bustling city

Zhou Jin remembered the day he first met Yan Jun.

That was six years ago.

Zhou Jin said that Mephisto at that time might have been as prosperous as what I saw, full of luxury and extravagance everywhere, but at that time, there might have been more dark corners hiding dirt and dirt in the city than now.

That day Zhou Jin's right shoulder was scarred. It was a very new and deep wound. It was cut obliquely from the corner of the shoulder to below the collarbone, and was cut by a kitchen knife.

When he was groping in the dark and taking off his clothes to apply medicine in the alley full of sundries and stinking to the sky, his hairs stood up from the pain.

There was no light, no mirror, and not even a clean T-shirt to replace. He estimated the location of the wound by touching it with his fingers, then gritted his teeth, and sprinkled the medicine powder mixed with impurities, feeling that he was out of control Trembling: This is an instinctive body reaction to pain.

He put back the close-fitting clothes as they were, but took off the hooded smock outside, and threw it in a ball behind the relatively dry garbage pile.

At night when the temperature was less than ten degrees, he ran towards the end of the alley in his unlined clothes, feeling that his body was exuding the same stench as the alley.

But I can't control that much anymore, it hasn't opened today, if this continues, he will have nothing to eat.

This alley is only separated from the clean and gorgeous casino by a wall.

The wall was at least five meters high. Most of the tourists who came here to gamble thought that the city of Mephisto would come to an end when they reached the wall.

They are immersed in the illusion of deception, unaware that all the garbage and low-level existences that do not match the temperament of this city are swept away on the other side of the wall.

Zhou Jin found a wall with ease, and first slammed it hard with his elbow. There was a muffled sound on the wall, and he himself gasped subconsciously—the impact was so hard that it was pulled to his shoulder. the wound.

Enduring the pain, he stretched out his hand to grab the loose bricks and pulled them out one by one with a little effort.

A hole was gradually opened on the wall, enough for a single person to pass through. Zhou Jin crawled through it deftly using both hands and feet.

On the other side of the wall was a lush and beautiful flower garden. He was lying cats and just hid in the bushes. After making sure that no one was paying attention, he turned around and pulled the pile of bricks over, and then Build it up piece by piece.

The noise that could be heard faintly through the wall is now close at hand.

Zhou Jin glanced indifferently at the brightly lit casino, and disappeared into the night against the wall.

Soon, he was mixed among the poor gamblers like him, skillfully blanking his eyes, showing the decadent and crazy look on his face that is unique to those gamblers who have lost their wealth and are full of greed.

In this way, without anyone noticing, he sneaked into the first basement of the casino.

This is where casinos "hand out" to the poor who have only a dollar or two, or a few cents of capital, to experience happiness.

To put it bluntly, it is a means to mercilessly squeeze out the last value of these wastes before they are completely discarded to the other side of the wall.

The difference between Zhou Jin and them is that he doesn't have a single penny of capital.

He never brought his principal into the casino.

The basement is like a combination of a morgue and a dilapidated warehouse. The people who just walked around Zhou Jin and entered like wandering spirits have now scattered around every card table.

There are no large gambling equipment in this place, the moldy and dark green velvet card table stands in fragments under the chandelier, cigarette butts are piled up on the ground in a thick layer, and the pungent smell of inferior tobacco is occasionally mixed with big|.| The sweet and creamy scent of hemp lard, Zhou Jin felt that the almost rotten breath was about to eat away his trachea and lungs every time he breathed the air here.

He mingled among the crowd who were digging out a few coins for betting and betting on the card table. The dealer looked at him with a tired look. Kai shook his head, indicating that he had no capital.

The dealer's eyes showed undisguised disdain, and he turned around and began to deal the cards.

Zhou Jin lowered his head and pretended to pay attention to the game, but actually squinted at the security guard standing by the door.

Taking advantage of the dim light, he precisely grasped the timing when several people turned their attention away from him at the same time, and ducked out of the crowd with his head down.

He covered his mouth and nose with his sleeve, tried his best to block the disturbing hallucinogenic smell from his breath, and kept his mind absolutely clear.

He walked quickly to the dark abyss, and found the door in the corner.

Zhou Jin dodged to the other side of the door, where the corner of the wall just created a blind spot for vision. He leaned sideways in the shadow, took out a pointed tweezers-like tool from his trouser pocket, and poked it into the keyhole. Covering the outside with the other hand to block out the sound, he opened the door three times and five times.

