Su City Ecology

As she drew closer and closer to Su City, Ren Anhua couldn’t help but start thinking about the RV team.

They were a group of people who had drastically changed the trajectory of her life, an extremely powerful collective of Awakened, yet in Ren Anhua’s eyes, they were as naive as children.

Their actions were too self-centered, as if they were certain Ren Anhua would take the initiative to understand them and then willingly follow them.

Of course, their plans ultimately fell through.

Ren Anhua ran away, and her method of escape was quite extreme, practically a gamble with her life.

It was only when dealing with Wobu Zai that Ren Anhua truly realized the healing strength of her ability.

At that time, when Ren Anhua shot herself in the head, she actually wasn’t sure she would survive.

She faced not only a life-and-death gamble but also the influence of the mental affinity.

Yet, she still pulled the trigger.

Her ruthlessness had exceeded the RV team’s expectations.

But the influence of the RV team’s mental affinity also far exceeded Ren Anhua’s expectations.

The baseless goodwill she felt toward the team confused her original feelings, leaving her attitude toward them wavering.

Sometimes she would wonder, if the RV team had never arrived, what kind of path would her life have taken?

But she sorrowfully discovered that it probably wouldn’t have been much better.

Lin Aijing was actually a military agent, and he had truly fallen in love with that woman.

At the same time, Meng Fanhai, that closeted gay man, was hiding by his side.

Although he hadn’t shown many signs while she was still male, judging by his current pathological fanaticism, an outburst was only a matter of time, and perhaps it would have been even more terrifying then.

And Zhao Sanyan’s persuasion had indeed moved him.

If he had been in a situation where he couldn’t have Lin Aijing, and Meng Fanhai, the main culprit, had confessed his love to him, he probably would have wanted to escape at that time too.

In that situation, into whose arms would he have thrown himself?

There was likely only one answer: the military.

And what the military wanted to do to him was not much different from what the RV team wanted to do.

After all, that report was the handiwork of Wan Xingbang.

If she had fallen into the military’s hands, she would probably have been deceived by an exquisitely woven lie.

Regarding Wan Xingbang, although Ren Anhua had only met him a few times, he gave her a sense of unease.

After all, at that time, he had been thoroughly analyzed, had a spy planted by his side, and this spy had been quite successful, making Ren Anhua fall deeply for her.

After learning the truth, how could Ren Anhua not be terrified of him?

If she had fallen into his hands, there probably would have been no need for Ke Xingmei’s overly direct and crude mental influence.

Ren Anhua felt that as long as Wan Xingbang made Lin Aijing make some sacrifices, she would have willingly walked onto that Kapok tree.

Then she would accept her new ability and continue to serve the military.

After all, he truly loved Lin Aijing.

But now she knew that Lin Aijing would not fall in love with Ren Anhua.

Lin Aijing was a military agent.

If such a day ever came, Lin Aijing would probably make sacrifices for the military, stabilize Ren Anhua for the military, and fall in love with Ren Anhua for the military.

In the end, it was all a scam, and this would probably be much more stable than Ke Xingmei’s control.

So stable that Ren Anhua might not have known she was being deceived even at her death.

With Wan Xingbang’s thorough research, as long as Lin Aijing didn’t slip up, the plan probably wouldn’t have been exposed.

But if she could be deceived for a lifetime, wouldn’t that be a kind of happiness?

If the Ren Anhua of that time had truly gotten Lin Aijing, it probably would have made him incredibly happy.

As long as the military didn’t suddenly go back on their word and make Lin Aijing abandon Ren Anhua midway.

Thinking of it this way, the RV team, who had revealed the truth to him, seemed much crueler.

If Ren Anhua had been allowed to choose herself, the him of that time might not have wanted to know Lin Aijing’s true identity.

Of course, in the end, there was no escape.

Ren Anhua would be deceived, and Ren Anhua would lose the ability he valued.

The outcome was no different.

Perhaps there would have been some difference, because the military couldn’t possibly have Ke Xiaoshan’s ridiculously powerful special ability.

Judging from Zhao Sanyan’s account, it seemed that trading for Ke Xiaoshan’s ability was a gain.

Her former self was not worthy of the military making such a fuss.

Although Ren Anhua didn’t feel she had gained anything at all.

In fact, she still missed her old ability very much.

Thinking of it this way, the root cause of her losing her ability was, in the final analysis, that military report.

As long as Wan Xingbang existed, she would inevitably walk toward that single endpoint.

And the RV team was just someone who had intercepted her halfway.

But upon reaching this thought, Ren Anhua would often begin to doubt her logical deductions.

Because thinking this way, it seemed the team’s crime was not so great.

Did this once again indicate the successful influence of the RV team’s mental affinity?

Ren Anhua didn’t know.

She no longer wanted to think about such issues now.

