Damn it! Let’s smash the darkness together!
Chapter 244 - 42: Blessing in Disguise, Prosperity on the Wasteland (Second Update, Please Subscribe)_2

Chapter 244: Chapter 42: Blessing in Disguise, Prosperity on the Wasteland (Second Update, Please Subscribe)_2

After cheering up the Patrol Soldiers, rewards and supplies were never skimped on.

Despite the Wasteland being desolate, where there were people, there would be Jianghu, as it had always been.

Over time, a relatively busy, special trading zone would often form within every few lighthouses.

There was one nicknamed ’adventurer camp’, quite vivid and appropriate.

Of course, it was a self-aggrandizing term, in essence, it was for Wasteland Wanderers and Scavengers who roamed the Wasteland to exchange goods and seek temporary shelter, as if it were an unspoken agreement.

Xu Shu had been walking for over an hour when he saw a cluster of relatively intact buildings ahead of him.

Intact, but just meaning they hadn’t completely turned into ruins of rebar and concrete.

In reality, their walls were peeling and all the glass was broken; at night, the wildly growing vines swayed, like the clawing tentacles of some monster.

Within them, one stood out, obviously well-maintained and repaired, its windows intact and a flag perched on its roof: (19,3)

That was the ’lighthouse’ here.

Though called a tower, it was actually a modern ’minister’-shaped building, nothing like a tower in shape.

Seeing the lights on inside the building and the figures bustling about, Xu Shu’s mind lightened slightly.

At last, he had seen a hub of humanity.

Passing a parking lot outside with several vehicles, he manually pushed aside the iron net and saw the heavy, solid white-painted iron gate. Beside the door on a sofa sat a hulking man, passionately kissing the woman in his lap, already at an intimate stage, hands roaming; the woman’s outerwear was already on the ground.

"Uh..."

Xu Shu didn’t try to hide the sound of his footsteps as he approached, naturally drawing the couple’s attention.

The hulking man sheepishly stopped, looking over Xu Shu, noting his dusty and weary appearance.

"If you’re staying the night, remember it’s fifty, or a hundred for a better room," the man didn’t dare stand up or stop Xu from pushing the door and entering. He swallowed nervously and, once Xu was indoors, quickly closed the door and resumed his fervent kissing with the woman.

Xu Shu saw all this and couldn’t help but feel speechless, wondering if these were also Believers of the Mother Goddess? Did the Mother Goddess’s Believers engage in this nightly? Could they keep up with the nutrition?

But, this was none of his business.

He shook his head.

Entering the main gate, the sight brightened his eyes.

To his right, extending further was an expansive hall with many pool tables set up, ten or so people playing with bets placed;

Even further inside was more boisterous, with numerous gambling tables, and the most popular one seemed to be betting on high and low, with dice being thrown by a hooded man who seemed very skilled at his craft.

In front of the gambling table, there were easily fifty or sixty people surrounding it, shouting heatedly "big, big, big," "small, small, small," and other encouraging words whenever the man pressed down the dice cup with a snap and called "no more bets."

The other tables were slightly less crowded, but not by much, with attractive dealers dealing cards live, large-bosomed and long-legged, as if barely covered.

Every now and then, some girls, although their complexion and features were not as delicate and fair as those in the city, dressed very revealingly, their wheat-colored skin exuding a different kind of wildness, carried plates of desserts and drinks, mingling among the patrons—a rare sight indeed.

"So lively?" Xu Shu clicked his tongue.

This unexpected scene of prosperity starkly contrasted with the few refuges he had encountered before, making him almost forget he was in the Wasteland.

He wondered where they scavenged all these things from, guessing there might have been a casino or something nearby left over from the past that they dug up.

However, looking left, he saw a group of burly men, as well-trained as any regular Patrol Soldier, organizing boxes big and small, all armed, keeping a vigilant watch.

Xu Shu surmised that today he had happened upon the peak trading time for the local Scavengers, Wasteland merchants, and others.

Even so, life here was pretty good, enough to make people in safer areas green with envy, and the place was teeming with people.

It’s worth mentioning on the left side corner, a group of black-robed Believers, men and women, old and young, were gathered in prayer.

Now seeing these cult followers generally made Xu Shu tense, but after listening in for a while, he recognized they were just ordinary Believers of the Dawn Church and relaxed.

Walking up to the front bar, behind it stood a muscular, at least 180-pound, middle-aged chubby man with blonde hair and brown eyes.

One look at his oily face, and it was clear that he lived a life of luxury here.

"Brother, finished your archaeology so late? Looks like your first time here, I’m Brook, but you can call me Old Bu," the fat man greeted Xu Shu in fluent Xia Country language.

"Archaeology" was just a euphemism for scavenging, or rather, picking through trash; calling it archaeology was a bit too dignified.

Clearly, besides running the rare gambling den, this place also had the public nature of an inn at the Wasteland supply point.

This Brook was the one who managed the place on behalf of the Patrol Soldiers who preferred not to show themselves, essentially the innkeeper.

With Xu Shu looking like he did coming in, Brook naturally took him for an ordinary Scavenger.

Of course, Xu Shu now had a tall and imposing stature, and though he looked somewhat dirty, he was no longer the person he once was, unlikely to be looked down upon.