Chapter 58 Passing By, Rescuing People, and Investigating Yunpei Town
The boy was taken aback by this sudden help and replied blankly, "At...home."
"Then lead the way."
Seeing that the woman was really about to leave with the begging boy, the stall owner, who had been arrogant but had been rebuffed, couldn't help but speak up again, his tone tinged with a sour "good intention": "Sir, don't be fooled by him. Heatstroke isn't a rare disease these days, and treatment doesn't cost much. If he can't even come up with this much money, he's probably just making it up to deceive kind people like you."
Upon hearing this, the boy immediately became agitated and retorted loudly, "I'm not lying! How could I possibly use my sister's life to deceive people!"
Lin Nanxing quickly pressed down on the boy's trembling shoulder, signaling him to calm down. She turned to the stall owner and said in a calm tone, "Thank you for the reminder, but I have my own judgment."
For her, the cost of treating heatstroke was extremely low; it was something that could be solved with a bucket of pool water.
If it were a scam, she would only have lost a bucket of water, but if it were real, she saved a life.
She was willing to take that risk.
Lin Nanxing ignored the still noisy stall owner and gestured for the boy to lead the way again.
She followed the boy through the crowded streets filled with mixed smells. The further they went, the more dilapidated and remote the environment became. Lin Nanxing quietly moved closer to the banyan tree spirit beside her.
The boy seemed to sense her wariness and quickly explained, "Sister, don't be afraid. The place we live in is a bit remote because it's the cheapest, but I'm definitely not a bad person."
The boy's guarantee was not convincing at all, but Lin Nanxing didn't care. Da Rong had leveled up again recently, and as long as she didn't encounter players above level 60, she wouldn't be in danger.
Finally, they stopped in front of a row of residential units that looked like old-fashioned shipping containers.
The boy opened one of the rusty iron doors, revealing an extremely cramped space, no more than forty square meters in size and perhaps only 1.5 meters wide. After barely squeezing in a bunk bed, there was almost no room to turn around.
"Da Rong, can you shrink a little more?" Lin Nanxing whispered.
The room was too small; Da Rong, with her current size, definitely couldn't squeeze in. But it was impossible for her to go in alone with the boy.
Lin Nanxing does have this much safety awareness.
The banyan tree spirit's branches and leaves swayed gently, then its size rapidly shrank, finally landing lightly on Lin Nanxing's shoulder.
After successfully shrinking their size, the person and the plant were finally able to enter the cramped space.
On the lower bunk of the double bed, a little girl with an unusually flushed face and chapped lips lay with her eyes closed, her chest heaving rapidly and irregularly, clearly enduring great pain.
The boy wasn't lying; his sister did indeed have severe heatstroke.
Without saying a word, Lin Nanxing immediately took out a large bathtub filled with clear pool water from his backpack.
However, there was no space in the room to put it there. The boy was quick-witted and immediately picked up his sister carefully. Lin Nanxing then placed the bathtub on the lower bunk bed.
"These are the raw materials for the Star Territory burn repair medicine. They have a very good cooling and soothing effect. Let your sister soak in it, and her heatstroke will be relieved quickly," Lin Nanxing explained, choosing a more acceptable explanation.
The boy believed Lin Nanxing's words without a doubt, and immediately helped his sister take off her cheap and stuffy protective suit, carefully immersing her in the water.
In less than five minutes, the girl's tightly furrowed brows gradually relaxed, and the abnormal flush on her face began to subside. The boy was so excited that he trembled all over. He turned around and was about to kneel down to Lin Nanxing when she reached out and stopped him in time.
"There's no need for that," Lin Nanxing stopped him. "If you really want to thank me, tell me about your life. Have you always had such a hard time?"
The reason she was willing to come back with the boy was that she wanted to see for herself the real living conditions of the lower-class residents of Yunpei Town.
The fact that a minor was forced to beg for life-saving supplies on the street made her question whether her cooperation with Yunpei Town was the right thing to do.
If the town's administrators turn a blind eye to the town's vulnerable groups, Lin Nanxing will find it hard to trust their character, and the cooperation will be much more uncertain.
The boy quickly shook his head, "No, the town has very little usable area, and there isn't much space available for living. This piece of land is already a discount from the town."
“The town usually distributes some basic relief supplies. My sister and I also hunt the lowest-level monsters near the town and collect some materials. We can barely make ends meet, so life isn’t too hard.”
“But this year’s eternal night and winter came too suddenly.” He sighed, his eyes dimming. “After the sudden change in weather, it’s even more dangerous outside. Many people in town are afraid to go out, so they have no source of income. It’s all my fault. My profession is just a summoner, and my contracted partner is particularly timid and not good at fighting.”
As he spoke, he glanced enviously at the miniature banyan tree spirit on Lin Nanxing's shoulder, whose imposing presence was still palpable even in its shrunken state. He could tell that this kind adult was a powerful summoner.
