Chapter 227
Nighttime, Room 703 of Store No. 1
After recovering from his injuries, Xie Chaori was assigned to the employee dormitory on the 7th floor. For now, he was the only one there. When Hong Li arrived, she was placed in the study room of Room 703.
At this moment, they had just returned from the communication room.
Today was movie night, and nearly all the residents showed up, including Hong Li and the sixty guards she brought with her.
Over a hundred people squeezed into a single living room, some even spilling out into the hallway. While a few original residents grumbled about the crowd, no one was actually willing to leave.
Everyone was utterly captivated by the movie.
Even though they had watched it multiple times, they never seemed to tire of it.
Back in the fortress, Hong Li and Xie Chaori had seen plenty of pre-cataclysm footage, but as combat personnel, they rarely watched entertainment-focused films.
So, she stayed and watched the entire movie alongside the residents.
Everyone sat close together, well beyond normal personal space boundaries, yet no one seemed to find it strange. Even inside the fortress, it was difficult to experience such an overwhelming sense of security.
For the first time, Hong Li truly understood the meaning of “so happy that you forget to go home.”
To be honest, she wasn’t particularly eager to return to that hellhole of Jufeng Town. While the Desolate City Haven wasn’t exactly new either, at least it didn’t have as much frustrating chaos.
“You traded 10,000 Peace Tokens with Desolate City Haven. What do you plan to use them for?” Xie Chaori asked.
“These tokens can retain heat,” Hong Li replied. “The Cold Disaster is coming.”
Originally, her primary concern was only for the garrison and the guards she personally trained. She prioritized resources for the guard unit and didn’t care much about the general population of Jufeng Town.
After all, anyone coming from the structured order of a fortress to a place where “survival of the fittest” was literal would struggle to feel any sense of belonging.
But now, things were different.
The Grocery Store system gained points and experience through trade, and each person could only contribute three effective transactions per day.
That meant the larger the population, the greater her advantage.
With that realization, the importance of Jufeng Town’s residents suddenly became clear.
She sighed. “If only the Desolate City Haven’s rules could be applied to Jufeng Mountain as well.”
No robbery. No theft. No harming others.
With these three rules alone, there wouldn’t even be a need for guards to maintain order. The most vicious scoundrels would instantly become obedient sheep.
Xie Chaori glanced at her oddly. “Once the Desolate City Haven finishes paving the road to Jufeng Mountain, why don’t you just build a fence around the entire mountain?”
Hong Li was momentarily stunned.
“Would that even work?” she asked, skeptical.
Xie Chaori nodded confidently. “I’ve looked into it.”
When he first arrived, the walls around the Desolate City Haven were already nearly finished. The residents had observed every step of the process, and after staying there for a few days, he had figured out how it worked.
Besides, when the construction team built the road barriers earlier that day, they had been right there watching, and he had even tested it himself.
“It seems that as long as a new barrier is connected to the outermost wall and forms a closed loop, that ‘Guardian Barrier’ will automatically expand.”
Hong Li frowned slightly. “Then if the wall is damaged, does the barrier shrink back?”
“Uh… well…”
Xie Chaori thought about it and realized that might be the case. “I’m not entirely sure. We’ll have to test it later.”
Of course, by “test it,” he didn’t mean destroying the Desolate City Haven’s walls. He meant waiting until the road barriers reached Jufeng Mountain and then trying it out.
Hong Li nodded.
At the construction team’s current pace, it would take a while to reach Jufeng Mountain. This was something to think about later.
Xie Chaori returned to the topic of Peace Currencies.
“If you’re preparing for the Cold Disaster, I think getting temperature-regulating fabric would be more useful,” he suggested, referring to another valuable item from the Desolate City Haven.
Hong Li’s eyes lit up at the idea, but in the end, she shook her head.
“My resources don’t fall from the sky, and even if I get temperature-regulating fabric, the weak won’t be able to keep it for themselves.”
Xie Chaori thought about the chaotic reality of Jufeng Mountain and nodded in agreement.
Each Peace Coins was about the size of a palm, slightly larger than a typical Blue Hu Leaf. If people simply kept one against their chest, it wouldn’t completely prevent frostbite, but having a heat source would at least make them less likely to freeze to death.
