ATPnovel Chapter 167, the 7th Registrar reads the accounts aloud in public.
Chapter 167, the 7th Registrar reads the accounts aloud in public.
No sooner had Pigsy finished speaking than...
The light came on at the end of the passageway.
It's not a lamp.
It's a whole row of black rings.
Circle after circle emerged from the wall, as if someone had ripped open the throat of the old port.
His face turned blue.
"The multi-slot machine is really open."
"That's not for people to walk on."
Registrar Gu also took a half step back, his Adam's apple bobbing.
"That place is only opened during the grand trial in the port."
"Who woke it up?"
Chen Fan did not turn around.
He first looked at Pigsy's belly.
The three old box tags had all gone inside, leaving only three raised dots under the clothes, like three stamps branded into the flesh.
Each time it lights up, the black ring in front expands outward by one inch.
Yang Jian suddenly raised his hand.
The monitoring chain swung out with a "whoosh" and snapped directly onto Pigsy's wrist.
"Can I borrow it?"
Pigsy's eyes widened in surprise.
"Borrow my ass, tell me where you're borrowing from first."
Yang Jian ignored him.
He placed his other hand on the registrar's order.
The red characters flashed in the crack of the token.
The row of black rings at the front suddenly snapped shut, forming a passageway.
At the end of the passageway, directly opposite the group of boxes.
It also faces the three major rankings in Hong Kong.
Chen Fan understood immediately.
This is a public space.
Whoever stands up, whatever they say, can be heard throughout District Seven.
nice one.
This is perfect for proving someone wrong.
The pale-faced man outside the warehouse door, who had been keeping his voice down, finally couldn't hold back any longer.
"Close the road!"
"Close the road immediately!"
"Anyone who dares to let them onto the stage is a troublemaker in Hong Kong!"
He yelled as he backed away.
They retreated very quickly.
It's like being afraid of being a step too late; you have to get on stage.
Sun Wukong chuckled and blocked the way with his golden cudgel.
"What's the rush?"
"Aren't you the best at talking about accounts?"
The pale-faced man gritted his teeth, and a string of black hooks flew out from his sleeve, aiming straight for the chief clerk's token in Yang Jian's hand.
Yang Jian flipped his wrist.
The chain of oversight arrives first.
Snapped.
The string of black hooks was instantly twisted into a lump of scrap metal.
The coldness on the pale-faced man's face finally crumbled.
"Yang Jian, are you going to break the rules?"
Yang Jian didn't even glance at him.
"I'll break yours first today."
Chen Fan has already made his move.
He stepped onto the black ring path and rushed up the platform of boxes in three steps.
The countertop is old.
The edges and corners are covered in scratches.
There is a groove in the center, as if it were specifically for holding tokens.
Chen Fan raised his hand and pressed down.
The registrar ordered it to be placed inside.
The entire platform of boxes shook violently.
The three lists can be flipped through simultaneously.
The black pillars standing throughout the harbor also rang.
One sound after another, like someone ringing a bell in the harbor.
Soon, chaos erupted in all directions.
"The rankings are out?"
"Who issued the interrogation order at the interrogation station?"
"What happened in District Seven?"
Figures poured out from the various warehouse passages.
There were people carrying boxes, people keeping accounts, and people escorting samples dressed in black robes.
Everyone's looking this way.
Even the registrar, Gu, was stunned.
"You've managed to get the whole of Hong Kong's attention?"
Chen Fan smiled.
"If we're going to fight, let's fight the big ones."
The pale-faced man finally realized what Chen Fan was up to.
His voice became shrill.
"You are not qualified to hold a public trial."
"You're not a port official!"
"You haven't even explored the edge of District Seven, what right do you have to touch the vending machine!"
Chen Fan raised his hand and pointed at him.
I'm not qualified.
"Then you have it."
"Seventh Registrar".
These four words were spoken.
There was a moment of silence on the field.
Immediately afterwards, the people who had gathered around went wild.
"Has the seventh registrar arrived?"
"Who is it?"
"Wasn't he supposed to be in seclusion to check the accounts?"
The pale-faced man's lips twitched.
The registrar turned his head to look at him, and his eyes changed.
"Are you the seventh registrar?"
The pale-faced man remained silent.
He neither admitted nor denied it.
Chen Fan kicked the black groove on the edge of the table.
Click.
A thin column rises from beneath the box platform.
A booklet was hanging from the top of the pillar.
The cover was blackened, but a red mark was burned into the corner.
[Seventh parking area recovers counterfeit receipts]
Five large characters lit up.
The port felt as if it had been whipped across the head.
"Fake orders?"
"Seventh parking area?"
"Who dares to post this out!"
The pale-faced man squeezed out two words from his throat.
"Fake."
Chen Fan didn't even bother to look at him.
He only looked at the regular patterns on the box stand.
The patterns were already mostly lit up.
This indicates that the platform accepts the payment.
By acknowledging the debt, one can acknowledge the person.
really.
The black ring shrank in the next moment.
A chain-like shadow shot out from under the stage, snapped around the pale-faced man's neck, and dragged him forcefully to the front of the stage.
He slipped and fell to his knees.
A collective gasp filled the air.
Sun Wukong grinned.
"nice."
"Zoom in a bit more."
The pale-faced man wanted to earn it.
The more you struggle, the tighter the chain tightens.
He looked up at Chen Fan, his eyes seeming to spit venom.
"You know who I am, and you still dare to play this game?"
Chen Fan bent down, picked up the black booklet, and slapped it directly onto his chest.
"Know."
"That's why I'm letting you read it."
The pale-faced man didn't answer.
The ledgers opened by themselves.
The first page was covered with recycling numbers and destruction stamps.
At the very bottom, there was a line of small, blood-red text.
[The review and editing team mandated public broadcasts, and the chief clerk personally verified the information.]
Someone in the audience nearly collapsed to the ground, their legs buckling.
"It's over."
"This is the rule of the real review team."
"Whoever takes the main responsibility has to read it themselves."
The pale-faced man's forehead twitched twice.
"I won't read it."
The group box station responded on the spot.
Click.
The black sleeve mark on his left arm was torn.
It's like someone is taking a knife and scraping away a layer along the lines of the official's name.
The onlookers were all stunned.
"The print has come off?"
"How could the registrar's seal be lost like that?"
Registrar Gu felt a chill run down his spine.
In all his years of bookkeeping, he had never seen anyone have their official seal scraped off on the vault table.
Chen Fan shrugged.
"Keep holding on."
"Every sentence you skip, you lose a layer of skin."
The pale-faced man's teeth were chattering.
More and more people gathered below the stage.
Even the black-robed figures on the distant suspended beams stopped what they were doing and stared at this spot.
If he doesn't start reading now, he's really doomed today.
at last.
He reached out and grabbed the ledger, his voice hoarse.
"Seventh berth area, batch 27 of samples (Class A) recovered..."
I just read the first sentence.
The list was then submitted.
The same words appeared on all three lists simultaneously.
Everyone in the port saw it.
The pale-faced man's eye twitched.
He paused for a moment.
The box stand immediately made another crisp sound.
The official mark on his right shoulder also cracked.
He dared not stop now.
"460 items were registered and destroyed."
"Actually, there are... 460 items."
Some people in the audience hadn't even reacted yet.
"Doesn't this make sense?"
Chen Fan immediately replied.
"Read on."
The pale-faced man's lips moved, and his voice became even lower.
"The same batch of samples was put back into the warehouse three days later under the name of 'B' recycling."
There was a moment of silence.
The next instant, everything exploded.
"Place another order?"
"Wasn't it destroyed?"
"This is called repeated storage!"
The pale-faced man still wanted to get away with it.
Chen Fan raised his hand and tapped the account page.
"Don't jump."
"Read the whole sentence from the end."
The black book flipped to the next line on its own.
That line of text was even redder.
It looks like it's just been soaked in blood.
When the pale-faced man saw it, his eyes glazed over for a moment.
But he couldn't not study.
The chains on the vending machine platform were already digging into his neck.
