82 Tobacco and liquor (2/2)

This led Ren Xiaosu to reevaluate the capabilities of an organization. Importantly, this was only the combat troops of one stronghold. According to Yang Xiaojin, an organization might control 10 to 20 strongholds in total!

So if Ren Xiaosu escaped in the direction of Stronghold 112, whatever wild animals or the like along the way would have already been scared away.

Although it would be a little more difficult to return to Stronghold 113 and required him to take a longer detour if he went this way, he had no other options since this was his best choice.

As Ren Xiaosu quietly walked towards the other areas of this ”city,” the natural ravines and ruined buildings exposed aboveground became his best cover.

He saw the ruins of a tall building that had collapsed and was broken into two sections. Ren Xiaosu had no doubt that there used to be people who could totally stand atop this tall building and get a bird's eye view of the entire city before The Cataclysm.

In the past, Ren Xiaosu would often fantasize about what it would be like to stay in the stronghold with Yan Liuyuan when they were living in the town. But it seemed that, although the stronghold was bigger than this city in terms of area, the level of grandeur and prosperity in there was incomparable to this place.

Of course, the grandeur and prosperity were things of the past. Now, only ruins and desolation were left here.

Ren Xiaosu slid down the hill's slope under the cover of the shadowy forest and saw some signs covered in dust scattered around the ruins. He muttered, ”Why are there so many reflexology spa signs in this city? Did the past people enjoy washing their feet this much?”

While walking between the abandoned city and the mountainside, Ren Xiaosu carefully avoided being caught in the line of sight of anyone. He was only about 500 meters away from the Qing Consortium's combat troops at this moment. As long as he carefully made use of the blind corners and buildings, he wouldn't get discovered by them.

But as he proceeded, Ren Xiaosu started feeling like he could hardly walk anymore. He was surprised to see a well-preserved tobacco and liquor store on his left-hand side.

Although a majority of the buildings had been crushed to dust during the earthquakes caused by tectonic shift, 30% of the buildings in the city still remained.

Ren Xiaosu's eyes gleamed when he saw the tobacco and liquor store.

Tobacco and liquor were scarce goods in town. Why else would a teacher like Zhang Jinglin not have cigarettes to smoke every day?

The stock in this tobacco and liquor store was probably more than what Old Wang and Old Li had in their stores combined. If he could bring it all back, he could easily become the richest person in town!

Ren Xiaosu stole a glance at the Qing Consortium's people. When he was sure no one was looking in his vicinity, he rushed into the store excitedly.

He reached for the cigarettes on the counter. As there was a transparent plastic wrapper around the cigarette pack, Ren Xiaosu thought it would still be in a good condition since it was protected by an outer layer of plastic.

But the moment he touched it, the cigarette pack disintegrated into powder along with it.

Ren Xiaosu felt a pain in his heart. Just how long had these things been kept here?

In fact, Ren Xiaosu did not know that cigarettes also had a shelf life. Although the tobacco factories never stated how long their cigarettes could be kept for, they would generally turn bad after more than three years of storage.

After all, the packaging of the plastic seal could not be more simply done.