236 The beginning of a disagreemen (1/2)

In these wastelands, there stood 178 strongholds. Stronghold 178 in the northwest was the westernmost one in all the territory controlled by the strongholds. The weather was extreme in that locale.

If you stood on the rampart walls of Stronghold 178 and looked into the distance, all you would see would be an endless stretch of devastated loess, and even the river that ran east was murky yellow too.

The Qing Consortium, the Li Consortium, and the Yang Consortium were situated in the southwest of the territory. Due to their geography, these three organizations were always the most intricately linked in the southwest. As for the territories of the other organizations, they had always found it difficult to expand southwest due to the region being inaccessible to them.

Of the southwestern region, the Li Consortium was farthest south. Reportedly, if you headed south from there, you would reach a rainforest you would very likely get lost in. In it were countless venomous insects, and legend had it that no one had ever managed to trek through this forest to get even further south.

But due to the effects of tectonics, the weather in the region of these three organizations was becoming much colder. In recent years, the rainforest's ecology had also changed dramatically. The Li Consortium had even once planned to draw this rainforest into its own territorial lines and build a new stronghold within it.

The Qing Consortium was northeast of the Li Consortium on terrain that was easy to defend but difficult to attack. Stronghold 111 was even hailed as a mountain city due to it being built next to a mountain, and it acted as an extremely important land and water hub in the southwestern region.

The Yang Consortium was inside a huge basin with Longnan's1 Zong Consortium and Stronghold 178 to its north. But in recent years, the Zong Consortium had been constantly plotting to usurp the northwestern territory that was controlled by Stronghold 178, although they didn't have much of a conflict with the Yang Consortium.

This geography meant the southwestern region was a tripartite division where a power struggle was ongoing. The three organizations did not share their resources, and whatever the Li Consortium had, the Yang Consortium didn't. Whatever the Yang Consortium had, the Qing Consortium didn't.

There would always be a reason for war, and resources tended to be the true motivation.

But there used to be people who said they had visited the Central Plains to the east before and described it as a very prosperous place. There were even large human settlements that existed outside of strongholds too.

But in the Post-Cataclysm world, the world they knew was no longer around.

As New Year's Eve passed, Hu Shuo probably arrived back inside Stronghold 108. The three war machines of the consortiums had already deployed their forces to hold their borders, where they waited within dozens of kilometers of each other for the real war to break out.

Yan Liuyuan and the others were very excited at first. But as it got later, they couldn't endure anymore and fell sleep. Ren Xiaosu was sitting by the campfire alone as he thought about their future plans. He was thinking of what he could do to ensure that everyone would survive the ravages of war this time.

According to Hu Shuo, he could send Yan Liuyuan and the others to live in Stronghold 108. Even if the Experimentals attacked, they wouldn't be able to break through the tight defenses of a stronghold. Besides, the effects of the war between the three consortiums wouldn't affect the stronghold so quickly either.

Fighting a war was like playing a game. Nobody smart enough would go all-in at the very beginning.

It started snowing. One of the house's doors suddenly opened, and Yan Liuyuan came walking out wearing a coat. He sat down beside Ren Xiaosu. ”Bro, are you worried about the war?”

”Mhm,” Ren Xiaosu acknowledged.

”Why don't we leave this place?” Yan Liuyuan whispered, ”Even if we have to head deep into the forested mountains, we could live very well there.”

Ren Xiaosu gave him a look and said, ”And not have any more contact with the outside world ever again?”

”Bro, I know that you want to go to Stronghold 88 to look for Big Sister Xiaojin. But why didn't she come and look for you instead?” Yan Liuyuan said, ”Actually, I've already found out where Stronghold 88 is, but I don't want to tell you. That's because I don't think it will be any different for us there. She's an important figure of the Yang Consortium and we're just refugees.”