Not long after, the crew-cut man and his group left the slum. Yang Tong watched thoughtfully as the several men who had helped conceal the electronic devices she was carrying gave her friendly smiles before disappearing into the crowd.
Yang Tong did not pursue them. She turned and went back to her residence.
Miaomiao had already packed everything and was standing by the second-floor window looking down. "Sister!" she called out.
"Hmm," Yang Tong responded absentmindedly.
Back in the room, Miaomiao, dragging large and small bags of luggage, asked, "When are we leaving?"
"Tomorrow morning," Yang Tong said.
"Oh," Miaomiao immediately put the things down. "So we're staying one more night."
Yang Tong glanced at her. The bags contained everything, including pots, pans, bowls, and dishes.
"Why didn't you just dismantle the bed and take that too?"
Miaomiao grinned sheepishly. "I couldn't carry it."
Yang Tong was speechless. "No need. We'll buy new ones when we get there."
"But that costs a lot of money."
"It's fine."
Yang Tong told her to take out all the useless items from the bags and discovered even used disposable chopsticks inside.
At ten o'clock tomorrow morning, she would take her family and friends to Gate No. 2 to register their identities. Once the identity documents were issued, they would be people of the commoners' district.
However, including herself, she could bring at most four people in. Besides Miaomiao, that left three vacant spots.
In the evening, the living room door was knocked.
Yang Tong sent Miaomiao to open it. Standing outside were four men—the same ones who had attempted the robbery that day and who had helped conceal her electronic devices during the day.
Seeing the four appear, Yang Tong's expression remained calm, not at all surprised.
"Miss Yang."
"Good evening, Miss Yang."
Miaomiao frowned. "What are you doing here?"
One of them said, "We're here to see Yang Tong, Miss Yang."
Yang Tong said, "Miaomiao, let them in. You go back to your room."
The four men filed into the room. Miaomiao closed the door, crossed her arms, and stood beside Yang Tong, eyeing the four men warily. "I'm staying right here," she said.
Yang Tong glanced at her but didn't insist. She gestured for the men opposite to sit.
"What did you come to see me about?" Yang Tong asked.
One of them spoke up, "Miss Yang, we heard you're entering the commoners' district tomorrow to register your identity, and that you can bring four people with you. We..."
The four exchanged looks. A man with a sallow, emaciated face said, "We lost our heads before and offended you. We were wondering if you'd be willing to give us a chance to make up for it."
Yang Tong laughed at this. "And how do you plan to make up for it?"
The man said, "The adults from the commoners' district said the time anchor point might be in the slums, and that it involves carrying electronic devices. You see..."
"What?"
"Although you aren't the time anchor point, you are carrying electronic devices. If the adults from the commoners' district find out, given their style of 'rather kill the innocent than let the guilty go,' you definitely won't be allowed into the commoners' district, and you might even be in mortal danger."
Yang Tong propped her chin on one hand. "So?"
"We won't tell anyone about this. We won't hinder your entry into the commoners' district."
Yang Tong asked with a smile, "Besides you four, does anyone else know?"
"No one else knows. They only know you got a lot of money from the Zhan family's only son," that man said.
Yang Tong said unhappily, "Who said I robbed him? He almost killed me. It was compensation."
The man slapped his own cheek, smiling awkwardly. "My mistake, my mistake. They only know the Zhan family's only son gave you a lot of money."
Yang Tong said, "What you say makes sense. If I'm not the time anchor point but they discover I'm carrying electronic devices, I probably won't get into the commoners' district and might even be in danger."
"Exactly!"
"Don't worry, we absolutely won't breathe a word!"
Yang Tong nodded. "Then thank you."
Miaomiao stood behind her, glaring at the four men with clear hostility. These guys were obviously up to no good.
"You're welcome, you're welcome."
"This is our way of making amends, Miss Yang. So, what do you think?"
Yang Tong said, "I think it's quite good."
"That's great, that's great."
Yang Tong said meaningfully, "You're helping me so much. I wonder how I should repay you."
Hearing this, the four men's eyes lit up, gleaming.
