Chapter 1093: Scarface Youth's Experiences
In half a month, with the arrival of the Zhongzhou War Zone troops, the gathering at Gucheng Lake far away in Jinling seemed to have been accelerated.
As the sun sets, the golden afterglow falls again, illuminating a scene that is no longer the despair and desolation of half a month ago...
The low wall, originally made of sandbags, scrapped cars and wooden stakes, has now been reinforced and widened, and key nodes have even been reinforced with cement and steel bars cleared from the ruins.
A denser accordion-shaped barbed wire fence has also been erected on the top of the wall. The newly added watchtower adopts a standardized and professional unified configuration, and is equipped with searchlights and remote monitoring equipment. The soldiers on duty on the tower wear uniformly issued training uniforms, hold newly maintained weapons, and stand upright.
...
At this moment, a hundred meters away from the Gucheng Lake gathering place, a scarred young man was leaning on a piece of shiny steel bar more than one meter long, curled up behind a bunch of dead bushes, looking at the legendary place from afar - the Gucheng Lake gathering place!
He had been observing for nearly 20 minutes, and the gathering place in front of him was completely different from the lifeless and heavily guarded refugee camp he had imagined.
The obviously reinforced gate of the gathering place was open. Although there were roadblocks and fortifications at the entrance, it exuded a strange "vitality".
It's not the desperate struggle common in doomsday, but a kind of...busy order and an inexplicable spirit of all things?
What made his pupils shrink the most was the steel behemoth parked in the shadow beside the door - a wheeled infantry fighting vehicle covered in digital jungle camouflage!
The ferocious remote-controlled weapon station on the roof was like the eye of a sleeping beast. The cold metallic texture was completely different from the tattered "armored vehicles" cobbled together by the bandits in his memory.
Just standing there quietly exudes a heart-pounding deterrent force.
What was even more unbelievable to him was the scene at the door: an endless stream of human-powered tricycles, carrying some supplies or people with their families, were allowed in after a simple inspection.
On the other side of the gate, a long line formed! They were all survivors like him who had rushed here after hearing the news. There were men, women, young and old, all of them were pale and thin, and their clothes were tattered. But in their eyes, there was something burning that Scarface had not seen in a long time - anticipation.
A week ago, he accidentally caught a weak but clear signal from an abandoned radio, which mentioned "Gusheng Lake", "troops" and "order" intermittently.
He originally thought it was an illusion or a trap. After all, after nearly a year of survival in the apocalypse, he was no longer the simple white-collar worker he used to be.
In the end times when order collapses and supplies are extremely scarce, the dark side of human nature and selfishness are fully revealed. In many cases, the word "cannibalism" is not just talk.
Some violent gangs like to pretend to be official or "orderly" gathering places to lure ignorant survivors into their trap.
In this situation, the best case scenario for the survivors is to be enslaved like animals. If they are unlucky enough to encounter a perverted gang, the only way to get rid of it is to be turned into shit and buried in the ground.
So the scarred young man didn't believe the news about the gathering place at Gucheng Lake at first, but there seemed to be some kind of magic that made him turn back on the channel he had cut off, listen to the whole thing carefully, and remember it in his heart.
After several days of tossing and turning and mental struggle, I was finally driven here by my inner instinct for survival and desire for "order".
After sneaking all the way, avoiding mutants and more dangerous species, and eating up the last bit of dry food, I finally saw this place today.
The scene before him at the Gucheng Lake gathering place undoubtedly made his dead heart start beating faster.
"Hey, new here? Don't just stand there, come and line up!" A slightly hoarse but powerful voice interrupted his observation.
Scarface subconsciously tightened the steel bar in his hand and looked vigilantly in the direction of the sound. He saw a man in his forties with a tired face but bright eyes waving at him. The man was at the end of the line.
It turned out that Scar hadn't noticed it, and while he was stunned, the team had lined up less than twenty meters away from him. He walked out of the bush shelter as if possessed by a ghost, and stood upright at the edge of the field, like a dazed pencil.
In response, the scarred young man hesitated for a moment, but still walked over slowly, keeping his distance.
The man didn't seem to mind his guard, instead he was very friendly and welcoming, or maybe it was because he hadn't spoken to anyone in a long time, and he was a little crazy and wanted to chat with a zombie.
"You heard the news and came here, right? Damn, I couldn't believe it at first. There are such places in this world? But look—" He pointed to the infantry fighting vehicle parked at the entrance of the gathering place, his tone full of admiration:
"This thing is real! I've only seen it on TV in my entire life! And those soldiers..."
The man lowered his voice, but couldn't hide his excitement: "I was lucky when I entered the city the day before yesterday. I saw a few soldiers patrolling inside. Wow! That's awesome!"
"They're dressed like tin cans, covered in pitch-black armor. They make noises when they walk. I heard that's called... an exoskeleton?"
"Yes! Exoskeletons! Better than these guys at the door..." He quietly pointed at the soldiers on duty at the door. Although they were wearing old uniforms, their equipment was obviously much more ordinary.
“…That’s heaven and earth!”
A woman in the queue next to her couldn't help but turn around and interject, a hint of pride on her face: "That's right! I've seen one that's even taller and stronger, like an iron tower, with a huge sword on his back! Just like the mecha in the movies! I heard it can kill mutants with just one slap!"
A warrior with a sword? A mutant that can be killed with a single slap?
Listening to the middle-aged man and woman singing in unison, the scarred young man was shocked and wondered if he had traveled through time.
Isn't this the end of the world? Why did it become science fiction, even a bit fantasy?
He might be able to accept the idea of shooting zombies to death. After all, although zombies have made obvious progress compared to before the apocalypse, they are still within the scope of human power.
An experienced survivor can easily kill lone zombies with his wisdom.
But if it is a mutant, it is different. It is definitely a biological science fiction. Many mutants are like alien creatures, able to climb walls and fly, with claws like steel, and supernatural powers. If you are targeted in the wild, you can basically lie down.
"And a mutant like this, so invincible to human power, could actually be killed with a single slap? ? ? ? ? ?!"
"Could it be that these two are talking about something?"
However, although the scarred young man had doubts in his heart, he did not show it and just listened silently.
After all, this is not the end of the world. You can't argue with others through the screen with your mobile phone. Trouble comes from the mouth. Talking nonsense in an unfamiliar environment will really hurt you!
