Chapter 27

Bai Chen immediately slowed down the heavy motorcycle, lifted her head, and looked ahead.

About a hundred meters away, there was a red-brown wall that stretched as far as she could see, curving backward at the edge of her vision, seemingly about to enclose the area.

Most of the bricks on the wall were weathered and old, but a few looked new, as if they had been fired within the past year.

Rusty barbed wire was strung along the top of the wall and outside, with only one road passing through.

On the wooden scaffolds between the barbed wire and the wall, and behind the wall, guards with dirty, mismatched clothing patrolled, holding guns.

The guard who warned Bai Chen was standing on the highest scaffold. He wore a yellowed, stiff shirt underneath and a dark blue, puffy, bulky coat that looked like a cotton-padded jacket.

This guard carried an automatic rifle and held a black item that resembled a pen.

The item emitted a red light, forming a small dot in front of Bai Chen.

Bai Chen stopped the motorcycle, took off her helmet, and tried to comb her short hair, which just reached her ears, backward.

She was intentionally displaying her feminine identity.

This was not to seduce or attract anyone, but to make the other party relax and be less tense.

She was well aware that in the ash and dust, where there was little order, even though guns could level the threat posed by men and women, they could not truly eliminate the difference between the two.

In terms of physical strength and aggression, men were more dangerous than women.

A male stranger was far more likely to cause panic than a female one.

During the years Bai Chen wandered in the wilderness, she always presented herself in two different states: when she needed to explore ruins, hunt in the wild, cross dangerous areas, or trade with certain bandit groups, she would hide her long hair, darken her face, and change her attire to look like a man; when she approached settlements with some order, or dealt with relic hunters from major forces who valued information and old-world data, she would reveal her feminine identity.

After being absorbed by "Pangu Bio," and gaining confidence, she finally had the freedom to cut her hair to a length that was neither too long nor too short.

After placing the helmet in front of her, Bai Chen slowly continued forward on the heavy motorcycle.

Throughout this process, the red dot kept flickering in front of her, occasionally landing on her motorcycle, indicating that the other party was still aiming and not being careless.

When the distance between them narrowed to thirty meters, Bai Chen tilted the motorcycle, supported herself with one foot, and shouted loudly:

"I'm here to see Mayor Tian Erhe!"

She repeated it twice, then stopped speaking and patiently waited.

One of the guards on the scaffold descended along the sloping wooden board.

After about five or six minutes, an elderly man appeared on the wall.

He wore a deep blue, furry hat, as if he had placed a bowl upside down on his head.

His temples were noticeably white, his eye sockets sunken, his face thin and lined, making him look very old.

However, his deep brown eyes were still bright, and his spirit was sharp. He was the mayor of this settlement, Tian Erhe.

He wore a yellowed white T-shirt, a wrinkled, patched suit, and a large, long military green coat that was clearly not a good fit for his figure.

His lower body was clad in dark yellow wool trousers, with many other pairs of trousers stuffed inside, making him look very bulky.

Tian Erhe gazed at Bai Chen, carefully identifying her for a few seconds.

"Ah..." He seemed to recognize her, but when he tried to greet her, he realized she was too far away, and he could no longer shout loudly as he used to.

He quickly turned his head and angrily said to the guard beside him:

"Give me my megaphone!

"Really, you're not very smart!"

The guard responded with a委屈 (sense of grievance):

"Your megaphone is out of power, and we can't get the same type of battery recently.

"I, I can help you shout..."

Tian Erhe thought for a moment and said:

"Help me shout: 'Bai girl, where have you been this year? I thought you were eaten by wild beasts!'"

"Bai girl..." The guard suddenly realized, "Is it the Bai Chen who used to come here often?"

"Who else could it be? I'm in my seventies, and my eyesight is getting worse, but I can still recognize her. You, a young man in your twenties, can't even see clearly?" Tian Erhe glanced at the guard and scolded him.

Everyone in the settlement was used to Tian Erhe's temper, and the guard did not mind the scolding, just muttering:

"She looks much better than before... It's hard to recognize her if you don't look closely..."

Before Tian Erhe could glare at him, the guard raised his voice and shouted:

"Bai girl, where have you been this year? I thought you were eaten by wild beasts!"

Bai Chen's expression softened, and she shouted back:

"I went to other places.

"Mayor, I'm here to trade for some things!"

This place was called "Shuigui Town." Bai Chen had heard from Tian Erhe that the town's name came from the fact that it was surrounded by four rivers before the old world's destruction.

After the old world's destruction, long-term conflicts, and multiple geological disasters, the nearby rivers had become part of a large swamp, providing Shuigui Town with a natural defense and sufficient concealment.

