Chapter 344: Chapter 344: Wooing Personnel (II)
“Contact with [Strange Tales-Collector] confirmed, level [S+], ranked 3rd on the ‘Paradise S class Strange Tales leaderboard’. Proceed with caution.
Faction: Neutral
While inside the Collector’s recycling station, other areas in Paradise will not be affected.
Triggering the Strange Tales events – [Horror Collector] and [Recycling Station Intern] is possible.
Directly killing [The Collector] can get a reward of 120 Strange Tales Points.
You can also gain ownership of the special area — the recycling station.”
In the darkness, the black thread used to sew limbs is swiftly drawn into the body of a mysterious figure wearing a grey checkered vest.
The boss of the recycling station, the Strange Tale known as [The Collector].
In terms of his level, he is only slightly below Mr. Aha and the Lamp.
Moreover, the recycling station he controls is entirely unmonitored by the lighthouse.
That is precisely why Han Dong chose to come here first.
The size of a regular adult around 1.8 meters tall. Compared to Abe, the Collector is leaner… with his dark skin traversed by various lines, reminiscent of the stitched creatures in Mysticism, yet completely different.
An abnormal head.
Above the neck is the structure of a metal safe, apparently housing all the treasures the Collector deems valuable.
When he encountered Han Dong’s group,
the dial of the safe spun crazily.
Click!
The lock opened.
A palpable sense of danger flooded from within the safe, as if hundreds, even thousands of arms were splitting and lengthening, striving to choke Han Dong and his companion…
In a blink, the vision of arms disappeared, the safe closed again, rendering its contents completely imperceivable.
The boss took out two tools.
A single-eyed ball was held in his hand.
A sound-emitting radio was strapped to his waist.
He stretched his hand to examine the two people closely with the eyeball, meanwhile noticing the Rolex on Han Dong’s wrist.
His radio began to receive signals, emitting a series of mechanical noises:
“Zzz… I am capable of any help needed, zzz… but I would not leave the recycling station.”
Obviously, the Collector saw through Han Dong’s group’s intentions immediately.
He laid out his bottom line directly. Everything in the recycling station could be taken by Han Dong if he wished.
However, he was not willing to be involved in what was seemingly ‘rebellious’ activities.
“Mr. Collector… This is a proposal. If you have time, you can take a look! It’s complicated to utilize your stuff here because there are too many things.
We are sorry to disturb you at this late hour! We will leave now.”
Han Dong extended both his hands to pass a prepared proposal to the formidable Collector.
Said their goodbyes then decisively exited the station through the main gate.
The Collector watched Han Dong as he walked away, seemingly lost in thought.
He directed the eyeball in his hand to the contents of the proposal, quickly read through it, folded it and threaded it with a black thread.
Click!
The safe opened, and the proposal was carefully stowed inside, counted as an important item.
…….
Upon leaving the recycling station, Abe frowned.
“Han Dong, do you think the Collector will help us? It seems that like the keysmith, he is reluctant to get involved… after all, from any Strange Tale’s perspective, we are no match for the Lighthouse.”
“The reason why these people do not belong to the lighthouse means they inherently reject the lighthouse’s surveillance and control.
Indeed, they are unwilling to involve themselves in this matter, just like you said, Abe.
Just because when weighing us against the Lighthouse, there is no way to maintain a balanced relationship.
However…”
“However, what?”
Han Dong, pen in hand sketching a balance scale, explained: “Once they see we can truly balance the scales, those Strange Tales will naturally join.
What we need to do is disseminate information to these Strange Tales which belong neither to the Lighthouse nor are of level [B] or above. Let them know, I’m making a move.
They can gradually watch in secret to see how we turn the tide.”
“Could it be the clown you pre-set within the Lighthouse?”
“Exactly… The fulcrum is not just us, once the clown is added, the scale will start to tip. We need to keep disseminating the information, as long as the word spreads, we have done over half of the job.”
Han Dong and Abe carefully avoided all forms of light, proceeding in the darkest corners.
They carefully conveyed the information to the Strange Tales in the Neutral or Horrors Strange Tales faction.
The streets were full of wanted posters.
The street lamps were lit at full intensity to illuminate the Paradise.
The special doctor team under the Lighthouse was patrolling the streets, taking any Strange Tales disobeying the management for forced treatment as they went along.
Under such circumstances, Han Dong and his companion’s progress was slow.
That was why Han Dong asked the team to leave earlier… it’s easier to distribute the flyers as an individual.
“Fine, I’ll consider it! That’s it… I’m very busy!”
A Strange Tale with a skull face immediately shut the back door.
It belonged to the Horrors Strange Tales faction. Seeing the Rolex in Han Dong’s hand, it appeared very enthusiastic… but in reality, it wanted Han Dong to leave as quickly as possible.
Every time a Strange Tale was found, they encountered a similar scenario of being ‘neglected’ or ‘rejected’.
If it had been someone else, they might have given up long ago.
However, Han Dong showed a smile every time he dispatched a ‘flyer’, a smile that suggested imminent success.
Upon completing this round of flyer distribution, proceeding in the darkness, when they left the alley… a familiar scene appeared before their eyes.
“Ahead is… the park we arrived at in the beginning?”
The park was about five hundred meters in front.
It was the old park the team first entered when they accessed the inner area, there they discovered the Abyssal Public Toilet.
“Speaking of which, the chances of the Abyssal Public Toilet appearing in the park are the highest at this time period… if we happen to encounter it, let’s try to distribute a flyer to the butcher as well. After all, he is a neutral party.”
The main road to the park was fully illuminated.
In the absence of building shelter, the only way to sneak past was ‘through the water’.
Just as they were cautiously following the river bank, moving in the area where the light couldn’t reach… Gluck!
A series of bubbles rose to the surface of the river.
Immediately, waterweeds and black hair appeared with a pair of eyes watching Han Dong and his companion.
Just as they glanced over,
A dark hint of light flashed in Han Dong’s right arm.
To avoid making too much noise, Han Dong conjured a black crow from pure magic power that neither emitted light nor made noise.
Whoosh!
The crow flew into the forehead of the female Strange Tale.
Slap!
The waterweeds, black hair, along with a puddle of black filth spread.
However…
Something rose from the bottom of the river with the waterweeds.
It was a flashlight, seemingly discarded after a long period of submersion.
Click!
The flashlight flickered on.
Even though Han Dong and Abe dodged it at the first instant.
The light still managed to catch Han Dong’s shin.
Zzz zzz zzz…
A familiar electromagnetic wave sound reverberated.
[Lamp Man] descended.