In the elevator, Jiang Ling brushed off the nonexistent blood on her hands. It was the first time she had ever used her wall-piercing fist to hit someone in the head. Fortunately, she had rolled up her sleeves beforehand, otherwise the acceleration would have probably cost her her coat.
She hadn't even considered taking action, but that guy was unforgivable. She'd thought he'd fight to the death with a knife. Sure enough, the weak only bully the weak. The ancients were right.
After Jiang Ling used her sensory abilities to probe his memory, she acted decisively. This man's brain felt like it had been gnawed by insects; his memory was in tatters. If he still had any sense, Jiang Ling couldn't imagine his mindset. This guy had clearly been corrupted by some superpowered mutant, and killing him directly would practically save his soul.
"It's still disgusting to think about it. I don't know which bastard did this!" She cursed in the elevator. She swore that if she met someone who recklessly tested his strength, she would definitely teach him a lesson.
But she quickly calmed down. As an ordinary citizen, she had no power to enforce the law. All she could do was to make that guy spend a few more years in prison. Unless she could meet such a person on the surface, then as long as no one knew about it, it would be fine. The buffer zone on the underground floor was cordoned off, just like her hometown. At this moment, many people were being stopped by the military and police. When they saw Jiang Ling coming out of the elevator, they all breathed a sigh of relief and made way for her. Someone also asked her, "What's going on down there?"
"The suspect has been apprehended. If you're not in a hurry, you can wait a little longer. The elevator will be back in service soon." Jiang Ling explained briefly, but she didn't tell them the truth. She walked straight through the crowd and came to the transfer elevator.
This time, there was nothing special; everything was familiar to her. After a while, as the pleasant prompt sounded from the elevator, Jiang Ling saw the prosperous scene of this entrance and exit distribution center from the gradually opening elevator door.
Online information suggests this distribution center has been transformed into an underground shopping district. Thanks to its strategic location, this relatively safe area has been supported and developed from the outset. The surface area, a safe zone within the Green Zone, has already undergone initial development. Workers coming home from work would come here for a hot meal, while those unable to find suitable housing would also temporarily reside there.
Simply put, this distribution center is a place that integrates general hotels, inns, shops, and agencies, and is somewhat like a service center in a tourist city.
Jiang Ling finally understood why this medium-sized station could accommodate over 200,000 people. She predicted it would develop into a new commercial center. Of course, if the border station hadn't been bio-contaminated, it would likely have developed into something like this. Isn't the advantage of flat terrain convenient for transportation?
Unfortunately, transportation in this nascent city wasn't very convenient. After its early, unfettered development, it had become a maze. Beyond the two-lane road surrounding it, the prefabricated shanties within resembled the patchwork of slums abroad. People of all stripes drifted along the roads, occasionally entering the maze from one point and emerging from another. Jiang Ling felt like a giant block of blue cheese, with rats and maggots constantly scurrying through it.
Fortunately, the place was cleaned very well, and there was no stench like blue cheese. She followed the guide she had found online and found a restaurant in this maze-like place.
Online, the restaurant was advertised as a century-old establishment offering a taste of pre-war times. The promotional images showed gleaming gourmet food and beautifully presented desserts served on ceramic plates. Compared to the wild cuisine of the wasteland bar, these more humane dishes clearly held a stronger competitive edge.
This restaurant was truly unusual. Jiang Ling discovered that it wasn't housed in a prefabricated building like many other bars, but rather a converted warehouse at a distribution center. It was unknown who had the financial resources to buy three consecutive warehouses, connect them, and renovate them into a truly quaint space. Of course, unauthorized modification of underground structures was strictly prohibited, but these warehouses were essentially secondary structures, so simply knocking down two walls wasn't a big deal.
The restaurant, located on the other side of the road, separated from the wooden houses enclosed by it, exemplifies a stark disparity. Jiang Ling didn't know how this disparity arose, but she knew its essence: private ownership. It seemed the world hadn't changed, and neither had humanity itself. The underworld had narrowed the physical distance between people, but class distance couldn't be bridged by ordinary means.
She stopped by the roadside, leaning against the boarded housing area, and looked across the road at the restaurant across the street.
"Yonghe Hotel?" Jiang Ling muttered to herself. The soft white sign stood out from the view, but the interior was completely invisible. Aside from the sliding door at the entrance, everything else was sealed shut, making it nearly impossible for anyone outside to see what was going on inside. Two meticulously dressed boys stood at the entrance. From a distance, their clear, yet foolish eyes, paired with their suits and ties, gave Jiang Ling an indescribable feeling.
She only stood there for a short while before several people crossed her path on both sides, which made her realize that she was blocking the road, so she sat down at a small stall opposite the restaurant.
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