He could only squeeze it out through his teeth.
"Using an old account to fill a new one."
"Fill empty boxes with signatures."
Undamaged samples were rotated three times to be included in the total recovery volume.
After reading this sentence.
The harbor was like a dumping ground in boiling oil.
Not only were the onlookers in an uproar.
Even those who were originally standing in front of the list copying it down were dumbfounded.
"Rotate three times?"
"Take one batch of samples and process the accounting three times?"
"How much of the recycling revenue will this consume!"
The last bit of color drained from Clerk Gu's face.
He suddenly looked at the three large lists.
The total number of returns above is dropping down line by line.
With each section that drops, an old account pops out of the list.
All of them are duplicate numbers.
All of them were repeatedly stored away.
Some people started swearing on the spot.
"I've been following the rankings for ten years, only to find out they were based on fake numbers!"
"The items we sent weren't destroyed at all?"
"What about the prize tokens? Are they fake too?"
That shout made the scene even more chaotic.
The seventh registrar is still reading.
It's not that he misses her.
It was the ledger that was pressuring him.
"Thirteen batches of the Bing character were not destroyed."
"Nine sections of the character '丁' were not destroyed."
"One hundred and twenty-six samples of the Black Ring Special Seal were transferred to the Old Port Warehouse and marked as destroyed."
Read this far.
Sun Wukong narrowed his eyes.
"Are our group from Flower Fruit Mountain included?"
The seventh clerk dared not look at him.
But the ledger pages had already turned by themselves.
Chen Fan glanced at it, and his heart sank.
At the very bottom of that page, a string of familiar numbers was prominently displayed.
One of them is the old number of the Huaguoshan source sample.
Sun Wukong took a step forward.
The entire platform shook.
The onlookers held their breath.
Even though the seventh clerk's voice changed, he still had to continue reading.
"The source sample was not destroyed."
"Suppress the unrest with proclamations, and wait for the old port to open before resuming transshipment..."
He hadn't finished reading yet.
Suddenly, a series of cracking sounds rang out from all around the harbor.
Not in one place.
There are many places.
It was as if countless iron rings had burst open at the same time.
Everyone instinctively turned their heads.
In the distance, one by one, the numbered tags on the black ring samples hanging on the black pillars fell off.
As soon as the number was dropped, the black ring immediately dispersed.
The samples that should have been "destroyed" were all exposed.
Some people were speechless upon recognizing the old items they had brought.
"That's mine!"
"Wasn't it said that it had all turned to dust?"
"Why are you still here!"
One, two, a dozen or so.
The entire row of black pillars began to break.
The clerk copying the list in front of him was trembling.
"The black ring has broken..."
"They are questioning the rankings!"
Upon hearing this, the entire Seventh District fell silent for a moment.
Questioning the list of questions.
This would be a game-changer at the port of recovery.
Chen Fan suddenly looked up.
On the three major rankings, the title of the overall ranking, which was originally displayed steadily, is gradually turning gray.
It looks like someone is erasing words from inside.
The seventh clerk also saw it.
His face twitched, and he suddenly tried desperately to back away.
"wrong."
"It's not just my problem."
"This doesn't belong to me alone!"
He had barely uttered the words when...
A muffled thud suddenly came from below the box platform.
It is neither wood nor iron.
It was like a thick door that had been sealed for many years being pushed open from the inside.
thump.
The three bumps on Pigsy's belly lit up at the same time.
He clutched his stomach, his face contorted in pain.
"Old Chen."
"That thing down there..."
"We need to follow the sound of the tent flaps up."
Chapter 540 The Seventh Parking Area Changes Hands
A muffled thud sounded from below the box stand.
The entire countertop bulged up an inch.
Pigsy clutched his stomach, his face contorted in pain.
"It's really coming out."
"This thing is coming for me."
The seventh clerk had retreated to the pillar, his mouth still trembling.
"It's not just my problem."
"I only oversee the Seventh District. I've also dabbled in the other towers and warehouses!"
The more he shouted, the louder the commotion from the audience became.
thump.
thump.
It sounded like something was climbing up the tent following the sound.
Yang Jian shook the monitoring chain in his hand, and the cold light on the chain link snapped straight up.
"Not a living thing."
"It's the return post."
Upon hearing these three words, the faces of the minor officials standing nearby turned pale.
Gu Zhaolin subconsciously took a half step back.
Return to the tent opening.
Everyone in the port knows about this stuff.
It remains sealed off and untouched on ordinary days.
Once it opens, it will bite whoever's account is the dirtiest.
The seventh clerk, on the contrary, became agitated and started yelling and cursing.
"nonsense!"
"The chaos in District Seven is due to the old system; what does it have to do with me!"
"You bunch of outsiders, you think you can dissect my work with just a few pages of old accounts?"
As he spoke, he suddenly raised his hand and pressed the cracked clerk's order onto the counter.
"Seal the stage!"
"Shut down the station first, then arrest the people!"
The token had just been pressed down.
Snapped.
An even crisper cracking sound rang out.
It's not a crack.
It is a cause to crack.
The registrar's token burst open from the middle, as if it had been forced open by something inside. Red characters flew wildly through the crack, and after only two breaths, the entire token shattered into three pieces.
The seventh registrar froze.
"How could this be...?"
Gu Zhaolin's eyes almost popped out of their sockets.
"The registrar's order... is broken?"
The people around fell silent.
The moment the chief clerk's decree was broken, it was as if half of his authority had collapsed.
This is not shameful.
This is fatal.
The seventh clerk's lips trembled as he reached out to pick it up.
The three-petaled shattered token had barely touched his fingertips when, as if disgusted by dirt, it abruptly bounced away, making two tinkling sounds, before sliding to Chen Fan's feet.
The entire room fell silent.
The seventh clerk's eyes turned red as he stared intently at Chen Fan.
"It's no use picking it up."
"Who do you think you are?"
"Does a lowly servant who feeds fruit down the mountain even deserve to touch the seal of the Seventh District?"
As soon as he said that, Pigsy cursed first.
"Damn it, they even served it."
"Even though the order has been torn into three pieces, you're still so stubborn."
The seventh registrar, as if possessed, pointed at Chen Fan's nose.
"Try touching it!"
"No matter how bad District Seven is, it's still the port's territory. Yuancang won't give out review rights to an outsider like you!"
"Do you think you can trample on me by bringing up a few old grievances?"
"dream!"
The harsher he cursed, the more fiercely the "door" under the stage arched.
Chen Fan glanced down at the three broken pieces of the token on the ground, then looked at the three bright spots on Pigsy's belly.
He suddenly understood.
That thing down there isn't going towards Pigsy.
It's aimed at "severing power".
The three old box tags were swallowed by Pigsy, which happened to match the three broken pieces of the registrar's order. The way back to the platform was by climbing up through the gap in the power structure.
Chen Fan spoke directly.
"Old Yang, give me a link of the chain."
Yang Jian glanced at him, said nothing, and flicked his hand.
Splash!
With one link broken in the chain of oversight, the chain fell right into Chen Fan's hands.
When the seventh clerk saw this, he was first stunned, then he sneered.
"Playing tricks."
"The chain of surveillance isn't yours either. Do you think you can hold onto it?"
Chen Fan ignored him.
He pressed the chain against the three broken pieces of the chain, and then reached out to Pigsy.
"Turn those three bright spots on your stomach towards me."
Pigsy grinned and grimaced.
"Do you think I'm carrying a lantern?"
Despite his verbal complaints, he still moved closer.
As the three lights drew near, the three shattered pieces on the ground trembled simultaneously, as if they had smelled something.
next moment.
A loud "thud" was heard from below the box platform.
A thin crack suddenly appeared on the entire countertop.
No monster crawled out of the crevice.
What crawled out was a string of words.
Blood-red words.
Each stroke emerges from the crack, suspended in mid-air.
[The Seventh Registrar, acting improperly, used the pretext of returning the grain to the granary to intercept forty-seven testimonies from the Seven Pagodas.]
