131: Refugees sell themselves to survive, but on the mountain they're walking their dogs and grilling meat.

The wind at the port whipped up sand and dust, stinging the face.

Zhang Yi stood still, watching the direction in which the off-road vehicles had vanished, his Adam's apple bobbing with difficulty.

He knew Li Han too well. That man with gold-rimmed glasses was a cold, venomous snake, a man who would eat people without spitting out the bones, and who wouldn't even furrow his brow when facing the military's heavy machine guns.

Yet just moments ago, this venomous snake had been scared out of its wits.

All because that young man in white had taken a single step forward.

Zhang Yi stiffly turned his neck, his gaze falling upon Lu Sheng.

The youth was calmly adjusting his cuffs, his expression composed, completely indifferent to the fact that he had just crushed the dignity of a Level 6 Expert.

At this moment, the disdain and casualness in Zhang Yi's eyes vanished completely.

He only felt a chill down his spine; an instinctive fear, as if facing a prehistoric behemoth, caused him to subconsciously straighten his back.

"Major... Major Lu." Zhang Yi quickly stepped forward, his tone respectful to the point of being reserved. "Thanks to your intervention just now, otherwise this matter would have been difficult to resolve."

Lu Sheng lowered his hand, his expression indifferent. "I just happened to find those guys annoying, it was just a casual action. That kind of trash needs to be taken down a peg."

A casual action?

Zhang Yi's mouth twitched.

Those were the local tyrants of Hanwu City; how were they any different from stray dogs on the side of the road in his eyes?

"Senior Brother, Major Lu, the wind is strong here, it's not a place to talk."

Zhang Yi took a deep breath and gestured to the side with a "please" motion. "The core camp is halfway up the mountain, and I've already had people prepare food and drinks. Let's go up and talk. As for the brothers on the fleet, I will arrange for dedicated personnel to settle them in as a priority, absolutely to the highest standards."

Chen Yan nodded and patted his Junior Brother on the shoulder. "Lead the way."

The convoy wound its way up the mountain road.

Through the bulletproof glass, the full view of the Shuangjian Peak base gradually revealed itself to everyone.

At the foot of the mountain, the endless refugee camps looked like festering scars.

Called a camp, it was actually just shacks built from plastic sheets, scrap metal, and rotten wood.

Black sludge covered their ankles, and emaciated survivors moved through the mud like walking corpses.

A little girl with a face covered in filth knelt by the side of the road, holding up a piece of rotten wood with a few crooked characters written on it: "Selling myself. Can cook, can do laundry. Just need a bite to eat."

Beside her were several corpses wrapped in straw mats, with flies buzzing around, occasionally landing on her bruised, cyanotic ankles.

The atmosphere inside the car was somewhat oppressive.

Su Li turned her head away, unable to look any longer.

However, as the convoy passed through a barbed wire fence, the scene before them changed abruptly.

The originally muddy dirt road turned into a smooth concrete surface.

Along both sides of the road, there were even neatly trimmed green belts; although somewhat withered and yellow, it was already a luxury in the Apocalypse.

The buildings halfway up the mountain were no longer shacks, but villas built against the mountain and sturdy brick houses.

"Untz untz..."

Deafening heavy metal music drifted over from the distance.

Looking through the car window, Lu Sheng saw several scantily clad women holding the arms of men and flirting by the roadside. Those men were holding beer, their faces flushed with color, and one person was even walking a plump Golden Retriever.

The scent of roasted meat drifted in the air, forming an extremely ironic contrast with the stench of decay at the foot of the mountain.

"What the f*ck..." Zhou Hai widened his eyes, his chubby face almost pressed against the glass. "Did we undergo Transmigration? These bastards are living even better than before the Apocalypse?"

Zhang Yi, sitting in the passenger seat, looked as if he had swallowed a fly.

"This is the Paradise District."

Zhang Yi's voice was very low, carrying suppressed anger. "It's the territory of the Lingyuan Association. They control the best water sources and solar power generation on the mountain. Only Spirit Source Users and their families can live here. As for those below just now..."

He paused, giving a self-deprecating laugh. "That's the refugee camp. The people in the Association say that trash only deserves to live in the mud, and being alive is just a waste of air."

"Doesn't the military do anything about it?" Zhao Ze frowned and asked.

"Do something? How?"

Zhang Yi pointed to the barbed wire fence. "This fence isn't to keep out Floating Corpses, it's to keep people out. Our military base is on the hillside behind the mountain. The conditions are better than below, but still limited. That bunch from the Association values supplies more than their own lives. If we dare to challenge the rules here, they would dare to cut off the front-line supply of resources."

Lu Sheng leaned back against the seat, his golden pupils reflecting the glitz and glamour outside the window.

"Behind the vermilion gates, meat and wine go to waste; on the road, there are the bones of the frozen to death." Lu Sheng recited softly, a cold arc curling at the corner of his mouth. "This Lingyuan Association, they're living quite comfortably, aren't they?"

Zhang Yi heard the Killing Intent in those words and didn't dare to respond, only sighing. "We're here. The military cafeteria is up ahead."

Compared to the luxury of the Paradise District, the military base seemed much more shabby.

There were a few rows of grey, makeshift plank houses, and dozens of patched-up tanks parked on the parade ground, their treads covered in dried mud and blood.

The cafeteria was even worse, with only a few paint-peeling wooden tables.

They couldn't even scrape together a decent set of stools.

"The conditions are simple, please don't mind." Zhang Yi greeted everyone to take their seats, personally opened a few bottles of unlabeled Erguotou, and had people bring up two large basins of soft-stewed luncheon meat.

The aroma of meat was pungent, yet it couldn't mask the underlying sense of desolation that permeated this place.

Zhou Hai looked at the lumps of luncheon meat in the basin, then thought of the whole roasted lamb he had seen by the roadside earlier, and couldn't help but spit. "Old Zhang, is this all you eat? Those bastards earlier were feeding ham sausages to their dogs."

"It's not bad to have something to eat." Zhang Yi smiled bitterly, pouring wine for everyone. "This luncheon meat is combat ration I managed to save with great difficulty. Come, let's have a drink! A toast to welcome everyone!"

PS: Today's update (1/5).