Chapter 367
In the last two days, Nanqing branch Intelligence Department officers in the headquarters brought by Lan Qingya, as well as some staff of the Munic.i.p.al Department, acted quickly. They spread leaflets, small ads, rumors, and other unusual and uncommon means and had recruited hundreds of survivors.
There was no rush, but the slums had a lot of districts, and each district had at least a few dozen survivors.
More people in the screening process were eliminated.
……
In the slum area, in the backyard of a certain bar, the number of survivors who entered and exited in the past two days was obviously much more.
“That smells good!”
Tang Wenliang finished gnawing on the last bite of compressed dry food and couldn’t help but lick the residual crumbs at the corner of his mouth, letting out an exclamation.
Beside him, a survivor, who was also sitting against the wall, nodded approvingly.
“I thought it would be good to have a full meal, but I didn’t expect it to be so delicious. I think I tasted beef, I can’t remember how long it’s been since I tasted beef.”
The compressed dry food, which was just slightly larger than a packet of ordinary cookies, looks mediocre.
At first, Tang Wenliang, who pa.s.sed the screening, was more or less disappointed when he got such a packet of compressed dry food from an expressionless man. With the size less than the palm of the hand, the thickness was very thin and wrapped in white transparent film paper dry food. He weighed, it seems to be less than a pound.
But Tang Wenliang did not complain.
The other survivors who pa.s.sed the initial screening also did not argue and did not dare to complain. They were only the lowest level of survivors.
Even though it seemed to be a small amount, a packet of dry food was an unexpected pleasure.
When Tang Wenliang tore open the outer package and chewed in his mouth as he took a bite toward the edge of the square dry food, the rich scent burst out of the mouth instantly. The small piece of dry food crawled on the tip of the tongue, and he tasted it for a long time. Until the strong scent disappeared, he was willing to swallow the dry food to his throat and stomach.
Deliciousness was a trivial part.
A few moments after digestion, Tang Wenliang was surprised to find that a stream of heat, gushing from the stomach, infiltrated the five organs and flowing through the limbs.
His body, which had been starving for a long time and was already very weak, slowly recovered under the effect of this stream of heat.
He only nibbled a third of the dry food, but he felt the long-lost feeling of fullness.
Having eaten his fill, Tang Wenliang observed the survivors similar to him in the large room. There were 20 to 30 people; each person was given a compressed food and a thick coat. In this cold weather, he wrapped it tightly, finally feeling the warmth.
By giving food and clothing, they can’t be the devil that eats men’s flesh, right?
His heart was relieved.
But he was also wondering, what did this group of people recruit them for? He was also worried this good life may be gone at any time.
………
Hai Honghui pushed open the door, two intelligence officers guarding the room nodded at him as a sign of respect.
He clapped his hands loudly, drawing the attention of the survivors, who were either sitting or lying down.
“Many of you are wondering what we do and what you will do in the future. By the confidentiality regulations, I can’t talk about it yet.”
Some people were numb, some people were disappointed, Hai Honghui didn’t care much. After a pause, he continued, “But you do not need to worry. You all had pa.s.sed the initial screening. At least all of you can have a job to support yourselves, as long as you work hard enough, and some of you can even change the fate of the future. I can’t say anything else, but you’ll understand later.”
“Soon, you will leave Nanqing with us, and those who have families, remember to report in advance.”
No one answered, no one moved, the atmosphere seemed a little dull.
But Tang Wenliang’s heart was on fire.
……
“These survivors.. There’s too much dead air.”
Hai Honghui, who pushed the door in, shook his head.
In the room, there are several intelligence personnel. This was the center base that received news from most of the bases in Nanqing.
Lan Qingya had also met those survivors, “Some of them probably don’t believe what we say. Some are here just for food, probably already used to living a life of muddling through. By the time we get to Tree Shade, hopefully the people from the Munic.i.p.al Department can turn those people’s perceptions around.”
She only slightly sighed and soon entered the work, “Now, there are a total of 351 talents in runes, but the number of additional people who pa.s.s the screening is getting smaller and smaller.. Although we meant to be discrete, but there’s hundreds of survivors. We can’t attract the attention of the local forces in Nanqing.”
After a pause, she said, “I’ve decided, we will first take the first batch of highly talented people and head to Tree Shade.”
The survivors who stayed in the base were also the highest quality talents in the initial screening. These twenty to thirty people were even more important than the other three hundred or so people.
