Scanning correction: CSH
The love and lust of two lovers changed the world…
In 2080 AD, at the end of the 21st Century, after a great and violent shock and reorganization of the human race, all national boundaries and racial prejudices have disappeared, and the earth is left barren. In the moment of artificially created nature, the goal of striving and attempting to create is lost.
The only thing that remains unchanged is lust, which is still growing in the shadows. Thus, a movie disc that synthesizes fantasy and reality brings people back to the most obscure and ancient depths of lust, and in the brilliant vision of technological civilization, the love and greed of a pair of lovers, Will and Jenny, make people rethink about love, lust, and love….
Chapter V
He is a presumptuous man, big and full of fat. Although he was a rich man who lived in the Joo area, he was now in the mood for some vulgar excitement. On a whim, he likes to take a taxi out of the Joo area, through the Don area, and on to the Haverfordwest shantytown. The Haverway Shantytown was a slum not far from the town of Downside. It was always at odds with the mainstream. When he got out of the car, he always walked through these ramshackle shanties to a porno bar.
His name is Jesse and he likes porn bars, and porn bars are not illegal in the Down District though. Fulfilling a little bit of adult sexuality isn’t too much to ask for at all, but pornography isn’t promoted in high class neighborhoods, so when Jesse wants to go to a porno bar, he has to come to Haverfordwest. And he didn’t mind coming here. He liked the women here; they were more flavorful than the women in the Joo and Tang districts. And the women here were safer and more fair. Jesse was a man who liked to be on top.
The fact that this erotic bar he loves serves meat makes him all the more cheerful. Jesse was a man who disliked vegetarian food, synthetic proteins, and insect dishes. Jesse loved meat, especially hot, greasy meat with bones. He is a hot-tempered, fat-filled man himself, but he does not tolerate being called obese.
Many women agree with him; women like their men strong and rugged, and they consider succulent men to be rich men. Jesse went out on a limb. He was very popular at Harvard Way. When he was in a good mood and saw a woman who was too skinny, he would encourage her to eat meat; he didn’t think she ate enough meat to be so skinny. He really was born out of time. Jesse loved his exuberant libido, and if he didn’t satisfy it for a long time, he felt that life was as tasteless as when he ate Mexican food without chili peppers.
He strutted into the bar and took a seat at the table, where the head barman immediately wiped his hands on his snow-white apron and walked briskly over to him, beaming and asking which waitress he needed to serve him. Jesse asked for a beer and ordered a tall, blonde waitress.
She came up to him at once, and he saw that she was not young. But it seemed as though she was quite sophisticated and savvy in dealing with men. She frowned out of habit, smiled slowly and obscenely at him, then handed him the menu before taking out her note pad.
One look at her face told him that she was a woman who couldn’t hide anything in her heart and was happy to share what she knew with a man. Her face was heavily powdered, just the way he liked it. Jesse hated smooth, healthy skin like a baby’s. He was more easily turned on by the sight of a clothed woman than a naked one.
“What’s the name, sweetheart?” He asked with a smirk.
“Rael, short for Rael Sura.” She whispered smugly, her voice sounding comforting to him.
“I like the way you’re dressed now, Lyle,” he said. “You can just call me Jessie.” He could see her bellybutton, and even the small of her back was faintly visible. She wore a pair of outdated socks, and Jesse knew she had garters when he heard the grinding of her skirt. Above her was a satin, multi-buttoned blouse that wrapped tightly around her beautifully marled breasts, the tops of which strained out. He liked these sexually provocative outfits because he would get the desired thrill out of them.
“So, Jesse honey, what do you want to eat?” She squirmed closer to him, and Jesse could feel the heat of her body now. He put his hand on her thigh and moved it slowly over her stockinged thigh, rubbing it gently.
“I don’t know what to eat,” he said. Gradually his hand slid down to the port of her sock. He hesitated for a moment, then moved upward again, little by little, his fingers slowly reaching into the sock and touching her cool skin.
“Let me help you with the recipe.” She said as she ambled over to him. Her high breasts immediately slipped out of her smock.
His hand touched farther. Now her scent traveled all over him. He touched her hidden pubic hair and her mesmerizing area. She clenched her thighs and gave his hand a quick squeeze to show that she liked it.
“I want steak,” he said. His hands continued to explore. “And I want them cooked deliciously.
“Now his hand finally touched that wet spot of hers. He stroked it back and forth, then began to rub it with his fingers again. She squirmed a little in embarrassment.
His finger was inside its labia now. Her pubic hair rubbed against the back of his hand, but his finger did press against the opening of her vagina, and he felt it hot and still open. He tried pushing in, and the vaginal opening opened immediately under the pressure of his fingers, but it popped right back up again when he retreated his fingers. He extended three fingers and shoved them in together, he struggled to spread them apart to make the vagina open wider as his big thumb gently rubbed against her labia and clit.
She gasped slightly, her body swaying.
“Go get the raw steak,” he muttered. “I’m going to grill the steaks here.”
She ate and laughed, “You think I’m hot enough, Jesse?”
“God, of course I think so. Why not? I’d also like to fry some eggs right away. Get me some more, sweetheart.”
When she stood up and loudly ordered the food he wanted, Jesse began stroking her again. He kept smiling coyly as he masturbated to her, watching her become more and more eager.
“I should go get your food.” She said finally holding onto his shoulder, trying to keep her balance.
“Bullshit! You don’t pretend.”
“No kidding, sweetheart. I really didn’t mean to leave you on purpose.”
Jessie’s other hand went into his jacket pocket to pull something out. She really felt aroused and her pussy was much wetter than it had been when his fingers first penetrated it.
“You’ve got the biggest pussy ever, sweetheart,” he murmured, momentarily unable to think of her name.
He finally pulled out something of some kind in that hand of his and immediately handed it to the one in his skirt. Then it shoved it into her cunt.
“Jessie, what are you doing?” She asked, a little surprised.
“A gift for you, Rael. You are a fine young lady.”
“A gift? I like gifts. Did you put it… there?”
“Of course.” Reluctantly, he pulled his hand out of his skirt and wiped it on a napkin. Rael stood there, guessing what the hell he’d put in her cunt.
“You put a really hard piece in me,” she said.
“I’ll put hard stuff there again in the future.”
“Sweetheart. Can I take it out?”
“You walk carefully and it won’t fall off. You tell the cook to cook some more snake mackerel and bring me some more meat. Okay?”
“Okay,” she said softly, her voice mellow and sweet. “I’ll be right there.”
He put a ruby in her vagina.
