The two of them emerged from the shop, covered in dust and grime.
They had originally thought they'd do some serious shopping, but in the end, they only walked away with a handful of Revitalization Talismans.
Not long after Chen Ye and Chu Che left the shop.
A fiery, sexy figure also walked into the shop right behind them.
About a few minutes later, this woman came out of the shop just like Chen Ye and Chu Che—covered in dust and grime.
And she was muttering through gritted teeth: "If I want something, I'm getting it, no matter what!!! Mark my words!!!"
Behind her were a few smiling young ladies.
The one with the beauty mark under her eye was twitching uncontrollably.
She was silently cursing in her heart: Why did I have to run into both of these nutjobs?
No matter how beautiful the sunset, it only lasts a few minutes.
Soon, the sun sank below the horizon.
Lights flickered on all across the base.
In the campsites of the various convoys, bonfires were being lit.
Lights also came on one after another.
The base began to buzz with noise and activity.
Chen Ye could even see that on the stage over by the camping grounds, it looked like someone was putting on a performance.
Just then.
"Boom!~~~"
A figure shot forward like a cannonball from behind the two of them, slamming into the ground ahead.
A scream rang out.
And that scream sounded oddly familiar.
It was that man Xiong Baochun!
The man's burly body plowed a trench through the street as he was sent flying.
A fiery figure quickly caught up.
It was Jiang Rou.
That woman was beating up Xiong Baochun again!
"You damn bitch, you—"
Xiong Baochun lay on the ground, looking absolutely miserable from head to toe.
Jiang Rou snorted coldly, raised her leg high, and brought it down like a guillotine on Xiong Baochun's head.
Xiong Baochun collapsed on the spot.
But even though he was supposedly unconscious, there was a hint of nervous tension on his big dumb face.
Clearly, he was faking it.
Too brutal.
Chen Ye and Chu Che quickly ducked into the crowd.
It wasn't that they were afraid of Jiang Rou.
It's just that this whole thing had nothing to do with them, so why bother getting involved?
The reputation of Jiang Rou, the Demoness, quickly spread across the base until everyone knew her name.
When the two of them got back to their convoy's campsite.
They noticed another convoy had set up camp right next to them.
One look at that convoy's unconventional getup, and Chen Ye and Chu Che recognized them instantly.
"The Skeleton Convoy. We've seen them before!"
Little Fish waved her hand weakly, putting on the airs of a little adult.
"This is the first time I've seen a convoy that's so... non-mainstream!"
Chen Ye and Chu Che's return also caught the attention of this other convoy.
A bunch of young guys with mohawks and green-and-red hair looked like someone had pressed some kind of button.
They immediately lined up and bowed deeply to Chen Ye and Chu Che.
"Skeleton Convoy greets the two big shots! We hope you'll look out for us in the future!"
With that, they produced two small gift boxes, their faces brimming with sincerity.
"A small token of our respect!"
They held the two gift boxes high, their expressions screaming, "If you don't accept, we won't back down!"
Their attitude was a complete contrast.
A stark contrast to their appearance.
Chen Ye and Chu Che exchanged a glance and finally accepted the gifts.
There wasn't anything particularly valuable inside.
Just a pack of cookies and a box of sachima.
Naturally, both were well past their expiration date.
Seeing that the two of them had accepted the gifts.
These guys seemed to breathe a huge sigh of relief.
Then, with a thousand thanks, they scurried back to their own campsite.
"That's just how they are. Don't make such a big deal out of it."
Little Fish looked as if she'd seen it all before.
Chen Ye and Chu Che nodded in understanding.
Just now, when that convoy was offering the gifts.
Chen Ye could sense that these guys weren't very powerful.
At best, the most skilled among those seemingly well-behaved yet rebellious kids probably wouldn't surpass Sequence 2.
With strength like that, they were really nothing to write home about in front of the Fair Convoy.
Of course, behind them stood a girl with short hair, black lipstick, and earrings, a nose ring, and a lip ring.
She was probably a bit stronger.
But she just sat quietly by the fire, not even looking in their direction, just staring blankly into the flames.
It was as if what was happening over here had absolutely nothing to do with her.
"This convoy is pretty interesting."
Chu Che looked at the group of punk kids with a playful smirk on his face.
These convoys seemed rebellious on the surface, but they clearly knew their place.
They knew their own convoy wasn't strong enough, so when they ran into Chen Ye and the others, they backed down immediately, and did it smoothly.
There wasn't a hint of awkwardness or shame about it.
After becoming their neighbors, they were worried about causing trouble, so they sent gifts.
And they were afraid the gifts might not be accepted.
It was a deeply contradictory convoy.
