Chapter 64: Abruptly Turned Ice-Cold
Before the towering clock tower, Rong Na stood waiting before a city guard, flanked by his underlings.
A smug smirk was plastered across his face.
After days of endless frustration, they had finally devised a brilliant countermove.
Inspiration had struck from his men’s debrief the previous day.
—It all began when Aulier and his crew were beaten black and blue.
The lot of them had been utterly dismantled by Zhou Xue, fleeing back inside the high walls with their tails tucked firmly between their legs.
When Rong Na led his own detachment back from outside the East Wall, finding his men in such a battered state sent his temper flaring sky-high.
True, they still ruled the roost scavenging energy crystals beyond the East Wall, swaggering around as they pleased.
Scarcely anyone wandered the East Wall anymore; whoever caught wind of the Chinese Restaurant had sprinted toward the West Wall, leaving hardly a soul to compete for scraps.
Back when they played kings outside the East Wall, hauling in a steady harvest of crystals every single day, every man in their ranks had guaranteed food rations.
Rong Na had certainly taken pride in that.
—Had they never laid eyes on the feasts served at the Chinese Restaurant, those rock-hard, flavorless rations would still pass as rare delicacies in an apocalyptic wasteland.
Yet… they had seen it, and they had caught the scent.
They had attempted robbery, only to come away empty-handed every time.
Now, the very toxic strays they looked down upon were gorging themselves on piping-hot roasted potatoes, roasted sweet potatoes, and bizarre wonders like Malatang skewers they had never even seen before.
Meanwhile, they were stuck choking down cold, rigid black bricks.
At ten City Coins a pop, no less.
How could Rong Na stomach such humiliation?
Seeing his own men beaten to a pulp only poured gasoline on his fury.
“Worthless trash, the whole lot of you! Failing to rob them is pathetic enough, but you let yourselves get thrashed?! Damn it all! What the hell am I feeding you for?!”
As he roared, he kicked Aulier straight in the ribs.
Clutching his swollen right cheek, bruised and battered, Aulier stammered through an explanation: “No! It wasn’t the toxic strays, it was Zhou Xue! We ran into Zhou Xue today!”
“Zhou Xue?” Rong Na’s brow knitted into a fierce knot. “You went to the North Wall today? Didn’t I tell you to stake out the Chinese Restaurant? What the hell were you running around for?!”
He drew his boot back to kick him again.
“No! Zhou Xue was at the Chinese Restaurant today too!”
Rong Na’s foot froze in midair.
Without skipping a beat, Aulier spilled the whole sequence of events: how their scouts spotted a small group lagging behind, how they tailed them, how they thought they had an easy score in the bag, and how they ran straight into a brick wall upon discovering just how terrifyingly lethal their quarry was.
Rong Na sank into his chair, his face dark as forged iron.
With his men battered like this, logic dictated he should demand blood for blood.
Yet the culprit was Zhou Xue of Dark Star. Even if he absorbed ten more street gangs, he had no guarantee of walking away alive from a clash with her.
Back when they first arrived in Seed City, Zhou Xue had suppressed multiple syndicates single-handedly with her terrifying blade work, propelling Dark Star into an ever-growing powerhouse. Rong Na knew full well he was no match for her.
He had a clear measure of his own weight.
And yet…
His brow furrowed deeper as he pressed, “You’re saying they packed up a ton of takeout?”
“Yeah, shoved it all into their backpacks. If we hadn’t spotted so much food on them, we wouldn’t have shadowed them in the first place.”
“Zhou Xue showed up at the Chinese Restaurant outside the West Wall… and took food to go?”
Rong Na muttered under his breath.
His instincts told him something didn’t add up.
As a gang leader, Rong Na had his own whisper networks, privy to fragments of intelligence ordinary citizens knew nothing about.
Dark Star and the Red Flag Society, the two largest and most formidable syndicates in Seed City, were rumored to have been conscripted into the city administration’s service.
Their operational range was permanently restricted to the wilderness beyond the North Wall.
From what he had gathered, the two factions didn’t even deploy together.
Both pushed deep into the northern wastes—likely venturing far beyond the safe zones.
Rong Na didn’t know the specifics of their assignments, only that eyewitnesses had spotted Zhou Xue and Heixi slipping out of the clock tower.
They were undoubtedly negotiating terms with the high-ranking officials within.
Rong Na suspected those factions were collecting exorbitant payouts from the black-uniformed dogs in exchange for dirty work.
And the compensation had to be staggering.
Otherwise, given the gruesome casualty rates both groups were suffering, would they bleed themselves dry for the administration over pocket change?
Now, however, things were getting interesting.
Zhou Xue hadn’t deployed beyond the North Wall; she had gone west instead.
She bought food, yet hid it away?