Speaking of which, he glanced out into the yard.
“I wonder what connection the Desolate City Haven has with Blue Hu Town. How did they get their hands on a mutated Blue Hu tree?”
Hong Li nodded slightly. She wasn’t very familiar with Blue Hu Town—she had only heard of it in passing.
What she didn’t know was that Lan Yunqing had tried to contact Jufeng Town for help earlier, but the unstable satellite signal had prevented her from reaching them.
Later, when Tang Yu’an and his group resolved the issue, there was no longer a need for contact.
“The Desolate City Haven really has a lot of amazing things…”
Even now, Hong Li was still in awe.
“The Church of the God of Commerce… what kind of organization is it, really?” she murmured.
“You should go through the forum posts first,” Xie Chaori suggested. “Once you reach Level 5, you’ll be able to post on the message board. If you have questions, ask that little chatterbox—he seems like a high-ranking member and knows a lot.”
Hong Li nodded and opened the forum panel to browse.
Old Mo had already compiled a summary post about the Church of the God of Commerce and pinned it in the discussion section as a guide for new members.
While Hong Li immersed herself in reading, Xie Chaori left for his room to sleep.
The next morning, when he woke up, he found that Hong Li was already awake, still staring at the panel.
“You didn’t stay up all night, did you?”
“I dozed off a little. I was too excited to sleep.”
Xie Chaori nodded knowingly. Hong Li had always been obsessed with training and self-improvement. Whenever she found something interesting, she had to study it thoroughly. He was already used to it.
He opened the forum, checked the message board, and then opened his private chat with Chi Hao, only to find that the guy had left him a message.
Judging by the timestamp, it was from last night.
[Greenish Blue]: Old Xie, did you send word back to the fortress that you’re still alive?
Xie Chaori thought for a moment and immediately understood why he was asking.
Li Feng must have had a satellite phone with him. He probably contacted the fortress and reported that Xie Chaori was still alive.
[Sky Stone]: Did someone give you trouble?
After waiting for a while without a reply, he went to have breakfast with Hong Li and then prepared to go downstairs to find Hong Li’s guard squad.
As soon as they stepped out of the room, they both noticed something unusual—
They simultaneously looked toward the elevator lobby. After exchanging a glance, they walked over in perfect sync.
“I remember when we came back last night, this thing wasn’t here, right?” Hong Li pointed at the brand-new elevator door and asked Xie Chaori.
Xie Chaori stared at the sleek, high-tech-looking elevator. Even in the fortress, he had never seen anything like this!
“It shouldn’t have been… I’ve been living here for a while and never saw this…”
As Xie Chaori stepped closer, a light screen lit up on the elevator door, followed by a mechanical electronic voice.
“Facial recognition successful! Please state the floor you wish to go to.”
Xie Chaori tried, “Third floor?”
“Confirmed. Please hold.”
About two seconds later, the elevator doors opened, revealing Granny Guo and Kang Kang inside.
Granny Guo looked a bit uneasy upon seeing them, while Kang Kang hid behind her, peeking at Hong Li and Xie Chaori.
Xie Chaori smiled at them. “Good morning, Granny Guo. And… little Kang Kang?”
Granny Guo nodded, and Kang Kang greeted them in a soft voice, “Good morning!”
Xie Chaori naturally stepped into the elevator with Hong Li and started asking Granny Guo about it.
“If you want to know more, you should ask Old Li.” Granny Guo kept her lips sealed, not saying much.
Truthfully, she didn’t know where the elevator came from either. Old Li had only informed her about it through the Light Brain, so she just learned about it herself.
She had just tried it out, only to run into Xie Chaori and Hong Li.
Since she wasn’t going to elaborate, Xie Chaori didn’t press further. Soon, they reached the third floor, and he and Hong Li stepped out first.
Granny Guo watched as the elevator doors closed again, then let out a slow breath. When they reached the ground floor, she led Kang Kang out of the elevator, still feeling like she was in a dream.
Had she really just taken an elevator in the apocalypse?
Granny Guo turned back to look at the elevator doors that had shut again. She felt more and more that she didn’t understand what was going on in the Desolate City Haven anymore.
But soon, she withdrew her gaze, gripped her grandson’s hand, and headed toward the planting zone with renewed determination.
