Abyss Express

"Two monkey wrenches, a pair of pipe wrenches, and a pack of beef jerky, is that all?"

The owner of the grocery store asked——

——Jiang Xueming responded.

"Yes, that's all."

While purchasing tools, he chatted with people on the streets of Santa Monica, City of Tears, and seemed to have endless things to say. Xueming has always been a talkative person, and would only remain absolutely silent in exciting and high-pressure combat environments.

Silence is sometimes a very useful tool. Mr. Lu Xun also said that when you speak, you are empty, but when you are silent, you are full.

In these days, Xueming began to rethink the inner meaning of the identity "Zhang Congfeng".

In order to better play this role, he read a lot of scriptures and sang a lot of hymns, from "Ode to the Glory" to "Ode to the Lamb." These religious columns made him speak more like a gentle and polite priest. Not some night devil who seems to be carrying more than 10,000 lives at a glance.

The boss was also a noisy person, picking at the shelves and chatting about trivial matters in life with the foreign monk who was reading local scriptures.

"What kind of beef do you want? Dry or wet?"

Jiang Xueming: "Is there any other term for dryness or wetness?"

"Of course!" the boss responded excitedly: "The local specialties in the City of Tears are very particular. When you out-of-town guests come, the shops elsewhere won't tell you, but I, Armstrong, am an honest and trustworthy enthusiast! The dried meat is the same price. , the cured meat with fat is another price and tastes different, and there are also dead scammers who sell duck meat as beef!"

"So I'm telling you, Father, please don't blame me for being verbose. Although we are located in London, a developed and civilized world, when it comes to making money, it's completely different."

Xueming slowly put the wrench into the doctor's bag, tightened the pipe wrench, and pinned it to the belt hanger.

"Just about 700 grams of air-dried meat. Thank you."

"Hi! Are you being polite? Don't call [you] with such a polite name." The boss took two hanging pieces of air-dried meat from the shelf, took it in his hand, and cut off a section of purple-red dried meat with a knife. The beef has lost its moisture, but you can still smell the spices. As the boss said, this is the local specialty of Tear City - in the earlier pioneering era, the ancestors of the people in Xiacheng District used this method to process meat. Food to carry with you on long journeys.

Seven hundred grams of dried meat can fill the entire doctor's bag, which exceeded Xueming's estimate. He thought that one and a half kilograms of meat would not take up much space, but he did not expect that there was so much.

"What's wrong? You can't take it anymore?" the boss asked.

Jiang Xueming: "Less, sorry."

Boss: "Five hundred grams for you! Any extra can be given to you as a gift from me! Together with the wrench and pliers, there are a total of one hundred and seventy-seven pyroxene currency."

Xueming took out some change from his bag, saw the boss found another grocery bag, and carefully wrapped all the dry food. I heard the boss ask curiously again.

"Father, can you sing hymns? Can you say mass? Are you willing to perform the ceremony for my daughter?"

Xueming responded quickly: "I know a little bit, but I'm not proficient."

The boss continued: "Hey! No need for any complicated rituals. My daughter, who has strong arms (Armstrong's Chinese literal translation), has encountered a little trouble recently. She is pregnant."

"You want me to baptize the newborn child?" Xueming asked.

The boss shook his head: "No, no, no, our family with strong arms is not so particular. You heard that I speak Chinese so well, and you know that I am not an old European - I don't like this."

Xueming then asked: "What does that mean?"

The boss sighed: "She seemed to be under a spell and fell in love with a member of the King's Gang. She was so madly in love that she couldn't wait to get married before and couldn't wait to give this gang a child."

Xueming: "Do you want me to break his legs?"

The boss looked weird——

——Xue Ming quickly changed his words: "I mean, do you want this gang to take responsibility?"

"No, no, where did you want to go?" The boss denied repeatedly: "I am not the head of a traditional family. My daughter can love whomever she wants! When she was born, my wife and I were not married!~ I finally made some money from Silver Bailey, and I went from being a poor bachelor to the manager of this grocery store - maybe it was my wife's eyes that were too gentle that gave me the idea of ​​living a stable life."

Xueming: "Yeah."

Boss: "I just want to ask you, Father, to sing a song for my unborn grandson. I hope this little life can grow up healthily, just like a birthday blessing."

Xueming: "No problem."