Jesse came out of that bar in Haverfordwest and headed home in a good mood. His stomach was full and his hands were still shaking from the touch he had just given them. His face was flushed and that healthy heart in his firm, strong body was thumping. It was a beautiful day, with warm sunshine shining down on the earth, but from the brilliant sliver of light in the sky, one could tell that it was going to rain before evening.
He decided to walk through the Down District. Not far away at the foot of the hill, the university buildings shimmered with crystal light. The Down District was beautiful, all the business houses were tucked away in green groves, and there were parks, gardens, and water gardens of all sizes scattered throughout the district. Jessie made her way to the clothing store in the retail district.
The people in the store sized him up and thought to themselves that he must be a kind and good-hearted man like his grandfather. Jesse’s mind, however, was wondering when he would go to the brothel later, and the thought of going to the brothel made him smile all by himself. He was not married and was happy with his current life. He preferred to pay the brothels for pleasure. The girls at the brothel were fairly priced and had a work ethic. Jesse always liked having women around.
His feet stopped abruptly. He looked angrily at the pavement. There was a piece of something lying flauntingly on the neat and clean street. It turned out to be a movie disk, and he bent down to pick it up.
The disk was so dirty, the color on the cover was faded and the writing on it was a blur, it was as if someone had deliberately left it out in the rain in this condition. He couldn’t even make out the text of the instructions on it. The disk must have been ruined by the moisture, he thought. To his surprise, he found the disk intact.
He absently was about to throw it in the trash when he saw a small green triangle logo in the corner of the disk. So it was a sex DVD. He was immediately interested.
He held the movie disk in his hand and it warmed his heart. Without thinking, he put it in his pocket. Jesse had unspoken excitement. Damn, life was too good! Because he was a gambler, he stopped thinking much about his good fortune and considered how he could use his current luck to make a fortune.
The jungles on the horizon were now as black as ink, and they cascaded into the fading haze of the sky. He had to hurry and take a taxi across that no-man’s land between the Don and the Joo districts. At home everything would be all right. He would take a shower, then place a few bets, and finally watch the disk, yes, those were the things he wanted to do. He owned the video disk.
Jesse was a very superstitious man, but he never admitted it to himself. If anyone cared to ask him what his character was, he would colorfully describe himself as a careful and sensitive man, and Jesse often thought that he could see through people’s outward appearances to the depths of their hearts. Now he was rambling again, and he was glad to think of what he should bet. It was so late in the day that there were no more big running races. His mind went over the merits of the horses one by one again, and then he noticed a white cloud drifting over the side of the mountain and slowly disappearing into the jungle.
He suddenly remembered that he had picked up the disk at the water park. He couldn’t remember which street it was on, he only remembered the water park. As he went home, he thought about how he was going to take a shower and how it was going to rain.
What will life want to tell him? How the mysterious and successful gambler would like to prick up his ears and listen carefully to the destiny of the heavens. It’s funny how everything, no matter how disorganized, boils down to three points when you put it all together (the rain shower at the water park). At this particular moment in time it all boils down to water, and now the price of fresh water is announced every day. Jesse has heard of Rollo, the community of Juju is too small, and he knows that the water king of the world is holding a secret meeting.
Jesse owned a lot of stock and he immediately knew what to bet, he smiled happily and beads of sweat broke out on his head again at the thought of this daring plan. He would mortgage his computer network car and buy into the water stock.
He’ll buy in bulk, and once the stock starts to rise, he’ll dump it, make a killing, and redeem his “computer network car”.
The gamble was simple, but required considerable capital to make a profit. There must be a profit, and the price must rise, for the stock index of the Rollo-owned Cheswau Water Transportation Company is known to have slipped to its lowest point from the current quarterly published figures.
This company is seriously dealing with a lot of major issues and even though none of them have gotten out of their current situation, Jesse is not worried and he thinks that this company is viable in the long run. But for the time being, they should raise the price per liter of purified water in order to convince the investors ah. Rollo was an articulate son of a bitch, and Jesse thought it would be good for Chesvulau. At the thought of soaring higher prices, Jesse kept rubbing his two fat palms together in excitement. Well, he’d place his bets on Rollo, who was a very successful man. Jesse remembered Rollo’s wife, and besides, he couldn’t help but get all hot and bothered thinking about Janz. Janz was a sexy girl, with stunning eyes, a pair of huge breasts, a thin and long nose, she was sometimes arrogant and never looked people in the eye, but that was the kind of woman Jesse liked. He imagined many of these women, their hands tied behind their backs, dressed in pink three-point swimsuits, and himself with a whip in his hand, all of these beautiful arrogant women cringing in front of him, on their knees, pleading with him to take it out on them.
Jesse laughed out loud. The movie disk wasn’t much use, but it could still be entertaining. He remembered the video disk he’d picked up. Yes, he’d play the disk when he got home. His whole mind was on the DVD now, and he hoped it was a good one.
Ferniekie did everything she could to do what she was supposed to do, starting with Jenny inexplicably losing contact and then Will disappearing in her eyes. She didn’t know how to help them, but she had to keep looking for the movie disk, so she had to take action.
She bought an e-mail address and placed an ad in an e-mail magazine. Email magazines are always filled with features, essays, interviews, and news. The news was just dramatic and romantic stories. Faye rented two copies of the Times, one in the morning and one in the afternoon, for a week. It was quite expensive, and her advertisement was something like this: You’ve already used it, you know it’s different. The disk is wandering around, it wants to go home, we accidentally lost it, we’ll pay for it.
Now, she could only wait patiently for the echo. Whippet had stolen it from her office. And he had lost it again. Caz found it in a store, and he lost it too. The cleaning lady found it at the university, took it, and then she lost it too. Where did it go after the cleaning lady lost it?
Who has it now? Will he hold on to it? Why is this disk always slipping away?
Les could sometimes catch glimpses of the girl from the video disk out of the corner of her eye, but once she quickly turned to look at her, she was gone. That girl was like a starlight in the sky. The harder you stared, the faster she disappeared. Not only did she flicker in and out of existence, but she was like a burning nuclear reactor, and no matter how far away she was, Lace always felt her getting closer and closer, more and more like waves of air that didn’t exist, rather than something solid and real.
These days, Lace had been watching movie disk movies, and she had nothing else to do; she spent so much time watching that sometimes when she came back from outside, she didn’t have to turn on the TV at all because she forgot to turn it off when she left the house.
Les saw the ad that Faye had put in her e-mail, and she understood what the ad meant.