“Kang Kang, we need to help October grow faster.”
“Okay~”
As the residents of the Desolate City Haven got busy, Tang Yu’an and Zhou Qi were already driving their RV toward Jufeng Mountain.
Last night, they had visited the alternate dimension again.
Hong Li wanted 10,000 Peace Coins of 10-unit value, totaling 100,000 points, which required about 2,000 Blue Hu leaves.
For their inventory, it was still more than sufficient.
But aside from the 10,000 coins for Hong Li, Tang Yu’an also made additional denominations of Peace Coins, totaling 500,000 points.
These 500,000 Peace Coins were prepared for Blue Hu Town.
Once the Star-chain Fruit was harvested, they would take these 500,000 Peace Coins to trade in Blue Hu Town.
Although 500,000 points might not be enough for Blue Hu Town, they figured it was best not to take too big of a step forward right from the start.
They had stayed in the alternate dimension for ten days. When they were about to leave, Xiao Hong chirped in sadness.
Tang Yu’an didn’t want to leave it behind either, but he had no pet slots left, so he couldn’t contract it yet. As a result, Xiao Hong couldn’t use the teleportation array.
Fortunately, Wang Cai and Yin Bi were willing to stay behind to keep it company.
Since there was already a dirt road between the Desolate City Haven and Jufeng Mountain, paving it was much faster than when they were heading toward the Desolate City Haven’s center.
By around noon, they had already reached the end of the road where they had first encountered Ba Shi on their way to Jufeng Mountain.
At that moment, the sound of running footsteps came from behind.
Zhou Qi stopped the RV and, along with Tang Yu’an, looked outside, spotting Hong Li and several squads of guards.
“It looks like Sister Hong Li left half of her people in the Desolate City Haven.” Tang Yu’an checked the map and smiled. “Seems like she really does want to cooperate with us.”
Knowing they wouldn’t become enemies put Tang Yu’an in a good mood.
“She’s smart,” Zhou Qi said. “We’ve shown her so many good things—there’s no reason for her not to be tempted.”
They hadn’t hidden anything. With Hong Li’s observational skills, she had probably figured out quite a lot in just these two days.
As they spoke, Hong Li and her guards reached them.
However, when they got within ten meters of the RV, they were stopped by the protective barrier, forced to halt.
Hong Li didn’t understand why, but she noticed that the cement road ended there, giving her a clue.
Perhaps there was an invisible barrier here that held the secret to how the Desolate City Haven built its roads so quickly?
As she speculated, she led her people to take a detour.
Without the cement road, Hong Li and her guards’ progress slowed down significantly. Tang Yu’an and Zhou Qi, paving the road behind them, could even catch up.
Seeing this, they temporarily stopped paving and drove the RV back a bit.
They had to admit—driving on paved roads was incredibly smooth and fast. However—
They soon encountered the construction team.
Because five more construction robots had been added today, the speed of building the fence had increased significantly.
Tang Yu’an and Zhou Qi didn’t dare waste any more time. They turned the RV around and continued paving the road.
When they reached the rocky section where they had originally triggered the road-building mission, their pace slowed down a bit—but thanks to the task list function on their interface, they were still very efficient at clearing obstacles.
Interestingly, while their main goal was to pave the road, Tang Yu’an also picked up quite a few crystal stones along the way.
There are all kinds, totaling about twenty or thirty pieces.
Since he had picked up so many crystals in the alternate plane, Zhou Qi was no longer surprised.
After all, the flood in the desolate city came from the alternate plane, so these crystals were likely brought here by the flood and left behind.
By nightfall, they had successfully paved the road up to the suspension bridge and had to stop.
Meanwhile, Hong Li and her team had already arrived at Jufeng Mountain and were heading to the first outpost.
She set out in the morning and reached the foot of the mountain by evening—much faster than before. If the rest of the road were repaired, they could probably save even more time.
However, looking at the suspension bridge before them, Tang Yu’an and Zhou Qi found themselves in a dilemma.
First, they expanded the protective barrier to a 20-meter range, covering the entire river surface to prevent the man-eating flying fish in the river from getting close.
Zhou Qi stood by the river, observing for a moment before saying, “We’ll have to bring in the construction robots.”
