Chapter 10: Brave New World (Part 9)
Crow dramatically gestured "shh" to Little Six and hid behind the stone wall next to the cold storage. As soon as he pressed his ear against the wall, he heard an abrupt screech of brakes outside, followed by someone cursing furiously, "Damn gnome jumpers!"
Crow: Hmm?
What a fancy curse, and no mention of 'cat'!
The voice didn’t sound like that of a normal person, but it wasn’t the same as the ratmen’s either. Their voices were like metal scraping glass—high-pitched and shrill. This voice was low and muffled, as if the speaker had most of their tongue stuck to the roof of their mouth, and there was a hint of affectation.
Weird.
Crow sneakily peeked out through a crack in the wall.
Although there was a driveway in front of the Prosperous Slaughterhouse, the truck that had just entered was clearly oversized. It got stuck as it tried to turn at the intersection. The truck looked familiar.
The familiar truck struggled to back up a little, moving to the back door of the slaughterhouse. The space there was a bit wider, just enough to open the doors. Then, a cursing pigman stepped out.
Crow: Whoa!
This pig-headed individual, much like the ratmen, had a roughly humanoid shape, but he stood—and was as wide as—two meters.
The pigman’s weight was hard to guess, but when he stepped down, the floor tiles at the slaughterhouse entrance creaked under the pressure.
It turned out that just as the pigman was warming up, the ratmen were causing trouble. When the ratmen’s fire brigade rushed in, the ratmen became a chaotic mess. The pigmen wanted to retreat due to safety concerns but were reluctant—many disgruntled breeders were already preparing to sign off on the goods.
So, a few pigmen got together and came up with a plan: leave the regular goods behind and continue selling them depending on the situation, while secretly sending their "treasures" to a safe place.
Who would have thought that the cursed fire would grow so large? One batch of the ratmen’s fire brigade wasn’t enough, so they called for reinforcements. To let the fire trucks through, the pigman had to take a narrower road. The driver gradually lost his way in the maze of narrow roads, and the path became narrower and narrower until he was completely stuck.
"Damn poor-skinned rats," the driver cursed as he turned off the engine and got out to scout the way.
He hadn’t fully closed the door, and as he walked away, the steering wheel caught Crow’s eye like a magnet—or an old flame. Crow’s gaze went wild, his eyes wide with surprise.
Whoa, wait, this wasn’t part of the original plan.
He desperately tried to pull his wandering gaze back, silently muttering to himself, "With that pigman’s size, he could squish half a dozen of me. Why provoke him? Don’t create extra trouble. Be rational!"
Rationality? 404 Not Found.
So, half a minute later, Crow slipped out from the back door of the slaughterhouse like a shadow and silently climbed into the pigman’s truck.
"Plan? What plan?" He felt a sense of clarity. "I’m a fool; where would I find rationality?"
The pigman’s vehicle was extremely spacious, everything oversized. The steering wheel had a diameter of about two and a half feet. Apart from the steering wheel, brakes, and accelerator, the other parts of the truck didn’t match the model in Crow’s mind, and the vehicle was quite old, the icons on the buttons worn off.
But it didn’t matter. As soon as Crow touched the steering wheel, he felt as if he had drunk half a jin of fake alcohol, his mind clouded.
Despite all the unfamiliar stuff, he still felt confident.
With this puzzling confidence, Crow boldly pressed what he judged to be the ignition button.
As expected, his judgment was way off.
The truck didn’t start, but the audio system let out a ghostly scream.
The pigman who had been scouting ahead jumped in surprise, turned around in confusion, and locked eyes with the audacious car thief.
Crow: "Woo woo, not good."
The car audio blared, "Charge toward the dead end—"
Crow grinned. "Good words, may they bring good luck."
The pigmen roared, shaking the ground as they charged forward.
Crow frantically hit buttons, opening the sunroof and lighting up the string of colorful bulbs around the truck. He somehow activated the sound system inside the container—unbelievably, the pigmen had installed a separate system in there, playing the same song as in the cab, just two bars off, creating an echoing stereo loop.
Finally, he activated the inflation-relief system, and several balloons slowly rose from the top of the truck. Just as the truck looked like it was about to turn into a mobile fortress, the enraged pigmen leaped onto the hood.
Through the pigman's gaping maw, Crow almost saw straight into its stomach... Finally, the truck shook and started successfully!
The moment Crow pressed the gas pedal, his eyes glowed with an eerie light. In an instant, he transformed from a delicate, sickly beauty into a maniacal rat cave racer.
