Tianjin people will never lose SAN

Chapter 14 Liu Yonglu's Identity
"Is there anything weird going on in your town? Something that can't be explained by common sense, something that someone is playing tricks on. Tell me about it."

Liu Yonglu was quite clever and had a plan. He would first mention the cult members, and the other party would follow his lead and make up stories, and he had no way to verify them, so he asked an open-ended question to make it difficult for the other party to make up stories.

"What a weird thing..." Xius thought to himself as he quickly glanced at the table. Isn't the weirdest thing sitting right next to you?

But he certainly didn't dare to mention the matter of the Devil's Son in front of Xiaohu, that would be courting death, so he stammered for a moment before slowly speaking:
"Go north out of town. There's a dead bone beach over there. There lives a one-eyed Mike. He has some problems."

"One-eyed Mike? Dead Bone Tidal Flat? What crappy names are these? Are you kidding me?" Liu Yonglu asked while eating and handed another piece to Xiaohu.

"Really, really! I'm not kidding you. In the past, the bodies of people washed down from upstream during the plague were left on that mudflat, so it was given this name."

"Then tell me what's so strange about this One-Eyed Mike?"

"He...he seems to be a native of the swamp, not an outsider like us.

After the great plague hundreds of years ago, there were almost no living people on the moor. The current townspeople all moved here later. My hometown is in Coventry County."

"What's so new about this? I just got lucky."

“No, it’s not that simple. There are rumors that these natives survived under the protection of the swamp god, but in exchange, the unknown god also cursed them.

They can never leave the swamp, so it is said that One-Eyed Mike has never been to a larger town, and he can only live in the dead bone marsh. "

"That's interesting...Have you ever been to the Dead Bone Beach?"

"No, few people go there. Unless they are murderers who are desperate and forced into a corner by the sheriff, they will try to go through there. And as far as I know... no one who went in came back alive."

"Oh, this One-Eyed Mike can't come out, and you've never been in there, so how do you know he's One-Eyed! You must be lying to me!"

Liu Yonglu keenly noticed the loophole in Xius's words, rolled up his sleeves and stood up, indicating that he was ready to take action.

"Xiao Hu, don't stop me! Turn your back! Today I must let him know why the flowers are so red!"

Hughes shuddered, and the words in his mouth kept pouring out like beans:
"I've seen it from afar! I've seen it from afar! There is a small river outside the Dead Bone Shoal, called the Cuckoo River. Every time we trade with One-Eyed Mike, we put the goods on the boat by the river.

One time I was drunk and late, and I vaguely saw the person opposite me. He was a skinny man in his 40s or 50s with one eye. We nicknamed him One-Eyed Mike! "

"Oh? Do you know him?" Liu Yonglu suddenly became interested. He thought that what Xius said was just a rumor he heard from the countryside, but now he realized that this was a direct contact.

"Yes... the bootleg liquor came from him. We exchanged other supplies with him. Because his bootleg liquor factory is on the Dead Bone Beach, no sheriff dares to go in."

"Tsk, how do you know him?"

"Lewis, the owner of the wax museum in town, told me that he is the most powerful man in town and he has to take 50% of the profits from my bootlegging!"

"Oh, when is your next trade with One-Eyed Mike?"

"tonight."

"Okay, take me there tonight and I'll go meet him!"

Meet him? Hughes' heart trembled, and he couldn't help but look up at Liu Yonglu in front of him. At this moment, he was smoking a cigarette with a smug look on his face, stroking his chin, and looking like Sherlock Holmes in the world.

This guy is really tired of living. He has to carry this son of the devil with him and even go through the Death Stranding.

“I’m afraid not… One-Eyed Mike’s rule is not to deal directly with us city folks. If either party needs to communicate anything, they can just write the message on the letter and transmit it via the boat.

Besides, you have no sponsor and you don’t look like a business person. One-Eyed Mike will definitely be suspicious.”

"Who said I don't look like a businessman?" Liu Yonglu lowered his head and whispered, "I am a gangster!"

"Mafia? Are you in the mafia too?" Xius looked confused.

"Hush, our organization has been established for a few days, and we also want to sell that... bootleg liquor and make a fortune."

"Oh..." Xius looked unconvinced. Is there any gangster who would bring a five or six-year-old child with him when he goes out? This is not an ordinary child, but the son of the devil. Was your organization founded by the devil?
"So you take me there tonight, and I'll change into our club's uniform. I guarantee you'll be able to tell at first glance that I'm a gangster!"

"Okay..." Xius wanted to refuse, but when he looked up, he saw Xiaohu's lifeless black eyes, so he lowered his head again and continued:

"But I can only take you to the agreed location. I will not be involved in dealing with One-Eyed Mike later..."

"Well, fine. Then you just have to compensate me for my coat and leave me your address, and you can go."

……

After sending Xiu Si away, Liu Yonglu took Xiaohu back to the monastery.

He also had to prepare for the meeting in the evening. This time, he was deep in the tiger's den, and his mind was full of plots from Hong Kong police and gangster movies.

