The surrounding caravan guards looked at him curiously and whispered in a low voice, "Why is this bread white?"

"Strange food."

"I’ve seen it at their market before... But… It’s very expensive. It actually cost 4 chips each!"

Hearing this, the other two guards had surprised expressions on their faces. They looked at Xu Shun with a hint of envy in their eyes, as if they were looking at a local tycoon.

4 chips for a meal?!

This is too luxurious!

What Ample Time ate were meat buns, so he finished eating much quicker than Xu Shun. He walked to the window and sat down, taking out the small book in his pocket and glancing at the faint moonlight outside.

There were dense small characters written on it, all of which were describing the things he had seen and heard along the way. He planned to update it on the forum after he went offline later.

The situation in Clearspring City was quite different from the northern suburbs.

Along the way, they encountered at least 2 marauder attacks.

The first time was by 5 people, who shot them with iron-barreled rifles indiscriminately, but three were quickly killed by them, and the remaining 2 fled in panic.

The second time had a few more people. There were a total of 12 people that attacked them, which was the size of a 10 man team.

Kaeya, who was sitting against the wall, treated the wound with alcohol and cursed in a low voice. "This group of bastards! All they know is sneak attack!"

Xu Shun looked at him and asked. "How come there are so many marauders?"

Kaeya said in a low voice, "They are everywhere. Those buildings outside may seem empty, but you never know how many people are hiding inside. Most likely, they spotted us the moment we entered the city."

Xu Shun suddenly became alert. "Then what if they surrounded us..."

Kaeya smiled, "Take it easy man, not all marauders will become the Bonechewer Clan like not all cancer cells will end up turning into tumors. At least a third of marauders were mercenaries who either killed their former employers or their former partners. They couldn’t go back to Boulder Town, nor could they summon the courage to start a new life, so in the end, they just became bandits. How strong do you think those scum are?"

Wang Zhong, who was sitting on the side, interjected, "Our luck was actually not bad. All of the groups we encountered were only capable of doing small jobs. Had we encountered those who were capable of doing something big, it would’ve been very troublesome."

Xu Shun frowned. "... What do you mean?"

"This is what he means." Using tweezers to pick out a bullet, Kaeya shook it in front of him, and said with a twisted smile, "Steel ball, about 6mm... Thank goodness, if a lead bullet was used, my arm would be ruined."

𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

Wang Zhong chuckled and joked. "Isn’t that great? You’ll be able to change to a mechanical arm when that happens."

Kaeya rolled his eyes. "Get lost. You think I can afford it?"

Equipment like that wasn’t something he could dream of.

The vast majority of people present were employed by Liszt temporarily, and only a few could become core employees and serve the caravan for life. That was also what made them work harder. ʀаＮỖ𝐛Ę𝐬

Looking at the intermittently displayed subtitles on the VM, Ample Time pondered for a long time, and continued to write in the small notebook by the moonlight.

[… Mercenaries are a very common profession in Boulder Town, and most of the people who are engaged in this profession are poor.]

[At the same time, the serious oversupply of the private armed market has led to the extreme involution of the mercenary industry. The vast majority of mercenaries must risk their lives to earn a pitiful salary to maintain a living, which is also the source of the chaos in Clearspring City... …]

[At least it’s one of the root cause.]

Closing the notebook in his hand, Ample Time was about to go offline, but for some reason, there was a sudden vague, intuitive warning in his heart.

It was like he was being stared at by something.

Putting the pen in his pocket, Ample Time’s hand instinctively went to touch the mechanical compound bow leaning against the wall.

After awakening, he had 7 points of perception.

Although it was not high compared to perception type players, compared to the average person, his intuition was much sharper.

Coupled with the experience accumulated in the battle, his actual perception of danger was not weaker than the low-level perception type newbies.

Noticing the movement on his hand, Luo Guang raised an eyebrow while staring at him. "You spotted something?"

Ample Time couldn’t understand what he was asking, but he could guess what he roughly meant from his expression, so he nodded silently.

The three guards and Xu Shun on the side were immediately alert and grabbed their weapons, while Qian Lai hid in a safe place.

He was self-aware of his own combat effectiveness, and at the same time believed that these people could successfully deal with those marauders without his help.

Everyone quickly raised their guard.

The next second, Ample Time moved.

He lifted the mechanical compound bow and nocked an explosive arrow on the bowstring. After a few seconds of the silent countdown, the arrow was shot cleanly toward the window opposite the corridor.

Spanning a distance of dozens of meters, the arrow burst into flames the moment it was shot out of the window, and the steel balls caught in the paper shell were blasted around. Immediately afterwards, there was a miserable cry outside the window and the sound of heavy objects falling on the ground.

"Enemy attack!"

"It’s marauders!"

Kaeya ran towards the window directly opposite, while the other two watched the corridor and the door of the safe passage.

Without taking the elevator, that was the only way up.

The marauders downstairs heard the sound of fire and rushed up from below quickly.

Luo Guang, who was standing at the entrance of the corridor, held a submachine gun in his hand, and fired at the marauders who rushed in. Two of the marauders were killed on the spot, and the other was lucky enough to hide behind the cover and tried to fight back. But before he could fire a few shots, an arrow was shot into his forehead, ending his life.

Just when Xu Shun was about to take aim and was ready to shoot, Ample Time had already put away the compound bow.

The battle was over.

"There are still three who haven’t come up!" Kaeya, who was standing by the window, raised the rifle in his hand and fired two shots at the fleeing marauders. Seeing that he couldn’t hit anyone else, he lowered the gun and cursed. "Damn it, they got away!"

