Tong Yang looked around the room for a moment, then turned and left.
Out in the hallway of the building, all the other doors were closed.
Tong Yang tried turning a doorknob. Dust cascaded down, and the door opened easily.
The room showed no signs of recent habitation. A thick layer of dust covered the floor. Tong Yang walked in and looked around, making sure there were no traces of anyone else living there.
With a bang, she opened the window. A fine drizzle pattered against the windowsill.
"Not bad," Tong Yang remarked with appreciation. "Much better than the Dongyang neighborhood."
Since she was going to stay in the First World, she naturally needed a place to live. This area was called the slums, and it didn't seem like there were many laws to speak of. She'd just find a random spot to settle down.
As for that little girl...
Tong Yang returned to the little girl's room. The house had been blown up and was no longer habitable.
The little girl was still lying over the corpse, taking small bites of mold-covered bread, her dry lips cracked.
"Are you hungry?" Tong Yang asked.
The girl stared at her blankly, showing no reaction, eating the bread without tasting it.
Tong Yang walked up to her and lifted the little girl off the corpse.
The girl didn't resist, just clutched the moldy bread tightly, letting herself be moved with numb indifference.
After setting her aside, Tong Yang went to deal with the body on the bed. The previously unresponsive little girl suddenly grabbed her clothes.
"Don't touch my mom..."
Tong Yang looked down at her and said, "Your mother has passed away."
The little girl shook her head. "It's okay. As long as Mom is here, I'll be okay no matter what."
Tong Yang said, "I want to make a deal with you."
The girl looked confused, slowly raising her head. "What...?"
"For now, you'll live with me temporarily. No matter who asks about our relationship, you just tell them I'm your older sister."
The little girl lifted her dirty face. "Why?"
"No reason."
The slums of the First World were a chaotic place. Living with a native of the First World shouldn't arouse suspicion.
Tong Yang continued, "In return, I'll be responsible for your food, clothing, and shelter. Try not to cause me any trouble. Before I leave, I'll give you all the money I have."
It was unclear if the girl understood. She stared dumbly at Tong Yang for a long moment before finally whispering, "C-can I... eat my fill from now on?"
Tong Yang nodded. "Of course."
She had managed to support Tong Le before; naturally, she could support this little girl now.
Besides using her as a cover, there was another reason to live with her: the destruction of her house was somewhat related to Tong Yang.
"Mom..." The little girl suddenly threw herself forward, wrapping her arms around Tong Yang's arm. "Mom."
Tong Yang's face darkened. "Say 'sister.'"
"Only Mom gives me food."
Tong Yang pushed her away. "From now on, your sister will give you food too."
"Oh." The girl nodded vaguely.
"Be smart. Don't cause me trouble, or you won't get any food."
The girl said nervously, "I-I understand."
Her stomach growled loudly. Instinctively, she tried to stuff the moldy bread into her mouth.
Tong Yang snatched the bread away. "I'll take you to get something to eat in a bit."
"But..."
Tong Yang said, "I have only one requirement for you—obedience. Understand?"
The girl nodded dazedly. "I understand."
"Now, I need to deal with your mother's body."
The girl looked at her timidly, moved out of the way, and said softly, "She's not my mom."
Tong Yang was surprised. "Is that so?"
"She gave me bread, so..."
Tong Yang understood. In the little girl's eyes, this corpse was her provider.
"How old are you?" Tong Yang asked while looking for something to wrap the body in.
"Eleven..."
Hearing this, Tong Yang couldn't help but look at her in surprise.
The girl was skin and bones, short and small. Probably due to long-term malnutrition, she looked only eight or nine years old.
"What's your name?"
"Miaomiao."
"My name is Yang Tong," Tong Yang said.
"Yang Tong sister."
"Just 'sister' is fine."
"Sister."
"Mm."
Tong Yang put the body in a bag, hoisted it onto her shoulder, and said to Miaomiao, "Let's go."
"Sister, where are we going?"
"To eat."
Tong Yang also wanted to get a sense of the situation in the First World's slums.
