The Only Player in ‘Child of Stardust’
Chapter 272 - 188: Falling Star

Chapter 272: Chapter 188: Falling Star

Four hours later, Zhou Yuan’s door was knocked on by Xia, the bus had arrived.

At the bus station, a weathered double-decker electric bus slowly approached. The windows were full of scratches, some even broken, patched up simply with tape.

The bus arrived at the station. The door creaked open, like an exhausted old man, as if it might collapse at any moment.

"Three people," Xia handed three pieces of paper currency to the conductor.

"Get on," the conductor, a rugged, muscular man, said, puffing on a cigarette.

Zhou Yuan and the others got on the bus smoothly and sat at the back of the second level.

Twenty minutes later, the bus finished charging. The driver took one last drag of his cigarette, stomped it out, and returned to the driver’s seat to start the bus.

"If you haven’t slept enough, you can continue to sleep. It’s six hours to our town," Xia said.

"That far? Does the bus have enough power?"

"Of course. Although it looks broken, this bus can run two thousand kilometers on a full charge. It charges really quickly," Xia said with a look of regret, "It’s a pity the battery manufacturing technology is lost. We can’t make such durable ones anymore."

After leaving the range of Zuanshi Town, the road ahead plunged into endless darkness, only the bus’s headlights piercing the night like a sharp sword cutting through the dark sky.

Along the way, Zhou Yuan saw some small towns, dotted with lights. As they got farther from Zuanshi Town, the lights gradually disappeared, replaced by the glow of red fires.

"Don’t these towns have generators?" Zhou Yuan asked curiously.

"Generators? Those haven’t worked for a long time. Fuel is very precious," Xia countered, "Does your hometown have a lot of fuel?"

"It seemed like there was a lot left after the disaster..." Zhou Yuan answered vaguely.

"Do they still have some now?" Qiao Yi perked up. If there was enough fuel, they would go the distance to retrieve it.

Zhou Yuan shook his head, "The mutated monsters destroyed it all."

"What a pity," Qiao sighed deeply, "After the disaster, we searched many places but didn’t find any oil. The remaining fuel is too precious to use; once it’s gone, it’s gone for good. So all the generators turned into scrap metal.

Fortunately, a power station survived the great disaster. Otherwise, we wouldn’t even have electricity now.

According to books, there used to be something called controlled nuclear fusion that could produce infinite energy. But that’s gone too."

Unable to extract oil?

Zhou Yuan didn’t pay much attention to this because oil isn’t everywhere. Some places have dry wells, while others find large oil fields with just a few digs.

The areas humans have explored in the Wasteland World aren’t very large, so it’s not surprising they haven’t found oil.

What he cared about was the power station.

"Power station? Where is it? Near Zuanshi Town?"

"We don’t know; the power station’s location is top secret. Only a few big shots know. For instance, Zuanshi Town’s mayor, the leaders of various settlements, and high-ranking members of major organizations..."

Qiao lowered his voice, "It’s said that over a hundred years ago, a group of Goddess Night cultists attacked the power station, aiming to destroy it and plunge the world into darkness, under the embrace of the Goddess Night.

Those fanatical cultists didn’t succeed, but their actions were a wake-up call. If humanity wants to continue surviving in the Wasteland World, they must not allow these religious elements to grow.

Just like the old world books said: Religion is a barrier to the development of civilization.

So, people from various settlements united and launched a purge against the Goddess Night Cult. This purge led to the cult’s decline, with the surviving fanatics fleeing to the outside, now the dangerous zones.

Many years ago, the dangerous zones were part of safe zones, but mutated creatures migrated there suddenly, making human survival impossible. Those cult fanatics later died in that great migration.

Since that incident, the power station’s location became top secret. To cover it, they created numerous fake alert zones to divert attention."

"Who are ’they’?" Zhou Yuan asked.

"The true rulers of this land—the Alliance."

Qiao said, "The Alliance is formed by Zuanshi Town, the power station, Wasteland Industries, the Hunters Association, and other forces along with various safe zones, similar to a country of the old world. Everyone knows that unity is essential to survive in this world; they must work together."

Zhou Yuan pondered for a moment, "Is the Haibolong Technology Company part of the Alliance?"

"!!!"

Xia and Qiao’s expressions showed clear shock and surprise. "How do you know that name?"

"I once happened upon an old world newspaper mentioning this company. Later, on my travels, I saw things produced by this company," Zhou Yuan explained seriously. Whatever he said, they would believe him.

Qiao lowered his voice, somewhat tense, "Was it one of their hibernation pods?"

"?"

Zhou Yuan was taken aback, then nodded without changing his expression, "Why? Have you seen one?"

Qiao and Xia exchanged a look, exhaled, and nodded slightly.

"We delved into the danger zone this time to investigate the ’Falling Star Incident’ a year ago.

It was an ordinary day, but suddenly dozens of meteors streaked across the sky, falling toward the danger zone.

Since the great catastrophe, the sun, moon, and stars disappeared, and there hadn’t been any meteors. Everyone was both shocked and delighted, thinking it was an omen, that the two-hundred-year eternal night might be ending. But sadly, it didn’t; the Falling Star Incident caused no changes.

The Alliance gathered many hunters to explore the danger zone to find out what the falling stars were, but they suffered heavy losses. The investigation was eventually abandoned, with only a few hunters persisting, trying to uncover the truth, like us..."

Xia took over, "We wandered in the danger zone for a long time, reaching areas we’d never been to. There, we found a hibernation pod made by Haibolong Technology Company. However, it unfortunately landed in a Grotesque’s territory, the pod door was forcibly torn open, and the person inside was eaten.

We didn’t have time to inspect further before the Grotesques surrounded us, so we had to flee quickly."

She paused briefly, "There’s no Haibolong Technology Company in the Wasteland World, but a long, long time ago, when I was just starting to remember things, I think my grandfather mentioned it...

He seemed to have been a member of Haibolong Technology Company."