Chapter 1077: Original Inhabitants?
"Our world has experienced an apocalypse, and there aren't many people left alive now." Zheng Da explained the scene of destruction inside the city. "Because some animals have evolved to be good at digging holes, the city walls can't completely stop them either, so we've had to focus on reinforcing the inner city area. For safety, people basically only move around in the inner city."
As he spoke, the vehicle passed through a towering gate.
Behind the gate was indeed a bit better than it looked from the outside. Although the houses on both sides of the street were also sealed up with various dismantled metal strips, they appeared much neater and cleaner.
The sound of the truck caused people both inside and outside the houses to come out. Hearing the driver say "We have guests," the people on both sides of the street shifted from hope to excitement. Some even rushed to the side of the vehicle, jostling to get a look at the people inside.
This kind of state was unsettling not just for the players, but even for the people from Zone 002.
"Everyone, move aside! Don't scare the guests!" Zheng Da stood at the back of the truck and shouted at the crowd outside. Only then did those people back off a bit, though they still craned their necks.
"Sorry for the spectacle. As you know, the environment here isn't good, and there's not enough food. People usually don't get enough to eat, so they're especially hoping for guests." He turned back to explain to Xu Huo and the others. "When guests arrive, the guard team will slaughter a cow to welcome them, and everyone can have a good meal of meat."
"I see." Uncle Guan sighed empathetically.
Xu Huo leaned against the back of the truck, watching the people left behind by the vehicle. They weren't exactly gaunt and sallow, but they weren't healthy either. What stood out were their teeth—faintly red with some cracks—and the look of intense longing in their eyes as they stared at everyone on the truck.
It was longing.
Among the people who had come out, there were only a few old, haggard, and numb-looking women. The rest were all men. Having gone a long time without seeing women, it was understandable that they would instinctively stare at the women on the truck. But the fact that they looked at the men the same way was undeniably strange.
"Do they eat people?" Xu Huo suddenly asked.
This made everyone on the truck pause. They all turned to look at him.
"I think they're a bit strange." Xu Huo seemed unaware of his companions' surprise and silent warnings, pressing Zheng Da further. "And there are too few women."
This was an obvious fact. Any normal person would have doubts.
Zheng Da sighed first, then spoke with a regretful expression. "The ones who survived the disaster were either the lucky ones or those with good physical fitness. Before Xiaohe City was established, they did indeed survive by eating their own kind for a while. But they don't do that anymore."
"Although the guard team isn't large, it's enough to ensure everyone here gets to eat."
"If they've eaten people before, can they ever return to normal?" someone from Zone 002 asked.
"Unless forced, who would do that? They were forced too." Zheng Da pointed to some people sitting under the eaves. "Look at them. They survived, but they can't get past it in their hearts. They live like ghosts, neither human nor inhuman."
"I didn't expect you to still be willing to keep them. In our district, these people would have been abandoned long ago," the questioner remarked with emotion.
"We considered that too, but as you can see, Xiaohe City doesn't have many people. This is already the last population of our world," Zheng Da said. "No matter what, they are still our compatriots."
The atmosphere was getting tense, and Xu Huo wisely didn't press further. After understanding the situation, he leaned back again, motionless as before.
The truck's final destination was an old commercial building in the center of the inner city. When the vehicle stopped, Zheng Da jumped off first and greeted a few people coming out of the building.
They had already notified the city's guard team in advance. The arrivals were two men and two women, all players. After greeting them warmly, they invited them to go wash up first.
"Resources are limited. We only have four bathhouses here—three for men and one for women. If you don't mind, each group can go together. The water is clean." The charming female player took the women from Zone 002 by the arm, trying to build rapport. "Usually, it's just smelly men coming and going. I don't have anyone to chat with. This is great—finally seeing some clean, pretty girls."
As she spoke, she even gave the little girl who had bitten someone earlier a piece of candy.
The girl was starving. She took it and shoved it into her mouth, but she was still wary of the woman. As soon as she got the candy, she hid behind Chi Minghong.
"My surname is Ma. You can call me Miss Ma." The female player didn't mind the girl's rejection and prepared to lead the way.
The two male players on Xu Huo's side were named Sun Jing and Zeng Shangping. The former took the initiative to explain that the men's and women's bathhouses weren't far apart, telling them to feel free to wash up.
After that, Zheng Da and the others moved the xenomorphs from the truck and shouted for people to prepare a big feast for the evening.
And so, they took the elevator to the third floor, where two bathhouses faced each other.
Since there were more men, they used two bathhouses. Sun Jing and the others left after arranging things, saying they would prepare a place for them to rest and would bring something to tide them over first.
The Zone 002 people entered one bathhouse, and Xu Huo's group of four entered the other.
Ruan Qiyan first checked every corner of the bathhouse. "Nothing installed."
No instruments, no items.
"They brought us into this building without any precautions at all. That means they're not worried about us causing trouble." Uncle Guan looked troubled. "I don't know what kind of people these really are."
"This building has a spatial restriction." Xu Huo found a low stool and sat down, not intending to get into the water. "Spatial items are already unusable."
Ruan Qiyan and the others each tried as well. You Xuewen sneered. "These people definitely have bad intentions. They're not planning to treat us like a dish on the menu, are they?"
From the moment they saw the people of Xiaohe City, they had suspected that the players living here also ate people.
"Probably," Xu Huo said. "I'd guess they not only eat them themselves but also share them with those people outside."
"Since food is scarce, why keep those ordinary people alive?" Ruan Qiyan asked. "Why not just kill them and move to another district to live better?"
"You actually believe they're original inhabitants?" Xu Huo looked up at him. "This place can't even meet basic living needs. What reason would players have to stay and support a bunch of useless people?"
"If it were really as they said, and Xiaohe City was all that was left, there would be even less reason to stay—unless they were noble enough to take on the responsibility of continuing the human race."
"But even if that were the case, it wouldn't be possible."
"First, the environment is no longer suitable for human survival. Second, those people outside probably aren't all from the same place."
"Aside from Zone 002, in all the districts I've been to, human appearance doesn't differ much. But if you look closely, there are differences. Because of different external environments, people from different districts develop certain concentrated traits during evolution. The most obvious is skeletal changes, which show up in facial features—forehead, jaw, width of the face—as well as the shape of ears and nose, and the length of hands and feet."
"Generally speaking, the closer people live, the more similar their appearances. Unless the people here were deliberately selected from different places to ensure diversity, they probably aren't original inhabitants either."
"Indeed," Uncle Guan said. "A group that survives an apocalypse wouldn't be gathered from different locations. Usually, it's a large population that ends up with only a small fraction surviving."
"If that's the case, then those players can only have one identity."
(Chapter End)