Quick Travel to the Clouds

Chapter 648 The Apocalyptic Old Lady 17

The guards at the gate went into battle almost instantly! Heavy machine gun muzzles, rocket launchers, and even several soldiers who were clearly superhumans (their palms flashing with fire or their muscles bulging) were all aimed at the giant tiger and the person on its back with high tension.

A chilling warning came through the loudspeaker: "Stop! Don't come any closer! State your purpose! Disarm immediately!"

Yun Chu gently patted the tiger's neck. The giant tiger immediately stopped, letting out a deep and intimidating roar, while obediently lying down on the ground and lowering its head.

This combination of protest and obedience was all the more striking.

Jiang Xingyu and Lin Xiaoran were so frightened that their faces turned pale, and they froze on the tiger's back, not daring to breathe.

Yun Chu slowly slid off the tiger's back (her movements were far more agile than her appearance suggested), facing countless dark gun barrels and shocked gazes, and calmly said, "Traveler, let's go into the city to rest. It's very obedient."

Her voice wasn't loud, but it miraculously pierced through the noise of the scene, carrying an undeniable and steady power.

The guard captain's forehead was sweating as his eyes darted back and forth between Yun Chu (a seemingly ordinary old woman), the startled handsome men and beautiful women, and the eerily docile giant beast.

The atmosphere was tense. Just as conflict was about to erupt, a lookout on the city wall confirmed: "It's a contracted beast! The mental imprint is confirmed! It's being controlled!"

The guards exchanged glances, but lowered their guns slightly. The very presence of the contractor was a deterrent.

The captain finally agreed to let them pass, but with the condition: "The contractor must maintain full control! They can only stay in the designated beast pen area! Otherwise, they will be killed without mercy!" His tone was stern, but it also carried a sense of compromise when faced with overwhelming power.

As we passed through the heavy iron gate, the light suddenly dimmed.

We entered a huge space resembling a barbican, surrounded by even higher inner walls.

The air was even more polluted and stifling, with a tangled mess of barbed wire and makeshift awnings overhead. This was clearly a buffer and inspection area. The smell of disinfectant was even more pungent.

A cold red light swept across their entire bodies (possibly to detect infected sources or abnormal energy).

A staff member wearing a thick mask and protective clothing carefully tested Yun Chu's body for any traces of Hong Yu's contact (Hong Yu from half a month ago was still fresh in her memory).

Jiang Xingyu and Lin Xiaoran also underwent rigorous checks, and their disheveled appearance and lingering fear caused the staff to frown.

Finally, the last step before entering the core area. Behind the massive registration desk, a bald man with a serious face scrutinized them with sharp eyes. When Jiang Xingyu and Lin Xiaoran took off their hats and revealed their faces, the registration officer clearly recognized this face that had been extremely "dazzling" before the apocalypse.

Then proceed with the registration.

“Li Yun Chu, 59 years old.” Yun Chu’s eyes were calm as still water, as if everything around her was irrelevant.

When reporting the supernatural ability project, she paused, casually flicking a small cluster of leaping blue-purple sparks from her fingertip (indicating lightning element). "Lightning element, first tier," she chose the most understated way to put it.

The two people beside Jiang Lin were shocked, but dared not reveal a word. Only when the registrar recorded "lightning-type ability user" did a hint of fear appear in his eyes.

Jiang Xingyu and Lin Xiaoran were registered as "ordinary people, vassals of the superpowered 'Leishi' (a nickname Yun Chu casually gave).

They received an iron plaque with simple markings and a number (representing their status as the lowest-class refugees). Yun Chu, on the other hand, received a wooden plaque made of slightly better material, engraved with a lightning symbol (a symbol of lightning-type ability users).

Leaving the registration desk and officially entering the base felt like stepping into another world.

The streets were narrow and winding, crammed with makeshift dwellings pieced together from shipping containers, prefabricated houses, collapsed building materials, and tattered canvas.

