Ren Xiaosu had gained a lot of knowledge by finding his way to the storyteller’s house. At least, he realized what the old cell phone he had “picked up” was used for. Furthermore, he was also able to learn a bit more about the Anjing House.
Ren Xiaosu returned to his own house and turned on the cell phone again. After hesitating for a while, he sent a text message back to the other party. “Accept mission.”
He hesitated because he did not know what kind of future he would face after sending this text. Today’s events would bring about a change in his life once again.
The other concern he had was that Stronghold 67 was quite far away from Stronghold 61, so it would take him some time to complete the mission.
But this was probably the best way for him to find Wang Fugui and the others now, wasn’t it? Based on his strength alone, it would truly be very difficult to find them in such a vast sea of people.
Perhaps he could have used Wang Shengzhi’s influence to look for them by frankly explaining the situation to him, but Wang Shengzhi knew exactly who he was and knew very well how Zhang Jinglin viewed Ren Xiaosu. Therefore, it would be hard to guarantee that the Wang clan would not get any other ideas from this relationship.
But the Anjing House did not know who he was. He would be anonymous to them, so there would still be some room for a buffer.
While Ren Xiaosu was thinking about all that, the old and worn cell phone lit up. It was a text from the other party: “The holder of this cell phone has not reached C-rank yet. Unable to accept mission.”
Ren Xiaosu froze. It turned out that all the thinking he did had been for nothing since he was not even allowed to accept the mission.
He looked at the cell phone in his hand in disbelief. Was the previous owner of this phone a pig? The phones were dispersed a few years ago, so why was the previous owner still a D-rank?
Besides, the Anjing House was also really odd. ‘Since you already know that I’m a D-rank, why are you mass sending me a C-rank mission?’
But before he could cool off, the other party sent him another message. “Please don’t send pictures of lamb stew again.”
Ren Xiaosu was speechless. Well, alright then! He would just have to continue waiting patiently.
Ren Xiaosu still went to the tavern every day. If the storyteller was there, he would listen to the stories he told. If the storyteller did not go, he would just sit there and read. This humble tavern actually started exuding the feeling of a library because of Ren Xiaosu’s antics.
As for where the books came from… well, he had been to Stronghold 88’s library, after all, so there was no reason for him to return empty-handed since he had entered a treasure trove like that!
And with Stronghold 88 already destroyed, Ren Xiaosu felt he had actually helped save a great wealth of human knowledge!
Didn’t they say that people in the Central Plains could get rich overnight if they discovered research from a lab? This meant humans still valued knowledge.
Most of the research found in labs were either completed or about to be completed technologies. Once a consortium found it, they could immediately open up a new field of technology. So even though the research could be sold for money, the books in Ren Xiaosu’s possession might not fetch sky-high prices.
After Ren Xiaosu’s visit to the storyteller’s place, when the storyteller met him again in the tavern, it was as though that meeting never took place. Both parties kept quiet about it in tacit agreement.
Instead, it was the storyteller’s granddaughter who became closer to Ren Xiaosu. Sometimes, when she went outside to pry for more stories, she would come back and tell them to Ren Xiaosu in detail before telling the storyteller.
The storyteller was not angry about this either. He just vaguely hoped that Ren Xiaosu could receive a mission soon and then quickly scram.
The days passed, and the number of stronghold residents who fled here from the Northwest decreased. All those who should have escaped had already escaped. Those who did not manage to escape in time would have been dispatched by Fortress 178.
Some of the escapees gathered together and went to block the gate of Stronghold 61 every day, saying that they wanted to make a political appeal to the Wang Consortium. They also said they used to be people of status and that the Wang Consortium should not treat them like this.
It wasn’t that these refugees were stupid, but that they really had no other choice.
Many of these escapees had brought their families with them. Their entire family was going hungry, but they had already sold off everything that they could. Therefore, being so starved and unable to take manual labor, this was the only option left.
At the beginning, the Wang Consortium did not even want to bother with them. After all, 90% of these people were former Zong Consortium officials who did not even know how to use technology.
Some of them were originally in the field of technology, but after holding their elevated positions for so long, they had already lost relevance. Therefore, to the Wang Consortium, they were completely useless.
Later on, the town administrator felt it would become a problem if these people blocked the gate day in and day out, so he simply ordered for them to be beaten up.
Only then did the escapees start behaving.
Some of them started performing manual labor, while others continued to think of crooked ways to survive.
And so, the refugees in the town of Stronghold 61 were very happy. Seeing that these former stronghold residents were worse off than them, they were all gloating on the inside.
There were even some refugees who went to make fun of the families of these former officials. Although they did not really dare to be too harsh, it was still quite an unbearable sight to watch.
In the evening, Ren Xiaosu returned home after having dinner at the tavern. While he was doing some reading, there came a sudden knock on the door.
Ren Xiaosu walked over to answer the door. When he opened the door, he held his black saber in one hand behind his back. The nanomachines in his body were also getting restless and ready to form the armor at any moment.
However, when he opened the door, he saw a beautiful, middle-aged woman standing outside of it. The woman seemed to have specially cleaned her face and hurriedly put on some makeup with cosmetics brought over from the Northwest. She had even changed into a beautiful qipao.
Ren Xiaosu asked calmly, “Anything the matter?”
The woman asked softly, “Can I go inside and talk?”
“No.” Ren Xiaosu rejected her.
The woman did not expect Ren Xiaosu to be so difficult. She got a little anxious and said, “We’re all escapees from the Northwest, and I’m from Stronghold 146 as well. Since we were all fellow Zong Consortium residents, can you let me trade for some food?”
In these recent days, Ren Xiaosu was living the most comfortably among all the escapees. Of course, in the eyes of the other refugees, Ren Xiaosu was just a refugee like them, as even he had said so himself.
Therefore, when the other escapees found out that Ren Xiaosu was leading such a good life, they started getting ideas about him.
Ren Xiaosu raised his eyebrows. “Trade with what?”
“With myself,” the woman said through clenched teeth. She spoke while deliberately posing her body so that Ren Xiaosu could see her legs under the slit of her qipao. The woman had maintained her figure really well.
Ren Xiaosu said calmly, “I suggest that you quickly go home and change out of these clothes. It can get quite dangerous when it turns dark.” Then he slammed the door shut.
A man’s voice rang out from behind the door. He lowered his voice and asked, “What happened? Is he not interested?”
The woman, who felt rather humiliated by all this, sobbed, “What kind of husband forces his wife out to sell herself?”
The man said angrily, “Then what’s the point of having you as my wife? Or do you prefer that all of us wait until we starve to death?”