The whole place erupted.
Gu Zhaolin cried out in shock.
"Forty-seven portions?"
"He withheld all of the Seven Towers' testimonies?"
The faces of the minor officials standing nearby trembled.
Some people pretended not to hear, but their feet moved backward on their own.
Even the black flag with gold trim, bearing the character "审" (meaning "trial"), trembled twice in the wind.
At the end of the warehouse road, the woman who brought the real interrogation team finally approached.
She didn't look at the seventh registrar first.
She first looked at the chain and broken token in Chen Fan's hand.
I glanced at the red lettering on the stage again.
He furrowed his brow.
"You pried open the tent flap?"
Chen Fan replied to her.
"I didn't pry it open."
"He has too many debts; he's fed himself."
That's too blunt.
The people around couldn't help but look at each other with strange expressions.
The seventh clerk felt as if he had been slapped in the face, and his entire face turned red.
"Nonsense!"
"The testimony is only temporarily suppressed!"
"Every district in the harbor does this!"
The female judge looked at him coldly.
"Just because every district does this doesn't mean you'll survive."
One sentence was enough.
The seventh clerk's throat tightened, and he couldn't utter a single word.
Chen Fan then raised his hand and pressed the three broken pieces of the token back onto the platform.
"You said District Seven is your territory."
"OK."
"Then read it again now."
"Read aloud clearly in front of Yuancang: You alone acknowledge all forty-seven testimonies."
The seventh clerk's molars clenched so hard they made a grinding sound.
"Who do you think you are, to judge me?"
Chen Fan smiled.
"You're afraid to read it?"
"Weren't you shouting a lot just now?"
"You call me an outsider. You call me a lowly servant. Now that the tents are open, you're pretending to be mute."
These sentences are not repeated.
That's even worse than slapping someone in the face.
The way the people around him looked at the Seventh Registrar had completely changed.
He was in control just now.
Now even looking up is difficult.
The seventh clerk's chest heaved, and suddenly, as if he had gone all out, he raised his hand and slapped the center of the box stand.
"Trying to flip me over?"
"Then let's die together!"
His palm strike landed too quickly.
No one expected him to smash the stage in public.
But as soon as his hand touched the table, the female judge flicked her sleeve, and a black nail slammed into the back of his hand.
The seventh clerk let out a scream.
Yang Jian also moved at the same time.
The monitoring chain swung back, wrapping around his neck and dragging him three steps away from the edge of the stage.
"They want to destroy Taiwan."
"One more crime."
The seventh clerk knelt on the ground, his face pressed against the stone, still unwilling to give up, and began to curse.
"Chen Fan, don't be so smug!"
"You can't eat District Seven!"
"The source warehouse will only be taken back, not given to you!"
"Someone like you can't even change the port's official announcements!"
He had barely finished speaking.
The blacklist on the top of the warehouse suddenly made a "buzzing" sound.
Everyone looked up.
The old notice from District Seven, which had been hanging there, faded away line by line, as if someone had wiped it with a damp cloth. Immediately afterward, new words emerged from the bottom up.
[The return to storage in the seventh mooring area is suspended; the case has been handed over for review and revision.]
The entire room was so quiet you could hear someone breathing.
Gu Zhaolin's mouth remained open for a long time, but he couldn't close it.
"It's been changed..."
"The notice has indeed been changed."
Those minor officials who ate with the Seventh Registrar almost collapsed to the ground, their legs giving way.
The seventh clerk felt as if a bucket of ice water had been poured over him from head to toe; the fierce glint in his eyes vanished instantly.
"impossible."
"That's impossible."
"A review of a case requires a temporary executor, and Genkura doesn't have that..."
He didn't finish his sentence.
A gray mark slowly rose from the center of the box platform.
Not big.
Like half an old warehouse key.
When the female judge saw the gray mark, her pupils contracted, and she immediately stepped aside.
Her gesture made her meaning crystal clear.
The only thing that could make the real review team give way was direct access from the source warehouse.
The gray mark hovered in mid-air, spun halfway around, and finally landed steadily on Chen Fan.
Snapped.
It landed right in his palm.
A chill ran up my palm.
The next second, a line of small characters lit up on the seal.
Temporary review authority has been added to: Seventh Parking Area
Pigsy's eyes widened in disbelief.
"Old Chen."
"You really managed to acquire this land?"
Chen Fan pinched the gray mark, flipped his palm, and slammed it onto the counter.
The entire wall of the seventh warehouse shook simultaneously.
One by one, the originally dim warehouse lamps were lit up.
It's not warm light.
It's about inspecting the lights.
As soon as the lights came on, faint ink marks appeared on all the sealed boxes, tags, and old books in the warehouse. It was immediately clear who had touched them, altered them, or swapped them.
The managers who had been so defiant just moments before suddenly went weak in the knees.
Some people turned and ran away.
I had only taken two steps when the paving stones under my feet snapped shut, locking my feet in place.
Pigsy laughed heartily.
"Run!"
"Weren't you all pretty arrogant just now?"
"Why aren't you calling anymore?"
Gu Zhaolin stared at Chen Fan, his throat dry.
He had just thought Chen Fan was just using the situation to cause trouble.
If things get out of hand, at most the Seventh Registrar will be dragged down with him.
Who would have thought that this person not only overturned the table, but also carried it away?
Seventh berthing area.
The first piece of land in the harbor that truly fell into his hands.
This is no longer a case of overturning the verdict.
This is a takeover zone.
The seventh registrar raised his head, his eyes glazed over, as if he hadn't yet recovered from the shock of the changed proclamation.
"This shouldn't be happening..."
"I have someone behind me."
"You've messed with District Seven; they won't let you leave the port alive."
Chen Fan looked down at him.
"I know you have someone behind you."
"I've been waiting for them to show their faces."
Upon hearing this, the seventh registrar's Adam's apple bobbed violently.
The female judge also glanced at Chen Fan.
This young man doesn't seem to have acted on a whim.
It's as if he was waiting for District 7 to be bombed from the very beginning.
Chen Fan was about to ask another question.
Suddenly, a "ding" sounded from the direction of the box stand.
It wasn't a knocking sound.
It was like an old piece of copper touching water.
Everyone turned their heads at the same time.
Above the table, the gray light that had just stabilized cracked open again with a thin line.
A new notification popped up in the line.
The channel for submitting testimonies from the Seven Towers is now open.
Bajie swallowed.
"Send it back?"
Yang Jian frowned.
"Someone is trying to send the testimony back directly from the Seven Towers."
The voice just fell.
The thin line was suddenly pulled outwards, revealing half of the shadow of the black tower.
It's not a phantom.
It looks like there really is a tower, squeezing its way in through the passage.
At the very top of the tower's shadow, a human face is pressed against the windowpane.
Whites of the eyes and blue hair.
Its mouth opened and closed, as if it were shouting something.
Just as Chen Fan saw the face clearly, the gray mark in his hand suddenly felt hot.
The female judge's expression changed drastically, and she shouted out.
"Get out of the way!"
"The first testimony returned was not on paper—"
She hadn't finished her sentence.
The face pasted behind the tower window suddenly smashed through the windowpane and rushed out of the passageway.
Chapter 541 The Black Ring Begins to Fall into Chaos
When that face lunged out, the entire warehouse passage seemed to shrink.
It wasn't a person jumping on their own.
Like the half-black tower behind him, it forced him out.
Its face was bluish, and half an old tag was still stuck in its forehead. Its mouth was full of black lines, and it lunged out to bite the nearest female judge.
The female judge raised her hand and pressed down.
A gold nail flew out from her sleeve and struck the man squarely between the eyebrows.
boom.
The man crashed to the ground, his body still convulsing. His belly swelled and bulged, as if something alive was stuffed inside.
"Back off!"
The female judge's voice tightened.
"This isn't submitting testimony again, this is a living testimonies cell!"
Upon hearing this, the seventh clerk's legs went weak, and he turned and ran away.
He had only taken two steps when the patterns on the tent beneath his feet suddenly lit up.
