Chapter 86: Expanding Its Territory Toward the Wall
Inside Seed City.
Several men trudged through the streets, heads hanging low in utter dejection.
Judging by their direction, they looked to have just returned through the West Gate.
“What the hell are we supposed to do now…? The boss and the captains got dragged off, and we still can’t step foot inside the Chinese Restaurant.”
“Damn it all. I thought tagging along with the black-clad dogs would let us slip through… Who knew we’d get bounced right off that white light the second we got close?”
The ones grumbling were the surviving lackeys of the former Mad Dog Gang.
Their leader had been snatched up out of nowhere, and the second, third, and fourth-in-command—every shot-caller in the crew—had been tossed straight into the stockades with him.
It had all happened in the blink of an eye.
…Just yesterday afternoon, the boss had led a detail to demand an audience with the Commander.
He had strutted back practically glowing with triumph, crowing that the Chinese Restaurant was about to get dismantled.
He promised they’d soon be stuffing their faces with gourmet food for free, and maybe even settle some scores watching the folks who beat them get worked over by the city guards.
Instead, during the evening inspection, the guards kicked the door off its hinges, barking that Rong Na and his inner circle had violated some sort of… municipal ordinance?
Before anyone could wrap their heads around the charge, the men were already in irons.
Not a second was granted for an argument.
The gang had only numbered around thirty in total, and over a dozen had been carted off in a single sweep.
Before the rank-and-file could even process the shock, the entire backbone of their syndicate was rotting behind bars, leaving the rest of the gang to crumble into scattered dust.
Some cried that they were finished, wailing that with the bosses gone, vengeance would soon catch up to them.
They bolted into the night, slinking back to the hovels they used to inhabit.
Others set their sights on the gang’s leftover hoard of crystals and City Coins, immediately brawling over the spoils. Some snatched, some fought. The bruises Zhou Xue had handed them hadn’t even faded before fresh ones were hammered in.
Halfway through the brawl, the racket grew so loud that the night patrol battered the door down again and hauled away a few more.
Only then did the remaining survivors settle down.
They spent the entire night scheming, but came up completely empty.
Those left behind were merely the coat-tail riders who only knew how to swagger when hiding behind someone bigger.
With a leader pointing the way, they were more than happy to push helpless scavengers around. But asking them to chart a path forward on their own… fat chance.
If they possessed that kind of brains, they wouldn’t have spent years scraping by as bottom-tier thugs in the first place.
Like ants on a scorching skillet, they suffered through a torturous night.
Come morning, they shuffled nervously toward the central plaza, only to hear the fresh bulletin broadcast by the city guards.
—God damn it, wasn’t that the exact intelligence Boss Rong Na had fed to the brass?!
Why hadn’t these uniformed dogs cracked down on the place? Why were they… herding the toxic strays straight toward the Chinese Restaurant instead?
The surviving gang members were completely floored.
Clinging to a sliver of desperate hope, they fell in behind the massive column led by the guards.
They figured that since they no longer technically belonged to an active gang, maybe… just maybe, they would be let inside?
To their dismay, the instant they neared the dome of white light, an invisible force repelled them straight backward.
Before their eyes floated that all-too-familiar line of text:
[The shopkeeper has placed you on the blacklist. Reason: Obstructing regular restaurant operations. To dine at this establishment, the outstanding fine must be cleared. Penalty amount: 99,999 City Coins.]
“…”
And that was how the band of miscreants ended up trudging back through the West Gate, cursing every step of the way.
“What else can we do? Back to the East Wall, I guess.”
“…Those toxic wretches get to feast like kings, while we’re stuck gnawing on black bricks? Ten City Coins a brick, no less.”
“Hey… do you think we could ever scrape together enough to pay off the fine?” one of them ventured in a squeak.
“You mean by picking trash outside the East Wall until every one of us saves a hundred thousand City Coins?” Another thug shot him a venomous, sideways glare.
“…Who knows? Maybe?”
“We wouldn’t save that much in three lifetimes… Bastard, why the hell is the fine so high?!”
Heads drooping, the group shuffled toward the eastern sector.
One of them, burning with bitter resentment, kicked over a wooden bucket resting by the roadside.
