Safe City Ch.128

Chapter 128: Broken River Wasteland

On Moon Silk, distinguishing between ordinary New Humans and Old Humans was very simple.

Ordinary Old Humans who had just emerged from shelters often had smooth, tender skin, and their eyes tended to be clearer than those of New Humans. They were like the lambs described in the textbooks that had survived from the old days—lambs raised in sheep pens, completely incapable of sensing the dangers in their surroundings.

Actually, even the lambs on Moon Silk were now more capable fighters than most Old Humans. A newly born mutant sheep could ram straight through an ordinary person’s stomach.

But the Old Humans had knowledge.

So although many Old Humans died shortly after leaving their shelters, there were also some clever ones who were able to rely on their shelters and gradually make the transition. Eventually, they adapted to life in the wasteland and became little different from New Humans.

Some Old Humans who emerged from shelters might even be appreciated by smaller factions because of the knowledge they possessed.

If they also had relatively formidable combat strength and a little ambition, they could slowly subjugate the towns in the surrounding area, allowing them to gain access to the “middle tier” of Moon Silk’s pyramid of power.

—Wasteland Lords.

To ordinary Moon Silk people, a Wasteland Lord was already a hugely important figure. They generally possessed enough military power to enforce their authority, and their territories almost covered entire stretches of wasteland.

Every year, just the taxes paid by the Moon Silk people living in their territories amounted to wealth beyond what ordinary Moon Silk people could imagine.

The stretch of wasteland where Deer River Town was located was called Broken River Wasteland.

As the name suggested, the rivers that had once flowed through the region had long since dried up. Their riverbeds had cracked and dried out, leaving the people living on this land with little choice but to pray for the scarce rainfall.

With no reliable source of water, farming was extremely difficult as well. The people here lived in even greater poverty and faced even harsher conditions than those inhabiting most of the other wastelands on Moon Silk.

But even so, the lord of the Broken River Wasteland was still a major figure in this region.

All merchant caravans passing through were required to pay commercial taxes to the Lord of Broken River. If the people living on this land wanted to establish a small faction of their own, they first had to pledge allegiance to the lord and receive a fief from him.

For example, suppose a certain mine was originally occupied by Faction A. Then Faction B defeated Faction A—but that didn’t mean Faction B could simply declare itself the new owner of the mine.

Faction B first had to come to Broken River City to pay respects to the lord, present gifts, and pledge its allegiance before receiving the lord’s approval to occupy the mine.

Naturally, the mine also had to pay taxes every year.

In reality, small factions like Faction B might claim that they were coming to pay a visit to the lord, but unless the lord happened to be in an exceptionally good mood, the highest-ranking person they would get to meet was usually the lord’s chief steward.

As the saying went, it’s the little devils who are the hardest to deal with. If you didn’t use gifts to keep the chief steward well fed, the transfer of ownership of that mine would most likely never go through.

And today, Liu Tiegu, representing Faction B—the Ka’dan’er Safe City—had been fortunate enough to receive an opportunity to meet the Lord of Broken River.

Although it was already afternoon when he arrived, he was told that the Lord of Broken River had not yet gotten out of bed. And even after getting up, the lord would have to eat first.

Thus, Liu Tiegu could only wait outside with his gifts.

After waiting for more than two hours, one of the patrol squads under the commander of the guard returned from its rounds. Seizing an opportunity, one of the women quickly slipped over and bumped Liu Tiegu with her elbow.

“How long have you been waiting?”

Liu Tiegu kept a smile on his face, but gritted his teeth as he replied to the woman in a low voice, like a student secretly talking beneath the desk during class:

“More than two hours. Boss, he isn’t going to sleep all the way until tonight, is he?”

The woman, whose real name was Yu Bo, also lowered her voice.

“Not necessarily. It’s entirely possible that the lord woke up, ate dinner, and simply doesn’t feel like seeing anyone right now.”

The veins on Liu Tiegu’s forehead were practically about to pop.