Les didn’t want the money, but she wanted the video disk, and she wanted the girl in it even more. The girl had made her feel so much better, in a way the girl had given her new life, since Joe had died she had thought her heart was dead and would never be alive again, but the girl had worked a miracle and had brought Les back from the dead.
Joe was a policeman before he was born and died five years ago in a big roundup of a nest of piracy thieves. The nest was in the old city, where the pirates had been brazenly destroying the Juju people’s computer network cars and then selling them back to the Juju people, who were treated as slaves and animals to be slaughtered rather than as human beings, so the police department finally couldn’t tolerate the pirates’ bad behavior any longer, and so the big roundup was carried out. Les had been trying to curse Joe’s murderers to death, but the pirates never died. The roundup was a great success, but it took the life of Joe, whom Les still misses dearly. She was not a destitute person. Joe had worked hard for his money during his lifetime, and had thus left his wife a handsome pension, but what use was that to a woman who loved to cook, but did not know for whom to cook?
Their apartment (she still thought of it as hers and Joe’s) was large, light and airy, and when they stood on the balcony, they had a great view of the Joo area. Les always said that she lived in a very narrow strip of Joo, but she had to admit that this narrow place was a little too big.
Now, Les couldn’t even begin to explain her feelings for the girl on the DVD, she had never touched another man since Joe died. Ever since she had touched the girl in the disk, she had felt a certain longing, and Les was now very, very hungry for the opposite sex, but she was still alone, and the disk had been lost, and the only thing she felt was very lonely, when she saw the advertisement. She no longer owns the video disk, but answering the ad doesn’t do any harm.
Maybe the girl would come out of hiding when she saw the ad. Les was sure the girl liked what they were doing to each other as much as she did. So she replied to that e-mail address of Faye’s using the number on her own light-guide cable, then sat down and waited quietly for Faye to contact her.
Jesse had a sneaky idea in mind. He knew that he was not a handsome man in high society, but he understood that his gruff appearance was still attractive to a certain type of woman. Jesse thought that men nowadays, especially those in the Joo district, were no longer manly, and lately they had become more and more feminine. They shaved their bodies, not only the beard on their chins, but many of them even shaved the hair on their thighs, on their chests and even on their arms. Again, Jesse thought, it won’t be long before they shave even their pubic hair. Now he was very proud of his body hair, and it seemed to him that the women would appreciate his manhood.
So the question is, what kind of woman is Fernie Kee really? I’ve heard that she was a very sexual woman. But that legend stems from her appearance, the way she walks, the way she dresses.
Jessie had never heard of her being with any other man, except her husband of course. Her husband was a very well mannered man. He was tall, as if he worked out regularly. And his blonde hair, always immaculately combed, his mouth was wide and his blue eyes always sparkled with intelligence.
Any woman would love this big financier. It would be a wonder if he didn’t have a fling. So what does this beautiful Fernie Kee think of her husband’s flings?
Jessie thought to herself that this good-looking man must be a self-absorbed man. So what did this beautiful Fernie Kie think of that? Would she want her husband to outshine her? The more Jesse thought about it, the more he realized that Fernie would find him attractive. He, Jesse, was a real man. Once he’d given a woman a little taste of his own medicine, she’d realize that. Maybe Faye would overlook his Jesse’s gruff exterior and realize his true worth.
He turned on the videophone and immediately introduced himself after seeing her silhouette on the screen.
“Mrs. Rollo, my name is Jesse, and I also live in the Joo area.”
She frowned. “I think I know you.” Her voice was cold, not at all warm.
“I think we have mutual friends. They’re Monroe and Dewey.”
“Yes.” Faye nodded, her tone still raw.
“Mrs. Rollo, I’m looking for you because I’d like to meet you and I’d like to take you out for a meal. I have something to talk to you about that I can’t talk about over the phone for a while.”
“Mr. Jesse, in what way? I hate being busy, and I always need to know more before a date.”
Dating! That’s what she defined as an invitation from him. It wouldn’t be long before he was about to punish her for insulting him.
“About the water.” He said.
There was a long silence. Faye gazed at him calmly. Then she said, “I’ll get back to you later.”
She cut the line.
Jessie thought it was funny. The damned woman, Faye was good to her word, and five minutes later she answered back.
“Mr. Jesse, please, where? When?”
He proposed to meet at the Compagnie Bar in the early evening. Without hesitation he pushed his way into the bar. He was right on time, and he was surprised to find that she was right on time as well. He didn’t mind when women were late, as long as they didn’t keep him waiting too long, and he felt as if there was something sweet about waiting for them. But it wasn’t long before he forgot to think about it all, for it was only the first time he realized that the bar was owned by Ferniekie.
He thought he had the aura to overwhelm her, but he was wrong. Faye had an aggressive power, and she overwhelmed him instantly. She had marvelous, ice-green eyes, and there was a distinct scar on her white lid, as if she had been scratched with a diamond, but it didn’t detract from her appearance, rather it made her even more beautiful. She was tall and slender, and he thought that her two large breasts were like two large jewels embedded in her chest. She wore a pair of high heels and a very short skirt underneath, her hair was long and she wore a broad-brimmed black hat on her head. The expression on her face was very determined, without the slightest appearance of retreat.
Jesse laughed, his mind already made up.
“Mr. Jesse, I have done some research on you. You own a biochemical company that specializes in the analysis of liquids. You told me about the water problem on the videophone, so what’s going on?”
He leaned forward rather sincerely and said: “Mrs. Rollo, we have discovered a new microorganism, we have found them for some time, but we can’t destroy them. The toxicity of this microorganism is 8.7 to 10 percent, and it is increasing. It’s growing slowly, but it’s definitely growing. We’re fairly certain that this bacteria has gotten into the public water supply.”
Faye was as calm as ever. “I suppose if this concerns my husband’s company, then let me tell you that my husband’s Chessvlau company is equipped with quite sensitive surveillance equipment. Mr. Jesse, I am also the head of the company. We have not heard anything at all like what you are describing.”
“They are only just beginning. They’ve only reached their toxic content in our labs. You can only detect them when they reach zero point two per cubic meter. Therefore, until they are above zero point two, they are not in sufficient quantity to be toxic.”
“I find it rather prudent of you to tell me this information,” she replied again, unperturbed. “I presume you have reported it to the authorities?”
“Not yet.”
“Other water carriers?”
“Not yet.”
“News media?”
“Not yet.”
“Your counterpart?”
“Not yet.”
“Mr. Jesse, why me? Why tie it up with Chessvlau?”
“They’re not as beautiful as you.” He said in a panic. “They don’t have the friends we have in common. They don’t live in Juju. I suggest that we Joojoo people should unite.”
