Chapter 924: Visit

At the center of Heiyu lies White Mountain Town.

The fire stove burned brightly; on the earthen stove made of yellow clay, patches of paste-like substance slowly dried into flatbread.

The room was large, three rooms knocked together into a big kang connected as one, like a rectangular warehouse.

Over ten people sat cross-legged inside.

Sitting on the edge of the bed platform, a middle-aged man in a short-sleeved shirt wistfully took a sip of baijiu, his left hand idly flipping the charred dough skin.

Setting down the cup, he sighed wearily, staring blankly at the ceiling.

"Ah, eating flatbread every day, I'm about to grow bland in my mouth."

"When will this life ever have an end…"

Poking the charcoal, a middle-aged man of similar age with dark skin glanced at him displeased:

"Forget it, having something to eat is already not bad."

"Look outside, the hungry are almost eating people."

"Zombies and ghosts and monsters—you'd better just be satisfied!"

The drinking man gave an embarrassed chuckle, not minding his companion's tone; he was just venting.

"I'm just bored!"

"Damn, if I could play with a few young girls… life would be comfortable. Damn those eastern youths who haven't fully grown, they won't let up!"

"Damn it! I don't even know if those little bastards are secretly fooling around behind the scenes!"

Speaking, the drinking man glanced resentfully toward the eastern town.

The whole town had over four thousand people, all refugees who fled here during the Apocalypse and got stuck.

One group consisted mainly of city folk—a team of students and white-collar workers; the other group were the original residents of White Mountain Town.

The two sides disliked each other, often erupting in conflict.

Of course, although he disliked that bunch of kids, he still lusted after the water-spirit beauties.

Compared to the town's big‑butted women as wide as millstones, dark as water buffalo, the women who fled from the city—those water‑spirit ones were like grabbing a peach you could squeeze juice from.

"Hey, if you've got the guts, go ahead."

"Their team has more Awakened Ones than ours; if you're capable, go fight them—win, and you can loot everything from them."

"Their strength is huge; can you handle it?"

Legs crossed, smoking a dry pipe, the dark‑skinned man grunted, leaning lazily against the wall.

There aren't many Awakened Ones in town—about twenty or so, and over half of them are among the outsiders; dealing with these natives is more than enough for them.

Hearing that, the drinker's face suddenly turned ugly.

Although he himself is an Awakened One, in fact he had previously gone to cause trouble with that group.

But as the most ordinary strength‑type, his strength isn't as great as theirs,

Those outsiders live in our town, eat our grain—though we all planted it together, the seeds belong to the town chief.

In his view, those outsiders ought to hand something over—for example, give each of them a beautiful young woman.

In reality, those people couldn't care less about them.

The young awakened one in the opposing team even kicked him out when he came to demand something.

"Damn it!"

Muttering a curse under his breath, he snorted coldly and turned away, putting on a fierce front while trembling inside.

"When the day Laozi gets angry, I'll grab a pole and sneak over at night—one swing of the pole will be enough to beat that kid!"

"Damn, let's not talk about this. If I could get out, with my Awakened One status I could easily become a big official—those girls, Laozi wouldn't even look at them!"

"I see on that channel everywhere they're recruiting Awakened Ones, lots of young women begging to sleep with you—and even big stars!"

"Going out there would be far more comfortable than this!"

"Pop"

After a puff of dry pipe, the dark‑skinned man looked at him in surprise and sneered:

"You can't talk like that."

"They want First Level and Second Level; you're Zero Level!"

"I heard they say the strong can block bullets, run as fast as cars while singing opera, and even spit fire!"

"What are you? You're just a bit stronger—can you spit fire?"

"Damn the nonsense! Who can't brag? If First, Second and Third Level were really strong, why hasn't a single one gotten into our place?"

"We're all Awakened Ones; even if I'm a bit lacking, I'm not far behind."

Setting down the bowl, the man who'd been rebutted showed disdain; they couldn't really grasp what was being said on the chat channel, let alone understand what Zero Level and First Level meant.

But as one of the few Awakened Ones in town, in their eyes an Awakened One is just a strong ordinary person.

Even, they've seen among the eastern group a so‑called elemental Awakened One who could only throw an ice shard before collapsing from exhaustion.

Thus they look down on those with little strength.

Things like crushing tanks with bare hands, running faster than planes—in their view that's just bragging.

"I think the same."

Shirtless, a burly man squatting on the ground flipping flatbread slowly rose to his feet:

"What's the big deal about First, Second and Third Level Awakened Ones? If they were truly strong, why is the outside full of monsters? Why would they need us to sell them seeds?"

"They can't even fill their stomachs—I'd say we're better off."

"If we could get out, with just this strength and these seeds we might become local emperors—everyone would have to beg us."

Eyes full of hope, he wiped the sweat from his body, shook his head, and most of the listeners nodded in agreement.

"Exactly—outside they worship Awakened Ones so much, yet we Awakened Ones are miserable only because we're trapped here."

They had never seen a mutant, and didn't really believe the monsters outsiders talked about were that formidable; in everyone's view, dealing with zombies was no problem.

Moreover, they held spiritual energy seeds in their hands; hearing the Town Chief say that outsiders were practically frantic to buy their seeds, willing to pay any price.

It was said that at first, someone offered over ten billion to buy them!

However, the Town Chief meant that money was now useless, and he didn't fancy anything else, so he wasn't willing to sell.

Glancing around, among them, a fellow power-type Awakened One rubbed his scarce hair.

"Ah~ Didn't someone come by earlier?"

"He later ran away."

"The Town Chief said that kid surely knows the secret passage leading out of here to the outside world!"

"If he dares come again next time, we'll just catch him—then we can get out, right!?"

Meanwhile, a wrinkled-faced man with his leg propped on the windowsill shook his head, skillfully rolling the dried yellow leaves into a dry tobacco and took a deep drag.

"Not just that."

"I heard the Town Chief say he recently contacted a high-ranking official from the Military Region, who said he'd send people over to help us get out."

"Just with the seeds we hold..."

"Tsk tsk, by then, each of us brothers will have a regiment commander's clang—nothing we want will be lacking!"

As soon as the words fell, the Roasted Bun Man immediately mocked:

"Look at your pathetic prospects—our seeds are so important they can feed how many people! You uncultured bum, we'd at least want a general's clang!"

"By then, we'll beat up those kids from the east... no, we won't take them out! We'll let them starve to death here!"

As they spoke, they exchanged glances, burst into laughter, and each began to fantasize about the wonderful life awaiting them outside.

Although they didn't understand much else, they were clear on one point: the seeds in their hands were extremely valuable, with how many people outside begging for them?

In their fantasy, just outside the formerly tranquil town, a sudden soft shout rang out:

"We are the rescue team—all survivors, come out!"

Outside the town fields, after Yuan Feng finished shouting, he glanced at Lin An with a somewhat strange expression and instinctively whispered:

"Lord Lin An, the survivors here might not be quite right in the head."

"I've dealt with them before; later, I'm afraid there might be some trouble."