Chu Yunsheng never thought that one day, he would be treated as a thief by a group of old ladies.
Hoes, sticks, pickaxes, all kinds of tools… no rules, no special fighting techniques, it was just completely brutal but simple violence.
“Stop, stop, stop! Otherwise, I’ll fight back!” Chu Yunsheng raised his arms and shouted.
‘What is wrong with those people. Is this their newly developed cultural behavior? Beating up strangers?’ Chu Yunsheng was speechless.
“Fight back?” the eyes of one of the aunts were wide open with anger, “You white-haired old bastard even dare to fight back? You Lao Wang Ba Village’s people are so fucking unreasonable. Don’t you dare think that you can bully us!”
“Aunty San, this person doesn’t look like he is from around here? His accent is also not right, I think we might have the wrong guy?” At this time, one of the women hesitated
“Maybe he is a refugee who just escaped here?” Another aunt said.
“Okay, okay, stop. Let’s see it first. Keep eyes on him, don’t let him run away.” said the aunt who was leading the group.
“Oh! He really is not from Lao Wang Ba village.” The aunt who was leading the group felt embarrassed. Seeing Chu Yunsheng’s white hair, and his scarred and unshaven face, the leader-like aunt thought Chu Yunsheng was an old man.
“I’m sorry old man. Are you alright?” She said apologetically.
Looking at the group of women that were wearing tattered clothes, Chu Yunsheng was about to say something, but he was interrupted by a group of men who just ran up the mountain. They were also holding all kinds of weapons and shouted, “what happened? What happened? Did Lao Wang Ba that fucker send people here to steal from us again?”
An aunt who was standing at the end of the group constantly gesticulated at him and whispered, “it’s a mistake… mistake…”
“Old man, where are you from?” A woman with a strong northern Chinese accent helped Chu Yunsheng to adjust his clothes and asked.
Chu Yunsheng suppressed his anger and asked, “Where am I?”
Although he was beaten up by a group of old ladies for no reason, he needed to get some information from them first.
It was only until this moment did everyone realize that he was a young man. However, his scarred face made everyone unable to help themselves but wonder what kind of journey he had been through.
But no one would sympathize with him. In this kind of age, all kinds of things could happen. They had seen too many of them. Besides, they were not living better lives than this young man.
“This place is inside a mountain range near Mountain City. you see that mountain over there? Mountain city is just after that mountain. But the city is empty now.” The woman with the northern Chinese accent pointed at a place said.
Chu Yunsheng looked at the place where she pointed, but it was too dark, he could only see a blurry mountain shape.
“How about Shu Du City? Has it fallen?” The only thing Chu Yunsheng was sure of was that the location of the map was in the direction that the woman was pointing at. If Mountain City had already been abandoned, then it could only be Shu Du City, which was further west behind Mountain City.
A group of people suddenly burst out laughing, “Of course not, if that city had fallen, we would’ve been dead already!” Said the leader aunt.
“Since the city has not fallen, why don’t you go there? Is it not dangerous to stay here?” Chu Yunsheng was confused.
The leader aunt said helplessly, “Who doesn’t want to go in? But there are so many people in this province, no matter how big Shu Du city is, it can’t accommodate everyone. If you don’t have any contacts or power, you couldn’t even get through the entrance.”
“Aunty San, I still think this place is quite good. The swarm is busy dealing with Shu Du city. Those insects don’t have time for us. Although it is not as safe as inside the city, we can still survive.” Said the aunt with a strong northern Chinese accent.
“That’s true!” said the leader aunt.
“Do they still allow people to get into the city?” Chu Yunsheng immediately asked.
If the city was surrounded by the swarm, it would be very difficult for him to get in. He couldn’t get into the city through the air. Otherwise, he would be exposed before he even found the map.
“Get in? Even a mouse also couldn’t get in. A group of people was expelled from the city just two days ago. It is said that they did something stupid. But who knows, a group of fools, probably something wrong with their heads…” The leader aunt snorted.
“Is there really no other way?” Chu Yunsheng asked with the last hope.
The leader aunt looked at Chu Yunsheng and asked in confusion, “unless you know anyone inside, or you are a… what do you call those people?”
“Energy Manipulation Master.” Said a woman who was slightly younger than her.
“Yes, yes, are you this kind of master? If you are, as long as you pass their test, you will be able to live inside permanently. But I think you should give up.” said the leader woman who looked at Chu Yunsheng from top to bottom. She didn’t think Chu Yunsheng was that kind of master.