They all looked punk and rebellious, like they were bad kids.
But in reality, they had a certain charm to them.
"Their convoy has six superhumans in total, and they're all named with numbers like Number One, Number Two, and so on."
"Number One is that girl sitting by the fire. They say she's Sequence 3, but they didn't say what kind of Sequence she is."
Xue Nan stood behind Little Fish. After Little Fish left.
He relayed the intel he'd gathered to Chen Ye and Chu Che.
Six superhumans in total. That number was enough to raise eyebrows.
Most convoys only had four or five at most. Six was a lot.
And those names were definitely odd.
As for how they knew the Number One girl was Sequence 3.
It was because they'd deliberately mentioned it, to send a message: "We've got a heavyweight too. You'd better not try anything."
Chen Ye could figure out that kind of small-minded thinking even without Xue Nan spelling it out.
"The convoy has about fifty people. Other than their weird outfits, there's nothing unusual about them so far."
Xue Nan then pointed to the neighbors on the other side.
That convoy had arrived a little earlier than Chen Ye and his group.
But only by about half an hour.
The neighbors on this side were much more interesting.
In the middle of their campsite, they'd lit several bonfires.
Around the largest bonfire, a few people sat huddled together.
All of them were wearing masks.
One had a mask of the Great Sage Equal to Heaven. Another had a mask of a black-faced Zhang Fei. Still others wore masks of Zhu Bajie, Sha Seng, the Bull Demon King, and so on.
Even their vehicles were painted with huge theatrical mask patterns.
These people looked more like a traveling opera troupe out for a performance than survivors of an apocalypse.
"They call themselves the Post-Apocalyptic Opera Troupe. They're pretty easy to get along with, and they're no pushovers."
Just as Xue Nan was explaining.
The person wearing the Great Sage mask walked over.
As he approached, he pushed the mask up onto his forehead.
The mask perched on his head like a little hat.
The way he walked was open and relaxed. His face was clean and even a little pale.
He looked like he was probably less than twenty years old.
He had a carefree, sunny smile, especially with those bright white teeth. It was truly memorable.
The kid was average-looking.
But that smile added a lot to his charm.
It was as if no worries could linger on that face for long.
In the middle of an apocalypse, to see such a sunny smile.
That was something special!
"Supervisor Xue, let me introduce myself."
"Wu Zehui, member of the Post-Apocalyptic Opera Troupe. Hundred Acts Sequence 4. I'm your neighbor. We used to be an opera troupe, so..."
"It's a pleasure to meet you!"
Wu Zehui smiled and extended his hand.
Chu Che was a little taken aback. He hadn't expected to meet such a sunny young man in the apocalypse.
There are some people you don't need to know for long. One look at them, and you get a feel for who they are.
And then there are people you could know for ten or twenty years and still have no idea what they're thinking.
Wu Zehui was the former.
The kind of person who instantly put you at ease.
No one could dislike a sunny, open person.
"Hundred Acts Sequence?"
Chu Che had never heard of that Sequence name before, so he asked.
But he quickly realized the question might be too intrusive. Some people are very sensitive about their Sequences. Others don't care.
Not many people were as open as this kid right off the bat.
To his surprise, Wu Zehui didn't mind at all. He just explained: "The Hundred Acts Sequence lets you use supernatural power to imitate certain specific characters. The more accurately you imitate them, the higher your Sequence rank."
"We were all opera actors before, so..."
Chu Che hadn't expected him to actually answer so directly, even adding a basic explanation of the Sequence's mechanics.
That made Chu Che take another look at this sunny, open-hearted boy.
Even though what he'd said didn't reveal anything particularly private, it still gave Chu Che a good impression of the kid.
What Wu Zehui didn't say was that the Hundred Acts Sequence eventually leads to you becoming the person you're imitating, until your own self completely disappears.
It was a Sequence with a tragic fate built into it.
And so, Wu Zehui not only introduced himself but also introduced his convoy members to the Fair Convoy.
The Post-Apocalyptic Opera Troupe had been an actual opera troupe before the apocalypse.
These people had been training in various operatic arts since childhood, and after they got older, they made a living from it.
When the apocalypse struck, they happened to be performing out of town.
After that, things played out much the same as with other convoys.
But it seemed that most of this convoy's superhumans had some connection to the operatic arts.
Compared to Wu Zehui's open, carefree, and guileless nature, the others in his convoy were a bit more reserved.
That was understandable, though.
After all, they'd only been neighbors for a few hours.
And they'd only known Chen Ye and Chu Che for a few minutes.
After some brief pleasantries, they were all acquainted.
