Bright Territory
Ansel and Tom stood nearby the gates of the territory, right next to the dirt road to see the new batch of refugees as closely as possible.
They watched each new person enter the territory with sharp, but concerned eyes. They scanned each new face, hoping to see familiar faces.
They were not alone, in fact, as there were about a dozen others trying to see if there were people they knew among the crowd.
The air was heavy with anticipation. One by one, they watched as the weary refugees emerged from the gates and to their sights.
As it was in the previous batches, they saw more and more unfamiliar faces, each had tattered clothes, bloodied bodies, and tired eyes. Without exemption, their statues exuded physical and emotional exhaustion.
As the different strange faces passed by, both their moods turned more and more dour, until finally the last person entered and they only felt disappointment.
Once again, unfortunately, there was no Althea.
In Tom's case, there were no traces of his brother or his family either.
The past few days they settled here, there had been more than ten batches of survivors that entered.
They saw that this batch was worse than the one before, and it was expected that the succeeding batches would be even more miserable.
Tom sighed in melancholy. "It's only been four days since we arrived in this world, but when I recall those peaceful times, it feels like a lifetime ago."
"Because it was a lifetime ago." Ansel just said with a frown, before sighing and went on to approach the dazed newcomers with a family photo he kept in his wallet in his hand.
"Excuse me." He asked the person nearest to him, rousing the attention of all the others.
Some stared at him guardedly, while a few girls inappropriately ogled.
However, without exception, except for some amazement at the appearances on the photos, none of them had seen Althea (or Garan).
"Still no luck?" Tom found that he had to ask again, just to be sure.
Ansel shook his head. At this, he and Tom finally headed back to their rented houses, hearts filled with disappointment.
On their way, he looked around the territory. Because of the savings of the free wall, the lord of this territory had enough funds to build a lot of houses and facilities.
So far the hundreds of people already here had a dwelling, although a bit expensive for those who only had a few silver on hand.
However, the lord here set up a guard team that could accompany citizens to go out—for a price, of course.
While it was a bit expensive, the citizens could not only grow but also gather some materials to sell.
As long as the citizen was not lazy and had some capability, the trade was not a loss.
Speaking of, he heard that the territory was preparing for an upgrade and needed more residents.
With more residents, the military might had to be increased. As such, just this morning, the management of the territory made a notice through the village center: Those who passed the interviews for guard positions would have temporary residency taken care of for 3 months.
This was a very good offer and both the police officers in their party had gone to apply to the guard team.
Speaking of the guard team…
Ansel's eyes couldn't help but look around and fix on these so-called Guards. Many of these guards were cronies of the lord here, patrol around their small territory.
Most of them were connected after migration, but there were also a few people who knew the Lord back in Terran.
These people all had a menacing aura about them, completely incompatible with the gentle image the lord had been letting on.
And they also had guns. A lot of them.
Ansel, although young, had an eye for people especially after entering the business. That Micheal Berti definitely wasn't as gentle as he looked.
However, he felt that the guy was still a bit sincere about providing a safe haven for their people, so Ansel would not judge him too much.
That afternoon, they lined up in the restaurant to eat (privately, they called it The Pig Food Factory).
As they queued, he noticed that a lot of people around him flinched and stood in a daze, looking in the air in front of them. At the same time, the air changed.
Because he was standing still, it wasn't so obvious, but there was definitely some movement on the ground. It was like a Magnitude 2 earthquake that lasted a second just happened.
However, it was really subtle so he didn't place much attention to it. Instead, he looked at the others, including Tom, curiously. Ansel knew there was an announcement, visible only to the residents.
"The territory upgraded to level 2." Tom said with a smile, a bit hopeful for the future.
The dry food they were now enduring seemed particularly decent for that one meal.
After eating, the duo exited, planning on passing by the gate again in case new refugees come.
However, on their way there, they noticed that there was a little gathering in the 100 sqm public square in front of the restaurant.
After squeezing into the crowd, they realized it was the lord and two guards making an announcement.
"As you have seen, the territory has been upgraded." He paused, his harmless face plastered with a reassuring smile.
"The upgrade conditions have been met: 100 residents, permanent or temporary, and a population of 300 for 3 days."
"This is a good thing, but I don't know if it will have any effect outside. So I hope you don't go out for the time being. I will also announce it through the village center and call people back before we upgrade."
The use of 'we' was really inclusive. This guy had a pretty good EQ.
Speaking of which, he had been here for a few days but he had never exchanged a word with this guy after the entrance, wherein he made an obvious invitation for him to join his guard team.
Ansel didn't show anything at the time but he was recruited with such certainty. As if he was sure he'd somehow be of help to him.
At the time, Ansel couldn't help but think: Could this guy see his stats?
Because of this, Ansel naturally rejected him because he didn't have much of a good impression of this plaster-face. Still tactful, the lord didn't contact him again.
But… seeing as he had no progress with finding his sister even after so many days… it looked like he'd have no choice but to interact with him again.
Sigh.
How unfortunate.