“Common antibacterial drugs don’t work on them?”
“They’re not bacteria.”
Her face slowly turned red at this point, and he saw that she looked a little confused. “A virus?” She asked.
“Yes, a virus.”
“There is a dichotomy in everything,” she said, “and I have often thought that the most powerful thing is not white and black, or heaven and hell, or earth and fire, man and woman, or even life and death. It seems to me that the most powerful thing is us humans, every living thing, and that includes viruses. It’s us and them. Maybe one day they will win us over.”
“Maybe that day has come.”
She said briskly, “So what to do about this? Why did you tell me about our little water-loving things?”
“I’ll give you the results of the experiments we’ve made, which include a protein membrane that stops them from reproducing so that you can get ahead of your competitors in defeating these microbes, but five percent of these microbes’ DNA mutates every thirty minutes, and but for that, you might have beaten them. So while your stocks are still stable, you can quietly sell them.” Jesse said with a smirk.
“I don’t think there’s any way we can auction it off without causing a fluctuation.” Fee muttered.
“Nonsense. Don’t insult me. You could have just pretended tax reasons, transferred the stock to another company’s name, and then quietly sold that company before people came to their senses, no?”
“Mr. Jesse, how can we thank you? Why don’t you make an offer?”
“Faye, please call me Jessie and come back to my apartment with me.”
Jesse lounged lazily on the bed watching her. “My manservants will undress you.” He said.
He was glad to see the anger in her eyes. His two manservants rushed forward, knelt beside the gorgeous woman, and began to remove the clothes from her body. They stripped without fuss. She kept her eyes on Jesse, who lay before her, watching her. Her dress fell to the floor with a clatter. The room was quiet and all that could be heard was her heavy breathing. Her breasts rose and fell dramatically up and down. Her two breasts in her pink blouse jiggled gently. Underneath she wore a pair of very delicate shorts that wrapped tightly around her hips. The crimson garter stockings were like a tear in her white thighs, and he liked the black stockings she wore. He didn’t want her to take off her black stockings.
The manservants had removed the hat from her head and all her hair fell over her shoulders. At this point, the manservants removed her shirt. She wore nothing underneath her shirt. Her nipples were the exact same color as her garters and he inhaled deeply in pleasure.
She felt humiliated and her cheeks had gone scarlet with anger. Her entire body was now covered only by her high heels and black stockings on her feet, but other than that, there were her shorts now.
“Shorts,” Jesse said. She didn’t flinch at all, glaring at him viciously.
The manservants finally worked their way down her pants very slowly and she closed her eyes in pain. Jesse’s eyes stared hungrily at her pussy.
The manservants had her raise her right and left feet one after the other and pulled down her pants before silently exiting the room, leaving her standing alone in the center of the floor.
“Come here,” Jessie whispered.
“Yes, sir,” she bowed her lofty head, “help me undress.”
She lowered her eyes humbly and silently undid his shirt and pants. Jessie didn’t think she didn’t like his toned and naked body.
“Touch me,” he commanded in a low voice. Her hands were white and slender, and to his surprise they were cold, like her appearance, her temperament. “Stroke my cock,” he said under his breath, by this time he was hot with arousal.
“Kiss me.”
“I hear you.” She grunted, and by that time, her cool lips were pressed against his. She kissed her way up his upper body, sliding down to his groin, while her hands kept stroking over his chest. His cock swelled large under her touch, her cheeks rubbing against his pussy as her lips kissed his moist glans.
He lay comfortably on his back. “Lover, open your legs,” he said. “Stick you on top of my cock.”
As she bent over to thrust, she suddenly cried out, “Your penis is too big. I don’t know how to stick it in, help me, help me.”
He helped her and slowly her pussy took his cock, he felt her that was tight. Jessie thought to herself that she wouldn’t forget Jessie, oh no she wouldn’t. He was the perfect lover for her.
She began to move her hips up and down. It felt so wonderful, so good, especially when she thought about the fact that she had bought it with an inside message, and she did it even more desperately.
As the two of them began to get hotter and hotter, his chest covered in beads of sweat, she began to moan and pray that they would do it forever, he was so good, so good. She whispered a narrative about the other men, how poor they looked compared to him, Jesse, how weak they were compared to his powerful cock. Then his orgasm was approaching, and the familiar sensation egged her on as well, and she pointedly claimed him as her recipient, her source of pleasure, and finally, he climaxed.
She begged him to do it with her again, to bring her pleasure again, to show her what a real man was like.
He said gruffly, “I swear on my honor that I will give you the information.”
“Give me more of this.” She whispered, her hair now very disheveled, her look so gentle and adoring of him.
He was waiting for her to plead with him like that, she had unknowingly insulted him earlier and he was going to show her her place. As he was doing so, the little red block at the right hand side of the screen flashed again, and he was really pissed off. The woman on the screen, whose face was full of admiration, slowly disappeared and his room became smoky again. He hurriedly turned his head to the manservants who had been standing around waiting for his orders to do something quickly to keep the image from disappearing, but all that was left of the image was a few snowflake dots.
Jesse sat in his private VR screening room with his head in his hands, bawling his eyes out. He was devastated by the loss of the images he had just seen, by the severing of the disk world from the real world. His body trembled violently, and after a long time he came back to the real world from the video disk world, which was so realistic that it was hard for him to tell which was the video disk world and which was the real world.
There was never that virus. Nor had he ever contacted Niki Fei. Nor did Faye agree to sell him her flesh in exchange for information.
But he does own a biochemistry company that specializes in analyzing fluids. But it’s not exactly the same as the one on the DVD, and his company serves hospitals rather than public health.
He slowly composed himself, recalling everything that had happened in the movie disk. Fenich was in the movie. This movie disk could bring in real people. It was illegal, the programmers were not allowed to program real people into their fantasy worlds. It was a serious crime.
He is the user of the CD-ROM, but the CD-ROM includes details of his real life in the CD-ROM segments. In real life, he wasn’t the sole shareholder of the biochemical company, just as sometimes the CD-ROM might treat the user as a fireman or a statistician, but for a CD-ROM that would recognize the user’s field of work, this was unusual, and it would be very irritating to the user. Jesse’s mind was disturbed. He was a believer in coincidences, and there were too many of them in this movie disk.
Everything about the story on the movie disk is pretty much clear; the stock price of water is going to rise rapidly due to some mysterious virus. It was very, very peculiar. The only thing Jesse got out of watching this once was knowing that the stock price would go up in the story.
The price of water stock will reach its highest point. He must use his house, his car as collateral and do all he can to buy water stocks. He got on the videophone.