Life at the base was different from living in apartment buildings before the apocalypse.
Back then, you might live in an apartment for ten years and only exchange nods with the neighbor across the hall. You might not even know their name.
But now, they were right next door, so close that you could see what your neighbor was having for dinner just by looking up.
After Chen Ye and the others left.
The superhumans of the Post-Apocalyptic Opera Troupe grumbled quietly: "Xiao Wu, you're way too trusting! You just met them, and you dare to bring them over here?"
Wu Zehui flashed a wide grin, giving the speaker a big, sunny smile.
"What's there to be afraid of? I know they're not bad people!"
"You, you... You can't be too careful! You never know what's in someone's heart!"
Wu Zehui laughed heartily and waved his hand dismissively: "Don't worry! Strangers the first time, friends the second. We're all neighbors. That's fate!"
"I think we'll become great friends!"
"You, you... I just can't with you!"
The person shook his head, looking helpless, but not really angry.
The atmosphere in this convoy was very good.
Even the survivors had smiles on their faces. There was no fear, no worry, no negative emotions.
As for the Skeleton Convoy neighbors on the other side of Chen Ye's camp.
They seemed a lot more cautious.
In their convoy, even the superhumans kept their voices down.
And their dinner clearly wasn't much to look at either.
Even from this distance.
A foul smell wafted from their pots.
That was definitely the smell of expired food.
Chen Ye and the others were very familiar with that smell.
But Chen Ye and his group had a much better dinner tonight.
Chu Che and Chen Ye used Revitalization Talismans to restore a lot of expired food to edible condition.
A flash of light from the talismans.
The green and white mold patches visibly disappeared.
Even some food that had already rotted and decayed was restored to perfect condition.
After using them a few times.
Everyone understood the specific effects of the Revitalization Talismans.
One talisman could treat about ten pounds of food, though that wasn't a hard-and-fast rule.
It also depended on the degree of spoilage and how long the food had been expired.
Finally, they could stop eating rotten food.
The convoy's morale naturally soared.
The Fair Convoy's upbeat atmosphere quickly caught the attention of the two neighboring convoys.
The Skeleton Convoy guys were especially envious, staring longingly at their camp.
The Post-Apocalyptic Opera Troupe neighbors also looked over.
Wu Zehui stood up and walked over to ask about it.
Chu Che had taken a liking to this sunny boy, so he explained the situation with the Revitalization Talismans.
Wu Zehui was completely amazed.
In the end, Chu Che traded one Revitalization Talisman for fifteen pounds of food.
"One's not enough! You need at least two more. These Revitalization Talismans, we only got lucky to trade for them. You can't get them anywhere else."
"If you buy in bulk, I'll give you a discount! How about fourteen pounds?"
Chu Che skillfully pumped Wu Zehui for information and learned that they hadn't been brought here by Elder Hou Junji.
They had been brought by another Silent Council cadre.
So they only knew there was a shop, but they hadn't gone inside.
At the time, that Silent Council cadre had also recommended the Silent Gold Coins to them.
But since they hadn't taken out a loan, they hadn't immediately gone to the shop to spend like Chen Ye and Chu Che had.
So they had no idea about the Revitalization Talismans, nor did they know the specific price.
They planned to get a bit more settled before heading over to check it out.
But before they could.
They ran into the black-hearted merchant Chu Che.
The Skeleton Convoy people also sent someone over to check things out.
When they heard it cost fifteen pounds of food for a single Revitalization Talisman, they couldn't bring themselves to do it.
Their convoy seemed to be running very low on supplies.
And on top of that, they'd had a run-in with Xiong Baochun when they first entered.
So naturally, Xiong Baochun hadn't bothered to give them any detailed explanations.
They also had no idea about the Revitalization Talismans.
Too bad for Chu Che, that convoy didn't have much to loot, so Captain Chu didn't get to sink his teeth into them.
...
Just then.
Outside the base.
A silver car shot in like a streak of light.
At the entrance, it happened to run into Elder Hou Junji.
The car executed a stylish emergency stop, as if exchanging a few words with Hou Junji.
Then it left a cloud of exhaust fumes and sped straight toward the deepest part of the base.
Chu Che was in the middle of his transaction with Wu Zehui.
When a car horn blared.
A commotion broke out in the distance.
A silver car screeched to a halt right in front of the Fair Convoy's campsite.
Tires squealed against the ground.
The silver off-road sports car executed a ridiculously flashy drift in the open space.
It came to a perfect stop right at the entrance of the Fair Convoy's camp.
The door opened.
A thumping, rhythmic beat blasted from inside the car.
A pair of immaculately polished leather shoes stepped out onto the ground.
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