in a cold tone: "Wait here, we will let you know when you can go in."

Wait...

Lu Ning stood here, and finally she was able to turn around and look behind her. There were no taboos at this time, and the guards didn't say anything.

She found that her demon eyes could not see through the mist here.

What she saw, and what the demon's eyes saw, was all white, with only a few guards who had a human aura. She could still hear the sound of the river flowing, but just standing on the steps, she could no longer see the location of the river.

If it weren't for the confidence given to her by the demon eyes, Lu Ning would probably be ready to draw her sword at any time.

Soon, the guard came out, followed by a middle-aged scholar dressed in a white shirt and with a kind face. The scholar walked forward with a smile and bowed to Lu Ning: "So you are the special envoy from Gou Chen. Please follow me in."

Lu Ning glanced at the guard, who nodded and made way. Then Lu Ning walked towards the scholar.

"The envoy will follow me."

After entering the house, Lu Ning found that the house was built differently from the ordinary houses of this era. It was more like an office building with countless small cubicles, but it only had one floor. The scholar led Lu Ning through the narrow corridor, pushed open one of the rooms and walked in. Lu Ning followed in and found that the space inside was not very large, and it was piled up with various documents, taking up a lot of space.

"Please take a seat."

The scholar brought a chair to Lu Ning, then walked to the only table and sat down, holding out his hand: "Please let me take a look at your badge again."

Lu Ning followed his instructions and took off the badge and placed it on the table. The scholar took it up and examined it for a while before returning it to Lu Ning, saying with a smile, "What brings you here, special envoy?"

"I have been ordered to investigate Huang Kui's background. External clues have been checked, and the remaining relevant persons should be in the city. Please allow me to interview the relevant persons in the city."

"Is there a list?" the scribe asked.

Lu Ning took out the list he had obtained and handed it to the scholar: "In addition to the Huang family on the list, I also need to check if there are any relatives and neighbors who have fled here."

"This is a bit difficult. After all, although Lingjiang City has re-registered the citizens in the city, they will not record their past experiences in such detail. I think you can understand this in this critical moment. In this situation, we don't know how to find his neighbors."

"Just let me do what I want in the city. I have the ability to find out their relationship."

"Oh?" The scholar narrowed his eyes slightly, not being taken in by Lu Ning's words. "Sorry, Special Envoy. Even if you have Gou Chen's badge, if you can't explain the method in detail, we can't do this. Lingjiang is different from Gou Chen. There are no natural barriers around it. It's all water. If you look around, we will have to let you go in the taboo, which is quite dangerous."

"Danger?"

"If you get a glimpse of the whole situation here, leave Lingjiang, and are captured by the demon army, will you be able to keep your memory?" The scholar said, "If the demons can see through Lingjiang's defenses, this city will soon be destroyed."

After hearing this, Lu Ning couldn't help but ask, "What exactly is Lingjiang's taboo? To be honest, although I heard about it when I set out, I didn't expect it to be so strange after entering the city."

"If it's not weird, how can we stop the demons? In this city, as long as they don't use the right method, no matter how the demons come in, they won't find a single person. They will be trapped and killed in the taboos in a short time. This is the power. Ordinary people who come in must strictly abide by the taboos to protect themselves. Under the restrictions of the taboos, no one can know more than they should know. Even if there are humans who rebel against the other side, we are not afraid. And your request is equivalent to asking us to open a loophole. This task is not so important. Even my power is enough to tell you 'no'."

"Then, can you let me live in the residential area for a few days? Not too long, three days will be enough, as long as I can live with the residents." Lu Ning asked again.

"That's all, but it's fine. Just follow the residents' taboos. But if the person you're looking for has joined the army or is an official, you won't be able to find him."

"It doesn't matter."

This is the power of the scene of a moment. As long as there is a slight connection, a dream can be constructed based on it. Among the residents, it is impossible that no one knows people like soldiers. Through this kind of relationship, except for the real high-ranking generals, Lu Ning can sort out all the interpersonal relationships here and create a dream.

As for the high-ranking generals, the people in Saibei had already checked them out, so it was not Lu Ning's turn to check. "In three days, someone will explain to you the taboos among the residents. It depends on what you want to do. Here is the warrant for temporary residence here, don't lose it. If you really lose it by accident, sit cross-legged on the ground immediately, and draw a circle around yourself with any color except red, black, and white, and surround yourself completely without any breaks. This must be completed within one stick of incense after you find the lost one."

"understood."

"Go out from here and go to the third house on the left. Wait there and someone will take you there."

Lu Ning bowed to the scholar, took the warrant and went to the corresponding room as he said. After waiting there for a while, a one-armed man pushed open the door.

"follow me."

The big man didn't say anything, so Lu Ning followed him outside.

