When he left Spirit Creation Creatures, the sun had already set, and the lanterns were lit.
Dragon City was in a glorious state.
Meng Chao received a call from Ning Shewo, who invited him to join the gathering of the leaders of the biochemical modification technology circle.
Many people knew that he had helped Spirit Creation Creatures find the missing Giant Sandworms and discovered crucial evidence. Besides, he performed outstandingly during the northern offense, so they were very interested in him.
Once they learned that Superstar Resource Recovery Company was his family's business, they treated him as a rising star of hope in the field.
Right when Meng Chao wanted to agree to it, Lu Siya called him.
He thought about it and apologized to Ning Shewo before he picked up Lu Siya's call.
"Did you discover anything?" they asked at the same time.
In the end, Lu Siya was the first to speak. "I don't see many problems with Jin Yongqiang's bank account. Right now, many criminals like to use high-grade crystals with high purity as their currency. They use cash to make transactions, and they won't expose themselves online.
"As for his whereabouts, he's been following a pattern over the past half a month. Aside from going to Trash Site 4 a few times and going to the pet shop directly under Spirit Creations Creatures to buy a Contest Tiger, there's nothing suspicious about him. He either goes to the company or the monster coliseum every day."
"Wait."
A thought appeared in Meng Chao's head, and he interrupted Lu Siya. "Why does he go to the monster coliseums?"
"Gambling. Didn't the information say that Jin Yongqiang is addicted to gambling?"
Lu Siya said. "His favorite gambling method is monster coliseums. Of course, this is also what most of the gamblers in Dragon City like. It's dangerous, exciting, and bloody.
"A few years ago, Jin Yongqiang went to the monster coliseums whenever he was free. Every month, he went at least eight to ten times. Over the past month, his frequency hasn't changed.
"What? Do you think that it's suspicious?"
"Monster coliseums …"
Meng Chao sank into deep thought.
Watching monsters fight was one of the oldest forms of entertainment for humans.
After Dragon City transmigrated, it was surrounded by Monster Mountain Range. The space was small, and the people were nervous and gloomy. When they faced all sorts of strange and powerful monsters, the entertainment of them fighting against each other naturally became popular again.
Now, there were dozens of legal monster coliseums of various sizes in Dragon City.
There were also countless illegal underground wrestling arenas.
Even though the major livestreaming platforms had released livestreams of powerful fighters hunting monsters in the wild and had cameras on their helmets and shoulders, they tried their best to get a first-person view of the hunt so that the viewers would feel as if they were there.
But scratching an itch through the screen was different from being there in person, hearing the monsters' deafening roars, smelling the scent of death coming from them, and even seeing their warm blood splatter on their faces when they were killed.
The latter feeling could not be replaced by any powerhouse's livestream.
The Survival Committee also supported monster wrestling as entertainment, or rather, "sport".
On one hand, it could cultivate the citizens' warlike and belligerent temperament.
On the other hand, it could also let the citizens see that no matter how fierce the monsters were, they were nothing to be afraid of. In the end, they were still captured by humans and turned into their entertainment tools.
Moreover, using bloody killings could also vent the anger of the citizens, allowing everyone to maintain harmony in the narrow living space. There were many benefits without any harm.
Even so, going too far was as bad as not going far enough.
As the monster colosseum continued to develop, quite a number of citizens gradually felt that the fights between normal monsters were too bland and not exciting enough. Even the fights between Nightmarish Beasts had been seen countless times, so the attractiveness of the fights kept decreasing.
For the sake of attendance and safety, the people in charge of monster wrestling had to use biochemical modification methods to modify the monsters under them.
For example, they modified their offensive organs to become larger and sharper, or their appearances to become even more monstrous and ugly, or they fused the characteristics of several monsters together to create something that was similar to a Stitched Monster.
In fact, the monster fighting squads might even inject all sorts of forbidden drugs into their monsters so that they could become champions in a season, so that normal monsters could turn into rampaging beasts.
Stimulants were something that could never be banned in the competitive sports circle.
In the monster wrestling circle, there were always legal and illegal biochemical modifications.
Many of the monster coliseums and famous monster fighting squads had their own biochemical labs to create all sorts of secret gene medicine.
In theory, it was not difficult to concoct a mutated rabies virus.
When Meng Chao thought of this, he asked, "Do you know where Jin Yongqiang's favorite coliseum is?"
Lu Siya was silent for a while before she said, "Golden Tooth Lair."
"Lair?"
Meng Chao sucked in a sharp breath.
The lair was a building unique to Dragon City during the bloodiest and darkest era half a century ago.
It could also be said that it was a unique social organization and a small, concrete world.
At that time, there were a lot of zombies wandering the streets and alleys of Dragon City.
There were also citizens who carried the zombie virus, but it did not act up. Instead, the zombie virus unlocked the seal on their genes, awakened to supernatural abilities, and turned them into superhumans.
