Chapter 170
The moisture in the wind condensed into water droplets on their bodies. Lin Yi wiped his face. His hands got stained with a salty and bitter smell.
It wasn’t an unpleasant smell per se but it somehow induced repulsion.
Lin Yi wasn’t sure whether this repulsive reaction was unique to him or if everyone got the same feeling. He raised his head to look at Qin Zhou’s expression.
Just as soon as he saw Qin Zhou frown, Lin Yi’s eyes went dark.
The darkness came quickly, descending suddenly and disappearing just as suddenly, only one or two beats slower than the blink of an eye.
Then noise flooded his ears.
“Stand up! Don’t push your way in!”
“We’ll let you in after the inspection. What’s the hurry!”
“You, come here, stand here!”
A myriad of colors quickly appeared in front of him and Lin Yi surveyed the present scene.
His first reaction was to be awed by the extravagance.
The second was to be reminded of the city’s landmark building that served as its symbol, the Peace Hotel.
At this time, he was in front of a building, which like the Peace Hotel exuded a sense of timelessness spanning centuries. They were surrounded by buildings and stepped on unique distinctive floor tiles. There were many people all around, all crowded together, waiting to enter the building.
Lin Yi hurried to find Qin Zhou. There were so many people that he couldn’t tell whether they were NPCs or participants pulled in by the 1-3 Monster. Fortunately, Qin Zhou was tall enough that he found him without much effort.
Qin Zhou was also looking for him. The light that illuminated the building also fell on Lin Yi’s face. Lin Yi was also easy to find. This innocent junior brother was so good-looking that he easily stood out. He was like a pearl among rubble in the crowd.
“Excuse me, please let me through.”
Politeness seemed to be useless here. No one was willing to give way. Lin Yi managed to squeeze his way in front of Qin Zhou with great difficulty.
Qin Zhou’s method of getting to him was much more effective. He simply pushed his away in through force.
After joining up, Lin Yi looked at the crowd around him and saw a few familiar faces.
They were the students on the release list. They looked panicked, looking around to find Qin Zhou and Lin Yi.
Looking forward, Lin Yi saw several people in uniform by the entrance of the building, inspecting the people in front. Only after passing the inspection was someone allowed to enter the building.
“Senior.” Although Lin Yi had known that the 1-3 Rule World wouldn’t be easy, upon arrival, he found that the 1-3 Monster was more powerful than he imagined. “Less than two seconds.”
It only took the blink of an eye to get from the Unnatural Engineering University to the 1-3 Rule World.
And there had been no black fog, which meant that the 1-3 Rule World loaded the magnificent building before them in just a couple of seconds. Among the previous Rule Worlds, the one with largest field had been the 4-4 Rule World. But they had waited for a long time after entering before the black fog gradually dissipated.
Just from this point, Lin Yi could already feel the power of the 1-3 Monster.
Then he thought, if the 1-3 Monster was like this, then what about the 0-1 Monster?!
However, although Lin Yi was worried, his expression remained calm. They had just entered the 1-3 Rule World and it wasn’t yet time to find the 1-3 Monster. It was too early to worry about the power of the 1-3 Monster. Worrying about it now was a sure way to wear out their confidence.
There were too many people and Qin Zhou was afraid that Lin Yi would be pulled away by the tide. And so, Qin Zhou led him by the hand.
Lin Yi waited obediently let Qin Zhou lead him. After realize the extent of the 1-3 Monster’s power, the self-certification seemed unnecessary. Lin Yi had this self-comforting speculation in his mind. With how powerful the 1-3 Monster was, there was no need for it to, like other Monsters, find the strongest participants to possess. For the 1-3 monsters, it would simply diminish the fun of the Rule World.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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It was already dark.
“Promise me.” Qin Zhou said to Lin Yi, “Consult with me before you do anything.”
During the out-of-campus Monster World, Qin Zhou had repeatedly emphasized to Lin Yi not to stand out but Lin Yi still attracted attention to himself. Qin Zhou knew Lin Yi’s character. He was easy to deceive but he wasn’t well-behaved. He might look obedient but was sometimes infuriating.
He knew very well that Lin Yi wanted to explore the 1-3 Rule World, especially since he knew that Lin Zhen was related to Rule 1-3.
He wasn’t going to stop Lin Yi from exploring. He simply hoped that Lin Yi would discuss with him before making any decision. That way, he could feel at ease knowing what Lin Yi was going to do.
