The dilapidated concrete road was a web of cracks, sending clear jolts through the vehicle’s chassis.

The black wheels crunched over gravel, making a sound that set one’s teeth on edge.

Lu Chao looked out the car window. The roadside weeds had clearly been cut back, leaving sparse stubble less than a foot high, like a scalp scraped clean by a razor.

"We’re here."

Suddenly, Chen Xiao spoke in a low voice. Lu Chao shifted his gaze forward.

At the end of the concrete road, a roadblock of dark wood and barbed wire blocked their path. Dozens of sandbags were piled up on either side and draped with camouflage netting, forming two simple guard posts, one taller than the other.

A large, rust-covered searchlight stood next to the guard posts, with two old, army-green pickup trucks parked behind them.

Seven or eight heavily armed men in old leather or patched jackets watched them with guarded expressions, clutching automatic rifles from behind the sandbags.

"These must be the people from Black Water Town."

"Don’t make any sudden moves. The City Defense Department will handle the negotiations."

Yang Wangtao said in a low voice, reminding everyone. 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

A similar order soon came over the vehicle’s internal comms, after which a diplomatic specialist from the City Defense Department went forward to negotiate.

Taking advantage of the brief lull, Lu Chao looked to the sides of the concrete road.

Rusty barbed wire, interwoven with sharpened wooden stakes, formed a crude, two-meter-high wall that roughly cordoned off the area from the surrounding wilderness.

Beyond it, the gray silhouettes of ruined buildings were faintly visible.

The entire exchange took only a few minutes. The diplomatic specialist returned to his vehicle, and the convoy set off once more.

Gradually, they entered the town, and for the first time, Lu Chao saw what was known as a wilderness settlement.

Desolate and dilapidated.

It looked as if the town had suffered some sort of earthquake-like disaster. The walls of the three- and four-story concrete low-rises were mostly gone, exposing cracked red bricks within. There were also massive fissures that looked as if they had torn straight through the walls, resembling giant claw marks.

Piles of moss-covered concrete rubble and broken tiles were stacked in street corners, seemingly too precious to discard. Old, yellowed-green tarps, held up by wires and wooden poles, were hung to form crude walls that served as windbreaks.

Perhaps sensing the convoy’s approach, figures on either side of the road lifted the tarps, and heads began to poke out.

A few children playing by the roadside up ahead were quickly scooped up by adults and carried away. They hid in corners, watching the convoy with wary eyes.

"This is Black Water Town."

Inside the vehicle, Yang Wangtao spoke in a low, steady voice. "According to the records, this was a rural town back in the Old World."

"During the post-apocalyptic era, it experienced many disasters and barely survived. Historically, a warlord once rose from here, but he later died in the ensuing chaos..."

As he listened, Lu Chao gazed out the window, his eyes sweeping over the townspeople.

Adults and children alike were dressed in old, heavily patched clothes. Their skin was a weather-beaten brown, and their lips were chapped and peeling—clear signs of constant exposure to the sun.

Their hair looked as though it hadn’t been washed in ages, greasy and matted.

Most eyes were filled with wariness and worry. A few people, however, licked their cracked lips as they hid inside the buildings, lifting the corners of their tarps to watch the convoy with what looked like greed.

The entire town fell into a strange silence, leaving only the sound of the convoy’s tires crunching over gravel.

「...」

BANG! BANG! BANG!!

The gunfire was relentless, and blood soaked the ground around the temporary campsite.

Tents lay collapsed. Several elites from the City Defense Department, clad in black combat uniforms, had fallen. They gurgled on their own blood as their bodies grew cold.

Five or six others, members of martial arts halls and security companies, also lay in pools of their own blood, their eyes wide open, unable to rest in peace.

VROOOM!!

In the distance, two SUVs fled frantically through a hail of bullets like startled beasts. Sparks flew from their chassis as bullet holes multiplied across their frames at a visible rate.

Several camouflage jeeps were in hot pursuit right behind them. Inside, warlord soldiers in army-green combat uniforms held submachine guns, their eyes glinting with malice. They fired relentlessly, pouring volley after volley of bullets into the fleeing SUVs.

Amid the sharp CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! of bullets striking metal, another group of figures could be seen.

Several agile figures dashed into the jungle, weaving between the trees to nimbly dodge the gunfire.

Seeing this, seven or eight figures leaped from another of the pursuing jeeps. Each one exuded a powerful aura as they gave chase, moving with the speed of cheetahs.

The chaos lasted for more than ten minutes before the sounds of the chase finally faded into the distance.

Sometime during the pursuit, a heavily modified armored car rolled up and stopped outside the collapsed campsite. Its thick, menacing cannon barrel, seemingly capable of firing shells, glinted coldly.

Seven or eight more pickup trucks pulled up behind it. Each was packed with men in worn, army-green combat uniforms, armed with automatic rifles. Some even shouldered rocket launchers.

A moment later, a dozen figures leaped from the trucks and began executing the heavily wounded members of the hunting party.

"Elder Mo."

Amid the gunfire, a burly, middle-aged man in a military uniform got out of the armored car, strode past his subordinates, and walked to the center of the temporary camp.

An old man stood there, draped in a black robe. His graying hair was coiled up and decorated with the feathers of birds and beasts.

He was dressed like a tribal priest from the Old World. His skin was a weather-beaten brown, his face a web of wrinkles, and he wore two streaks of red and yellow mud paint on his cheeks.

At his feet, an expert from the City Defense Department lay on the ground vomiting blood, his eyes completely bloodshot.

The man seemed to be struggling frantically, but his limbs were bound by chains of what looked like solidified gravel, pinning him immovably to the ground.