After burying the body in a random pit, Tong Yang led Miaomiao towards more populated areas.
Bombings in the slums weren't considered strange occurrences, and life went on as usual.
They arrived at a place resembling a market in the real world, with second-hand shops lining both sides of the street.
"Don't miss out, don't pass by! Fresh goods for cheap!"
The two of them stopped outside a noodle shop. A waiter with dark skin beckoned them inside.
"Two bowls of beef noodles," Tong Yang said.
The waiter looked at her in astonishment. "Are you kidding? Beef? That's not something people like us eat."
Tong Yang raised an eyebrow. "What do you have here?"
"Vegetable noodles."
Each ordered a bowl of green vegetable noodles, and they sat down at a rickety table to wait.
Miaomiao seemed to be eating in such a place for the first time; she appeared extremely awkward and nervous.
Tong Yang didn't pay it much mind. She took out her phone and checked for a signal.
No signal.
She didn't know if it was because they were in the slums or if Wu Pingxue had lied to her, but Tong Yang couldn't connect to any satellite signal here.
Suddenly, Tong Yang sensed something was off and paused her movements.
During the year of conflict with the parallel world, her instincts had become razor-sharp.
She clearly felt that after she took out her phone, the people around her deliberately softened their breathing and kept glancing her way—or more accurately, at her phone.
It was a gift from Chu Shiyu, a domestic brand touted as far ahead of its time. Ye Huai had even taken it to tweak some data to ensure it could connect to the parallel world's satellite signals.
Tong Yang looked up and calmly put the device back into her backpack.
Immediately, the attention of those nearby shifted entirely to her backpack.
Tong Yang let out an almost inaudible sigh. It seemed the valuables on her person had attracted unwanted attention.
She had been careless. Such electronic devices were probably rare in the slums.
"Here you go, customers. Enjoy your meal slowly."
"Eat," Tong Yang said flatly.
Miaomiao nodded, grabbed her chopsticks, and began devouring the food.
Tong Yang took a bite. The broth was bland and watery, utterly tasteless, not even as good as the noodles Tong Le used to make.
Thinking there might be a tough fight ahead and needing to replenish her energy, Tong Yang forced herself to eat it.
"Hey, I heard a young master from the affluent district got robbed here in the slums!"
"Who?"
"Who got robbed?"
"My brother works in the commoners' district. It's all over the news there. That young master had all his money stolen, even his coat was taken!"
"Heavens! Who has the nerve? They must be insane!"
"That's practically asking for death!"
"Will this affect us, do you think?"
"I'm not sure either. Everyone should lay low these next couple of days, try not to draw attention from the higher-ups."
At this, one of them sighed. "If only we could get into the Commoner District."
"Yeah, there... at least you wouldn't have to worry about your life."
"Don't even think about it. For slum dwellers to enter the Commoner District, it's harder than climbing to the sky."
"Ah..."
Tong Yang listened to their discussion without changing her expression.
She robbed him? That was clearly compensation for the young master treating human life as worthless.
And wasn't it he who threw the jacket over himself?
But... the Commoner District? What's the difference from the slums?
It sounded like life in the Commoner District was somewhat better than in the slums; at the very least, you wouldn't have to fear for your life. Perhaps satellite signals could be accessed there, and there would be more channels for obtaining information.
She needed to think of a way to get into the Commoner District.
Miaomiao finished the last sip of her noodle soup, looked up contentedly, and said to Tong Yang, "Sister, it was delicious."
"Full?" Tong Yang asked.
"Full," Miaomiao said.
"Then let's go."
Tong Yang had no small change on her, only a card and the hundred-dollar bill she had taken from the young master.
When she handed the hundred-dollar bill to the server, his eyes went wide. "Please wait a moment."
The server went behind the counter and opened the cash box, which was filled with nothing but small bills of a few or tens of dollars.
"Your change, ninety dollars." The server handed Tong Yang a bunch of crumpled small bills.
"Thank you," Tong Yang said.
"Wait..." the server suddenly called out to them.
"What is it?" Tong Yang frowned.
