Their current location is located in the outskirts of the city.

The vehicle continued to drive on the road, and the vast fog blocked the field of view. The driver turned on the headlight and could only barely see the road clearly.

With the help of the faint light, Xia Ren discovered that the surroundings were full of graves shrouded in mist.

These tombs are of different heights and are not fixed in style. Some are just small piles of soil, while others have built large tombs with cement. The dense tombstones are placed in the wilderness, as if they look weird shrubs, exuding a strong and unknown atmosphere.

As the vehicles drove steadily, the graves soon began to become sparse, and scattered buildings slowly appeared on both sides of the road.

These low houses seemed to be buildings from the old era, dilapidated, and the surface of the brick wall was covered with an unknown layer of material, like the sticky dirt of the sewer, constantly emitting a disgusting stench.

Some of the houses are made up of only a few wooden boards, which seem to be just temporary residences, but those wooden boards have been eroded by the damp fog, and are obviously old. Rather than houses, they are actually more like decaying coffins exposed to the wilderness.

From time to time, a few black shadows flashed over his head, making strange chirpings and flapping his wings, as if he had already set his sights on them.

The driver was already used to it, unmoved and continued to drive.

The buildings on both sides gradually became taller and cleaner, and the roads became wider, enough to accommodate several cars driving simultaneously. It seemed that they had arrived in the main urban area.

The driver stopped by the roadside with a sudden kick.

"We're here."

Niu Changshou turned around and reminded him, then got out of the car and stretched his body.

Xia Ren and his wife also got out of the car and observed the surroundings.

The driver did not go back immediately, but got out of the car and walked into a small shop next to him. He bought a bottle of drink-like things from it. Through the transparent glass bottle, you could see that the rich red liquid was filled inside, which easily reminded people of something.

The driver opened the bottle mouth and drank it all, then returned to the car and drove back towards the deeper direction of the city center.

"What did he buy?"

Xia Ren asked curiously.

Niu Changshou smiled mysteriously: "You guess?"

"It's not human blood, right?"

Niu Changshou snapped his fingers: "You guessed it right."

"I guess you must have a lot of questions. Let's find a place to live first and wait for me to explain it to you slowly."

Niu Changshou had a relaxed expression. When he came here, he was like returning home. He walked and said, "Let's start with the existence of Arkham City."

He adjusted his thoughts a little: "Arkham City has existed since the Supreme Alliance Government was established, but it was not called this name at that time. It was always an ordinary city, but it was not until a few decades ago that a drastic change occurred, and this place became what it is now. Don't worry about what drastic change it was, because I don't know."

Xia Ren was about to open his mouth, but he could only hold back when he heard this.

Niu Changshou continued: "As you can see, there is no day, only night. The low mountain we saw when we came was actually a magic barrier that ordinary people cannot pass through, and only polluted people can enter and exit freely.

The reason why Arkham still exists is actually the result of the tacit consent of many forces. For those aliens and independent races walking in the dark, they need a fixed location to trade items and obtain intelligence. For the foundation, instead of letting them completely hide in the dark and become completely uncontrollable, it is better to have a fixed location like now to monitor and detect their actions. Many of the Foundation's intelligence and containment items, and some of the research materials of the Superman Association, are also obtained from Arkham City. For example, the containment item you need will be exhibited at the auction in the city of tomorrow."

Xia Ren touched his chin and said, "This explanation is a bit far-fetched. As far as I know, the foundation has basically zero tolerance for pollution. It is impossible to acquiesce a city to become a paradise for alien sects and evil races, as you said.

"No, no, no, brother, your description is wrong."

Niu Changshou shook his head and said, "It's not an evil race, but an independent race. Your idea is wrong~"

Answering the monkey laughed, "Who told you that independent races are all bad? Haven't you only met the people of the chumu?"

Qin Yun looked at her with an unhappy expression, and the latter immediately shrank his neck and stopped talking.

Niu Changshou then explained: "As this girl said, although independent races are often far from humans, not all independent races are against humans, and some of them even take the initiative to help humans. In fact, those truly evil guys do not account for much of Arkham City. Most of the people who live here do not want to be involved in disputes, such as polluted but still retain rational distortions, wizards who devote themselves to studying magic and alchemy, and independent races that are indifferent to the world, etc. The driver who brought us here is one of them. He should be distorted and longed for blood, but he is unwilling to kill people, so he can only buy human blood to satisfy his cravings. This situation can be seen everywhere in Arkham, so there is no need to make a fuss.

And although it is human blood, the channels are basically clean and transparent. The Superman Association occasionally provides blood here for some things.

Of course, there are many bad guys who fled here and the evil alien sects."

"The situation in Arkham City is very complicated. There are unique rules and order here, which is difficult to understand in the eyes of unfamiliar people. Moreover, the forces in the city are complicated. If you want to talk about it in detail, you may not finish it in three days and three nights. You just need to do what I said."

Xia Ren nodded.

What Niu Changshou just said was knowledge that he had never been exposed to before, such as wizards, and a race that remained neutral.

He realized that the depths of this world were completely unfamiliar to him, so it would be better to be cautious.

Niu Changshou talked endlessly to them about the key points of attention: "In Arkham, as long as you don't provoke others on your own initiative, you will basically be fine. Fighting and killing are completely prohibited here. Once discovered, you will be killed by the surrounding citizens. The best result will be expelled and permanently listed on the blacklist, and you will never be able to enter the barrier again."

Xia Ren glanced at the surrounding buildings and said, "Then who is maintaining order? It can't be entirely up to the tacit understanding of the citizens, right?"

"Most of them really rely on the tacit understanding of the citizens, but some citizens cannot handle the situations they are unwilling to deal with or are unwilling to deal with, but they still have to rely on professionals. Do you remember the barrier I just told you, do you know who created it?"