Sewage flowed in the middle of the road, and a pungent smell filled the air. The cries of vendors in various accents, the crying of children, the arguing, and the roar of makeshift machines mixed together to create a noisy background.

A spontaneous market formed at a slightly open intersection.

The items displayed on the stall were diverse and extremely valuable:

Dried rat meat, carefully cut into small pieces and strung together with rope;

A small handful of wilted wild vegetables;

Several gleaming cans, but with misaligned lids;

Several pieces of repeatedly used, dull-colored fabric;

Rusty nails and screws; some homemade tools;

There were even a few clean, color pages from old world magazines of unknown value.

The main form of trade was barter. Low-quality grain coupons (a type of coarse paper stamped with a seal) issued by the base circulated occasionally, but they seemed to have little value.

When several people who were clearly dressed as superhumans and carrying weapons loitered around in front of the stalls, the stall owners' expressions became noticeably more tense and ingratiating.

The appearance of Yun Chu and her group once again drew attention.

Yun Chu's own composure and the conspicuous wooden sign were among the reasons.

Even though Jiang Xingyu and Lin Xiaoran were dressed in rags and had sunken cheeks, their "good looks," which far surpassed those of the post-apocalyptic survivors, still stood out against the gloomy background, attracting many greedy or envious glances to linger on them.

Lin Xiaoran subconsciously shrank behind Jiang Xingyu, while Jiang Xingyu tried to straighten his back and placed his hand on the dagger hidden in the tattered cloth (which Yun Chu later gave him for self-defense).

Guided by an armed guard (who kept his eyes fixed on the giant tiger, full of vigilance), they arrived at the "Beast Pen" designated for large contracted beasts.

This area was converted from an abandoned small factory and is separated by thick alloy fences.

When the tiger was locked up, it let out a low, dissatisfied roar at the guard, which startled the guard into taking a few steps back.

Yun Chu merely glanced at the tiger, and it immediately quieted down, its massive body sprawling on the hay in the corner, its amber eyes shining like lamps, yet it no longer uttered any threatening sounds.

It will become one of the symbols of Yun Chu's strength here, being firmly "guarded," but also an invisible deterrent.

***

Yun Chu found an abandoned tool shed on the edge of the civilian district.

This used to be a storage room in a small repair shop. The space was cramped and drafty, with only a few empty shelves and a long table covered in grease.

The air was thick with the smell of rust and cheap engine oil, and thick cobwebs covered the corners of the walls.

But for Yun Chu, it was enough to shield her from the wind and rain, and also kept her away from most of the prying eyes.

She directed Jiang Xingyu and Lin Xiaoran to clear out a relatively clean area in the corner and lay down several sheets that had been brought from the hospital, which were faded but still quite thick.

In the corner lay their meager supplies: a small half-bag of hardened grain cakes, several sealed water bottles, a few compressed biscuits, and some scattered gauze and medicines—most of which were medical supplies that Yun Chu had casually picked up.

She casually placed the huge metal can (containing her weapons and other important items) on the bottom shelf, the only relatively stable shelf.

Jiang Xingyu and Lin Xiaoran huddled in a corner, taking advantage of Yun Chu's earth-based ability to slightly seal off a few huge drafty gaps to catch their breath. They quietly ate their cold food, their eyes still showing the bewilderment of their first time in the "crowd" and the great fear of the future.

The chaos and commotion of the base at night (fighting, crying, suppressed groans) seeped through the gaps, drawing them unconsciously closer to each other.

The following day, the Panxi section of the defensive wall was expanded.

The morning light struggled to penetrate the polluted air above the rocky base, casting a dim halo.

Yun Chu walked alone on the crowded and noisy street.

She ignored the emaciated people scrambling for food scraps by the sewage ditch, and seemed not to see the woman with empty, doll-like eyes standing at the door of the dilapidated shack.

Her gaze, like a cold searchlight, swept sharply and clearly across each face.

Her goal was very simple: to find "beauty." The kind of "beauty" that, like shards of gemstones, could pierce through the decay of the post-apocalyptic ruins.