"Miss Yang, you're too kind. We don't need any repayment."
"Right, no need to stand on ceremony with us."
The four exchanged a look, then continued, "It's just..."
Yang Tong asked leisurely, "Just what?"
"It's just that the commoners' district is different from the slums. You have to find work to support yourself. A young girl like you might have a hard time adapting, so..."
"So?"
"So, if you don't mind, you could let the four of us accompany you inside. From then on, we could address each other as siblings, and we would earn money to support and take care of you."
These guys, the fox's tail was finally showing.
Yang Tong hadn't gone to question them immediately back then precisely because she guessed this was their goal.
Did they think she was a three-year-old child? Address each other as siblings? They would earn money to take care of her? She'd probably die in the commoners' district without knowing how.
Yang Tong said, "Thank you for your kindness, but no need. I'll be taking Miaomiao into the commoners' district."
That man said, "Think it over carefully. If you take her, you'll have to support not only yourself but also her."
"It's fine. Barring any accidents, I should be able to afford it."
Seeing Yang Tong's firm attitude, the four men's expressions changed slightly.
"Miss Yang, I think you should consider this carefully..."
Yang Tong changed tack, saying, "How about this: I can't leave Miaomiao here alone, but there are three vacant spots. Discuss among yourselves who stays in the slums, and the remaining three can enter the commoners' district with me."
The four men looked at each other, seemingly pondering the feasibility of Yang Tong's words.
However, before they could reach any conclusion, one of them spoke up. "Miss Yang."
His voice was low, his face displeased.
"We've been discussing this with you politely. You should at least show us the most basic respect."
Yang Tong chuckled. "How am I not respecting you? Didn't I give you a choice?"
The man's lips tightened. "Then let me be blunt. If you don't want to arouse the suspicion of the commoners' district, take all four of us in."
The other three chimed in, "That's right, Miss Yang. You're a smart person. It's better to be sensible."
Yang Tong narrowed her eyes slightly. "And if I refuse?"
The man sneered. "Tomorrow we'll tell the people from the commoners' district that you are the time anchor point."
Yang Tong said, "Do you have proof?"
"No proof. But that way, the people from the commoners' district won't let you off, and they'll never let you enter the district."
Yang Tong rested her chin on her hand, her expression indifferent. "What if I simply refuse to cooperate?"
The man slammed a dagger onto the table and said coldly, "We underestimated you last time. This time, we are fully prepared. If you refuse, we will absolutely not let you off after tomorrow."
"Think about it. Two weak women like you will always have moments of carelessness."
Tong Yang smiled. "First the courtesy, then the force?"
"Correct."
"We hope you make the right choice."
"You people..." Miaomiao was about to unleash a torrent of abuse but was stopped by Tong Yang.
Tong Yang said with calm composure, "So, you're saying I have no choice but to cooperate with you?"
"Correct."
"We didn't want to be this rough with you either. If you had cooperated from the start..."
"But it's not too late now. As long as you agree, we can address each other as siblings from now on. At the very least, you won't go hungry."
Tong Yang almost laughed. She had the ability to pass the test and enter the civilian zone; how could she possibly be unable to feed herself?
Tong Yang waved at Miaomiao and said, "Go to the kitchen and pour me a cup of hot water."
"Sis..." Miaomiao was worried and didn't want to leave her side.
"Go." Tong Yang's tone brooked no argument.
Miaomiao had no other choice. She could only glare fiercely at the four men, warning them not to harm Tong Yang.
Miaomiao walked into the kitchen, turned on the gas, and boiled half a pot of water.
In the living room, Tong Yang faced off against the four men and said, "Actually, besides cooperating with you, there is another solution."
"What?"
"Kill you all before you can tell anyone." Tong Yang stated.
The four men were momentarily stunned, then frowned deeply.
"Don't look down on us..."
"Pfft!"
Before the man could finish his sentence, Tong Yang moved like lightning. She grabbed the dagger from the table and plunged it into the man's throat.
It happened almost in the blink of an eye. Before the others could even register her movement, the man had lost his breath and collapsed on the floor.