The truck, as if its tail had been stepped on, screeched and leapt forward, dancing down the road!
This truck, worthy of hauling pigs, had plenty of horsepower—damn, it was exhilarating.
In that wild leap, both side mirrors flew off the truck. The truck's body collided with the crumbling ratmen wall, and both suffered damage—neither side emerged unscathed. The truck deformed, the colorful lights shattered, and the wall cracked open.
The pigmen roared and clawed at the hood. Crow shifted into reverse and quickly backed up, causing the pigmen to lose balance and fall flat on its face.
Before the pigmen could rise, the engine roared to life, and the truck lunged back at him.
The pigmen screamed in terror and scrambled away.
Then came another loud bang—the truck was stuck again, the front of the truck almost touching the pig's rear.
Crow poked his head out and said, "Oh, sorry, so close."
The pigmen, using all four limbs, barely managed to stand up, only for the truck to accelerate and charge forward for the third time.
Instinctively, the pigmen ducked, then realizing the truck couldn't get past, a sinister grin spread across its face.
"You're finished, thief and beast... No, wait!"
The wheels spun wildly, the earthen wall shook, and then "Boom!" The truck successfully merged with the narrow road, bricks flew, and the path was clear!
The blaring rock music exploded, and the pigmen's small eyes widened to the size of broad beans as he sprinted away.
The car audio growled in a deep, resonant voice, "We murder and rob—"
Crow sang off-key, "Steal cars and set fires—"
"Charge toward the dead end—"
"Minced meat sauce—"
The car audio wailed, "Woooaahh—"
Crow took a deep breath, only to realize he didn't have the lung capacity to hit the high note. Reluctantly, he closed his mouth and stomped on the accelerator again.
The pigmen were running with tears in their eyes. In desperation, the narrow road finally turned, with other paths converging. With the effort of a pig trying to root up cabbages, it leaped and lunged into the path. But it failed to notice it was a ratmen pedestrian path—how could such a grand life fit? The pigmen twisted and contorted but couldn't squeeze in, ending up stuck in the intersection like a framed picture.
As the rumbling truck bore down on him, the pigmen braced for the end, closing its eyes in terror.
But as the truck approached, the front of the truck slightly veered, and the other side scraped against the wall. With millimeter-precision maneuvering, the truck, sparking and flashing, brushed past the pigmen. A hand reached out from the driver's window and cheekily stroked the pigmen's neck mane.
"Wow!" the thief exclaimed in surprise. "Prickly!"
The words hadn't even hit the ground before the truck sped off into the distance.
That moment was the darkest moment of her life, and it was also the longest day in Jasmine's life.
Jasmine is a female berry.
She was born in the First Berry Breeding Institute of Starlight City and was exceptional in appearance. At the age of eleven, she received a "B9" rating, becoming the legendary Diamond Berry. The auction price that year broke records, and the buyer was the lord of Starlight City.
After living in the lord's castle for three years, Jasmine now faces culling—as a noble, the lord's household could not have shabby “old fruits” over the age of fourteen like a middle-class family might.
The culled “old fruits” would be processed in batches. Unwilling to accept her fate, Jasmine decided to escape just before the year's end, bringing along her two burdens.
The two burdens were one male and one female. The male fruit was named "May," and the female fruit was named "Strawberry." They had entered the castle in the same batch as Jasmine.
These two were like limp noodles, all soft and clingy, needing someone to guide them to survive. Jasmine was the "leader" they followed with wishful thinking. Jasmine didn't want to lead such noodles and was very disdainful of them, but May and Strawberry were devoted to their leader, impervious to beatings or scoldings, and willingly followed even on such a reckless escape.
They had been domesticated for generations and were far removed from the wild berries that hunted their own kind. They were as delicate as paper flowers, and there was even debate about whether they could go outside. Staying in the castle, even if culled, might lead to being adopted by staff or donated to charity, with the worst outcome being a painless euthanasia, returning to the garden of the gods.
Thus, Strawberry and May were following Jasmine with the determination of martyrs, jumping into the fire.
Maybe it was a stroke of luck from a similarly deranged deity, but on the day of their escape, the three large guard dogs in the castle's backyard happened to be getting check-ups. The power went out inexplicably for a while at midnight, and the surveillance cameras on the outer wall of the castle failed to catch them. Jasmine's absurd “castle escape plan” somehow succeeded!