Jesse and his agent went through some serious negotiations, and then he sat comfortably on the couch thinking about Ferniege on the DVD. If she didn’t get back to him, he could leave her a recording, and she’d surely talk back for the sake of the illegal disk that had fallen into his hands. He could also go straight to the police and file a report, but that would be no fun at all. He’d better find an excuse to meet the legendary Mrs. Rollo.
He decided he wanted to meet her. But first he wasn’t busy meeting her. He was going to make good use of the disk he had in his hands. No one knew whether he had watched it once or twenty times. He went back and forth about it all and realized that he still liked Faye in the DVD and he wished again that Faye in the DVD would open her legs and let his cock enter her pussy, pleading with him not to stop, she felt so wonderful. The idea was ridiculous, but it was a very happy ridiculous idea. He could have as much fun as he wanted with this lady without her even knowing it. He could be doing this like any decent citizen in a movie theater.
Finally, Jesse harrumphed back; he was on his way home near the water park when it was about to rain, and in the back of his mind he was rushing back to take a shower when he found the Water King’s wife’s videodisc just as the OWAC was about to announce the price of water for the new season, and all of it boiled down to one thing.
Buy!
Rhapsody of Passion (5-2)
Jenny and Will had finally reached a safe place, Jenny didn’t have the slightest idea how Will had gone through all the trouble of bringing her here, but she did know that she had a bed here and could lie down and rest. Jenny remembered that a man had shown them the way, and that the man had occasionally muttered something to Will along the way, and that they had first passed through dilapidated houses, and through dangerous squares, and through hooligan-infested districts, and at last had come to a dark place, and she had lain down. Here a girl gave her something to eat and told her to take a bath, but Jenny was so tired that she lay motionless, as if she had drifted down to the beach at last after a terrible shipwreck.
Immediately she fell into a deep sleep and had strange dreams. Sometimes she dreamed that the lights in the house were kept on brightly, sometimes in her dreams she heard voices, one of them soft, the other low and hoarse, and then she knew she was dreaming of Will. Once the shouting of a man awoke her, and she sat up with a start, and looking nervously about the room, she saw a man and a woman in close coitus. The girl’s head had fallen under the edge of the bed, whereas she had seen it in her dream inverted; the mouth of the girl, who was in the throes of oblivion, was open, her eyes were tightly closed, her hair hung like a cascade of hair, her arms dangled and flailed, and the one man pressed heavily upon her yellow-skinned, slim flesh, his dark face looking so calm after a burst of strained catharsis. He opened his eyes, and Jenny stared in horror into his diamond eyes, and they stared at each other for a long moment, and he smiled slowly at her, and lowered his head and kissed the throat of the girl beneath his body, and he kissed her tenderly, long and lovingly. Jenny realized that this lovemaking of his must have been both agreeable and violent. Her heart clenched violently, and a thrill of pleasure surged through her.
Dawn came and Jenny woke up feeling hungry and lightheaded. She realized that she had slept through the night without taking off her clothes, she had pretty much forgotten the events of last night and she felt dirty and smelly. Her clothes were odd, for she was wearing the clothes of an Amazons. Her throat was dry and she longed for water. She sat up with great effort and cloaked herself to see exactly where she was in the room.
In the bed across from her, Will slept like a dead pig in the arms of a dark-haired girl.
They were both covered with blankets, but they had slipped partially uncovered, and Jenny could see that they were both lying naked. She couldn’t help remembering the dream, and her face instantly reddened, her body burning with shame. She tiptoed up and out of bed, afraid to make a noise that would wake them, and thought to look around the room for something to quench her thirst and then take a shower.
They had put her shoes somewhere, and her feet were aching. Jenny suddenly found an orange, and with trembling fingers she hastily peeled off the rind and took a big bite, sucking desperately at its juice, and when she had finished eating the orange she stood resting silently for a moment, shivering and building up her strength, clearing her head, and then, with difficulty, she turned and staggered past the two of them. Flies buzzed about the horizontal bars of the half-open window. She peeked out of the doorway and looked around, suddenly noticing what appeared to be a door and stepping inside, it turned out to be the bathroom.
Jenny took off the embarrassing Amazons clothes and connected the water to a ruptured basin. She tried the shower faucet, but it didn’t work. And there was no hot water in here. Now she couldn’t care less. It was that there was nothing here, and she was even willing to bathe in a puddle. She was filthy all over, hot and itchy and covered in grime. Gradually her body felt more refreshed as she soaked that Amazons clothing and then used it as a washcloth to scrub her body.
Suddenly, she heard a rattling at the door, and it suddenly occurred to her that perhaps the other occupants of the house were about to take a shower as well. She turned around in a hurry, only to see Will.
She was relieved to see that he had put his pants back on. She was bent over the basin at the moment, half-squatting, and she snapped to the realization of her nudity and immediately bowed her head shyly.
“I want to take a shower.” She said hoarsely, her lips already dry and cracked.
The look on his face confused her. He walked straight into the bathroom and she looked at him skeptically, frozen. He turned around and twisted the faucet of the shower hard.
She was about to tell him the faucet was broken, but Will flicked the switch so hard that the hose grunted a few times, then whirred with a spray of steam, and then the water came rushing out.
Jenny turned to be, desperately trying to cover her pussy with her hand. She held a bar of soap in her hand and looked hesitantly at the faucet where the water was not coming out properly. Then she carefully stepped into the tub, realizing that the water was not hot, just lukewarm. Breathless, she leaned her back against the wall and closed her eyes as she slowly worked the soap. She suddenly felt Will nudge her and opened her eyes, only to realize that Will had gotten into the tub as well and was huddled with her. Of course, he had removed his pants, his hair so wet with water that it clung to his head, and his thick body pressed close to hers.
“No,” she whimpered.
“Don’t be silly.” He said without expression, “I’m not going to rape you, young lady.”
Jenny leaned against the wall and stared at him. He took the soap from her hand and began to soap her up. There was nothing gentle about his movements.
“Listen,” he said patiently. “We have a long walk ahead of us. This isn’t going to be an outing. I need you to be physically strong enough to support it. You’re exhausted now, you need plenty of rest, you need to eat well, and because you’re trying to conserve your strength, you’re going to need someone else to bathe you, and I don’t think there’s much warm water left so I’m going to do it in one piece with you, but, of course, you’re going to have to be cleaned up.” His contemptuous tone infuriated Jenny. Now his hand moved to her crotch, then coated her thighs, thoroughly soaping her entire body. He turned around and handed her the soap. “Soap my back.” He ordered.