The fog was still everywhere. Although it did not look thick, Lu Ning still could not see through it. This time, she could not even see the river as a marker. She could not see anything around her. The only person she could see was the one-armed man leading the way.

Just like the custom in Lingjiang, the big man remained silent all the way until Lu Ning finally heard a human voice.

"Lingjiang has implemented a curfew from 12:00 to 12:00. During the curfew, except for family members, no one can be in the same room together, no one can go out, no one can make loud noises, and no one can light lights." The one-armed man suddenly spoke, "Your warrant is for an ordinary resident here. If you don't find a job, you still have to follow the code of conduct of ordinary people during the day."

"please say."

"During the day, if you don't have work to do, you can move freely. But if you see red sand ridges, frozen waterways, black or white bird signs, or soldiers without armor but holding spears, please go back to where there are people. In addition, if there are more than five people present and no one is holding a recruitment sign, you cannot whisper to each other. You cannot talk to more than five people in one day, and repeated conversations do not count. When talking to people, you cannot ask what their job is, how much they earn, what other people are doing, or what the soldiers are doing. Unless you are a family."

"understood."

"The last point is, if you want to find a job, you can look for someone with a job-seeking badge, but you should not disturb someone who is already working. Ordinary residents just need to follow these rules. It's very simple."

When he finished speaking, a row of dark houses appeared in front of Lu Ning. These houses were built with mud bricks, and the interior was densely divided into small cubicles, which were probably not much bigger than prison cells.

"So you live here?"

As soon as Lu Ning asked, she saw the one-armed man waved at an old man smoking a pipe at the door, then pointed at Lu Ning, pursed his lips and said nothing.

It seems that these people also have to abide by the rules? No wonder the people here have basically been silent since entering the city, and only at the end did they say a few words as if it were a routine matter. I'm afraid those few words were the only ones that were not taboo.

The old man smacked his lips, took out a key from the cabinet beside him, then reached out and took the warrant from Lu Ning, wrote the name on it in a book, and then gave the key and warrant to Lu Ning.

"I'm the manager here. You can just call me Lao Guan. That's what everyone here calls me. You don't need to speak. You already know the taboos of being an ordinary person. However, there are two additional rules for living here."

——There’s really no way to escape from this here.

"During curfew, no matter what noise you hear, just pretend you didn't hear it. Also, you are not allowed to eat indoors." The old man knocked on the wall behind him. "Take the key and go in. Your room number is on it."

Lu Ning nodded. She also gradually began to get used to asking with actions instead of words.

After entering the narrow and dark room, there was only a little daylight coming in through the window gap, but there was a small window after entering the room - it was really like a prison.

There was only a bed inside, and two wooden boards, one high and one low, were nailed to the wall, which served as a table and a shelf. Sitting on the bed could be used as a chair. In addition, there was a stone platform with a groove in the corner. There were some traces of wax residue in it, which seemed to be a place for candles. But it seemed that no one in this place could afford candles.

And you can’t turn on the lights during curfew…

Lu Ning lay down on the hard plank bed, squinted his eyes slightly, and recalled the wonderful experience he had just had in the past half day.

No wonder Lingjiang didn't react much to the changed rules of the military farmland outside. The city was no less weird. For Lu Ning herself, if she didn't know that Lingjiang belonged to the friendly army, she would never have planned to come in.

In the haze, Lu Ning gradually fell asleep.

The moment she woke up from her dream, Lu Ning saw that the environment here had turned into a fortress of frost, and the house she was in was also made of ice. Such an environment was of course very cold, and Lu Ning even felt the cold - this was quite outrageous.

Then, she felt a gaze on her, which seemed to come from all directions, but Lu Ning could clearly realize that it was just a gaze. With the help of her control over her dreams, she could slightly sense the direction of the gaze.

"Oh? You can actually sense me? It seems that it is indeed the talent of night wandering, but it does not appear in a human..."

A majestic voice sounded, and then those gazes disappeared.

Lu Ning knew that it just meant that they didn't suspect her, but that didn't mean that they had let down their guard. She breathed a sigh of relief and slowly began to communicate with the dreams around her. Of course, there were not many people sleeping at this time, so the dream took shape very slowly, but in the end, it gradually transformed this ice fortress into reality.

That's about it.

Lu Ning woke up immediately and tested her ability to see if it was effective. After she "greeted" the person in charge here, she confirmed that this method was feasible. What she had to do next was to get a rough idea of ​​Lingjiang's situation.

At the same time, a person coming from outside Lingjiang City was running in the opposite direction where the fisherman appeared.

"Why are you running?"

"There's something so wrong with this place. I would rather join the army than come here!" Wen Rong ran away from the strangely red river water and the eerily appearing fisherman as quickly as possible, and escaped from the edge of Lingjiang City with superb lightness skills that even the seven demon kings could not stop him from doing.