"What are you doing..."
Tong Yang gave them no time to react. She kicked the person next to her, pulled out the dagger, and swiftly appeared before another man, gripping his throat and ending his life with a single stab.
Another man grabbed a chair and swung it at her. Tong Yang blocked it with her arm, delivered a spinning kick that sent him crashing to the floor, then rushed forward in three quick steps and kicked him squarely in the chest, making him cough up blood.
Tong Yang bent down, slit his throat, then turned to look at the remaining man.
Three of the four men were dead within seconds. The last one, seeing the pool of blood on the floor, was utterly dumbfounded, trembling uncontrollably in fear.
"You... you..."
Watching Tong Yang approach, the man's face turned deathly pale, his legs gave way, and he could no longer stand.
Tong Yang walked up to him. In no hurry to strike, she half-knelt, using the blood-stained blade to lift his chin. She saw deep-seated fear etched in his eyes, tears welling up.
Tong Yang curled her lips into a smile, leaned close to his ear, and whispered in a low voice, "Didn't you ever consider what you'd do if I were a temporal anchor point?"
The man's eyes widened in terror, his dry lips quivering. "You... you are..."
Tong Yang raised the dagger and stabbed it into his temple.
Blood splattered all over Tong Yang. She stood up and turned to see Miaomiao standing at the kitchen doorway, staring at her dumbfounded.
"Sis, you..."
Tong Yang wiped the blood from her face and walked calmly into the bathroom. "Stay there. I'm going to take a shower."
After washing off the blood and drying her damp hair, Tong Yang returned to the living room. Miaomiao was still standing at the kitchen doorway, motionless, watching her.
"Is the water not ready yet?"
Hearing her words, Miaomiao snapped out of her daze.
"It's... it's ready."
"Pour me a cup."
"Oh..."
Miaomiao carried a bowl of scalding hot water out of the kitchen and saw Tong Yang sitting in one of the few clean spots in the room.
"Sis, it's a bit hot."
Tong Yang glanced at her and asked, "Scared?"
Miaomiao nodded instinctively, then paused for a few seconds and shook her head. "I'm a little scared of their bodies..."
Tong Yang said, surprised, "You're not scared of me?"
"I could never be scared of you, sis."
Tong Yang blew on the steaming hot water and asked, "You stayed in the same room with your previous 'mom's' corpse for so long. Why are you scared of bodies now?"
Miaomiao said, "Because that mom didn't bleed."
"So, you're scared of blood."
"Mhm..."
"Go back to your room. No need to clean up. We're leaving tomorrow morning."
"Oh..."
Miaomiao acknowledged and started walking towards the room.
Suddenly, in the quiet night, unhurried footsteps echoed from the stairwell.
Tong Yang's body stiffened slightly, her brows furrowing.
Some people lived in this building, but they generally stayed in their rooms and rarely wandered out at night. Moreover, the footsteps of people in the slums were usually weak and shuffling. These footsteps, however, sounded very steady, likely belonging to a healthy adult male.
And they seemed utterly at ease.
Tong Yang was certain she had never seen, nor would there exist, such a person in the No. 2 Gate area of the civilian zone.
Seeing Tong Yang's grave expression, Miaomiao stopped and looked toward the door in confusion.
The footsteps traversed the empty stairwell, entered the second-floor corridor, and gradually approached the room where Tong Yang and Miaomiao were, without deliberately lightening or slowing down.
"Go back to the room," Tong Yang said.
"Sis, you..."
Tong Yang raised her voice. "Go back to the room!"
Miaomiao flinched, scared by her tone, and didn't dare say more.
She turned back, entered the room, and closed the door.
The footsteps stopped right outside their room.
Tong Yang looked at the corpses littering the floor and took a deep breath. The person outside was likely trouble.
Let her pass the test during the day, then send someone to kill her at night? What kind of tactic was this?
Tong Yang returned to the room, hid a handgun on her person for emergencies, and gripped a dagger in her hand.
"Thump—"
"Thump—"
Knocking sounds came, still leisurely and unhurried.
