Pretending To Be A Boss-Chapter 396 - 54: The New Master of the Holy Fortress
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The Sanctuary Fortress.
For thirty years, day in, day out, the Sanctuary Fortress remained tranquil.
People were somewhat curious why Zhuo He no longer visited the lower levels for inspections.
But they assumed that to maintain the peace of the fortress, Zhuo He had a lot of matters to attend to.
People praised the great lord during the peaceful mornings, the lazy afternoons, and the pleasant evenings.
Yet they had no idea that the sixth level had undergone earth-shaking changes.
The master forger Yu Xiaozhe was not only skilled at forging documents.
He was also an expert at voice imitation, disguise, and makeup.
This was exactly why Lin Sen chose to cooperate with Yu Xiaozhe.
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The principle was similar to how many ancient college students would fantasize about having a roommate skilled at falsetto, slim, and understanding of cross-dressing.
In a nutshell, under the cover provided by Yu Xiaozhe and Lin Sen, nothing about the Sanctuary Fortress had been exposed.
Every day, only a very small number of talented individuals would go to the mines in the public green areas just for show.
Then, after returning to the fortress, they started a good life of a week without work.
After all, in this era, mineral sources could not only maintain the power needed for the Pyramid but could also be transformed into various nutritious meal ingredients.
Everyone was hoping that this kind of life could last until the end of their days.
Despite the guilt deep inside, what could years of dilution, along with a good life, do to change that guilt?
In the evenings, when families would go for walks, the streets were at their liveliest.
As usual, Mrs. Wu was chatting with her neighbors about this and that.
Lu Chao’an was playing basketball with his son nearby, one of the now rare ball sports.
Their lives were as regular as if pressed onto carbon paper, repeating each day, monotonously.
So the moment panic struck, it felt incredibly abrupt.
The people in this neighborhood would always cast their gaze inadvertently towards the place obscured by the black curtain.
But tonight, the curtain had vanished.
The vast black curtain, like the opening of a grand play, was slowly drawn back.
The first person to see this scene rubbed his eyes.
He was a doctor who had lived in this neighborhood for twenty-seven years.
In those twenty-seven years, the doctor had never seen the curtain drawn back at night.
Conventional thinking first suppressed his astonishment, but in the belated seconds that followed, that surprise burst forth like a compressed spring suddenly losing its pressure—
and he opened his eyes wide, letting out a cry of alarm.
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A dense crowd of people emerged from the crevice.
The doctor watched this scene in disbelief.
Their hair was withered and greasy, filthy, their skin pale, either overlaid with a thick layer of grime or covered with sores from living in a damp environment for years on end.
They were like boxes left untouched in a corner for decades; with one breath, a disgusting dust was kicked up.
They wore tattered clothing that, even from a distance, felt like it had mold and damage from years in damp, dark places.
The pace of the crowd was slow.
Like refugees from a dark underworld.
More and more people witnessed this scene.
The residents of the Sanctuary Fortress stood agape, their eyes bulging, incredulous at what was unfolding.
The beautiful life of the past thirty years seemed to have dulled their capacity to accept new things.
People who were chatting just a moment ago were now as if they had lost their souls.
More people continuously walked out from the pitch-black portal.
There were even more than a thousand.
The returnees had various expressions—confused, joyful, astonished, sad, and angry.
They also looked at others.
Seeing the astonished looks of those around them, observing their bright and shiny clothes, sensing the Pyramid’s air free of foul stench,
certain forgotten things wriggled out from the shadows and gaps in their memories.
Up to this moment, the residents of the Sanctuary Fortress had not fully realized what was happening.
But ultimately, some recognized a few among the returnees, instantly covering their mouths, overwhelmed by complex emotions.
Mrs. Wu was one of them; the major event she had been sensing all these days had finally come—she was terrified. When she saw the girl walking at the forefront of the crowd—
her legs seemed to lose all strength, and she collapsed to the ground, covering her mouth and weeping.
For nearly four years, Lu Lingyi had given up the thought of returning after the second year.
She had swept the people who abandoned her to the dustiest corner of her consciousness like clearing away residue.
But the moment she stepped out of the portal, Lingyi couldn’t help but remember everything again.
When her grandmother, who had taught her medicine, was swallowed by the foul swamp water, Lingyi thought she had lost the last family member in this world.
But once her gaze fell on Mrs. Wu, she found it impossible to look away even slightly.
Watching Mrs. Wu cry in agony was like feeling years of regret and guilt suddenly taking root and sprouting.
Lu Lingyi thought her heart was cold, but she walked up to Mrs. Wu, and then looked around, spotting her father in the distance, and her brother who was but six years old back then.
Lingyi smiled, and her smile carried a touch of irony and self-pity.
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