Lin Yi wanted him to be safe, so he also hoped that Lin Yi could be safe.
Qin Zhou squeezed his hand and Lin Yi nodded and agreed. “Okay.”
The inspection wasn’t going by quickly. Lin Yi calculated that they had been waiting outside the door for nearly an hour.
After about 30 minutes, it was finally Lin Yi and Qin Zhou’s turn.
Lin Yi now knew why the inspection was so slow. The doorman was carefully checking every part of their bodies.
“Go in, turn right and go to the very end. You’ll find the pawn hall there,” the doorman who was responsible for checking Lin Yi said.
Lin Yi, who was allowed to enter, walked through the door. In front of him was a large retro screen with complicated patterns. It blocked the view of people entering, stopping them from seeing further inside.
Lin Yi stood there waiting for Qin Zhou. People who passed the inspection came in one after another. Some went directly around the screen and further inside. Lin Yi assumed these to be NPCs. There were also some who stopped after discovering Lin Yi there. These were the participants who came in with them.
Whenever Qin Zhou was present in a Rule World, the participants would regard him as their pillar and would follow Qin Zhou in doing whatever he did.
Although Qin Zhou hadn’t come in yet, they had recognized Lin Yi and knew that Lin Yi and Qin Zhou were together. And so, they all stopped here and waited for Qin Zhou to come in and join Lin Yi.
Lin Yi kept looking at the door. The inspection was actually very strange. Generally speaking, such places would conduct inspections but they would check whether the visitors were carrying anything they shouldn’t be bringing in. It was different here. The doorman didn’t have a metal detector. Instead, he did a visual check of Lin Yi’s limbs and facial features.
For the time being, Lin Yi didn’t know what this inspection was for nor did he know what the criteria for passing were. When he didn’t see Qin Zhou immediately come in, his heart seized for a moment.
So many people were rushing into the building, giving people the impression that it was unsafe outside.
After waiting for a while, Lin Yi breathed a sigh of relief as he saw Qin Zhou.
While waiting for Qin Zhou, dozens of participants had gathered by the screen. Qin Zhou didn’t intend to wait for all the participants. In a Rule World where you can’t even protect yourself, the best way to protect others is to gather clues as soon as possible.
Lin Yi said to Qin Zhou, “Senior, the doorman said the pawn hall is to the right.”
Qin Zhou said, “He told me the same thing.”
Lin Yi asked, “Are we going?”
Qin Zhou: “Yes.”
The doorman must be an NPC. The NPC’s guidance might not be well-intentioned but there was no other way. They didn’t know anything yet so they could only follow for now.
Following the doorman’s instructions, they walked around the screen.
Behind the screen was a luxuriously decorated lobby with two paths, one to the left and one to the right. Lin Yi found that most of the people who just came in went to the right. Few went directly to the left.
They also went to the right.
The exterior of the building already exuded a sense of luxury. Inside, this luxury was brought to the extreme.
The carpet beneath their feet was so soft, it was like stepping on clouds.
On the right side of the lobby was a pair of wide open doors, with a gold-plated plaque hanging above the doors with the words “Pawn Hall” written on it.
Before they entered, they could already hear voices inside.
“Go. Go on. If you are not satisfied, just leave. Stop holding up the line.”
“It’s worth 200 gold. Don’t want it? Then forget it.”
“Count it if you want. You think the Never-Sleeping City would cheat you out of a few pieces of gold?”
The words were very rude with a tone of self-importance and dominance.
Everyone went into the pawn hall.
The hall was curve shaped and very big. Accommodating even two thousand people wouldn’t be a problem.
Along the wall were pawn counters placed side by side. The counters were very high and behind each was a clerk. As if to emphasize the difference in status, the clerks all sat up high and looked down on those who came to pawn.
The doorman probably told them to come here to pawn their goods.
However, Qin Zhou and Lin Yi did not immediately line up to pawn. They didn’t have anything valuable to pawn.
Qin Zhou said, “Let’s take a look around first.”
Lin Yi nodded, “Okay.”
There were many people here and no one would notice them if they mingled with the crowd.
It looked like there was no danger so Lin Yi suggested that everyone go around separately, so that they could get more information.
Qin Zhou agreed and the other participants also nodded.
After agreeing on the meeting point, Lin Yi began to wander around the pawn hall.
There was a long queue behind each pawn counter and the people in the queue looked anxious. From time to time, they would look towards the front of the line and complain, “What are you hesitating about? So annoying!”
