Rule Strange: Urban Legends That Don't Exist

Thomas Gilbert, Birmingham Street's no pick and drop small gang agent, overseas trade speculator, careerist, lobbyist...

The man was invited to enter Chen Yan's ship and sat at the restaurant table on the third floor below the deck. In front of him was a completely eaten vegetable burger with no leaves left. The wooden water cup, the just-lit cigarette held in his left hand is emitting a beautiful dim red light.

Chen Yan sat across from him, tapped the table lightly and slowly with his index finger, without disturbing the silence of the other party.

The atmosphere did not become awkward in the silence, and the two men seemed to enjoy the quiet under the silence.

Chen Yan's thoughts drifted away in such silence.

In fact, when Chen Yan saw Li Shoucheng for the first time, he thought of his third uncle.

Li Shoucheng and the third uncle have similar auras, both are like completely harmless uncles next door, they speak calmly, and even make people feel close when they don't show their true colors.

But in essence, there are too many differences - Li Shoucheng is not as patient as the third uncle at all, and he is more vicious than the third uncle. There is no possibility of bargaining in front of him. He came here tonight just to show Chen Yan's viciousness and use Chen Yan's value to complete the business.

And third uncle...

Chen Yan misses the third uncle a little bit, because he can say anything in front of the third uncle, and the third uncle will even answer every stupid question he has, and propose at least a seemingly reasonable solution for him.

The badness of the third uncle is internal, unknown, and deeply hidden. Before being tricked by the third uncle, he will not feel that the third uncle is a bad species-most people can only do it when facing the third uncle. Let him be slaughtered, and when facing the third uncle, he has a heart of gratitude to the third uncle.

Thinking of this, Chen Yan recalled that glimpse at the zoo last night——

He saw the face of the third uncle at that time. It was a pure dead face. Chen Yan had seen such a face when he was in school. It was soaked in formalin solution in the anatomy teaching room of the school. In the container, the corpse that has begun to rot has such a face.

The third uncle became the tour guide of the zoo. The third uncle was alive, but not fully alive. And which third uncle was this third uncle?
Was it the third uncle who entered the zoo with him on the morning of the first snowy night and was later imprisoned in the cleaning truck? (Chapter 115 Cleaning the Car)

Or was it the third uncle who was killed by Chen Yan with Ogami's tears as the white skeleton named after the dragon? (Chapter 287 Crimson Blood)

Or...

Chen Yan couldn't figure it out, because what happened to the third uncle had already surpassed the limit of his cognition.

And now...

Thinking of himself, Chen Yan found that the facts were absurd and terrifying—after a normal Asian enters Yanan City, no matter what his previous status is, he will usually be labeled by Asian gangs. According to the normal situation, He deserves to be a gangster in various identities, whether in the open or in the dark, controlled by gangsters like Sanshu and making the greatest contribution to the gang's crimes.

He tried his best to avoid this situation, and because of luck and other reasons, he succeeded. He even killed the third uncle, who was supposed to be his slave owner in theory.

After arriving on Days Island, he took a path he had tried to avoid.

At this moment, time seemed to return to the time when he first came to Yanan City.

Is it fate?
But Chen Yan doesn't believe in fate. He only knows that everything that happens to him is the result of the arrangement and combination of various objective things and relationships.

“Good burgers.”

Thomas Gilbert's words interrupted Chen Yan's review of the past.

What he said next seemed to lose his interest, because he extinguished most of the remaining cigarette butts on the plate.

"The gangs here do things differently from Yanan City."

The man spoke slowly, leaning his back on the back of the chair, staring at Chen Yan with light blue eyes, and there was no joy or anger in his calm eyes.

"Uncle Li is different from the gangs in Yanan City."

He emphasized the matter again.

"He was the first immigrant on Days Island. I heard that he originally planned to take a ferry to Yanan, but he was attacked by pirates on the way and was forced to stop at Days Island...It's all luck, Mr. Chen, it's all... destiny."

