For the entire afternoon, many of the people who had taken shelter in the bank vaults across Stronghold 61 encountered Ren Xiaosu’s efforts as he went around searching for a person.

The survivors hiding in the vaults did not know how to react when they encountered this, with some people begging Ren Xiaosu to take them with him to escape. But after finding out Luo Lan was not in those vaults, Ren Xiaosu immediately left and headed to the next bank to continue his search.

There were many banks in Stronghold 61, but Ren Xiaosu could not find Luo Lan even after searching all of the banks within a ten-kilometer radius of the InterContinental.

Ren Xiaosu could feel his mood growing heavy. Everyone knew that all of the Wang Consortium’s male residents were required to serve in the military.

So right at the beginning, Ren Xiaosu felt that if a disaster were to befall a Wang Consortium stronghold, the Wang Consortium residents could deal with it better than the other consortiums’ residents. But he was wrong. When everyone was facing a situation where they were helpless, the outcome was still the same.

It wasn’t that the residents of the Wang Consortium’s stronghold were physically weak, but that they had never faced such an enemy before.

Ren Xiaosu held Zhou Yingxue’s hand the entire way as he led her around everywhere they went. She looked at Ren Xiaosu’s profile from the corner of her eye and suddenly could not recall when she first became known as his maidservant.

In this stronghold engulfed by disaster, the city felt like it belonged to only the two of them.

Even though Ren Xiaosu was holding her hand while wearing gloves.

Actually, Ren Xiaosu was in a very dangerous situation at this moment. It was very difficult for Ren Xiaosu to face such a massive creeper vine network by himself. If he were a little careless, he might even end up becoming one of the skeletons lying around.

The creeper vines had absorbed a lot of nutrients from the humans and was no longer a force that a lone supernatural being could take on.

At this moment, if Zhou Yingxue suddenly let go of his hand, Ren Xiaosu would definitely end up in a predicament.

But Zhou Yingxue realized Ren Xiaosu did not seem to be worried about something like that happening. In these current times, being trusted suddenly made Zhou Yingxue feel kind of blessed.

As this thought ran through Zhou Yingxue’s mind, she got so distracted she nearly tripped over the vines. It was still Ren Xiaosu who reacted fast enough to help her back on her feet.

Ren Xiaosu turned around and asked with a frown, “Why are you spacing out?”

“Master, I’m a little hungry…”

…

Outside Stronghold 62, a large convoy of trucks suddenly drove towards the stronghold. Due to the overly large size of the convoy, the Wang Consortium’s garrison troops instantly went on alert.

Before the convoy could get any closer to the stronghold’s perimeter, they were stopped by a group of heavily armed troops.

The Wang Consortium troops pointed their guns at the convoy and said, “Everyone in the trucks, get out of your vehicles. State the purpose of your visit and prepare to be inspected!”

The Wang Consortium’s troops were very well-trained. They had quickly formed a defensive formation to ensure there were no blind spots. If any suspicious movements were made by the people in the vehicles, the convoy would face the full force of their firepower.

A slightly older middle-aged man jumped out of the lead truck. He looked like life had treated him harshly, his face weathered, his back a little hunched.

After this person jumped out of the truck, he smiled apologetically and said, “Hello, sirs, I’m Wang Fugui, a trader! Didn’t our Wang Consortium start trade relations with Fortress 178? I’m probably one of the first groups of merchants to travel to the Northwest!”

The Wang Consortium officer frowned and said, “Why do you have such a large convoy?”

Wang Fugui gave a wry smile. Actually, he did not want to bring back so many goods with him either. But if he did not do so, Zhang Xiaoman would not have allowed them to leave!

From the looks of it, there were as many as 71 trucks behind him. This was the main reason why the Wang Consortium’s troops were alarmed. They had never seen a merchant with such a large convoy before.

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“What are you guys transporting in the trucks?” the officer asked. “You don’t have to call me ‘sir.’ My name is Wang Linlan, and I’m the battalion commander of this unit. Speaking of which, we’re related through our surnames.”

