The next afternoon, Xueming got on the return train alone.
He didn't take the high-speed train back because he still had plenty of time to meet his old friends during the Lantern Festival, so switching to the regular train would only add an extra three hours to the journey. Moreover, the train station in Hengyin City is very close to Binh Duong Agricultural University, but the high-speed rail station requires an extra 40 minutes of train ride. In this way, it is better to take the train home.
When parting, Xiao Qi was reluctant to leave, just like the word "Zijin" in her name. Her sweetheart was about to travel far away, so she immediately turned into a giraffe and watched Xueming go further and further.
After boarding the train, Xueming found a seat and fell asleep. When she woke up, she got off the train.
When we arrived at Hengyin Railway Station, it was already 11:20 in the evening. The cold weather around the Spring Festival made this city on the 45th north latitude become beautiful and freezing.
When he leaned against the car window, saw the familiar platform and the bustling crowd in the waiting hall, a familiar yet unfamiliar feeling came to his heart.
This is where Xueming grew up. No matter how far he travels to the ends of the earth, he will occasionally miss this hometown.
It's not that he misses his childhood or his parents, because his childhood experience was not a good thing and his parents were not good people.
It’s the city that shaped him—made him who he is today.
He took out the turtleneck woolen sweater from the suitcase and put it on, packed up his belongings amidst the smell of instant noodles, and was hurriedly asked to get off by the flight attendant.
Walking towards the station exit, you will see a roadside fast food restaurant. The menu has not changed in almost ten years. It always looks like there are big stewed dishes lined up in two rows beside a road full of traffic and dust.
Even though they worked hard and emitted a strong scent of chili and garlic, Xueming didn't dare to eat at a roadside stall of this level.
As we walked further out, we saw taxi drivers gathering in twos and threes to act as roadblocks, trying to attract people and rip off customers. They generally did not accept orders that were close to each other. Or if they were going to Ruyun Mountain Scenic Area, they would take long-distance orders of more than 40 kilometers. These kind of guests are usually travel friends who are not familiar with the place. If they take them for a twenty-kilometer detour around the city and then to Ruyun Mountain, they probably know nothing about it, so they can only pay and eat. Dumb loss.
Xueming coldly dealt with the gangsters and bullies who greeted him on the street, while walking out, preparing to call a taxi online and return to Brother Ye Bei's milk tea shop to stay overnight.
Unexpectedly, the taxi drivers immediately became unhappy when they saw Xueming taking out her mobile phone. They all have a cold look on their face, they don't have a good temper, and they keep yelling.
"Young man, don't call us for a ride-hailing service. We will take the order if you call us."
"Inside the train station, cars from outside can't get in."
"Come on, where are you going? It's all the same price."
Xueming ignored it, turned off the light on her cell phone, and walked out, planning to walk to the main street of the mall and call for a taxi.
He finally felt relieved to be away from the crowd. While waiting for the online taxi, he saw the hotel and card shop on the side of the building, and looked at the bright red headlight sign of the train station.
The inspiration pressure this city put on him was so heavy——
——It is very poor and small. In order to compete for quality, time, and money, people want to go to the place where the money is made.
The antique market on one side of the square sells large pieces of glass. Customers often take out their mobile phones to take pictures of the items and find a large number of small items of the same style made in Yiwu. They immediately fall out with the store owner over the price difference. Not open to trade.
It turned out that there were still college students selling sneaker cleaners who would form a dragnet with drivers to sell them in turn. Later, they and the shoe shine vendors were swept away by the Beautiful City rating.
Occasionally, you can see aunts and uncles in their forties or fifties standing in front of a fake mobile phone store next to the train station, asking people if they want to go to the video hall to watch a movie. The movies they watch are naturally not serious movies.
According to Brother Ye Bei, this city is much more chaotic than HK, which is known as the Little Gotham of the East. It is a very primitive, barbaric, and big town like the Wild West.
Xueming can still recall what brother Ye Bei said——
——As far as my eldest brother’s personal experience is concerned, I have seen people buried in unfinished buildings, murders in wild areas in scenic spots, inexplicable murders in veteran cadre buildings, and children of new micro-business pyramid schemes working together to frame their old father. .
To Xueming, these things actually sound scarier than the demons and monsters in the underground world——
——Compared with the various ways of making money in the surface world, armadillo hunters snatch people's logs, steal their pyroxene, and steal the panacea. The occasional hunter who shows mercy and does not harm newcomers can be considered a clean slate among criminals.