Rong Na stroked his stubbled chin, picking apart the discrepancies.
Packing it up meant bringing it back inside the city walls.
If she intended to bring it inside, why stash it in backpacks as if terrified of being seen?
—Since she was already working hand-in-glove with the administration, what did Zhou Xue have to hide?
Unless those black-uniformed dogs had no idea what was brewing outside the West Wall.
Zhou Xue was keeping them in the dark!
Rong Na’s eyes lit up.
If they wanted to keep secrets, he would be more than happy to blow the whistle.
Why should those toxic strays feast like kings while his crew suffered, chewing on miserable black bricks?
If the people who crossed him wanted to keep the officials blind, Rong Na would make sure the Commander heard every sordid detail!
Ideally, the authorities would march out and crush that damn Chinese Restaurant into dust.
Hah!
If his gang couldn’t have it, nobody else would either!
So, the moment dawn broke today, Rong Na led his men outside the East Wall to harvest crystals as usual.
Then, timing their return right before the morning bells tolled, they entered the gates and marched straight to the clock tower to “inform.”
All they had to do was wait for the guards to receive the tip-off, then catch the returning crowd red-handed with the loot!
Daring to smuggle food crafted from mutant flora and fauna past the city gates—they had a death wish.
…
“You’re Rong Na?”
After Rong Na and his goons waited outside the clock tower for what felt like ages, an officer in a black uniform finally emerged from the entryway.
“Yes, sir,” Rong Na replied instantly, straightening up.
“Follow me.”
This guard was just as tight-lipped as the rest. Rong Na peeked discreetly at the rank insignia pinned to the man’s shoulders.
Hiss… Not bars, but two silver stars!
This had to be one of the top brass among the city guards!
It seemed he was genuinely going to secure an audience with the Commander.
He moved to step forward, only for the officer to glance coolly over his shoulder: “You alone.”
“Right away, sir, right away.” Rong Na wheeled around, snapping at his lackeys, “Stay put and wait for me.”
This was Rong Na’s very first time setting foot inside the clock tower.
Following the officer up the flight of stairs, his eyes darted left and right, soaking in everything.
The interior… looked nothing like the opulent luxury he had envisioned.
Instead, it was austere, sterile, and chillingly utilitarian.
Dark walls, plain timber doors.
The few guards they passed hurried along in brisk silence, exchanging only a curt nod with his guide before brushing past.
He followed the officer up to the fourth floor, stopping before the office at the far end of the corridor.
The guard with two silver stars rapped on the door: “Commander.”
A crisp “Enter” sounded from within.
This wasn’t Rong Na’s first time laying eyes on the Commander.
However, it was the first time seeing him from such intimate proximity.
Dressed in a dark military uniform, the man sat behind a sprawling executive desk, radiating an unyielding, oppressive gravity.
Rong Na’s throat bobbed, his fingers hanging stiffly at his sides.
“You requested to see me?” the man spoke.
“Y-yes, Commander. I… I came to report a secret to you.”
The rehearsed speech Rong Na had prepared completely fractured into scattered phrases.
Yves offered no immediate response, merely fixing him with an expressionless, unblinking gaze.
Was that a cue to keep talking?
Swallowing hard, Rong Na pressed on:
“Beyond the West Wall… a restaurant has opened outside the West Wall. I know it sounds completely insane, haha, but it’s the god’s honest truth. Me and my boys saw it with our own eyes—real, edible roasted potatoes and sweet potatoes, some kind of one-pot stew, and Malatang skewers and all that. Uh, plenty of scavengers have been eating there, but not a single one reported it to the brass! Even Zhou Xue! Yes, Zhou Xue!”
Stammering incoherently at first, it took him several moments to find his rhythm and align his thoughts.
“Her people from Dark Star were out there yesterday, buying up piles of edible food. I suspect the shopkeeper running that restaurant is an Awakener with related abilities! There might even be another syndicate backing them. We, the loyal citizens of Seed City, all know that any awakening must be reported upward immediately!”
How did the official slogan go again?
Rong Na ransacked his memory in a panic.
Oh, right!
“We must dedicate our strength to humanity’s future and, and to ending this cataclysm! That Awakener opening a diner is clearly dodging their civic duty, fleeing past the high walls to run a restaurant out in the wastes! When I discovered a degenerate like that—someone refusing to serve the Three Great Cities, too cowardly to fight on the front lines, utterly selfish, trampling over the sacred oath every survivor swore just to drag out an ignoble existence, the absolute scum of scum—I rushed straight here to report it to you, sir!”
Rong Na scraped the bottom of his mental barrel, spouting every high-minded platitude he could conjure to butter up the official.
Yet for some reason…
He felt the Commander’s gaze…
Abruptly turn ice-cold.
