Chapter 64 - Metaphysical Coordinates The Shelter Please Follow and Recommend

The refuge was located in a cluster of buildings surrounded on three sides by a lake, with a relatively open front, and the entire perimeter was protected by an iron fence.

At the entrance was a broken automatic door, now reinforced and heightened with large cement bricks, barely allowing one to discern the mottled inscription, “Ning Yao xx Number xx Middle xx.”

Before the Great Catastrophe, this place had been a school.

Because the buildings were relatively well-preserved, the later arrivals used it as a shelter.

Is this a set of coordinates…

Gu Qian, do you know what this specifically represents?”

Waiting at the gate, he let the Patrol Team go in first to negotiate with the people inside.

Xu Shu, without turning his head, asked as he looked at the dark black flag with stars fluttering in the wind atop the clock tower.

Before coming here, he had already discussed with Gu Pan that they should use fake names to address each other when outside.

Gu Pan glanced at the lace edge peeking out from Xu Shu’s waistband and clicked her tongue before replying:

“The Astronomy Association uses the Star Tower in the center of the safe zone as the Tianyuan base point.

It’s arrayed like stars in the sky, shattered into large numbers, with one as ten.

Through these numbers, one can determine the directions: east, south, west, north, as well as the distance from the safe zone.

“The location of this refuge, for example, is precisely at a node 150 kilometers west and 140 kilometers north from the Star Tower.”

Ah?

Xu Shu was initially confused, all that talk of Tianyuan arrays and great famines sounded mystifying and somewhat terrifying.

It wasn’t until Gu Pan’s second sentence that Xu Shu suddenly realized, “Damn, so in the coordinate system, 1 equates to 10 kilometers, right?

You make it sound so esoteric.”

“emmm, basically, yes.

The border line is at nineteen units to the left and right of the Star Tower, each unit being 10 kilometers.

Shelters located at these nodal points, because they are easier to find by Patrol Soldiers for resupply, tend to be larger and house more people.”

Gu Pan said as she took another look at the protruding lace cloth bulging from Xu Shu’s back pocket and pursed her lips.

She wondered whether or not to pull it out and see what it really was but ultimately decided against it.

“Don’t ask, don’t ask, it’s none of my business!

We are just friends, that’s all!” she warned herself fiercely.

By then, Lao Jiang and the others had returned, followed by several men and women who seemed to be in charge of this shelter.

One of them, an older man, appearing to be around sixty with a distinguished demeanor, was dressed in a gray robe, resembling an ancient Chinese scholar.

Wow, there are still people wearing ancient attire these days…

Xu Shu couldn’t help thinking, as he watched the man approach rapidly, whether such clothes really wouldn’t cause one to trip accidentally.

“This is Mr.

Yang Chong from the refuge.”

Lao Jiang gave Xu Shu a brief introduction to the man.

It turned out that Yang Chong had been the principal of this place before the New Calendar.

After the Great Catastrophe, he had the chance to enter the safety zone, but for some reason, he chose to stay here.

The refuge had decent facilities, including a school and a makeshift hospital, and had gathered over a thousand Wasteland Wanderers.

The scale was not small.

And it was said that they even had a Transcendent as their strongest protective force.

Lao Jiang said a lot, and in his speech, he seemed to be speaking well of Yang Chong, occasionally hinting at Xu Shu that the Wasteland was not very safe, sometimes subject to monster attacks; if not for that Transcendent, the hundreds of children, women, and elderly people in this shelter would have died.

“???” Xu Shu’s look at him became more and more perplexed.

What, why are you telling me all this?

Yang Chong did sound like a selfless good person, but, what does that have to do with me?

You don’t expect me to stay and serve as their guard, do you?

Xu Shu glanced at him.

Lao Jiang became even more animated, “Ah, it’s a shame that the Transcendent is getting old, with no one to follow in his footsteps.

If there were another Transcendent stationed here, this place would be even more…”

“Wait a minute, you don’t have a family, do you?” Xu Shu couldn’t hold back any longer, interrupting Lao Jiang’s prattle.

Lao Jiang was startled and awkwardly said, “Ah, my lord, how did you know?”

Gosh.

Xu Shu rolled his eyes.

Damn it, no wonder you are acting like you want to stay here.

You really have no family, huh?

That’s a bit sad.

But I do!

“No worries.

Keep it up, and here,” Black Widow Prison’s Principal Yang Chong, take these some water and food into your place as our lodging fee for the night.”

Xu Shu patted Lao Jiang on the shoulder, then took two buckets of water and two large boxes of instant noodles from the car, signaling to Lao Jiang to deliver them to the aged principal.

After all, it was someone else’s territory, and Xu Shu didn’t want to owe any favors.

In the Wasteland, these foods were the most valuable.

The two large boxes of instant noodles were more than enough to cover a few days of lodging, while the water was just a supplementary item.