Densely packed shops are crowded in a prime area to steal customers. A little further away is a dilapidated demolished building with a sky-high price. Three hundred meters away in a straight line is a school for the children of a diesel machinery factory. The buildings in the family area are over sixty years old. Even if you travel, So convenient, their selling price is only 50,000, and no one cares about them.
The divorce rate for adult men over the age of 40 is over 80%. Those under the age of 40 usually go out to work and are not in their hometown.
From those born in the 1960s to those born in the 2000s, everyone’s hobby was to go to a mahjong parlor to play cards, and then give the shop owner a commission of 8 to 12% of the gambling money.
In Xueming's WeChat circle of friends, there was news that the cousin of an old classmate had an appointment with someone to have dinner and play mahjong. The girl was only nineteen years old.
He could vaguely remember that the biggest dream of his adoptive mother, a trafficker, was to open a card shop and collect money while sitting on the ground, without having to work hard.
Growing up in such an environment, it's no wonder that both Xiaoqi and Meteor believe that Xueming is an extremely mature boy who is as calm as a cold blade.
A message came from the mobile phone——
——Online ride-hailing orders were cancelled.
He looked at the vehicle information and order message, and then looked in the direction of the train station. The drivers gathered in a group, squatting in the cold wind and smoking, looking at the disobedient young man fiercely, with a look of revenge on their faces. cheerful smile.
Xueming didn't speak. He just picked up his luggage and walked towards the even colder Yumingjiang Bridge. He decided to go further to call for a taxi - he couldn't afford to offend these local snakes, so he could only hide away.
It would be nice to argue with them and reason with them. There are so many people trying to deal with one of them. If you use words, you will be against many. It will be a waste of time and energy. If you do things, you will have to pay money. This is exactly what they want.
Starting from Guangming Road and walking to the cinema bridge of Yuming River, you can see the empty ghost building next to the elevated ramp. The scenery here is extremely beautiful and it happens to be in the scenic area along the river. However, this building happens to be erected next to the bridge. If We pay attention and check the news from the past few years, and we can still see the bizarre story of the will-o'-the-wisp family rushing out of the bridge and flying into the sixteenth floor of this happy town at night.
Since then, the owners have put their houses up for sale and no longer dare to live here - you can trust the developers, but you can't trust whether Batman will fly out of your bedroom window after ten o'clock at night Come in.
Moreover, twenty meters outside the window is Qiaoyin, the busiest traffic area in the city. After ten o'clock at night, it is like a big truck party. National standard diesel exhaust and various manic horns will become the best music for bed companions.
Further ahead, there is the Yuming River Bridge built in the Soviet era. It is divided into two roads, one large and one small. The smaller one was designed and built by Soviet engineers. It was later abandoned and eight new bridges were built directly at the original address. lane of the new bridge.
The original old bridge has height and weight restrictions, and only some motorcycles can be used. The 16-kilometer straight road of the new bridge has become a guillotine for teenagers who chase the wind at night. It attracts hundreds of local people and groups of ghost motorcycles. Enthusiast.
Xueming remembered that he often took this road when commuting to and from get off work at the battery factory. The second shift would start work at 12 o'clock in the evening, and the first shift would end at 12 o'clock in the evening. At this time, there would be many people carrying cars in the back seat. A handsome young man who fell in love with two hot girls fell down on this road, causing sparks to fly and his head to be bloody.
Usually a handsome boy can continue to be handsome after falling down. After a beautiful sister falls down, I am afraid she will only see her again in the next life. When it comes to resisting impact, those who ride bicycles always know better than those who ride in cars. When facing a hot-tempered dump truck at night, , which posture you use to land will have a greater chance of survival.
This is why Xueming treats Bai Lu so carefully.
He was very afraid that Bai Lu would become such a person. He worked so hard and wanted to live so much. He didn't want Bai Lu to squander the stable life he had fought so hard to survive.
In his world, in the first twenty-one years of his life, dump trucks took away the most lives. Therefore, Xueming has always believed that dump trucks have a kind of magical power, which is beautiful and cruel, and incredibly powerful. Over the years, the people killed by dump trucks on this road can almost form a reinforced company - but still Someone took the initiative to put their head under its steel wheel. This is what is difficult for people to understand.