The first problem was that he really needed to change his attire. This private detective in grey clothes and grey hat did not look like a bootlegger, so he asked Sister Lucy for some unwanted black monk robes and black and red paint.

If you want to dress like a gangster, you must have clothes and tattoos. How do you get the clothes? What do gangsters wear?

Like Kuwabara in Yu Yu Hakusho? With the words "I Am The Only One" written on the back of his black Mao suit? No, this isn't gangsterism, this is hooliganism.

If you want to buy a black suit but have no money, you can just change it into a black robe. After all, it is black, and if you make it bigger, you will look more majestic.

Liu Yonglu picked up a pair of scissors and started to tidy up the monk's robe. He cut off the white collar and cuffs, and then slit the front in half like a shirt, and put it on his body. Wow, it looked quite imposing.

After the clothes were done, the next step was the tattoo. He was afraid of the pain of a real tattoo and didn't have enough time, so he just used paint to paint it.

But who should I ask to draw it? I can’t even draw the back and neck myself, so should I ask a nun to do it?

That’s not good. We have to respect other people’s religious beliefs. Men and women shouldn’t touch each other. By the way, let Xiaohu do it. The pattern doesn’t need to be too complicated.

"Xiaohu, draw something on Baibai."

Liu Yonglu stripped down to his bare chest and wore only pajamas. He handed over his casually drawn sketches, which included dragons, tigers, the King of Hell, and Yaksha. Anyway, he wanted to make them as cruel as possible.

"I'll just give you a sample, and you can come up with your own ideas. Bye, I believe in your talent for painting."

As for Xiaohu, he was still the same as before, with a blank expression and lifeless eyes. He took the paint and brush from Liu Yonglu and went behind him. However, he didn't even look at the draft paper from Liu Yonglu and just threw it on the ground.

In the room in the afternoon, Liu Yonglu was dozing off on the bed while Xiaohu began his artistic creation.

Strange and obscure symbols appeared behind Liu Yonglu. Some of them were similar to the local language symbols of Moses Sad, while others were completely impossible to guess their meaning, revealing the strange flavor of primitive hieroglyphs.

On Liu Yonglu's neck and arms, Xiaohu drew some indescribable deformed creatures. Their body structure was different from any existing creatures. They were distorted existences that were difficult to explain by anatomy and evolution.

Mucous membranes, lung tubes, tentacles, inverted teeth, and all kinds of disgusting organs are combined together to create a unique and weird beauty in these creatures.

The creatures crowded together on the skin of their narrow bodies, as if performing some solemn socialization ritual, their heads all looking up to the sky.

And above the sky was a vortex, a complex and trembling black vortex. When the vortex reached Liu Yonglu's neck, it seemed to come to life. The still black vortex seemed to be condensing and annihilating towards the center, never stopping.

"Mr. Dou, Mr. Dou, I brought you the buttons you asked for." It was Sister Lucy knocking on the door.

She knocked twice but no one responded, so she pushed the door as it was ajar.

What unfolded before her eyes was a very shocking picture: a well-proportioned man with his upper body naked was sitting on the bed with his head bowed, while a child of five or six years old was stroking his back with his hands covered in paint.

"I... I put the button at the door and I'm leaving first!" Sister Lucy dropped the things in her hands, turned around and left, closing the door heavily.

She had heard that the city dwellers in the south had some strange habits. They didn't like young girls, but instead had a special interest in little boys.

Could it be that Mr. Bean was such a person? Sister Lucy did not dare to think about it. She turned and entered the chapel, ready to cleanse the stains on her soul under the loving light of the saint.

However, her slamming of the door woke Liu Yonglu up. He always wanted to go out for work in his dreams at night, so he always felt that he didn't get enough sleep. He would take a nap whenever he could during the day. When he opened his eyes, the first thing that caught his eye was the pattern on his arm.

"Wow, that's really disgusting! You really have some talent, I'll send you to learn painting. You might become a little Xu Beihong."

As soon as he moved, Xiaohu couldn't continue painting, and the strange ritual picture on his back was still missing a few strokes.

"That's it. I'll go to the meeting alone in this attire tonight!" Liu Yonglu was very proud of himself. He still walked back and forth in the room with his upper body naked, intending to dry the fake tattoo on his back.

"Xiao Hu, you can have dinner by yourself in the monastery tonight. Bye, I have to go out and take care of something. I won't take you with me. It's too dangerous."

After saying that, he rubbed Xiaohu's head and went to sew buttons on his clothes.

……

In the swamp at night, a red light flickered.

It was the bootlegger Hughes, smoking a cigarette in the mangroves, wearing a jacket and riding boots, with a pistol hidden behind his back.

He was very nervous at this moment. The gangster with the son of the devil might be of some importance, but One-Eyed Mike was not someone to be trifled with either. Now he had no other extravagant hopes and only hoped to save his life tonight.

At this moment, he saw a dark shadow moving towards him. The dense woods blocked most of the moonlight, and he could not see it clearly from a distance.

"Who!" Hughes nervously reached behind his waist and pulled out his pistol.

Then Liu Yonglu's unique magnetic voice came from the other side, "Don't shoot, it's me."

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(End of this chapter)