Only the residents of Shuigui Town and their invited guests could find the roads covered by mud in the large swamp and navigate through the maze-like environment to reach here.

Compared to other settlements that often had to relocate, Shuigui Town, with its clean water source and considerable farmland, had been there since the old world's destruction.

Tian Erhe had intended to have a loud conversation, but before he could truly speak, his throat itched, and he couldn't help but cough a few times.

"Come in, come in." He waved his hand helplessly.

The guard beside him immediately shouted:

"Come in! Come in!

"Hand over your gun to the people at the gate!"

Smack! Tian Erhe hit him:

"Who told you to add that last part?

"Bai girl is trustworthy!"

"But she hasn't been here for a year." The guard responded stubbornly.

Tian Erhe was silent for a few seconds, then said nothing more, turning to walk down the scaffold.

Bai Chen did not resist, handing over the gun she carried, the pistol on her belt, and the heavy motorcycle to the guards at the gate.

The iron-black gates, which opened outward, were then opened.

Tian Erhe was already waiting there, looking Bai Chen up and down, and chuckled:

"It seems you've been doing well recently. You used to be just a mud girl."

Bai Chen instinctively closed her eyes:

"A team took me in."

Tian Erhe nodded thoughtfully:

"Good, good."

He did not continue on this topic and casually asked:

"What about your robot? The one called 35."

Bai Chen's eyelids slightly lowered, and after a second, she said:

"It's broken."

Tian Erhe fell silent immediately.

After a few seconds, he took a deep breath and asked as if nothing had been discussed:

"What do you want to trade for?"

"Some car parts..." Bai Chen answered with a normal expression.

"Stop! Don't tell me the specifics. I don't understand them. I'll take you to see and choose them directly." Tian Erhe laughed, interrupting Bai Chen.

He turned around and led Bai Chen deeper into the town.

This town was not large and was very different from the concept of a town in the old world.

Bai Chen's first glance revealed three three-story buildings in the distance. The buildings were not tall but long, with many rooms on each floor.

These three buildings were not parallel but formed an inverted, slanted "pin" shape.

According to Bai Chen's knowledge, those living inside with private or floor bathrooms were members of the town guard and their families. Additionally, people with important skills, such as those who could repair guns or knew old-world agricultural techniques, could also be allocated rooms.

On the sides of the "pin" shape, there were two large public restrooms, one vertical and one horizontal. In front of the "pin" shape was a small concrete square, and beyond it were three smaller squares made of rammed earth.

On either side of the squares were rows of bungalows, not far from the wall, belonging to the original residents of Shuigui Town. Given the population base of Shuigui Town, most families had members in the town guard, otherwise, it would not be sufficient to maintain the guard.

On the four squares, there were countless, haphazardly built houses, including mud houses, brick houses, and tents.

These buildings came from the wild wanderers absorbed by Shuigui Town over the years or from members who had violated the laws.

At this time, the sun was still in the sky, and evening had not yet arrived. Some of the residents of Shuigui Town were still working in the fields behind the town, while others had gone out in small groups to hunt. Only a few people remained in the town.

They emerged from the densely packed houses, their eyes peering through the glass, with a common feature: their faces were not clean, their hair was dry and greasy, their clothes were mismatched and not necessarily fitting, but their eyes were more spirited than those of the wild wanderers Bai Chen had encountered elsewhere.

"Mayor, how have you been recently?" Bai Chen, not paying attention to the others' gazes, opened her mouth and asked, not very familiarly.

Tian Erhe laughed self-deprecatingly:

"Still okay, just getting more afraid of the cold. Look, it's not even winter yet, and I already need to wear so much. Ha, I don't know if I can make it through this winter."

"Definitely." Bai Chen followed Tian Erhe along the road between the haphazard houses toward the three buildings forming the "pin" shape.

Her answer was very confident, but her tone was a bit uncertain.

"Don't try to comfort me." Tian Erhe touched his chin, which had some white stubble, "I'm seventy-seven! How many people who experienced the old world's destruction can live to this age? Besides, my children are gone. Even if we find a new world in a few years, it won't mean much to me. Ah, if Nan Nan were still alive, she would be about your age..."

"..." After a moment of silence, Bai Chen said, "At least see the new world once."

Her peripheral vision swept over the haphazardly built houses around her, noticing that their doorways and windows were piled with plastic bottles, glass bottles, old cardboard, buttons, rags, parts from unknown sources, cables of various lengths, metal bottle caps, game controllers with missing buttons, cracked mirror cases, bullet casings, scopes, and rusty eyeglass frames, as if they were small garbage dumps or recycling stations.

Tian Erhe sighed:

"New world... who knows where it is...

"Young people can believe in it, at least they have hope. We old folks, forget it."

PS: Please give me a recommendation!