“…Hi?”
The person in front of them was holding the exact same pose—one hand opening the door, the other holding a gun.
After three seconds of deadlock, neither side fired first, and the tense expressions on both sides gradually relaxed.
There was a saying in the wasteland:
If two strangers stare at each other for more than three seconds without shooting, they’re friends.
Sometimes, the difference between the two was just a single bullet.
Lin Xiao lowered the muzzle of his gun slightly. Afraid of causing a misunderstanding, the person on the other side quickly did the same.
Ling Zhao looked through the gap between the people and discovered that there was actually a transparent skybridge on the other side.
The routes through this city were so confusing…
She had been desperately trying to memorize them, but she still couldn’t keep track of everything. In the end, she simply handed the task over to the System.
“Hello?” The person on the other side forced a stiff smile. “Are you also heading to the fortress city of Shelter 199?”
“Yes.” Lin Xiao hesitated for two seconds before finally nodding.
“What a coincidence, then. We’re heading the same way.” He initially looked delighted, but quickly restrained himself, seemingly realizing that his response sounded a little too convenient.
After a moment, he asked, “Um… if you don’t mind, could you tell me which direction we should go?”
The merchant on the other side quickly added, “If you don’t feel comfortable with that, we can travel separately. You can go first, or we can go first. Either is fine.”
“No need. Let’s go together,” Ling Zhao said. “The risks are the same anyway. We might as well travel together.”
After all, there was a risk of being stabbed in the back or followed no matter what.
They might as well travel together.
The other party had no objections, so the matter was settled.
The road ahead was genuinely difficult to traverse. Before long, the two groups had become familiar with one another—or rather, the other side had become familiar with them.
The man said his name was Fan Chengde and that he was a traveling merchant who regularly traded around the area.
Not long ago, he had encountered raiders. He had lost more than half his goods, and his bodyguards had become separated from him. Fortunately, he had already sold most of his merchandise and was on his way back when it happened, and he hadn’t lost the nuts he was carrying.
As he spoke, his face twisted with pain, but he comforted himself.
“It’s fine. At least I’m still alive, and I still have the money from the goods. On the way back, I’ll visit a few more places, buy some things, and resell them. It won’t be a crippling loss.”
He would definitely lose face, of course.
But being alive was still better.
If he were traveling alone, even the journey back would be somewhat difficult. Now that he had encountered fellow travelers, there weren’t many of them, but it was still a comfort.
“On my way back, I’m planning to visit several survivor settlements near Shelter 199,” Fan Chengde said. “Are you going?”
Ling Zhao couldn’t tell whether he wanted them to accompany him or didn’t want them to.
There was obvious concern on his face—he was afraid of encountering raiders along the way.
There was also obvious reluctance—inviting them meant revealing his trade routes.
Ling Zhao ignored his conflicted expression. There was no way she would pass up an opportunity like this.
After thinking for a moment, she took out a bottle of water from the cart and handed it to Fan Chengde.
“A guide fee. Now we’re even.”
Fan Chengde accepted it.
At first, there was a faintly disdainful look on his face.
Just one bottle.
How much water could it possibly hold?
With such a small group, at most it would be Level-3 or Level-2 purified water, right?
The value of an entire settlement was far greater than something like this…
He was a merchant from the fortress city surrounding a shelter. Did they really think they could buy him off with a single bottle of Level-2 water?
Then—
Holy shit!
What was he seeing?
After Fan Chengde unscrewed the cap, the exhaustion and faint disdain on his face vanished completely, replaced by excitement.
“Um… you don’t mind if I check the purity of this water, do you?” Fan Chengde asked.
Purity.
Ling Zhao raised an eyebrow.
A new term.
She silently committed it to memory, though nothing showed on her face. Smiling, she said, “Go ahead.”
“Then please wait a moment.”
Fan Chengde moved to a corner and stopped, setting down the only backpack he had left. It contained all his remaining possessions.
Water appraisal was a specialized skill. Fan Chengde had dealt in this business before, so he naturally knew that the city classified water more precisely according to its purity, with different grades fetching different prices.
First, you looked at it.
The water had to be clean and clear, without any impurities, foreign matter, or tiny insects.
He took out a small transparent cup he carried with him, poured some of the water into it, then turned on a flashlight and shone it from below.
The water was so clear that there wasn’t even a trace of impurity.
Next, he held it beneath his nose and gently fanned the scent toward himself.
There was no bitterness.
No sourness.
Only the faint, almost imperceptible smell of water itself.
Finally, he dripped some onto the back of his hand to make sure it was actually water rather than some other chemical substance that merely looked like water.
Then he took a small sip.
This purity…!
Even without testing it with an instrument, he was certain that its purity exceeded ninety percent—
It was even higher than that.
This water was far too valuable.
The value of the trade route he had revealed couldn’t even compare to a single bottle of water at this grade!
After the initial shock, the first thing that surged within Fan Chengde was greed.
But when he instinctively looked up, he met the gaze of the woman sitting in the wheelchair.
Ling Zhao smiled at him and waved.
Right.
Someone who could casually take out something like this definitely had more of it with her. That meant there had to be a powerful force backing her. This trip was probably nothing more than an experiment or exploratory venture.
