Chapter 481 - 11: Armored Encirclement

"This place really is backward," Raccoon Cat said, shaking his head as he stood at a street corner, witnessing the scene before him.

Compared to the city rings of the Alliance Country, calling this place a barbaric wasteland would not be an exaggeration. Even the pervasive megacorporations turned their noses up at it. Only a few petty merchants from the Alliance Country ever came to Mountain City to trade.

"Haven’t we seen plenty of places like this?" Penelope stood under the eaves of a concrete shack, her gaze sweeping over the Mountain City residents with their ragged clothes and weather-beaten faces. "Which settlement isn’t like this?

"Mutant Beasts, radiation, war... outside the Alliance Country, every part of the wilderness is full of danger. Living to an old age is a luxury." She gently shook her head and sighed.

In truth, there was something she left unsaid. Perhaps for these wilderness residents, this was already their dream habitat. Though they were still oppressed, they at least had food to eat and were safe from Mutant Beast attacks.

"Yeah..." Raccoon Cat nodded, his eyes shifting as he offered no rebuttal.

It wasn’t that he agreed with the methods of these warlords. Rather, they had traveled to many places across Earth Star and seen numerous different human communities, as well as the struggling masses trying to survive in the shadows. Sometimes, a life that seemed unbearable to outsiders was a wild luxury to another group.

"Forget it. Let the Alliance Country worry about these things," Raccoon Cat said, shaking his head and forcing down his depressing thoughts.

His gaze naturally followed the warlord convoy to its destination. A black stone building stood tall, seemingly as impregnable as a cluster of bunkers. Several armored vehicles were parked nearby, followed by a dozen pickup trucks parking one by one. A barbed-wire fence separated the inside from the outside.

At any given moment, over a dozen soldiers in olive drab camouflage patrolled the perimeter with guns, keeping strict guard. It was evidently a restricted zone in this area, and the very danger zone they intended to infiltrate.

"Let’s get one thing straight. That old man Xiao Chen is no pushover. If we anger him, even the two of us teaming up would struggle," Raccoon Cat warned, looking at Penelope. "We ask our questions and leave immediately. If he refuses to answer, don’t do anything rash."

He only had one life and didn’t want to lose it here.

"Mhm." Penelope nodded. Although she desperately wanted to inquire about what had happened back then, she knew how powerful a Transcendence Level expert was. Besides...

"Raccoon Cat."

"Hmm?"

"Thanks," she suddenly said, expressing her sincere gratitude. She was fully aware of the massive risk he was taking by accompanying her here.

Hearing this, Raccoon Cat was briefly taken aback before smiling. "Let’s go."

His figure flashed as he moved, saying no more. Penelope’s eyes were filled with complex emotions, but finally, she stepped forward and joined him in sneaking toward the distant restricted stone building.

....

That afternoon, at the concrete building where the negotiation team was staying.

Lu Chao finished his cultivation and stood by the corridor window, observing the street scene outside. Dusk was approaching. As the sun set in the west, pickup trucks sporadically drove into Mountain City. The heavy carcasses of dead Mutant Beasts were transported to the various warlord restricted zones, serving as a fresh supply of flesh and blood from the hunt.

A faint metallic tang of blood drifted through the air. The Mountain City residents standing along the stone-paved roads and under the eaves watched the warlord soldiers enter the camp with complex expressions, filled with envy and longing.

"No wonder the people here all want to become soldiers and willingly risk their lives for those warlords. Just the guarantee of daily beast meat is enough to tempt many," Lu Chao sighed. He saw the expressions of the passersby and clearly felt their intense desire.

What was a normal occurrence for most people in the Alliance Country’s city rings was a luxury here.

"Indeed..." Yan Zhengfeng, standing beside him in a black combat suit, nodded with a conflicted expression.

The negotiation team had long since returned, but the outcome was no different from before—largely the same, with minimal progress.

"Warlord soldiers do have to put their lives on the line, and the risks are significant," Yan Zhengfeng replied. "However, because firearms allow them to hunt and frequently supplement their diet with Exotic Beast Meat, many people in Mountain City yearn to become one of them."

This wasn’t some newly investigated intelligence; it was a common tactic used by Wilderness Warlords everywhere, something they had figured out years ago. Furthermore...

"Lu Weilong has employed quite a few methods and deliberately set some rules regarding this." Yan Zhengfeng’s tone was low as he swept his gaze across the stone-paved street below.

The shack district made up the majority. Most people there wore ragged clothes and could only barely scrape by on manual labor. Their sallow faces bore the common signs of malnutrition.

Yet, looking across the street into the concrete building complex...

"Only the families of warlord soldiers are allowed to live in those concrete buildings. They receive a fixed quota of beast meat and clean water every month.

"The size of the housing allocated depends on the number of people in the family and is never reclaimed. They also get priority access to certain daily necessities... Over time, the people here have come to view dying for the warlords as an honor," he said solemnly, his voice heavy.

Lu Chao naturally glanced at the residents of the concrete district. Although they also wore ordinary clothes, they were generally cleaner with fewer patches, and their complexions were much healthier. Those warlord leaders had brains too; they wouldn’t blindly oppress everyone under their command.

But it was precisely this that made Fortress Mountain City far more formidable than other wilderness factions. Thinking of this, Lu Chao suppressed his sigh and looked toward the distant restricted stone building.

"That’s the Rock Mountain Army’s territory, right?"

"Correct." Yan Zhengfeng nodded, then seemingly recalled something and explained, "I heard that after Yan Xiong died, Lu Weilong and Xiao Chen had a dispute. Both wanted to prop up their own candidate as the leader of the Rock Mountain Army. One of them was Kui Wu from the Red River Army, who only takes orders from Lu Weilong. The other was Ao’Er, the former deputy leader of the Rock Mountain Army..."

"And the result?" Lu Chao asked.

"The one Xiao Chen backed took the position."

Oh? Briefly stunned, Lu Chao quickly caught the anomaly. Lu Weilong had always viewed the Rock Mountain Army as his subordinates. How could he possibly tolerate Xiao Chen’s man controlling this army?

While he was deep in thought...

VROOM!!

A sudden commotion erupted from the distance, kicking up billowing clouds of dust and interrupting their conversation. The stone-paved ground began to tremble. The passersby below froze in astonishment, stopping what they were doing to hurriedly look down the street.

"This is..." Yan Zhengfeng frowned, clearly seeing three armored vehicles driving toward them from the end of the stone road.

Behind them followed a dozen pickup trucks, all fully loaded with warlord soldiers. They were armed with live ammunition and charged straight at them with cold expressions.

Seeing this, both Yan Zhengfeng and the Superpower Bureau agents standing guard downstairs underwent slight changes in expression, sensing that something was wrong.

As for Lu Chao...

"Interesting." His eyes glinted as he perceived a wave of undisguised malice. Without a doubt, they were coming straight for them.