Chapter 125 - Weed City (1/2)

Chapter 125: Weed City

Around 9 a.m. the next day, Bai Chen drove the jeep that had been disguised. She drove the Old Task Force’s three other members and the Rootless camp’s Convoy Leader, Ferlin, toward Weed City in a caravan made up of five to six cars.

It was unknown if it was because of the rushed job or the fact that they were trying their best to make it look realistic, but the colors of many parts of the jeep were inconsistent after it was repainted. However, one could generally tell that it was an army-green camouflage.

This was very similar to most of the jeeps that traveled across the Ashlands. Once they bumped into something, they either had nowhere to repair it or just repaired it without much effort. There was no need to be so particular about the repairs.

The reason why Ferlin didn’t sit in his caravan’s car was that he felt that he would soon be separated from his good brother, Shang Jianyao, once they reached Weed City. He had to make the best use of his time to chat a little longer.

This resulted in the three men squeezing in the jeep’s backseat. Fortunately, the vehicle had plenty of space, so it did not affect the ride experience.

After leaving the camp and circling to the other side, Long Yuehong finally saw the most important facility in the area: a waterworks factory.

Green trees covered its surroundings. The environment was rather good, and it seemed like it had been ‘taken care of.’

After passing through the factory, a city ruin gradually unfolded in front of all the Old Task Force members. Nearly all the high-rise buildings here had already collapsed. The grayish-white or brown ‘mud bricks’ were haphazardly piled together with rusted steel columns that stubbornly kept the structure up. They were covered by yellow creeper leaves and various plants, with only certain parts of it vaguely revealed.

It was like countless people—who had been buried alive—had finally stretched out their hands before they died in an attempt to grab onto something.

Compared to the city ruin deep in the swamp, this place looked nothing like it did back in the Old World.

Even the Ruin Hunters had given up on this place. The remaining items were either difficult to gather or worthless.

If he had never entered the swamp’s depths or seen the Old World’s silhouette, Long Yuehong would, at best, sigh at such a scene. But now, his emotions were extremely complicated. He felt inexplicably heavy but also sad.

“Sigh…” Jiang Baimian—who was in the passenger seat—sighed softly.

Ferlin sat between Shang Jianyao and Long Yuehong and looked out the window. “Back when my grandfather was still alive, he told me what kind of tourist city this was. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have driven an RV all the way here.”

Shang Jianyao didn’t answer or continue Ferlin’s conversation. Instead, he suddenly said, “I want to play a song.”

“‘Reminiscing the Past?’” Jiang Baimian asked in understanding.

Shang Jianyao nodded heavily. “Yes.”

“Forget it, forget it. It’ll affect the mood.” Jiang Baimian waved her hand. “This road is already difficult to drive through. It’s better not to disturb Bai Chen.”

In this city ruin that had been completely abandoned, many roads had been buried or cut due to the collapse of buildings and the sinking of the ground. There was no way to pass through them at all. The vehicles could only constantly change their routes and advance bit by bit.

Fortunately, be it Bai Chen, Ferlin, or the Rootless leading the way, they were relatively familiar with this place and wouldn’t end up getting lost.

During this process, Jiang Baimian sighed with emotion. “I really have to thank those Ruin Hunters for getting rid of the cars blocking the road. Otherwise, it would’ve been too much of a waste of time if we had to circle around this city ruin.”

“We contributed to this as well.” Ferlin smiled and stroked the white beard by his mouth. “Many of us obtained our cars here. They’re all of the same grandfather generation now.”

As they chatted, the convoy took more than an hour to slowly pass through the city ruins with the most damage. The road conditions gradually improved.

In front of them, they could even see a road being propped up by grayish-white columns. It was abnormally empty, and the signs of damage were not obvious. However, there were many withered weeds.

After an unknown period of time, the convoy arrived beside Turbid River.

The flowing water here was yellowish in color as if it had mixed with a lot of sand. This was a result of winter—many parts of the riverbed were exposed to the air and covered in mud.

Diagonally in front of the convoy, a medium-sized bridge—propped up by blocks—spanned across the river.

After crossing this new bridge and driving forward for about ten minutes, a grayish-white city wall—several meters tall—appeared in everyone’s eyes.

“That’s Weed City,” Ferlin introduced.

“They have city walls?” Long Yuehong asked in surprise and curiosity.

He remembered that the textbooks had written that the cities of the Old World were no longer like those of the Old Era, which needed tall and sturdy city walls built. At most, places like schools would have a low perimeter wall built around it to facilitate management.

If it was done after the Old World was destroyed, how big a project would it have been?

Ferlin smiled and said, “This is an accessory to the city ruin from before. It’s said to be an ancient city before the Old World was destroyed.”

“A tourist attraction? In order to restore the ancient vibes, they preserved and repaired the city walls?” Jiang Baimian inferred with her knowledge.

Ferlin tersely acknowledged her words. “I heard that many survivors early on considered the previous ruin when they were preparing to build a settlement. However, the damage there was too serious. There are city walls here and a waterworks factory. They are also close to the hydropower station.”

At this point, he chuckled and said, “Although the city walls can’t defend against cannons or bombs, they can at least block beasts, monsters, and Heartless, giving everyone a greater sense of security.”

As he spoke, the convoy arrived at the entrance of Weed City.

It was a little congested here, so the jeep slowed down.