Chapter 10: Quietly Spreading News
Before night fell, ten heavy chimes rang out from inside the towering walls.
People trickled toward the city gates, gradually converging into a steady stream.
City guards in black uniforms stood in teams of four—two stationed inside the gates, and two outside.
The two on the inside kept their eyes glued to the blue scanning archway that scanned everyone passing through, while the two on the outside scanned their surroundings with sharp, vigilant eyes, hands resting steadily on the grips of their holstered pistols.
All three gates in Seed City operated this way.
Once the bells ceased tolling, two additional guards were dispatched to reinforce each gate.
A sizable crowd had also begun gathering inside the walls, waiting for those returning from the exterior.
Their faces wore expressions of either anxious dread or weary sorrow.
At the East Gate:
“Why does Old Sun look so downcast? He’s even got bruises on his face—did he get beaten up?”
“You haven’t heard? Lately, Mad Dog and his crew have been staking out territory. If you head east, it’s nearly impossible to scavenge anything. They probably clashed.” A few bystanders huddled together, muttering in hushed tones.
“Mad Dog? What right do they have to stake out territory? I recall they only had a dozen or so people… There are plenty of squads with a dozen members in this city. Old Sun’s group has seven or eight men of their own, doesn’t it?”
“The leader of the Eagles died—just last week, in fact. Nobody knows what Mad Dog promised the Eagles, but the rest of their crew joined up with him. Tsk, he marched out today with over thirty men under his banner. Who could possibly compete with that?”
“Ah… no wonder Long Ya came back cursing up a storm from the east this afternoon.”
“Those Eagle bastards were never decent folk—ruthless and vicious to the bone. Didn’t they cause a bunch of trouble in the past? Can Mad Dog really keep them in line?”
“You think Mad Dog is any better? Birds of a feather flock together.”
“Shh—they’re coming through! Don’t let them hear you!”
“So what if they hear? Fighting inside the walls is forbidden…”
Despite the defiance, the speaker’s voice instinctively dropped to a whisper.
At the city gate, a heavily armed crew swaggered inside. The conspicuously bulging, heavy sacks slung over their shoulders made it clear their haul had been extraordinarily lucrative.
All of them wore face cloths, masking their features, but every single one sported a red cord tied around their arm.
That was the unmistakable insignia of Mad Dog’s gang.
The man in the lead possessed a grim, sullen gaze. Peering through the slit in his face cloth, his sinister eyes swept coldly across the surrounding crowd.
The onlookers fell silent in unison, hastily averting their gazes to avoid meeting his eyes.
Within the high walls, brawling, theft, and muggings were strictly prohibited.
Violators were arrested immediately and banished to the Black Fields.
This was an ironclad, written law.
Yet surviving in the apocalypse meant no one could guarantee they would never have to venture beyond the walls.
The city guards only enforced order within the perimeter.
Once Mad Dog’s gang strolled past, a succession of scavengers with dark, sullen faces filed inside.
The murmurs picked up again.
“Are they really going to dominate the entire east side now?”
“Tsk… hard to say.”
“They won’t be able to monopolize it completely. Heizi, Zhou Xue—which of their crews isn’t stronger than Mad Dog’s? They just can’t be bothered to waste time on them. All the major factions took the city’s subsidies and are pushing exploratory expeditions to the north.”
“What on earth is out north anyway? Why did all the big factions head north this year?”
“Who knows. There might be some new developments.”
“I heard the north has gotten weird lately—mutant variants that shouldn’t appear in the safe zone have popped up. What kind of subsidy could possibly convince those big factions to obey the magistrates and throw their lives away up there?” The speaker was utterly baffled.
“Who knows. Maybe… anti-toxin serum?”
“Hiss…” A flicker of shock flashed through the listener’s eyes. Then he sighed. “Well, stuff like that has nothing to do with people like us. With Mad Dog pulling this stunt, how are folks like us supposed to survive from now on?”
“Exactly. The north is freakish, the east is occupied, and we can’t go west… What is there to find in the west anyway…?”
“There’s no way to survive anymore. This life is completely unlivable.”
Someone cursed under their breath in bitter rage.
“Can’t scavenge a damn thing! Busted our backs all day and can’t even trade for a single ration!”
A scavenger crossing the threshold yanked down his face cloth, spitting out curses.
Despair spread like a suffocating net, weighing heavily upon countless hearts.