The server pursed his lips, glanced at the other customers in the noodle shop, and warned in a low voice, "Young lady, you don't seem to be from the slums. They've already got their eyes on you. You should leave quickly."
Tong Yang glanced towards the main hall. The others appeared to be eating, but their attention had been fixed on Tong Yang and the other girl the whole time.
In the impoverished and chaotic slums, two girls who looked utterly defenseless, carrying electronic devices and paying with a hundred-dollar bill, would naturally become a tempting target in others' eyes.
Tong Yang looked away and said, "Thank you. We'll be going now."
"Take care, you two!"
After leaving the noodle shop, Tong Yang led Miaomiao forward, wandering aimlessly through the streets, planning to buy some instant food to take back for emergencies.
She could sense that two or three people had been following them furtively. Probably because there were too many eyes around, they hadn't made a direct move against Tong Yang and the girl.
Tong Yang bought some things, and Miaomiao dutifully carried them.
"No matter what happens in a moment, don't be afraid. Just wait for me obediently to the side."
Miaomiao nodded. "I understand."
Having bought what they needed, Tong Yang and the girl headed towards a more deserted area.
As the surrounding crowd thinned, the movements of the few people following behind became even more obvious.
"Sister, it seems like someone..."
"It's fine. Don't look back."
"Oh..."
Tong Yang continued walking forward nonchalantly.
They entered a deserted street. Raindrops fell from the wet eaves, hitting the stone slabs with a crisp sound.
Tong Yang heard the footsteps behind them suddenly become chaotic and rapidly approach.
Tong Yang pressed her lips together, subtly moving her hand towards the side pocket of her backpack, where a sharp dagger was hidden.
"Go wait over there," Tong Yang said.
"I know..."
Before she could finish her words, a man suddenly appeared behind her, his hands reaching to choke her neck.
Tong Yang swiftly pulled the dagger from the backpack's side pocket and slashed at the thin arm.
"Ah!"
The dagger cut a long gash in the arm, blood gushing out. The man clutched his arm, letting out a scream.
Miaomiao was stunned for a moment. Coming to her senses, she immediately grabbed the bags and ran farther away. Whether the bags were too heavy or she ran too hastily, she nearly took a bad fall.
There was more than one person who had come. Tong Yang kicked the man down and, gripping the dagger in a reverse hold, lunged at the other two.
Probably thinking it wouldn't take much effort to deal with two girls, none of the men carried any weapons; they were bare-handed.
Tong Yang, holding a bloodied dagger, was remarkably agile. The men couldn't even touch her shadow. In a few quick moves, they were all knocked to the ground, groaning in pain.
"Stop pretending. I used the flat of the blade." Tong Yang nudged the man at her feet impatiently.
These malnourished guys were all brawn and no substance, completely no match for Tong Yang.
"Spare us! Have mercy!"
"Miss, have mercy!"
"We were blinded by greed, we won't dare, we really won't dare again!"
Tong Yang hadn't planned to kill them in the first place.
"Answer a few questions for me honestly," Tong Yang said.
"Ask, ask! We'll tell you everything we know!"
"First, what's the difference between the slums and the Commoner District?"
One of the less injured men answered, "The slums are a garbage dump. People who contribute nothing to society get thrown here. No electricity, no signal."
"No one cares whether people in the slums live or die. We... we have no money, can't afford to buy things, so we can only..." The man choked up.
"Miss, please, you must forgive us! I have an eighty-year-old mother above and a two-year-old child below! I was truly forced into a corner to attack you, I'm sorry!" Another man cried out dramatically, though his acting was poor—no tears came out.
They thought Tong Yang was an ordinary, kind-hearted girl who would be overwhelmed with sympathy upon hearing their plight and give them some money.
However, that tactic was clearly not suitable for Tong Yang.
"None of my business," Tong Yang said coolly. "Don't interrupt. Just answer my questions."
The man: "..."
He and his companions exchanged looks, gradually dropping their hypocritical facade.
They'd really kicked an iron plate today—she was impervious to both soft and hard approaches.
