Chapter 29 – A Small Settlement in the Apocalypse

Volume 2: Battlefield Between Two Worlds

"Mm, that should be your Camp up ahead, right?"

Wen Yu looked at the ramshackle wooden stockade in front of them, crudely ringed with simple stakes, and said to Li Dalong beside him.

"That's the one." Li Dalong looked a little awkward. Clearly, he wasn't happy with how his Settlement looked.

Behind them, Li Quan'an and Sun Ruixing exchanged glances.

"You guys… this is kind of miserable," Sun Ruixing finally couldn't help saying after listening the whole way.

Hearing Sun Ruixing's words, Li Dalong couldn't help but sigh. "This doesn't even count as miserable. The worse stuff is still inside the Camp."

This small Camp at least had a few broken fences, and there were quite a few Class Holders inside. Sun Ruixing calling them miserable was only because he'd been penned in by Mutated Vine for too long and hadn't seen what a real Apocalypse looked like.

In the Apocalypse, if you had a place where you could close your eyes and rest, that wasn't miserable.

"Let's go." Wen Yu cut off their conversation. At the same time, he put One-Eye away into the Soul Realm, then entered Combat State.

If One-Eye followed him into the Camp, who knew what kind of commotion it might cause. Besides, as his strength increased, the duration he could maintain Combat State had also risen significantly.

In an unfamiliar environment, keeping a low profile was, in the end, a good thing.

"Come in with me." Li Dalong led them straight toward the Settlement.

"Dalong-Ge is back."

Two guards stood at the entrance. When they saw Li Dalong approaching with Wen Yu and the others, they greeted him right away. It was clear that Li Dalong had at least a small standing in the Camp.

"Mm." Li Dalong nodded to the guards and asked directly, "Is Fei-Ge home?"

"He's not home right now. He went out hunting-he should be back later."

"Then I'll take these brothers around for a look first."

"Sure." The gatekeeper grinned and greeted Li Dalong, then sized up Wen Yu and the others from head to toe. When he spotted the E-Rank Protective Suit on Wen Yu, a flash of shock crossed his eyes.

He gave Wen Yu a friendly smile, then immediately turned his head away, not daring to look Wen Yu over again.

"Let's go. We'll just take a casual walk around. Oh, right-you've got wounded. Take them to my place first."

After Li Dalong finished speaking, he led Wen Yu and the others into the Camp.

…

Wen Yu's group carefully took stock of the situation inside the Camp.

The Camp itself wasn't big. Although it could barely cram in several hundred people, the living conditions were nowhere near decent-if anything, they were downright awful.

A few sticks and some tattered cloth, barely put together into a space that could block the wind-that was a Survivor's home.

More often than not, Ordinary People were just lying on the ground out in the open.

And with people packed shoulder to shoulder, along the path leading toward the center of the Camp, there was almost nowhere left to set foot.

If that living environment was bad enough, even more serious was the fact that some frail elderly people and children lay motionless on the ground. You couldn't even tell whether they were dead or alive, yet no one went to check on them.

Even some able-bodied men kept crawling on the ground, shouting that they were hungry.

Wen Yu was still doing all right, but the more Li Quan'an and the others observed, the paler their faces became.

"This place is way too miserable."

Frowning, Li Quan'an said to Li Dalong, who was leading the way ahead.

Compared to his former Settlement, this place was basically a mash-up of a garbage dump and a refugee camp.

Seeing the scene before him, Sun Ruixing's sympathy flared up again, and he couldn't help asking Li Dalong, "That Fei-Ge you keep talking about-doesn't he do anything about these people?"

There was mockery in the words, anger, and even disgust.

Li Dalong looked at Wen Yu and the others and gave a bitter smile.

"We used to manage it too, but ever since we were driven out of Chaihe Town, food has had to be obtained by having Class Holders go out to hunt Mutant Beasts, or even charge into town to get it. Going out to look for food every single day is a nightmare for every Class Holder. No one knows whether they'll be able to come back after they go out."

As if recalling what had happened a while ago, Li Dalong's voice grew lower and heavier.

"The burden of food is already too much, but what's even more terrifying is drinking water. No one dares drink the water from wells or creeks anymore. We can only go into town to look for bottled water."

"Fei-Ge also wants these old folks and kids to live a little better, but what can he do?"

"Use Class Holders' lives in exchange for food, and then feed Ordinary People? Then when all the Class Holders are dead, what are they supposed to do?"

"There's simply no way. So Fei-Ge gave an order: everyone finds their own food and their own drinking water. Strictly speaking, this place doesn't count as a Settlement. It's just a last refuge – pitiful homeless people huddling together for warmth."

The low voice, tinged with a bleakness, coming from Li Dalong made Li Quan'an and the others feel a chill run through them.

This was the real Apocalypse. This was the situation humanity faced in this world.

Compared with Hualin Town before, there was simply no hope of living on here.

Sun Ruixing opened his mouth, but no sound came out. There was simply no way to solve a situation like this.

"Actually, we're still very grateful to Fei-Ge. Like the people you just saw guarding the Camp, and those maintaining order in the Camp, and the ones who go out to scout the situation – they're all provided food by Fei-Ge and Tian-Ge. After all, that counts as official duty."

Seeing the atmosphere had become a bit stiff, Li Dalong laughed it off.

Wen Yu nodded. Given the circumstances, for this Fei-Ge to keep things from collapsing, and to ensure the entire Camp could still maintain a basic moral order, was already quite admirable.

It also showed that this person wasn't bad.

"We're here. This is my little room."

Watching as Li Dalong led them into a dilapidated wooden shack, Wen Yu looked at the building in front of him and couldn't help letting out a sigh.

From the walk over just now, it was clear Li Dalong still had some standing in the Camp, yet someone like him could only live in a wreck like this.

Calling it a wreck wasn't meant as an insult. A few broken planks had been used to roughly fence off a space like a pigpen. In the middle was a wire bed, with a blanket on it that still had bloodstains – this was Li Quan'an's place to live.

"Put the injured Young Brother on the bed. Let's sit here for a while. When Fei-Ge gets back, I'll introduce you."

Li Dalong took Bai Xiao'an from Sun Ruixing's back and gently laid him on the bed.

Bai Xiao'an clenched his teeth, his face slick with cold sweat. The jostling must have aggravated the wound on his leg, sending a surge of pain through both legs.

This kid had guts – afraid of causing trouble for others, he endured the agony without making a sound.

Bai Feifei, in tears, knelt by the bed, constantly comforting her younger brother.

Li Dalong greeted Wen Yu and the others, directed his teammates to carry the unconscious person out, then turned and walked out of the room.