Chapter 5 Chapter 4 Never Disappeared

How to stand against an army formed by a group of former gods?I think, when the living can't help, let's go to the dead first.I left Row of the Gods by a less-travelled path, through the busy streets of Nightside, to Uptown, where all the really weird clubs are.I need Dead Boy's help, and the sooner I can find him, the better.Due to the vastness of the Nightside, Lilith's army hadn't caused much damage for a while, but news would spread quickly, and bad news always spread quickly. The night sky was clear, the air was fresh, the sidewalks were damp from the heavy rain just now, and the street scene was bustling as usual.People may have heard rumors of riots, destruction, and apocalypse, but such rumors are commonplace in the Nightside, especially on weekends.Having said that, I still see the rising tension on the faces of passers-by.An atmosphere of uneasiness is everywhere, but people don't know why.I hurried towards my destination, trying not to attract unnecessary attention.I still have time.Even without Walker, those in power can still mobilize a lot of force, using guns, swords, magic, and all kinds of powerful surprises to stop Lilith.They have a way of stalling for time, but not for long.The people around kept looking up at the starry sky, as if expecting to see visions such as stars shifting and moonlight changing color.Something dangerous and powerful had entered the Nightside, and all could feel a desperate dread like cattle going to a slaughterhouse.Everyone looked around anxiously, and the darkness of the night seemed to have reached an unprecedented peak.

Outside all kinds of notorious nightclubs, people soliciting business paced back and forth, and there was a new sense of urgency in their voices; even the wandering warblers soliciting customers on street corners were much more active than usual.The crowd moved forward quickly, and the usual leisurely pace no longer existed, as if people were afraid that the destination they wanted to go might disappear at any time.Nightside's only daily newspaper, the Nightside Times, has just released a special issue.The newsstands were crowded with people, everyone holding a newspaper, discussing the dark headlines excitedly.I have no doubt that Lilith is on the front page of the paper, and probably all the others.I must start my plan before the total collapse of order, and to achieve this goal, I need the help of the dead boy.

Dead Boy is currently working as a bouncer in a strip club.It was a job that didn't suit him, as he was the Nightside's most prominent Guardian, the Dark Avenger, and the first line of defense against the death hordes, provided it was profitable, of course.I stopped at a safe distance and looked at the dance hall carefully.The eye-catching neon sign above the gate marked the store's name: "Never Gone".The sign is flanked by a neon statue of a dancing girl, forever shifting from one uncomfortable position to another, swaying back and forth.There are pictures of beautiful women plastered behind a dirty window, but as a rule of thumb, the girls who actually dance in the store are definitely far from the level of the photos.

A lazy concierge stood at the gate of the ballroom, wearing a bright-colored plaid jacket and a bow tie, with an unnatural smile on his face.This man's first job was as a ventriloquist's ventriloquist doll, and he has been unable to get rid of this smile ever since.As soon as I approached, his eyes lit up immediately, and he came forward to solicit business from me. "They are dead, they have no clothes on, and they can dance!" I stared at him coldly and said, "Do I look like a tourist?" He sneered, moved to the door, waved his hand and let me in.I walked past him and into the ballroom with the most serious face the situation could afford.As soon as I entered the gate, someone came over to help me get my coat, but I was punched in the head until I passed out.When you come to this kind of place, you have to be ruthless as soon as you enter the door... Due to the large temperature difference between indoor and outdoor, I stopped to adjust the temperature after entering the main hall.The lighting in the main hall is a bit dim, partly to give customers a bit of privacy, but mainly because they don't want customers to see how low other customers are.The air smelled of all kinds of tobacco, mixed with the stench of sweat, desire, and despair.The tables and chairs in the hall were tattered, the audience was scattered, and there were several boxes at the back separated by cheap partitions, which were specially set up for more private transactions.The clients here are almost all men, and almost all human.They stared eagerly at the four small stages in the hall, watching the dancers on the stage swinging their bodies in tune with the music that was too loud.

There are many girls on and off the stage showing their graceful figures and the poses they can make to the audience. All the girls are naked, and all the girls are dead.The spirits of the dead stayed in the world for different reasons, and lived by dancing lap dances to the living.Some of them look very real, but most of the girls are composed of will-o'-the-wisps, smoke and fog, changing colors with the lights in front of the stage.The girls are constantly changing positions, stamping their feet, circling, shaking their chests, sticking their hips, twisting their bodies along the poles on the stage, and always entertaining the audience with meaningless smiles on their faces.

Ghost girl, dead dancer—the ultimate expression that can be watched from afar but not played with. There is a simple bar next to the ballroom, and the person leaning against the bar at this time is the legendary Death Boy himself.Technically, he wasn't old enough to enter this kind of nightclub consumption.Dead Boy was only seventeen years old.He has remained seventeen for thirty years, ever since he was murdered at the age of seventeen for credit cards and mobile phones.He signed a contract with an unknown demon, crawled back from the world of death, and avenged himself cruelly, but found that the conditions of the contract prevented him from returning to the world of death.So he walked in the night city, possessed himself on his corpse, never aged or died, and tried his best to do good deeds, hoping that one day he could gather enough good deeds to let the power of heaven cancel the contract he signed at the beginning.