He opened the door in no hurry, retracted his tweezers and maintained the same posture calmly, as if he had been completely imprisoned in place by the shadow cast by the wall, until a burst of carnival-like cheers erupted from the card table not far away, he Only then nimbly opened a crack, slipped in sideways, and quickly closed the door as it was.

The din of cheers and applause did just enough to cover the slight scratching of the aging hinges as they turned, and the click of the door as it locked.

Everything fit so perfectly, it was a process that Zhou Jin had repeated hundreds of times over the years.

On the other side of the door is a dark corridor that runs through the entire building.

In order to maintain the exquisite and luxurious atmosphere of the casino to the greatest extent, those servants who are not on the table can only come and go along the dark corridors, shuttling in the black area like ghosts, and the brightly lit world outside is like a dream for each other The existence of nothingness.

I was on the other side of it, and thought that the gorgeous lights, the smell of high-end fragrances, the chilled champagne and red wine were all about Mephisto Casino, and I couldn't imagine that there was another place so close to me. The cold and dark space-time.

Zhou Jin said with a smile that of course the guests cannot know of its existence, otherwise the perfect picture will be destroyed.

Zhou Jin is not among the servants. To the people in the casino, these "sons of Satan" are dirty, and they are not worthy to set foot in the secret corridors.

But he had a way of using what was there to pass himself off as someone who was worthy enough to enter the casino.

Walking all the way up the dark corridor, turning the seventh corner by count, knowing that I have reached the area for VIPs to play.

At the farthest point from the stairs, there is a dressing room, which is the only room in the dark corridor that provides light.

Zhou Jin rummaged inside for a while, and found a bodysuit for male |.| prostitutes, with a V-shaped low neckline around the fungus, and the opening directly to the lower edge of the sternum. As soon as Zhou Jin opened his eyes, he couldn't help Feeling goosebumps all over his body, he stuffed the "Pandora's Box" back on the hanger without a word, and found out a waiter's uniform, although compared with his underdeveloped and slightly malnourished skeleton, this The size of the suit did not seem to fit perfectly, but it was obviously the best choice at the moment.

Zhou Jin quickly changed his clothes, took off the name tag hanging on his uniform, and threw it into a corner, then tied his hair of a little length into a low bundle, and fixed the scattered hair with invisible clips and hairspray .

A thin and sharp waiter appeared in the dressing mirror. Zhou Jin checked himself in the mirror carefully to make sure there was no flaw. He took a last look at his emotionless eyes, opened the door and walked out.

He carefully rolled up his blood-stained T-shirt, hid it in the groove under the loose floor at the end of the dark corridor, took out an empty tray in the cart, and lifted it to his shoulder in a dignified manner, then frankly Naturally, naturally, almost as a matter of course, he opened the narrow door leading to the sensual dogs and horses in front of him.

The noisy sound and dazzling light confused Zhou Jin for a while.

After regaining clarity, he walked calmly through the large gaming tables and the bustling crowd.

People's fine clothes rubbed against each other, women's evening dress skirts rubbed against men's trousers, and the shadows of their clothes were full of conversation, laughter, cheers, clinking wine glasses, and the sound of dice falling on the table.

In fact, these voices are the same as the ones from the first basement: the same brutality, the same madness, and the same shallowness, but wrapped in a flashy coat, they give people the illusion of nobility and elegance.

As if everything here is not only acceptable, but even desirable.

Zhou Jin glanced over the piles of colorful chips on the trolley with his seemingly inorganic eyes, but he couldn't see anything attractive about them.

After walking through the crowd for a while, the tray in his hand was already full of used wine glasses and coffee cups.

Standing in the corner was a woman with heavy makeup that had melted away. She was holding up a mirror to clean up the mascara and eyeshadow that stuck to her lower eyelids. He grabbed Zhou Jin, picked up a champagne glass pickily from the tray, drank the remaining half glass of wine in one gulp, then picked up another coffee cup, raised his head, and the dregs at the bottom of the glass together into the esophagus.

She seemed to be very thirsty. After drinking, her eyes still wandered around the tray with unsatisfactory eyes. Seeing that there was nothing else but the discolored wine soaked in soot, she had to let go of Zhou Jin's arm. .

Zhou Jin could recognize the tattoo on the side of her neck hidden under her deliberately disheveled hair, as well as the metal ring on her right wrist: This bright woman is not a noblewoman, or a young lady, she is the son of a casino. A |.| call girl for extra pleasure for the male guests.

The woman gave Zhou Jin a provocative wink, then waved him away.

Zhou Jin found his "hunting" target at this time.

He didn't even look at the girl, he put the tray on the serving table, and then approached the anxious man surrounded by the center of the card table.