At that moment, a somewhat younger woman with a slightly out-of-shape figure and a somewhat harsh face stood behind Yang Chong and spoke with a poor tone, “What’s the meaning of this?

Weren’t all these supplies supposed to be brought over as provisions?

Why are there only two items?”

“Hey, Xiao Chen, don’t say that…” Lao Jiang panicked when he heard this.

Huh?

Xu Shu glanced at Lao Jiang after hearing this and immediately figured it out, his lips curling up slightly.

What’s this?

Once on your vehicle, they become your property and you directly allocate them?

Interesting, it seems you still think I am too young, that old habit of pulling rank hasn’t changed.

However, after thinking about it, if he took these supplies back to the city, it would be quite troublesome to offload them.

Wouldn’t it be better to just exchange them for cash?

Xu Shu spoke up, “I can give you all the supplies in these two vehicles.

I have no use for these goods, so if you want them, just pay with money or gold.

If you have Erosion Crystals, even better.

Just make it worth about one hundred thousand yuan or so, I won’t take advantage of you.”

The Wasteland Wanderers are quite poor, but when so many of them gather, they aren’t so poor they hit rock bottom.

On a daily basis, they scavenge through the ruins and occasionally can trade with passing merchant caravans for something from the old era for cash.

If they are lucky enough to find gold or antiques, they could make a big profit.

Like Xu Shu who had gone out on an expedition before, what for?

Truly for the elusive Transcendent opportunity?

Wasn’t it just to dig up some gold, so that his family could live comfortably and his foster father continue to receive good medical treatment in the city?

And with these two vehicles full of various supplies, trading them in the Wasteland for one hundred thousand yuan would be more than sufficient.

The Wanderers might dig up jewelry from the ruins, but they certainly couldn’t dig up food; food had to rely on passing merchant caravans or they had to go into the city themselves to replenish.

Since they had to spend money anyway, why not buy from me, and I can even give you a discount~ Xu Shu thought to himself.

Who knew, when the woman who had just spoken heard it would cost money, suddenly she became unwilling, “No, that’s too much of a rip-off.

How much could this bit of food be worth?

Asking for one hundred thousand yuan right off the bat, that’s too greedy…

You said it yourself, you have no use for them, so why not give them to us?

Why be so stingy?”

Interesting.

Is this woman’s brain made of pork?

Doesn’t she know who I am?

Xu Shu’s eyes narrowed as he watched her with a smile, almost asking her since her head was of no use, perhaps she should give it to him.

Just as he was about to speak, Principal Yang Chong glared fiercely at the woman, “Shut up!

Who allowed you to speak?

Take her away.

From now on, you have no right to manage the accounts of the shelter.”

“Ah?

Principal, I…” The woman just wanted to say something but was already dragged away with a hand covering her mouth.

Meanwhile, Yang Chong turned towards Xu Shu, bowing deeply with an apologetic face, “It’s all my fault.

Please forgive me, sir.

Times are tough on the Wasteland, and they haven’t interacted with outsiders for a long time, not knowing what manners are.

I will punish them severely and hope you do not hold the folly against the fool…”

Xu Shu glanced at him, thinking that this principal understood the situation and had a good attitude, so he too smiled and said, “It doesn’t matter, it’s a minor issue.”

Yang Chong then rose to his feet and continued, “Thank you, sir.

We would like to purchase the goods you’ve brought.

You said one hundred thousand, and we are willing to add an extra twenty percent on top of that.

We’ll stay tonight, and we will have the money ready tomorrow, if that’s okay with you?”

Xu Shu smiled and replied, “That’s fine, Principal Yang, I’ll trouble you for tonight and also need two rooms cleared for me.”

“Certainly, it’s my duty.”

Principal Yang Chong was quite the senior, probably around sixty years old, but his attitude towards Xu Shu was very humble.

This made the exchange with Xu Shu feel very comfortable.

Otherwise, if the people opposite were like that woman, looking for trouble, he really wouldn’t mind letting them understand the dignity of a Transcendent is not to be offended.

I, the ruler of the Black Widow Prison, am not someone you can defy.

Would you believe that I can show you what it means when one person’s careless words can lift even the dogs and chickens to heaven?

Afterward, nothing much happened.

After eating dinner, and a simple wash-up, Xu Shu returned to his room, but still kept a cautious eye out, propping up the bedding with a pillow to make it look like someone was sleeping there.

He, however, rolled under the bed to begin his sleep.

It wasn’t his over-cautiousness at fault, but rather the lack of chances with the Tai Chu Scroll that made Xu Shu unwilling to take risks.

Fortunately, the night passed without incident.

When dawn broke, Xu Shu opened his eyes, filled with a fighting spirit.

The Tai Chu Scroll had refreshed!

[The sun rises in the east, and all things come back to life.

Welcome back to the Tai Chu Scroll, great master]