Snapped.
A black ring sprang up from the floor tiles and wrapped around his ankle.
The seventh clerk fell headfirst to the ground, his face scraped and bleeding, his voice hoarse from shouting.
"Help me! I don't want to study anymore! I don't want to study anymore!"
No one cares about him.
Chen Fan stared at the "living witness," having already gone through it in his mind.
The notice was changed. The monitoring chain was restored. The intercom platform was opened. Now even the submitted testimonies have become live.
This is not an isolated incident.
The entire chain is broken.
Pigsy clutched his stomach, his fat face jiggling.
"Old Chen, the three things inside me are giving it a password."
really.
The humanoid corpse on the ground twitched twice, squeezing out a few broken sounds.
"Seven...seven...slowly return...slowly return to the granary..."
As soon as he shouted, the three bulges on Pigsy's belly lit up at the same time.
A muffled thud followed from below the box stand.
Not a sound.
It's a string.
Boom, boom, boom.
It's like there are many boxes bumping into each other from below.
Chen Fan's eyes darkened, and he directly ordered, "Drag the Seventh Registrar over here."
The monkey was the fastest; it grabbed the Seventh Registrar by the back of his collar and dragged him back.
The seventh clerk was so frightened that snot came out of his nose.
"Don't kill me, don't kill me! I don't know much, I'm just a bookkeeper!"
Chen Fan stepped on his wrist.
"Where is the source warehouse?"
The seventh clerk instinctively tried to grit his teeth and hold on.
The monkey looked down at him and grinned.
If you say one word slowly, I'll break one of your fingers.
The seventh registrar shuddered and immediately collapsed.
"Behind the group of boxes! The downlink corridor is right behind it! All samples returning to storage in Zone 7, go to the source warehouse to get a number first, then enter the black ring! The passwords are all messed up now, they're definitely all crowding over there!"
The female judge's expression changed.
"You mean, all the samples from Zone 7 have woken up?"
"He's not just awake."
The seventh clerk's voice was hoarse.
"They're racing against time. Those who haven't entered the warehouse are afraid of being treated as scrap, and those who have are afraid of being re-washed. Once the password is broken, everyone wants to save their lives first."
These words immediately caused an uproar on the other end of the cangdao road.
First came a series of light footsteps.
Then came the sounds of banging on doors and knocking on walls, a chaotic scene of people crowding together.
Like water flowing back in the receding tide.
Everyone turned to look.
At the end of the passageway, a series of dark figures were rushing towards them.
Some were wearing old police uniforms.
Some were wearing tattered clothes.
Some had iron tags around their necks and only half of their faces were left.
The most noticeable feature is on their wrists.
All have black rings.
They come in various sizes and styles. Some are iron rings, some are leather bands, and some are directly branded onto the bone.
They are all feverish.
Everything is flashing.
The first few ran the fastest, and as soon as they saw the platform, they knelt down with a thud.
"Please allow a grace period for your return!"
"Don't send me back to the warehouse yet!"
"The old password is gone! The new password hasn't been issued yet!"
"I'm willing to pay the outstanding amount! I'm willing to sign the new document!"
Those behind them, upon hearing this, also joined in the shouting.
For a time, the entire warehouse road was covered with these words.
Slowly return to the granary.
Slowly return to the granary.
The female judge gripped the golden nail, her brows furrowing deeper and deeper.
"Close the road! Close the road quickly! Otherwise, District Seven will be in chaos."
The monkey had barely finished speaking when she laughed.
"It's already in chaos, what's the point of sealing it off?"
Chen Fan didn't respond to that.
He stared at the black ring sample rushing towards him, his mind racing.
This is not a riot.
These guys aren't here to fight to the death.
They came to drown.
The unified password has been broken, and the Black Ring can't revert them to their original positions. The source warehouse is also stuck. Whoever finds someone who can change the accounts first will survive a little longer.
Right now, the person who's best at altering accounts in the entire Seventh District is standing right here.
Chen Fan raised his hand, signaling everyone to stay still.
"Shut up, all of you."
His voice wasn't loud.
The warehouse passageway suddenly became much quieter.
The few black-ringed samples in the front row looked up at him, their eyes filled with a desperate urgency.
Chen Fan stood in front of the group box platform, stepping on the seventh clerk, and immediately established the rules.
"If you want to postpone your return, that's fine."
"Return the old number first."
"Submit the old visa again."
"Submit the old testimony last."
"If you're missing one item, go to the back row."
These words caused a stir in front of everyone.
A man wearing old police uniform got anxious first.
"Why should we? We just want to survive!"
The monkey raised its hand and slapped him, sending him flying and breaking two of his teeth.
"Depends on his willingness to give."
"You can refuse to pay. Go back to the barracks and see what happens."
The man slammed into the wall, blood gushing from his mouth, but he didn't dare utter another sound.
Those samples with black rings afterwards were completely dumbfounded.
Some people initially tried to sneak in during the chaos, but now they've all behaved themselves.
Chen Fan pointed to the ground.
"Put the old number on the left."
"Place the old signature in the middle."
"Show me your testimony."
"If you dare to hide it, send it back immediately."
Each sentence was harsher than the last.
The chaotic energy in the warehouse passage was forcefully suppressed.
The first group of people quickly stepped forward.
Someone pulled a piece of copper out of their throat.
Someone pried open the hand bones and pulled out the rolled-up strip.
Some people even tore open their chests and pulled out the old sutures sewn under their skin.
It was bloody.
But no one cried out in pain.
At this moment, being able to take another breath is more valuable than anything else.
Pigsy's mouth twitched as he watched.
"Damn it, these bastards in the harbor, they even use themselves as boxes."
Chen Fan didn't have time to reply.
He squatted down and examined each item one by one.
The old number is a serial number. The old signature is an entry voucher. The testimony is the most important; it records where they came from, where they are going, and how many times they were revised along the way.
This is the lifeline.
Whoever controls these can change their identities.
The female judge initially wanted to stop her.
When she saw that Chen Fan had truly suppressed the order, she fell silent.
She is not blind.
What the Seventh District needs most right now is someone who can get these black ring samples to vomit according to the rules.
A brutal crackdown could kill a batch of people.
After the killing, the tent was completely ruined.
Chen Fan read very quickly.
Flip through them one by one.
He paused for a moment when he turned to the ninth copy.
It was a thin piece of bone.
There was a line of small characters engraved on it.
[Retired after two sessions, temporarily suspended in Zone 7]
He looked up at the person handing him the bone pieces.
He was a gaunt old man, missing his right ear and with thick stitches sewn into his left cheek; he couldn't even stand up straight.
The old man's Adam's apple bobbed when he saw him stop.
"I...I'm not causing trouble, I really am from the second trading session. I made a mistake with my account in the early years and haven't cleared it out yet."
Chen Fan didn't say anything and tossed the thin piece of bone aside.
Then, the thirteenth one made him squint again.
This time it's a black needle.
The needle tip is engraved shorter.
[A trial run, not yet sealed]
Further on.
The seventeenth item was half a rotten piece of skin.
The characters at the top are older.
[Three sessions suspended, under observation]
Chen Fan laid the three items out side by side.
The female judge standing to the side glanced at it once, and her breathing became heavy.
"First experimental field. Second experimental field. Third experimental field."
Her voice even lowered a few decibels.
"These three matches should have been shut down long ago."
The seventh clerk, who had been lying on the ground pretending to be dead, trembled violently upon hearing this.
The monkey picked him up.
Why are you shaking?
The seventh clerk's lips turned white.
"I...I've only heard the name. Those were the first three venues in Old Port. They were specifically for breeding samples. Later, all the accounts were wiped clean, and no one was allowed to mention it."
Chen Fan looked at the three old items on the ground, and his heart sank a little.
The seventh district is chaotic, but not the most troublesome.
The problem is that among the first group of people who voluntarily came to ask for a delayed return, there have already been people from the first, second, and third sessions mixed in.
What does this tell us?
