264: Three official family security zones

"However, this child is currently being personally guided by Leader Miao. The good news is that this child seems to have no significant connection to the White-Haired People. Based on investigations and survivor accounts from that village, this child was born in that village. His mother died immediately after childbirth, and he was considered a jinx. His father also left town and never returned. He was later adopted by a blind old woman in the village and managed to grow up with great difficulty."

Speaking of this, Li Tianheng complained, "If you ask me, it's better not to bother with such a child. You might end up raising an ungrateful wretch. Moreover, he has White-Haired People bloodline. Even if he has no connection to the White-Haired People, but..."

"Forget it, let's not talk about this child. Leader Miao must have his own reasons for doing this. I'll just talk about the current population of Qingtian Base and the Qingtian Alliance."

"Qingtian Base's population has already exceeded 50,000. If the leader hadn't later restricted the population, intending to slow down the pace, the population could have doubled again. But even so, it's still the most populous among the eighteen major bases of the Qingtian Alliance."

"Currently, along both banks of the Qianxi River, all eighteen major bases have populations over 10,000. Besides these, there are also many medium-sized bases with populations from 3,000 to 10,000, and small bases with fewer than 3,000 people. Relying on the water of the Qianxi River and its resources, these people are living reasonably well."

"It's just that recently, there are three official Safe Zones with populations over 100,000. A few people came recently and are staying in Qingtian Base, refusing to leave, which is incredibly annoying..."

"Official Safe Zones..."

Qingtian Base

"Old Chen, how is it? This base is pretty good, isn't it?" A middle-aged man in a plain Zhongshan suit smiled as he surveyed Qingtian Base.

"It's indeed good. The environment is clean, and the people's lives seem good. It appears the administrators here have put in a lot of effort, which is commendable," Old Chen said with a faint smile.

Old Li next to him chuckled, "It's not just Qingtian Base that's good; the Qingtian Alliance is even better. Eighteen large bases with populations over 10,000! This land is really good, really good."

Old Qian narrowed his eyes, "That young girl is quite good. If she were willing to follow us, I would train her well. Perhaps in twenty or thirty years, she could become a high-level official in the base. It's a pity, she's just a bit... ignorant of the rules."

"Young people, we just need to teach them well. That Li Tianheng is very good. I heard he used to be a student at Jiangcheng University, and he's your alumnus, Old Chen," Old Li said casually, with his hands behind his back.

"He is indeed a very good young man," Old Chen's eyes gleamed.

"Haha, of course I'm very good, no need for you old geezers to say so. I advise you to get out of Qingtian Base as soon as possible, no, out of the Qingtian Alliance territory! I'm not as hospitable as Leader Miao," Li Tianheng walked over from across the street.

"Hmph," a young man behind Old Chen snorted, and a powerful Fire Talent surged directly towards Li Tianheng, including Tang Ping and He Zhixin.

This young man was clearly an S-Rank Talent User, and he attacked mercilessly, but the three old uncles continued to chat and laugh among themselves, showing no intention of stopping him.

The scorching flames caused the street ground to crack, and the surrounding pedestrians scattered in a panic, glaring angrily at the young man.

"Who is this person? Doesn't he know that using Talent is not allowed inside the base!"

"Who is this? So ill-mannered. Inside the base, even the leaders of the three top powers wouldn't dare to violate this rule!"

"Haven't you heard? See those three old guys? They're supposedly from the three nearby official Safe Zones. They came this time to demand that our leader hand over the base."

"What! Hand over the base? No, who is he? Why should we hand over the base! Does he think it's still before the apocalypse? Now that Great Xia has collapsed, who is he trying to put on official airs for here?"

"I remember now, those are the three large bases nearby with 100,000 people, where ordinary people in the base are so poor they eat dirt, and even risk their lives to dig up contaminated wild roots outside to eat, right?"

"It's them, alright. The people at the top eat delicacies every day, while the people below get contaminated and mutate into Infected every day from wild plants. I heard this is even with strict prohibitions against going outside."

"Then why don't they awaken everyone? After awakening, they could hunt Pollution Beasts in the Wasteland. Even if it's just some contaminated insects, they could sell them to Tianfu Base for food and support themselves."

"Haha, universal awakening? Do you think these guys could sleep at night if everyone awakened?"

"I heard that in these three official Safe Zones, Talent Users are also heavily controlled, aren't they? It seems they even have to hand over a portion of their hunted prey."

"It's even more exaggerated than that. I ran away from there. Every now and then, they'd conscript you for forced labor, and they wouldn't even give you a bite to eat. They'd call it 'building a beautiful homeland,' but it was really just building a beautiful homeland for themselves. These people seem friendly, but they really kill without batting an eye, especially their children. They don't even bother to hide it anymore. For details, search for information on the three major bases in the channel; it's easy to find."

"I also ran away from there. Don't be fooled by the name 'official Safe Zone.' What official Safe Zone? They're just devils wearing the skin of officialdom, devouring people until not even bones are left. If you really want to go to an official Safe Zone, go to Yunmeng Official Safe Zone, Hong'an Official Base, and Changjiang Academy Official Safe Zone. Those are the truly official ones."

"Hiss! My goodness, I searched a bit, and this is too damn terrifying! Why don't the people inside the Safe Zones run away?"

"Run? Where would they run to? Do you think the outside is as safe as our Qianxi River area, this Qingtian Alliance territory? The real outside is swarming with Infected and crawling with Pollution Beasts. Run? Can you escape? I'm a Level Three Talent User. I escaped death several times back then and finally made it to the Qianxi River, eventually being pulled onto a large ship to a Qingtian Alliance base, and then came here."

"Perhaps they also don't want ordinary people to suffer so much. After all, not everyone is like us, backed by Shennongjia, so we don't have to worry about food."

"No, sister, you don't think these three Safe Zones are far from Shennongjia, do you?"

"Ah, aren't they?"

"Like hell they aren't! I'm not clear about the other two, but the closest west gate of Chenwangzhou Official Safe Zone is only three kilometers from Shennongjia! And guess what? This three-kilometer stretch is guarded by over a thousand awakened individuals! Get close, and you die!"

"Wait, what Chenwangzhou? Does our Great Xia have this 'zhou'?"

"The leader's surname is Chen."

"..."

"666, they're not even pretending anymore."

At this moment, the young man's forehead was covered in cold sweat. His Fire Talent seemed to be frozen in mid-air, and no matter how he tried to activate it, he couldn't move it an inch.

"What, what's going on!" Fear appeared in the young man's eyes.

Tang Ping's tone was light, "Today is truly a good day. As soon as I stepped out, a grand meal was delivered right to my doorstep."

A strange power was devouring the young man's S-rank Fire Talent.