She was Auntie Zhou. She had lived in the Outer City for half her life. Her husband had died young, and she had raised two children on her own by scavenging for trash in the market.
When news of the Cold Wave broke, she panicked.
She couldn’t afford the five-hundred-Star-Coin shelter fee.
Stockpiling coal and food was even further out of her reach; she simply didn’t have the money.
Just as she reached a dead end, her neighbor, Old Zhang, told her about a place called the “Terminal Station” out in the Ruin Zone. He said there were no taxes to pay, no need to endure the City Defense Force’s arrogance, and she could move in just by signing a contract.
When Old Zhang told her, she hadn’t believed him.
The Ruin Zone? Could people actually live in a place like that?
But she had no other choice.
Gritting her teeth, she took her two children and left through the Outer City gates, trekking all the way there with her heart in her throat.
What if Old Zhang had lied to her?
What if this Terminal Station didn’t even exist?
What if they refused to take her in once she arrived?
Every thought felt like a heavy stone, pressing down until she could barely breathe.
It wasn’t until she stood at the entrance of the Terminal Station building, was scanned by a robot, signed the contract, received her metal plate, and stepped inside—
Only then did she believe that Old Zhang had told the truth.
The air inside the building was warm.
There was no wind in the corridors, no snow, and none of that bone-chilling cold that could kill a person.
The walls were clean, the floors were level, and although the lights overhead weren’t incredibly bright, they were far more luminous than the dilapidated shack she had lived in for twenty years in the Outer City.
Auntie Zhou’s eyes felt a bit stinging and moist.
In all her life, she had never lived in such a nice place.
While she was still immersed in her shock, a broadcast suddenly rang out through the corridor.
“Attention to all tenants. An emergency mission is now being issued—”
“Winter Summons Order...”
Auntie Zhou froze.
The mission details were broadcast point by point, and she heard every word clearly.
For every new tenant successfully referred, the referrer would receive a reward of one hundred Star Coins off their own first month’s rent.
Rewards could be accumulated with no upper limit.
Auntie Zhou’s breathing suddenly grew rapid.
She instinctively turned her head to look at her two children, who were still looking around in wonder.
A hundred Star Coins off...
Her own room cost six hundred Star Coins a month in rent.
If she could refer six people, she wouldn’t have to pay rent at all this month!
Six people...
A string of names instantly flashed through her mind.
Sister Wang from next door, who worked as a helper in a laundry room, didn’t even earn a hundred Star Coins a month; she definitely wouldn’t survive the Cold Wave.
Auntie Liu from the vegetable market was raising three children on her own; her life was even tighter than Zhou’s.
And then there was Old Zhang—he was the one who told her about the Terminal Station, but he hadn’t arrived yet. She had to tell him quickly...
Auntie Zhou grabbed a young woman nearby who had just finished her check-in procedures and asked urgently, “Dear, did you hear the broadcast? There’s a reward for referrals—one hundred Star Coins!”
The young woman’s eyes lit up. “I heard it! I was just thinking of telling my cousin. He hauls bricks at a construction site in the Outer City and doesn’t make much. He’ll have nowhere to go once the Cold Wave hits.”
“Then contact him quickly!” Auntie Zhou said anxiously. “If you’re too late, someone else will recruit him!”
The young woman was stunned for a moment, then reacted immediately. Her expression changed, and she turned to run back outside.
Auntie Zhou wasn’t about to be left behind either. She pulled her two children down the corridor, muttering as she went, “Sister Wang, Auntie Liu, Old Zhang, and Granny Li...”
She had to find a way to contact them immediately.
She didn’t have a communicator, so she would have to walk all the way back to the Outer City!
But what did that matter? By making this trip, she could bring in five or six people, which was the equivalent of earning five or six hundred Star Coins!
For commoners like them, hard work was the last thing they feared!
After settling her two children, Auntie Zhou set off toward the Outer City without a moment’s rest.
In the corridor, the broadcast continued to play on a loop.
More and more people stopped in their tracks, ears pricked to listen to the mission description.
The commoners who had lived in the Outer City for most of their lives, the vagrants who had struggled in the Ruin Zone for years, those whose backs had been bent by life and who had long forgotten how to write the word “hope”—
At this moment, light sparked in all of their eyes.
Some ran out of the building in a hurry, some grabbed strangers to ask if there was a way to contact the Outer City, and some crouched in corners, counting on their fingers to calculate how many people they could bring in.
The entire first-floor lobby instantly turned into a boiling pot of activity.
The commoners who had just moved in hadn’t even had time to see what their rooms looked like before they started plotting how to bring their friends and relatives over.
Su Wan stood at the corner of the stairs, a slight smile curling at the corners of her mouth.
This was exactly the effect she wanted.
Su Wan turned back to Room 102 and contacted Cold Wind through her consciousness.
“Cold Wind.”
“Master,” Cold Wind’s consciousness responded immediately.
“Come back with Iron Bone.”
Cold Wind was slightly taken aback. “Come back?”
“Yes. Return to the Terminal Station,” Su Wan’s voice was calm and certain. “There’s no point in you two returning to the City Defense Force anymore.”
Butcher was dead. As the last people to have contact with him, Cold Wind and Iron Bone would inevitably be under suspicion.
Even without evidence, the City Defense Force would no longer trust them.
Continuing to stay there would only become increasingly dangerous.
“Rather than going back to be suspected, monitored, or even secretly executed, it’s better to come back.”
Cold Wind was silent for a few seconds, then a low sigh came through the mental link. “Master is right. I understand.”
Su Wan leaned back in her chair, her gaze falling on the grey sky outside the window.
Once Cold Wind and Iron Bone returned, she would need to rearrange their tasks.
What she needed now was more people.
A larger population.
More tenants.
Only when the population reached ten thousand and she completed the Main Quest could she unlock Area Control Authority and expand the Absolute Safety Zone to the entire planned area of the shelter.
At that point, the Terminal Station could truly grow and flourish.
Su Wan pulled back her thoughts and contacted the Central Hub through the mental link.
“Central Hub, compile a list of current tenants with combat experience.”
【Command confirmed. Compiling...】
【Compilation complete.】
【Current Total Tenants: 2,336.】
【Personnel with Combat Experience: 187.】
【Breakdown: 42 hunters, 68 scavengers, 23 former City Defense Force soldiers, 17 former mercenaries, 37 others.】
【Number of Ability Users: 16 (12 Level 1, 4 Level 2, 0 Level 3).】
Su Wan looked at the numbers and frowned slightly.
One hundred and eighty-seven people had combat experience, but most were hunters and scavengers. Only twenty-three former City Defense Force soldiers had received formal military training.
This amount of power was barely enough to deal with a slightly larger mercenary group, let alone the City Defense Force.
However, the Terminal Station didn’t need to go on the offensive; it only needed to defend itself.
And with the Terminal Station’s current defensive capabilities, even if a higher-level enemy came, they wouldn’t necessarily be able to break through.
Rate on N.U.