It just goes to show how vast the differences are between people.
His contracted beast is afraid of monsters. Its normally agile body will instantly become stiff when it encounters a monster. If the boy and his beast encounter monsters when they go out, the boy will have to spare some attention to protect it.
"Don't underestimate yourself," Lin Nanxing comforted him, his gaze falling on the equally thin gray rat on his shoulder. "Since your contracted rat is a rare mutated monster, it must have something unique about it. Although it's not good at fighting, it might have potential in other areas that you haven't discovered yet."
She checked the time; there were only fifteen minutes left before the scheduled train departure. "It's getting late; I should go back. Take good care of your sister. Here's some water and food for you."
When the boy saw that what she gave him was not nutritional paste, but a precious real food, he immediately refused: "This is too valuable, sir, we cannot accept it."
"Take it. I don't have any of those nutritional pulps you eat. This food is nothing to me. My backpack is almost full. Just consider it helping me clear out my inventory."
Each person's backpack has a large capacity, how could it possibly be full?
Although Lin Nanxing was telling the truth, the boy firmly believed it was just an excuse and refused to accept it no matter what.
With both sides making excuses, Lin Nanxing's patience gradually ran out, and he immediately ran out of the room after leaving.
Having not eaten his fill in a long time, the boy had no strength to keep up with people. He could only stand there blankly, clutching a pile of precious food.
Watching the woman's departing figure from afar, his gaze gradually hardened. Turning around, he noticed several people coming out of the adjacent room to investigate the commotion.
Seeing their greedy gazes fixed on the food in his arms, the boy's expression turned cold. He quickly stuffed the food into his backpack, ran into his room, and swiftly closed the door to block out those uncomfortable stares.
Meanwhile, Yun Aobai returned to the mayor's office, which was already full of people.
“Aobo is back.”
"What's going on outside? Where did that thing come from?"
"How is the situation in the Star Territory? Is it in line with our expectations?"
Lin Nanxing's actions caused such a commotion that the usually composed management of Yunpei Town became uneasy, and they all spoke up after seeing Yun Aobai.
Yun Aobai took a sip of water and briefly explained the situation of this expedition. He replied with certainty, "Our understanding of the Star Territory is basically accurate, and in some aspects, it even exceeds our expectations."
She phrased it very carefully: "The constant temperature environment, food supply and special facilities are real and functioning well. Most importantly, the territory has achieved internal circulation and can maintain normal operation even without going out to hunt monsters."
With its farmland and livestock farms, Star Territory doesn't need to acquire external resources as long as it can provide basic water supply.
Yun Aobo also mentioned another important discovery: "It is worth noting that the person in charge of the Star Territory has the ability to quickly build and modify, which is completely different from our way of relying on the system to consume and build."
"This railway connecting the two places is one of the manifestations of her abilities."
Similar system permissions?
The crowd was somewhat surprised. Wasn't this the Creator? Could they really cooperate with someone like this?
Before their worries could even arise, Yun Aobai changed his tone: "But this is actually a good thing for us. The other party has clearly expressed its intention to cooperate. The stronger she is, the more she can help us."
"More importantly, I discovered a school in the Star Territory."
"!!..."
Everyone present has a family and children, so they naturally know the importance of schools. Over the years, Yunpei Town has considered restarting education, but has not found a suitable opportunity.
Most of the people in the town are still struggling to make ends meet, so they have no energy to think about spiritual enrichment.
This territory had been established for less than half a year, yet it had already accomplished what they had been unable to do for so long. Those present immediately had a new assessment of the territory's strength.
The office was quiet for a moment. The people present looked at each other and nodded slightly.
“This is indeed a rare opportunity,” the warehouse manager mused. “If we can establish stable food and water supply channels, we can free up more funds to strengthen our defenses.”
The office discussion lasted for nearly an hour, and a consensus was quickly reached: it was necessary to establish a friendly cooperative relationship with the Star Territory, and it was even more necessary to cultivate a good relationship with the lord of the Star Territory.
As for how to build good relationships, that will require some thought.
At the same time, Tan Yashao, holding Zhu Quan's hand, returned to the small courtyard where she had lived for nearly ten years.
This is a relatively spacious courtyard, transformed from several interconnected underground caves, forming a residential area exclusively for the families of high-level players.
Although the courtyard is still underground, it is much more orderly than the crowded shantytowns on the outskirts of the town.
At this moment, in the courtyard, several women were doing mending and cleaning chores by the dim light of the emergency lights, chatting in hushed tones. Their conversation inevitably circled back to the interesting things that had happened recently.
"Hey, tell me, is that Star Territory real or fake?"
A woman, around fifty years old, stopped sewing and looked at her children clumsily playing in the confined space while wearing heavy protective suits. Her tone was full of emotion, "If it were true, it would be good for these children to experience it. After living such hard times for so long, the children probably forgot what a happy life used to be like."
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