When the two rounded the broken wall and ventured deeper into the area, Chen Kong realized that the place they had stayed last night was not a common city ruin of the New Federation at all, but a town area currently undergoing demolition.
This was evidenced by the large red character '拆' (Chāi - Demolish) glaringly painted on the low walls and old houses surrounding them.
Passing through the demolition zone, the two quickly reached the edge of a plaza, and conversations from passersby drifted into their ears.
"Auntie Wang, are the hairtail fish fresh at the market today? My kid has been talking about it for days!"
"They're fresh! They're just two mao more expensive, and the soap at the supply and marketing cooperative went up too. Oh, these days..."
Under the plane trees at the edge of the plaza, a middle-aged woman in a blue cotton jacket was standing on tiptoes, her bamboo basket swaying on her arm, with half a bar of soap tied to the rim with a hemp rope.
The fishmonger was squatting behind a tin bucket, his scaling knife making a rapid 'shua-shua' sound. Silvery fish scales splashed onto the bluestone slab, reflecting the morning sun.
Listening to the faintly dialectal conversation nearby, Chen Kong subconsciously touched his own clothes.
He was wearing the tactical uniform of the Heavenly Martial Training Base, which stood out sharply among the crowd, who were generally dressed in shirts, bell-bottom pants, and worker's uniforms.
Sure enough, not long after they arrived near the plaza, several pedestrians carrying vegetable baskets stopped, their eyes scanning the two of them.
A little girl with pigtails even tugged at her mother's sleeve and pointed at Mi Yao's headset, whispering, "Mom, why does that uncle's hat look like that?"
Fortunately, the passersby only took a quick look before turning back to their idle chatter, their eyes showing more curiosity than malice.
It was as if the appearance of Chen Kong and the others was merely that of tourists visiting from outside, not warranting too much concern.
After overcoming his initial unease, Chen Kong immediately began observing the surroundings in detail.
Beside the plaza, a street paved with bluestone slabs stretched into the distance.
On the walls lining both sides of the street were faded slogans such as 'Family Planning is Everyone's Responsibility' and 'Develop the Economy, Guarantee Supply,' painted in red.
Although these slogans were blurred by the erosion of wind and rain, the neatness of the original calligraphy was still evident.
Following these slogan-painted walls backward, there appeared low-slung red-brick-and-tile houses and old-style residential buildings.
The architectural style of these houses was not only outdated, but the paint on some of the walls was clearly peeling, indicating their age.
Just as Chen Kong was still curious, Mi Yao suddenly spoke again.
"Let's go. Don't just stand here foolishly. If I'm not mistaken, there should be quite a few other people who have arrived here as well."
"If we can find them, perhaps we can gain a preliminary understanding of Longevity Isle."
Hearing this, Chen Kong belatedly realized what was happening.
That's right, they were currently engaged in a dangerous exploration of a fallen zone, not some leisurely 'sightseeing.'
Why had he suddenly forgotten the 'danger' of this place just now?
Adjusting his mindset, the two immediately walked into the seemingly peaceful and cozy town plaza.
And the camera view shifted as the two arrived at the plaza, focusing on other individuals.
[Morning, Longevity Isle · Town Area, a Small Shop]
"Tendo, when did you arrive?"
In front of the small shop, Caroline, accompanied by Jing Liuli, arrived at the location marked by Tendo on the terminal information.
Tendo was currently squatting at the entrance of the small shop, holding a bottle of orange-red soda. A straw was inserted into the small hole in the aluminum cap, and the 'zzz-zzz' sound of sipping was especially clear in the quiet street corner.
Hearing Caroline, Tendo didn't immediately turn around. He just sucked the last drop of soda clean, causing the empty bottle to emit a faint 'crunch' sound as he squeezed it.
When he stood up, the sunlight fell exactly on his shoulder, dyeing the silvery-white tips of his hair a golden-brown.
He then walked over to the old woman knitting behind the counter, took out something resembling a small banknote ('Máo Piào') from his pocket, and handed it to her.
Seeing this, Jing Liuli, who had approached Tendo, immediately looked curious and傻(naively) asked, "Tendo, where did you get money?"
In response, Tendo said nonchalantly, "I earned it, what else?"
Looking at Jing Liuli behind Tendo, the old woman took the banknote he offered, tucked it into the cloth pocket beside her knitting needles, and then looked up at Jing Liuli with a smile, the wrinkles around her eyes gathering like a flower.
"Girl, are you an outsider?"
Jing Liuli nodded.
Upon receiving the answer, the old woman said kindly, "Then you should spend more time exploring our Longevity Town. After all, it's been a while since we've seen 'living people' here."
With that, the old woman lowered her head again and resumed her knitting.
The continuous clicking of the steel needles produced a crisp 'da-da,' as regular as a clock.
"Let's go."
Without lingering at the small shop, Tendo turned and walked out.
After placing the empty bottle into the recycling bin at the shop entrance, he slowly spoke to Jing Liuli, "I'll take you to the bank here to exchange some money first. After all, the 'rules' here are a bit different from the outside."
Tendo paused, then his tone suddenly changed.
"By the way, since you arrived here, you haven't run into any trouble with the 'locals,' have you?"
"Trouble?"
Jing Liuli was stunned. She first glanced at Caroline, who was deep in thought, then looked back at Tendo, recalling the events of the morning, and said honestly, "We only saw a few passersby; we didn't encounter any danger."
"Is that so? Then you were pretty lucky."
Tendo said this while turning and walking toward the deeper part of the street.
"The 'people' here are much more troublesome than you think. Remember, try to talk less and do less for a while—watch more and listen more, just like Caroline."
Looking at the sudden seriousness in Tendo's tone, Jing Liuli looked in surprise at Caroline, who had remained silent the entire time.
Although Caroline had arrived here with her, she seemed to have realized something immediately.
As a result, Caroline hadn't spoken a single word from the beginning until now.
Her intelligence was such that she didn't even need Tendo's reminder to immediately make the most rational and correct decision.
Although this wasn't the first time she had felt this way, looking at Tendo and Caroline standing beside her, Jing Liuli still had a sense of being 'intellectually suppressed.'
Despite being the one Tendo was talking to, Jing Liuli inexplicably felt that she wasn't on the same wavelength as him.
It was only between Caroline and Tendo that there was an unspoken 'understanding.'
Fortunately, although Jing Liuli didn't consider herself very clever, she had one good quality.
She never tried to be smart when she wasn't.
"Okay, I'll try not to talk much from now on."
Saying this, Jing Liuli mimed a zipper action across her mouth.
With this heads-up, Tendo led the two through a stretch of street and eventually stopped in front of a building called the 'Longevity County Bank.'
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