Convoy
Red Dust Main City.
A neat convoy of cars slowly stopped in front of the Main City gates.
At this time at the city gates, there were still several waves of refugees from towns lining up to enter the city. Their bodies were full of dust and sweat stains, and the long trek had also left their stomachs rumbling with hunger. Seeing a neat convoy of cars suddenly driving out from inside the Main City, they were all stunned in place for a time.
Several Police Officers responsible for registering the names and numbers of the refugees similarly exchanged a puzzled glance and walked quickly towards the convoy.
The window of the leading black car rolled down slowly.
"Hello, we are the convoy of the Huang Consortium, we want to leave the city." Uncle Quan took the initiative to speak.
"Huang Consortium?" Hearing these four words, the Police Officers seemed to recall something. Their gazes looked through the car window at the young girl wearing a yellow dress in the backseat, their expressions somewhat surprised.
Living in the Red Dust Domain, the great name of the Huang Consortium naturally reverberated in their ears like thunder. Especially that Chairman Huang Suyue, her title was even more shocking: a rising star in the Red Dust business world, the youngest consortium chairman in history, a business genius who single-handedly brought the Huang Consortium into the ranks of super first-tier consortia...
"Miss Huang, it's very chaotic outside the city now. I'm afraid going out will be life-threatening," the Police Officer warned solemnly.
Before Huang Suyue could answer, Uncle Quan replied in advance: "We know, but we still have to go out. Please accommodate us... If anything happens, we will bear the responsibility ourselves."
"This isn't a matter of accommodating or not..."
"Forget it, let them go out." Another Police Officer patted his shoulder. "We are only responsible for guarding the city and letting the refugees outside in. As for whether they want to go out, we can't control it."
"...Alright then."
The Police Officer took two steps back and waved his hand. "There are many people entering the city right now, drive your convoy slowly."
"Thank you."
Uncle Quan signaled the driver to continue forward.
The convoy started with a hum, slowly driving out along the city gates. The refugees lining up to enter the city bypassed from both sides of the traffic flow. Countless gazes landed on this convoy. Some envied, some doubted, some were surprised... After all, for the residents who had lived in the villages and towns outside the Main City since childhood, most people hadn't even seen what a car looked like.
"Mom, what are these rumbling things?"
"They're cars, they can carry people forward."
"So big... Why don't we have them in our town?"
"These things are very, very expensive, and our town only has small paths, cars can't drive on them..."
"Tsk, so many cars, is this a wealthy family from the Main City?"
"Mr. Police Officer, hello. I want to ask where we can buy food? We walked all the way from Han Town, and we're truly starving..."
"Endure it for a while first. Not long ago, the Main City was attacked, and several main granaries were destroyed... Now we don't have enough manpower, and we can't uniformly deploy and distribute food."
"I can still endure... But the child..."
"If you really can't, you can only go find Main City locals to buy a little. They live here and might have food reserves at home... But right now, the vast majority of residents have already gone to Underground Shelters to take refuge, so don't hold too much hope."
"..."
As the car windows rolled up, the noise outside was gradually isolated.
The light and shadows of the milling crowds circulated outside the window. In the quiet backseat of the car, Huang Suyue had her hands resting on the Leather Suitcase on her lap, her head lowered, her mood somewhat depressed.
"Miss, what's wrong?" Uncle Quan asked.
"I just..." Huang Suyue opened her mouth, and still said, "Just feel a bit like a deserter."
"A deserter?"
"The situation in the Main City isn't good, is it?" Huang Suyue looked through the car window at the bare city walls, and the few Police Officers standing sparsely at the city gate. "The residents of the entire Red Dust Main City are converging here, but aside from Floating Life Painting, there are almost no means to protect the residents... Even the Police Officers only have one Handgun per person. Can relying on these things truly block the Wuji Domain?"
Uncle Quan was stunned for a long while, then shook his head and comforted:
"Miss, you're thinking too much... In the end, we are just merchants. Even if we know the predicament of the Red Dust Main City, so what?
The Whale Shark Consortium, the Paradise Consortium, the Ding Deer Consortium—which of these veteran consortia hasn't raised a batch of bodyguards possessing Divine Pathways? But when they encounter trouble, aren't they still the first to hide and protect themselves? Moreover, our Huang Consortium has only recently risen; we simply don't have a foundation as profound as theirs. Relying on our three or four bodyguards, what can we do?
These refugees running to the Main City are trying to save their lives; us leaving the Main City to go to Willow Town is also to save our lives... Everyone is the same."
Huang Suyue fell silent for a long time, and could only helplessly let out a long sigh;
Just as Uncle Quan said, they were just merchants.
"So, how are those three consortia?" Huang Suyue asked.
"As far as I know, the moment the disaster bell rang, the Whale Shark Consortium and the Paradise Consortium ceded a portion of their interests and hid together in the Underground Shelter of the Ding Deer Consortium."
"...The three major consortia are hiding together now?"
"Yes, previously the manors of the major consortia were all built for luxury and comfort. Only the Ding Deer Consortium, which started off doing land construction, built an underground palace under their own land." Uncle Quan couldn't help but sigh with emotion. "This Ding Deer Consortium indeed has foresight... However, the most miserable one is also them."
Huang Suyue raised her eyebrows, just about to ask why, but suddenly figured out the reason behind it.
"The Ding Deer Consortium's main business is real estate construction. The vast majority of their assets exist in the form of land and buildings... But in the previous round of Grey Realm Invasion, nearly half of the buildings in the Main City were destroyed. Now there's the Realm War. After these two rounds of disasters, I'm afraid the Ding Deer Consortium will go bankrupt."
"That's right. After this time, I'm afraid the most valuable things left for the Ding Deer Consortium will only be those large construction machines, transport vehicles, and Explosives for land blasting." Uncle Quan looked at the convoy behind with gratification. "Comparing like this, we should be the luckiest among the major consortia."
The convoy slowly drove out of the city gates and advanced along the muddy road. Drizzle mixed with splashing mud and stones beat against the humming convoy. The originally clean and tidy car bodies immediately gained a bit of wildness.
The headlights of the convoy tore through the dim rain curtain, advancing in formation. At first, there were quite a few refugees on the main road preparing to enter the city, but after the convoy turned onto the branch road heading to Willow Town, the figures on the road became increasingly sparse.
Huang Suyue sat silently in the backseat, looking at the desolate and withered mountains, forests, and earth outside the window, not knowing what she was thinking about.
Right at this moment, the driver suddenly spoke:
"Miss, there are two people collapsed on the ground ahead... They seem to have fainted."
Huang Suyue looked up and saw that in the center of the muddy road, there were indeed two figures, one large and one small, collapsed there, as if having fainted, blocking the convoy's advance.
"Go down and take a look." Huang Suyue pushed open the car door as she spoke.