Only after entering the central town did I see the overall situation of the town.
To be honest, I was a bit shocked.
Although the entire central town has only one street lined with houses on both sides, everything here has remained unchanged, except for the increased number of people.
Entering this place gave me a feeling of time travel.
Before, when I was traveling, the whole world seemed desolate, but when I came here, to this central town, it felt like I had returned to the past, back to the last century.
The constant flow of people makes me a little uncomfortable.
Having lived in the apocalypse for so long, I usually only see a few people around me. So when I suddenly saw so many people in front of me, I was basically stunned.
Jingjie's state is similar to mine; neither of us seems to be used to so many people.
Song Muyuan was in a better position, since he had been here before and knew the situation.
However, he did add, "This rally had many more people than the last one."
I asked, "Were there very few people last time?"
Song Muyuan shook his head and said, "It's not that there are very few, just not as many as there are now."
Sister Jing said, "It's been several months since you last came. After the raiders developed, the one who ultimately benefited was this central town, so it's normal for there to be a large population."
indeed.
Although the development strategy implemented by the central town was strange, the central town ultimately benefited.
Central Town controls the source of weapons, essentially holding the lifeline of the raider squads. Given that the raider squads need to exchange resources for weapons, the development of Central Town is inevitable.
However, this situation can develop well in the short term, but once it goes on for a long time, this development model will still have limitations.
I don't believe that the weapons in Central Town are unlimited. Once the guns and ammunition reach their limit, I'm afraid Central Town will no longer develop in this crazy way.
However, the central town will probably look completely different by then, and I don't care how it develops.
After all, this has nothing to do with me.
What we should do next is up to Song Muyuan.
Our purpose in coming here is not to trade, but simply to take a look around, and incidentally, to find out about the situation in this central town, to see what kind of power it possesses, and to find out who actually established this central town.
Jing asked, "Song Muyuan, what are we going to do now?"
Song Muyuan said, "Let's take a look around first. I haven't been here in a long time, and I don't know how this place has developed. Let's see and decide later. Anyway, we brought some things with us. This is a trade fair, so if we see something we want, we can trade with the other party."
"Okay, let's take a look first," I said.
We can only wait and see.
We are not familiar with this place. The only person we know, Song Muyuan, has only been here once, a long time ago.
There's not much around the town center; it's mostly staffed by town officials. Armed men stand on the containers at the entrance, some watching outwards, others inwards. Presumably, those watching inwards are monitoring everyone in town, so that if anything happens, they can see it and respond promptly.
As I walked along, I saw many people wearing bulletproof vests and carrying guns; they were all personnel maintaining order in the central town.
Apart from them, everyone else was an outsider who plundered.
The shops and houses on both sides of the town center were filled with various items, including clothes, daily necessities, and even food. In short, they sold everything except firearms and weapons, just like the old-fashioned markets.
The only difference is that buyers and sellers can only exchange goods, not money.
We visited many shops and looked at many things along the way, but basically didn't change anything because we already had everything here, so we didn't need it.
However, when we arrived at the central area of the town, the atmosphere of the entire area changed.
Because the things being bought and sold here are not what we saw before. Here we can even see pork for sale! And resources such as gasoline.
At this moment, as she was walking, Sister Jing stopped and stared at a shop.
After Song Muyuan and I saw her stop, we asked, "Sister Jing, why did you stop?"
Sister Jing pointed to the shop on the left and asked, "What do they sell in there? There are lots of girls there."
Following the direction she pointed, Song Muyuan and I saw a number of girls standing in the shop. These girls looked to be young, around teens, with the oldest not exceeding twenty-four.
They all look very young.
Immediately, I saw a sign hanging outside the door, the words on which were handwritten.
The sign read: "One barrel of gasoline for one virgin. Virgins are limited, first come, first served."
Upon seeing this slogan, I immediately frowned, while Song Muyuan nonchalantly remarked, "Oh, selling people."
I stared at the girls inside, feeling uneasy. I glanced at Sister Jing and noticed that she looked furious.
I pulled her aside and said, "Sister Jing, don't be impulsive. There's nothing we can do to change this."
Sister Jing closed her eyes, took a deep breath, nodded, and turned to leave.
I know what Sister Jing is thinking. If Lu Yun or the little girl were captured by them and then sold here, I'd probably go crazy.
Fortunately, the two girls are living peacefully in the research institute.
Song Muyuan and I didn't linger there and turned to leave.
Selling girls may seem cruel, but it's often the only way to survive, since not everyone can live a good life these days.
Many more people are probably still struggling on the brink of life and death, and they might be happy just to have a full meal every day.
There are probably very few people like us who can live in a research institute without worrying about food and drink.
I glanced back at the girls in the shop. I felt sorry for their plight, but I didn't have the power to change their situation.
However, compared to those who have died, they are still alive, which is already a very fortunate thing.
Jing walked away quickly, seemingly unwilling to face this reality.
Song Muyuan and I followed in Sister Jing's footsteps.
I glanced back at the live poultry shop we were passing and asked, "Should we buy a few chickens to take back with us? I bet most of us haven't had chicken in ages."
Song Muyuan nodded with a smile: "Okay, okay, then we'll use these things to trade for a few chickens later."
We continued walking in, past the central area, and into the very back area, where everything around us changed again.
There are no shops here, only bloodshed.
(End of this chapter)
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