Most of these vagrants were dressed in rags, sallow and thin, but their expressions were wary and their movements swift, like ants returning to their nest after a scare.
“As I thought...” Lei Lie understood in his heart.
When the Purge Artillery was active, these “rats” of the ruins would naturally flee beyond the bombardment range by instinct.
Even though there were Rot-Walkers and harsher environments out there, it was still better than being turned into dust by artillery fire.
Now that the bombardment had stopped, they were naturally returning to their original homes to find a place to stay once more.
This discovery allowed him to relax his guard slightly; at the very least, it showed that the area was beginning to slowly return to its normal ecology.
He continued forward, the direction guided by his ability pointing deeper into the ruins, near the blurred boundary where it met the Non-Safe Zone.
Lei Lie paused, feeling a bit hesitant.
Venturing into the Non-Safe Zone for an increasingly slim possibility was not a wise move.
He began to consider whether to turn back and try his luck in Area B.
After all, the guard’s words made sense; seeking profit and avoiding harm was biological instinct, and the Shadow-Stalker Beast would likely flee to areas where the bombardment hadn't reached.
Just as Lei Lie was about to give up on this lead and follow the guard's advice to try his luck elsewhere, he noticed a strange phenomenon.
The scattered vagrants were all moving in a convergent direction.
They were converging toward a single location from different directions.
Lei Lie stopped and scanned the figures in the distance.
Indeed, most of the vagrants were moving in one direction.
That place was already at the edge of Area A7, near the Non-Safe Zone. Theoretically, resources there were scarce, the environment was more unstable, and the risk factor was higher.
“Something’s not right...” Lei Lie muttered to himself.
The behavior pattern of vagrants was simple: they sought profit and avoided harm, running wherever there were resources.
Had the vagrants found a new resource point? Or perhaps a safe gathering place?
The thought of turning back was replaced by a hunter’s intuition.
He decided to follow and see.
The further he went, the more vagrants he saw converging.
They rarely spoke to one another, but their eyes held an emotion Lei Lie rarely saw on the faces of vagrants—a faint sense of anticipation.
Finally, after bypassing a large pile of construction debris completely leveled by the shockwaves, the view ahead suddenly opened up, causing Lei Lie’s pupils to contract sharply!
On a relatively open patch of scorched earth at the edge of the ruins, a grey, twelve-story building stood tall and majestic!
Its walls were mottled, but the overall structure was intact—even the windows weren't broken!
“This... how is this possible?” Waves of shock surged through Lei Lie’s heart.
He had seen it with his own eyes along the way; the core area of Area A had been nearly erased, and even the edges had few intact structures.
How could this building survive that kind of saturation bombing? And remain completely unscathed?
Something was wrong.
Very wrong.
What shocked him even more was that this building was not vacant.
The area near the entrance on the ground floor was crowded with people.
Vagrants were queuing to enter, others were bringing materials they had found to exchange for something at a strange machine, and still others were lining up at a small window opened on the side of the building...
“Terminal Station...” Lei Lie narrowed his eyes, seeing those two shimmering words above the entrance.
His heart was filled with massive questions.
What is this place? Who is in control of it? Why is it intact after the artillery fire? And what exactly is attracting so many vagrants here?
And the direction his ability pointed toward seemed to be right here...
Could the Shadow-Stalker Beast... be related to this bizarre building?
Lei Lie decided to go and check out the situation.
A-Qing and A-Liang trailed far behind Lei Lie, maintaining an absolutely safe distance.
At first, they thought this was just a grueling chore, wandering aimlessly through a leveled ruin after a hunter.
But as Lei Lie gradually approached the edge of the ruins and the vagrants began to appear, the two of them immediately tensed up.
Vagrants?
How could there be living people in Area A after it had been purged by artillery?
And it wasn't just one or two; there was a scattered crowd, all moving in the same direction!
They exchanged a look, knowing without speaking—something big had happened.
The two disguised themselves as ordinary vagrants, blending into the crowd and following along.
When that grey, intact twelve-story building appeared in their field of vision, they almost lost their footing, and the scope in A-Liang’s hand nearly fell to the ground.
“Holy crap...” A-Liang cursed instinctively.
How could there be a building in this place?
What about the artillery? What about the drones? Are those lords in the Inner City blind?
The two suppressed the shock in their hearts and continued to observe while blending in with the vagrants.
Because of A-Liang’s ability, they were still quite far from the Terminal Station building, but they could see everything clearly.
What they saw made their skin crawl.
They saw vagrants queuing for registration, they saw robots scanning and issuing contracts, and they saw Lei Lie also blending into the crowd of vagrants.
This building was not simple.
Or rather, the owner of this building was not simple.
The two did not act rashly, nor did they attempt to get closer.
After confirming the location and basic intelligence, they quietly turned back and rushed toward the Outer City at their maximum speed.
...
After traveling back to the apocalyptic world, Su Wan first handled the accumulated materials.
Today, thanks to the tenants’ enthusiasm for the “Gold for Star Coins” mission and the spending of both new and old tenants, she had recovered a significant amount of gold through the Star Coin Exchange Machine.
After a careful count, the newly added gold bars and jewelry in her storage space totaled more than 1,800 grams.
Next, she began to restock the convenience store shelves.
With the explosion in population, the demand for various materials had grown exponentially.
She not only replenished the previously popular compressed food, clean drinking water, basic medicines, and cold-weather clothing but also brought out more varieties of goods from her storage space to put on the shelves:
Durable work pants and thick coats, different models of toolboxes and repair parts, and even some over-the-counter painkillers and simple personal hygiene products.
The enrichment of product types further stimulated the tenants' desire to earn Star Coins, and also increased the convenience store's appeal and profit.
While Su Wan was busy with internal affairs, external information was constantly being summarized through C1.
Another “Death Tide” was about to arrive, which was the deepest fear of all vagrants.
In the past, they could only hide in deeper burrows or endure it, their lives left to fate.
But now, the reputation of the “Terminal Station” shelter had spread.
A place that could completely withstand the “Death Tide,” a building that remained intact under Inner City artillery fire!
A place that provided safety and order, where one could even exchange labor for food and housing!
To the desperate vagrants facing the threat of the Death Tide, this was nothing less than a lighthouse in the darkness.
Rate on N.U.
