“Town Mayor, you definitely won’t regret buying this,” the merchant, Wen Ling, assured her, patting her chest confidently. Her iron hand made a loud clang-clang against her chest with every pat. It clearly didn’t sound like she was hitting flesh—apparently, half of her body was made of metal as well.
“According to Shelter 199’s predictions, this winter is going to be extremely cold, and it’s going to arrive unusually early,” she said. “The Night Demons will come very soon. This is probably the last window of opportunity. If you have a UV lamp like this at a time like this, you’ll be buying yourself some extra time!”
“Mm.” The mayor nodded. “It seems that girl brought a UV lamp too.”
The merchant immediately became alert. She put on a broad smile and said, “You know the capabilities of Shelter 199. This is a new product they’ve spent a long time developing, and it’s already been tested on the market. As far as I know, last winter they relied on this very product to prevent the deaths of more than 20,000 people in the impoverished areas surrounding them.”
“And besides, we haven’t seen that shelter’s exploration team yet. Hmm… let me put it this way. If a shelter has enough resources to spare, they would certainly use their own drones to explore the outside world rather than find a local… well, you understand what I mean.”
Wen Ling analyzed the situation seriously. She wouldn’t deliberately slander another potential competitor, nor would she make inflammatory remarks that could cause conflict. Instead, she thoughtfully analyzed things from the customer’s perspective.
“The people inside shelters have always been extremely proud. I’m sure you understand that. They wouldn’t choose local personnel whom they look down on to establish this kind of foothold. They would organize their own exploration team instead, and they’d probably wish they could equip themselves with every piece of high-tech equipment available.”
—Shelters trusted only their own people. The fact that they were willing to accept Bei You—or rather, that they had chosen to recruit externally in the first place—was already an extraordinary thing.
Seeing that the mayor had been persuaded by her words, Wen Ling also secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
Business wasn’t easy these days. In the past, she wouldn’t have even considered such a small settlement. But competition was fierce now, and the purchasing power of small settlements was limited. Once they bought her goods, they generally wouldn’t have enough resources left to purchase from another merchant.
Likewise, if they bought something from another merchant, they wouldn’t have any surplus supplies left to buy from her.
As for individual traders…
They usually didn’t have much savings, and their quality varied greatly. Being unreasonable or simply refusing to understand what she said was commonplace. Wen Ling wouldn’t bother with individual traders. It was much simpler and faster to find the local leader and conduct a transaction with them.
To prove that her claims were genuine, Wen Ling had even personally captured a lone Night Demon hiding in a basement and used it to test the UV lamp.
Under the ultraviolet light, the Night Demon made sizzling sounds like meat roasting on a grill. Huge blisters bubbled up one after another across its skin, bursting before dissolving away.
Trapped inside an iron cage with bars as thick as a person’s arm, the predator of the darkness had nowhere to escape. Little by little, the light filtering through the bars tore it apart.
It died inside the cage.
And the observer finally felt truly reassured.
The experimental results proved that the merchant hadn’t been exaggerating.
A satisfied expression appeared on the mayor’s face. One of her eyes curved ever so slightly.
Only a merchant who was exceptionally good at reading people would have noticed this important detail.
Wen Ling tried to make another sale.
“Town Mayor, you’ve just made a major purchase. Would you be interested in making up for some of the losses?”
“Shelter 199 is currently purchasing the crystal clusters found inside zombies. They pay this much.” Wen Ling gestured with her hand.
“Per kilogram?” The mayor raised an eyebrow.
“No.” Wen Ling quoted a price that wouldn’t make her conscience hurt. “Per 50 grams.”
“Twenty small nuts for every 50 grams.”
“Twenty?!” The mayor finally showed genuine surprise.
At that price, 20 small nuts could buy ten jin of black wheat, or 50 grams of salt or sugar. If they killed some zombies during this season, they wouldn’t only reduce the threat facing Lingfeng Town—they could also earn a substantial amount of supplies for the winter.
With the UV lamps, the residents could now stay outside for longer periods.
The mayor was clearly tempted, and she had the guards put up a new notice at the town entrance.
……
Li Shangshan was chopping wood.
Everyone was chopping wood.
Two days ago, the mayor had announced a new winter preparedness law. The amount of firewood each person was required to submit had doubled.
—And they had to collect it all within two months. It was simply impossible!
Many people still had to go out scavenging during the day or complete other jobs. There was no way they could gather and deliver that much wood within the allotted time!
They could only extend the amount of time they spent cutting wood outside.
Although the mayor looked easygoing, she was actually a cold-blooded lizard through and through. She really would drive anyone who failed to complete their quota out of town before the harsh winter arrived.
The only thing that comforted Li Shangshan was that although their working hours had been extended, every evening the town guards would bring out the precious UV searchlights and install them in the forest as both warning systems and illumination. Sometimes, even if the lights couldn’t kill the Night Demons, they could at least prevent them from launching surprise attacks.
It was okay. Nothing would happen.
He comforted himself.
There were still two months, but if he worked faster, he could gather enough wood in just one month to cover the quotas for himself, his two daughters, and his elderly mother-in-law.
As long as he slept only four hours a day…
But he hadn’t seen Bei You these past few days.
She must have gone to that shelter, right?
How nice.
Unfortunately, he wasn’t lucky enough to have that kind of fate.
“Looks like Bei You has left,” a voice came from the forest not far away.
Li Shangshan recognized it. It seemed to be one of the mayor’s guards.
“Ah, yes. Apparently, she went to some shelter or something. How could that be? Don’t we know this place better than they do? We know whether there are any shelters around here.”