However, escaping the castle was only the first step. The outside world was even more terrifying than what the nuns at the breeding institute had described. Jasmine and her companions narrowly avoided patrols, dodged drunk teenagers, and barely survived a sudden attack by a homeless man in the bushes. Before they could even catch their breath, the three were knocked unconscious.
Starlight City is located in the tail district of Capricorn. The tail district, blessed with natural beauty and talented people, dragged the economy down to the heels and made a significant contribution to increasing the crime rate.
One of the tail district's specialties was the “underground city,” a place full of filth, crowded with criminals and illegal immigrants from Scorpio.
Among the illegal immigrants, a particularly notorious clan called the “Piglets” roamed the underground, smuggling live berries for a living.
It was said that the Piglets would steal pet berries from the city. Countless poor berries had been stolen while out with their owners, disappearing while their owners bought a newspaper. They also captured terrifying “wild monster berries” to sell as studs. Wild monsters were creatures without reason, knowing only copulation, eating, and killing. What fate could await being locked with such creatures?
The nuns at the breeding center always scared the little berries with, “The Piglets are coming to get you,” and now, the worst nightmare was real.
When Jasmine woke up, she had already been packed and bundled into a sack. Another berry had woken her up—in addition to Jasmine's group, there were two old berries in the truck.
Old berries were berries whose growth plates had closed and no longer grew. The only old berries Jasmine had seen were the breeding females.
One was wrapped tightly in a blanket, invisible, lying motionless in the corner of the iron cage, dead or alive unknown.
The other—the one who had woken Jasmine—was a twenty-something-year-old golden-haired male. He wore an earring in his left ear that, amazingly, glowed. With this faint light, the golden-haired male gently helped Jasmine untie the ropes while softly comforting them, “Don't cry, don't be afraid. I'm not a wild monster, see?”
The male fruit rubbed the inside of his lower arm, revealing a layer of camouflage skin. Peeling off a corner exposed the black rose tattoo and code underneath.
“The black rose, the nuns at the breeding center must have taught you about it, right? We are police fruits, city guards, here to protect you.”
Jasmine: “……”
The nuns had indeed taught them that “police fruits” were working berries trained by the security department, with a higher rank than police dogs.
Escaping illegally and running into the police—what great luck.
“I'm on an undercover mission to catch these berry-stealing Piglets. Don't worry,” the police fruit gentleman assured them, “I'll definitely return you safely to your owner's home!”
Jasmine: “……”
Thanks a lot.
"By the way, who is your owner?"
Jasmine stepped on May's foot and pinched Strawberry's hand to prevent the two shaking messes from freaking out and possibly having a seizure, stirring up her brainpower to concoct a lie on the spot.
Just then, the moving truck seemed to hit something and came to an abrupt stop. The pig driver got out of the vehicle.
All the fruits in the container held their breath. The police fruit gentleman's face changed slightly. He pulled out a thin knife from the lining of his boot and cautiously approached the door of the cargo compartment, listening for any movement outside.
Suddenly, a deafening rock song blared inside the container. Everyone's head felt like it was about to explode.
As soon as they lifted off the ground, the expressions of those in the container were all confused.
The container felt like it was being hammered by countless large mallets, "clanging and banging." The large iron cage holding two adult male fruits and three younger ones bounced around like it was possessed.
Jasmine was hugged by her two liabilities, one on each side, their arms and legs tangled together in a death knot. The police fruit gentleman's head hit the iron cage three times, the thin light from his earring creating an afterimage. Even the blanket gentleman, who had been curled up in the corner, was jolted out, crashing into the cage.
As he "flew" past Jasmine, a pale hand suddenly emerged from the blanket and grabbed the iron cage.
"Bang," the sound rang in Jasmine's ears, louder than the blaring rock music. She looked up in shock, unable to see anything in the darkness, except for a pair of eyes.
The eyes slightly curved, as if smiling at her, the look in his eyes felt oddly familiar.
Before Jasmine could react, the vehicle suddenly accelerated, and she was thrown forward by the sudden movement.
"Ah..."
The blanket gentleman grabbed Jasmine's head with one hand and pulled her back. His hand was ice-cold, and through her thick braids, it sent a shiver down the girl's spine.
He gently placed Jasmine between Strawberry and May, arranging the three of them by size. The police fruit gentleman casually tied Jasmine's braids together and straightened May's crooked bow tie before stepping back, wrapping himself back up in the blanket like a cocoon.
Jasmine: "..."
What's his problem?
Then she realized the ride had smoothed out.