“Fuck! He’s really putting on airs!”

Yu Bo advised him, “Watch your facial expression. Don’t let anyone see that you’re unhappy. Do you still want the right to manage that mine or not?”

She continued painting a rosy picture for Liu Tiegu:

“Think about it. Once we have this mine, we can extract ore and trade it with the merchant caravans for a huge amount of weapons. Once we have all those weapons and return to the Safe City, won’t we be able to dominate whichever world we go to?”

“Isn’t it just standing around and waiting for a while? I’m a Tier-3 ability user, and I still have to butter up the guard commander every single day. You know what? Yesterday, the guard commander’s supply of maintenance potions ran out, so I was the one who bought him a new batch. And I haven’t even gotten my guard salary for this month yet! The nuclear crystals I used to buy those potions were what I earned in the previous world.”

“Why do you think I’m doing all this? Isn’t it so I can show my face in front of the lord and get you guys a chance to meet him?”

Liu Tiegu was indeed swayed.

“Boss, you’ve really had it rough. And you’re right. What’s a little waiting for me? You’re the one who has to work as a guard here every day. How about you find an excuse to have someone replace you?”

He even suggested another candidate.

“Have Xiao Tian come instead. He’s a Tier-3 Strength-type ability user too, so he should be able to get hired as a guard.”

Yu Bo thought to herself: Yeah, right.

—With you people knowing nothing except how to follow orders and never using your brains, if I let you work as guards in this lord’s manor, where there’s clearly a whole lot of scheming and political maneuvering going on, we’d be lucky if you didn’t end up getting yourselves—and everyone else—in trouble without getting any benefits.

But outwardly, she put on a resolute expression.

“I’m the boss. When there’s something difficult to deal with, of course I’m the one who steps up first. Don’t worry about me. Just focus on getting that mine secured for us.”

Seeing that her muscle-without-a-brain subordinate was indeed moved, Yu Bo continued painting him an even bigger picture.

“Success always requires sacrifice. Remember, you’re my cousin. In a little while, just think of yourself as a shameless sycophant. The moment you see the Lord of Broken River, flatter him as hard as you possibly can.”

“As long as we get our hands on that mine, our team is going to make a fortune this time. Neither my sacrifice nor yours will have been in vain!”

Liu Tiegu nodded vigorously.

“Don’t worry, Boss. I’ll lay it on thick!”

Yu Bo taught him a few more lines to use before hurriedly leaving. She needed to trade shifts with a colleague she had only recently gotten on good terms with, hoping to be on guard nearby when Liu Tiegu met the Lord of Broken River.

That way, she could keep a closer eye on the situation as well.

To secure this small mine, Yu Bo and her subordinates had been carefully planning for several months. She had even gone so far as to personally come here and “infiltrate” the place.

Now that they were so close to succeeding, she wanted to personally oversee every single step.

Things went fairly smoothly.

The Lord of Broken River finished his meal, then lay down for a while. Afterward, he looked through some official business before taking a stroll around the park. In the middle of it all, the Endless Night descended, and the entire Broken River Wasteland fell silent.

Once the Endless Night had passed, Liu Tiegu waited for another three hours before finally stepping through the inner gates and meeting the Lord of Broken River.

He showered the lord with flattery, and the Lord of Broken River listened to it all. He then asked Liu Tiegu what he was good at and whether he was a Mutant, like his cousin.

After receiving an affirmative answer, the Lord of Broken River said lazily:

“Fine. Then that little mine is yours. Kid, I kind of like you too. Why don’t you stay here and work as one of my guards?”

Liu Tiegu froze.

That wasn’t in the script they’d planned!

But when he saw his boss signaling him with her eyes, he still put on an expression of overwhelming gratitude and accepted the offer.

Although there had been an unexpected development, at least they had secured the mine.

Heh heh.

“All right, then. For now, stick with your cousin. Don’t worry. As long as you work hard for me, I certainly won’t treat you unfairly…”

Given the difference in status between them, even when the Lord of Broken River offered words of encouragement, his tone remained lazy and condescending.