"What about the Commoner District?"
The man sat up, scrutinizing Tong Yang. "You don't know anything... how did you end up here..."
"I told you to answer, not to ask questions," Tong Yang said with a cold face.
The man looked at the blood-stained dagger in her hand, swallowed nervously in hindsight, and said, "The Commoner District is where commoners live. They can earn wages through labor."
Tong Yang nodded. The Commoner District was where ordinary people lived.
"How do you get into the Commoner District?" Tong Yang asked.
As soon as the words left her mouth, the men sprawled on the ground shook their heads in unison.
"Impossible."
"Slum dwellers can't enter the Commoner District. Absolutely impossible. And they'd never be accepted."
Tong Yang asked, "Why?"
"People in the Commoner District all have their own identity papers. To live there, you must have identity papers. But people in the slums don't have them, so we can't go to the Commoner District."
"It's true! I'm not lying to you!"
"If you were originally from the slums, give up. You can't enter the Commoner District."
Tong Yang looked at their expressions. They didn't seem to be lying.
The slums were not a place she could go just because she wanted to. After all, like the people of the slums, she had no identification in the First World.
After a long silence, Tong Yang said, "Don't worry about whether I can go or not. Just tell me directly what I need to do to get there."
The man gritted his teeth. "There's only one chance a month, but no one from the slums has managed to leave through here for ten years."
"What chance?" Tong Yang asked.
...
After getting the information she wanted, Tong Yang took Miaomiao back to their temporary lodging.
Once there, Tong Yang boiled a pot of water using a rust-covered pot, told Miaomiao to go wash herself, rummaged through the room to find a few clean clothes belonging to the previous occupant, and handed them to her.
"Conserve water, but get clean."
"I know..."
The room had no electricity or lights. As night fell, everything was plunged into darkness. The neon lights over the distant city lit up the skyline, forming a stark contrast with the slum environment.
Even Tong Yang hadn't lived in conditions like this for a long time.
The buildings were packed closely together. Occasionally, a faint, pearly light would glow from a window. The night wind howled, whistling through cracks in the walls, producing hollow, eerie sounds.
On the other side of the wall, the sound of water trickled from the bathroom. Tong Yang lit a candle, sat by the table, and pondered what the man had said.
To go from the slums to the commoner district, one must be recommended by someone from the commoner district and pass a test to prove one has value to exist.
However, the commoner district, though also part of society's lower strata, looked down on slum dwellers with utter contempt. The idea of recommending one to enter the commoner district was unthinkable; they'd probably spit at the sight of them, cursing them for bringing bad luck.
What was even more difficult was the test to enter the commoner district.
Although the commoner district looked down on slum dwellers from the bottom of their hearts, considering them garbage, even less valuable to humanity than livestock, there were, for various reasons, still some who gave recommendations. Yet, those who passed the commoner district test were exceedingly few, most slinking back to the slums in defeat.
Unclear of the test's exact contents, Tong Yang believed it must be extremely difficult.
Moreover, she didn't know anyone from the commoner district, making a recommendation impossible.
The "once-a-month" chance the man spoke of was merely this: on the first of every month, people from the commoner district would sell some useless garbage to the slums at extremely low prices to maintain the slums' survival order.
Compared to the bottom rung of the parallel world, this place seemed slightly more tolerant, but in Tong Yang's view, it was just the difference between penned livestock and free-range livestock.
If the First World was a capitalist society with clear-cut class divisions, the parallel world it had invaded was a capitalist society drenched in blood.
The parallel world was like a bloody maw, ready to devour those at the bottom at any moment; the First World was like a monster clad in a glamorous skin, devouring people without spitting out the bones.
The difference between the two seemed vast, but in essence, it wasn't.
"July first..."
There were still over half a month until July first. She could only watch and wait, biding her time.
Time raced by like a galloping river, and in the blink of an eye, it was the end of June.
During her time in the First World, Tong Yang hadn't been idle; she simply couldn't do anything.
The slums had no signal, and only a very few shops had access to electricity. She originally had her phone to pass the time, to read some cached professional books. But with nowhere to charge it, it became a useless brick after a couple of days.
