The streets were so clean, which proved how powerful the paranormals in this area were.
When the tour bus completely entered the urban area, Jiang Liushi saw a wall that was about five meters tall with an endless edge. It was a security zone. There was no doubt that in this terrible world, only security zones could ensure the safety of ordinary people. This security zone was small in size and far worse than the Shen Hai Safety Zone. The difference between the two safety zones was that the military had established the Shen Hai Safety Zone, while this one was established by local gangs.
The gangs in Japan were much larger than the ones in China. Before the founding of the People’s Republic of China, the government’s control over the country was weak, that’s why the ultra-large gangs, such as the Green Gang and Flood Gang were born. The Shanghai Gang’s leader had even the chance to meet the head of the state. Therefore, he had been regarded as Shanghai’s local Emperor. Unfortunately, as they entered the 21st century, those obscure and vile gangs had become a thing of the past. They had almost been erased from people’s memories.
However, Japan’s situation was quite different. In Japan, the local government had obtained more capital than the central government. In layman words, the people controlled more capital than the state. At the same time, the capital determined the power, which was easier to promote the birth of powerful crime syndicates. The world’s largest crime syndicate was Japan’s Yamaguchi-gumi, which had been around for a whole century. Even Black Hand, which was known as the world’s second largest crime syndicate, could not be compared with the Yamaguchi-gumi; just the former’s accumulated wealth was only a fraction of what the latter possessed.
All that was possible because Japan was the only country, whose criminal syndicates were regarded as semi-legitimate organizations. The crime syndicates had even established grand headquarters or donated to local politicians’ campaigns for them to participate in the elections. Actually, in Japan, freedom of association was allowed by the law. The crime syndicates could all be regarded as a kind of association and hence making their contributions legal. Then, all the members could fill the criminal syndicate in their occupation column directly, just like engineers and lawyers and so on. Of course, their dealings were fierce and dark. On the surface, it was said that they obeyed the law and did business in a serious way, in fact, it was inseparable from the collection of protection fees, gambling, pornography, drug trafficking, and smuggling. Occasionally, they also good things such as maintaining order in their territory like policemen or providing relief support in times of need like earthquakes.
Of course, sometimes the criminal acts would be suppressed by the government. However, after the virus outbreak, those organized criminal syndicates returned to their savage roots and became even more unscrupulous. The so-called yakuza was gone and replaced by gangs that did not abide by any moral values.
Before doomsday, Japan was probably the most prosperous and high-quality country in the world, but the long-term, strictly rigid life had suppressed its citizens’ sense of individuality. Once it resurfaced, and after a year of fermentation, its ugly side was easily provoked.
Although the ordinary people living in the gang-established safety zones were no longer worried about meeting zombies, they led miserable lives.
When Jiang Liushi’s team entered, they were not checked by anyone. The Sword Club never forbade anyone from entering their safety zone. But if one wanted to live there, they’d have to buy a house there as the gang imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew. No one was allowed to stay outdoors in the evening. The tattooed young man had promised to give Xia Mei’s classmates the right to reside, but they could only find a shack in the slums. Even so, her classmates felt grateful.
Currently, Ran Xiyu was teaching Japanese to Jiang Liushi in the tour bus. The first time Jiang Liushi had the chance to consume the evolutionary fluid, he had chosen to evolve his brain. One of its perks was that his learning ability had become top-notch. Jiang Liushi only needed one week to learn basic Japanese.
“Brother Jiang, look!” Ran Xiyu suddenly pointed out of the window.
Jiang Liushi turned his head, looked at it and saw a lot of the safety zone’s residents. Some people were thin and dressed in dirty clothes, while others were clean clothes. There was a contrast between them.
Jiang Liushi looked further and saw a big market where most of the well-dressed people were trading mutant nuclei and mutant meat. The large pieces of mutant meat were placed in the most conspicuous position in the market center. Those beasts were all smashed, and some of them were even hung upside down as they were being drained of their blood. Every booth had one paranormal or a butcher-like man with a large machete in their hands.
Close to the mutant beasts was a food and vegetable market. Bags of rice, flour, dried vegetables, and even a small amount of fish were for sale. Those who visited the market were almost all paranormals. Those who were malnourished could only look at all the delicious food far away. Most of them came to the market to sell some agricultural products. After doomsday, many areas had already resumed simple agricultural productions. Although the output was not high, it was enough for the poor people that worked day and night in the security areas.
Of course, there were also some poor people who didn’t come to sell things, but instead, they were sold as commodities. In the eastern part of the market, Jiang Liushi saw a large-scale slave market. Various male and female slaves were listed for sale. Generally speaking, male slaves’ price was very low, while the beautiful female slaves’ worth was up to 100kg of mutant meat.
Looking at the women who were undressed and treated as slaves, Jiang Liushi was filled with emotions. Jiang Liushi shook his head. He had seen this thing many times in China too. After such a long time, it had become the new normal. Sometimes, some women voluntarily sold themselves as slaves for various reasons.
In front of the female slaves was a strong man with a fat body, weighing about 200kg. He was naked and had a blue-green tattoo on his back. In Japan, tattoos were quite common. In a sense, it could be deemed as a culture; even a man’s status could be verified from his tattoo pattern. The obese man was holding a leather whip in his hand, introducing 12 carefully selected female slaves to the guests. Those female slaves were all about 20 years old. They had all just been captured caught and hadn’t been violated yet. Even a little girl that looked around 15 was amongst them!
“Brother Jiang, most of them are from Long Teng,” said Ran Xiyu with a complex expression after hearing the strong man’s introduction.
Amongst the 12 female slaves were Europeans, Americans, Chinese, as well as Japanese people. Only one girl was coming from Europe, and six girls from China, even more than the girls from Japan. And all the Chinese girls, without exception, came from Long Teng. Most of them were paranormal, but it was a pity that their powers were not suitable for battle.
Although Long Teng had retreated to Tyumen-cho, once they encountered others, they would inevitably start small-scale battles. As a result, it was quite normal for someone to be taken as a prisoner. The powerless and beautiful young girls had the most chances to become prisoners. In this terrible world, human rights had become a relic of the past.
“Brother Jiang, we…” Ran Xiyu found it hard to talk as she couldn’t bear such kinds of kinds. After all, she had also been reduced to a slave before meeting Jiang Liushi. She was worried about the girls’ future.
“Brother…” Jiang Zhuying also called her brother. The other girls in his tour bus all looked at him. Finally, Jiang Liushi ordered Ying to stop the bus. Then, Jiang Liushi, Ran Xiyu, and Jiang Zhuying got off the tour bus, walking toward that slave market.
When the obese man saw the newcomers, he smiled, revealing his squeaky teeth; most of them were inlaid with gold lines. It seemed that someone had knocked out half of his teeth.
“Here to buy a woman?” asked the obese man.
“Them…” Ran Xiyu pointed out all the six Chinese female slaves.
When Ran Xiyu spoke, the obese man had heard her accent. Moreover, all the picked girls were Chinese, so the obese man understood immediately.
“Long Teng?” The obese man frowned. He was affiliated with the Sword Club. As a result, he was unwilling to sell. The obese man was full of hostility for Long Teng.
“Will you sell or not?” asked Ran Xiyu while suppressing her urge to punch obese man’s face.
“Hey, you want to buy your own people back? How dare you to come here?” The obese man touched his chin and looked at Ran Xiyu with impunity.
Jiang Zhuying’s eyes emitted a cold glint, and she touched her longsword’s handle only to be stopped by Ran Xiyu. After all, they in the Sword Club’s turf. They didn’t know whether they were in cahoots with Genesis. Once Genesis found them, things would get complicated.