He walked onto the sidewalk of the New Bridge, watching all directions and listening in all directions. His alert posture was much more standard than walking at Chadderton Castle. At 11:40 at night, it was the time when the racing gang started to move around. Scattered cars carrying drunken owners home snaked on the spacious road.
Occasionally, I saw one or two motorcycles speeding past and coming at a high speed. After finishing the 32-kilometer round-trip straightaway, I heard the cars rushing over the speed bumps deliberately installed by the road administration. They jumped high, and when they landed, sparks flew between the floor and the asphalt - the drivers were roaring and the hot girls were screaming.
All this was too chaotic for Xueming. Four motorcycles rushed out from the same lane towards the west bank of Yuming River. The little sister in the back seat took one more look at Xueming, and immediately grabbed the rider in the front seat and shouted loudly.
"Look! Look! He looks good! Go back! Let me take a look at him more!"
Jiang Xueming heard clearly and was very agile with his hands and feet. He climbed over the guardrail and before the locomotive could turn around and go in the opposite direction, he had already jumped into the railway maintenance corridor under the bridge and hid.
He didn't want to say another word to these boys and girls - he might get into trouble.
But an even louder shout came from above—
"——He was here just now!"
The little girl's voice is very high-pitched, like the clip sound of Douyin Internet celebrity. It is very harsh and can be heard far away.
"I'm not lying to you! Didn't you also see it? The sidewalk is so empty at night, and he is the only one!"
"Is that a ghost?" the female rider who was traveling with her shouted: "Don't scare me! He won't jump into the river, will he?"
"Found it! He hid below!"
Xueming looked up and saw that there was a height difference of about three meters. The little girl with blond hair had already leaned on the fence and looked down curiously.
"Hey! Pretty boy! Can you add me on WeChat?"
Xueming ignored it and continued walking forward.
The little girl immediately yelled in a rough voice: "Stop when I tell you to! Are you so rude? Didn't your parents tell you? When you hear someone saying hello! Respond respectfully!"
Xueming still ignored it and continued walking forward.
The little girl immediately started climbing over the fence: "Hey! I'm coming down to catch you!"
The engineering design of this integrated road, bridge and railway has made the road surface into the shape of a T-shaped pile. It is basically impossible to climb into the railway from the T end -
——Jiang Xueming relied on his spiritual body to cling to the triangular reinforced steel beam of the railway before climbing into the maintenance tunnel. This little girl wanted to follow down. I'm afraid it was an idiot's dream. Unless she had taken drugs and drank alcohol, she would have been so unwilling. thoughts of fate.
If you force yourself over the guardrail, you will just crash into the cold Yuming River.
Xueming ignored her in the end, thinking that the girl was just joking and showing off her power.
He has seen many such young people. In high school and junior high school, there were many such students who were not very clear-headed. For some inexplicable reason, they would have a fight with a few friends to support them. When it came time to actually take action, most of them would I went back to the dormitory to sleep dejectedly. At most, I left a few harsh words so that I could make an appointment next time.
Over time, when ordinary students see such a big scene of a fight with a knife, they will naturally think that these people are individuals with identities, backgrounds, and some special powers.
Ten seconds passed, and the shouting and cursing on the bridge became louder and louder, but there was no sign of the little girl falling into the water calling for help. Xueming was a little disappointed.
"You keep walking! Let's see where you can go!"
"We have a car! You leave Furong Road and walk across Guangming Street. I know that bus stop! You will come out from there!"
"Hi! Your WeChat account today! I want to make a reservation!"
Xueming raised her head and asked, "How old am I this year?"
The little girl walked behind the guardrail and said, "Sixteen years old!"
Xueming: "How are your academic performance? Do you have a boyfriend? How many followers are there on Xiaohongshu? Your Weibo followers exceed four digits? What did you get in the New Year card pool?"
The little girl was so angry that she almost fainted and screamed.
She asked her companions to ignore the matter - it had become a personal vendetta.
Then I saw the girl put her foot on the fence and turned outwards. She couldn't stand the stimulation at all.
Xueming gritted his teeth and looked sulky. He first threw his suitcase onto the bridge, stepped on the aluminum rust-proof platform as a climbing point, grabbed the exposed concrete of the roof beam, and climbed onto the sidewalk.
The girl hadn't come back to her senses this time. The foundation on her face was frozen by the cold wind blowing from the river. Under the dim street light, she saw a big black box falling to the ground, and people followed it. .
But Xueming didn't say anything and continued to move forward with his suitcase.