As if to repay Chen Yan's hospitality tonight, Thomas Gilbert talked more than usual.

"For this island, the degree of power is nothing more than the difference between landing on the island first and the next step.

Those mud-legged people who can kill a bunch of rotten people by throwing a stone at the port of Yanan City, they were inspired by the primitive environment of the island to be vicious in their hearts, and they have their own on the first street of Days Island. After opening their own bar, they made a living by forcing female performers, selling contraband and entrapping new immigrants. They called themselves the Tie Gang. "

Chen Yan repeated the awkward name:

"The Tie Gang..."

Thomas Gilbert was silent for a few seconds before lighting a second cigarette.

In the midst of puffing, Thomas Gilbert said:

"Yes, the tie gang, that's what they use to punish - they slit the throat of anyone who defies them, and pull the tongue out of the wound, as if they were wearing a tie."

Chen Yan felt extremely uncomfortable mentally.

Ever since he was able to have synaesthesia with people's emotions, his "feeling" has become very sensitive, until now he can even be aroused by the description without emotional fluctuations. Caused by the loss of control during the time?
Thinking of this, Chen Yan was a little at a loss.

Out of control is irreversible, only promotion can save him, but the next promotion is getting more and more difficult, and there is no clue at all, how can he complete the promotion before the out of control accumulates to the point of corruption?

Like something impossible to do.

Thomas Gilbert didn't have the ability of Chen Yan, so he obviously couldn't feel Chen Yan's mood changes. He was still talking about what he thought he had to tell Chen Yan:

"Means like this are very effective, and people will be afraid... Most people will be afraid, even those pioneers sent to the island by the empire. After they know the methods of the Tie Gang, they will not come to make trouble easily, unless it is from The orders of the empire conflicted with the interests of the tie gang, but such cases were rare. The captain of the pioneer team from the imperial capital was the confidant of a certain dignitary in the empire, and the scope of autonomy in his hands was wide enough to allow He made the decision not to run afoul of the gang and give away some of his interests."

Chen Yan said:

"It's not him who pays the price...he's something like them."

Thomas Gilbert shifted his vision to Chen Yan's eyes.

He couldn't find the eyes he wanted to see.

So he continued the conversation according to the train of thought just now:

"Yes, Mr. Chen, he is the same thing as them. To them, people like us are just leeks that can be harvested at any time and grow after harvesting."

It was beyond Chen Yan's expectation that Thomas Gilbert would say such words and have such understanding.

"In such a disorderly environment, the first business of the Tie Gang won a big victory because of their means-they got the license to solicit the second batch of immigrants from Days Island through coercion and lure, now in Yanan City The intermediary company called that thing a 'licensed immigration consultant', but at that time Days Island had chaotic management, and because the scale of authority was relatively free, the licensed immigration consultants at that time could basically be equated with black intermediaries."

Chen Yan pondered and said:
"Is it the same thing as Taishenghe?"

Taishenghe, an Asian gang in Yanan City, has been focusing on the immigration business for decades. It has long formed a complete black industry system based on the exploitation of new immigrants’ property, labor and body and mind. Their line can also be clearly arranged.

"It's much worse than Tai Sheng He."

Thomas Gilbert was smoking a cigarette, and even couldn't help shaking his head slightly.

"We all have a misunderstanding, Mr. Chen. We think that Tai Shenghe has no bottom line, and that what Tai Shenghe has done to you Asians is inhumane-this is a misunderstanding of them."

"In fact, Taishenghe respects the value of people. They will not deliberately destroy a person's own value, but try to bring out the value of a person, and even use some of the relationships they have spent a lot of money to release and develop. A person's worth."

Chen Yan twitched his eyes, and did not agree with Thomas Gilbert's statement.

"But gangs like the Tie gang... are terrible, Mr. Chen, they are terrible, I don't see any humanity in what they do, and even some things in Yanan City gangs like me-you talk about money Small gangs that even their own mothers can sell - when you watch some of the things they do, you will also feel incredible."

