"Did people live here before?" Mekin, Zach, Sham, and the others looked at the ruins on both sides of the street covered with vegetation and were a bit surprised. From the traces of these broken walls, one could vaguely see that they were once residential buildings, but the architectural styles were quite different.
"Of course," Scott looked up at the surrounding ruins and said, "This used to be the place where our ancestors lived. But it was invaded by the disaster, and now it's desolate. However, there are still things that our ancestors used to live with here. Our job is to take these things back and give them to the consortium."
"The place where our ancestors lived..." Hearing Scott's words, Mekin and the others were a bit amazed and excited, and they curiously looked around at everything.
Dudian saw a parchment map in Scott's hand. He tilted his head and peeked through the gap between Scott's arm. On the map, there were crooked routes drawn. In the central position, there was a large square pattern with the words "Sylvia Great Wall" written on it. Outside the Great Wall, there were irregular circles outlined by curved lines, and each was marked with a number.
"Zone 0, Zone 1..." Dudian glanced at it and found that these numbers were repeated. He saw six or seven "Zone 0" alone. However, these marks and circles were outlined in different colors, as gorgeous as a rainbow.
Seeing that Dudian was observing the map, Scott smiled and said, "This is the scavenging map outside the Great Wall. After the hunters of each consortium have cleared an area, they will mark it and divide the territory. The areas of our Mellon Consortium are marked with red lines and writing. The other green and yellow ones belong to other consortiums. There are records on the back of the map. Green represents the Military Department, and yellow represents the Huasheng Consortium."
Dudian nodded slightly. When he saw these circles distinguished by different colors, he had already guessed this. He asked, "What are the gray areas outside?"
"These are the places that the hunters haven't cleared yet," Scott's smile faded slightly, and he said seriously, "Never step into these gray areas. It's extremely dangerous in there, and even hunters might lose their lives."
"Dangerous?" Dudian was a bit curious and asked, "What kind of danger?"
"Demonic creatures!" Scott said softly.
Dudian's heart skipped a beat. Demonic creatures?
At this time, Scott passed a corner. There was still a traffic light lying on the street here, which had been covered with vegetation and entangled with many vines, so it hadn't been collected by the scavengers.
"Up ahead is Area 8," Scott looked at the street ahead of the corner. It was still a ruin. But because it was close to the center of the city, there was less vegetation. A large number of ruins and collapsed houses were all exposed. The destruction caused by the aftershocks of the earthquake could be seen everywhere on the desolate street. The street was cracked, and there were many deep pit-like marks on the ground, which seemed to be made by small meteorites.
"Everyone, be careful," Scott's expression became serious. He drew out the short sword at his waist and said, "Area 8 is an area that the hunter masters have just cleared. We are the second team to enter this area. Although the rewards will be very rich, we are also likely to encounter some remaining small demonic creatures. Don't let them attack you, or you will be infected and demonized."
Dudian, Mekin, and the other newbies couldn't help but feel a bit nervous. They imitated Scott, took out their respective weapons, held them tightly in their hands, and vigilantly scanned the surrounding environment and the fluffy vegetation near the street.
When following Scott into the middle of the street, Dudian saw a new wooden signpost inserted by the roadside with the word "8" written in blood-red, indicating that up ahead was Area 8 under the Mellon Consortium.
Dudian took a look and saw that the street ahead obviously hadn't been cleared. He could vaguely see lumps of green vegetation. Judging from the outline, there were most likely scrapped cars under the vegetation. His heart skipped a beat. If there were cars, there would naturally be generators. Although more than three hundred years had passed and these things had long since become scrap iron under the erosion of the disaster rain and the scorching of the ultraviolet rays, maybe some well-preserved parts could be found!
Scott said in a low voice, "Under these green vegetation are some large supplies. We'll figure out how to take them back when we return. First, let's find a place to stay as our base camp for these ten days, and then we'll search for supplies separately." With that, he walked straight past these scrapped cars covered with green vegetation.
Dudian and the others, along with the twenty scavengers from the consortium, followed closely behind. When everyone had walked far away, no one noticed that suddenly, a pale and withered hand stretched out from the window of one of the cars covered with thick vegetation. It struggled and reached out towards the people who had already walked away!
...
...
When they reached the end of the street, it was a crossroads. There were fallen streetlights and huge billboards on the ground, but they were already covered with vegetation. Scott looked up and selected a relatively intact three-story building. "This will do. First, clear out the supplies inside and gather them together," he said and led the team towards the three-story building.
"Ah!" Suddenly, a scream rang out. It was a girl at the back of Dudian's team. She pointed at the ground in front of the building's door in horror and stammered, "Blood, blood!"
Everyone looked over. There was impressively a pool of blood on the ground. Although it had dried up, judging from the color, it was obviously left recently. After all, under the washing of the disaster rain, it was very difficult for the bloodstains on the ground to remain for a long time.
Dudian's face changed slightly. Thinking of the demonic creatures that Scott had mentioned earlier, he instinctively grasped the black powder at his waist.
The other children became nervous when they saw the bloodstains on the ground.
Scott frowned and said, "What's there to make such a fuss about? I told you that there are demonic creatures in these places. This blood is obviously left when the hunter masters killed the demonic creatures. Don't be so jumpy in the future, rookies!" Apparently, he didn't have as much patience with the other newbie scavengers as he did with Dudian.
Mia beside him stepped forward and pushed open the door of the building. The door was made of glass, but the glass had already been shattered all over the ground. It seemed to be a store. Although the vegetation had spread all over the walls inside, one could still see the simple layout and some counter-like things.
Dudian followed Scott in. In this dilapidated store, the ground and walls were piled up with thick dust. After a long accumulation, this dust had already become as hard as a layer of soil.
Scott used the handle of his short sword to push aside the vegetation on the counter. Inside the glass cabinet, there were some dusty gold ornaments. Scott's eyes lit up. He immediately smashed the glass with the handle of his sword, grabbed the ornaments inside, wiped the dust off with his clothes, revealing the golden luster. He bit them with his teeth and showed a surprised expression again.
Dudian watched silently, knowing that if these ornaments were taken back by him, he would most likely get a very generous additional commission. After all, these gold ornaments were favored by the nobles.