Inside The Black Mist - Chapter 62 - Ambition

Currently, the convoy was on a hill, and a road extended from the hill toward the direction of the small town. At intervals along the road, there were signs, originally supposed to be green, painted with white symbols.

Some symbols closely resembled numbers familiar to Tianyang, and since they appear on the road, Lao Xu, who claimed to be the “Inverse Universe Expert,” speculated that these symbols were used to indicate distances.

Because there were plenty of such road signs on the highway to the Metropolitan.

Looking from a distance at the town shrouded in black mist, only the outlines of some buildings could be vaguely seen.

However, compared to the towns explored by Night Walkers, generally, towns like this one have a scale far smaller than the Metropolitan.

Though the buildings inside might have several floors or even tall towers, they couldn’t compete with the towering skyscrapers of the Metropolitan, which often reach dozens of floors.

Like the Metropolitan, the outskirts of these small towns clearly lack any defensive structures, let alone visible weapons. This inevitably made people sigh because, although the Inverse Universe has turned into its current ghostly appearance, the residents who once lived here had a fairly long period of peaceful and happy times.

After a brief stop on the high slope, the two Falcon armored vehicles begin to descend towards the town of Barren Valley.

Descending the slope, after 10 minutes of driving, the two vehicles have to stop. Because in front, at the entrance of the town, there was a building similar to a checkpoint.

The building was, of course, abandoned, and due to the passage of time, it has collapsed, blocking the road.

Checkpoints like this one were also found in the Metropolitan, but they were obviously of better quality. Many of the entrances were still usable. However, the current one seemed to require some clearing first, or the vehicles wouldn’t be able to get through.

“Captain, should we blast it with a shot?” Cang Du, who was in charge of driving the armored vehicle, turned to Han Shu.

Han Shu shook his head. “No, it would make too much noise. What if there are a lot of Dark Infestations inside? Wouldn’t we be digging a hole for ourselves to jump into?”

He thought about this for a moment and said, “Tianyang, Lao Xu, take a few people and explore the town. See where nearby is suitable for setting up a temporary camp. We’ll clear this first, then come over to meet up with you.”

“Okay.”

“No problem.”

Tianyang and Lao Xu answered in unison.

Next, the two, along with three soldiers, squeezed through some gaps in the ruins of the checkpoint and entered the small town.

The fog in the town was thick, perhaps due to being in a valley. The ubiquitous black mist in the Inverse Universe gathered here in large quantities, causing visibility to be very low.

Tianyang held a Marksman rifle and attached a tactical illumination accessory. Even so, the light could only barely reach two or three meters ahead.

Coming in from the checkpoint was a road, and on the road, wreckage of cars could be seen everywhere. This indicated that the Inverse Universe once had a very developed transportation system. Even a small town has so many vehicles.

And judging from the car models, it seemed that the residents of the Inverse Universe have designed cars of various types to meet different needs.

This indicated that there was a clear division of labor in the social system of the Inverse Universe, and the heights they reached in this regard were still above the Fortress Cities.

Walking along this road full of vehicle wreckage on a broken road for about 10 minutes, a bridge appeared in front of the team, spanning a dense fog and leading to an unknown destination.

“The productivity in the Inverse Realm is far superior to ours. Just from this bridge, you can see it. We can’t build such a large and long bridge. Of course, not needing it is also a reason.” Lao Xu looked at the bridge that appeared faintly in the black mist, feeling quite emotional.

Tianyang made a gesture, indicating that he would scout ahead. In the middle were three soldiers, and Lao Xu was in charge of the rear.

This small team walked onto the unexpectedly spacious bridge, with a metal barrier dividing the bridge into two halves.

Even so, one-half of the bridge could still accommodate two vehicles passing at the same time.

Tianyang walked along the edge of the bridge, and suddenly, in the light, behind those mists, several black shadows appeared, slanting upward.

When he took a closer look, it turned out to be a series of cables. Two of them were already broken. From the break, these cables should be composed of some kind of metal wire.

The further he walked up the bridge, the more he heard the sound of the wind coming from below the bridge.

Although the light couldn’t reach the space under the bridge at all, from the sound of the wind, you could roughly speculate that the space below the bridge was huge, possibly a cracked abyss leading to the underground.

A soldier suggested throwing a few glow sticks under the bridge to see, but Lao Xu immediately rejected the proposal, “Be cautious whenever you encounter a huge space in the Inverse Universe because you won’t know what’s hiding inside it.”

After hearing this, the soldier was horrified.

In the middle of the arch bridge, a break appeared, and one-third of the bridge deck disappeared. At the irregular edges, rusted steel bars grew long and short.

The team carefully bypassed the gap, and after 20 minutes, they finally walked down the bridge.

Descending from the bridge, there was an open space, the purpose of which was unclear, but it could be used as a temporary camp.

While Tianyang led soldiers to set up a perimeter, Lao Xu fiddled with an electronic board.

On the electronic board, a map of the team’s exploration route has been created. Lao Xu was making markings on it. He specifically marked the warning of the gap on the bridge and the position of the temporary camp, then sent the map to Han Shu.

With it, Han Shu could come over without the team having to go back to the guide.

With the warning line set up, Tianyang and three soldiers returned, and Lao Xu threw a water bottle at him. “Captain and the others will be here soon. Take a break.”

Taking the water bottle, Tianyang didn’t hesitate to take a few sips before asking, “Lao Ge (Ge means brother ‘Lao Ge’ – Old Brother), you should have a family, right? Why still live in an apartment?”

Han Shu and the others would arrive a bit later, so Lao Xu didn’t mind chatting for a few words and said, “That’s all in the past. You know, once you become an Upper Citizen, as long as you accumulate a certain amount of contribution points, you can establish your own family with lineage rights.”

Tianyang nodded. “Accumulate over a hundred thousand contribution points, and you can establish your own family. Descendants have the right to inherit relevant privileges…”

“Yes, but the fortress also has regulations. The inheritance right is limited to three generations. Starting from the fourth generation, you must earn ten thousand contribution points every year. Otherwise, the inheritance right will be revoked.” Lao Xu shrugged. “It’s a pity. A few years ago, I got injured in a mission and took half a year to recover. As a result, I couldn’t produce enough contribution points, unable to maintain the inheritance right, so I had to move into an apartment.”

“By the way, that little guy Cang Du is in a situation similar to mine. Just that I no longer have many aspirations, but that guy wants to accumulate a hundred thousand contribution points to restore his original surname.”

Tianyang was quite surprised; it turned out that the ponytailed young man had such ambitions.

“We’ve got a situation!”

Suddenly, a soldier’s shout came from afar.

Tianyang and Lao Xu didn’t have time for more chatting; picking up their rifles, they quickly rushed over.