He is tall and thin, wearing a dark purple coat, black leather trousers, and calfskin boots.On his collar was a black rose, and on his head was a soft fur hat.His coat was unbuttoned, revealing a pale chest that had been fastened here and there with stitches, staples, and tape.He no longer feels pain, but still hurts.If I got close enough, I could see the putty-filled bullet hole in his forehead. His long face reveals a sensual and exhausted atmosphere, his eyes glow with a sickly indulgent sensuality, the corners of his slightly pursed mouth have no trace of blood, and he has long, shiny hair that reaches his shoulders.He had tried to hide his complexion with makeup, but it was hopeless.He looked calm, laid-back, and even a bit bored, pouring a bottle of whiskey in one hand and stuffing a tub of Neapolitan ice cream in the other.Seeing me approaching, he nodded slightly.

"Hello, Tyler," he mumbled, mouth full of ice cream. "Forgive me for being so sensual, a dead man can't feel anything without extreme stimulation. I'd love to buy you a drink, but I only have one bottle. Don't order anything from the bar, they overpriced, The wine is even worse." I nod.I already knew this.I've been here once before, for a case, and I ordered a glass of what they called champagne.That stuff tasted a lot like Cherry Coke.Everything here can't just look at the surface, even the waitresses have Adam's apples. "So you're the bouncer here?" I said lounging and leaning against the bar next to him.

"I'm the head of security here," he corrected me. "I'm covering this place. Most customers don't dare to cause trouble here just by looking at me." "I thought you had a stable job as the bodyguard for singer 'Nightingale'?" He shrugged: "She went to Europe for a concert tour. And I... it's better not to leave Night City. This job is only temporary, and I will leave when I find another better opportunity. We dead people also have to eat .That’s why these girls come here to work.” I nod.Over time, the Nightside has amassed an untold number of wandering spirits, and these wandering spirits have to find their home.

"Where do these girls go after get off work?" I asked. Dead Boy gave a sad look. "They never leave work. That's the point. They don't get tired anyway..." "Will they make a profit in this way? It can't be a lot of salary, right?" "Not much, but smart girls can live off tips, and the dance hall owner makes sure the girls won't be harassed by necromancers and others who work their magic on the energy of the dead. Of course, all girls want rich clients , let the other party become a regular customer, and then squeeze out all the oil and water."