In the apocalypse, resources were everything. They were no match for the mutated abominations, nor could they challenge the powerful syndicates.
Risking their lives to scrape by outside the walls all day, only to return unable to scrape together a single bite to eat.
What kind of life was this?
“Wait? Isn’t that Long Qian’s crew?”
An elderly woman tugged at the sleeve of the man beside her who was shaking his head, asking in a low whisper.
“Looks like them. What about it?”
The man had just returned from outside the walls with virtually nothing to show for it, already fretting over tomorrow’s rations.
“You were out today, so you wouldn’t know. Earlier this afternoon, Geli was carried out on someone’s back. He got bitten during his labor duty, remember?”
“I think so. What of it?”
“Back then, Geli couldn’t even stand on his own two feet! We all assumed they were hauling him out to bury him. Look, look! Isn’t that Geli walking right next to Long Ya? He’s actually walking on his own now!”
Geli hadn’t put on his face cloth, and his broad, towering frame made him remarkably easy to spot.
“How could that be? Getting bitten in the Black Fields is practically a death sentence. How could he possibly be walking…”
As the man muttered, he lifted his gaze—and froze. It really was Geli!
His face still retained a visible greenish tint, yet he was undeniably moving under his own power!
From the look of it, he seemed to have plenty of stamina left in him.
“I’m going over to ask!”
Long Qian’s squad had rested at that miraculous “Chinese Restaurant” for quite a while.
Only when the chimes echoed in the distance did they finally make their way back.
Shortly after entering the city, they ran into a stream of people coming over to “greet” them.
Eyes darted one after another toward Geli.
It made sense; plenty of people had watched them carry him out earlier this afternoon.
It was impossible to hide.
Nor did Long Qian intend to hide it.
They had promised that boss named Ling Jing to help spread the word, after all.
Over all these years, everyone behind the walls had lived grueling lives, and the folks coming up to greet Long Qian were all on friendly terms with her squad.
Still, when it came to spreading the word… frankly speaking, telling the raw truth meant no one would believe them.
A little suspense was necessary.
Lowering her voice, she murmured brief replies to those who came to inquire.
Then, leaving them with puzzled expressions and a faint, knowing smile, she led Long Ya and the others back toward their quarters.
Inside a rundown wooden shack:
“Brother, did you find anything today?”
From the cot, a young boy asked timidly.
Chronologically, the boy was already eleven years old.
Yet years of severe malnutrition made him look no older than seven or eight.
The youth who entered let out a low grunt in reply; he looked barely older than the boy on the cot.
“I did. Don’t worry.”
Jia Wen pulled down his face cloth, walked to the deepest corner of the room, and retrieved a pouch hidden in the innermost layer of his clothing.
There were only two small crystals inside—hard-won scraps he had spent half the day desperately scouring for.
He picked out several small pebbles from the pouch, squeezed his eyes shut, and forced them down his throat to trick his stomach. Then, grabbing the last meager scrap of black biscuit from the crate, he walked to the window. “Jia Si, eat this first.”
“Brother, what about you?”
“I already ate.”
“Oh… Tomorrow, let me go with you! I think I’m all better.” Taking the scrap of ration, the little boy murmured softly.
“You’re still running a fever. Rest for two more days; I’ll handle the rations.” Saying this, Jia Wen pulled the tattered quilt up over his little brother’s shoulders. “Hurry and eat. I’ll get you some water.”
Knock, knock, knock.
As the two brothers spoke, a series of raps sounded against the wooden door.
Jia Wen asked warily, “Who is it?”
“It’s me.”
A familiar voice called from outside.
Only then did Jia Wen step forward to unlatch the door. “Auntie Yun?”
The elderly woman slipped inside, stealthily shutting the door behind her before turning to the two boys. “Tomorrow when the gates open, gather whatever you have to trade and follow us out past the west wall, toward the south!”
“…Why?”
“Long Qian told us. She said anyone who goes definitely won’t regret it!”
Auntie Yun was one of the people who had pressed Long Qian about Geli’s condition earlier.
No matter how many of them asked, Long Qian’s answer had remained exactly the same:
“Go see for yourselves south of the west wall tomorrow. Once you look, you’ll understand.”
“Geli was able to walk back on his own two feet because of the secret out there.”
“What secret?” Jia Wen asked.
“I don’t know,” Auntie Yun replied. “She just said we’d only believe it once we saw it with our own eyes.”
