Chapter 414: Tensions on the Road to Happy Town

The factory building is located about thirty li south of Happy Town. After boarding the modified car, Gecko had already spoken with Bear Child; once he confirmed his location, he sped off like a small airplane.

It must be said that the Technology Church is truly extraordinary.

Their car is not only designed for ultimate comfort but also delivers surprisingly impressive performance.

No sooner had they hit the road than it was clear this car outperformed the Steel Monster we rode when Gecko and I first left the city. With towering tires and remarkable stability, it handled the rugged road both swiftly and securely.

Although the straight-line distance is about thirty li, the winding, overgrown route and a recent light rain made Gecko reluctant to drive straight into the wasteland, so he stuck to the road for now.

Thankfully, the Drunkard up ahead was scouting and would alert them to any issues, saving them from unnecessary detours.

As they neared Happy Town, everyone grew extra cautious.

In the past, Happy Town had always been a forbidden zone for the surrounding settlements.

Not only did no one dare enter, but even the big truck drivers would take a long detour rather than pass by Happy Town.

That’s why Happy Town was once known as the end of Highway 85.

Because the ancient Highway 85 of the pre-Civilization Era passed right through Happy Town, it became a dead end.

An end that meant there was no turning back.

But now, this once-feared forbidden zone has taken on a completely different character.

From afar on the highway, as they passed some elevated terrain, they could see numerous convoys aggressively advancing towards Happy Town, their vehicles packed with armed men.

At one point, they even witnessed several factions exchanging heavy gunfire—rat-a-tat-tat and bam-bam-bam echoing through the air in a fierce battle.

“Have these settlements completely lost it?”

Gecko looked baffled. “Haven’t we always said that over the past few years the wasteland has grown more stable and everyone now believes in looking out for one another? Without a clear advantage, no settlement would really commit to a full-scale confrontation. Yet now, they’ve all turned vicious—as if bullets and lives mean nothing!”

“That’s the problem,”

Chen Jing said in a low, cold voice, “No one knows what’s gotten into these settlements. They’ve all drawn out their forces and are heading for Happy Town. The Songshan Town we sent to investigate is probably a ghost town by now.”

“Still, Bear Child and the Godly Woman have been sent to check it out. We should avoid stirring up trouble and get there as fast as possible.”

“……”

Under these circumstances, they carefully avoided zones with active firefights and potential encounters, focusing solely on moving forward.

Lu Xin trusted Chen Jing’s decision and remained silent, though he grew uneasy as wave after wave of armed forces headed toward Happy Town—something just felt off.

Some forces were large enough to form convoys; others consisted of only a few motorcycles. Some men brandished guns while groups of three or five carried hoes and had machetes strapped at their waists, charging ahead with ferocious determination.

When they encountered a cluster of corpses blocking the road, they finally came to a stop.

It appeared a fierce battle had just taken place, leaving behind over a dozen bodies.

These corpses had been stripped of their firearms and deliberately piled up in the middle of the road, perhaps as a tactic by the victors to block the path of those following—or even as a show of force.

“Creak……”

The modified car halted in front of the corpse pile. As a few individuals rummaged through the remains, they quickly turned their wary eyes toward them. At that moment, the Drunkard stood off to the side on one foot, silently watching—though the others remained oblivious to her presence.

Lu Xin knew that Gecko intended to move the corpses to an adjacent wasteland, so he got out of the car as well.

Looking up, he saw that the group rifling through the corpses looked like a family.

The eldest was a man in his thirties or forties, with a long, unkempt beard and a lean, rugged build. Alongside him was a burly woman wearing a filthy sheepskin jacket.

The other seven or eight were barely teenagers.

The youngest child looked to be only about eight or nine.

“We got here first. Get lost, or don’t blame us for flashing our knives…”

The moment the children saw the newcomers from the car, they scrambled for makeshift clubs and stones, shouting at the top of their lungs.

“Hey, hey, big bros, take it easy…”

Quickly, Gecko raised his hand and pointed at the corpses. “We’re not here to steal anything. These bodies are merely blocking our path. Besides, out of respect for the dead—even if we can’t give them a proper burial—we should at least move them aside to offer some cover, right?”

“Why don’t we all lend a hand? Let’s move these corpses to the overgrown area while we secure the road and you continue scavenging,”

“Sound good?”