She found it very interesting. His back was as big as the average man’s she knew, but what stood out was the bulging, firm muscles in his limbs. He also had a scar, and she was very fond of the one on him that detracted from the smoothness of his skin.
His movements as he soaped her were rough, yet she felt as if he was touching her. She finished scrubbing his back and her hands stopped naturally. She couldn’t step out of the tub because his body happened to block her exit. Will turned around and ordered her to turn her back around again as he began to wash her back again.
Jenny leaned back against the wall with her hands on her hands, her eyes closed and her whole body relaxed as she let him furtively wash her back. The water ran down, splashing and dripping on her. He didn’t stop when he finished washing her back, he went on to the lower part of her body, he rubbed the soap on her rolled ass cheeks and occasionally peeled them away, scrubbing them. Her muscles began to tense, but he continued to move down again. He must be bending over, Jenny thought in confusion, because his hands were washing the backs of her legs again, then her calves, her ankles.
She felt his wet head right against her ass, and he ordered her to turn around again at that moment, and she saw that he was originally kneeling at her feet. Will’s hair was obscuring his vision and he shook it out and brushed her front again, his head now right up against her mound.
He paused, his eyes narrowed to slits as he watched her. She looked down at her body as well, the water running down to her breasts and then dripping off her nipples and dripping onto his body, his face now facing her pussy. Her blood was singing all over her body. He’s going to do it now, she thought, yes.
But he did nothing of the sort. Instead, he grunted, stood up, and proceeded to rinse his hair. When he was done, he pulled Jenny over and laid her head on his firm, hairy chest and rinsed her hair. She wasn’t shy about leaning against his chest. She had no strength to hide her pride. There was nothing left for her to be proud of.
They dried each in silence, then returned to the room. The girl was still asleep.
Will walked to the other side of the house and found some food for Jenny, then started making coffee.
“Do we go now?” Jenny asked.
“Going tonight.” Will said.
“Why don’t you go now?”
“You can’t travel during the day in the old town.”
“Why not?”
He was silent for a moment, then mock-smiled at her and told her “Because air police, sweetheart.”
“The police? But they’re on our side. You mean they went into the old town?
Will that’s great news.”
He said slowly, “You’re mistaken. They came by helicopter. My boy, they soar through the air, but they don’t come down. And while we’re here, I’m Wolfe. Will is someone else, and I don’t want to be associated with him.”
“We can’t wave them down? We can always shout them down, right?”
“That is, of course, if you want to get shot.”
“What?”
“Miss, they come here for target practice experiments. Those cold spray guns won’t kill you, but you won’t feel a thing for at least a week if you’re shot, and the treatments won’t work for a nice, simple girl like you. Most of the old town people hide in their homes during the day and don’t go out.”
Jenny stared at him in surprise, not quite believing him. He had such a cynical demeanor.
“Suppose we write a message on the roof to pass to them, in big letters, painted or something. Then surely they would land lo?”
“I don’t think so.” Will was a bit enraged, but still smiled, “They’ll think it’s a trap. The people in Old Town were attacked violently after using the same method.”
“Faye didn’t tell them we were here?” She asked weakly.
“I told her to please trust me and give me time.”
“You’re a cocky, arrogant, badass.” Jenny said angrily.
“Unlike you, Faye knows the Old Town, she knows that if things hadn’t gone so well, I might have needed time to think carefully about what to do, and if we hadn’t run into the Amazons, we might be at home now. But unfortunately, we ran into them and we stirred up a hornet’s nest, so now things are a bit tricky. Anyway, we’ll work out whatever problems we have.” He yawned and stretched, his joints creaking. Jenny was intensely aware of how fascinating he was. With his bare chest and a pair of leather pants underneath, everything about him made him appear to be an aggressive man. Not only did he have a healthy physique, but he was also a strong-willed man who was able to keep his emotions in check and was a man of great fortitude.
She shivered at the thought of what he’d done last night, so it was no wonder the brunette was still asleep.
“I’m going to bed now lo,” he exclaimed, “and I think you’ll have to sleep too; we’ve had a rough night’s ride, but I think we’ll reach the Narrows of the Down District by daylight to-morrow.”
The journey was much harder than he had anticipated.
Jenny’s stomach was now full, her mouth wasn’t thirsty, and she’d finally had another hot bath after smelling like shit for three and a half days, so she fell asleep in a flash. At dusk she was awakened again by the horrible fluctuating noises Will and the brunette were making in the bed across from her. She turned and put her face to the wall, not listening to the grunts and yells of the two of them as they got into their groove. How could they be so unashamed to masturbate in front of her like that when they knew she was here and possibly awake? Just how carnal was Will’s lust? Did he have no face, no decency, no shame? Jenny clenched her teeth and covered her ears.
They finally quieted down. Jenny stretched herself out, only to realize she was still shaking. She stared blankly at the wall with both eyes, trying to remember her cozy, comfortable life in the Down District.
“Hey,” Will shouted.
She didn’t respond.
“Hey, over there. Are you deaf? It’s about time you came to meet our hostess.”
Jenny heard the girl eat and laugh, and she jerked her angry red face around to watch them sit up, wrapping the blankets around her in the process.
“Meet Vin,” Will said. His back was slouched lazily against the opposite wall, a cigarette dangling from his mouth, one arm around the brunette’s shoulders, beads of sweat all over his bared chest. The room was filled with the smell secreted by their sex organs.
“Hello, Jenny,” Vin said warmly.
She is Chinese. She has a cherry mouth, bright red lips, and small, white, neat teeth.
Her face was flatter and her watery almond eyes were dark and glowing. Her black hair was thick and dense, pouring like a waterfall over her thin, thin shoulders. She was a bright-eyed, small, pretty girl. She sat there with a smile on her face, whispering something to Will, and then she lifted the sheet from her upper body and Jenny caught a glimpse of her small, firm breasts.
Will’s body was fat, while the girl’s was slender; Will’s hairy chest bore a black scar, while the girl’s skin was smooth and supple. Jenny couldn’t help but wonder how Will’s thick “stick” could penetrate such a small girl. Jenny had seen his stick in the bathroom and knew that when Will got excited, it would swell up into a “big head”. How could Vivian’s tender vagina possibly handle it? She saw Will’s eyes flicker a few times. He knew what she was thinking. Jenny’s face immediately flushed.
“Hello, Vin,” Jenny said. “Thanks for bringing us here.”
“Nothing,” Vin said while glancing at Will. They smiled at each other and Vin suddenly smiled widely and said, “You’re recovering fast.”
