Chapter 74 - 67: Preliminary Understanding

Chapter 74: Chapter 67: Preliminary Understanding

Whether it was by coincidence or because the wave of survivor migration had reached its peak, Xu Mo found that he was encountering other survivors with noticeably greater frequency in the days that followed.

Almost every day or two, near his shelter, Xu Mo would encounter—either through observation or direct contact—group after group of survivors struggling onward toward Jiang City.

What surprised Xu Mo the most was when a convoy of three modified SUVs and a medium-sized truck actually drove into Cyan Pine Ridge Town. They stopped in the relatively open plaza in the town center, looking like they planned to rest and regroup.

This truly struck Xu Mo as a novelty. After all, during the Eternal Night and under these extreme environmental conditions, just being able to keep a vehicle convoy operational was a testament to considerable strength and resources.

When encountering these survivors, as long as they showed no obvious hostility, Xu Mo would usually choose to engage in limited conversation. He needed information. He needed to understand what was happening in the outside world and to verify some of his own theories.

Xu Mo would typically keep a safe distance, showing ample caution, but would still answer some basic questions.

Through these sporadic encounters, Xu Mo witnessed a full spectrum of post-apocalyptic humanity. The survivors’ conditions varied wildly.

Some survivor groups were in extremely miserable shape. Their clothes were tattered rags, offering scant protection from the freezing temperatures.

These people also shared another common trait: they were sallow and emaciated, with sunken eyes. They staggered as they walked, looking as if a gust of wind could knock them over. They carried pitifully few supplies—perhaps only a single, limp backpack holding a meager amount of food and materials. Their weapons were even cruder, mostly consisting of sharpened rebar, rough-hewn wooden spears, or even just bricks and rocks they had picked up along the way.

Xu Mo found it hard to imagine what combination of willpower and luck had allowed them to traverse the dangerous ruins and wastelands to get this far on foot. Every time he saw such a group, he gained a deeper appreciation for the brutal nature of this post-apocalyptic world.

Other survivors, by contrast, seemed much more "wealthy." They wore relatively thick, intact cold-weather clothing; though just as weather-beaten, it was at least fully functional. They carried bulging packs, and some even used sleds or simple carts to transport their supplies. More strikingly, some of them were equipped with firearms—an assortment ranging from old hunting rifles and shotguns to standard-issue pistols and rifles. Though the models were a motley collection and their states of repair varied, the weapons undoubtedly boosted their self-defense capabilities significantly.

Although these survivors’ eyes were just as wary, they held less of the desperate numbness and more of a cautious assessment of the road ahead. These groups either came from small, still-organized shelters with some reserves, or they were "veterans" who had scraped and clawed their way through the apocalypse, accumulating considerable experience and resources.

In Xu Mo’s conversations with these survivors, their questions tended to focus on a few key areas:

"Friend, do you know the shortest and safest way to get to Jiang City Shelter?"

"Brother, you have any spare supplies? We can trade for them!" Requests for trade were very common. Since Xu Mo had already transferred most of his supplies into his personal space, he didn’t have much on hand to trade and therefore acted with considerable restraint.

Depending on their needs and his own judgment, Xu Mo would typically offer a small number of canned goods, compressed biscuits, a few batteries, or some common medicines in exchange for small items he might find useful, or simply for information.

"Hey buddy, you’re all alone but you seem pretty strong. Want to head to Jiang City with us? We could watch each other’s backs." Invitations to team up also occurred. Without exception, Xu Mo politely but firmly refused them, usually giving the reason that he "still had things to take care of" or was "used to operating alone."

After a few such trades, what Xu Mo considered his most valuable acquisition was a national map. Though old and somewhat torn, its coverage was vast.

The map felt like a window opening onto this strange new world. By combining the map’s annotations with information he’d subtly pried from survivors, Xu Mo finally began to piece together a clearer outline of the world he now inhabited. This was a vast nation called the Xia Country, with a territory spanning tens of millions of square kilometers and a pre-apocalypse population in the billions. Its level of technological civilization was nearly identical to the Earth he had transmigrated from, having also experienced an Information Age and an Industrial Revolution, and boasting highly developed urban clusters and infrastructure.

More importantly, Xu Mo learned from some of the more worldly-wise survivors that after the apocalypse began, the Xia Country had swiftly activated its emergency protocols. Relying on existing military bases, strategic reserves, and large underground facilities, it had established multiple large-scale shelters. In addition to the Jiang City Shelter he was already aware of, the survivors spoke of several other famous names:

Dragon City Shelter: Said to be located at a strategic point in the north, built upon a vast complex of underground fortifications, and known for its sturdiness and strict order.

Starfire Shelter: Rumored to be established somewhere on the western plateau, possessing unique geographical advantages and scientific research capabilities.

Dawn Shelter: Located in the southeastern coastal region, it was said to be attempting to maintain partial industrial production and trying to contact any potential surviving powers overseas.

Steel Barrier: A converted major industrial city in the north, renowned for its powerful fortifications and preserved heavy industrial capacity.

Deep Blue Shelter: Rumored to be a large-scale naval or amphibious shelter established on an island or peninsula along the southern coast.

Base Zero: This name carried an air of mystery. Some survivors mentioned it might be located deep within the remote mountains of the west, but specific details were scarce.

These names were like stars in the darkness, sketching out the surviving framework of the Xia Country’s civilization after the cataclysm.

After interacting with a wider variety of survivors, Xu Mo began to sense a certain phenomenon, or perhaps an atmosphere. When these people, whether destitute or relatively well-off, interacted with him—a strange and seemingly powerful loner—they maintained necessary caution but largely adhered to an underlying, simple "code of trade." He didn’t encounter the pervasive, hysterical darkness, betrayal, and law of the jungle that he had read about in some post-apocalyptic novels. Everyone seemed... inclined to recognize and uphold a basic sense of order, at least on the surface.

One time, after trading some batteries with a group of survivors in relatively good condition, Xu Mo couldn’t help but voice his observation. "It feels like everyone is still pretty reasonable," he said. "It’s not as chaotic as I imagined."

Hearing this, the middle-aged man leading the group, who was counting the batteries, paused. He glanced up at Xu Mo, a complex and bitter smile on his face. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but ultimately just shook his head, let out a nearly inaudible sigh, and offered no explanation.

The man’s reaction stirred something in Xu Mo. ’It’s probably not that the darkness doesn’t exist,’ he thought. ’Maybe some force, or the environment itself, has filtered out or suppressed the most extreme forms of chaos and disorder? Or perhaps the people who managed to undertake this journey and make it this far are simply more inclined toward cooperation and order to begin with?’

There was undoubtedly a deeper reason for this that Xu Mo didn’t yet understand. The survivor leader’s unspoken words and bitter smile hinted at a massive iceberg hidden just beneath the surface.