The construction robots’ database already contained blueprints for bridges. As long as they provided enough materials, the robots could build one.
As for the necessary equipment, the robots could transform themselves as needed.
“This is the only way,” Tang Yu’an agreed.
He transferred five construction robots over and input his requirements into the intelligent system. A suitable plan was quickly generated.
After selecting it, he let the construction robots collaborate in online mode to complete the task.
The new bridge, less than twenty meters long, was designed as a two-lane road with specific load-bearing requirements.
Once Tang Yu’an and Zhou Qi transferred the materials over, the construction robots immediately got to work.
They kept the original suspension bridge intact and began building the new bridge about twenty meters away from it.
The construction robots estimated that it would take three days to complete the concrete pouring. As for the curing time required for the concrete to reach full strength, Zhou Qi could extract the moisture, so it wouldn’t even take two days.
“So, we have to wait five days?”
During the bridge construction, they couldn’t drive the RV away; otherwise, the man-eating fish in the river might jump out and cause trouble.
“Yeah, let’s be patient.”
The road construction time had already been significantly reduced, so they didn’t need to rush.
“Alright then, I’ll assign a task to Sister Hong Li.”
Tang Yu’an returned to the vehicle, took out paper and pen, and started discussing plans with Zhou Qi.
They had many ideas for Jufeng Town, and now that Hong Li had joined their ranks, they could finally execute their plans freely.
*
Jufeng Mountain, First Outpost
Hong Li had just settled in with her guards. Instead of freshening up, she first opened the message board and forum posts.
Today, she finally leveled up to Lv5, allowing her to post messages.
The message board was discussing topics related to twelve-year compulsory education, but after glancing at it, Hong Li lost interest and switched to the discussion area.
There was a new reply in Xie Chaori and Chi Hao’s private chat thread.
Hong Li paid 500 points to unlock the post—points she had earned today by selling gas canisters in the trading zone after leveling up.
She skimmed through Xie Chaori and Chi Hao’s previous chat logs.
Since they were speaking in a forum setting, they were cautious at first, avoiding personal details, but as the conversation went on, they became less restrained.
Soon, she saw the latest messages.
[Lv5 – Greenish Blue]: Someone from the Xie family contacted me, asking about you. I was completely caught off guard.
[Lv5 – Sky Stone]: What did they ask?
[Lv5 – Greenish Blue]: Did you establish some kind of powerful faction in the desolate city?
[Lv5 – Sky Stone]: Li Feng’s people might target you. Be careful and try to stay out of trouble for now.
After returning to the fortress, Chi Hao reported the situation to headquarters. Then, he was unexpectedly given an extremely long leave.
Although he was quite annoyed, he had no choice but to accept it. In the meantime, he focused on gaining experience points and accumulating credits.
While traveling, he had been constantly bombarded by frustrating posts on the message board. Now that he was finally back at the fortress, he was eager to make his move.
Unfortunately, the needs of the people in the fortress were different from those in the wasteland. Items like salt, sugar, alcohol, and hemostatic powder, which were considered hard currency in the wasteland, were not in short supply inside the fortress.
As for vegetables and grains, Qingmu Fortress, which produced many skilled farmers, would never lack them.
Moreover, doing business required the proper certifications, especially for salt, which was a controlled substance. If he dared to sell it, he would definitely be arrested and investigated.
On top of that, after returning, he was not given an important role. Instead, his every move was closely watched, so he couldn’t conduct as many trades as he had originally hoped.
That said, the fortress was still rich in resources. While he couldn’t sell goods, shopping wasn’t as restricted.
By selling Qingmu Fortress’s products in the trading area, he still managed to earn a fair amount of points.
[Lv5 – Greenish Blue]: I’m being watched. Where would I even get a chance to run around?
[Lv5 – Greenish Blue]: I heard that headquarters is already organizing people to go to the Desolate City, but I don’t seem to be included… If you weren’t still alive, I would’ve fought tooth and nail to be part of it.
[Lv5 – Greenish Blue]: By the way, aren’t you in the Desolate City? Can you ask my sister for a password?
[Lv5 – Sky Stone]: What password?
[Lv5 – Greenish Blue]: I’m out of money to buy supplies. Ask her for some.
[Lv5 – Chilong]: .