The boss nodded repeatedly and put down the work at hand. I called my daughter and asked her daughter Elsa and future son-in-law Oliver to come and listen to the priest's singing.

But life is like this, it often doesn’t make people happy——

——Elsa is working in the laundry and has to wait until after six o'clock in the evening to have time. She is already pregnant. Even though I have a big belly, I still have to run for life.

Oliver is a small worker in the King's Gang. This boy is six years younger than Elsa and has just turned nineteen this year. We knew before that the Kings Gang has always regarded Silver Bailey as a competitor. Oliver is from the Kings Gang, and Strong Arms is from Silver Bailey. The relationship between father-in-law and son-in-law is definitely not much better.

While waiting for the two newcomers, the boss had a strong arm and talked about life with the priest.

"Father, what do you think of God?"

Jiang Xueming: "To me, it is a dog."

The strong arm was quite surprised: "Ah? Why?"

Jiang Xueming: "This world has spiritual energy and spiritual bodies. Just like the opposite symmetrical relationship between chiral molecules, God and Dog are also a chiral arrangement."

The strong-armed man scratched his head in confusion.

Jiang Xueming continued: "The Bible is a reference book that teaches people how to guide themselves away from pain. It seems that the source of wisdom is in it. Fifteen thousand years ago, dogs and people became friends, and today Lapis is also ours "Good friends, these blood-giving warriors all have divine blood flowing in their bodies - if God is really omnipresent and omnipotent, then dogs are also part of God."

Strong Arms: "It's so complicated."

Jiang Xueming: "Is it complicated? Do you think that dogs can understand people's words? Dogs have feelings. They will be sad with you when you are sad and will be happy with you when you are happy. Dogs know everything, but they don't The dog will not dislike you for having no money, nor will he eat you because he is hungry. The dog will not lie to you, and the dog will not betray you. After the dog gives birth to puppies, he will give birth to the puppies as soon as possible. When it comes to you, there are many, many people in your world, but there is only you in its world - a dog will not discriminate against you because you are white, black or yellow, and the dog does not care about your gender, let alone It will quarrel and quarrel with you because of what religion you believe in. Its world is very simple and full of divinity."

Strong Arms: "Father, do you have a dog?"

Jiang Xueming: "I have raised one before."

In the Jiang family's old house, during Xueming's saddest childhood, there was only an unnamed "dog" who lived with him and took care of Bai Lu. As for the two old men of the Jiang family, that was another top-notch spirit. Torture cannot be called life.

Strong Arms: "Then I'll buy one if I have time. I think so. If Aisha and Oliver pass, I'll have to find a way to find a companion."

"Are you divorced?" Jiang Xueming asked.

The man with strong arms said with an embarrassed face: "My wife, who has never been married, gave birth to Aisha to me. She ran away before the grocery store opened - she looked down on me."

Jiang Xueming: "You haven't gone to find her?"

Zhuang Zhizhuang immediately darkened his face: "She didn't come to me? Why should I go to find her?"

Jiang Xueming: "Maybe she is just like you, waiting for you to take the initiative?"

Strong Arms: "Really?"

Jiang Xueming: "Life is always waiting, endless waiting - that's how it is, people like waiting very much. Those who wait think that they are active, just like me, I am also waiting for someone now."

Strong Arms: "Who are you waiting for?"

At this moment, a black Volga parked next to pavement No. 13 and backed up several times. The clumsy driver finally backed the car into the parking space.

A one-eyed man stepped out of the car. It was Mr. Cork, the third-in-command of the Kings Gang. His face was very ugly. He had just returned from the Metropolitan Police Department. It should be about a few sentries in the Northwest Building Group. He wanted to come forward to pay the bail. Go get people.

"I'm going to do something, my arms are strong." Jiang Xueming left the cloth bag on the small seat in front of the grocery store. The dry food couldn't be stuffed into the doctor's bag: "Please keep an eye on my things and come back soon, waiting for your daughter When Elsa comes back, I will sing to you."

Arm Strong immediately responded with a smile: "Okay!"

With that said, Xueming hurriedly followed Cork, and the newcomer who parked the car for the King's Gang happened to be the boy Oliver. Several sentries in the gang branch were injured, and this little sparrow-like gang needed fresh blood to step up, so he, a small worker, became Mr. Corker's driver.