This indicates that the chain is broken, not just in section seven.
Deeper in, it loosened up as well.
The black-ringed samples behind were still pushing forward.
They had obviously heard the words "three games" too, and their expressions immediately changed.
Some people lowered their heads, some stepped back, and some even started to fumble for the old slips they had just handed in.
Chen Fan's eyes turned cold, and he raised his hand and placed it on the counter.
"Anyone who dares to take it back will have their hand chopped off."
In short, all those little tricks were completely suppressed.
He then looked at the three people who had handed over their old belongings.
The old man, the man with black needles, and that short woman with rotten skin.
The three stood at the front of the crowd, clearly there to beg for survival, but their faces seemed to be burdened by something else entirely.
Especially that short woman.
Her lips were cracked, but her eyes kept glancing down at the bottom of the vending machine.
Like waiting for something.
Chen Fan directly asked her.
"You go first. How did the three matches come about?"
The short woman's throat moved, but she didn't speak immediately.
The monkey took half a step forward.
She couldn't hold back any longer and cried out, "It's not that I wanted to get out, it's that someone down below let us go!"
"Who?"
"I couldn't see her face clearly."
"Tell me what you saw."
The short woman gritted her teeth, her voice weak and trembling.
"First, there was a ringing sound. The entire Black Ring stopped for a moment. Then someone in the Dark Warehouse shouted that the notice in District Seven had been changed, and the Source Warehouse door was also tilted by half a finger. Anyone who wanted to live should hurry up and find someone who could change old records."
"And you also said..."
As she said this, the corner of her eye twitched violently.
Chen Fan stared at her.
"What else is there to say?"
The short woman raised her head, her face now showing an overwhelming pallor.
"They also said that someone in District Seven got the Grey Seal."
"The person with the grey seal can open the first three doors of the Old Port all at once."
After he said that, the surroundings fell completely silent.
Pigsy subconsciously touched his belly.
The female judge looked directly at the still-hot gray mark in Chen Fan's hand.
The seventh clerk's lips trembled, as if he had seen a ghost.
The monkey slowly grinned, but there was no hint of a smile in its eyes.
It was at this moment that...
Suddenly, a soft "click" sound came from under the box stand.
Like some kind of lock, it opened one of its own.
Immediately afterwards, the three old items at Chen Fan's feet, from venues one, two, and three, lit up simultaneously.
Chapter 542 Si Mo Opens the List of Names to be Deleted
The "click" sound came from under the box stand.
Three old objects at Chen Fan's feet trembled together.
A tattered box label.
Half a black tower window pane.
And that old face that came back from the first game.
The three things seemed to be pulled by a string, sliding together toward the center of the stage.
The seventh clerk couldn't hold back any longer.
"Stop them! Stop them now!"
He shouted, but his feet retreated faster than anyone else's.
The monkey raised its foot and kicked.
boom.
The seventh registrar lay face down on the steps, his face pressed against the cold stone, his teeth bleeding from the impact.
"What are you shouting for?"
"I haven't finished looking into your family's accounts yet."
Pigsy clutched his stomach, his face twitching.
The three bumps on his belly were still glowing, flashing like a death knell.
"Old Chen, hurry up."
"My belly is practically a box opening."
Yang Jian raised his hand and pressed down.
The monitoring chain stretched across the platform above the boxes, snapping taut with a click.
The scattered gray characters all around were forcefully suppressed, half of them being covered up.
It can cover one ring, but not the whole thing.
More fragments of text are seeping out from the warehouse walls.
不是纸。
It's as if someone has painstakingly extracted all the erased testimonies from the cracks.
Strands of it emerged outwards.
Someone is crying.
Some people are criticizing it.
Someone called out their name.
Some people only had time to shout, "It wasn't me!"
The sounds were a complete mess.
The entire warehouse corridor in Zone 7 was echoing.
Chen Fan felt a chill run down his spine.
He glanced down at the gray mark.
The ash was heated intensely, and a layer of fine ash rose to the surface of the ink, as if waiting for someone to press it down.
The female judge stared at the gray mark, her eyes now changed.
She was just cold before.
It's urgent now.
She stepped onto the platform, flipped her sleeve, and pulled out a tattered page.
The thing was yellow and thin, with gaps all over the edges, as if it had been scorched by fire.
But as soon as she took it out, all the chaotic pieces of evidence around her stopped for a moment.
Like getting to know it.
Bajie gasped.
"What is this thing?"
The female judge did not turn around.
"The Fragments of Si Mo's Writings"
Chen Fan's eyes flickered.
"Your name is Si Mo?"
"Name".
Her voice was very fast.
"My job is to collect fragmented evidence, supplement and delete records, and investigate old cases."
"The permissions were blocked before, so I couldn't open them."
"Now District 7 has blown up on its own, and the locks have come loose."
She reached out her hand.
"Give me the gray mark."
Upon hearing this, the seventh registrar turned pale.
"No!"
"We can't give it to her!"
"Once the book-deletion program starts, all three shows in Old Port will be sold at rock-bottom prices!"
The monkey stepped on the back of his neck.
"Try calling out again."
The seventh clerk buried his face in the ground, his voice muffled.
"You have no idea what you're translating!"
"That's not an account book, that's—"
Yang Jian coldly replied.
"These are the names you deleted."
In short, it was like a knife stabbing into flesh.
The seventh clerk remained silent.
Without hesitation, Chen Fan slapped the gray mark into Si Mo's hand.
A gray mark, a fragment of a piece.
hum.
The entire page of fragments unfolded instantly.
It doesn't get bigger.
It's like there are countless more pages hidden behind it, all of which were revealed in one go.
The torn paper hangs in the air, its pages turning.
The old characters above were initially jumbled up, then quickly sorted out.
The fragments of evidence emerging from the walls of the seventh warehouse all rushed toward the incomplete manuscript.
Some are just a single sentence.
Some are only half a name.
Some are just gray marks where fingerprints have been pressed.
Si Mo raised both hands flat and tapped his ten fingers together.
She didn't seem to be reciting Buddhist scriptures; she seemed more like she was copying accounts.
Each click puts a fragment of the document back into place.
"Class A is unified."
"Column B is joined to the next column."
"A name is hung in vain."
"Delete traces and bring up the top."
She spoke faster and faster.
His face, which was originally pale, now seemed to be illuminated by fire, and his eyes shone brightly.
This was the first time Chen Fan understood it.
This woman wasn't hiding her talents before.
She was truly being suppressed.
Now that the lock is loose, she seems like a completely different person.
On the platform with the stack of boxes, more and more fragmented documents piled up.
The outline of something began to appear in mid-air.
First, the corners were sealed.
Next is the spine of the book.
Then it's the first page.
The seventh clerk strained so hard that the veins in his neck bulged out.
"Don't let her publish it!"
"Once it's documented, we can trace its origins!"
"Destroy that page!"
He had barely finished speaking.
Pigsy suddenly bent over and vomited.
With a soft "poof".
He actually vomited up all three old tokens that were in his stomach.
The three box tags had barely touched the ground when they were abruptly stuck to the corner of the torn piece.
Like patching up a crack.
The fragment of the text gave me a jolt.
That booklet was completely solidified.
Si Mo clenched his fingers and gripped the booklet tightly in his hand, the veins on the back of his hand bulging.
"Delete the roster."
When she uttered those three words, the surroundings fell silent.
Even the cries and curses from inside the warehouse seemed to have stopped.
The monkey tilted its head and glanced at it.
"turn."
Si Mo didn't waste any words.
She turned right to the first page.
There's no fluff on the first page.
There are only three main cases.
first row.
【Huaguo Mountain】
second line.
Gao Lao Zhuang
Third line.
【Quicksand Boundary】
Each line was followed by a long trail of gray marks.
Like a name.
It's like batches of things being wiped away.
But these aren't the most eye-catching things.
At the very end of each of the three main cases, there was a single word nailed to it.
【net】
Chen Fan's pupils contracted.
"net?"
Bajie, who had been rubbing his belly, stopped now.