He seemed to be a little anxious, and he talked about some "businesses" of the tie gang that Chen Yan could not even imagine before.

He called those things business, but Chen Yan seemed to have nothing to do with business at all.

Thomas Gilbert's words seemed to speak of events in another world, things that sounded absurd, completely unacceptable, and impossible to understand.

Chen Yan was obviously very disgusted, but he forced himself to listen with reason. He wanted to know what kind of suffering people had experienced on this island, and he thought he needed to understand these sufferings.

That's a more heinous reality than the origin of "The Tie Gang".

Thomas Gilbert's whispering voice entered Chen Yan's ears together with the sound of the waves lapping on the hull and passing through the hull and entering the cabin, and the sound of the waves was weakened. Those terrifying and ubiquitous voices seemed to come from the devil to the accompaniment of murmurs—

After nightfall, there was a storm on the sea, perhaps because of the tide, the boat swayed a little under the waves, but fortunately, the ceiling lights on the boat were fixed in the wall, so the light in the room did not shake, Chen Yan could only see Get the swirling smoke and hear the vicious whispers through the smoke.

Thomas Gilbert's voice is calm throughout.

Until the temperature in the cabin began to drop, and the cool lighting began to make people feel cold, Thomas Gilbert smoked his last cigarette.

"There are dozens of gangs like the Tie Gang on Days Island."

Thomas Gilbert spoke very slowly, without raising or lowering his pitch, as if he was talking about something very ordinary.

"When I first learned about these things, I felt that the situation on Days Island was very similar to Yanan City 80 years ago. There were gangs and cults everywhere. People were not restricted by any morality, and they were more savage than beasts."

How did he know what Yanan City was like 80 years ago?From the mouths of grandparents?
"We came late." He sighed, "If we had the foresight or the guidance of an expert, we could have come to Days Island ten years ago, so now we are at least better than Uncle Li. People are much better off, from our current perspective, the Tie Gang only relied on bottomless ferocity to get to where they are today, and we... oh, our means are much better than theirs."

Damn it, Thomas Gilbert is also a bastard. After talking so much, he finally concluded that it was just a pity that he couldn't speculate on himself.

This is a real scumbag.

"In short, as long as we want to hang out on Days Island, we must do what Uncle Li said. No matter what happens in the future, it can only be like this now."

Thomas Gilbert stood up.

Chen Yan didn't say much:

"Your room is in room 304."

Room 304 is next to Room 305 of Chen Yan.

Thomas Gilbert nodded, without thanking him for his kindness, he walked slowly to the door of the restaurant with his hands in his pockets, turned around again, leaned against the door frame, and said:
"Mr. Chen, we may need another way to make money—according to our experience in Yanan City, the fastest way to make money is to open up industries that others can't imagine."

Chen Yan stared at him for a few seconds and said:

"How about running a school to teach people how to read?"

The atmosphere between the two froze for a full ten seconds.

Thomas Gilbert let out a laugh, his smile was as flat as his words, and it disappeared quickly.

He pointed at Chen Yan, wanting to say something, but his hand paused in the air for a moment, shook his head, turned and left.

Chen Yan sat in the dining room without moving. After Thomas Gilbert left, he returned to Room 305, lying on the bed, staring at the ceiling blankly.

The sound of the waves lapping on the hull made him unable to sleep peacefully, and what he saw today made him even more confused. He was mentally exhausted because of these things and desperately needed sleep.

He closed his eyes.

Tonight, the moon was covered by dark clouds, and the moonlight could not shine through the dark clouds into the porthole. The cabin was pitch black. Chen Yan gradually became familiar with the bumping of the ship in the waves through extreme internal friction, and fell asleep in the faint pain from his brain.

Around one o'clock in the morning, the shadow of an adult-sized beast blended into the darkness of his room.