Tong Yang found a blind spot out of view from the doorway and regulated her breathing.
"Thump—"
After three knocks, silence fell outside the door.
Instinct told Tong Yang the person outside was no ordinary foe. In a direct confrontation, she would likely find it hard to prevail against him.
"Bang—"
The door was violently kicked open. The old wooden plank door immediately splintered into pieces, wood fragments scattering across the floor.
Immediately after, a man dressed in black tight-fitting clothes, with a burly build, walked in.
Fortunately, most places in the slums had no electricity. A few candles flickered dimly in the room. Tong Yang concealed herself in the darkness, waiting for an opportunity, ready to strike.
The man stood by the doorway, surveyed the gruesome scene inside the room, glanced around, and his gaze settled on the closed door to Miaomiao's room.
In his right hand, he held the body of a woman, limbs limp, seemingly unconscious.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
Without warning, he grabbed the woman by the hair and smashed her face repeatedly against the floor until it was a bloody, unrecognizable pulp. Then, he tossed her aside like garbage.
Afterwards, he stepped around the blood and corpses on the floor and approached the closed door to Miaomiao's room.
"Thump—"
He raised his arm and knocked gently.
Miaomiao did not respond, much less open the door.
The man's back was turned to Tong Yang—a perfect opportunity.
Tong Yang held her breath, moving through the darkness.
However, the moment she moved, the man at the door immediately looked towards her.
Tong Yang clenched her teeth. His senses were too sharp.
"Come out." The man's voice had a mechanical steadiness.
Knowing there was no point in hiding any longer, Tong Yang stepped out of the shadows and asked, "May I ask who you are?"
"What business brings you to this humble dwelling so late at night?"
The man turned around, looked at Tong Yang, and instead of answering, asked, "Yang Tong?"
"If I said no, would you believe me?"
The man's voice changed slightly as he repeated, "Yang Tong."
The candlelight flickered on their faces. Tong Yang did not close the distance between them; the other party was most likely not a friendly sort.
"Right, I am Yang Tong. So what do you want?"
The man said, "I have been sent to protect you."
Tong Yang was stunned. "What did you say?"
The man repeated patiently, "I was sent by the United Government to protect you."
Tong Yang: "?"
She narrowed her eyes. "Protect me? Why protect me?"
"Because you are someone the United Government values."
Tong Yang shook her head. "I mean, protect me from what? Who would want to harm me?"
The man said, "Yes."
"Who?"
Avoiding the question, the man looked at the corpses littering the floor and continued, "However, it is most unfortunate. By the time I arrived, you were already dead."
Tong Yang frowned deeply. "What do you mean?"
The man explained, "When I arrived, Yang Tong was already dead. I only saw the killer."
"Who?"
The man's gaze shifted to her, then after a moment, moved to the floor, to the corpse he had brought in—its face smashed, casually discarded on the ground.
Tong Yang realized something. "Is she Yang Tong?"
"Correct." The man nodded. "Most regrettable. Yang Tong, who passed the July 15th test and successfully earned entry to the Civilian Zone, was killed on the eve of her departure."
Things were becoming more and more perplexing. Tong Yang couldn't understand. What exactly did the United Government want?
"Yang Tong is dead. Then what about me?" Tong Yang asked.
The man said, "You will acquire a new identity and go to live in the Civilian Zone."
"When?"
"Now."
What on earth was going on?
Did the United Government want to kill her, but someone was unwilling, so they used a scapegoat to die in her place?
Or did they have another purpose?
"Must we leave now?"
"Yes."
"Can I bring my sister?"
"You can."
"No need to manufacture another corpse."
"Unnecessary." The man added, mercifully, "They only care about whether Yang Tong is dead."
Tong Yang pressed her lips together, lost in thought. Without understanding the United Government's purpose, she had no other choice at the moment.
"It's getting late. Come with me," the man said.
"Alright."
No matter what, she had to get to the Civilian Zone. She would first see what these people were really after.
"Miaomiao, come out," Tong Yang called.
As soon as the words were spoken, the closed door was pushed open.
