Chapter 2
Ren Xiaosu returned later than usual because of the robbery and his sudden loss of consciousness . Since he saw the sky darkening, he knew that it would be extremely dangerous to pass through the town with his catch at this time .
During the day, people from the stronghold still came out to maintain order . But at night, those people would return back to the stronghold .
Of course, the people from the stronghold were not doing this with good intentions . They were only worried that if the town got too chaotic, it would affect the manual labor that the refugees were performing .
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When Ren Xiaosu ran back into town carrying the cauldron, someone with a dirty face greeted him . It was as though he had not washed his face ever since the day he was born .
Most of the people in town looked like that . On most days, they went to the nearby coal mine to work in exchange for some food . The coal they mined would be delivered into the stronghold, and in turn, the workers would receive just enough black bread or potatoes to survive on .
It wasn't only the mining of coal . All the necessary dirty work the stronghold needed to be done would be performed by the refugees .
Since the well water in town was rationed, the amount that everyone got per day was fixed, and no one dared to even think of asking for more . Besides, barely any clean water sources existed nearby . Or rather, any clean water source was too dangerous to go to since feral beasts would gather there to drink . Hence everyone in town would always look so dirty that no one could see their faces clearly . Ren Xiaosu was no exception either .
However, Ren Xiaosu had never worked in the coal mine before . He had his own way of surviving .
Ren Xiaosu did not respond to anyone who greeted him . He just wanted to get back to his shack as quickly as possible .
As Ren Xiaosu took an alternate way into town, he could see the towering stronghold walls from a short distance away . It felt very oppressive, for he could not even see the top when he looked up .
Not many stone structures could be found in town as most people only stayed in shacks .
Ren Xiaosu had started out quite relaxed . But he went on guard the moment he entered town and even drew the bone knife from his waist . The atmosphere on the street grew tense as though some kind of danger lurked within the shacks . But with Ren Xiaosu holding a bone knife in his hand, the people with threatening intentions restrained themselves .
The first thing Ren Xiaosu learned while staying here was not to trust anyone… other than Yan Liuyuan .
Whispers came from the shack next to the road . "Ren Xiaosu has caught more game meat . "
"How does that count as game? It's only a sparrow . "
"But it's different from the sparrow that we saw in the ancient textbooks . I reckon that the eagles from before The Cataclysm were also around this size?"
"Don't provoke him . " A voice ended the whispering from inside the shack . Someone seemed to know about Ren Xiaosu's past .
Ren Xiaosu lifted the curtain door to his shack . The warmth in it made him less tense .
When Yan Liuyuan, who was sitting in the shack and doing his homework, saw Ren Xiaosu return, he looked pleasantly surprised . "You caught a sparrow?"
"Why didn't you light the kerosene lamp?" Ren Xiaosu asked while frowning .
Yan Liuyuan was usually a wayward child, but in front of Ren Xiaosu, who was like his elder brother, he became surprisingly docile . "I wanted to save some fuel for us . "
"What if you become nearsighted?" Ren Xiaosu put the sparrow down .
Yan Liuyuan's eyes lit up . "The schoolteacher mentioned something called 'spectacles' that existed before The Cataclysm but can only be found in the stronghold now . If we have something like that, we won't have to worry about being nearsighted anymore . "
Ren Xiaosu treated the statement with disdain . "I've seen someone wearing the thing that you mentioned before . But to have your vision depend on something that could be dropped at any time out here in the wilderness, that's as good as death . Don't listen to your teacher's nonsense . Not everything he says is right . "
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