“Vin wants to be with us.” Will said.
“With us? To the Down Zone?”
“Yes.” Shizuku replied.
“W…”
“Wolfe,” Will said.
“So Wolfe has told you?”
“I already know. We saw it on TV and we have TV here.”
“So why haven’t you gone to the Down Zone yet?”
“That’s not going to be easy,” Vin said sincerely. “I don’t know anyone in the Down District. I don’t know how to get a job, how to find a place to live, how to get an ID. I was afraid I’d get caught by the police. But now I have you guys.” She smiled triumphantly. “Here, I help you; in the Down Zone, you help me.”
“Quite right.” Will said. His hand kept stroking her forearm.
“You can move in with me until you can find a place to live.” Jenny said flatly. She wanted the girl to know that she didn’t have to sell her flesh to Will to get their help.
“You’re all good people.” Vin said, touched. She suddenly knelt on the bed and kissed Will. Jenny saw her smooth back, her small, round ass, her beautiful, well-proportioned body. Will’s large hands slowly slid down her back before they wrapped around her ass. Vin pressed into him so sharply that Jenny hastily averted her gaze. She felt her face burn with embarrassment.
After it was completely dark, Jenny borrowed a tunic from Wen, and a pair of pants, and after putting them on, they set off into the night. Vin led the way, Will followed her with a knife in his hand, and Jenny walked last. The three of them crept quietly through the dirty alleys and tiptoed over the rubble, finally making it safely out of the settlement. Though Wen led them quickly and lightly, they were spotted by the Amazons as soon as they left the house, and they followed them, their “net” slowly closing in. The Amazons were furious at the escape of the prisoners they had captured, and even more furious at the desecration of the sacred and inviolable garments of one of their number, who was filled with hatred. They quickly informed their people of the news of the prisoner’s escape, and as they thundered out a message to all corners of the old town, with threats and bounties, that the people of the old town must report them as soon as they saw them, Vin, Will, and Jenny were closely watched as soon as they appeared. Just around the corner, the Amazons closed the net.
Vin was caught first by them, they easily covered her mouth and lifted her up to walk away, Vin couldn’t scream at all due to the sudden covering of her mouth. Will rushed out but tripped over the stick sticking out, they wrapped a blanket around him with lightning speed, Will struggled desperately but there were so many of them that they finally managed to capture him alive. Jenny was caught last.
The Amazons have not only captured their fugitive again but also two female co-conspirators. Their betrayers, the traitors of women. The whole old town was abuzz because they knew the Amazons were going to get their revenge and there was going to be a big celebration.
Will was handcuffed and bound in front of them, the two girls were simply tied together and each had a rope tied to each of their feet, with a female sentry behind each pulling on that rope.
Just then, poor stupid Whippet and his cohorts had finally caught up with Jenny as well. They had been tracking them ever since Jenny had been taken by Will two days earlier. Whippet had come across an Amazons’ sentry and had been warned not to enter their territory, but Whippet and his men had no idea of the Amazons’ ferocity and had barged in. Determined to get Jenny back again, or to track her down, and satisfied with even the slightest contact with the missing disk, Whippet coerced Fritter not to touch the Amazons’ sentries. Both Dick and Jutman think that these women are no big deal and that they don’t have to be afraid of them at all. So the fellows were foolish enough to keep breaking in.
When the Amazons were broadcasting around to help find Will, it happened to be overheard by them, but they didn’t know exactly what was going on, they didn’t understand the language of the Amazons, but they understood that someone was in trouble, that someone was out to get someone, and that when there was going to be a killing, they were going to be invited to watch.
As Will attempts to return to the Down District from Wen’s house, Whippet’s group approaches their target. The spies reported to the Amazons that a large man had come out, and Whippet and the gang followed the vengeful Amazons. As Huipet crept ahead, he saw Jenny, for her blonde hair stood out like a glowing white sheet in the dim light of the putrid old town. Not caring about the other women beside Jenny, Whippet flanked them with his partner, blocked their path, and challenged the Amazons directly.
These women warriors looked at them in amazement; they were not at all afraid. These four young men formed a line and stood before them, and Whippet collapsed a step forward.
“That blonde haired lady belongs to me.” He said menacingly.
“Go away, brother.” A woman whispered. “Be a good boy and walk away, or we’ll be rude to you for your brash rudeness.”
“I don’t care about the petite woman, but the blonde-haired lady is ours.” Whippet said stubbornly. He waved the knife in his hand around.
There were only three women guarding the two girls. Without further ado, they left one of them in place to guard Jenny and Wen, while the other two immediately spread out in a fan-like pattern and drew their machetes. With an “ah”, they swung their machetes and lunged ferociously at the four young men.
Yun and Jenny looked at each other in shock, then Wen violently kicked at the foot of the warrior woman who was watching the others wrestle, and Jenny slammed her body into the warrior woman’s face, when Wen quickly pulled the knife out of the warrior woman’s belt and hastily cut Jenny’s rope. Jenny was free and she desperately punched the warrior woman.
“Run,” Vin cried, and at that moment the Amazin was bending down to search for the machete that had fallen to the ground, and Jenny kicked her hard in the face, and quickly took Vin’s hand and darted away.
Jenny cut away the rope from Vin as she ran, and Vin dived into a house at once with Jenny in tow. They tiptoed laboriously down the corridor, stopping as soon as they saw the light; backtracking, they found the darkness and safety before they kept on walking and walking, and suddenly they turned out of the house, the stars in the sky having slowly faded to a haze. The air was fresher here. Behind them was the blur of the old town.
“We have to hide,” Vin whispered. “They’ll think we’re home. Or think we’re still on the run. They didn’t think we’d go to the Down Zone, did they?”
“I don’t know,” Jenny murmured, feeling hot and excited. “When they first captured Witwolf, I told them that I was from the Down District.”
“That’s bad. But they don’t usually arrest women. They grabbed us because we were with Will, and they were pissed that we were with Will. They probably won’t treat us too badly.”
“We can’t leave him.” Jenny said fearfully.
“Of course I can’t. But I think you may not realize how serious things are.”
“I saved him from them once.” Jenny said strongly.
Shizuku was silent for a while. Then she said soberly, “Maybe we have to leave him. But first we have to find a way to save him, right?”
“Yes.” Jenny said. She knew there was only one scenario in which she would give up on rescuing Will in Old Town, and that was if she had made it back to the Down Zone with Vin’s help.
But Will is still alive.
They both fell silent again. Jenny suddenly realized that Vin’s whole body was shaking violently. She looked at the thin girl and saw the tear tracks on her face.