"Is there clean land behind Flower Fruit Mountain?"
"There's one in Gao Lao Zhuang too?"
"Does the quicksand realm also exist?"
With each word he spoke, his face grew increasingly grim.
The monkey stared at the three characters "Huaguo Mountain" and slowly clenched its teeth.
"Who cleaned it?"
No one answered.
The seventh registrar trembled all over.
He clearly knew.
Yang Jian squatted down, grabbed his hair bun, and pulled his face up.
"explain."
The seventh clerk's eyes darted around, and his lips trembled.
"Not just these three places."
"The seventh division can only hold up the first three games."
"There's more to come."
"Everything must be cleansed."
The monkey's veins bulged on the back of its hand, and it chuckled.
The laughter wasn't lively at all.
"What do you mean, 'clean'?"
"Did they wipe everyone out?"
"Clear the mountain?"
"Turn Lao Tzu's Flower and Fruit Mountain into a model?"
The seventh clerk opened and closed his mouth, and it took him a long time to finally squeeze out a sentence.
"Cleansing, not killing."
"It's a register."
"Erase the original names, remove the old records, change the living to unclaimed, and classify the dead as blank."
Chen Fan's heart sank upon hearing this.
to be honest.
The process involves first deleting the name, then acquiring the land, and then using the entire area as storage.
No wonder Huaguo Mountain became a source sample.
No wonder Gao Laozhuang and Liushajie were also included.
This is not an isolated case.
This involves mass surgery.
Si Mo continued scrolling down.
Before the second page was even fully opened, words began to seep through the seams of the paper.
This is not a new entry.
It's a footnote.
[Huaguo Mountain: Seven Regressions Before Netting]
[Gaolaozhuang: Register of Animals and Personnel Before Cleaning]
[Liusha Boundary: Jingqian Ferry Crossing Closed]
When Bajie saw the line about "Gao Village", his face immediately darkened.
"A register of livestock and a register of people?"
"They treat the living people from my hometown like livestock?"
The seventh clerk closed his eyes, not daring to look at him.
next moment.
Pigsy slapped him across the face.
It exploded with a crisp sound.
The seventh clerk's face was half-distorted, and two more teeth spit out of his mouth.
"You fucking try playing dead again."
Si Mo didn't stop.
She stared at the pages, her fingertips sliding down the page.
Suddenly, she stopped moving.
Chen Fan asked immediately.
"What did you see?"
Si Mo lowered his voice.
"Behind each main case is a signature."
"It wasn't written by the Seventh Registrar."
Yang Jian's gaze darkened.
"Whose signature is this?"
Si Mo turned the booklet over and showed everyone the last stamp.
That's not a name.
It resembles a pattern on the rim of a clean bottle.
Slender, sloping downwards, with a hook at the end.
The monkey's eyes turned cold after just one glance.
"The hands of Buddhism."
The seventh registrar looked up abruptly, as if his tail had been stepped on.
"I didn't say that!"
"I didn't say anything!"
"I'm just keeping the books!"
The monkey wanted to step on it again.
Si Mo suddenly raised his hand.
"Don't touch him."
"The booklet is still being pursued."
Chen Fan sensed something was wrong.
"What are you chasing?"
Si Mo stared at the bottom of the first page.
That place used to be empty.
Now, however, the fourth line is slowly emerging.
It's not a place name.
It's a marker that's still dripping dust.
It looks like it was just torn from an old booklet and pasted on.
She read it out word by word.
"Clean signature, receipt not received."
"The executor... did not completely delete it."
Everyone was taken aback.
Pigsy was the first to react.
"What do you mean?"
Si Mo's expression changed.
"This means that the name of the person in charge of cleaning the register is still on record."
"And he's right nearby."
Almost at the same moment.
A muffled thud came from under the box stand.
It's not a lock.
It was as if someone had gently tapped the coffin lid with their knuckles.
thump.
thump.
thump.
At the very bottom of the first page, after the line “Executor not deleted”, names suddenly started being added on their own.
First, a radical appears.
Next is half.
Just as Chen Fan saw the beginning of the character, the ash in his hand suddenly felt hot.
Si Mo looked up and shouted sternly:
"Back off!"
"That one down there isn't the accountant—"
She didn't finish her sentence.
The middle of the box stand cracked with a "crack".
A hand covered in gray ink emerged from the crack.
Chapter 543 Tang Sanzang Recognizes Jingyin's Old Style
When that gray hand reached out, it didn't grab anyone at first.
It touched the ground.
Like a blind man searching through a crack in the door.
The five fingers were thin and long, with blackened old ink under their nails. As the fingertips brushed the ground, they left a trail of tangled lines. When the lines touched the first page of the roster, the words on the roster seemed to sink down, as if being pressed back in.
Si Mo's face darkened, and he raised his hand to smash it.
"Suppress it!"
The ruler in her hand fell, hitting the back of that hand squarely.
A crisp snap.
The gray ink exploded into a patch.
The hand, however, was not severed. Instead, it clenched its five fingers and grabbed the ruler, pulling it violently into the crack.
Si Mo staggered and was almost dragged over by it.
The monkey grinned, and his golden cudgel swept out horizontally.
"Get back here, Old Sun!"
boom!
The stick struck the edge of the seam, sending a large chunk of wood flying off the crate. The hand was also jolted, its knuckles twisted as if broken. But in the next instant, it snapped back into place and crawled out half an inch.
The seventh clerk's legs gave way and he sat down on the ground.
"This isn't an accountant, this really isn't an accountant..."
Pigsy clutched his stomach, his face contorted in pain.
The three bumps on his belly were bobbing up and down, as if they were keeping time with the hand below.
"Old Chen, it's recognizing the door."
Chen Fan stared at the hand; the ash mark on it was as hot as a piece of charcoal.
Instead of retreating, he took two steps forward.
The gray hand suddenly stopped.
As if it had smelled something, it slowly spread its five fingers out, flattening them towards Chen Fan.
There is a word in the palm of your hand.
It's not that the words are written on it.
It looks like it's been branded in.
net.
The surroundings suddenly became quiet.
The seventh clerk's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets, and his throat was dry.
"Pure seal?"
"How could it be Jingyin?"
Si Mo's expression changed as well. He stared at the palm for a moment, his voice hardening.
"No. The headquarters doesn't have that kind of print."
Just as the female judge was about to speak, Tang Sanzang stepped forward first.
He hadn't uttered a sound from beginning to end, but now, as if he had suddenly figured something out, he abruptly raised his eyelids and stared intently at the hand.
"It is not a Buddhist seal."
As soon as he said that, everyone turned to look at him.
Tang Sanzang ignored the others, squatted down, and reached out to flip through the old ink marks next to the first page of the roster.
He flipped through three pages quickly, then touched two more cracks, his face growing increasingly grim.
"It's not the seal of the current General Headquarters either."
The seventh registrar stammered, "What...what is that?"
Tang Sanzang looked up and spoke each word clearly and directly.
"The clearing mark of the old Taoist sect."
Everyone in the room froze.
Even Si Mo frowned.
"The Old Daoist Gate?"
Tang Sanzang nodded.
"Before the General Headquarters was established, the old port was not under its jurisdiction. The earliest measures to suppress the market, seal off the area, and evacuate people were not taken from accounts, approvals, or fines. They were taken from the clearance stamp."
He raised his hand and tapped the palm of the gray-black hand.
"Cleanliness" means a clean space.
"Upon seeing this word, the living must leave, the booklet must be sealed, and the review process must be halted."
"The appearance of this thing isn't to collect debts, it's to purge people."
Pigsy felt a chill run down his spine and quickly moved back.
"The Qing people? To what extent did they 'Qing' them?"
Tang Sanzang glanced at him.
"They cleared out the entire district until only one person was left who could still speak."
Upon hearing this, the seventh registrar almost burst into tears.
"I told you this place shouldn't be touched! Shouldn't be touched! But you insisted on opening it up, insisted on turning it upside down, and now look what happened, you've dug up a clearing mark! Does that mean the people down there are from a clean zone?"
