86: Water sellers in the wasteland

“But what it brings is not order and peace, but chaos and disorder!”

“This is a group of fanatical heretics. Unable to change the real world, they delude themselves into building a spiritual world, and thus create chaos and slaughter everywhere, capturing human spirits, saying that they are letting them enter the so-called Dreamland, but in fact, they are just serving as raw materials for the Dreamland!”

“Old Days Society? Dreamland?”

Tang Ping frowned. This organization seemed to be a very troublesome one.

He continued to scroll, and soon, he saw the mark of this cult in the post.

“This… this mark seems a bit familiar?” Tang Ping was startled and quickly recalled where he had seen it before.

Soon, he knew.

Poison Empress! The last time he came, he searched the history of Taohai Base and found the Poison Empress in the historical records. At that time, the Poison Empress had this very symbol on the back of her hand!

Tang Ping’s heart pounded. He hadn’t expected that the Poison Empress was actually a member of this Old Days Society. No wonder she was jointly wanted by the Great Xia Safe Zone!

The Poison Empress alone had once wiped out half the people in a Safe Zone!

“Fortunately, this Poison Empress has already been nipped in the bud by me.” Tang Ping felt fortunate. If she were still alive, she would definitely be a ticking time bomb.

Thinking of this, Tang Ping’s heart stirred. He wondered about the origins of this Old Days Society and who its members were.

He searched and found that the origins of the Old Days Society were mostly speculative, with no actual confirmation.

Some said they were actually followers of Calamity Beasts.

Some said they were a group of fanatical religious followers.

Even more, some said that behind these people were high-level Infected!

Of course, the most credible theory was that behind these people was a player with a special SSS-rank Shelter characteristic, and the so-called Dreamland had intricate connections with his Shelter.

Because a strong individual from a Hegemon-level Power had proven that the so-called spiritual world and Dreamland were not false, and indeed existed.

Human spirits entering it would live within it. This way of living was similar to dreaming, except that without a physical body, those who entered the Dreamland could never wake up again.

After these people died, they would become raw materials for the Dreamland.

However, there was no definite confirmation as to whether a player with an SSS-rank Shelter characteristic was truly behind it.

The only true information was that this Old Days Society was indeed a group of fanatical cultists.

Wherever they appeared, chaos and disorder, slaughter and darkness often followed.

“I wonder if the emergence of the Old Days Society has anything to do with me,” Tang Ping murmured to himself.

This time, because he had prematurely eliminated the Poison Empress, the Old Days Society had not completed its harvest in this area and had lost the infamous Poison Empress, which was why it had remained dormant until now.

This conjecture was not impossible.

He became vigilant. If the Old Days Society appeared now, did it mean that someone similar to the Poison Empress might have emerged?

Perhaps even stronger! Even more!

One must know that now, the three major Safe Zones—Star Glory, Xinghuo, and Vast Sea—had eight Heavenly King-level and Empress-level figures, and even Empress Yue Xi, who ranked eighth on the Empress list!

This was far from comparable to the Taohai Safe Zone in the previous timeline.

The Old Days Society choosing to appear must have some trump card.

What was this trump card? And who was involved?

Tang Ping didn’t know any of this. He only had a little over a day left before he had to leave. In such a short time, it seemed unlikely for the Old Days Society to act.

But he also didn’t want to overestimate himself and investigate. Who knew if he would still have this cheat if his current identity died?

So Tang Ping felt it was better to stay here honestly.

It was best if no one discovered that he could travel through time.

With his vigilance towards the Old Days Society, Tang Ping also became more eager to improve his strength.

“Relying on secret realm experience stones, it will take forever to reach the Fourth-Level.”

His S-rank Talent was only level 2. Relying on meditating with secret realm experience stones to level up, it would take at least half a year to reach level 3—no, it should be even longer!

Because he didn't even know meditation techniques!

For the next half-day, Tang Ping could clearly feel that the entire Xiao Family had become inexplicably tense.

There was even a Fourth-Level Talent User secretly guarding him.

“It seems the Old Days Society has indeed brought immense psychological pressure to the people here. I wonder what kind of damage it will bring to the Xingyao Safe Zone this time.”

Whether it would be a lot of talk with little action, or whether it would severely damage the Xingyao Safe Zone, remained unknown... In the Wasteland, there existed a special group of people who made a living by transporting water.

The Taohai Safe Zone, as a Safe Zone with two Heavenly King-level water-element Talent Users, had the cleanest and most abundant water sources.

This led to the emergence of water transport teams, radiating outwards from the Taohai Safe Zone.

In the Wasteland, there were not only Safe Zones but also some Survivor Bases.

These people either lived underground, in caves, or built simple stone houses with rocks.

They lived extremely primitive lives, unable to farm, and basically survived by hunting. Earth Worms, gray rats, and so on were all their prey.

At the same time, these small bases would also have some Mutants, who were the highest combat power of the base and usually hunted some powerful Pollution Beasts.

Besides eating, some precious parts would be collected and used to exchange for resources needed by the base with merchant teams.

For example, water!

“Damn it, today is really unlucky. We actually encountered a bone-corroding wind. We originally had thirty carts of water, but now only half are left.” A man with several crisscrossing scars on his face cursed.

“Alright, quickly take the remaining water and trade with those bases, then bring the goods back to the Safe Zone. I always feel that something is off outside recently.” The one-armed man leading them wore a worried expression.

The scarred man didn’t care: “Walking in the Wasteland, when is any day ever ‘right’? We all live with our heads on the line, earning money that risks our lives.”

“Sigh, that’s true,” the one-armed man extinguished his cigarette, putting away the half-smoked stub. “Alright, the bone-corroding wind has receded outside. Let’s hurry on our way.”

“We must reach the next Survivor Base tonight.”

In the dim sky, through the heavy haze, a faint, dull sun could vaguely be seen.

On the cracked, exposed earth, strange black winds raged, sweeping past gnarled trees and bizarre rocks before moving on.

The dim sun gradually set in the west, and a strange black moon rose.

The water transport convoy arrived at a Survivor Base residing in a cave.