Oliver's driving skills were poor, and he was scolded viciously by Mr. Cock. When he was angry, he saw a priest holding a Bible walking slowly beside his father-in-law. He wanted to go to the card shop, so he stepped forward to ask.

"What do you do?"

Jiang Xueming replied: "Let's play cards."

With that said, he took out a business card - this card had the information of telephone operator Luo Kang written on it.

The old neighbors on the streets of Santa Monica usually don't have much entertainment. Apart from watching games, going to Internet cafes, and checking their mobile phones, they all pass the time in this small poker room. Everyone has their own relatively closed community, and newcomers are generally not welcome. ——Lest the wages fall into the pockets of outsiders through the card table.

So Oliver responded impatiently: "Go somewhere else to play, you are not welcome here."

Jiang Xueming had no choice. If he couldn't get into the poker hall, he wouldn't be able to see Cork. If he couldn't see Cork, the wrenches and pipe wrenches in the doctor's bag would be of no use.

He didn't want to climb over the wall, climb through the window, and violently break into the door. Daphne gave him these clothes, so he had to keep them well. If there were a few more bullet holes, he wouldn't be able to explain where he got the bulletproof weapons when he went to the Qingjin Police Station to take notes. The ability of a monk.

"I'm looking for Cork." Jiang Xueming decided to get straight to the point.

Oliver was stunned for a moment and then asked immediately: "Are you here to buy appetizers?"

Jiang Xueming: "I don't take drugs."

Oliver: "Which store are you from? When does the church also want appetizers?"

In the post-Gunsmith era, the soft drugs sold by the King's Gang have actually changed into several forms, and they have evolved different varieties and functions according to different needs.

Among the several types of hallucinogens mainly sold in the City of Tears, food spices are the main ones. For example, in some bakeries in the City of Tears, you can always smell a special smell that makes your index fingers tickle, but when you buy it, Bread has no such aroma at all. This is the hallucinogenic spice sold privately by the King's Gang - its effect is weak and even difficult to become addictive, but the raw material is still a soft drug.

This kind of aromatherapy is rampant in pet restaurants in Xiacheng District, selling "happiness" to guests together with cats and dogs. It will not even harm people's mucous membranes or nerves. In the final analysis, it is a black product. The King's Gang can only dare to do so now. Selling some appetizers, this is a small worker left over from Lawrence Madison's chemical and drug empire. It transformed from Mr. Pan's small studio into the King's Gang.

Oliver thought the priest was here to buy appetizers. Perhaps the priest also needed this spice to add a sense of lingering dreaminess to the church.

"I'm from Brunwell, and I work in a small evangelical church." Jiang Xueming announced her family background without any hesitation: "I want to see Mr. Corker."

Oliver didn't think anything was wrong, so he put Jiang Xueming in. When he got to the phone operator's position, he talked about the matter with the new brother. The phone operator who took Luo Kang's seat immediately informed the boss, Cork - that it was There are new customers coming.

Xueming stooped down and opened the bead curtain on the back door, went in and went up the small staircase on the left, climbed to the third floor and squeezed into a low door. This building was like a maze. It was also built in the early days of the City of Tears for the short and thin beast hybrids. of.

Walking to the corridor on the third floor, I saw smoke-smoking thugs on both sides. After passing the four doors, there were armed men resting in these rooms. Xueming saw clearly the armed configuration and personnel distribution, so he walked to the boss's office and politely Knocked on the door.

Cork shouted: "Come in!"

"Hello! Mr. Corker!" Jiang Xueming said with a happy face and started the business mode.

Cork was short in stature and had a protruding face. He looked like a rat hybrid with pointed ears. When this rat man saw the new visitor, he immediately cleared away the gloom on his face.

"Hey! Hello! You actually speak Spanish?"

Jiang Xueming: "Yes, I saw that the calendars here are all in Spanish."

This made Cork feel honored and flattered. It had been a long, long time since he had such a polite guest.

"Please! Please sit down! Sit down and talk!"

Jiang Xueming sat opposite Cork. The narrow chair was a little uncomfortable, but he still sat upright.

Cock asked: "Oliver told me you came from the guy with the big arm's grocery store?"

Jiang Xueming: "Yes, I need to buy some things temporarily. I didn't expect that the boss is your driver's father-in-law. What a coincidence."