This bridge is two kilometers long, and it takes about ten minutes to walk.
The little girl had been following Xueming, and suddenly she became quiet and indifferent, and stopped talking.
The rider's sister was crawling on her bike beside the sidewalk, and for a moment she didn't know what to say.
Seeing the bridge ramp on the west bank getting closer and closer, the little girl started to sweat anxiously. She felt that after spending so much time and effort, this big brother was about to slip away. It was inappropriate no matter what.
So she spoke rashly: "I..."
Xueming should use Hengyin dialect: "I'm not happy to meet you."
The little girl immediately became happy: "Oh! Are you a local? That's easy to say! Why haven't I seen you on this road before?"
Xueming: "Hengyin has a population of eight million. One more person is not more than me, and one person less than me is not a lot."
Little girl: "You speak so nicely! You are so cultured..."
Xueming: "..."
Little girl: "What's your name? Do you have a girlfriend? Can I be your girlfriend? I'm very beautiful! This is my Douyin account. Many people like me! I don't use beauty. of!"
Xueming: "..."
Little girl: "Do you use Douyin? How about I shoot a video for you now. I am sure many, many people will like it..."
Xueming: "I don't need many people to like me."
The little girl pouted: "Weird... you know? You can make money by shooting this! I have moved out a long time ago. As long as I stand in front of the camera for thirty seconds and do nothing, I can earn hundreds." Here’s the bucks!”
Xueming: "Very good."
Little girl: "Hey! It's pretty good..."
Then, her expression changed, "Are you trying to deal with me?"
Xueming: "It's pretty good, not perfunctory."
The little girl asked: "Do you look down on me?"
Xueming: "Nothing."
Little girl: "Then tell me your name, okay? Let's chat on WeChat and I'll send you photos. You call me wife and I'll call you husband! You're really good-looking!"
Xueming turned around and nodded with a smile: "I'm in a hurry to go back to celebrate the Lantern Festival, sorry."
It doesn't matter if he doesn't laugh, the two girls' hearts will melt when they smile.
That business-like fake smile was something Xueming had practiced countless times to prepare for the picky customers when buying offal.
Its attack power is extremely strong, it is area damage and true damage.
The little girl stammered: "That, that, that, that, that, I'll ask my sister to take you back?"
The young lady stammered: "Sit behind me and face each other..."
Jiang Xueming slapped himself in the face.
"Hold!"
"Brother Shen!"
"Um!"
When Shen Changqing walks on the road, whenever he encounters familiar people, he will say hello or nod to each other.
But no matter who it is.
There was no unnecessary expression on everyone's face, as if they were indifferent to everything.
To this.
Shen Changqing has become accustomed to it.
Because this is the Demon Suppression Division, an organization that maintains the stability of the Qin Dynasty. Its main responsibility is to kill monsters and monsters. Of course, there are also some other side jobs.
It can be said.
Everyone in the Demon Suppression Division has a lot of blood on their hands.
When a person is used to seeing life and death, he will become indifferent to many things.
When he first came to this world, Shen Changqing was a little uncomfortable, but he got used to it over time.
The Demon-Suppressing Division is huge.
Those who can stay in the Demon Suppressing Division are all powerful masters, or those who have the potential to become masters.
Shen Changqing belongs to the latter.
Among them, the Demon Suppressor Division is divided into two professions, one is the Guardian Envoy and the other is the Demon Slayer.
Anyone who enters the Demon Suppression Department starts from the lowest level as a demon slayer.
Then he will be promoted step by step, and he is expected to eventually become a guardian envoy.
Shen Changqing's predecessor was a trainee demon slayer in the Demon Suppression Division, and he was also the lowest level among the demon slayers.
Possessing the memory of a previous life.
He is also very familiar with the environment of the Demon Suppression Division.
It didn't take long for Shen Changqing to stop in front of a loft.
Unlike other places in the Demon Suppressing Division that were full of chills, the attic here seemed to stand out from the crowd, showing a different kind of tranquility in the bloody Demon Suppressing Division.
At this time, the attic door was open, and occasionally people came in and out.
Shen Changqing only hesitated for a moment before stepping in.
Enter the attic.
The environment changes in vain.
The fragrance of ink mixed with the faint smell of blood hit his face, making him frown instinctively, but then relaxed it quickly.
There is almost no way to cleanse away the smell of blood on everyone in the Demon-Suppressing Division.
