Chapter 180: Araki Camp

The predecessor of Huangmu Camp was a breeding farm located outside the city, originally used to tame and raise some low-level magical beasts.

No one knows when, after the farm was abandoned, “refugees” not recognized by High Heaven City began to gather here spontaneously, and over time, this camp was formed.

Chen Bugu stood at the camp entrance, feeling a bit unfamiliar.

When he came here in his previous life, humans had already poured into this world in large numbers, and the appearance of this camp was also very different from what it was now.

Walking into the camp, he could see stone houses of various styles lining both sides of the main road.

Some stone houses were simply stacked with stones, some were inverted triangles, wide at the top and narrow at the bottom, and some were crooked and had no aesthetic appeal at all.

Of course, the most common ones were still square buildings; most races chose almost identically on this point.

Although the styles of the houses looked strange and varied from the outside, through the doors and windows, one could clearly see that the interior decorations were almost surprisingly consistent.

Aside from simple magical beast furs laid out for sleeping, there would be no other furnishings inside the house.

After all, most of those staying in this camp were merely transitioning here to enter High Heaven City, so their needs for housing were only for shelter from wind and cold, and for sleeping.

Storage rings were no longer rare here, so no one would casually leave their belongings inside the house.

What's more, whenever a beast tide attacked the city, the camp would almost be completely destroyed, so putting effort into house interiors would ultimately be a waste of time.

Many houses didn't even have doors, which was why Chen Bugu could so easily see the situation inside.

Perhaps Ailijia's appearance attracted the attention of some people; many Awakeneds from other races subconsciously stared at them.

The races living in the camp were diverse and strange, mostly gathered here for two reasons.

The first reason was to escape.

Obsidian Town was not the only town; there were many other gathering places of similar scale around High Heaven City.

When such gathering places were annihilated by beast tides or other disasters, the survivors would become refugees and spontaneously move towards the nearest gathering place, and many of these refugees poured into High Heaven City.

The second reason was for breakthroughs.

Many Awakeneds from various races, after reaching Black Iron Nine-Star, had to break the shackles of their “container” through the power of a boundary stone, just like humans.

These races were mostly obscure minor clans, perhaps gradually declining in the long river of time, or perhaps overthrown by the encirclement of other races; in short, most were solitary individuals, and the only way for them to enter High Heaven City was to use the camp as a transition first.

There were quite a few such races, so the occasional appearance of an uncommon face like a human would not attract much attention.

On the contrary, the Elf Clan, to which Ailijia belonged, held a certain influence in High Heaven City, and their appearance here was more likely to draw eyes, as they often represented power and wealth.

The forces living in Huangmu Camp were not divided by race, unlike in Obsidian Town.

Here, forces were divided by teams.

Even members of different races, if willing, could spontaneously form mercenary teams that could accept commissions and carry out missions.

They accepted missions and exchanged them for rewards.

Whether used to strengthen their own power or to purchase a stepping stone to High Heaven City, money always played a role, only here, money became beast crystals and beast cores.

Upon reaching the center of the camp, one could see a huge shed, which was once the breeding farm, now a place for free trade among Awakeneds of various races in the camp, and also the most orderly place in the camp.

No matter how much one coveted a treasure, whether by theft or robbery, everyone would implicitly agree to do so after leaving the farm.

“If you want to buy something, don’t bother looking; those are just scams.”

Xing Yifu saw Chen Bugu looking at the farm, thinking he was interested, so he spoke to remind him.

“What, did you get conned here?”

Chen Bugu found it a bit amusing; Xing Yifu's expression at that moment almost spelled out “gullible” on his forehead.

In fact, he knew very well that the camp’s explicit rule was only that killing was forbidden.

In the absence of supervision, how could there be good goods in the so-called trading market of the farm?

The principle of “an innocent man is guilty only for possessing a treasure” was well understood by most who managed to survive here.

“Hmph, it doesn’t matter; those few bastards paid the price for it anyway.”

Chen Bugu did not respond; in fact, there were many like Xing Yifu who were conned, but not everyone had the ability to get their revenge.

The farm had never sold tools or equipment; those could only trick newcomers who had just arrived. To truly trade equipment or items, one still had to go to the city. Although it required some handling fees, the procedures were very complete, and there was no need to worry too much about transaction security.

The farm was located in the center of the camp, covering a large area. It would be repaired immediately after each camp reconstruction and had not been abolished to this day, naturally because it still had value to be preserved.

This was still a trading place, only what was traded was intelligence clues, mission commissions, and even people…

After passing the farm, they walked another few hundred meters, and Xing Yifu raised his right hand, pointing in a certain direction.

“It’s probably that area. You can inquire about the specifics yourself. Although they haven’t been here long, they’ve made a name for themselves in this area, so they’re not hard to find. I need to send this guy back to the city, so let’s part ways here.”

“Oh, by the way, your name is Chen Bugu, right? I’ll remember it.”

After Xing Yifu finished speaking, he walked straight forward, leaving only Ailijia still floating beside Chen Bugu.

“Remember to come find me in the city at the address I gave you afterwards. Once my medicine is complete, I will give you another beast core.”

After Ailijia finished speaking, she waved to Chen Bugu and hurried to catch up with Xing Yifu.

After parting ways with the two, Chen Bugu walked into the alley following the direction Xing Yifu had pointed.

Although called an alley, it was actually just the remaining space between different houses, so there was no sense of direction or regularity. Chen Bugu could only search according to the general direction.

After walking for three or four minutes, for some reason, Chen Bugu suddenly had a strange feeling.

It seemed that since a minute ago, he hadn’t seen any Awakeneds.

Although the depths of the alley were not as bustling as the main road, this area was full of houses, and even if most people were out on missions during the day, it was impossible for not a single person to be seen for a whole minute.

Just as Chen Bugu was wondering, he suddenly saw two small figures at the end of the alley.

The two figures, holding weapons in their hands, flashed past the end of the alley without any hesitation, seemingly in a great hurry.

Chen Bugu looked back at the alley he had walked through and frowned.

He probably understood.

A conflict had broken out in this area, so the nearby Awakeneds had basically hidden or deliberately avoided it.

It seemed that one of the parties involved in the conflict might have considerable deterrent power in the camp.

“But this area, it’s too much of a coincidence…”

As Chen Bugu was lamenting, he suddenly felt the surrounding temperature seem to rise a bit.

Immediately after, not far away, a pillar of fire shot into the sky.