Chen Fan grasped the key points.
"Clean area?"
Tang Sanzang didn't rush to answer. He picked up the four-line verse of the Seven Pagodas that he had copied earlier from the ground, glanced at it, and a cold smile appeared on his lips.
"I thought I had misremembered."
"Looking at it now, there's no mistake."
The monkey squinted.
"Is there a problem with these four sentences?"
"It's not a scripture."
Tang Seng shook the paper and tossed it directly to Si Mo.
"You keep reading the scriptures exactly as they are, so of course you'll only get more confused. They're not meant to be read aloud."
Si Mo took a look, and his brows furrowed even more.
"If it's not scripture, then what is it?"
Tang Sanzang uttered four words.
"Proofreading tips".
The seventh clerk turned pale.
"Proofreading...?"
Tang Sanzang stood up and spoke very quickly.
"The seven pagodas are not for worship, but for verification."
"The four sentences are not meant to persuade people to do good; they are for people of the old Taoist sect to use for matching districts, registers, and slips."
"The first line identifies the pagoda's order. The second line corresponds to the box's path. The third line verifies the return transmission. The fourth line seals off the remaining openings."
"This is the password used to wrap things up after the first round of proofreading."
Si Mo stared at the paper, his temple twitching slightly.
She clearly understood.
No wonder.
"No wonder it elicited the first testimony back."
The female judge also realized what was happening, and her gaze sharpened instantly.
"The seven towers and four sentences are not about opening the door, but about whether what's inside the core is correct."
"If it's correct, then let it pass."
"If it's not right, clear the area."
Tang Sanzang nodded.
"right."
Chen Fan looked at the gray hand.
"What does it mean that it's crawling out now?"
Tang Sanzang uttered an even harsher remark.
"This means someone used the wrong formula before."
"The proofreading was only half done, and the last sentence was missing."
"Since the area wasn't sealed off, Jingyin had to complete the necessary procedures themselves."
The seventh clerk felt a chill run down his spine and scrambled backward in a panic.
"Who used it wrong? Who? It wasn't me, I only read the account!"
Pigsy immediately followed up with a fatal blow.
"Your reading of the accounts is no different from calling back a soul."
As if it understood, the gray hand suddenly stretched outward with its five fingers.
Click!
Another foot of crack appeared in the middle of the box platform.
This time, more than just one hand was revealed.
There's also half a wrist.
A strip of old cloth was wrapped around his wrist; the cloth was rotten and stiff, and there were words on it.
It's still clean.
Chen Fan's eyes darkened.
"It's about to come out completely."
The monkey swung its stick and began to exert force with its feet.
"Then let's smash it back first."
Tang Sanzang suddenly shouted.
"Don't smash it!"
The monkey glanced back at him.
"You want to keep it for the New Year?"
"If you smash it, it will really break."
Tang Sanzang pointed to the four-line verse, his voice low but clear.
"This formula is missing a line."
"The first four lines have been passed down outside, but the last line hasn't come out. Without the last line, the purification seal only recognizes the process, not the person. If you break it up now, the entire purification area below will treat us as wrong, and the clearing will expand directly."
That's more frightening than anything else.
Si Mo gripped the ruler in his hand tightly.
What is the last sentence that is missing?
Tang Sanzang shook his head.
I don't know the whole sentence.
"I only recognize the system, not the fine print."
"But I'm certain that the last sentence isn't on these pages, nor on the outer wall of the Seven Towers."
Chen Fan immediately asked, "Where?"
Tang Sanzang turned around and looked at the black warehouse road behind the group of boxes that had never been opened.
A slanted sign hangs deep inside the warehouse passage.
There was half an old character on the sign, which had been covered by ash, but was now revealed by the ink vapor gushing out from the crack.
net.
Tang Sanzang stared at the sign and slowly spoke.
"In the clean zone."
The seventh registrar's throat tightened, and he almost fainted.
"Hasn't the clean zone been sealed off for many years?"
Tang Sanzang gave a cold laugh.
"Seal off?"
"If it's truly sealed off, this hand won't be able to crawl out."
Si Mo suddenly turned his head to look at the black warehouse road, and for the first time, hesitation appeared on his face.
The female judge was more direct.
"To go in or not?"
The monkey had already hoisted the stick back onto its shoulder, baring its teeth.
"You've come this far, why are you still asking?"
Pigsy clutched his stomach and cursed under his breath.
"What's the point of asking? These three divination sticks in my belly are practically being used as keys by someone else. If I don't go in now, am I supposed to wait for them to open the door themselves?"
Chen Fan remained silent.
He looked down at the gray mark in his hand.
The heat on the gray mark was still rising.
It's not just hot.
The blurry lines on the seal surface are gradually emerging.
It's not a hall pattern.
It's not a Buddhist tattoo either.
It looks like an old door frame with a small character pressed down in the middle.
net.
At the same time, the gray hand suddenly retracted three fingers, leaving only the index finger raised, and gently hooked it twice towards the black warehouse road.
It's like they're calling someone in.
next moment.
At the end of the warehouse road, an old lamp suddenly lit up.
A figure stood under the lamp.
Wearing an old Taoist robe.
There was a hole in my chest.
It looked like the sign had been forcibly torn off.
He kept his head down, his mouth moving as if he were reciting something.
Tang Sanzang only heard half a sentence before his expression changed drastically, and he blurted out:
"not good!"
He was reciting the last sentence—
The figure suddenly looked up.
Chapter 544 The First Tower Responds
The Taoist priest looked up.
They have no skin on their faces.
It was just a layer of grayish muscle left, but its mouth was wide open.
He's still reading.
"The pure seal returns to the repository, the original sample returns to..."
The second half of the sentence was not uttered.
The monkeys have arrived.
The golden cudgel slammed down horizontally.
boom!
The figure exploded along with the lamp, and even the Black Warehouse Road shook.
Pigsy hissed and jumped back, clutching his stomach.
"Brother Monkey, you've really gone all out this time."
"I want to hear the rest."
The monkey didn't turn around.
He stared at the shattered gray mass, his voice deep.
"It will be too late by the time you hear it."
really.
The gray shadow did not dissipate.
It was like a swarm of live insects, swirling in mid-air, and in the blink of an eye, it pounced on the gray mark in Chen Fan's hand.
Si Mo's face turned pale.
"Don't let it get into the print!"
"That's the old tower's return entrance. If anything dirty gets inside, the entire testimony will be ruined!"
Upon hearing this, the seventh clerk turned and ran away.
I've only taken two steps.
The white dragon horse whipped its tail, slapping him back to the edge of the group of boxes.
"Why are you running?"
"You're not the one who loves to nitpick."
"Now it's your turn to listen to the accounts."
The seventh clerk's teeth were bleeding from the impact, and he was supporting himself with trembling hands.
"I won't listen!"
"Don't listen to what was shown in the first episode!"
"It'll kill you if you hear that!"
"May your ancestors die."
Pigsy, carrying his nine-toothed rake, shoved it right in front of his head.
"Shut up. If you yell again, I'll gouge your eyes out."
Chen Fan didn't have time to deal with them.
The gray shadow was already covered with gray marks.
It felt like pressing a red-hot iron into my palm.
The veins on his arms were bulging, and the crack on the gray mark was gradually revealing itself.
next moment.
It's not a character.
It is a tower.
Half of the old tower was squeezed out of the gray stains.
It's not big.
It looks like it was cut in half, with only three layers left.
The tower was covered in old carvings, and a blackened chain was wrapped around its exterior. A dim light shone from the small window at the very top. A person sat beneath the light.
Not a living person.
Like a dried-out old corpse.
He had a wooden sign hanging around his neck.
There are two characters on the sign.
One.
The entire room fell silent.
Even Si Mo remained silent.
The old corpse slowly raised its head; its eye sockets contained no eyeballs, only two specks of gray fire.
It stared at the seal in Chen Fan's hand.
His mouth opened and closed.