Xia Ren did not answer this sentence and asked directly: "Who is it?"

Niu Changshou felt a little regretful when he saw that he did not follow his own vision, and said, "You also know that person, Sinni Grant, the great magician of the Wizards Alliance. The Wizards Alliance is Arkham's biggest force and the defender of order."

"I know that some of you investigators treat wizards as much as they treat evil pollution, but it is undeniable that most wizards will not affect the lives of ordinary people. For them, compared to doing bad things, it is obvious that studying the secret knowledge left in ancient manuscripts is more tempting. It is just that some wizards have mastered too many secrets. Once they do bad things, the impact will be even more serious than the apostles. However, if you don't have to do it, the wizard alliance will deal with the lunatics themselves."

Niu Changshou suddenly slapped his forehead and said, "There is another small thing I almost forgot to tell you."

Xia Ren said in confusion: "What's the matter?"

Niu Changshou smiled embarrassedly: "You are being offered a reward."

“…” Xia Ren.

He remembered that when he first went to the foundation headquarters, Yi Zhiyu told him that he was being offered a reward of up to 1 billion gang coins.

Now Qin Yun has become a super rich woman, and the 1 billion ally does not seem to be a very high wealth. He thought that the reward had long passed so long, but he didn't expect that there are still people who persistently want to cause some trouble for themselves.

"Say such an important thing early next time!"

Xia Ren looked around and saw that fortunately there were few people on the street and no one noticed him.

His eyes were on Lu Yi, the only one among the few people who had luggage. In fact, it was luggage, which was a slightly larger lady's shoulder bag containing several shelter items, Lu Yi's own toiletries and other messy things.

As for this differentiated behavior, Ai Yuanjing naturally strongly opposed it at the beginning, but it could not resist Lu Yi's persistence after all.

"Do you bring other clothes?" Xia Ren asked.

He wanted to change his outfit and hide himself a little.

Lu Yi opened her bag, snatched it inside, then took out the green apron in a rather entangled way and handed it to Xia Ren.

She regarded this apron as a treasure and was reluctant to wear it. She took it out and sorted it out for nothing. At this time, she was willing to give it to Xia Ren, probably because she put him in a more important position in her heart.

Xia Ren looked at the apron, hesitated for a moment, but did not answer.

Niu Changshou patted his shoulder and said, "It's okay, those rewards have been exposed by your foundation's own people. Those guys who are ready to move see that the foundation has such a clear attitude and will not easily think about opposing you. Besides, your information is well protected, and others don't even know your gender and name. As long as you don't take out your thick and long whip, no one will guess your identity."

"It's the tentacles."

Xia Ren corrected the truth, but did not deny it if it was thick and long.

"Do you know why I brought you here?" Niu Changshou continued: "I don't know if you have noticed that from beginning to end, whether it is the Foundation or the Superman Association, there are always those people who keep in touch with you. This is actually to protect you."

Xia Ren touched his chin and thought to himself that no matter where he went, it was Niu Changshou, Yi Zhiyu, Jiufeng and the others who had a relationship with him.

The insider is everywhere.

"We're here."

Niu Changshou stopped by the street.

Next to it is a three-story building with a simple accommodation sign hanging on it. If you don’t pay attention to it carefully, you will not be able to find it at all.

The exterior of the hotel looks very old, with the gray-red paint peeling off on the walls eroded by moisture, like severely burned skin, mottled.

The door of the first floor is narrow, with only a thick rusty security door, covered with suspicious stains and several shocking scars, as if they had been attacked by some kind of terrifying beast.

The windows on the second and third floors were blocked by thick curtains, and it was impossible to see clearly what was happening in the room. Only two rooms showed faint dim lights. In one of them, a suspicious shadow was vaguely seen wandering and paced behind the curtains.

A strange sound came from the building, which sounded like an old man’s cough before his death, but it was not exactly similar. In short, it gave people a feeling of uneasiness everywhere.

Niu Changshou didn't care. As the security door opened and the harsh metal friction sounded, he walked in first.

Xia Ren hesitated for a moment, held Qin Yun's hand, and followed him in.

Unexpectedly, the environment inside was completely different from what I imagined, and it was extremely neat and clean. Although the cleanliness level was not much different from the normal hotel outside, it was Arkham after all, and it was still a bit incredible to be so clean.

Behind the door is a solid wood counter, which is almost spotless, with only a bottle of open black ink placed, a slender quill inserted into the ink bottle, and a hemp paper account book stitched with thick ropes, so there is no other debris.

The ancient quills and rough ledgers can easily remind people of scenes from the old century. No matter how years pass outside, it seems that the ancient traditions still remain here.

Although the lights above the head are soft, they are a little too dim, and their eyes will become sore after looking at them for a long time.

Xia Ren was surprised to find that the light bulb was not driven by electricity, and the glowing "wick" inside floated up and down like a raised spider. He felt the slight energy fluctuations from it, which were more like... magic.

Behind the solid wood counter is a large vertical cabinet similar to a bookshelves. There are several ancient books in the spaced grids, and the rest are all strange bottles and jars. I don’t know what their specific function is.

The wooden floor is cleaned smooth and shiny, with a layer of waxy on the surface, which can prevent dust from falling into gaps and is also convenient for cleaning. However, this layer of waxy will not make people feel slippery at all. Instead, it will feel solid when you step on the soft muddy land.

It seems to be to cover up other smells. The aroma in the store is very strong, and it will be a little bored if you smell it for a long time.

"Where is the boss?"

Lu Yi glanced at it and found that there was not even a chair behind the counter, and there was no one there.

According to the time outside, it should be around 2 or 3 pm.

"Here's here."

A sharp sound came from behind the counter, like the sound of some kind of small rodent.
To be continued...