Cork immediately became happy: "Hahahaha! Sooner or later, that store belongs to Oliver, and sooner or later it belongs to the King's Gang - the goddess of luck always favors the brave! Just like you met me!"

"Indeed." Jiang Xueming responded with a smile: "Before we talk about business, I want to ask."

Corker: "Please tell me."

Jiang Xueming: "How did Oliver and Elsa meet?"

Cork: "That kid is an orphan. He grew up in a juvenile detention center. The daughter of this guy with strong arms works as a caregiver there - everyone in the neighborhood knows this."

Jiang Xueming: "Oh."

Cork continued: "He is six years younger than Elsa and regards Elsa as his sister and mother. He says that Elsa is the only light in his life. Elsa reads him stories and takes him with her to sing operas in the nursing home. , they fell in love - the brothers are all happy for this couple! It’s Elsa’s dad, and this old man’s strong arms are so annoying!”

Jiang Xueming: "Yeah"

Cork: "I heard Oliver say that you are a priest?"

Jiang Xueming: "Yes."

Cork: "Hey! Our old telephone operator is crazy. It seems he also met a priest."

At this point, Rat Man Cork immediately waved his hand to deny it, wanting to explain something and draw a clear line.

"Of course! Of course I'm not talking about you. An elegant and noble person like you must have nothing to do with this matter."

"Luo Kang called and told me that he seemed to have had a few bones broken by a priest, and then suddenly he went crazy and started talking nonsense - he also gave up, what a fucking ghost. It's not easy to find a reliable phone operator these days. You have to know how to read and understand what the lackeys of the Metropolitan Police Department are doing in the city. Luo Kang also likes to be on duty. In fact, he doesn't have to do some work. It’s a pity that the boss likes him so much.”

Jiang Xueming took out his business card from the doctor's bag: "Indeed."

Cork took the business card: "Let's talk about this business, let me take a look."

By this time, the Rat Man finally came to his senses.

"Brumwell. Small Evangelical Church"

It is the same person as the priest Luo Kang mentioned.

"When people are in a life-or-death situation." Jiang Xueming took out the wrench and pipe wrench from the doctor's bag and put them back on the table: "God will give them a chance, Mr. Corker."

Pig-like screams came from the room on the third floor, followed by the sound of banging pots and iron, and from time to time gunshots were heard.

In front of the grocery store not far away, Zhuangzhuang looked at the branch building of the King's Gang with doubts. Immediately, a vehicle from the Metropolitan Police Department arrived, followed closely by an ambulance from the medical clinic.

The thugs from the war gang were transported out one by one. Although all of them had broken bones and serious injuries, they were not dead. They had strong arms and were worried about the safety of their future sons-in-law, so they got into the crowd and looked around.

But Oliver was not injured. The young man came out standing in the end. He peed in his pants, his whole body was shaking, his eyes were out of focus, and he was overwhelmed by the terror of violence and the threat of death, and could hardly think.

The green gold guards who came to investigate did a little review and let the timid driver go.

Strong arms helped the future son-in-law back to the grocery store. As soon as Oliver sat down, he heard a loud and powerful singing voice - the fierce priest who was cracking skulls and bones in the room was standing in front of him, as if nothing had happened. Sing a song.

"Non! Je ne regrette rien"

[No, I don’t regret it at all]

"Ni le bien, qu'on m'a fait Ni le mal, touta m'est bienégal!"

[Whether people are good to me or bad to me, it's all the same to me]

"Non! Rien de rien"

[No, nothing]

"Non! Je ne regrette rien"

[No, I don’t regret it at all]

"Car ma vie, car mes joies"

[Because of my life, my joy]

"Aujourd'hui, a commence avec toi!"

[From today on, I want to start over with you! ]

Oliver: "Dad."

Strong Arms: "What did you call me?"

Oliver: "Dad. Dad, I'm going to marry Elsa. I want to stay in this store and I'm not going anywhere, Dad."

Strong Arms: "What the hell!"

The boss was puzzled, so he found the priest again, pulled the priest's sleeve, and asked Xueming to stop singing.

"What's going on?! Father!"

Jiang Xueming responded with a kind-hearted look——

"——This is a miracle."

Arm Strong was doubtful: "Don't lie to me!"

"Swear in the name of God." Jiang Xueming made the sign of the cross on his chest with one hand, and carried the bloody wrench and deformed pipe wrench behind his back. "This is a miracle."