CHAPTER 1147: SECTION 708: TRANSACTION (1)

At noon, Malin led the caravan south once again, spending a night at the outpost they had reached before. The next day, Malin guided the caravan along the mountain path by the river. Malin initially thought the caravan wouldn’t be able to pass, but surprisingly, the caravans used machine beasts. These hexapod mechanical bodies could be operated by humans known as operators using Spiritual Energy. Large-scale operations would require a terrifying amount of Spiritual Energy, but half of the caravan was made up of operators—meaning that controlling one beast was quite simple and only required basic skills.

Therefore, Malin only needed to sit on the third beast where the person in charge was located and guide them.

According to the person in charge, they had never been to this eerie place before, describing it as a blindfolded horror environment.

Malin specifically marked the path on the map for them. Although adventure groups had entered this area long ago, except for the river and some safe areas along the river that had been explored and marked on public maps, most places were only marked on the Adventurers’ Guild internal map in New Hangzhou.

The person in charge said that knowing or not knowing those places made no difference; they were either dangerous or extremely dangerous. These caravans could deal with small-scale zombie tides or a few mutated beasts, but the dangers in the Dark Zone were incredibly perilous and fatal for them.

Thus, if it weren’t for Malin and Sage Yu’s identity, this caravan wouldn’t have been able to enter the Dark Zone at all—after all, there are plenty of opportunities to earn money, but if you lose your life, then you have nothing left.

By noon, Malin and the caravan arrived at his hometown.

In just one day’s time, Malin scratched his head as he looked at the fortress ahead—what are these zombies up to?

With this doubt, Malin walked over and stood alone in front of the large gate assembled from various scrap metal sheets.

A few zombies poked their heads out from the top of the watchtower. They noticed Malin and withdrew their heads with a cry.

They didn’t attack Malin, which was a good sign, so Malin waited for the zombies to open the gate. The little zombie waving a flag yesterday watched Malin from inside.

· What brings you here, sir?

This child also seemed like ironclad proof of contact between Subspace and this world—even a young zombie had emerged as a Spiritual Energy entity.

"I brought a human caravan; we have food. Do you have anything to trade? Anything in this city will do. You can let them take a look." Malin replied.

The little zombie didn’t know what food was, but when Malin explained it was something to eat, the little creature eagerly nodded in agreement.

· I’ll go find our leader; he’s on his way here. You can let your caravan enter the city to rest; we’ve cleared the North City District and are building walls.

Malin nodded and then turned to signal safety.

Sage Yu pushed aside the still-concerned person in charge and quickly ran over.

He examined the city gate, then the walls, and then the zombies holding various metal rods as spear-like weapons. Sage Yu noticed that these zombies showed no aggression, not even taking a second glance at them: "It’s truly astonishing. Are these the zombies enlightened by that old lady True Lord? I’ve never seen this kind of intelligent zombies."

"Honestly, I found them very strange the first time I saw them as well."

Just as Malin said this, a noise came from outside the city. He turned and saw a squad of zombies returning from hunting, having a minor clash with the caravan—although the zombies didn’t attack, they still showed some hostility toward the humans’ presence.

Luckily, a howl dispersed the zombies’ hunting squad’s hostility, and they circled around, carrying their harvested items into the city.

· Hello.

The leader came over. He approached Malin, raised Malin’s hand, and touched Malin’s hand with his forehead.

Was this a ritual of submission?

Malin wondered, meanwhile introducing Sage Yu to the leader.

The leader looked at Sage Yu with a wary expression.

· Machine person.

He sharply sensed the different aura on Sage Yu.

"He’s one of us; he’s trustworthy." Malin said, extending his hand to call the caravan’s person in charge, introducing them to the leader: "The person in charge of the caravan; they’ve brought jerky, food—all edible—you can trade with him."

· Trade, understood.

The leader nodded, turning his head to instruct his zombie subordinates to push the sorted items over.

"They truly have intelligence. Before today, if anyone told me these creatures had humanity, I’d have smashed their face." Mr. Person in charge commented while looking at everything before him.

"Now that you see it, I can say this: as long as you don’t harm them, your safety is my responsibility; likewise, theirs is under my responsibility too. Even if business doesn’t work out, you can still become friends. Zombies thrive far better than you in the Dark Zone. If you want to find something, you can also commission them."

Malin gathered the leader, the person in charge, and Sage Yu together for a short meeting.

Everyone expressed no problems with Malin’s proposal. Sage Yu even gave the leader an on-the-spot task—before the big destruction, this area, due to its many resorts and supermarkets, had plenty of cores and batteries. These things, though still produced in New Hangzhou now, couldn’t compare in quantity to what can be picked up from the ruins.