She had already accepted one fact: the RV team must pay a price to her, regardless of whether they were the ones who intercepted her, and regardless of how much genuine affection she had for them.

While Ren Anhua was lost in her thoughts, a small disturbance occurred in the West District.

A rather heated dispute broke out at the city gate.

In recent days, such disputes were very common because the inspections by these newcomers called the Anhua Society were too strict.

Most people who came to Su City had some secrets.

Many wore cloaks or hoods and were unwilling to let others see their faces.

This was actually a tacit rule.

For the city guards, they only needed to collect crystal cores and didn’t need to care about the identity of those entering the city.

They weren’t the military and didn’t need to arrest people.

Unless the Wei and Yue families in Su City specifically ordered someone’s arrest, only then would they conduct serious inspections and blockades.

But these people from the Anhua Society were different.

They had to scrutinize everyone carefully.

Not only that, but they also had to check the bags carried by travelers.

Whether it was a suitcase or a luggage bag, as long as it was large enough to hold a child, they would demand to see it opened.

In addition, vehicles also needed to be inspected: the trunk, under the seats, the chassis.

They would carefully check all these places where people could be hidden.

Although it was said that a new official lights three fires, this fire was burning too fiercely, offending many people and causing fights at the West District checkpoint every day.

It was only because this new guild was powerful that they could suppress such frequent armed conflicts.

The arrival of the apocalypse brought great changes to the city’s structure, changes that evolved in the direction of ancient city-states.

For a world where danger was everywhere, a wall was the lifeline of a settlement.

Due to modern habits, they preferred to call this lifeline a ‘ring,’ just like the ring roads before the apocalypse.

The first wall was called the first ring, and the second was called the second ring.

Currently, Su City’s walls were built up to the second ring.

The area within the first ring belonged entirely to the Wei and Yue families, and outsiders had difficulty entering.

Compared to the mystery of the first ring, the people of Su City placed more of their desires on the second ring.

Entering the second ring was already proof of considerable status.

Only those who entered the second ring could be called a qualified ‘Su City person.’

The reason for this discrimination was that outside the second ring, there were still many refugees and ordinary people.

They did not dare to face the zombies, could not afford the exorbitant entrance fees, and at the same time, did not dare to travel long distances to join the military’s base.

So they had no choice but to eke out a living in the area clinging to the long wall of the second ring, as if leaning against this solid wall could give them a sense of security.

They were called ‘third-ringers’ by the people within the second ring of Su City.

This was a rather playful name because Su City had no third ring.

The first thing Ren Anhua’s group saw were these third-ringers.

Ren Anhua had never seen refugees, but the clothes and appearance of these people reminded her of the word.

However, in this ‘third ring’ area, it wasn’t just these third-ringers.

Ren Anhua also noticed the presence of some Awakened.

These Awakened were very easy to identify from their appearance alone.

In fact, this was a very common phenomenon.

Awakened teams also needed to eat; they had to collect resources.

But in the second ring, which was completely controlled by humans, there were not many resources to collect.

So they needed to establish some outposts in this non-existent third ring to carry out efficient resource collection.

It was precisely these Awakened outposts that allowed those third-ringers to survive.

The area around the outposts often had very few zombies.

Moreover, these third-ringers could obtain some leftovers from the Awakened’s scavenging to survive.

After all, things that the Awakened masters looked down on might be treasures in the eyes of the third-ringers.

The existence of these outposts gradually reduced the concentration of zombies in the outer periphery of the second ring, seemingly creating a non-existent third ring.

It was also because of their existence that someone from the Wei family recently proposed the construction of a third ring.

After all, there were so many refugees outside.

Probably as long as they were given food, they would work tirelessly to build a city wall.

The third ring plan was already in preparation.

Perhaps this wall could turn these ‘third-ringers’ into real third-ringers.

After all, the ‘Su City people’ living inside the second ring had also come from this.

Ren Anhua saw the wall of the second ring from a great distance.

Although it was not as magnificent as the military base, it was still more than two people tall.

Perhaps it would continue to be raised in the future.

After all, humans still had so much heavy machinery, and the social system had begun to recover.

Building a city wall was not a particularly difficult thing for modern people.

The city gate gradually became clear.

It seemed that some dispute had occurred.

However, this was very much in line with Ren Anhua’s first impression of Su City.

In Ren Anhua’s impression, a place like Su City, completely managed by civilian Awakened, was basically a ‘lawless zone.’

If it weren’t for being wanted by the military, Ren Anhua really didn’t want to come to such a place.

To put it another way, people who came to this place had a high probability of having committed some crime and couldn’t get by in the military’s territory, so they ran here.

“City of sin, huh,” Ren Anhua couldn’t help but sigh.

But she had no other choice.

After all, the RV team was waiting for her inside.