He was alone right now.
Even if his entire team were present, there was no guarantee they could defeat her.
The robot accompanying them had a very low sense of presence, but its cold metallic body…
It was obviously a combat robot.
A person with access to a water source—and a robot that might not even be found in the inner city—was obviously someone of status.
The moment he made a move, his current peaceful life would likely be over for good.
Fan Chengde’s rationality successfully restrained his greed.
If he ended up being wanted, this wouldn’t be a small loss he could simply accept. He would lose all the business reputation he had accumulated over the years.
That didn’t stop him from becoming much more attentive, however.
Fan Chengde hurried to the entrance of the passage and quickly cleared away the garbage blocking the doorway.
With a broad smile on his face, he said, “This way, please. Right this way.”
“There are actually quite a few survivor settlements nearby. Many of them are satellite towns of Shelter 199. The slightly larger ones organize their own teams to travel to Shelter 199, although they don’t go very often.”
He continued enthusiastically, “The water you have… or perhaps water of a similar quality. Do you have any more? Even if it’s slightly worse, that’s fine.”
“With just one bottle, you can exchange it for a strong, healthy adult slave using Level-1 purified water. In places where water is particularly scarce, if I negotiate for you, getting three to five wouldn’t be a problem.”
Fan Chengde looked at the bottle of water and said earnestly, “This bottle of yours has done me a huge favor.”
Fan Chengde kept chattering from time to time along the way. Most of the information he shared was interesting, but very little of it was actually useful.
Yan Xiaochu listened very attentively.
Bei You, on the other hand, was bored enough to fall asleep.
Lin Xiao occasionally went ahead to scout. Once he entered work mode, his entire presence seemed to fade away, making him almost impossible to notice.
Eventually, they arrived at a bus terminal.
Looking through the entrance gates, they could see all kinds of vehicles inside, their tires long since deflated. These vehicles had all been converted into makeshift RVs. Many of them were covered in graffiti, their colorful bodies parked throughout the bus station.
Outside, people had erected tents or canvas shelters. These served as both their homes and their places of business.
Fan Chengde introduced the place.
“This settlement was originally built around the bus terminal, so now it’s called Bus Town.”
“This is one of the most famous mercenary camps in the area. After all, bus terminals are usually built in places with well-developed transportation networks. As you can see, the roads around here are all intact. The people of Bus Town repaired them themselves.”
After saying that, Fan Chengde pointed toward the back of the terminal.
“If you pass through Bus Town, you’ll reach one of the entrances to Shelter 199.”
It was hard to say whether Bus Town had existed first and the fortress entrance had been built afterward, or whether the entrance had existed first and Bus Town had gradually attracted people.
In any case, thanks to this, there was a fairly decent road here.
In the wasteland, having a road that was actually passable was no easy thing.
Repairing a road wasn’t difficult.
The difficult part was keeping it repaired.
Tree roots could burst out at any moment and turn a perfectly usable road into a field of shattered stones.
“There are a lot of job postings and employment notices on the big blackboard at the entrance. Someone is specifically responsible for replacing them,” Fan Chengde said, pointing toward a huge black wall near the entrance. Sure enough, it was covered with papers made from all sorts of different materials.
Several people nearby were also taking turns shouting announcements. Even from where they stood, they could vaguely hear them calling out from the entrance.
Before they could get any closer, a group of people surrounded them.
“Ma’am… sir… kind sirs and madams, please take pity on me! I only need one mouthful of rice a day! I can mend clothes, and I can cook!”
An elderly woman knelt on the ground and repeatedly kowtowed.
“I only need enough to eat! I can even help you carry your bags!”
“I can count! And I’m still young!” A little boy suddenly darted out from the crowd and shouted, “Buy me! I’ll serve you for the rest of my life!”
“Me! Me! Me!” someone else shouted. “I can do anything! I can even repair machinery!”
When they saw that Ling Zhao’s group remained completely unmoved, the crowd immediately scattered.
The elderly woman who had been kneeling on the ground ran away faster than anyone else.
They moved on to their next targets.
“Don’t try to take advantage of people like that,” Fan Chengde shook his head. “They don’t come with the Raven Trade Association’s guarantee.”
“Last time, someone was tempted by the fact that there was no transaction fee for the people outside the entrance. After taking them home, everyone ended up infected with syphilis.”
Ling Zhao: “…That’s pretty messed up.”
“They took home apes.”
Seeing the expression on Ling Zhao’s face, Fan Chengde added the last part of the sentence.
Ling Zhao: “?”
She was genuinely confused.
When she had absolutely no idea what expression to make…
Smiling seemed like the safest option.
“I’m going to hire some mercenaries here. Feel free to see whether there’s anything you need,” Fan Chengde said politely with a nod. “I’ll take my leave for now.”
Ling Zhao hadn’t originally planned to stop here.
But after thinking about it for a moment, she decided to go to the job market and hire a guide.
She needed someone to help her familiarize herself with the local environment.
And someone who could bargain.
Lin Xiao clearly wasn’t suited for that kind of work.
Bei You looked completely clueless.
As for Yan Xiaochu…
Half her soul had already left her body.
Author’s Note:
This is going to be a very long novel…