“……”

Gecko’s calm approach warmed Lu Xin slightly; not immediately pulling out a gun was appreciated.

Seeing the entire family remain silent, Gecko smiled again and produced a twenty-yuan bill.

He chuckled, “Excuse me…”

The family’s interest was piqued—especially after noticing a gun peeking from beneath Gecko’s unbuttoned jacket.

“Six, go get the money!”

“Everyone, move the bodies!”

“……”

The lean man barked orders, and a swift, wiry kid, resembling a skinny monkey, dashed forward and snatched the money from Gecko’s hand.

The others scrambled to drag the bodies into the overgrown area, all the while keeping a wary eye on Gecko’s group.

“Hey, where exactly are you all headed?”

Gecko crouched down and smiled warmly at them. “This area isn’t safe—better if you leave now.”

“Leave? You expect us to run?”

The lean man—likely the children’s father—gazed at Gecko with a mix of suspicion and a cold sneer, “Everyone knows there’s treasure in that area. Who’s ignorant enough to say otherwise? Why shouldn’t our family get a cut?”

“Treasure?”

Gecko hesitated, glancing briefly at Chen Jing and the others.

Then he slowly shook his head and said to the man, “Brother, listen up. There’s no treasure there—only things far scarier than ghosts. If your family goes over, it won’t end well. You’d be better off taking your family back and living a quiet life…”

“Even if there were treasure, what do you think a bunch of old and young like you could really seize?”

Lu Xin nodded silently.

The armed forces from the settlements started converging in that direction.

As if drawn by the commotion, that family also moved in, almost absurdly, yet they seemed disturbingly earnest.

“Nothing is scarier than poverty!”

A man muttered as he began stripping the clothes off a corpse by the roadside, his eyes gleaming with a vicious intensity, “There’s endless treasure there. Once we go, we’ll definitely carve out our share.”

“We won’t score the big rewards—maybe just a couple of gold coins to trade for some grain?”

“Those miserable brats—no matter how much they farm, they never have enough to eat…”

“……”

Listening to the man’s muttering and watching him viciously tear at a corpse’s clothes, and then seeing the grim determination in the eyes of those scrappy kids dragging bodies, even Gecko’s smile began to falter.

It was then he realized that this family had been severely affected.

“We can stop this family, but we can’t hold back the others,”

Chen Jing, still seated in the car, suddenly murmured softly, almost to herself, “So we’d be better off sticking to our mission and solving the problem at its source.”

“……”

Lu Xin agreed, and once most of the corpses had been moved, he started heading back to the car.

But then, a sudden, ferocious shout made everyone jump. It came from the kid who had earlier snatched money from Gecko; he lunged forward with a grim snarl, aiming a stab at Gecko’s lower back.

Yet he missed by at least a meter.

After a brief moment of shock, Gecko turned toward the Drunkard by the roadside and noticed her pupils had constricted slightly.

Only then did he realize that she had distorted the kid’s vision, making him mistakenly believe he had struck his target.

It wasn’t just that kid; the other children, seeing what appeared to be an impact, charged over.

Each wielded either a brick or a wooden stick, pounding the ground with force.

One of them had a face so twisted it looked as if writhing worms were beneath the skin.

With his mouth agape, he viciously bit at the air while repeatedly jabbing his rusty knife.

“Stab you, stab you, stab you…”

“There’s got to be more money on him…”

“Dad, Mom, come quick—take them down! If we get a gun and a car, we can surely seize the treasure…”

“……”

The lean man and the burly woman exchanged glances before rushing forward in a united family effort—grabbing, tying, and beating their opponents with stones as they frantically dragged the corpses into the overgrown area.

Watching the family battle an unseen enemy, the area fell silent for a moment.

With the Drunkard nearby, no one dared to make a move.

Or rather, even without the Drunkard, that family wouldn’t have posed a threat.

Yet their fierce expressions and brutal actions sent shivers down everyone’s spine.

“Let’s go!”

Chen Jing sighed softly from the car, “Let them fight it out here a little longer—maybe someone will even live.”

After a brief silence, everyone returned to the car.

Even the Drunkard scouting outside showed that everyone’s mood was heavy.

Only the Doll, with wide eyes, seemed puzzled at why everyone had suddenly lost their cheer.