Building trade relations with the Northwest was one of the foremost matters for the entire Wang Consortium. Therefore, the higher-ups had ordered the troops to treat the merchants well. If they were found to have violated the rules or tried to extort the merchants, they should just get ready to be transferred out or get discharged from the military.

So when Wang Linlan heard the other party state he was a merchant, his attitude softened a lot.

However, they still had to inspect the vehicles carefully. This was not something that they could be sloppy about.

Wang Fugui explained, “There’s potassium chloride, nickel ore, and… well, kinda everything…”

Wang Fugui smiled wryly again. The cargo Zhang Xiaoman had loaded up for him was so much it was almost unimaginable. Furthermore, there were so many types of goods it would be impossible for him to finish listing them all for the Wang Consortium troops in a short time. He even had an entire truckload of wolfberries from the Northwest. Apparently, some of the big shots in the Central Plains liked drinking wolfberries soaked in water, especially the black variety of wolfberries.

Wang Linlan had a look at the size of Wang Fugui’s convoy and ribbed, “Bro, don’t mind us; it’s just a routine inspection. This is the first time we’ve come across such a large convoy as yours, so please forgive us for having to check so thoroughly.”

With that, he gestured with his hand, and two companies of soldiers hurriedly raised their guns and approached the convoy. They only stood down when they were able to confirm the entire convoy was only carrying cargo with them.

There were some weapons and guns in the trucks, but Wang Fugui instructed the truck drivers behind him to hand over their firearms obediently. Throughout the course of the inspection, no trouble arose.

When the Wang Consortium’s troops saw the firearms, they did not question them further either. These days, if traders did not equip themselves with any weapons, then the goods they were transporting might as well be gifted to the bandits staked out along the trade route.

After Wang Linlan found nothing suspicious, and with Wang Fugui’s convoy being so large, he invited Wang Fugui into the military base to wait. This was because the Wang Consortium had to personally receive the goods after arrival so they could set the prices.

As the Wang Consortium intended to operate the trade route for a long time, they had to be transparent on the prices as well.

Wang Linlan explained to Wang Fugui, “Bro, please wait here in the base for a while. Officials from the stronghold will soon come to take these goods.”

Wang Fugui nodded with a smile and agreed to wait. He thought about it and realized that because of Ren Xiaosu, he was treated like a VIP upon his arrival in the Northwest. And because he had transported so many goods from the Northwest, he was also treated as a VIP by the Wang Consortium. Perhaps this could be considered as a type of karma.

Wang Fugui suddenly saw a lot of soldiers in the military base assembling with their field packs. Curious, he asked, “Where are you going off to?”

“Eh, it isn’t really a secret.” Wang Linlan said, “Have a look at this newspaper, bro. You’ve only just returned from the Northwest, so you don’t know what’s happened here in the Central Plains.” As Wang Linlan brought this matter up, his smile slowly faded.

Wang Fugui looked at the newspaper and was surprised to see that the news of Stronghold 61 getting attacked by a plant was the headlines on Hope Media’s newspaper. He said in shock, “Plants these days have become this scary?!”

“That’s right.” Wang Linlan sighed and said, “We didn’t expect something like that either. The AI never defined plants as dangerous threats before, so we didn’t get any warning of such an attack. Of course, I’m not entirely sure about the specifics of the situation either.”

But Wang Fugui had already flipped to the fifth page of the newspaper. He looked down at the huge blank space below and saw the words: “Don’t let the sorrows of our era become your sorrow as well.

“61.”

When Wang Fugui saw this, he could feel goosebumps explode all over his body. He suddenly stood up and walked outside.

Wang Linlan wondered, “Bro, where are you going?”

“I need to get to Stronghold 61!” Wang Fugui said.

“Wait a minute, why do you have to go to Stronghold 61?” Wang Linlan said in surprise, “Didn’t you just read the news? It’s very dangerous over there at the moment!”

“No, I have to go there no matter how dangerous it might be!” Wang Fugui said, “My family’s at Stronghold 61!”

Wang Linlan was stunned. “Are you not afraid of death?”

“I am.” Wang Fugui said bitterly, “But even so, I still need to go.”

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