A 'Ji blinked. "I wander around alone. When I'm tired, I curl up in a corner of the underground shelter and sleep. I don't need a home or any belongings. If someone wants me to work, I'll work and earn a few cans of earthworm meat to eat. If no one wants me to work, I'll work as a resource collector. Of course, I'm not trying to make money from the dead, but picking up trash!"
Meng Chao smiled. While smiling, he shook his head and mumbled, "Looks like I'm too soft-hearted. I should have crushed your hands first. In any case, I only need your mouth. It doesn't matter whether you have hands or not."
As he spoke, he stood up and walked toward A 'Ji.
A 'Ji was so scared that his face turned pale. He quickly waved his hands and said, "B-Uncle, I'm just telling the truth. Picking up trash isn't some shameful job. W-Why are you so angry?"
Meng Chao was covered in dust and dirt. His face and age could not be seen, so to show respect, A 'Ji naturally referred to him as someone older than him.
"So that you can understand why you died."
Meng Chao smiled coldly. "Before you started spouting nonsense, your hands betrayed you. Your hands are definitely not the hands of a trash collector!
"There are definitely plenty of people who do trash sorting and recycling in Dragon City, but Dragon City's trash is different from Earth's trash. There are plenty of monster carcasses and crystal derivatives that contain powerful radiation. There are also strong acids, toxins, germs, and other dangerous components.
"Even if you wear a few layers of rubber gloves and wear completely airtight protective suits to deal with the trash, you still can't avoid the strong acids and toxins seeping into your gloves and causing severe damage to your hands.
"I've seen a lot of trash collectors' hands. They're all waxy yellow or black. Their surfaces are full of holes and calluses that look like shells. Many of their knuckles are swollen, and their fingers are twisted. Even their fingernails have fallen off. It's a horrible sight.
"And the trash collectors deal with the trash that is relatively safe and has a higher value.
"The trash that they don't want after processing will be sent to the lair for the second round of screening. I believe that once the trash recyclers in the lair have chosen the trash, the leftovers will be sent to Leprosy Village.
"In other words, the trash collectors in Leprosy Village should be facing trash that has been filtered countless times. It has the lowest value and is the most dangerous. You have to spend a lot of effort and suffer from acid and poison before you can find some 'treasure' in the piles of trash.
"If that's what you're doing, why are your hands so nimble, delicate, and delicate, almost like the hands of a newborn baby?"
Ah Ji was dumbfounded.
It was as if he did not expect that Meng Chao would be able to see so much information with just one glance.
"You don't have to rack your brain to come up with a lie. Let me guess your occupation."
"Even outside, if you want a pair of delicate and nimble hands, you'll need to spend a lot of money to buy all sorts of gene medicine and secret ointments to take good care of them.
"You look thin and unkempt, and you don't even have money to treat the scabies on your head. You don't look like someone who can afford to spend a lot of money to take care of your hands.
"Then, someone is taking care of your hands for you, right?
"You don't look amazing, but that person is willing to spend a lot of money to take care of your hands. It's clear that they don't have any special hobbies. They just need your hands to work.
"There are only three jobs I can think of that require such delicate hands. One is an assassin, the second is a harvester, and the third is a thief.
"But assassins don't just need to train their hands. They need to train all their joints and muscles. Judging by how weak you look, it's clear that you've never received any proper martial arts training.
"And it's impossible for you to be a harvester either. The reason is simple. Freshness is the most important factor when it comes to harvesting monsters. There are plenty of harvesters in Dragon City. Who would kill monsters in the wild or at the borders of the city and send them to the murky, noisy, and germ-filled lair to be harvested?
"So, the answer is simple. You're a thief. Don't be in a hurry to deny it. Just now, I used a special method to tie the tactical bag to my leg. If you're not a professional, no matter how much strength you use, it's impossible for you to take it off, but you did it in half a minute.
"Besides, you're clearly certain that I'm a corpse, but you're still very gentle. It's as if you don't want to wake me up. This is a professional habit of having three hands.
"Useless A 'Ji? Heh, you've been dishonest since the beginning. With such delicate and nimble hands, you should be a trump card in a thief's nest, right? Who would call you Useless A 'Ji? You're too 'useful'! "
A 'Ji took two steps back and nearly fell into the water again.
His face turned red and he shouted, "I'm not a thief! I-I'm just trying to survive!"
"I'm not interested in whether you're a thief or not."
Meng Chao stared at him and threw a second Fear Bomb. "If you really want to live, you'd better be obedient and work with me. Otherwise, even if I don't kill you, before long, you'll die. Everyone in Leprosy Village and even Golden Tooth Lair will die!"
A 'Ji's eyes went wide, and they were filled with fear that Leprosy Village would be destroyed.
This time, he seemed to be really frightened by Meng Chao, and his attitude became much more sincere. He hunched his neck and mumbled honestly, "Alright, I'll tell you. I-I was raised by Boss Feng, and I've always been working for him."