[Lv5 – Greenish Blue]: Who’s this? How did they end up in our chat? I told you to raise the payment limit!
[Lv5 – Sky Stone]: Your sister.
[Lv5 – Greenish Blue]: Huh?
[Lv5 – Sky Stone]: It’s really your sister, no joke. I recruited her.
[Lv5 – Greenish Blue]: …
[Lv5 – Greenish Blue]: What’s your relationship with the Mysterious Merchant? How can they be so obedient to you?
[Lv5 – Sky Stone]: I can make recommendations.
[Lv5 – Chilong]: What? You don’t want to see me?
[Lv5 – Greenish Blue]: Sis, you’re my dear sister! Of course, I really want to see you!
[Lv5 – Chilong]: Did you get recruited into the Church of the Merchant Gods when you ran into Eastern Sweet Tang and his people?
[Lv5 – Greenish Blue]: …
[Lv5 – Greenish Blue]: Sis, I was wrong.
[Lv5 – Chilong]: What did you do wrong?
[Lv5 – Greenish Blue]: I should have told you the moment I saw you, but I chose to keep it a secret.
[Lv5 – Greenish Blue]: I was wrong, I’m a terrible person, I deserve to die!
Hong Li looked at Chi Hao’s exaggerated, knee-sliding apology and remained indifferent.
[Lv5 – Chilong]: Headquarters is sending people to the Desolate City. You should fight for a spot. Old Xie will help you.
[Lv5 – Greenish Blue]: Got it!
[Lv5 – Greenish Blue]: Sis, do you miss me? Haha, your new title is pretty badass!
[Lv5 – Greenish Blue]: Wait, hold on. How come both you and Lao Xie have such cool names, but mine is just… okay, I guess!
He seemed to think of something and awkwardly changed his wording at the last second.
Hong Li didn’t respond to that and instead asked him a question.
[Lv5 – Chilong]: Did you buy another gas cylinder today?
[Lv5 – Greenish Blue]: Huh? How do you know?!
Hong Li’s lips curled into a slight smile. Just as she was about to reply, a sudden system notification popped up.
[Congratulations! You have triggered the elite mission: “Orphan Adoption.”]
[Description: There are many orphans in Jufeng Mountain who have lost their parents. With the coming cold disaster, they won’t survive on their own. The Desolate City Haven is currently building an orphanage and can take them in.]
[Mission Objective: Send 50 displaced children to the Desolate City Haven (0/50).]
[Mission Rewards: 1,000 points, fuel-powered motorcycle ×1.]
Seeing the mission details, Hong Li raised an eyebrow slightly.
Sending all of Jufeng Mountain’s orphans to the Desolate City Haven? That would actually be a good place for them.
But… would the Desolate City Haven really be willing to take them in?
She glanced at the mission rewards again.
The 1,000 points weren’t particularly tempting—after all, she had an overly generous little brother sending her plenty of points.
But a fuel-powered motorcycle? Now that was useful!
Ever since arriving in Jufeng Town, they had lacked proper transportation. She and her guards had to travel between the Desolate City and Jufeng Mountain on foot.
With a motorcycle and paved roads, the journey to the Desolate City might only take one or two hours.
This was a mission worth doing!
With that thought, Hong Li gathered her guards and issued new orders.
The next day, when they set out again from the second outpost, the guards began searching inside and out, gathering any children they found.
Some weren’t actually orphans, but when the guards arrived, their parents cruelly pushed them forward. In such cases, the guards took the children with them.
For those parents who fiercely protected their children, the guards did not press further.
By the time they had climbed up the mountain and reached Jufeng Town’s gates, more than half of the guards were carrying a child in their arms.
Several older boys and girls, around five or six in total, followed behind the group.
Such a sight naturally attracted attention. If Hong Li hadn’t been personally leading them, someone would have already stepped forward to question them.
Even so, murmurs and whispers filled the air.
If not for the fact that Hong Li had previously enforced brutal measures to ban cannibalism and protect women and children, people might have suspected she was collecting these kids for something sinister.
Fortunately, for now, no one stirred up trouble.
By the time Hong Li returned to the garrison, they had gathered all 50 children required for the mission.
Now came the real problem—how to transport all 50 children to the Desolate City Haven?