The sound did not come out of the mouth.
It's like crashing outwards from inside the tower, layer by layer.
"The old tower of the First Experimental Field".
"Return Certificate".
"Verify the seal."
The gray mark in Chen Fan's hand flew out on its own and stuck to the tower gate with a thud.
The chains broke apart section by section.
The old corpse spoke again.
"Source verification".
It had barely finished speaking.
The hair on the monkey's forehead suddenly stood up on its own.
Not just one.
There are three.
The golden light had a hint of grayish old color, like a long-buried foundation being forcibly unearthed.
The monkey's eyes darkened, and it pressed its hand to its forehead.
"Old Chen."
"It's recognizing me."
Si Mo's throat tightened.
"It's not that I acknowledge you."
"It's for testing samples."
Upon hearing this, Pigsy's eyes widened in astonishment.
"sample?"
"Is Monkey King just a sample?"
Upon hearing those two words, the Seventh Registrar's face drained of all color.
He stared intently at the monkey, as if he had finally seen something he should never have seen.
"impossible."
"Wasn't the original first-round sample already sealed off?"
"How are you still alive?!"
The monkey turned to look at him.
The monkey face wasn't smiling.
His eyes were filled with coldness.
Say it again.
The seventh clerk was talking back and forth, shrinking back as he did so.
"I...I just copied the old books."
It's clearly written in the book.
"First experimental field, release the first source monkey sample. Observation location: Mirror Mountain area. Record targets: spirituality, self-derivation, rebelliousness, aggregation, and rule-breaking..."
His voice trailed off towards the end.
Don't mention Pigsy.
Even Tang Sanzang's expression changed.
The white horse was breathing heavily, and its hooves left two white marks on the ground.
Chen Fan stared at the half-tower.
Only one word remained in my mind.
Mirror mountain area.
The old corpse spoke again.
This time, its voice was clearer.
Like reading a file.
"Sample No. 1 from the source monkey is placed into the mirror projection area."
"Projection zone name: Flower and Fruit Mountain."
"The mountains, waterways, rock formations, and monkey populations within the area serve as the first model for reflection."
One sentence, like a hammer blow, struck everyone on the head.
Pigsy forgot to close his mouth.
"What the heck?"
"Isn't Flower and Fruit Mountain Flower and Fruit Mountain?"
The white dragon horse was also stunned.
"Mapping template?"
"Does that mean that mountain isn't in its original habitat?"
Si Mo replied in a low voice.
"It didn't grow out of the ground."
"It was photographed."
Even the gray-black hand stopped tapping at the edge of the box stand.
It's like even it is listening.
The monkey stood still for a long time.
Chen Fan could tell.
These words were like a bombshell to others.
For monkeys, it's about digging up the roots.
Huaguoshan.
Water Curtain Cave.
Old monkey.
The monkeys paid homage to the king.
He fought his way to the throne.
If they are all just projected shells, then where is the real starting point?
The seventh clerk, as if grasping at the last straw, suddenly cried out in a shrill voice.
"I wasn't wrong!"
"You're all being kept in a mirror!"
"Especially you, Sun Wukong! You weren't born from a stone, you were the first living specimen put in, for the higher-ups to see, you were—"
He didn't finish speaking.
The monkey was already in front of him.
It's useless.
With just one hand, he grabbed his neck and lifted him off the ground.
"continue."
The monkey's voice was very flat.
It's shockingly flat.
"Tell me everything you know."
The seventh clerk kicked wildly in mid-air, his face turning purple.
"I'll just copy the documents; I won't go inside!"
"All I know is that the first sample was not originally monkey-shaped, but... it was formed after the embryo split open and then self-selected."
"It was characterized three times in the first round."
"They all failed."
"It was only in the end that we decided on the monkey."
Pigsy's scalp tingled from hearing this.
"Can Monkey King choose for himself?"
Tang Sanzang stared at the pagoda and suddenly spoke.
"It's not about being picky."
"They couldn't control it."
"Trying to control it as a human, a beast, or a demon—none of that works. In the end, we can only let it follow its own path."
Si Mo suddenly looked at Tang Sanzang.
Have you seen this old system before?
Tang Sanzang did not answer.
He stared intently at the gray mark on the tower gate, his expression growing increasingly grim.
The old corpse was still chanting.
"Follow-up records"
"Sample 1 completed its first self-clustering in the mirror area."
"Completed the first takeover of the throne."
"The first external crack has been completed."
"Rating: Can be enlarged."
"Rating: Copyable."
Assessment: It can be sent to the Heavenly Court for observation.
Reading this far.
It was as if a thread had been pulled sharply from a great distance on the other side of Flower Fruit Mountain.
Chen Fan's palm trembled.
A mountain shadow was surprisingly reflected in the gray ink.
It truly is a paradise on earth.
Outside the Water Curtain Cave, the waterfall is still cascading.
The flag is still fluttering on the mountaintop.
But this time, everyone saw it.
There's another layer behind the mountain shadow.
Like a huge mirror wall with no end in sight.
The entire Flower and Fruit Mountain was pasted onto that mirror wall.
Pigsy gasped, sweat beading on his forehead.
"Damn it."
"When Old Pig used to go peach picking, he always said that the mountain looked pleasing to the eye. Turns out, the reason it looked pleasing to the eye was because of this."
The white dragon horse gritted its teeth.
"So, all the places we've lived in all these years have been film zones?"
"Are even blessed lands just a shell?"
"Whether it's a shell or a mirror."
The monkey slowly released its grip.
The seventh clerk collapsed to the ground, panting heavily.
The monkey looked up at the mountain shadows, its voice low and deep.
"The monkeys on the mountain are real."
"The old monkey who ate fruit with me was real."
"The one who swung the bat with me too."
"Anyone who dares to say they're fake, I'll smash their head in first."
These words were spoken.
Pigsy nodded immediately.
"Yes, whether it's a shell or not is another matter, but the person who hit you is always real."
Even Chen Fan smiled.
This is what a monkey should be like.
No matter how the accounts are written, only what he recognizes counts.
Just as the excitement was starting to surface, the old corpse in the tower suddenly added another sentence.
Note: The mirrored area is only for shell nurturing.
"The true source does not reside in the mountains."
The entire room fell silent once again.
Chen Fan narrowed his eyes.
"What happens next?"
The old corpse seemed to be stuck.
His neck rose inch by inch, and the ashes danced wildly.
The tower also began to crack.
It's as if someone on the other end is desperately trying to cut off this feedback.
Si Mo was getting anxious.
"Someone deleted the evidence!"
"Stabilize it quickly!"
Chen Fan pressed the gray mark down and poured the chaotic energy within his body into it.
The monkey was more decisive.
He slapped the top of the tower.
"Say it now!"
boom!
The half-tower suddenly lit up.
The wooden plaque on the old corpse's chest shattered on the spot, revealing an even older line of text inside.
Source A, file B.
The old corpse opened its mouth wide.
The last sentence sounded like it was being scraped out of his throat.
"The monkey of origin is not in the mountain."
"In the clean—"
The word "clean" had just been uttered.
The entire tower collapsed.
Ash and fire flew everywhere.
A black hook suddenly shot out from behind the tower, heading straight for Chen Fan's brow.
The monkey's pupils contracted, and the golden cudgel was already swinging in a wide arc.
But even faster than him was Tang Sanzang.
Tang Sanzang bumped into Chen Fan in one step, flipped his sleeve, and slapped out an old cleansing seal.
Snapped!
The black hook stuck into the clean seal, emitting a scream that sounded like a woman's scream, yet also like an old beast's.
The pure seal cracked instantly.
Blood trickled from the corner of Tang Sanzang's mouth as he stared at the dark mass, his face revealing an uncontrollable look of shock for the first time.
"Not from the old tower."
"It crawled out of the clean storehouse."
With a flick of its black hook, it followed the shattered ash from the tower and burrowed towards the mirror-like wall behind the shadow of Flower Fruit Mountain.
Suddenly, a pair of eyes lit up in the mirror.