Chapter 8

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

The two of them carried their own resources and walked in the wilderness. At the same time, they used the tools in their hands to constantly push aside the wild grass blocking the way. Qian Long, who was experienced, walked in front. As he walked, he judged the direction and had to adjust the route forward from time to time.

Tang Zhen looked at his strenuous appearance and couldn’t help but ask, “Do you usually judge directions like this? Don’t you have maps and compasses?”

Qian Long shook his head and said helplessly, “Maps are very unreliable, and they’re extremely expensive. It’s also very difficult to get them. Apart from some fixed places, the other places often change. For example, even if you burn the weeds under your feet, they will still return to their original state the next day. On the originally empty grass, a large group of buildings might appear at any time. Ordinary compasses are also useless. After taking them out, they will only spin around non-stop. It’s impossible to determine the direction.”

In the end, in this environment, only experience was the most trustworthy.

They walked and stopped along the way. If they were really tired, they would sit down and rest for a moment. When it was almost dark, the two of them finally arrived at a narrow path.

The path seemed to be often walked by people, so wild grass couldn’t grow.

Qian Long told Tang Zhen that following this path would lead to a building.

This building was called Black Rock City. It was powerful, and the main building had 20 floors. Around the main structure were four attached structures, 20 meters tall, divided into five floors. It was considered the main defense composition of the main structure.

A powerful army was stationed on the floor, in charge of guarding the safety of the building.

Near the periphery of the building, there was a small town established by wanderers. While earning wealth for the building, they also indirectly enjoyed the protection of the building. The wanderers traded items and information here while waiting for an opportunity to join the building.

Because the monsters would collectively come out to wander after dark, the number would also strangely increase. If they were unlucky, they might even appear out of thin air. Therefore, the two of them quickened their pace and finally arrived at the market before night arrived.

Tang Zhen sized up this wanderer town from afar and realized that it was built on a hill. It occupied a very wide area. The wild grass within thousands of meters of the gathering place had been cleared, and it was very wide.

The wall made of boulders and logs looked very firm. It was definitely more than five meters tall. There were also many wanderers patrolling with weapons.

The two of them hurried and finally entered at the last moment before the town closed the door. After paying two beads, they were allowed to enter the town freely within a month by the guards.

The area of the wanderer town was very large, covering several hectares. It was like a simple fortress!

Unfortunately, this was still not a building. It didn’t enjoy any convenience that the building had. However, there were pros and cons to everything, because it became a building, these wanderers who didn’t obtain the qualifications to be residents wouldn’t be able to enter. Then, the owners of the wanderer town would lose a large amount of wealth income.

If the building wanted to take in all the wanderers taken in by the market as residents, the level of the building had to be very high. However, every level up of the building required countless resources. Moreover, during the upgrade of the building, it would suffer the attack of monsters every time. Once the defense of the building failed, all the previous efforts would be in vain.

They had to invest countless resources and rack their brains. In the end, they might even lose everything. In comparison, it was naturally easier to run a wanderer town. Moreover, once the monsters attacked, the wanderer town could also provide a large number of combatants and form the first defense line.

He believed that Black Rock City had also established this wanderer town near the building because of this consideration.

The only drawback was that the monsters would attack this place from time to time. The defense work every night was more like an attack and defense battle. Ordinary monsters could be easily dealt with, but if they were unlucky enough to encounter powerful monsters, the town might very well be destroyed.

However, the wanderers didn’t have much choice. Sometimes, they knew that this wasn’t ideal, but they could only brace themselves and do it.

This was the truth of survival. You had to adapt to life and fate, but let life and fate accommodate you!

The controller of the wanderer town also had a batch of armed forces in his hands. From time to time, soldiers in simple armor with serious and cold expressions could be seen on the street, sizing up every wanderer they saw with bright eyes.

Tang Zhen carefully observed the weapons and equipment of these soldiers and discovered that the quality of most of the weapons was very ordinary. The armor only protected important areas. He didn’t know if it could block the piercing slashes of swords.

But compared to those wanderers who only carried short swords and iron bars, their bodies covered in messy metal and wood pieces as armor, these soldiers were already considered well-equipped.

At this time in the evening, there were still many wanderers active in the market. They either entered and left some simple houses or gathered near the fire pit to chat. Apart from that, there were also some wanderers with weapons who had accepted the hire of the market. They were standing on the wall of the market with serious expressions, guarding against any monsters that might attack.

