Rise of the Wasteland in Cultivation

As dawn broke, the heavy rain stopped. The sun rose from the east, and the previously gray sky seemed to turn bluer.

The water left over from last night dripped down the rusty handrail and onto the ground beneath the overpass, making a soft, pattering sound that added to the tranquility of the morning.

The sound of a car starting broke the morning's tranquility. The fat man drove his pickup truck out from under the overpass.

Last night, to avoid the sudden acid rain, everyone drove their cars under this overpass and survived the night safely. Ye Wenrou sat in the passenger seat, Bi Lang and Zhou Chen sat in the back, while Tang Hao'er could only sit in the open cargo box in the back, where she huddled up all night, shivering from the cold.

Although we are all scavengers in the same camp and know each other well, you can't see into someone's heart, so you have to be careful. Too much compassion is often a dead end.

As the fat man drove, he stole a glance at Ye Wenrou in the passenger seat. She looked exhausted, and her usually bright almond-shaped eyes were bloodshot, clearly indicating that she hadn't slept all night.

Bi Lang and Zhou Chen probably didn't sleep well either, as they were leaning back in the back seat with their eyes closed, or rather, Zhou Chen was actually fast asleep, his snoring clearly audible.

The pickup truck slowly drove towards Camp C-361. At this moment, the horde of corpses that once filled the mountains and fields had disappeared, but traces of the rampage last night were still visible everywhere, with limbs and remains scattered all over the ground, belonging to both zombies and scavengers.

Finally, the pickup truck arrived at the camp gate. Everyone silently got out of the truck and looked at the camp, now a ruin, falling into a long silence. No one spoke.

Standing on the cargo box, Tang Hao'er felt both relieved and bewildered. She wasn't exactly a saint, but at this moment, she couldn't help but feel a sense of shared fate and sighed, "They're all dead overnight. In this world, what is the point of living?"

"Don't worry, if all your regular customers are gone, just find another camp and bring in another batch. Anyway, you're not going to starve. I'll just patronize you a few more times," Zhou Chen said somewhat sarcastically.

Tang Hao'er lowered her head and remained silent, surprisingly refraining from any playful scolding or pouting. This made Zhou Chen a little uneasy, and he asked curiously, "Tang Hao'er, you're not planning to... you know, turn over a new leaf, are you?"

Tang Hao'er retorted, "If I were to reform myself, would you support me, Brother Chen?"

"You want me, a garbage collector, to support you? Forget it. Let's keep our accounts straight, one at a time. It would be too much of a loss for me to support you," Zhou Chen said, shaking his head.

"You heartless bastard, I knew you were irresponsible!" Tang Hao'er curled her lips, then suddenly her eyes lit up. She jumped out of the car, ran to a corpse, and pulled out a laser pistol from under it.

Zhou Chen looked at Tang Hao'er, who was overjoyed, and said dismissively, "This thing has no energy left, so it's no different from a fire poker. But... we can still get some money by selling it."

Tang Hao'er tried it and found that she really had no energy left, which greatly disappointed her. However, she still hid it close to her body and continued searching around. So many people died last night, there must still be quite a few weapons left behind.

Fatty and Zhou Chen couldn't resist joining in the looting.

Ye Wenrou had no mood to pick up the pieces. She walked quickly to the courtyard where Leng San and Chen Xi lived, but it had become a ruin. Everything was destroyed, and there was no trace of Leng San and Chen Xi.

Ye Wenrou stood there, looking lost and forlorn.

Just then, a lone zombie emerged from a shipping container and slowly walked towards Ye Wenrou. She seemed oblivious until the zombie's foul-smelling mouth was almost within reach, at which point she drew her dagger and stabbed it into the zombie's forehead.

Seeing this, Bi Lang breathed a sigh of relief, put down the pistol he was holding, and comforted her, "Gentle girl, I've checked the surrounding area and didn't find Xiao San and Chen Xi's remains. That's a good thing; they must have escaped."

Ye Wenrou took a deep breath and forced a smile, "Yes, Xiao San and the others must have escaped. Boss, what are the plans next?"

"What's your opinion?" Bi Lang asked in return.

Ye Wenrou pondered for a moment and said, "Xiao San seemed to have mentioned C-444 to me back then. Maybe he wanted us to meet at the C-444 camp. Why don't we go to the C-444 camp?"

Bi Lang nodded and said, "Okay, let's go to C-444 then. Maybe Xiao San is already waiting for us there."