Tong Yang sometimes wandered the bustling streets to learn about the First World. Unfortunately, information in the slums was severely blocked. The few people who could keep up with outside news mostly only knew trivial matters, which were no help to Tong Yang.
Left with no other options and unable to stay idle, Tong Yang had Miaomiao to keep her company.
She hadn't gone easy on Miaomiao these past two weeks. Besides providing food and clothing, she taught her combat stances, forced her to memorize texts, vocabulary, and solve math problems. The little girl, already weathered by life's hardships, finally went on a hunger strike, declaring she'd rather skip a meal than do another math problem.
Furthermore, every time she saw Tong Yang approaching with a notebook full of math problems, she would immediately hide far away, utterly unmoved by any threats or bribes.
Tong Yang could only remark, "You simply don't understand the joy of learning."
Having been by Tong Yang's side these days and witnessing her behavior, Miaomiao's courage had grown. She retorted weakly, "I... I just don't get it..."
Tong Yang had no other recourse. Fortunately, while Miaomiao showed little interest in academics, she was very keen on combat techniques, so Tong Yang had something to occupy her days.
On July first, Tong Yang and Miaomiao went early to Gate No. 2, which led from the slums to the commoner district.
At ten in the morning, the gate would open precisely. Countless people, like them, had gathered behind it.
Among them were those like Tong Yang, desperate to enter the commoner district, but the majority were there to purchase the supplies delivered from there.
"Sister, the gate seems like it's about to open," Miaomiao whispered, grabbing her arm.
"Yeah."
Tong Yang stared intently at the gate. As the clock struck ten, movement gradually came from outside. The heavy iron gates slowly swung open to either side, scraping against the ground with a piercing shriek.
Yet the crowd only watched the widening gap intently. As the gates fully opened, an old cart piled high with goods rolled into view.
"It's here! It's here!"
"Finally!"
"What is it this time?"
"Apples! And meat! My god! There's even pork!"
...
Exclamations rippled through the crowd as if they were witnessing rare treasures.
However, the goods on the cart were less "supplies" and more like garbage.
Apples half-rotten, pork emitting a foul odor, a jumble of various food items and daily necessities, along with some knick-knacks of completely unknown use.
There were five such carts in total, each piled high with "junk."
The slums had twelve gates leading to the outside world, and the scene before each was the same.
This was the sustenance on which the slums relied for survival.
And it wasn't free; it had to be purchased at an "extremely low price."
Two burly men sat on each cart, distributing the goods to the slum purchasers.
Their faces were filled with disgust and disdain, as if the slums were a mass of maggots living in a sewer. They wore protective suits, gloves, were bundled up tightly, and were fully armed.
Once class solidifies, people from any class will look down upon those beneath them.
Since this wasn't the real world, Tong Yang didn't care about any of that.
She was thinking: what could she do to attract their attention, to make them willing to recommend her for entry into the commoner district?
Coercion and bribery? A humble, pleading request?
Tong Yang decisively chose the former. Only...
Only there were too many eyes and ears here; she couldn't act recklessly.
If only someone would, for some inexplicable reason, want to be alone with her.
But, such good fortune didn't just fall from the sky. She'd have to find another way...
Just then, following behind the five carts, a silver-white convertible car appeared.
This vehicle must have been exorbitantly, glaringly out of place with its surroundings.
Tong Yang looked up and locked eyes with the boy in the passenger seat.
Instantly, a fierce glare flashed in the boy's eyes.
"You!" The boy pointed at Tong Yang, "Get over here!"
Tong Yang was taken aback for a moment, thinking the boy looked somewhat familiar.
"Did you hear me! I said get over here!"
Seeing her frozen in place, the boy spat out the words, furious.
Then it clicked for Tong Yang.
Wasn't this the young master she had relieved of eight thousand bucks not long ago?
Seeing him, Tong Yang broke into a smile.
What was this?
A gift from heaven, practically forcing itself into her mouth—how could she possibly refuse?