Not far from the Wanderer Market, a huge building that occupied an extremely large area stood in the night. It looked like a ferocious monster.

As long as the wanderers in the market raised their heads, they could see the weak light emitted from the windows of the building. Their eyes mostly flickered with desire, as if they imagined that they could live inside one day and end this miserable life.

A commotion sounded. Tang Zhen looked in the direction of the voice. It turned out that a group of monsters was trying to attack the market. Ten minutes later, the monsters were defeated by the guards and left behind many corpses.

When the sun rose tomorrow, these monsters would have their brains plucked and their bodies cleaned up by wandering scavengers.

If one looked out carefully, they would discover that there were still many monsters wandering outside the town. They still tried to attack this place, but they were afraid of the flames and swords of the wanderers and couldn’t bear to leave. In their depression, they could only roar.

Qian Long was very familiar with this place. He led the way in front and led Tang Zhen into a very large two-story mud building.

This was one of the cheaper hotels in the town. It looked low and dark, and an extremely strange smell filled the air.

Behind the wooden counter in front of the fire pit, a woman in a relatively clean dress and a somewhat charming appearance was sitting there. Beside her were two strong men drinking inferior wine with wooden cups.

After seeing Tang Zhen and his companion, the two burly men sized them up and ignored them.

“Two people, staying for three days.”

“One person a day is half a level-one brain bead. We provide two meals. Three days for two will cost you three level-one brain beads. Pay up, handsome guys!”

As the daughter spoke, she leaned forward, revealing her white chest. As she moved, an unfathomable ravine appeared in front of the two of them, and a faint fragrance attacked.

Tang Zhen glanced at the other party and didn’t say anything. Qian Long also ignored the woman’s flirtatious gaze and nodded expressionlessly.

After paying three level-one brain beads as accommodation fees, the two of them obtained a coarse grain pancake and wild vegetable soup for dinner. This was the food share provided by the inn to the guests every day. After the two of them finished dinner, they entered the narrow, dark, and smelly small house to rest.

Lying on the dry grass board, Tang Zhen calmed down. After checking the surrounding environment, he took out the pocket with the brain beads. He slowly placed the brain beads and the cell phone together. Just as he expected, the brain beads were instantly absorbed by the cell phone.

As the brain bead finished absorbing, new changes appeared on his cell phone screen. Under the teleportation icon, a “200+” number was displayed. At the same time, it reminded him that the total amount of gold coins he had could allow him to teleport more than 200 times!

In his personal information, the total amount of gold coins had already reached more than 13,000. This amount was enough to make him excited. He wanted to immediately try to download some software to take a look, but for safety reasons, he decided to try teleporting home first.

He held the bag of cash and precious metals in his hand and flipped to the teleportation option in his cell phone. He carefully clicked the icon to try and activate the teleportation function. In an instant, his vision blurred. He felt as if he had passed through a tunnel. After that, Tang Zhen successfully returned to his home.

After carefully looking at his surroundings and confirming that this was his home, Tang Zhen finally heaved a sigh of relief.

This trip was so dangerous and strange. Even if he told others, probably no one would believe him. Of course, Tang Zhen definitely wouldn’t tell anyone. After all, this concerned his life.

Since he had returned home, Tang Zhen could take out his cell phone and try it without worry. First, he opened the teleportation option and confirmed that every teleportation would consume five level-one brain beads.

In other words, it should be 50 gold coins. It would take 100 gold coins to teleport back and forth.

Then, he opened the application store and began to choose the software he needed.

When making the choice, he screened it and felt that there were four functions most suitable for him at the moment. The first was a primary map that could display the terrain and monsters within a 100-meter radius.

The second was the projection, which could allow him to see the screen image in front of him and control the cell phone through perception.

The third was a beginner-level monster detector that could display monster information no more than three levels above the owner.

The fourth was a miniature storage space could open up a dimensional space with a storage volume of one cubic meter.

If he downloaded all four applications, the gold coins he had just obtained would be exhausted. However, compared to his life, these investments were nothing. Moreover, these applications could help him survive in the alternate world better and safer.

After clicking to confirm the download, the gold coins in the account were quickly deducted. In a few breaths, the four softwares were all installed. Looking at the originally empty cell phone screen finally filled up, Tang Zhen suddenly felt much more at ease.