Having spent the past few months on Moon Silk and realizing long ago just how unreachable the status of a Wasteland Lord was, Liu Tiegu didn’t feel as though his dignity had been trampled or anything like that.

As his boss had put it:

—In an environment like Moon Silk, power has been magnified to an extreme, to the point of becoming grotesquely distorted. If our team wants weapons and mines, there’s no way we can afford to hold on to our pride.

As they were speaking, the chief steward suddenly came hurrying over and whispered something into the Lord of Broken River’s ear.

The lazy expression the Lord of Broken River had maintained all this time instantly vanished.

Yu Bo had been “undercover” by his side for two months, and this was the first time she had ever seen the Lord of Broken River lose his composure like this.

“What?!!”

He grabbed the chief steward’s hand tightly. The expression on his face was less one of surprise and more the blank shock that came after being utterly stunned.

“Are you sure? Is it really the [Company]?”

The chief steward, who normally remained calm no matter what happened, was now visibly flustered as well.

“A lot of people saw it! It was in the area around Deer River Town. And that newly appeared [Company] even killed the giant mutant python that had been occupying that area for more than twenty years.”

The chief steward swallowed.

“The same mutant giant python that was over two hundred meters long and had been lurking beneath Sunset Gorge.”

“The [Company] appeared only yesterday. This morning, right after the Endless Night ended, that mutant giant python was already dealt with.”

The Lord of Broken River’s chubby face instantly turned pale.

“Th-then… I suppose it really is them.”

The legend of the giant python around Deer River Town was actually a mixture of truth and falsehood.

Most of the “giant pythons” people claimed to have seen were merely ordinary pythons. As for the real mutant giant python, ordinary people who encountered it never had a chance to return and describe what it looked like.

Only someone of the Lord of Broken River’s stature knew just how terrifying the real mutant giant python was.

Twenty years ago, the lord’s father had coveted the crystal inside the giant python’s brain. He had therefore led a large number of guards to hunt it down.

In the end, only his father and three or five guards managed to escape alive.

After that, Broken River City never again attempted to develop the vast, dense forest near Deer River Town.

And now, twenty years later, that giant python should have become even more powerful.

Yet it had been dealt with so easily.

It was the [Company].

It had to be the [Company].

On Moon Silk, the [Company] now occupied the very pinnacle of the power hierarchy.

The first three Companies had already demonstrated just how powerful they were.

A lord ruling over a barren wasteland was obviously nothing compared to the [Company].

The Lord of Broken River abruptly stood up and ordered his steward:

“Quick! Go and assess the situation! No! Wait, that’s no good. Your status is too low. If I send you, you might offend them instead. Quick! Hurry and get me changed! I’m going to pay my respects to the [Company] personally.”

“Bring me my finest clothes! And go to the treasury and pick out some gifts!”

The chief steward nodded repeatedly and was about to leave to carry out his orders when the Lord of Broken River suddenly grabbed him by the arm.

He stared intently at the steward and enunciated every word:

“The best treasures! The very best! Understand?!”

“How we live from this point onward depends on what happens today!”

The chief steward nodded solemnly.

“Yes, my lord. Don’t worry. I understand what’s at stake.”

The chief steward hurried out, and the Lord of Broken River immediately began issuing orders to the attendants in the room.

“Quick! Take me to bathe! Use that expensive one—the scented dew from a hundred and fifty years ago. Then call someone in to take care of my hair…”

Everyone in the room, including the Lord of Broken River himself, was suddenly thrown into a frenzy of activity. No one paid the slightest attention to Yu Bo and Liu Tiegu anymore.

The two could only stare at the scene in stunned silence before exchanging a glance and communicating silently with their eyes.

A new [Company] has emerged from a shelter? And it looks like they’re quite formidable.

People always strive to move upward, while water flows downward.

So why don’t we skip a few steps and go straight to currying favor with the [Company]?

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