Carefully approaching the exit of the safe passage, Luo Guang squatted down to examine the bodies after confirming that the marauders had retreated.

"... I’m afraid it’s the same group of people we met during the day, they’ve been following us all this time."

Kaeya couldn’t help but curse, "What are these idiots trying to do?"

Wang Zhong joked, "Maybe hunger has made them lose their minds."

Those present chuckled softly. Although it was over, everyone was still a little tense.

Luo Guang patted Kaeya on the shoulder. "There’s still some distance to travel tomorrow, and we’ll probably be able to reach Boulder Town at about noon. I’ll sleep first, and then I’ll take over your shift in the middle of the night."

Kaeya gave him a reassuring look. "Okay, boss."

Ample Time went back to the window and sat down. After confirming that the crisis was resolved, he calmly glanced at the small notebook again before stuffing it back into his pocket. Then he closed his eyes and got ready to go offline.

Xu Shun walked to Ample Time and sat down beside him.

The administrator had told him that when his resident was sleeping, he had to keep a night watch and not let anyone approach.

Luo Guang glanced at Ample Time who had already closed his eyes, then glanced at Xu Shun who was sitting next to him, and asked in a low voice. "Is he asleep?"

Xu Shun nodded and said. "Yes."

According to the agreement, Ample Time would take over his shift around 3:00 in the morning and he would not wake up before that.

"Such enviable psychological quality," Luo Guang grinned and continued in a low voice, "I was just about to praise him for his 2 incredible shots.”

Among the mercenaries in Boulder Town, few would use bows and crossbows if they could choose. After all, the power was inconsistent and it was much more difficult to maintain a bow than a gun.

Only some ability users would choose weapons other than guns to better utilize their physical advantages.

However, most of them mainly chose projectiles.

For example, throwing knives and javelins, as well as grenades, were the three most common weapons chosen.

Although he was not as smart as Captain Han Long, Luo Guang could already be sure that this sleeping man was an ability user!

Xu Shun nodded and said, "I’ll pass it on when he wakes up."

Luo Guang waved his hand, then put a hat on his face, and leaned against the wall, falling asleep very soon.

The room became quiet. It was as if the previous battle did not happen.

Xu Shun glanced at the VM. He could no longer receive signals from the shelter, only a short-range signal from the Ample Time’s device could be retrieved.

"On the edge of the fourth ring... If we can get to Boulder Town tomorrow, this place should be in the middle." Xu Shun murmured in his heart and made a mark on the map.

The surrounding area can be used as a base station for signal towers, and the caravans from the northern suburbs to Boulder Town can also rest here in the future.

However, there are marauder activities in the area, so we must not let our guard down completely.

...

An uneventful night passed and the next morning, the group continued on their way.

As they got closer and closer to Boulder Town, Ample Time unconsciously moved faster. There was an indescribable excitement in his heart.

Boulder Town, which had been described in the official website setting for a long time, was the largest survivor colony within Clearspring City!

Soon, he would be able to confirm with his eyes what kind of surprise the game production team had prepared for the players!

After taking a turn at a street corner, Ample Time stood on a straight 12 lane elevated road, the excitement on his face was gradually replaced by shock.

A towering giant wall that was 20 floors tall, stood like a dam between the 2 buildings that reached the sky.

The majesty of the giant rushed to his face, and it could even be felt clearly from a kilometer away!

"Seeing that huge wall is like seeing Boulder Town. The journey later will be much easier," Qian Lai said with a relieved smile on his face, "I’ll finally have a warm mattress to sleep on, and you can stay in my house tonight. Although it’s not big, its environment is definitely much better than a hotel!"

Also shocked by the sight in front of him, Xu Shun couldn’t help but ask, "How many tons of cement does it cost to build a wall like that?"

Qian Lai said with a smile, "Who knows. Besides, it’s not all cement. Maybe it’s mixed with some garbage or discarded concrete blocks. Anyway, it has some history. This huge wall is mainly to deal with the threat of mutants and the Tide, but it must be said that the Tide hasn’t been able to threaten Boulder Town for a long time."

Xu Shun gasped softly, "This is truly incredible!"

"It’s indeed incredible, but I’ve heard that this colony is modeled after Ideal City... Of course, it’s far from comparable."

Having said that, Qian Lai, who was squinting and looking into the distance, paused for a moment, looking at the giant wall with a hint of yearning in his eyes. "I hope I’ll be able to visit Ideal City one day."

Xu Shun raised an eyebrow in surprise. "... Ideal City?"

Qian Lai nodded. "Mhm, our boss went there once and said it was the place closest to pre-war society... Although I bet he didn’t know what the pre-war society was like."

Xu Shun didn’t quite understand it. For him, who grew up in the northern suburbs, the life before the war was a very vague concept.

He only heard that people in that era had endless honey to eat, milk to drink, and clean water to squander.

And a series of treasures such as cans, glass bottles, and things like that that they picked up from the wasteland were all garbage that no one wanted back then; no one would even be interested to look at those things.

On the contrary, those daunting high-rise buildings were the treasures that everyone in the past wanted.

Everything about the Prosperity Era seemed to be the exact opposite.

Ample Time didn’t have time to read the subtitles at the moment. He put the headset that the administrator gave him on his head, and excitedly took a dozen photos of Boulder Town.

Although they were outside the communication range and the photos couldn’t be sent back, it did not matter.

He could save the photos in the VM’s photo album first!

After all, it was an opportunity he bought with 250 silver coins, and it couldn’t be wasted.

When he got back, he had to use these photos and write a good article!