Lin Yi noticed that most of the people in the queue were dressed in ordinary clothes. They didn’t look like they had any heirlooms to exchange.
But appearances could be misleading. Maybe they really did have treasures on them?
Just like how Lin Yi could never guess how much the clothes on Cheng Yang were worth.
Lin Yi walked towards a pawn counter and someone immediately complained. “Hey! What are you doing! Go to the end of the line!”
Lin Yi continued to walk forward and said “I’ll just take a look.”
They didn’t believe Lin Yi’s and they kept telling Lin Yi to go to the end of the line. Some people even wanted to pull Lin Yi back but they were afraid of losing their place in the line, so they could only curse in anger.
This wasn’t the time to save face. The more people cursed, the more Lin Yi rushed forward.
He stopped when he reached a spot where he could see clearly.
At pawn counter No. 8, it was one person’s turn and the clerk didn’t even look at him.
The man stammered, “Another… another finger.”
Lin Yi was momentarily stunned and immediately looked at the man’s hands. The man’s left and right hands were so uneven that there were only three fingers left.
Upon hearing this, the clerk glanced at the man’s hands and said disdainfully, “3 gold.”
The man was stunned. “3 gold? Why only 3 gold? Wasn’t it 5 gold per finger before?!”
The clerk said, “That’s what’s on offer. Accept it or don’t. If you don’t want it, get out.”
Seeing that the man fell silent, the clerk shouted, “Next–”
“Hey! No, no, no.” The man hurriedly said, “‘ll take it.”
The clerk lowered his head and wrote a bill, “The redemption period.”
The man said: “Three days!”
The waiter didn’t even raise his head. “The interest is one gold per day. If you can’t pay back the money within three days, your finger will belong to the Never-Sleeping City and cannot be redeemed.”
The man wasn’t surprised but Lin Yi was. Only three gold but the interest was a high one gold per day.
The man was used to this usurious rate and nodded.
The clerk threw three gold pieces onto the bill and pushed it forward. “Next.”
The man used his remaining three fingers to laboriously collect the gold on the counter. He put it in his pocket and ran out excitedly.
The next person said to the clerk at the pawn counter No. 8. “I’ll pawn a kidney.”
Lin Yi had always known about the joke of selling kidneys but seeing it with his own eyes, he couldn’t laugh.
He turned and made his way to the meeting point.
Lin Yi was the last one to come back so he didn’t have to wait for anyone else to return.
Everyone exchanged the information they had heard.
“This is the Never-Sleeping City.” Someone said: “It should be a high-end club that combines food, drink and entertainment.”
“It costs money to stay here for a night. If you don’t have money, you’ll be kicked out.”
“But we have nothing to pawn, what should we do?”
Lin Yi said, “Here you can use your body organs as collateral for pawning. And you have to redeem them within the specified period.”
Everyone suddenly fell silent.
Someone said, “Then…then can’t we not pawn? We can just make do with staying in the corridor, lobby, lounge and other places.”
Lin Yi said nothing.
How was that possible!
Why did the doorman inspect the visitors like that? The doorman was checking whether their facial features were damaged, whether their limbs were intact or if they had other physical problems to determine whether the had anything worth pawning.
Those who can enter the Never-Sleeping City are people with pawn value. So, how could the Never-Sleeping City let them get away spending nothing?
If they don’t have money, they will be kicked out and it seemed to be dangerous outside…
So, they have to pawn.
Amidst the silence, someone asked weakly, “So, we pa-… pawn? As long as we can redeem within the set period, it should be fine. We don’t know what the situation is outside, so we should at least stay here for one night first?”
Lin Yi explained the pros and cons of pawning to everyone, “The loan has interest. Just now, someone pawned a finger for 3 gold. The deadline to redeem is within three days and the interest is 1 gold per day. I saw that the price depended on the mood of the clerk. If someone else goes to pawn, they might not even get 3 gold and the interest may be higher. It would be difficult to redeem what we pawn.”
Everyone panicked. “Then… what should we do? If we get kicked out, we’ll die. Isn’t it dark now?”
They looked to Qin Zhou, wondering what Qin Zhou would do.
Thank you for the update.
Dammmmn
Also looking at Qin Zhou, wondering what he would do
Thank you for the update!
What I’m wondering is how they get back the interest amount? Will there be a gambling station? That’s the only way I can think of to get more money. They could also pawn off somebody else’s body parts for gold I think (then you wouldn’t have to pay back). It’ll be interesting to see what else is at hand
Thank you for the chapter!