I looked at the audience in the hall. "Anyone interesting coming tonight?" "A few famous names, a few recognizable faces, but nothing worth mentioning. There are a few unknown university professors who claim to come here to study trendy slang. When I told them that this dance hall is dedicated to helping people When sublimating their spirituality, they all feel that they have come to the right place." I smiled cooperatively.Dead Boy shrugged, opened his mouth and took a swig of his wine.The bottle is almost dry now. I admire the ghost girl dancing, and I am not in a hurry to tell the dead boy the purpose of coming here today.Today the girls surround an old Duran Duran chorus member who plays the girl in the group's famous song "Movie Girls."The advantage of being a ghost is that all the girls have extremely beautiful looks, extremely soft figures, and extremely charming expressions.Their dance steps are elegant and provocative, their steps are light, their breasts tremble, they soar from the stage, dancing in the smoky air.Between the audience, the dancers flit around, sometimes even passing through the client's body, giving them an unearthly thrill they won't find anywhere else.Why not?Anyway, the only hard thing on the stage is the steel pipe. "Don't be fooled by appearances," Dead Boy said, putting down the empty wine bottle and ice cream bucket. "It's all an illusion. You definitely don't want to see them at halftime without the illusion. Unfortunately, as a dead person, they're always real to me. That really takes away from A lot of fun in this job.” A female ghost jumped off the stage in a charming dance.Her figure looked very real, but when she put her hand in front of a customer's nose, her fingers immediately turned into smoke and were sucked into the customer's nostrils.The female ghost's palm disintegrated and completely disappeared into the opponent's mouth and nose.Then the customer couldn't breathe, coughed out a puff of smoke on the spot, and then restored to the original palm again amidst the female ghost's chuckle.The body of a female ghost suddenly burst into flames on the stage next to her, but she didn't care and continued to swing her body. "That's what I set the fire on." Dead Boy said seriously. There are several nightclubs in Uptown that specialize in death-related services, ranging from attempted burials to experiencing mummification, some of which would be unacceptable to even the most extreme gothic.There is a nightclub called "Rest in Peace" that offers a brief death experience, allowing guests to experience what it is like to die.There's also a whorehouse where you can sleep with vampires, ghouls, and zombies.There are always people in the world who prefer cold flesh and the taste of formaldehyde. I told Dead Boy what I thought of above, but he was only interested in the brothel part, and even took out a pen and paper to copy the address. "Trust me." I said firmly. "You don't want to go. Be careful to bring back maggots." Then a ghost dancer caught my eye.She shyly gestured to a customer, and then led the customer halfway through the dim main hall, towards a box at the back.The customer was tall and thin, with a slightly sly look on his face.After the two of them entered the box, they immediately closed the door tightly.I look at Dead Boy. "Well, what's the point? I mean, since he can't touch her at all..." "Love will find its way," said Dead Boy. "They can't exchange bodily fluids, they exchange energy. Of course, this kind of behavior is agreed by both parties. The female ghost absorbs the customer's life energy-I heard that it feels great-after that, it can condense a certain degree of form, Then come to serve customers. Both parties get what they need, and enjoy themselves. The more life energy the female ghost collects, the more real it will become. In theory, as long as it absorbs enough energy, the female ghost can even come back from the dead... Sometimes There will be female ghosts who don't know the severity and completely drain the energy of the customers. At that time, we will have to face the angry ghost customers who will not stop making trouble in the store. The reason why we record the phone number of the exorcism service on speed dial , specifically to deal with this situation.” The door of the box opened, and the customer just came out.He didn't stay inside for a long time, and he was very thin when he went in, but when he came out, his weight increased significantly, even his stomach became bigger.Dead Boy swore and bounced from the side of the bar. "What's wrong?" I asked. "That bastard is a soul thief." Dead Boy said briefly. "He sucked the female ghost into the human body, hoping to bring it out. Let's go." We swaggered through the main hall, with all the customers hurrying to get out of the way.As soon as the fat man saw the dead boy, he immediately took out a complicated glass amulet from his pocket and threw it on the ground.The glass shattered, and the magic power overflowed. The dead boy was unable to move as if he had hit an invisible wall, and his pale face twisted into a painful ball. "This is an anti-possession spell." He said with difficulty. "Trying to cast me out of my body. Stop that bastard, John, don't let him take our ghost." I stepped forward quickly, blocking the way of the fat man.He stopped, looked me over carefully, and put his hand in his pocket again.I turned on the talent, found out the spell he used to imprison the female ghost and dispelled it, and then turned off the talent.Fatty's whole body trembled violently, he swayed to and fro, his protruding abdomen kept agitating like pieces of paper floating in the wind.I walked behind him, wrapped my arms around his stomach, and squeezed as hard as I could.I saw a stream of smoke continuously gushing out from the fat man's mouth and nose, instantly forming the shape of a female ghost.The fat man's belly disappeared, and the female ghost stood in front of us perfectly.She temporarily concentrated her energy on one leg, kicked the soul thief's testicles hard, and then left without looking back.I let go of my hands, and the soul thief fell to the ground with an expression on his face as if he wished he was dead. I left him alone and walked back to Dead Boy.He looks much better now. "Cheap rubbish spells," he said cheerfully. "It's insulting, you want to use this kind of thing against me? My soul is attached to the body by experts! Leave that soul thief to me, John. I must let him experience the same level of insult. " We walk back to the bar.The barmaid had opened a new bottle of whiskey for Dead Boy.He reached out to take it, but hesitated for a moment, then looked at me thoughtfully. "You don't come here just to ask, John. What do you want?" "I need your help. My mother is finally back and the poo is already hitting the fan." "Why do people only come to me when they need help?" Dead Boy mused. "And it usually doesn't come until things have gotten out of hand?" "I think you've answered your own question," I said. "With your attitude, how do you expect others to treat you?" "Tell me the details." Dead Boy said. I told the story briefly, and he shook his head as he listened, until he nearly shook his head off at the end. "No, I won't. I'm not against the characters in the Old Testament. Even I can't deal with those guys." "I need your help." "So what?" "You must help me, Death Boy." "Who said that? I don't have to do anything I don't want to do. I'm dead anyway, what can you do to me?" "My mother led the army of Street of the Gods to invade Night City, we must stop her." "Good luck, John. Remember to send a postcard to report what's going on. I'll be at the North Pole, hiding under some polar bear." "I have a plan..." "You have a plan every time! The answer is no, I don't go against God, I have self-knowledge." I stared at him coldly: "If you are not a friend, you are an enemy. My enemy." "Are you really going to threaten an old friend, John?" "It's true that friends don't need threats at all." "Damn it, John," he whispered. "Don't treat me like this. If my body is destroyed, my soul will have nowhere to go, and what's waiting for me..." "If Lilith isn't stopped, Nightside will become like hell." "You're great, Tyler, you know that? Well, I'm in. But I'm going to regret it." "This kind of spirit is right." I said. "In these days, even death can't be peaceful." The dead boy said sadly.