Upon hearing this, Ye Wenrou's mood immediately improved. She subconsciously touched the jade bracelet on her wrist and returned to the pickup truck with light steps.

At this time, Zhou Chen and others were still loading various abandoned weapons onto the pickup truck, including mortars, rocket launchers, and even alloy armor stripped from the camp guards.

Bi Lang frowned and said, "Alright, that's enough. That alloy armor is banned from sale on the market. We can't take it. Wearing it will only cause trouble. The Alliance will definitely come knocking on our door."

Upon hearing this, the fat man reluctantly threw the alloy armor off the car; he really liked the armor.

"Let's go quickly," Ye Wenrou urged, wishing she could sprout wings and fly to Camp C-444 immediately.

Tang Hao'er was still bending over, carrying a heavy machine gun onto the cargo box. Zhou Chen couldn't help but slap the woman's big buttocks and laughed, "Damn it, you're even greedier than me! You're even putting this thing on the truck. Are you really going to rely on our Canglang Squad?"

Tang Hao'er let out a soft cry of "Ouch!" and glared at Zhou Chen, saying, "Such a good thing, why not take it? It's a deal, whoever carries it onto the car keeps it. Don't try to take mine later."

Zhou Chen sneered, "Dream on. This vehicle belongs to our Canglang Squad. Giving you a ride is already a huge favor. Once these weapons are on our vehicle, they belong to our Canglang Squad."

The fat man gave him a thumbs up in admiration: "Brother Chen, you are selfless and ruthless in removing that thing. You are a role model for us all."

"Absolutely!" Zhou Chen said proudly.

Tang Hao'er's eyes were filled with anger and a hint of resentment. Zhou Chen kicked the woman's buttocks in a very domineering manner and said, "What are you looking at? Get in the car now. If you're not happy, just keep it to yourself."

Tang Hao'er had no choice but to swallow her anger and climb into the car, rubbing her bottom and muttering, "Can you please stop hitting people's bottoms?"

Zhou Chen shamelessly retorted, "If not spank, are you going to spank the face?"

"If you're so capable, give me the injection!" Tang Hao'er said angrily.

"Cough cough cough!" The fat man coughed a few times: "You guys should wait until there's no one else around to flirt, it's too dirty!"

Ye Wenrou shouted impatiently, "Zhou Chen, are you leaving or not? If not, stay here and find a shipping container to get Tang Hao'er her injection."

Zhou Chen shrank back and quickly said with a smile, "Let's go, let's go right away, don't be angry, Grandma." He then opened the car door and got in.

"Tch, what a cowardly, bullying man!" Tang Hao'er curled her lip in disdain.

Just as the fat man started his pickup truck, several armed vehicles sped up, including an armored vehicle, each with a black skull and crossbones flag displayed on its hood.

chug chu...

The machine gunner on the armored vehicle fired a burst of bullets, all of which hit a few meters in front of the pickup truck, kicking up a large cloud of dirt.

This was clearly a warning shot!

Bi Lang's expression changed drastically, and he blurted out, "Oh no, they're slaves!"

The Enslavers are the most notorious of the five powers. They are a warlord group that implements a brutal system of slavery in the territories they rule, capturing scavengers and enslaving them, with young women of childbearing age being their primary targets.

Normally, the enslavers wouldn't dare to easily invade the scavenger camps, because the camps are protected by the Alliance. Going directly to the camp to capture people would be tantamount to declaring war on the Alliance.

But things are different now. Camp C-361 has been destroyed by the zombie horde, and the nearby enslaved people immediately rushed to take advantage of the situation.

Soon, the pickup truck was surrounded by several armed vehicles belonging to the enslaved people. A boastful voice blared from a loudspeaker on one of the armored vehicles: "All scavengers, get out and surrender within ten seconds, or die!"

Click, click!

The enslaved men on several armed vehicles all raised their weapons and aimed at the pickup truck, while the heavy machine gunner on the armored vehicle whistled triumphantly.

Bi Lang and the others had no choice but to get out of the car. When the group of slaves saw Ye Wenrou and Tang Hao'er, their eyes lit up and they exclaimed with delight, "There are actually two women of childbearing age, and they're quite young!"

"Boss, they have a lot of weapons in their vehicle, probably just picked up, hahaha, that saves us the trouble of doing anything." The group of slaves laughed triumphantly.