"Boss Feng?" Meng Chao asked.
"Boss Feng is Three Fingers Feng. He's very famous in Golden Tooth Lair. I heard that he once boasted that there's nothing in the lair that he can't get with three fingers, but we think that he's called Three Fingers Feng because he was once caught stealing something and had seven of his fingers chopped off. He only has three left."
A 'Ji spread his palms and said, "In any case, after Boss Feng only had three fingers left, he rarely did anything himself. Instead, he took care of us children and taught us … how to do resource recovery and redistribution."
Meng Chao narrowed his eyes. "So, you're saying that there are a lot of thieves in a den of thieves? I don't understand. Leprosy Village looks really poor. How did you manage to find so many targets?"
"Rabbits don't eat the grass by their burrows, so I'm naturally not stealing from Leprosy Village. Um, I'm talking about retrieving and redistributing resources," A 'Ji said.
"There are a lot of rich people in the lair. There are also monster coliseums and a lot of rich guests who come from the city. When they watch the monster coliseums, they're very excited and can't look away. When the coliseums end, there's a huge crowd, and it's very crowded. It's a good time to take action, so it's not hard for you to fill up your pockets."
"Wait," A 'Ji said.
"Aren't the villagers cut off from the world and can't go out easily?"
"Uncle, that's decades ago."
A 'Ji sniffed. "If you're more than three meters tall and look like a bear standing on its hind legs, or if you have a tail that's thicker than a crocodile's, you'll definitely scare the kids and plants outside!
"But if you're like me, who's smart and harmless and only has some minor flaws, as long as I wear wide sunglasses and a mask and cover my face with a hooded cloak, I'll be no different from the people outside. If I sneak out, no one will notice me.
"Even if I'm discovered, Boss Feng and the gangs in the lair have long since come to an agreement on how to split the loot, so I'll be fine.
"In any case, I've gone out to work dozens of times, and only once was I discovered by a superhuman with sharp senses. So, the people from the gang watching over the place came over and beat me up right in front of him. Once they left, they tossed me back to Leprosy Village and Boss Feng. Of course, I couldn't avoid being beaten up by Boss Feng again!"
Meng Chao's mind raced. "So, you're saying that you're really familiar with the environment and forces of power in Leprosy Village, right?"
A 'Ji slapped his chest and said, "I can't say that I'm really familiar with them, but I know a little. Uncle, what do you want to ask? Even if I don't know, I'll definitely think of a way to help you find out."
"There's no hurry," Meng Chao said.
"First, tell me, where's Boss Feng's den?"
A 'Ji pursed his lips and pointed behind Meng Chao.
Meng Chao frowned a little. Behind him was the direction of the collapsed building.
Based on the fact that the sewage in the sewers was flowing slower, the building had completely collapsed. Even the underground space was blocked, and the sewage would soon stop flowing.
But when he thought about it carefully, it was not strange.
If Boss Feng's den was not nearby, A 'Ji would not have gone to this area to earn money from the dead.
"Where's Boss Feng?" he asked.
"Dead," A 'Ji said straightforwardly.
A 'Ji said straightforwardly, "He died along with everyone else."
A 'Ji told Meng Chao that Boss Feng's den was in the second basement of the collapsed building. Usually, Boss Feng and dozens of thieves stayed there.
They had thought that it would be easier for them to run away if their enemies or the victims came to them, which was why they had placed the den close to the surface.
But against their expectations, the explosion of the super crystal bomb and the unstoppable shockwave instantly killed most of the villagers from the first to the third basement, including Boss Feng and the thieves.
As for A 'Ji, since he did not manage to steal enough yesterday and talked back to Boss Feng, he was punished by Boss Feng. He was not allowed to sleep in the thieves' den and was told to search for a few more fat sheep in Leprosy Village. Once he had enough, he could go back.
There were no fat sheep in Leprosy Village. This was just a punishment.
He did not expect that A 'Ji would be able to escape.
Meng Chao thought about it. With the power of the super crystal bomb, if he stayed in the second basement, the possibility of him escaping was very low.
"Boss Feng and his companions died. You're the only one left, but you don't seem sad at all." Meng Chao looked into A 'Ji's eyes and asked.
"Why would I be sad?"
A 'Ji extended his delicate and nimble hands with trembling hands. His fingers suddenly moved in different directions and twisted in a strange manner. He gritted his teeth and said, "Even though Boss Feng raised me, you don't know what kind of life I lived under his hands. To make my fingers as nimble as earthworms, he crushed my palms and fingers three times! Three times!
"That bastard died. If I had money, I'd buy alcohol and eat meat to celebrate. Am I crazy? Why would I be sad?
"As for my companions … compared to living in this stupid era and place, it might be more comfortable for them to die instantly without any pain, right?"
The teenager looked as pathetic as a sewer rat. A hint of self-deprecation, confusion, and envy appeared on his face.
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