“Young man, why do you want to get into the city?” Said the woman with the northern Chinese accent.
“My relatives used to live there. I am looking for them. But they were just ordinary people…” Chu Yunsheng randomly made an excuse.
The aunt with the northern accent thought for a second and said, “the swarm has already surrounded three sides of the city. Only the west side of the city was not surrounded at the moment, because it is the side that is mostly covered by mountains. Every couple of weeks, some ‘Combat Units’ will take small mountain paths to leave the city and use insect’s meat to buy some ‘Energy Appendages’ from us. If you can afford enough energy, they may be able to help you to sneak into the city for a couple of days. ”
“Combat unit?” Chu Yunsheng was a bit confused, and it seemed like that there was a stable and unique new social structure inside Shu Du City, there was even a new labor system.
“Yes, some of them are energy manipulation masters, some are ordinary people, but they all have weapons. They also sell weapons. But most people just want food at the moment. Not many people want to buy weapons. People inside Shu Du City always want energy appendages, the more the better. Those ‘combat units’ just like those merchants that go everywhere to sell and buy stuff…” the leader aunt said.
‘It would be great if I could sneak into the city. But what are the energy appendages?’ Chu Yunsheng was confused.
Suddenly, there was a commotion behind the crowd.
“The Overseer Shen is here! Quick! Make the way, and get ready to start working!” a voice appeared at the back of the group.
Before the voice disappeared, a tall and muscular man with a height of nearly 1.9 meters walked towards Chu Yunsheng and a group of old women with a big strange green machine on his back, “You all already know that the price of meat in the city has gone up, so the cost of hiring me also need to be raised as well. I won’t charge you guys a lot, just raise 10%!”
“Brother Shen, we will have nothing left if you raise another 10%.” said the man who was leading the male group.
“But the overseer also needs to eat.” the muscular man touched his belly and said, “I am already very kind. The price of meat has risen by 50%, but I only raised by 10%.”
“But you have already taken 70%. If there is another 10% raise, the remaining 20% won’t be able to feed our family.” The leader of the male group begged.
“That’s not my problem. Besides, that 70% is not just for me. If you don’t like it, you can try to find the energy appendages by yourself.” The muscular man said resolutely.
This time, the group of aunts also didn’t know what to do. They all gathered together and whispered to each other hoping they could come up with some solutions.
The overseer was sent here by the people from the top, they couldn’t afford to offend him at all.
“I don’t want to waste my time here. Lao Wang Ba is still waiting for me. If you don’t want to pay me the additional 10%, I’m leaving now.” The man said loudly.
“How… How about 5%? Please, we really need to…” The leader of the male group gritted his teeth and said.
“5%? What?! You think I am a beggar?” the muscular man’s face suddenly dropped. He immediately turned around and pretended that he wanted to leave.
“Brother… brother Shen… please, don’t get angry. I think we can still negotiate…” The leader of the male group immediately smiled apologetically.
“No negotiation. 80%, take it or leave it. And don’t try to stop me ever again. My time is money!” The muscular said angrily.
“Brother Shen… how about… About…” The man’s forehead began to sweat a lot.
“No! 80% is 80%. Let me know if you change your mind. You can find me at Lao Wang Ba’s place!” The muscular man said and then left.
Seeing the man left without any hesitations, everyone at the place felt utterly dispirited.
…
“I think… we just accept it. It is better than nothing.” Said the leader aunt.
“Mothefucker…” a young man cursed.
“Sigh… we don’t have any other choice.” Said the leader of the male group. Other people in his group also didn’t seem to object to this decision.
“Young man, what are you doing?” the aunt with the northern Chinese accent said with concern when she noticed that Chu Yunsheng was checking the rocks in a man’s basket in her group.
In this mountain, there were too many people robbing and stealing energy appendages from each other.
Chu Yunsheng picked up a rock, and after a few seconds of close examination, he said, “I think I might be able to help. I just need to take the amount that is enough for the trip to the city. The rest is all yours.”
This type of rock was like floating rocks in the yellow mountain area. It contained a lot of chaotic Yuan Qi energies.
Since he learned the knowledge from the ancient book, he has been extremely sensitive to Yuan Qi energy, so he was able to feel this type of energy appendages from far away. It didn’t matter if it was a rock or a tree or even deeper under the ground. He thought that he would be able to find them easily.
