"You don't know? I think you look quite young! Even younger than our General Bai. How old are you, little girl?" asked a short, withered, dark-skinned man sitting on Jiang Ling's right.
"Taxue, why do you always ask about age every time you meet a newcomer? Is your kid in a hurry?" The balding middle-aged man on Max's left joked.
"Hehe~ I'm just used to it. My wife is a matchmaker."
"Let me introduce you! I'm Boss Cat. The one on your right is Taxue, and the one to his right is General Bai. We're part of the Mountain Cat Search Team. We're here to perform basic equipment maintenance on this ground fortress."
"Oh, my name is Old Joe and he is Max. We are searchers from the temporary group."
"Temporary? And you are a lone traveler?!" General Bai exclaimed in surprise.
"Ahem! General Bai, you're not a child anymore. Your father used his connections to have you come here to learn some skills so you won't have to worry too much." Boss Cat said with pretended concern.
Everyone's curiosity about Jiang Ling made her feel a little alienated, and this alienation made her feel that she and they were from a different world. She secretly made up her mind to never reveal that she was a solo traveler, and if possible, it would be best to show up as little as possible.
"Hey~ Don't scare me! What's wrong with female lone travelers? There may be more and more of them in the future! And we've all met one, isn't this a great experience? I can't wait to go back and brag about it!" Taxue broke the weird atmosphere in the small room, and several people suddenly became lively.
"Is there any new news recently?" Max asked first.
"New news? There's quite a bit. There's news from everywhere. What do you want to hear first?"
"Why don't we talk about the marginal areas first?" General Bai really wanted to talk about those strange stories that had been spread by word of mouth.
"The fringe area is actually the dividing line between the red zone and the yellow zone. The military, the black market, merchants, and mutants are the main themes there. Yes, there are also some desperadoes and money-grubbers who want to get rich quickly. People call it the fringe area. It's very vivid, isn't it?"
"It's very vivid. It's the edge of civilization."
"Yes, where civilization doesn't shine, there will be monsters and scoundrels causing trouble. The busiest place is probably Jinling in the far west. Half of the current army is there. It is said that there are many mutants there now. In order to drive them out, half of Jinling City has been destroyed. Therefore, the stations there have been fully armed and transformed into underground bunkers."
"That was a month ago. Is there any recent news?"
The balding middle-aged man spread his hands. "No, there, no news is the best news. Someone's been killed almost every day this month. They say the list of names on the information platform is like a scrolling bar, making it difficult for family members to find them. There's even a startup called "agents" that specialize in finding the names of fallen soldiers."
"What about beyond the edge?"
"There's only one piece of news, and it was from half a month ago. The Countermeasures Bureau sent 5,000 volunteers to Shu. They were all truly brave. I heard that a search team attempted to enter the Red Zone. A team of 100 people went out, and when they returned two days later, only 3 or 5 were left."
"Didn't they say we can't go to the red zone because of the strong radiation?"
"Yes, but that's only one reason. The main reason is the mutations caused by radiation. They have become alien creatures. The existing data can't even find their original forms. Can you believe it? Rats in the past have grown to the same size as cats and dogs, and cockroaches in the past can already walk upright."
"Ah? No, I can't believe it. Maybe they saw it wrong. When you are extremely nervous and scared, it is very possible to mistake one animal for another. Sometimes I even mistake the ruins in the distance for people!" General Bai did not comment, but his uncontrollable trembling had already betrayed him.
"Let's talk about the south. I want to hear the news about Dahu." Jiang Ling interrupted their ghost story. She wanted to know about the Green Zone so that she could prepare for the future.
"Big Lake? You mean those crabs? They move about five kilometers a day, so they shouldn't be too far from here. They seem to only like staying by the river or in the swamps in the Green Zone. As for why they migrate north? I guess it's because it's colder in the south."
"Is anyone going to deal with them?"
"Oh, being alone isn't a big problem. They curl up at night, with their backs facing down, gazing at the stars. That's why people set up black cloth traps, and once they're caught, they're ready to be slaughtered. But don't turn on the lights the whole time, as that will irritate them. I've heard that the meat of cannon crabs is delicious, but I'm not sure if it's true, but no one sells it on the black market. They say online that they auction the meat directly after they get it."
"I know that!" General Bai raised his hand. "Cannonball crabs compete with ferocious porpoises for territory, and they often fight. One-on-one, a cannonball crab can never defeat a ferocious porpoise, so some people use a strategy of playing both sides at odds. The ferocious porpoise meat sold on the black market and by traveling merchants is basically from those that have lost in fights."
"To deal with a large group, we can only use mines. I remember that the pressure-activated anti-tank mines were very effective in the past. However, those were only used by the military, and they are not easy to recover, so it's basically a waste to use them. Unless the crabs have to pass through some important places, they generally won't use mines."
"Rockets, will that work?"
"No, they are very cautious. Rockets are too noisy. It would be better if there was a quieter rocket."
They were such good chatterboxes, and they chatted for a long time afterwards. Max planned to leave with the others; someone would come pick them up in a car. But Jiang Ling had things to do, so she left first. Before leaving, Jiang Ling placed the crossbow and the few remaining arrows on her back in a weapons cabinet on the first floor, then rummaged through another supply cabinet to find a filter canister. She wouldn't need these weapons for the rest of the trip; she had already figured out how powerful these arrows were.
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