Hai Honghui frowned, “All these survivors are not fast on their feet, Tree Shade is far from here. There is no telling how many dangers along the way, even if you bring all the people out, it’s difficult to bring them to the shelter intact. Moreover, if you leave, my side of the manpower is strained.”
“Unless you ride a car. But as you know, since the weather changed, vehicles are getting worse and worse. Even if there were vehicles to transport survivors, a round trip takes too much time and the vehicle’s engine failure rate is high. It’s better to wait for the train line between the two places connected and it will be easier to send people there.”
Lan Qingya shook her head.
“I know that. It’s just that the railroad between Tree Shade and Nanqing, won’t be connected that early. Other ordinary talents will be sent there when the railroad opens in the future, but this group of highly talented people, the sooner they are sent to the shelter, the sooner they can train their rune master knowledge.”
By the time they reach the green shade, there are still a few more filters, and these people may not all be top talents in runes.
But, the probability of a few out of 20 to 30 people standing out and becoming rune masters was still quite high.
“So I’m going to contact the guard corps and have them send out the rhino chariot to pick these people up.”
“Rhino chariot? It’s the kind of armored vehicle that weighs tens of tons and looks like a steel beast?”
Hai Honghui’s rank was high enough to know quite a few of Tree Shade’s secrets and knew that his shelter had two of the most excellent chariots.
Floating chariot, and rhinoceros chariot.
Relatively speaking, the rhinoceros chariot was a notch lower than the floating chariot but more ma.s.sive. It was like a combination of tanks and troop carriers, taking into account the combat power and the number of people carried.
The guard corps was rumored to have no more than ten rhino chariots.
“If you can persuade them to send out rhino chariots, that would be great.”
……
The next day.
Lan Qingya gathered several Intelligence Department personnel, plus two Munic.i.p.al Department personnel who were responsible for organizing and maintaining order, and brought 20 to 30 survivors, one after another, out of the bar.
The survivors who regained their strength no longer staggered so much. It took more than ten minutes for a group of people to walk on the main road that can accommodate two cars in parallel.
It was also the only driveway in the slum.
A rusty bus stopped at the side of the road, and Hai Honghui jumped down from it.
“Don’t mind this car, it’s not easy to find a big car without attracting attention these days, at least it’s not a problem to get you to the north gate.”
He said, smoothly patted the car sh.e.l.l, fine iron filings rustling down, the bus shook as if at any time may fall apart.
Hai Honghui: “….”
……
Tang Wenliang and other survivors, in turn, get aboard the bus, one by one. Quietly looking for a seat to sit down.
Hai Honghui acted as the driver. Lan Qingya sat in the first row, along with a few loud ‘burst’ sounds; the bus finally started shaking, driving on the narrow road.
Driving carefully to avoid pedestrians, sometimes they saw other vehicles on the road. Mostly welded iron reinforced armor vehicles, the bust also welded with a layer of iron bar, nothing fancy.
But its power was not good enough. Sometimes it goes fast, sometimes slow. Making the pa.s.sengers worry if the rusty bus would last until they reach their destination.
Lan Qingya intended to have the survivors walk toward the North Gate, but Nanqing was not a small shelter. There’s a 2-3 kilometers distance from the slum to the gate.
Even if they spread into small teams, the number of survivors who walked slowly would surely attract others’ attention.
In a few minutes, the bus had arrived at the city gate. Hai Honghui took out a certificate of the Chamber of Commerce, and a moment later, the bus drove out of the Nanqing Shelter smoothly.
…….
Beyond their walls, Nanqing also planted crops. But they suffered a lot due to demonic beasts’ attack. Most of them were spoiled, a few looked sickly.
During the season’s harvest, there was not much food; Nanqing still often had to buy food from the Tree Shade.
In Nanqing, there was no morning rush. But, there were a lot of hunters carrying weapons. They came out of the shelter with a lot of enthusiasm, killing demonic beasts, earning spirit stones, and then enjoying a few days of drinking.
Compared to the hunters, the survivors living in the slums seem to be living in another world.
These people on the bus have not walked out of the tall city wall for a long period of time. Many survivors have been engaged in scavenging jobs, which have gradually disappeared in history as the surrounding areas have been repeatedly explored.
The wilderness outside, the tall ancient trees, the tall gra.s.s, and the wind blowing make people feel strange.
The bus drove slowly, and the b.u.mpy road shook their bodies.
……..
After driving off the main road and driving for a few more minutes, the other hunters were gradually no longer visible.
“Let’s go here, the people from the guard corps will receive the coordinates as soon as they get nearby.”