Unfortunately, the first-generation superhumans did not have the knack for cultivation. Usually, the moment they awakened, they went through spirit energy deviation. Their brains were destroyed by rampaging spirit energy, which made their personalities twisted and ruthless. They turned into lawless humanoid beasts.
Besides, there were also a few monsters who broke through the dimensional barrier and invaded Dragon City. Together with the zombies and the superhumans who went through spirit energy deviation, they turned Dragon City into a bloody jungle where the strong preyed on the weak and lived precariously.
To fend against all sorts of threats …
The surviving citizens were forced to organize themselves.
They blocked all the entrances and exits to the residential areas. They also blocked all the windows, leaving only small embrasures.
Then, they used sharp rebars to turn the skyscrapers into steel porcupines.
The modern residential area had all turned into a "fort" in the chaotic ancient times.
The problem of the lack of space in the residential areas was solved by digging underground and doing their best to divide the floors.
Just like that, the buildings that were originally more than three meters tall and had a total of thirty to forty floors were dug underground to form seven or eight floors. The ground was then divided into sixty floors. Each room was as narrow as a hive, but it was enough for the survivors to stay.
Gradually, the forts belonging to different survivors fused with each other and connected together as they dug underground.
The nest-like buildings turned into a lair.
The lair was the symbol of humans' extreme use of space.
It was also the only safe haven for the survivors during the bloody and dark era.
It was also the final home that everyone had to work together to protect.
During its peak, Dragon City once had ten great lairs, and 80% of the citizens lived in them.
At that time, the people who dared to leave the lair and wander outside were either zombies, out-of-control superhumans who went through spirit energy deviation, well-trained fighting squads from the major companies, or peerless fighters like Battle God Lei Zongchao, Female Battle God Su Jianqing, and God of War Wu Tiedao.
But the lair had its own problems.
The buildings were messy and lawless, so it was impossible for them to pass any health and fire regulations. It was very easy for fires to break out.
And the space was so small that it defied human nature. If people stayed there for a long period of time, their minds would definitely be distorted. Countless people would become ruthless, and the lair would turn into a paradise for crime.
To fight against the threat of the apocalypse and the collapse of order, the citizens in the lair had to band together and form all sorts of clubs and gangs. They usually only cared about loyalty and did not know the law. Of course, at that time, there was no law to speak of.
If a lair citizen killed someone, as long as he hid in the depths of the maze, it would be like searching for a needle in a haystack if anyone wanted to find him. It was practically impossible.
Hence, when Battle God Lei Zongchao used his peerless power to intimidate the nine great companies at that time and helped the God of War Wu Tiedao rebuild the Red Dragon Army, set up the Survival Committee, and set up a brand new law to restore social order, the first task the Survival Committee faced was to modify the lair and restore the appearance of the city.
After the ten years of expeditions and the ten years of construction, Dragon City's appearance had already changed drastically after twenty years of hard work.
Countless communities like Blessed Heavenly Garden, which were simple but could protect the basic dignity of human beings, rose from the ground.
Today, it might seem old, noisy, and cramped, but in the past, it was a mansion that countless lair citizens flocked to and could not get even if they lined up.
A large number of lair citizens moved into the new residential area.
The Survival Committee also proved that they had enough strength to help the people fight against the threats of zombies, monsters, and out-of-control superhumans.
The lairs crumbled and were modified into brand new commercial and residential areas.
Up to that date, seven of the ten lairs in Dragon City had been destroyed.
But due to time, wealth, and other reasons, three lairs remained standing.
The citizens who stayed in the lairs could not find suitable jobs outside due to physical disabilities or other reasons. They could not even afford the rent for the public renting houses.
Or they had lived in the lairs their entire lives and were used to everything around them, just like how insects were used to their nests.
Or they had done illegal things outside and were afraid of the Survival Committee and the Supernatural Tower suppressing them, so they decided to take the risk and fled into the lair.
Or they were delusional and did not believe in the Survival Committee's abilities. They believed that Dragon City would collapse sooner or later and that the lairs would be their final fortress.
Or they had all sorts of crazy ambitions and wanted to use the lair's chaotic environment to conduct all sorts of illegal experiments, just like the people Meng Chao met on the underground life science forum. When they developed a brand new martial art, they would usually go to the lair and search for fearless and ignorant lab rats to experiment on.
In any case, the lair had changed.
In the past, it was a safe haven for survivors, but now, it was a place where evil people hid.
'Ahhh, I'm sorry, everyone.
I underestimated the power of the divine beasts.
'Xiaoniu is on summer break, and he's annoying me at home all day. It's really hard to bear, and he's making my head dizzy. My train of thought is constantly interrupted, and my speed has decreased by a large margin!
'Why is school starting so late this semester? Why are we still having summer break on time? Summer break is on the 25th of August, and school starts on the 1st of September. Isn't that great?
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