“That woman was always stealing our credit. Her shooting is just too accurate. The mayor doesn’t trust her, but she had no choice but to use her. Now that she’s gone, I don’t think it’s a big deal.”
“It’s better this way. No one’s here to steal our prey anymore, so we can trade for more things. Maybe we can even get promoted…”
Li Shangshan vaguely felt that something was strange.
Wastelanders had never been particularly far-sighted, but even he felt that something about these words didn’t sound right. Unfortunately, his ability to understand things wasn’t enough to let him think any deeper or further.
So he shook his head and continued chopping wood.
Perhaps because he had been repeating the same motion for too long, Li Shangshan suddenly thought he heard something.
It sounded like screams coming from somewhere in the distance.
Wait!
That wasn’t an auditory hallucination!
The sudden smell of blood cleared Li Shangshan’s foggy mind considerably. He quickly abandoned the sizable pile of wood he had accumulated beside him, grabbed his axe, and retreated toward the area illuminated by the lights.
A Night Demon?
But how was that possible?!
How could there suddenly be a Night Demon attack today? There hadn’t been any signs of one over the past few days!
Li Shangshan covered his nose and mouth with the filthy collar of his clothes, doing his best to minimize any noise he might make in the darkness. The faint purple light in the distance gave him a sense of security.
From the corner of his eye, he saw that there were other residents nearby doing the same thing as him. They minimized the friction of their movements as much as possible and slowly made their way toward the lights.
There were guards there as well…
There weren’t many professional guards in Lingfeng Town, only two or three people. But in times of crisis, these few people would quickly become the backbone of the ordinary survivors.
There were no ordinary people in the Wasteland who couldn’t fight. These people wouldn’t survive long otherwise. Even with the most ordinary elderly person, you never knew what they had done when they were young.
The guards and ordinary survivors formed small teams and began systematically picking off the zombies that exposed themselves.
“Crawl forward! Don’t stick your heads up! Repeat! Don’t stick your heads up!”
“Watch out for stray bullets! Everyone, stay down!”
Li Shangshan crawled through the mud and bushes, grass-scented leaves smacking him in the face as he listened to the endless gunfire and the guards shouting and cursing.
“Damn it! I’m out of bullets again! Where’s logistics?! Hurry up and bring some more over!”
“I’m out of bullets too! We’re scheduled to retreat in five minutes! Anyone who hasn’t entered the town, get inside immediately!”
Useless!
Li Shangshan cursed inwardly.
When that little girl had been here, this had never happened. She would always calmly and efficiently deal with every single target. She never fired a wasted shot, and she never let a single one escape.
But she had left two days ago, and she was probably never coming back.
Once a shelter closed its gates, even if the outside world were drowning in a catastrophic flood, it wouldn’t affect them in the slightest.
“Crack!”
The sound of shattering glass rang out.
The next second, the lights suddenly went out.
In that instant, Li Shangshan, who was close enough, saw a flash of bloody light.
The zombies, gathered together in a massive horde, moved one after another, blocking the Night Demons from view. In the flickering light, they drew closer frame by frame.
They toppled over like dominoes, smearing themselves like mud across the searchlights mounted on tripods. In practically the blink of an eye, the zombies following behind them completely blocked out every beam of light.
The mayor had no idea that these things were supposed to be mounted high on the walls for use.
Or perhaps she did know, but had simply chosen to set the instruction manual aside.
The merchant had already left. She was extremely interested in that mysterious, supposedly existing Shelter 999, and had set off in that direction.
As for the guards, they had treated the lights like protective talismans. They had even used them to shine on wandering Night Demons, laughing and playing around.
Now, the moment the lights went out, the slaughter began.
The sound of the wind, screams, roars, and shrieks all pierced through the darkness, each one striking people’s minds with enough force to feel as though their eardrums were being torn apart.
……
The Night Demons were waiting for an opportunity.
Two days ago, these humans had obtained a strange device that emitted a light capable of causing the Night Demons pain, and even killing them.
It had seen this thing before. It hung on the high walls outside Shelter 199.
Every night, the humans would turn it on, illuminating the entire surrounding area.
It was precisely because this thing existed that the Night Demon had avoided Shelter 199.
Without this thing… how weak were humans, really?
With just a little force, their bones would break. With a gentle tear, flesh would separate from blood and bone. Its sharp teeth could easily savor their sweet flesh, while the fungi inside its body would grow and take root in the fresh flesh of its prey.
Night Demons relied on humans for their reproduction and survival. To them, humans were an inexhaustible granary, a food source that could never be depleted.
And now, these weak creatures actually thought that simply draping a layer of gauze over the cage protecting them would be enough to stop a predator’s attack?
No.
It wouldn’t.
A thin veil could only stop mosquitoes and flies.
The leader of the Night Demons had vaguely realized something.
Its intelligence was very high.
At least, compared to the other members of its kind who knew nothing but how to roar, it was much smarter.
It had noticed that once the light was blocked, the Night Demons behind it would no longer suffer any harm.
Zombies, however, were not afraid of light.
It had once sent a Night Demon to follow behind a group of zombies and try to approach the illuminated lamps. Quite a few of the zombies had died.
But when the Night Demon returned to it after retreating in advance, it discovered that the creature was completely unharmed.
It came up with an extremely crude but workable plan.
Have the zombies draw the humans’ attention, then have them cling to the lamps, while the Night Demons would be responsible for smashing them with anything they could find.
Tonight, the plan had succeeded spectacularly.
It now had a rich and abundant food warehouse.
Next, it would transform all these humans and then attack the place that was more suitable for surviving the winter.
The place where its kind had died still carried the scent of their blood.
The smell drifting from there told it that inside that shelter with three identical numbers, there weren’t many humans occupying what would become its new home.