Miaomiao stood there, one hand gripping a chair leg, the other a rusty kitchen knife, eyeing the man warily.
The man looked down at her impassively and said, "I advise you not to try anything. I dislike killing rats."
"You're the rat! Your whole family are rats!"
"Miaomiao, pack our things. We're going with him."
Miaomiao snorted coldly and quickly ran to Tong Yang's side. "I understand, sis."
Shouldering their respective belongings, they followed the man through the hallway and onto a secluded path.
Along the way, the man deliberately led them to avoid others.
After walking for nearly two hours, they finally reached their destination: Gate Nine of the Slums.
A small door had been left open on the right side of the iron gate.
Once they passed through that small door, their lives would be completely cut off from the slums.
The man led them down a passageway with walls on both sides, arriving at a spot similar to where the Gate Two test had been held that day. He opened a door in the wall.
Seeing the pitch-black tunnel inside instantly reminded Tong Yang of the eight or nine hours she had once spent groping in darkness in a sunless place. Although she hadn't felt fear then, she had no desire to repeat a similar experience.
"Follow me in," the man said.
Despite her reluctance, Tong Yang followed.
Inside the door was another narrow passage where you couldn't see your hand in front of your face. The man walked ahead, while Miaomiao anxiously clutched her clothes.
Fortunately, the passage wasn't long. After less than three minutes, some light appeared ahead.
Entering the lit area, they found themselves in a large hall.
The man led them across the hall and stopped before a door. Pushing it open, he said, "Rest here tonight. Someone will come tomorrow to register you."
"I understand," Tong Yang said.
The man nodded and turned to leave.
"Wait." Tong Yang suddenly called out to him.
The man turned back, looking at her motionlessly.
Tong Yang asked, "Why are you doing this? Who wants to kill me? Are you really protecting me?"
The man replied, "Settle in here peacefully. You'll know tomorrow."
With that, the man left without further delay.
Tong Yang and Miaomiao entered the room. Miaomiao asked, "Sis, what does all this mean? What does he mean by 'you're already dead'?"
Tong Yang shook her head, indicating she hadn't figured it out yet either.
She looked around. It was an ordinary room with a television and an outlet below it for charging.
However, the room might have surveillance, so they couldn't charge their devices here.
"Don't think about it. He said we'll know tomorrow."
Tong Yang wanted to see for herself what the United Government's goal was.
Having walked so long, she was sweaty and decided to take another shower.
Miaomiao said, "Sis, aren't you afraid there might be cameras in the bathroom?"
"It's a bit gross, but I'm not afraid."
Besides, what kind of person installs cameras in a bathroom? Only a pervert.
Even so, Tong Yang carefully checked the bathroom. No cameras.
After showering, Tong Yang fell asleep immediately.
Whatever was going on, she'd deal with it tomorrow.
Early the next morning, Tong Yang habitually woke up around six or seven. After washing up, a staff member brought breakfast, indicating they should stay in the room and someone would come to take them away later.
After breakfast, they waited for several hours. The scheduled time for identity registration had already passed.
Bored, Tong Yang turned on the TV to watch the news. Perhaps the news of "Yang Tong's" death had already been discovered.
After flipping through a few channels, she finally found a related report.
"According to certification by relevant departments, the recent highly publicized Civilian Zone test has yielded a result."
"The slum-dweller who participated in the test passed successfully yesterday, earning the opportunity to go to the Civilian Zone."
"However, it is most unfortunate. When United Government personnel went to receive her, they found her and her friends already dead in her home, the scene extremely gruesome. Here are the photos we captured on-site..."
On the screen, a shabby room was shown with five corpses lying haphazardly. The floor and walls were covered in dried bloodstains.
"In order to prevent such an incident, the Unified Government specifically dispatched personnel to the slums to provide protection. Who could have anticipated they would arrive one step too late, only to witness the murderer fleeing the scene after the killing."
"After extensive investigation and verification, it was confirmed that the perpetrator was a time anchor from the Third World..."
Hearing this, Tong Yang's brows furrowed tightly.
Who was the killer?!