Another reacted on pure instinct, grabbing his arm and hurriedly righting the fallen bucket. “Watch it, or they’ll lock us up too! Right now… right now we still have our skins. If we get thrown in the pens and shipped off to the Black Fields, we’re truly dead meat.”
“…”
Heavy, dragged footsteps echoed through the streets, fading toward the East Wall.
At the exact same time, a flurry of brisk, lighthearted footsteps pattered in from the West Wall.
A jubilant crowd went sprinting into the residential quarters.
A scrawny man, eyes blazing with joy, burst through the door of his timber shack while clutching a wrapped bundle against his chest like a priceless treasure. “Ma! Look what I brought back!”
An older woman threw open her front door, shoving a piping-hot sweet potato into the trembling hands of her bedridden daughter. “Sweetheart, it’s real! There’s a Chinese Restaurant outside the walls! I bought this roasted sweet potato out there!”
The sound of wooden doors swinging open clattered in an unbroken chain.
Excited voices traded tales of what lay beyond the walls, while others scrambled to rally friends and family to join the run.
“It’s completely safe! Let’s go together—grab every basin, bucket, and sack we have! That’s how everyone else is hauling it!”
“Wait! Don’t we still have those rubber waders we brought with us back then? Word is the farms to the west have everything, even sprawling lotus ponds! Lotus roots fetch top coin! Pull on the waders and let’s go dig up a mountain of them!”
“Even hand-stitched cloth shoes and insoles can be traded for coin? Good, that’s wonderful… These old bones can finally be of some use, instead of dragging you children down day after day.”
“Grandma, don’t talk like that! Every time we came back from the wastes, we relied on you to mend our gear!”
There are city guards posted along the path, a young girl signed swiftly to an elder seated across the room. You can earn coin just by harvesting wild crops. It’s far safer than scavenging in the ruins.
Then I’m coming along too, the elder signed back.
“Didn’t Aunt and the others head north today? Run and call them back! No need to scavenge out there anymore—the plaza this morning…”
Word ripped through the whole of Seed City like wildfire.
…
“Huh? Why are there city guards stationed out here?”
The regular patrons assembling outside the West Gate for the mid-morning run traded puzzled glances as they marched toward the Chinese Restaurant.
“What’s going on?”
One of them caught hold of an unfamiliar face in the crowd.
“The central plaza made an official announcement at dawn! A Chinese Restaurant opened outside the walls, and the guards are maintaining an armed escort along the path during business hours. Don’t tell me you folks are only just hearing about this? I already bought a roasted potato and carried it home—it’s incredible out there…”
“Hold on, hold on. We’re not late to the party, we’re day-one regulars!”
“Oh? Then why are you asking?”
“No, wait… You’re saying we get an armed guard escorting the path to the Chinese Restaurant from now on?”
“Naturally! That’s straight from the guards’ mouths!”
“Wait a second—you can bring roasted potatoes inside the city?! Aren’t all flora, fauna, and seeds strictly barred from crossing the gates?!”
“Not this! The bulletin explicitly stated it’s permitted! I walked right through the checkpoint with one in hand!”
The gathered “veteran regulars” stared at one another, sheer delight bursting across their faces.
From now on… they could carry the restaurant’s food straight back home to eat?
With guards securing the perimeter?
No more looking over their shoulders for ambush-happy street gangs lurking in the shadows.
Those dogs in uniform had finally done something decent for once!
Outside the North Wall.
Zhou Xue and her squad arrived at the gate checkpoint.
Another strike team was already waiting by the perimeter.
At their head stood a man who offered Zhou Xue a curt nod the moment he spotted her.
A silent greeting.
This was Heixi of the Red Flag Society, the other prominent Awakener faction in Seed City.
Zhou Xue had dealt with Heixi in the past, and her impression of the Red Flag Society had always been rather refined.
Back when supplies weren’t so desperately scarce, his crew had even circulated printed pamphlets encouraging the survivors to stand united, drawing a significant number of intellectuals into their fold.
The Heixi standing before her now had changed considerably. A sharp, bloodthirsty edge clung to him, honed by constant violence.
Those once-azure eyes had completely drowned in a deep, murky emerald.
The two detachments converged because a runner from the city guard had delivered a missive at first light.
—Deep in the northeastern reaches beyond the North Wall, a mutant suspected to be B-rank had manifested.
And it was steadily expanding its territory toward the city wall.
