The First Order

Due to the commotion, many people were attracted as they wanted to see what was going on up front. Ren Xiaosu told Yan Liuyuan, “Hide the gun and wait for me here. I’ll go and have a look to see what’s happening.”

“Mhm.” Yan Liuyuan nodded. Ren Xiaosu could not possibly protect him at every moment, so he would have to learn to protect himself and even the others.

Ren Xiaosu squeezed to the front of the crowd. With his current physical fitness, no one was able to stop him from pushing his way to the front. When he got there and furtively started watching the commotion, he heard Wang Yiheng say ruthlessly, “I said, hand over your food to me! Can’t you understand human language?”

“But I’m very hungry as well,” said the bespectacled middle-aged man who had a gun pointed at his head, choking up. It seemed he had never met some as fierce as this in the stronghold.

The managers of the various factories, like Wang Yiheng, were actually residents of the stronghold as well. But as they had been stationed outside for a long time, there was always going to be a little bit of unruliness to them.

They were the “imperial” envoys sent out by the stronghold. Since they were equipped with guns, they had long since gotten used to having things go their way.

By this point, everyone had descended into a world without order. As such, they started behaving like wild animals. But just some time ago, this fellow wanted to kneel down and beg Luo Lan to take him along with them.

Wang Yiheng said to the people beside him, “Search him and those two fatties next to him too. Their pockets are bulging!”

The people standing with Wang Yiheng were his workers at the sand plant, so they were used to carrying out his orders. As he had a gun with him during this time, and because he had promised to help them get settled upon reaching Stronghold 109, Wang Yiheng became the mainstay of this group.

But to carry out a body search on the stronghold residents? How would they as refugees dare to do something like that?

Seeing these people around him not moving, Wang Yiheng raged, “What? Are you all deaf to my words now? I have a gun, so my word is law! Search them without worries! They’re not armed!”

Ren Xiaosu understood from this statement that there were some gun control laws within the stronghold, which was why Wang Yiheng was so sure the others did not carry any guns.

At a glance, he saw the refugees subconsciously stood on the side of Wang Yiheng. One of the reasons for this was that Wang Yiheng had already made a name for himself in town. The other was because he was carrying a gun.

At this moment, a middle-aged man came to the front of the crowd. “Wang Yiheng, you had better put the gun down. We won’t condone your tyranny.”

“Chief Ma!” Wang Yiheng looked startled. “What are you doing here?”

Chief Ma sneered, “What? Did you think that we’re all dead? Hand the gun over!”

Gun? Wang Yiheng turned to look at the gun in his hand as if making a decision. Then a cold smile appeared on his face as he raised his hand and fired the gun at Chief Ma.

Bang! Chief Ma fell to the ground in a pool of blood. There wasn’t even a chance for him to react. He had not expected Wang Yiheng to shoot!

The people watching the commotion started screaming and wanted to retreat, but where could they retreat to?

Wang Yiheng had hesitated for a moment because he used to live under the rule of Chief Ma. But he soon came around and remembered that Stronghold 113 was no more, so what power did Chief Ma have over him?

Wang Yiheng said in a cold voice, “Stronghold 113 is no more. When we get to Stronghold 109, everyone will get a fresh start. I’m not a cold-blooded killer, but if anyone disobeys my orders, don’t blame me for being unkind.”

Of the several thousand people escaping, there must have been some high-ranking officials in the stronghold among them. But even then, so what? They were nothing the moment they left Stronghold 113!

Ren Xiaosu stepped back and withdrew. When Wang Yiheng killed that person, none of the refugees dared to even make a sound. As such, Wang Yiheng would probably get even more unreasonable with his gang of refugees later on.

But what business was that of Ren Xiaosu’s? None at all! As for the gun Wang Yiheng carried around, Ren Xiaosu was not the least bit bothered by it. Just by the stance Wang Yiheng held when he fired the shot, it looked beyond amateur to Ren Xiaosu. If Wang Yiheng fired off another few shots in succession, the recoil might even cause him to lose grip of the gun and send it flying out of his hands.

As he made his way back to Yan Liuyuan and the others, Ren Xiaosu noticed a group of teenage boys and girls wearing light blue uniforms. He was taken aback by the sight because he saw the words “Stronghold 113 No. 2 Senior High School” written on the back.

Were they students? Ren Xiaosu once heard Zhang Jinglin say there were dozens of schools in the stronghold, consisting of elementary, junior high, and senior high schools. There were even such things as “universities” in the larger strongholds too.

Zhang Jinglin also mentioned that teenagers around Ren Xiaosu’s age were able to sit in clean and well-lit classrooms while attending their classes. There would be many teachers teaching them basic knowledge of subjects, and there wasn’t a need to go out into the wilderness or go to work. The strongholds even offered some subsidies for the students.

At that time, Ren Xiaosu felt really envious of their situation and thought how good it would have been to be born in the stronghold.

When Ren Xiaosu passed by these students, they took a look at him and did not think much of it. They did not know that what was so easily accessible to them was something Ren Xiaosu badly wanted in the past.

The students seemed to have been frightened by the gunshot. A young woman beside them said, “Don’t be afraid. Your teacher will deal with anything that happens. We’ve already escaped from the stronghold.”

So this was a teacher of the stronghold? Ren Xiaosu glanced at the young female teacher and thought she was much better looking than Zhang Jinglin. If they had a teacher like her at the school, perhaps even a child like Wang Dalong would start studying hard.

Seeing so many of these students here, his thoughts shifted to the second side quest he was given. A 1,000 gratitude tokens! In the past, Ren Xiaosu wouldn’t even think about it. Where was he supposed to earn so many gratitude tokens from?

When he first heard about this side quest, his reaction was to earn them at the school. After all, he had only managed to complete his previous quest with a large portion of the gratitude tokens coming from the students.

But now that the stronghold had been destroyed, he didn’t have any idea of where he would earn these gratitude tokens from.

Ren Xiaosu remembered the time he killed the Experimentals where he thanked himself seven times. If he could thank himself and earn the gratitude tokens, did that mean that he could do it again until he completed the quest?

The black saber was floating quietly within the palace in its display cabinet at this moment. Once his mind focused on it, it would materialize in his hands. Even now, Ren Xiaosu couldn’t forget the pleasure of slicing through those Experimentals with a single slash!

So, if the basic form of the black saber was this powerful, what would it be like when he unlocked the next stage?

When he came back to where Yan Liuyuan and the others were, he tried out the thanking in a whisper. Yan Liuyuan was quietly watching Ren Xiaosu as he mumbled, “I want to thank myself for not killing the innocent?

“I want to thank myself for raising Yan Liuyuan to this age?

“I want to thank myself for not spitting out the grape skin when I eat grapes!”

Yan Liuyuan was confused.

Ren Xiaosu sighed. The palace was seemingly dead. It had no reaction at all!