“Don’t cry.” She said helplessly.
“They’ll kill him.” Vin huffed. “He’s brave and strong like an old hero. He was loyal to all. He risked his life to save both of us because we both ran too slow and slowed him down. It was all because of us that he was caught, and he must have known that running away with us would slow him down.”
Jenny was silent, thinking hard about what Shizuku had said. Finally, she asked calmly, “Shizuku, what will they do to him? Do you know?”
“Yes, I’m well aware. When we first met, he told me he was running away from the Amazons. You must understand that the Amazons are very strange people, and according to their religious habits they are not to bother us too much. And they have to protect us from men, because they hate it when men force themselves on women by their physical strength. So many of us are glad they are in the old town. Do you understand? Despite the strength of the men, we women are rarely attacked by them. What about in the Don? Are there Amazons there too?”
“No, the police protect us. They protect both men and women, and whenever anyone is attacked by thugs, they step in to protect them. But such incidents of being attacked hardly ever happen.”
“The police,” Vin said. “It’s the strangest thing to think of them as protectors, not assailants.”
“What could have happened to Wolfe?” Jenny asked insistently. The ecstasy that Jenny had felt a moment ago had vanished without a trace, and her heart had grown sad again, and she had become all at sea.
“He will be a sacrifice to the goddess they worship.” Vin said truthfully.
“Offerings?”
“He’ll be crucified and shown to the public, and then thrown into a den of sacred snakes. Cobras. Very poisonous snakes.”
Vin said warily. “The Amazons purposely feed these snakes and then squeeze out their venom. I think they may have formulated the venom into a wine, which then, in their sacred religious ceremonies, they may have used to maintain direct contact with the goddess. They guarded their secrets so closely that if any of them divulged them and brought shame upon them, they made her a sacrifice that day.”
“No,” Jenny blurted out.
“It is said,” Vin whispered, “that they sometimes dilute the venom and inject it into the body of their victim. It would make the person especially eager for intercourse.” Vin couldn’t help but eat and laugh. “You know what I mean. And then everyone in the organization gets to fuck him and there’s nothing he can do about it. They cuff him and treat him like a plaything. Maybe twenty of them, maybe thirty.”
Jenny was obviously aware of Vin’s particular fascination with this method, and her own mind couldn’t help but conjure up images of Will lying on all fours on the floor, naked, his thick “stick” angled out from between his groins, and one woman after another mounting and dismounting from him.
“We have to stop this.” She panted.
“They won’t do that to Wolfe,” Vin said. “I’ll tell you what, he’ll be crucified and shown to the public first, and then fed to the snakes. That’s their usual method.”
“Are people going to see it?” Jenny asked fearfully.
“That’s certainly lo. Such things are seldom seen, and nothing would be so slight as Wolfe. They would never have caught him without the spies seeing us. I don’t know just how angry they were, or I could still have persuaded him to hide for a few more days. But he’s obviously very anxious to get you home. He was too impatient, and now he’s paying for his impatience.”
“They never spare a sacrifice? That there is no way for him to be forgiven? They won’t replace him with someone else?”
Jenny rambled on aimlessly.
“The Goddess can issue a stay of execution, but has never actually issued such an order.”
“The goddess speaks?”
“Not speaking in a voice that can be heard in your great city.”
“And how does she speak so we can understand?”
“She’ll send a challenger.”
“A challenger?”
“One who fought for him. If the Goddess wishes him to stay his execution, she will let the challenger win.”
“Never been challenged?”
“Whoever challenges for a man, he only dies.”
“I don’t understand. Shizuku, make it clearer. You said that in order to save his life, we might be able to find a man to challenge them. Where is such a man? You know someone who could help us. What do we offer him in exchange?”
“No, no. The Goddess will choose a woman, not a man. This female challenger will wrestle with the priestess, who is their leader, and she is very strong and prim. It will be a fight I have never seen with bare hands.” Vin insisted.
“Why do you say that this man is only going to die?” Jenny said desperately shaking Vin’s hand.
“For even if the challenger wins, he must drink a cup of wine that they have provided, proving that it was given to him by the Goddess, and that is all the forgiveness he can receive.”
“What’s in the wine?”
“The venom of the serpent. He must drink the poison. No one is immune. Sister Jenny, we can’t save him, he’s dead gone.”
They hung Will by a rope in a very large open square where a bonfire was lit, which represented the moon. Drums were played, an invitation to the old town to come and witness the vengeance of the goddess. Immediately after the huge wine barrels were pierced, the sweet, mellow wine flowed out like a small river, and the people drank the wine with great abandon and began to sing and dance, the whole square was full of a festive atmosphere, and the people almost forgot that there was still a half-dead man hanging over them. Will’s hands were straightened out on a wooden stick across his shoulders, and a chain was tied around his waist. He was naked except for a rag covering his pubic area. His entire body was anointed with oil, glistening in the light of the drifting fire. He was a captured bull, and many found it comical that such a robust man would fall into the hands of a group of women and end up in such a state.
On the other side of the square, one can see a highway like a long rainbow in the distance. Along this long rainbow there were lights flashing from time to time. It is a great irony that the computer network car is so close, but for Jenny, it is so far away and inaccessible.
“Tonight they will dance all night.” Vin said. “Tomorrow night he will die.”
Jenny watched Will in the square. Even though he was far from their hiding place, she could still see from this dark corner of the square a ruined building from the last century across the square, which might once have housed the city hall. All that remained of this once glorious building was the portico, the columns and the triangular ornaments that supported them. The whole ruin resembled an elegant set of false teeth, nothing but an empty outline remained. Will was tied between two pillars with his arms on sticks, like the blind Samson in the Bible story. But he could not have the divine power to pull down this ruined pillar like Samson. All he could do was look at the crowd of revelers and watch the people celebrate his death.
“I’m going to start a challenge.” Jenny said exasperated.
“Ah, you wanted to save him that way. But when he was with us, it was like you hated him.” Shizuku said.
“He came to Old Town specifically to save me, and now I have to help him.”
“Those are nice words to say,” said Wen, “but very foolish. Sister Jenny, you can’t beat the Amazons.”
Jenny slowly craned her stiff neck and said to Wen, “They fell for me once before. I can get them to fall for it again. Tell me, how does a challenger get started?”
“We’re going to need a lot of money,” Vin said fearfully, “a lot more than we have now.”
Jenny’s eyes reddened as she asked, “How do people make a lot of money here? Vivian, how do girls make cash in the old town? We only have tonight and tomorrow. I have to raise the money by tomorrow night.”
Wen began to explain to her how to make money.