The First Order

As the important people had to pass through town whenever they came out of the stronghold, Ren Xiaosu had seen them sitting in their cars in their suits from afar. Back then, Ren Xiaosu thought those important people had an imposing air about them.

But if someone wore a suit out into the wilderness, and a white suit at that, Ren Xiaosu would definitely cuss that person under his breath, “Dumbass!”

Wearing a suit would be too much of an impediment in a fight as it would restrict the wearer from raising their arms and legs. If someone encountered a wild animal they could not beat, they probably couldn’t even run away.

But when Ren Xiaosu saw that young man standing atop the building, he did not find his clothing to be unsuitable or incongruous with the wilderness. That was because this person was not required to fight.

He was probably the leader of the Qing Consortium for this operation. Ren Xiaosu felt that this consortium’s VIP really looked quite different from the others.

He kept his head low as he was afraid that he would get discovered by the Qing Consortium’s troops. Over a thousand troops had been mobilized just to handle the security in the vicinity of the excavation site. Ren Xiaosu felt that both he and Xu Xianchu had underestimated the Qing Consortium’s determination to lock down the area.

Ren Xiaosu looked around his surroundings with curiosity and wondered where Xu Xianchu and Yang Xiaojin were hiding.

Although he could not see them, Ren Xiaosu knew that they must be around here somewhere.

“Time to get out of here,” Ren Xiaosu told himself, not caring what the others would do. When he learned he could not get his hands on the secret of the Jing Mountains, the thought of making a retreat grew in his mind.

If not, it would be quite pointless for him to stay here. As for the secret of the Jing Mountains, Yang Xiaojin and Xu Xianchu probably had a greater interest in that.

Ren Xiaosu felt there wasn’t a need to risk his life for this secret. If someone else here had all kinds of advanced skills, and Ren Xiaosu had dozens of Basic or Master Skill Duplication Scrolls on hand, he might be willing to give it a try. Someone like that would be a real treasure trove for him.

In reality, the most important thing was that Ren Xiaosu was seeing more and more of those buildings that had been excavated belowground. Some of them even collapsed at the lightest touch from the excavators. They had still been standing upright but that was only because no one had “touched” them.

He could still vaguely recognize some of the buildings exposed aboveground based on their relatively intact store signs. For example, there were beauty salons, blind massage, and so on.

Ren Xiaosu did not believe there would be anything too valuable here. And that was the main reason why he wanted to get out of here.

When Ren Xiaosu saw those signs, he felt that his trust had been betrayed and his intelligence insulted. Upon recalling those things like the QR code, “xiao long kan,” and the plastic doll, it was obvious they were not particularly rare things at all!

He wondered what Xu Xianchu and Yang Xiaojin would think if they saw these sights. Anyway, Ren Xiaosu had had enough of it. ‘After running all this way out here and experiencing so much danger, it was all for the sake of showing me this?’

Ren Xiaosu kept his head low as he quietly headed towards the side of the mountain. At present, he could still hear gunshots going off in the forest behind him. This meant the Qing Consortium’s troops had not successfully taken care of that monster yet. The gunshots were at least an assurance for Ren Xiaosu that the Qing Consortium would definitely not have the time to deal with him at this moment.

Although more soldiers were patrolling at the foot of the mountain, the problem was that these people were focusing on the excavation site nearby. The abandoned sites seemed to have already lost their value, and the soldiers did not even bother looking at them.

However, Ren Xiaosu could make use of the sites abandoned by the consortium as an opening to sneak past the perimeter.

The Qing Consortium had cut down so many trees along the way that it was enough to pave the entire length of the road back to Stronghold 112. Ren Xiaosu had to admit he was impressed with what an organization was capable of.

In a place like the wilderness, they could open up a path as they liked, and there was no need to consult with the wild animals living in the mountains.

This led Ren Xiaosu to reevaluate the capabilities of an organization. Importantly, this was only the combat troops of one stronghold. According to Yang Xiaojin, an organization might control 10 to 20 strongholds in total!

So if Ren Xiaosu escaped in the direction of Stronghold 112, whatever wild animals or the like along the way would have already been scared away.

Although it would be a little more difficult to return to Stronghold 113 and required him to take a longer detour if he went this way, he had no other options since this was his best choice.

As Ren Xiaosu quietly walked towards the other areas of this “city,” the natural ravines and ruined buildings exposed aboveground became his best cover.

He saw the ruins of a tall building that had collapsed and was broken into two sections. Ren Xiaosu had no doubt that there used to be people who could totally stand atop this tall building and get a bird’s eye view of the entire city before The Cataclysm.

In the past, Ren Xiaosu would often fantasize about what it would be like to stay in the stronghold with Yan Liuyuan when they were living in the town. But it seemed that, although the stronghold was bigger than this city in terms of area, the level of grandeur and prosperity in there was incomparable to this place.

Of course, the grandeur and prosperity were things of the past. Now, only ruins and desolation were left here.

Ren Xiaosu slid down the hill’s slope under the cover of the shadowy forest and saw some signs covered in dust scattered around the ruins. He muttered, “Why are there so many reflexology spa signs in this city? Did the past people enjoy washing their feet this much?”

While walking between the abandoned city and the mountainside, Ren Xiaosu carefully avoided being caught in the line of sight of anyone. He was only about 500 meters away from the Qing Consortium’s combat troops at this moment. As long as he carefully made use of the blind corners and buildings, he wouldn’t get discovered by them.

But as he proceeded, Ren Xiaosu started feeling like he could hardly walk anymore. He was surprised to see a well-preserved tobacco and liquor store on his left-hand side.

Although a majority of the buildings had been crushed to dust during the earthquakes caused by tectonic shift, 30% of the buildings in the city still remained.

Ren Xiaosu’s eyes gleamed when he saw the tobacco and liquor store.

Tobacco and liquor were scarce goods in town. Why else would a teacher like Zhang Jinglin not have cigarettes to smoke every day?

The stock in this tobacco and liquor store was probably more than what Old Wang and Old Li had in their stores combined. If he could bring it all back, he could easily become the richest person in town!

Ren Xiaosu stole a glance at the Qing Consortium’s people. When he was sure no one was looking in his vicinity, he rushed into the store excitedly.

He reached for the cigarettes on the counter. As there was a transparent plastic wrapper around the cigarette pack, Ren Xiaosu thought it would still be in a good condition since it was protected by an outer layer of plastic.

But the moment he touched it, the cigarette pack disintegrated into powder along with it.

Ren Xiaosu felt a pain in his heart. Just how long had these things been kept here?

In fact, Ren Xiaosu did not know that cigarettes also had a shelf life. Although the tobacco factories never stated how long their cigarettes could be kept for, they would generally turn bad after more than three years of storage.

After all, the packaging of the plastic seal could not be more simply done.