Lan Qingya took out the beacon and activated it, a circle of fluctuations, invisible to the naked eye, spread out from the light red square in her hand.
Hai Honghui nodded his head.
Somewhat unable to stand the air inside the car, he jumped out of the car. He suddenly had the urge to make coffee, but he couldn’t find the ingredients.
“I’ll have to bring it each time I go out.” He muttered, leaning against the car door, his lazy body suddenly straightened, his eyes gazing into the distant woods.
Suddenly, the mixed hunter aura appeared in his perception.
A group of hunters, wearing combat uniforms, with weapons hanging from their waists and holding guns, came out of the woods and surrounded the bus in a moment.
In the lead, a young man with three red lines drawn on the arm position of a combat uniform stepped forward and shouted, “We are members of the Nanqing Guards. We suspect that you are a cult. Get out of the car for inspection!”
On the bus, the survivors rioted.
They knew the uniform; they were Nanqing Guards, which represented supreme power. Even other hunter adults show obedience in front of these people in uniform.
The people of the slums don’t understand the hunter’s world, but they only feel fear.
The people at the bottom of the food chain only feel fear towards those in charge of their lives and deaths.
When the young man shouted, several people instinctively stood up, ready to get out of the car to accept the inspection.
Tang Wenliang looked at the few people in the bus who should also be hunters and then looked at the guard team members who surrounded them and had already lit up their weapons and could only force himself to calm down.
On one side, there were only seven hunters dressed in different clothings.
On the other side, there were dozens of fully equipped hunters.
The captain of the guard team finally smirked. “Everyone gets out of the car and accepts the inspection. Don’t worry, we won’t let any of the cultists go. But we won’t accuse the innocent either.”
He really did not intend to frame these people as cultists, but only to use the excuse to detain the survivors on the bus.
The captain believed that among this group of people, there must be something hidden by Tree Shade Shelter that they couldn’t find.
The atmosphere was tense.
Lan Qingya coldly snorted, and the terrifying aura of Eight Awakening Stage suddenly burst out like a gust of wind, slapping down towards the faces of the members of the guards.
Her hair in her high ponytail flew, her gaze swept through, and the members of the guards retreated one after another.
The captain cursed in his heart; he was also intimidated. He himself was only at the Seventh Awakening Stage!
But his aura wasn’t weak. “State your business! If you don’t believe me, I can bring 300 strong people from the city wall right now!”
“This way, you can leave freely if you leave the survivors in the bus.” He thought he had made the other side submit to his will.
Time seemed to freeze at this moment.
The survivors on the bus were shivering.
Hai Honghui also released his Seventh Awakening aura, and the other members of the Intelligence Department already had their hands pressed down on their weapons.
……
Lan Qingya knew that the secret recruitment of talents had been discovered by Nanqing.
But she already expected it.
She had already obtained the authorization from the director.
The reason why she recruited secretly was that she did not want to clash with Nanqing, but it did not mean that she was afraid.
“Okay, you can take away people, but….”
“From now on, Tree Shade will no longer sell any food or rune equipment to Nanqing.”
Before the first captain could show his joy, his whole expression changed drastically.
Could Nanqing survive without Tree Shade’s equipment and food supply? The answer was yes.
However, they can’t stand to let go of that luxurious life and return to poverty again.
Nanqing didn’t have that great power. Once the equipment supply was cut off because of what happened today, then…
He was still stubborn, “Even if we don’t buy directly from you, there are chambers of commerce, and the chambers of commerce bring a lot of equipment every once in a while.”
“Do you think our Tree Shade doesn’t have the ability to cut off the supply of the Chamber of Commerce?”
Lan Qingya coldly snorted and stopped talking.
The captain was torn.
Releasing them or not, it was a difficult choice.
If he lets go and something happens, he would be the one to be blamed. If he didn’t let them go, the people from the bus would smash him into dust.
No, they will smash him into nothing, like a fart.
His face was tangled, and he felt anxious.
Suddenly, a roar came from the distance…
The 20 meters tall trees were trampled.
A two-story-high silvery black steel wall chariot appeared within their line of sight.
The chariot’s wheel left a tracks of 20 centimeters deep in the ground, drove straight to them, and stopped.
Several thick gun barrels, pointing out, made the people who saw it shivered.
Hunters dressed in black standard combat uniform opened the door of the chariot and jumped down from it.
Holding high-grade runic weapons, carrying runic firearms, and the intimidating chariot.
He recognized the symbols inscribed on it.
It was the Tree Shade Guard Corps.
The captain couldn’t help swallowing down his saliva.