Liming Base had an official marketplace. Before the apocalypse, the site had probably been a school sports field. Someone had simply put up a roof over it, and that was apparently enough to complete the job.
Unlike the small stalls they had seen when they first entered the city, this place was bustling with activity. It was also clearly managed by the authorities, making it much more orderly, and the goods on display were far more varied.
General Director Gu had kept his promise. He had sent only the butler to accompany them.
Nevertheless, along the way, everyone noticed quite a few “tails” keeping an eye on them.
“Your base has a pretty good information network!” Chu Tian remarked with a smile at the butler. “Looks like the news has already spread. As far as I know, all communication equipment stopped working after the apocalypse.”
Chu Tian was smiling warmly, but the butler felt as though thorns were pricking his back. All he could do was force out an awkward “Heh, heh, heh” and brush the remark aside.
Of course, Chu Tian had no intention of pressing him further. He had made his point, and that was enough.
Standing in front of the marketplace that had been built on the school’s sports field, Chu Tian felt an inexplicable sense of familiarity.
How was that possible?
Even before the apocalypse, he had never been here. After the apocalypse, he had spent all his time in the south. So where did this strange feeling of familiarity come from?
No, it wasn’t familiarity with the scenery or the surroundings. What was it, then?
As he pondered the question, Chu Tian quietly extended his mental powers.
At the same time, while the butler enthusiastically introduced the marketplace, Chu Tian casually asked, “The sports field has been converted into a marketplace. What about the school buildings? Are they being used as residential quarters?”
“No, they aren’t.” The butler bowed respectfully, his eyes lowered. “The school buildings have been abandoned. They’ve been left empty all this time.”
“Oh.” Chu Tian nodded casually, appearing unconcerned. He then changed the subject and asked what interesting goods could be found in the marketplace.
The butler answered his questions, but Chu Tian’s thoughts had already wandered elsewhere.
Abandoned? Was it really that simple?
There were so many people outside the city who couldn’t get in, and so many people sleeping rough in the city’s streets and alleys. Almost every intact building had been put to use, and some had even been renovated, just like the buildings at the Healing Center.
How could a school with such excellent facilities have been abandoned everywhere except for its sports field?
Chu Tian searched every corner of the school with his mental powers, but found nothing.
He was so thorough that he even checked underground, yet there was still nothing unusual.
With no other choice, he temporarily set aside his baseless suspicions.
Only after actually entering the marketplace could they truly experience a little of the bustle of the pre-apocalyptic world. Li Nan seemed to have forgotten the unpleasant incident from earlier, his curious eyes wandering everywhere. However, he kept a firm grip on Quan Xiaoyu’s hand, which Quan Xiaoyu was holding, and never let go.
“It’s just like being back at Dawning,” Li Nan said nostalgically.
He was talking about the marketplace in the outer city of Dawning Base. The original members of the Dawning team used to take him there quite often to hunt for bargains.
Quan Xiaoyu reached out with his free hand and rubbed Li Nan’s head. The boy was homesick, and Dawning Base had become his idea of home.
Bai Mingxi had sharp eyes. He spotted a stall selling electronic devices from before the apocalypse, and his eyes immediately lit up as he rushed over.
He hadn’t forgotten that the communication device he was working on still wasn’t quite perfect.
“Chu Tian, I have a strange feeling about this place too.” Quan Xiaoyu quietly moved closer to Chu Tian and whispered to him.
“Hm?”
“It doesn’t feel dangerous. In fact, there’s even a sense of nostalgia, and an inexplicable familiarity. But I’ve never been here before!”
Quan Xiaoyu’s words startled Chu Tian. He was experiencing almost exactly the same feeling, except for the nostalgia.
He knew that Quan Xiaoyu’s speed, strength, and perception all originated from his spatial ability. At certain times, that perception worked in much the same way as Chu Tian’s own exceptionally sharp mental powers.
However, until they understood what was going on, Chu Tian didn’t want to add to Quan Xiaoyu’s burden. So he said, “Maybe it reminds you of the primary school you attended. Perhaps you’ve seen it in a dream before. Didn’t people online often talk about things like that?”
Quan Xiaoyu thought it over, then nodded uncertainly. “Maybe.”
He accepted the explanation for the time being. After all, this sense of familiarity didn’t make him feel threatened or uncomfortable.
“Let’s have a look around and see if we can find anything interesting.”
Chu Tian took his hand. The two of them continued forward, with little Li Nan trailing along behind them.
Although the marketplace was bustling, Chu Tian could tell that roughly eighty percent of the people moving through it were ability users.
Clearly, this was a privileged class living far better than the other groups of people. All the signs suggested that Liming Base had developed a very strict hierarchy.
The group made a round of the marketplace but found nothing particularly interesting. Instead, thanks to the two little beasts who attracted so much attention, they earned all kinds of curious and probing looks from the people around them.
The goods here were certainly more varied than those outside. However, Quan Xiaoyu already had every kind of daily necessity in his spatial storage. As for weapons, what sort of good equipment would actually be allowed to circulate in an ordinary marketplace?
Earlier, when the butler saw Bai Mingxi happily gathering a pile of electronic devices that were practically useless in the current world, he swallowed the urge to complain and hurried over to pay for the “treasure.”
The currency was naturally the round flatbread that circulated most widely within the base.
In addition, the official authorities had issued flatbread vouchers in denominations of five, ten, twenty, and so on, with fifty being the largest denomination available.
They were very similar to the ration coupons used before the apocalypse. Anyone holding these vouchers could take them to the grain administration office at city hall and exchange them for an equivalent value of mixed-grain flatbread.
