The First Order

Ren Xiaosu did not know whether to laugh or cry as he looked at Qin Sheng whose face was all bruised and swollen. He knew the person who had jumped into his yard two days ago must have been the young Rider the same age as him standing in front of him regardless of how much he denied it.However, Ren Xiaosu wondered, “What’re you doing at Stronghold 61?”

“Oh.” Qin Sheng explained seriously, “Our group has a rule that we must live in a town for a year after we become Riders. Because we normally live in the stronghold, the previous leader of the Riders felt new Riders might not be able to empathize with the sufferings of humanity. So this rule was implemented.”

Ren Xiaosu nodded. “There’s really a need to do that. How great it would be if all the stronghold residents had the same mindset as you all.”

The Riders were virtuous but not pedantic. Ren Xiaosu felt this was a very rare trait in this current era. That was because outstanding people tended to either be inclined towards extreme good or evil. However, Ren Xiaosu did not agree with being on either of the extremes. Sometimes, he would even feel pained whenever he thought of a person who had been too good.

The pain in his heart was like an undercurrent in the deep sea. It was strong and yet not easily detected.

Of course, he especially disliked those who tried to persuade people to be good but had evil intentions themselves.

Qin Sheng’s arrival added some entertainment to Ren Xiaosu’s life. Every day, Qin Sheng did nothing other than helping some refugees in town fetch water. He even helped repair their shacks.

This winter was exceptionally cold. Many of the refugees’ shacks were exposed to the cold wind due to the holes in them, but they could not find any suitable materials to patch them up with.

Ren Xiaosu had experienced hardship like this before. It was a good thing that a richer person like Qin Sheng could experience such a life as well.

However, it was different from what Ren Xiaosu had imagined. At first, he thought Qin Sheng might get flustered or even make the situation messier. But actually, Qin Sheng was very capable at being hands-on with things and had a lot of experience living in the wilderness.

Qin Sheng spent two days hunting for gophers in the wilderness. Then he used the gophers’ hide to mend the shacks while the meat was distributed to the refugees as food.

In fact, he was really skilled at mending the shacks, much more skillful than Ren Xiaosu was.

Ren Xiaosu asked, “Did you do a lot of sewing in the past?”

“No,” Qin Sheng said with a smile, “when I trained under my teacher, we would usually venture out into the wilderness for two to three months straight. At that time, my teacher made me do everything hands-on to train me. He said that it’s an honor to be a Rider and they’d never train a bum to become one.”

Ren Xiaosu wondered if this was just an excuse for Old Li to laze around. He watched Qin Sheng and thought that while he had an abundant amount of experiences in his life, he looked like a good-hearted young man who was very easy to fool.

Qin Sheng also bought a house next to Ren Xiaosu, so both Zhou Yingxue and he were now Ren Xiaosu’s neighbors.

However, Qin Sheng did not jump into Ren Xiaosu’s backyard anymore after he was exposed the last time. More importantly, Qin Sheng knew it would not be easy to sneak in quietly with those strange plants in the backyard.

Every day, Qin Sheng would go to the tavern to look for Ren Xiaosu after helping the refugees. Somehow, Zhou Yingxue, Ren Xiaosu, and Qin Sheng would always start playing Fight the Landlord whenever they got together.

When Xiaolu saw this, she joined the game as well. In the end, it became a four-player game of Fight the Landlord, with two sets of decks and eight trump cards in play.

For the past two days, Ren Xiaosu had been searching high and low in town for a copy of Hope Media’s newspaper.

But the grocery store owner here was not as enterprising as Wang Fugui. He did not read any newspapers and was content with watching over his tiny shop to pass the time.

Ren Xiaosu wondered if he would have to resort to sneaking into the stronghold every day just to get his hands on the paper.

There was no doubt about the importance of newspapers in this era, especially a newspaper firm like Hope Media that particularly respected factual reporting. Ren Xiaosu could learn a lot of news from them.

As he did not have access to a large intelligence network like others, he could only rely on himself.

Ren Xiaosu went to look for the storyteller in the evening. After entering the house, he bluntly asked, “Do you know where I can get a copy of Hope Media’s newspaper?”

The storyteller glanced at him. “Why? You’ve started paying attention to current affairs?”

“Since I’m all by myself, I don’t have access to any reliable sources of information. So I thought I could learn some pretty useful info in the papers,” Ren Xiaosu explained.

Off to the side, Xiaolu sneered. “You’re not alone.”

Ren Xiaosu did not know whether to laugh or cry. The storyteller looked like he did not welcome him and took a few copies of newspapers out from under his bed to pass to Ren Xiaosu. “Here!”

Ren Xiaosu was slightly taken aback. He noticed that one of the newspapers was even from today, yet he had never seen anyone going to deliver newspapers to the storyteller. The storyteller was really not an ordinary person. He was even the one who shared with him the information about the Anjing House. And when the woman in the black cap came to town, he was also the one who had Xiaolu alert him about it.

“Thank you.” Ren Xiaosu sat down in a chair and started reading the newspapers. Xiaolu propped her chin up on her hands while looking at him from the side.

But just as Ren Xiaosu started reading, the storyteller raged, “If you want to read the papers, go read them at your own place! What’re you trying to prove by reading them here? Get out of my house!”

Ren Xiaosu was confused. What was wrong with the storyteller today?

Didn’t they get along just fine in the past?!

However, Ren Xiaosu hurriedly left and did not make a fuss about it. The contents of the newspaper had already caught his attention, so he wanted to go back to read it in depth.

Today’s Hope Media newspaper had reported that Luo Lan would be arriving at the Wang Consortium’s stronghold as a guest shortly, and it commented this was an extremely bold and dangerous move by Luo Lan.

Moreover, it also reported many radical youth groups had gathered at the Wang Consortium’s stronghold to protest against Luo Lan once he arrived. They hoped the Qing Consortium would automatically give up on their nuclear weapons.

Ren Xiaosu pondered this for a moment. Fatty Luo was way too bold. Even though Fatty Luo knew the Wang Consortium was purposely targeting the Qing Consortium right now, he still bucked up and decided to go there anyway.

Luo Lan’s itinerary was even listed in the paper. He would be passing through Stronghold 65, 63, 62, and finally to 61.

Luo Lan had provided the itinerary to Hope Media himself. He wanted to make a trip to the Wang Consortium with everyone watching so they could judge for themselves whether he had a clear conscience and if he were a resolute man.

After reading this, Ren Xiaosu thought that if Luo Lan encountered any danger when he arrived at Stronghold 61, he could offer him some protection.

He flipped through the pages and started reading other news. There was an article that reported about some seemingly unusual movements in the Northern Plains. Stronghold 176 had discovered the presence of the nomadic tribes’ scouts on many occasions and even captured some of them too. According to the captives, the various tribes in the Northern Plains were starting to assemble in preparation for an attack on the south. They were planning to plunder food from the south due to many of their livestock dying in the blizzard that hit during winter.

There was another piece of somewhat inconspicuous news that Ren Xiaosu had brushed off: “A spectacular sight of creeper vines growing in Stronghold 61 has turned the place into a tourist attraction.”

When Ren Xiaosu saw this news, he just muttered to himself in boredom and flipped to the next page.

A creeper vine could even become news in this era? Couldn’t they focus on something more newsworthy?

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