Chapter 125 - Weed City (2/2)

Long Yuehong rolled down the window and looked out, only to discover a crowd at the city gate.

They were wearing tattered or old clothes. Their faces were pale in the winter wind, and their lips had turned a little blue.

Most of these people were young or middle-aged men and women, followed by children. None of them were elderly.

Their expressions were more or less a little numb as they mechanically moved forward alongside the rest.

“What’s this?” Long Yuehong looked back at Ferlin.

Ferlin propped himself up and tried his best to look at the city gate. He then quickly sat down and sighed. “These are wilderness nomads without winter food. They came to Weed City to try their luck.”

“Can they find a job here?” Long Yuehong asked habitually, given his background as a company employee.

Ferlin laughed self-deprecatingly. “The ones with the best luck will be taken in or bought by the Hunter’s Guild as a direct descendant. Those with lesser luck are chosen by nobles and made slaves. A little worse, and they will be brought to the surrounding manors to be serfs.

“Those who aren’t too lucky are bought by those in the flesh business. The most unlucky ones become miners…”

After hearing Ferlin’s description, the jeep became extremely quiet. No one spoke for a long time.

Long Yuehong watched the vehicle gradually overtake those people, but he didn’t know what he could do. He retracted his gaze and glanced at Shang Jianyao, only to see his good friend wearing a solemn expression.

Finally, Jiang Baimian broke the silence and repeated a word in a mocking tone. “Nobles…”

“It’s a result of learning it from First City? It’s a part of First City, after all.” Ferlin didn’t mind.

Long Yuehong composed himself and continued asking, “Why are they still lining up at the entrance?”

He remembered Bai Chen mentioning that Weed City was relatively open and had no entry fees.

“There are so many nomads. Who knows if they are carrying any infectious diseases? At a time like this, we definitely have to do a basic inspection. Otherwise, everyone will be doomed.” Ferlin was rather familiar with such procedures.

“Mm.” Long Yuehong nodded and asked, “Eh, why aren’t there any old people…”

Before he could finish his sentence, he suddenly came to a realization. “I got it.”

In such a cold season, with them lacking in clothes and food, the slightly older ones would definitely have failed to reach Weed City. They might as well end their lives and reserve any resources for their descendants. This might even include their corpses.

This realization pained Long Yuehong.

Ferlin patted Long Yuehong on the shoulder. “Sigh, get used to it. This is the Ashlands. Things will only get worse after the first snow.”

At this point, he looked north. “I heard that it’s already snowing in the Blackmarsh Wilderness…”

“A snow disaster…” Bai Chen—who was driving—seemed to recall something.

Jiang Baimian then consoled her. “Fortunately, Moat Town doesn’t have to worry about these problems anymore.”

After moving slowly for a while, the convoy finally passed the inspection and entered Weed City.

Long Yuehong subconsciously looked outside and realized that the road was paved with green or grayish-white stone bricks. They looked very neat, but they were a little cramped. They barely allowed two cars to pass through.

The buildings by the side of the road were not too tall. They were at most five stories tall, and the top was arched with eaves.

At the bottom were rows of outlets facing the street. This was very similar to the city ruin deep in the swamp. Similarly, they all had their own signboards.

Long Yuehong looked over and saw the names ‘Time-Honored Noodle Restaurant,”A’xiu’s Subsidiary Food,”Zhang Ji Food Oil,”First City Office,’ and ‘Shooting Internet Cafe.’

Even the electric poles by the side of the road had pieces of paper pasted on them. On it were the words ‘Specialize in Treating Diseases.’

In addition to these, Long Yuehong also saw many signs written in Red River text. This included words like ‘Restaurant,”Club,’ and ‘Bread.’

It was only at this moment that Long Yuehong deeply realized that Weed City was part of First City. Almost half of the pedestrians on the road had black hair and brown eyes. The rest either had blond or brown hair and blue or green eyes.

Of course, as it was winter not many pedestrians were outside due to the biting cold.

“It looks lively,” Long Yuehong sighed with emotion.

“That’s not all. In the past two months, driving has been impossible,” Ferlin said with a smile. “The roads here weren’t designed for vehicles to begin with. They’re narrow, and it’s easy to have a jam.”

“Is that so…” Long Yuehong nodded and looked out the window again, just like Shang Jianyao.

On the electric poles, all kinds of wires were randomly strung in different directions. They looked very messy as if they were splitting the sky.

As the car drove forward, Long Yuehong saw another signboard: ‘South Street Slave Market.’

Long Yuehong fell silent.