It was precisely because trading at the marketplace had become so popular that the authorities had introduced the vouchers, making larger transactions more convenient.
The vouchers could also be exchanged at fixed rates for other foods, such as canned goods, instant noodles, bread, and even rice.
At present, the authorities were planning to incorporate crystal cores into the monetary system. Their official shops had already begun trial exchanges.
As a result, some people at the marketplace had started selling crystal cores as well. There were very few available, and prices varied wildly.
The three of them had all noticed the crystal cores being sold. Most were Level One and Level Two zombie crystal cores, the sort of low-grade goods that no longer interested them.
The butler had been waiting for the group to go on a shopping spree and demonstrate their goodwill. Instead, aside from Bai Mingxi carrying away a pile of junk, everyone else quickly lost interest.
That entire pile of junk had cost only three flatbreads. The price was so low that even the butler felt embarrassed about reporting the purchase to his master.
Just as the group was getting bored and preparing to leave, the clang of gongs and drums suddenly rang out.
The people who had been wandering around the marketplace, bargaining with vendors, or secretly observing Chu Tian and his companions suddenly began gathering in one direction.
Even some stallholders who weren’t worried about making ends meet packed up their goods and headed toward the source of the noise.
“What is it? Let’s go take a look too!” Bai Mingxi was the first to lose his patience, craning his neck curiously toward the crowd.
The sound was coming from the rostrum beside the sports field. Before the apocalypse, the school administrators had probably stood there to give speeches.
The others had no objections. They simply reminded the three little ones to behave themselves before heading in that direction.
When the butler saw them going, he pinched his thigh in frustration and silently cursed himself.
How could he have forgotten?!
Today was the marketplace’s weekly gathering day, held once every seven days. And the “auction” was taking place today!
He wanted to stop Chu Tian and the others from going over, but he couldn’t think of a convincing excuse. Besides, these people weren’t the sort he could simply order around.
While he was struggling to decide what to do, the group had already gone some distance ahead.
With no alternative, the butler hurried after them, silently praying that nothing troublesome would happen at a time like this.
A deputy general director had died just today, and his master was already caught in a fierce political struggle at the center of a storm. If another incident occurred, no one would be able to handle the consequences!
By then, Chu Tian and the others had already reached the source of the noise.
The two little beasts had such an imposing presence that people instinctively moved aside to make way for them. As a result, the group reached the front without the slightest effort.
When they got a good look at what was happening, they were speechless.
A dozen or so people stood in a row on the waist-high platform.
Women and children. The children included both boys and girls.
Given the situation at Liming Base and the way its authorities operated, the group immediately understood what was going on.
Even Li Nan’s expression darkened. The scene brought back the unpleasant memories he had only just managed to put behind him.
These people were different from those they had seen outside the city. They were also unlike the people standing at the entrance of the Healing Center, soliciting customers.
These people appeared much more submissive, and the way they were dressed was even more… unusual.
Chu Tian sighed and took Quan Xiaoyu’s hand, preparing to leave.
What he had just witnessed had only strengthened his resolve to bring down Liming Base’s upper leadership. But for now, he couldn’t do anything.
Bai Mingxi suddenly grabbed his arm. There was something difficult to describe in his eyes.
“We’re just going to leave them here?”
Chu Tian turned toward Bai Mingxi, his expression growing serious.
“Xiao Bai, you’re not a child anymore. You need to understand the principle that teaching someone to fish is better than simply giving them a fish. Do you want to buy them and take them back? Or start a huge fight and snatch them away? What about all the other people just like them? What are you going to do about them?”
Chu Tian looked at Bai Mingxi with an unprecedented severity. Quan Xiaoyu had never seen him look at anyone this sternly before.
“Bai Mingxi, don’t forget who you are!”
With that, Chu Tian shook off Bai Mingxi’s hand and walked away, taking Quan Xiaoyu and Li Nan with him.
Before leaving, he cast an equally stern glance at the butler, who had been standing nearby and had overheard their conversation.
The butler shuddered under that gaze, breaking out in goosebumps all over his back.
If the young man beside Chu Tian had looked like a hungry wolf when he killed someone earlier, then the look Chu Tian had just given him was that of a superior who held absolute power over life and death.
There was no obvious murderous intent in Chu Tian’s eyes, yet they were enough to send a chill through anyone who met them.
“Chu Tian, don’t you think you’re being a little too…” Quan Xiaoyu hesitated. Even he had been startled by Chu Tian’s severity.
“Too harsh?” Chu Tian turned toward him, and his expression became a bitter smile. “I don’t want to be. I wish he could live carefree and worry-free for the rest of his life. Even if he wanted to spend his entire life running around after me, I’d be happy to keep looking after him. But…”
Chu Tian took a deep breath.
“But we’re about to return to the capital. If he were like me, with older brothers at home, I could still let him do as he pleased. But he’s the only son of the Bai family, and he carries far too many responsibilities…”
He paused before continuing, “Xiaoyu, you might not understand. I’ll explain everything to you slowly later, all right?”
Chu Tian didn’t spell everything out. This wasn’t the right time.
Quan Xiaoyu silently nodded.
The closer they got to the capital, the more he realized how little he actually knew about Chu Tian. Everything he knew about him began after the apocalypse.
Would the Chu Tian of the future still be the Chu Tian he knew best?
While the group wrestled with their complicated feelings, the auction had already begun.
Even Chu Tian was feeling somewhat irritated at that moment. He was about to quicken his pace when a group of people suddenly blocked their path.
The butler came hurrying after them, but when he recognized the people blocking their way, he nearly fainted.
Just as he’d feared, trouble had come looking for them!
He had desperately hoped to avoid another incident, yet someone had inevitably come to cause one.