After waiting for an unknown period of time, the stronghold's gate finally opened slowly. The heavy gate was pulled upward by a rope hidden in the wall, and the huge machinery in the wall creaked.
Ren Xiaosu suddenly turned his head and looked through the gate. This was the first time he was looking at that world with such longing.
In the past, Stronghold 113's gate would often open, but Ren Xiaosu had always restrained himself from looking at it. That was because there were both sweet and bitter days in this world. He was afraid he would think about that world day and night after seeing it.
Yan Liuyuan had wanted to sneak a peek inside, but he was stopped by Ren Xiaosu. At that time, Ren Xiaosu said he would definitely bring Yan Liuyuan to live in the stronghold in the future. However, even he did not believe in such an excuse.
And now, they would also belong to that world.
A large group of people came out of the stronghold. A handsome middle-aged man strode out and greeted Luo Lan with a smile. "Boss Luo, thank you for your gracious presence. Sorry for not going out to meet you!"
In the end, Luo Lan's expression darkened. "You're going to just say 'sorry for not going out to meet you'?"
Lu Yuan smiled and apologized profusely. "As soon as I received Boss Qing's notice, I immediately sent someone to pick you up. However, I also lost contact with them. Otherwise, I would've been waiting here a long time ago."
Luo Lan did not say anything else. Instead, he walked straight into Stronghold 109 and waved at the truck. "Follow me!"
Suddenly, Lu Yuan shouted, "Wait, who are those people in the truck? They have to get out for inspection, right?"
A second later, Luo Lan turned around and slapped Lu Yuan across the face. "You shameless fool! How dare you inspect my Kyung Clan's truck?"
Everyone was stunned! This was Lu Yuan, the overseer of Stronghold 109!
Ren Xiaosu was a little surprised to see this. He had not expected Luo Lan to suddenly be so violent. It wasn't until this moment that Luo Lan finally seemed like the "big shot of the organization" he had imagined.
But after spending time with Luo Lan, he knew that this was not Luo Lan's nature.
Or rather, this was actually a shell that Luo Lan used to protect himself. He needed others to fear him.
It was no wonder the people in Stronghold 113 were so respectful when they heard of Luo Lan's name.
In fact, what Ren Xiaosu did not know was that the fate of Stronghold 113's overseer, Old Liu, had been decided by Qing Zhen with just a word. Now, he had died while being exiled to Stronghold 178!
However, Ren Xiaosu suddenly felt that Luo Lan was a little interesting. That was because Luo Lan had only done this to bring them into the stronghold. After all, there was nothing else in the vehicle except for Ren Xiaosu's group of six, as well as Jiang Wu and her 20-odd students.
After being slapped, the middle-aged man stood there for a long time without saying a word. Luo Lan said with a faint smile, "What's wrong, Lu Yuan? Have you forgotten who you are?"
Lu Yuan lowered his head. "No, I haven't. Boss Luo, please come in."
He did not even ask why the people he had sent out did not return with them. Actually, it was not something important to him.
Ren Xiaosu sat in the back of the vehicle and watched quietly. So this was the power and confidence of an organization.
At this moment, a few more people walked out of the stronghold and came up to Luo Lan. They said respectfully, "Boss Qing asked us to wait for you here."
Luo Lan raised his eyebrows. "My brother's men?"
"Yes."
Luo Lan beamed. "Alright, lead the way." Then he turned to Lu Yuan and said, "Go and do whatever you need to do. I'll get someone to bring you the identification information tonight. Make me more than 20 resident information cards and send them over."
"Alright, I understand," Lu Yuan said politely.
After that, Luo Lan got into the off-road vehicle that had come to pick him up. Ren Xiaosu watched from the shadow of the back of the vehicle as the truck drove into the stronghold bit by bit. Meanwhile, Lu Yuan stood quietly outside the stronghold. No one knew what he was thinking about.
When the vehicle entered the stronghold, Yan Liuyuan leaned against the back of the vehicle and sighed. "Bro, the streets in the stronghold are so clean!"
"Bro, the buildings in the stronghold are so tall!"
In town, there were only single-story houses and no tall buildings. But here, buildings with two or three stories could be seen everywhere. There were even buildings with five or six stories.
However, what Ren Xiaosu wanted to tell Yan Liuyuan was that he had seen an even taller skyscraper in the abandoned city in the Jing Mountains. It towered into the clouds like a sword.
After witnessing that scene, Ren Xiaosu felt that the tall buildings in the stronghold were not that interesting. After all, human civilization had regressed a lot.
Jiang Wu looked quietly at Yan Liuyuan as though she was dazzled by what she was seeing. However, she did not find it funny at all. Instead, she felt that the life they were used to was so strange to the refugees.
"Bro, there are so many plants in the stronghold. They're planted on both sides of the road. Wait, look, there's even a large grassy area over there," Yan Liuyuan exclaimed.
"That's a park." Jiang Wuwei explained to Yan Liuyuan, "The people in the stronghold can take a stroll here after dinner. At night, there'll even be aunties dancing here. In this day and age, tape recorders are quite rare. If any aunties can get their hands on one that can play music, they'll become the most dazzling member of the dance troupe."
Yan Liuyuan nodded. "Bro, look. There's a father and daughter sitting on the lawn. They're feeding each other. It's such a loving scene …. Wait, why are they kissing?"
Jiang Wu said with a strange expression, "Aren't they father and daughter …."
At that moment, a strange-looking car sped past the truck. The car's engine roared as it passed by, and a middle-aged man with sparse hair sat in the car.
Ren Xiaosu asked Jiang Wu, "Why doesn't that car have a roof?"
Jiang Wu thought for a moment and said, "It's called a convertible. It's a car that only the rich in the stronghold can drive. It's also one of the symbols of status in the stronghold."
Ren Xiaosu lamented, "It's so good to be rich. Even their hair is convertible …."
Jiang Wu was stunned for a moment because she did not know how to respond to that!
At this moment, Ren Xiaosu finally understood why a celebrity like Luo Xinyu existed in the stronghold. It turned out that the people in the stronghold were living a much more blissful life than they were!
These people did not have to face wild animals, nor did they have to carry baskets of coal out of the mine while sweating profusely. All they had to do was do some decent work in the stronghold and they would be able to obtain resources.
The refugees outside the stronghold were like worker ants that provided for more than a hundred thousand queen ants.
Ren Xiaosu had heard from Zhang Jinglin that there were not many refugees outside Stronghold 113. In some places, a large number of refugees gathered to grow crops or participate in industrial manufacturing. There were even large human settlements filled with refugees.
Of course, these large human settlements were also under the control of the consortiums.
Suddenly, Ren Xiaosu saw several railroad tracks embedded into the ground. "What's that?"
"Those are the tracks for the streetcar." Jiang Wu said, "The residents can take the streetcar to and from work every day."
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