The patrol escorted Ren Xiaosu, Fang Zhi, and the others all the way to the edge of the stronghold. At this moment, the redundant residences had been demolished, and new fortifications were being built inside the stronghold.
The streets here used to be clean and tidy, and there were small shops and old residential buildings of five or six stories along the roadside. But now, the residential buildings and shops were all gone. In their place was a dusty ground, half-built bunkers, and some simple machine gun vantage points.
These fortifications were built to guard against the possibility of the stronghold walls being breached.
Furthermore, the stronghold gates had been sealed shut.
"Why was the gate sealed too?" Fang Zhi said in surprise, "We came in from the east gate in the morning, but it wasn't sealed yet."
They were currently on the north side of the stronghold. There were a total of four gates in the stronghold, and the one on the north side had been completely sealed off with something like concrete. Ren Xiaosu took a look and saw the material was still wet. It looked like it had just been sealed off two days ago.
No one from the patrol next to them answered them. Ren Xiaosu was thinking that a war was probably going to break out soon. Why else would they seal off the gate for no reason?
In the entire stronghold, the east gate was probably the only gate that had not been sealed off. It looked like the enemy was coming from the west? Therefore, the Zhou Clan only had the east gate left open in Stronghold 74.
When they arrived at the construction site, Ren Xiaosu and the others were tasked with carrying bricks and assisting the professional engineering regiment in building the fortifications.
While carrying bricks, Ren Xiaosu observed what the Zhou Clan's Army was doing.
First, they transported the supplies and guarded them. Usually, this was done when they were preparing for a tough battle.
Next, they dropped underwater mines into the rivers that passed through the stronghold. These mines seemed to have been specially transported over from another stronghold.
There were many rivers and lakes in the Zhou Clan's territory, while the Wang Clan's territory was mostly plains. The Kong Clan's territory was bordered by the sea. This was the landform characteristic of the three major consortiums, so the Zhou Clan had done a lot of research on underwater weapons.
Honestly, Ren Xiaosu could not understand what they were doing even after observing for a long time. What exactly were they guarding against? Why were the defenses so tight? Normal troops shouldn't be able to enter the stronghold through the water, right?
During the work, Ren Xiaosu was not tired at all. The intensity of the work was nothing compared to his physical fitness.
On the other hand, Fang Zhi and the others were so tired that they wanted to die. On the way to get their lunch, Fang Zhi's hands were shaking as he held the plastic plates given by the Zhou Clan …
Fang Zhi grumbled, "Ren Xiaosu, can't you be more humane? Didn't he just sit in the car and smile? Do you have to be so mean?! That's not right. You worked too. Why don't you look tired at all? "
Ren Xiaosu glanced at him and said, "You guys don't do any work normally. When danger comes, you guys can't even run. It's for your own good to train your bodies."
"Is that even human?" Fang Zhi was speechless. "The Central Plains is so safe now. There aren't even any wild beasts in the wilderness. How could there be any danger?"
Ren Xiaosu pointed at his feet. "Isn't Stronghold 74 facing danger right now?"
Fang Zhi took a look at the dense fortifications around them. It seemed like that was really the case. He asked, "What's going on? Is the Kyung Clan going to invade?"
"I don't know." Ren Xiaosu shook his head. "There's not enough information, so I can't say for sure."
A moment later, someone in the crowd was suddenly pulled out by the construction site's supervisor. Then he snatched away the small recording equipment he had hidden in his pocket. "What are you doing here?"
The person who was pulled out said proudly, "I'm an investigative reporter. I'm here to document what you're doing. You're recruiting stronghold residents to work as laborers, but you don't seem to have any intention of paying them …."
But at this point, the construction site's supervisor stopped the reporter and invited him to a pergola nearby. He was given a better meal, but the reporter's recording equipment was taken away.
Ren Xiaosu, Fang Zhi, and the others watched from afar. They saw the supervisor send someone to retrieve another red packet for the reporter. The reporter accepted it and did not mention anything about the investigation again.
Fang Zhi adjusted his glasses. "He's definitely not an investigative reporter from Hope Media. He's not tough at all."
"He settled it with just a red packet?" Ren Xiaosu asked curiously.
"This reporter probably came here with the intention of extorting a sum of money. There are many such reporters in the Central Plains. They're only investigating some of the chaos in the Central Plains because they want to collect some red packets," Fang Zhi explained.
"I see. Then what about Hope Media? From what you're saying, Hope Media is a little different? "Ren Xiaosu asked.
"That chief editor of Hope Media used to be an investigative reporter." Fang Zhi said in admiration, "Back then, he hid in the Kong Clan consortium's coal mine to document the treatment of the coal miners. Because of this, he was beaten up several times. When he escaped and wanted to report what he saw and heard, no newspaper firm dared to take up the story. It was only at this time that he went to look for the Qinghe Group's Xu Ke. At that time, Xu Ke had just taken over the Qinghe Group. I heard that Xu Ke hit it off with this chief editor at first sight. Xu Ke said that since no newspaper firm dared to take up the story, we should set up our own newspaper firm to do the reporting. That's how Hope Media came to be. "
Ren Xiaosu listened with relish. Off to the side, Fang Zhi continued with a sigh, "Of course, this is just a story that I don't know where it came from, but Hope Media has always been unyielding. Eh, I also have a reporter's pass!"
Fang Zhi came back to his senses. He had also applied for a reporter's pass in the past, but of course, he did not do it to become a reporter. Instead, he did it to be Li Ran's assistant. Having an additional reporter's pass would make things easier. Many celebrities' assistants had a bunch of different identities that were all bought.
Fang Zhi rummaged through his wallet. If he showed his reporter's pass, he would not have to do any work.
Putting everything else aside, the most important thing was that he did not have to do any work.
Fang Zhi took out a card with his photo on it from his wallet and shouted to the supervisor at the construction site, "Me too —"
But before he could finish speaking, Ren Xiaosu took his reporter's pass away and snapped it. "No, you're not."
Fang Zhi was speechless.
Ren Xiaosu explained in a low voice, "I'll be taking y 'all back to the stronghold tonight to look for Li Ran and the others. If you're taken away by yourself, you'll be the only one left at the construction site after we leave. Are you willing to do that?"
Fang Zhi was skeptical. "You want to take us with you and escape?"
"Do you think I'm willing to work here? Don't worry, the stronghold is so big. Even if we escape, the Zhou Clan won't have the energy to search the entire city for us. "Ren Xiaosu glanced at him." But before we leave, there's still something we need to do. "
From what Ren Xiaosu remembered, the supplies the tour group brought with them could only last everyone for two days at most. However, it was obvious that a war was about to break out in Stronghold 74, so all of the supplies were gathered by the troops. If they did not get some supplies, the entire tour group would probably starve after two days.
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