The First Order

The driver had wanted to reprimand Ren Xiaosu to get him to stand further away. But for some reason, he was terrified when he met Ren Xiaosu’s eyes.

“Oh, thank you.” Ren Xiaosu nodded as he looked at the affluent neighborhood. So it turned out there were also both poor and rich neighborhoods inside the stronghold? It seemed like the difference between the rich and poor was just as obvious within this stronghold.

When Ren Xiaosu thanked him for the information, the streetcar operator was stunned. He had already regarded Ren Xiaosu and his group as dreadful monsters, so he didn’t expect Ren Xiaosu would thank him so politely.

Before the driver could react, Ren Xiaosu was asking him again, “When does this streetcar turn around?”

The driver said haltingly, “Why don’t you take the next streetcar? It’ll arrive in 20 minutes.”

Ren Xiaosu looked at the driver. “Your suggestion is very irrational.”

“…All passengers, please sit tight and hold onto the handrails.”

…

On the way back, Ren Xiaosu disembarked from the streetcar a stop early, not far from their shop, because he had spotted a jewelry shop.

After confirming that no one was tailing him, he pretended to walk in as normally as he could. But as soon as he got in, he noticed a wanted poster put up on the walls of the jewelry shop.

Ren Xiaosu was stunned when he saw the wanted poster. Wasn’t this Xu Xianchu’s photo?! He was shown smartly dressed in a private army uniform that was probably taken when he was working for the stronghold.

“Manager, who’s on the wanted poster?” Ren Xiaosu asked.

“I don’t know. Someone from the stronghold’s Public Order Division came to put this up today.” The owner of the jewelry shop said, “They only mentioned that if anyone saw this person, they should immediately report it to them. There’s even a reward for doing so.”

“I haven’t seen this anywhere else, so why was it only put up in the jewelry shop?” Ren Xiaosu was getting worried.

“I heard it’s because someone stole some gold from the Qing Consortium. I don’t know the exact details, but the Public Order Division is conducting strict checks on all unknown supplies of gold. As long as the gold shows any signs of oxidization or doesn’t have a consortium’s logo imprinted on it, we are to report it to the Public Order Division when we come across it.” The owner of the jewelry store asked, “So, is there anything I can help you with?”

“Oh, it’s nothing…” Ren Xiaosu immediately walked back out of the jewelry shop.

Ren Xiaosu was despondent. He realized the Qing Consortium had likely detected he had taken a lot of gold with him.

Although he had left behind some of the gold he’d wrapped up in the jacket, someone from the Qing Consortium had to have realized the amount did not add up upon checking the jewelry shop’s display counters. In fact, the check would reveal that a large quantity of gold had gone missing! That was because a lot of dust had settled on the gold items that had been placed on the counter. After the gold was taken away, the signs pointing to it would be painfully obvious.

Ren Xiaosu did not want to take any chances. He knew that if the Qing Consortium had specifically put up the photo of a wanted man in a jewelry shop, they must have found out something. They clearly intended to seek him out at the point of sale when he tried to dispose of the stolen goods.

No, they should be seeking out Xu Xianchu.

Xu Xianchu had just arrived at the town outside Stronghold 111. After being on the run for many days, he finally made it here before he starved to death.

Along the way, Xu Xianchu would use his shadow clone to run as long as he was in a good frame of mind. Although it saved him a lot of energy when using the shadow clone to carry himself forward, he was on the verge of vomiting due to the bumpy ride when being piggybacked by the shadow clone.

But more importantly, he could not find much food to eat in the wilderness after parting ways with Ren Xiaosu and could only make do with some wild vegetables he found. During this time, he even suffered from diarrhea for an entire day. Fortunately for him, he was a supernatural being. Now that he had excellent physical fitness, eating some poisonous wild vegetables would not be enough to kill him.

At this moment, Xu Xianchu was looking forward to getting back to human civilization so that he could get something to eat. Every time he came across a rock these past two days, he would think it was an unfilled steamed bun that could be eaten!

But when he arrived at the entrance of the town, he had a feeling that several people staring were at him.

Xu Xianchu went over to a shack and said, “Hello, do you have anything I can eat? I’ll pay you for it.”

Xu Xianchu swallowed hard when he saw some cornbread inside the shack.

The man of the family came out and sized up Xu Xianchu. “You’re not from our town, right? You don’t look familiar at all.”

“Ahem, I’m just passing by,” Xu Xianchu explained. He was thinking that other people should not recognize him since his face was so dirty now.

But as the refugee sized up Xu Xianchu, he suddenly noticed something. He shouted, “Xu Xianchu! Xu Xianchu is here! Everyone, grab him!”

Xu Xianchu was confused.

On his way here to Stronghold 111, Xu Xianchu actually felt very hesitant. After all, Stronghold 111 was where the Qing Consortium’s headquarters were. But he felt that it wouldn’t be a problem if he just stayed in town for a short while, right? But at this moment, Xu Xianchu realized he was wrong to have thought that way!

The Qing Consortium should have issued an order to arrest him. Otherwise, these refugees would not be trying to catch him like they were all soldiers.

But he hadn’t done anything at all. When he was still in the Jing Mountains, he did not even manage to get past the lockdown perimeter the Qing Consortium had set up. So why were they wasting so much effort to try to catch him?!

Of course, Xu Xianchu was also a little worried for Ren Xiaosu and Yang Xiaojin. If there were already so many people going after someone who had not even breached the perimeter, he could easily imagine how massive the turnout would be when it came to arresting Yang Xiaojin and Ren Xiaosu.

In that instant, Xu Xianchu did not hesitate any further. He summoned his shadow clone to kick aside the refugee in front of him. Simultaneously, he rushed into the shack and grabbed several black cornbreads into his arms before running away!

He could not stay here anymore. It seemed he had to head elsewhere. It would be best if he could go somewhere not under the control of the Qing Consortium!

After much consideration, Xu Xianchu suddenly felt that Stronghold 109, which was controlled by the Li Consortium, was his best choice!

At this moment, the engines of a huge convoy of vehicles roared in the distance. Xu Xianchu had already mounted the back of the shadow clone before the refugees could catch up to him. The buff shadow clone immediately accelerated into the depths of the wilderness!

When the refugees saw this, they stopped in their tracks. This was most likely the first time they had ever seen a supernatural being with their own eyes!

When the convoy arrived in town after driving back from far in the wilderness, it started slowing down. Inside one of the vehicles, Qing Zhen was dirty and covered in dirt. If it weren’t for the consortium’s people picking him up from outside the Jing Mountains, who knows when he would have gotten back to Stronghold 111.

Qing Zhen frowned when he saw the disturbance in town. “Xu Man, go and find out what’s happening.”

They didn’t manage to see what had happened because they were too far away.

Xu Man rolled down the window and looked at one of the refugees. “What happened here?”

The refugee walked over and said in a respectful tone, “We discovered Xu Xianchu just now.”

Qing Zhen, who was seated in the back, immediately sat straight. “Xu Xianchu? Where is he?”

The refugee pointed in the direction Xu Xianchu had fled and said, “He ran out into the wilderness.”

“…Get someone to catch him.” Qing Zhen said, “Let the Spec Ops soldiers do it. They’re much more experienced in the wilderness than Xu Xianchu is.”

“Boss,” Xu Man said awkwardly, “you’re about to start your house arrest.”

Qing Zhen asked, “…Where does that path lead?”

Xu Man gave it some thought. “Boss, it should be Stronghold 109 over there.”

“Call Luo Lan.” Qing Zhen clenched his teeth and said, “If Xu Xianchu shows up in the vicinity of Stronghold 109, I want him arrested!”