I changed the world.

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Saint Antias, the capital of the Toltec Autonomous Domain of the Kingdom of Gasol, is a city that doesn't appear particularly advanced. Compared to the capital of the Kingdom of Gasol, which is far away on the western continent, its infrastructure looks as if it has been frozen in time for twenty years. Old-fashioned cars can be seen everywhere on the streets, models that have long been retired from the western continent.

The streets here are narrow and dilapidated. Every now and then, scantily clad women can be seen standing on the streets, most with darker skin tones. If someone or a driver stops to look at them, they immediately approach and flirtatiously greet them. These are local streetwalkers, mostly descendants of indigenous people or mixed-race individuals, and many have connections to local gangs. Of course, this doesn't mean these women are involved in any scams or entrapments; rather, most have voluntarily or involuntarily borrowed money from the gangs, many with a history of drug addiction. The local gangs use this as a means of controlling these women, collecting monthly protection money. If they refuse to pay, they quickly disappear from the streets.

Some strong men usually stand at a distance from these women, either smoking and chatting or sitting on the street playing cards. These men are the eyes and ears of the local gang.

Occasionally, uniformed colonial police officers would walk by on the street, seemingly ignoring the idle men and women.

The number of homicides in San Antilias is dozens of times higher than in Gasol, with more than 2000 homicide victims last year alone. As a result, unclogging the sewers has become a rather horrifying job, as strange, chopped pieces of flesh are frequently unearthed...

Chadwick walked down the street with his backpack. He had arrived in San Antiaas by bus at noon today and planned to stay there overnight before taking a flight to Canella, Gasol, tomorrow morning, and then transfer back to Rune.

As he walked, he carefully observed his surroundings. Before coming here, he had read local travel guides online and knew that in this city, a stranger must always be aware of his surroundings and avoid going to any remote places alone...

However, Chadwick's face was heavy at this moment, as if he had something on his mind. His eyes were also shifty, especially when he glanced at the dark corners of the street. He would only glance at them briefly and then look away, as if he was afraid of seeing something and being seen by something.

If it weren't for the travel bag slung over his back and his tourist-like attire, Chadwick would look exactly like a street smuggler, cautiously searching for customers while simultaneously worrying about being discovered by a larger gang...

In fact, Chadwick is really panicked right now. He has noticed some inexplicable changes happening to him...

Simply put, he seems to be able to see some "unclean" things now...

For example, right at the street corner ahead, in the shadow of the streetlight, he could see a well-dressed elderly man standing there, like a man in a gray woolen suit after a meal. Of course, if it weren't for the large bloodstains on the suit and the multiple bullet holes in the old man's forehead and the missing half of his skull, he would look much more normal...

Yes, the old man had clearly been shot in the head, but in Chadwick's eyes, he did not fall down. Instead, he stood in the shadows with a bewildered expression, staring blankly ahead.

A drunkard, humming a song and swaying his head, walked straight toward the old man, seemingly oblivious to everything around him. He lunged at the old man, but no collision occurred. The two seemed to pass each other in different parallel universes; the drunkard passed right through the old man's body and continued walking.

It was as if the old man standing in the shadows was just a phantom, and only Chadwick could see it.

Chadwick glanced quickly at the old man, and before their eyes even met, he abruptly looked away, suppressing his rapidly beating heart. He pretended to be nonchalant, as if he hadn't seen anything, and quickly walked past the old man...

The other day, being inexperienced, he saw this "ghostly thing" for the first time. Not knowing what it was, he thought it was some kind of street cosplay and went over to see what was new. As a result, the ghostly thing was "awakened," and then it mutated, and he was chased by the mutated monster...

Fortunately, he was lucky to escape. He had just encountered a patrol of colonial police, and after the chaos subsided, he managed to get away. As for what happened to those policemen, he couldn't care less...

In the past two days, he has had two "exciting" experiences in order to verify some of his ideas. As for the fact that he has come out unscathed so far, he can only attribute it to his good luck and that he had made some preparations in advance...

However, by now, he had a general understanding of the changes that had occurred within him. Just like in some mysterious stories circulating in Western folklore, he seemed to be able to see those "unclean" things.

Chadwick's own guess was that this was most likely related to his previous adventures in the rainforest. In particular, he was still completely baffled as to what exactly he had encountered in the stone temple atop the underground pyramid.

However, the only thing he was certain of was that some kind of change had occurred within himself that he was not yet aware of.

There are quite a few unclean things in this city...

Chadwick muttered to himself, having already noticed several "unsettling" spots along the way. It seemed some of the information in the travel guide was indeed accurate; he would have to be careful here...

Chadwick became increasingly alert as he pondered this. Then, he noticed something amiss. In the distance, several local youths, seemingly idly leaning against the roadside, were watching him and talking amongst themselves.

You know, robberies and even kidnappings happen frequently in this city... Chadwick glanced around discreetly, walked forward for about 30 meters, then turned left onto a side road, avoiding the location of the young men.

Chapter 452 Blood in the Bathtub

However, he quickly noticed out of the corner of his eye that the young men had left their previous position and were now swaying and drooping behind him, actually following him.

This was not a good sign. It seemed these people had mistaken him, a lone traveler from out of town, for an easy target. Chadwick's mind raced with images of robbery, shooting, and kidnapping. He quickened his pace, searching the surrounding area.

Soon, he saw a hotel with a sign on the roadside about forty meters away. Without thinking too much, Chadwick practically ran into the hotel called "Escal Hotel".

Generally speaking, even in chaotic areas, businesses that can operate hotels will at least fulfill their obligations to protect their guests, at least on the surface; otherwise, these businesses would have gone out of business long ago.

Chadwick thought so too. Upon entering, he found himself in the hotel lobby. After looking around, Chadwick found the environment to be quite nice. The solid wood decorations, though somewhat old, had a classic style and did not appear shabby.

He walked to the front desk in the lobby. Behind the desk sat a middle-aged woman whose body was so obese that it was almost deformed. She was engrossed in scrolling through her phone until Chadwick walked up to her and she looked up.

"Get me a clean room for a few hours," Chadwick said in slightly broken Gasolese, then added with some concern, "By the way, is it safe here?"

“Don’t worry, as long as you don’t cause any trouble, no one will come here to cause trouble…” The middle-aged woman, speaking in heavily accented, somewhat indistinct Gasolese, glanced at Chadwick indifferently before handing him a room key. Then, she picked up her phone again, no longer paying attention to the guest before her.

Chadwick put away the room key, glanced at it, and saw it was room 207. Without saying anything more, he went upstairs along the stairs.

Chadwick swiped the card to room 207, closed the door, took off his backpack and put it on the ground, then quickly walked to the window. He didn't open the window, but stood to the side of it and carefully looked down. From there, he could see the street below, the very street he had just walked from.

Sure enough, by the light of the streetlights, he quickly spotted three somewhat familiar men, the same ones who had been following him earlier. They stopped at the hotel entrance but didn't go inside. Instead, they lingered there for a moment, exchanged a few words, and then turned and walked away, seemingly abandoning their pursuit of Chadwick.

Seeing this, Chadwick finally felt relieved. He observed from the window for a while longer to make sure there was no danger before returning to his room, sprawling on the bed, and letting out a long sigh of relief.

So much had happened these past few days, and he hadn't had a proper rest along the way. Now, lying in bed, Chadwick's eyelids began to droop, and before he knew it, he had drifted off to sleep...

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