We Were Not the Ones in the Wrong (Long Chapter / Yet Laugh at the Busy Examinees of the World

The old elevator made a creaking sound. The sound was like a strong summer wind passing through Ruins and the valley, and like a dead old tree howling desperately.

Penny glanced blankly at the leading young man with big earrings and a gold ring in front of him, "Is there any problem with this elevator?"

This morning He Ao sent a message to Penny and called her two taxis, asking her to take everyone to Hope Building to meet the other Wilderness Wanderers.

There were ten of them, including the boy He Ao rescued, all came together.

"There's no problem. This elevator was just maintained three years ago."

The young man with the golden ring looked back at Penny and said with a smile.

Penny looked at the rusty iron sheet in the elevator and the rust-covered retractable fence door in front of him that didn't match the style of the elevator at all, and nodded slowly and cautiously.

When she nodded, her wandering eyes could even see the rough welding joints between the iron fence door and the edge of the elevator.

Obviously, the iron gate and elevator are not original.

If she hadn't left the city yet, she would have even thought that this was a camp in the wilderness, a wilderness wanderer camp that dug out architectural remains from the Cataclysm era and then used all kinds of junk to rebuild human society.

Penny I didn't expect that there is such a place in the city.

Compared with the hotel where she and He Ao lived before, this place was simply Ruins.

Bang——

The old elevator shook violently and stopped as everyone lost their balance.

The retractable fence door slowly opened, and what Penny saw was a dilapidated square. Densely packed dirty curtains were criss-crossed and hung in the square, barely dividing the square into "small grid rooms" that could be "lived".

A foul smell mixed with feces and urine hit his face.

However, the environment in the wilderness is much worse than this, and the people standing here are not the kind of people who have never seen the world. Everyone just showed a little surprise on their faces, but there was no other sign.

The young man wearing the big gold ring glanced at the surprised people behind him, smiled and spread his hands.

"Welcome to Hope Building. People who have no hope live here."

Then he turned around and led everyone forward, "This floor is not our destination. To get there, we have to take another elevator."

Penny followed the young man blankly, passing by the "rooms" surrounded by dirty and smelly curtains.

Most of these curtains are not tightly sealed and are only fixed to the ground by some bricks or ropes. There are wide gaps all over the place where the curtains meet.

Through these gaps, Penny saw unkempt people.

They sat together on the dirty floor, most of them with a yellowed mattress next to them, where they slept.

When Penny and others passed a certain room, a Little Girl stood up and lay on the crack to watch them.

Her eyes are as beautiful as pearls.

She was lying on the curtain, her small body pushing the curtain forward, and her messy hair like withered yellow straw painted on the worn curtain, creating a shadow.

She stared at Penny curiously, watching the group of people walking behind the curtain.

After a while, she withdrew her gaze, sat back on her yellow cushion, took out a dark and cold starch stick from the side, and bit it with difficulty.

Penny withdrew his gaze from Little Girl. Most of the people on this floor were not as curious as Little Girl. Their eyes were cloudy and numb. They allowed Penny and others to walk by as if they had not seen anything.

"They..."

Penny spoke softly.

"I know what you want to ask," the young man standing at the front said slowly. He lit a cigarette, held it in his hand, and said as he walked,

"You want to ask why they are here. Every 'gentleman and lady' who comes to this city will have such questions, but I didn't expect that you Wilderness Wanderers would also have such questions."

Then the young man did not give Penny time to respond, and continued, "Some of them were born here, and some came here because they couldn't live outside.

Some of them are in debt to the consortium, and every salary will be taken away by the consortium, making it impossible to survive outside.

Some are born with no property, no land, no houses, and everything. They don't even have money to study, so they rely on doing odd jobs outside to make a living. Some work as waiters, and some help factories do simple manual work.

Of course, these jobs have little income and cannot even help them afford the cheapest rent. They either wander on the streets or spend a little money to live here.

This floor is the cheapest, with weekly rents ranging from 5 to 18 Federal Coins. If you can afford more, Hope Building also has single rooms or apartments with kitchens. The highest rent will not exceed 100 Federal Coins per week. The cheapest houses in Dawn City are here.

Of course, you can't expect anything from the environment.

Living here at least has a shelter from the wind and rain, and there are people to manage it. It can only be said to be better than sleeping on the street. "

"Who's running this place?"

Penny asked doubtfully.

"Gangs, all kinds of big and small gangs, Golden Hair Gang, Black Hair Gang, Bald Head Gang, Noodle Gang, they have all the names. They are each responsible for their own area. They maintain the basic Order here,"

The young man held the cigarette in his mouth, "But there are also fights among the gangs here. If you encounter them, stay away."

Having said this, the young man looked back at the "room" where Little Girl was looking at them just now.

"That Little Girl, during the last gang gunfight downstairs, his father was hit by a stray bullet and died because he was not running away. The family of three originally lived in a single room downstairs, but they had to move up after their father died. His mother worked several jobs every day and wanted to move back and even send her to school."

The young man turned around and sighed, "There are many such people on this floor. Some of them succeeded, moved to other floors, and even left Hope Building, but the vast majority of them stay here forever."

He raised his head and suddenly found that the girl in front of him had disappeared.

······

Little Girl bit into the dark starch stick with difficulty, when she suddenly heard the sound of rapid footsteps.

A dark-skinned girl appeared in front of the crack. She glanced at Little Girl and handed over a piece of bread that was still wrapped.

Little Girl blinked, clenched the starch stick in his hand, and looked at her suspiciously and warily.

Penny looked at Little Girl's expression, reached out and tore open the bread bag in his hand, tore off a small piece and put it in his mouth to eat, and then handed the bread over again.

Little Girl blinked again. She rummaged around the mattress and found a silver glass bead. She wiped it clean with her clothes and handed it to Penny.

Penny glanced at the glass bead and nodded slightly.

Little Girl showed a smile, she put the glass beads into Penny's hand, and then quickly took the bread from Penny's hand.

She carefully tore off a small piece of bread and stuffed it into her mouth, then looked at the bread in her hand, paused, carefully closed the bread bag, and stuffed it under the mattress.

When she raised her head again, the girl standing in front of the crack had disappeared.

······

Penny returned to the team, and the young man did not ask her where she was, but still took them into the next elevator.

Penny's bread was bought by He Ao for them before and they ate most of it last night.

What was left was shared by everyone when they came over for brunch, and she gave away her piece of bread.

The elevator still made a creaking sound as they went up and finally reached the top floor.

The young man took them out of the elevator, and what they saw was a wide space.

Weak Wilderness Wandererss were sitting on the floor one by one, and some young Wilderness Wandererss with a little strength were Order distributing food in an orderly manner.

Since Ronald's father's time, Ronald's camp has placed great emphasis on discipline and Order. These things have been engraved into the bones of this generation of young people who grew up in the camp.

This makes the food distribution they organize very Order, and there is no looting situation.

Of course, not every Wilderness Wanderers is adapted to such Order, but out of respect for the He Ao who rescued them, and respect for the loaded guns of the people who maintained Order, they did not show any lack of cooperation.

"This area was originally the residence of a big gang Hope Building. The boss Victor just took care of them two days ago, so this area became vacant."

The young man smiled and glanced at Order's well-organized Wilderness Wanderers, "To be honest, you don't really feel like Wilderness Wanderers to me."

Then he waved his hand and walked towards the elevator, "We will deliver the food on time for the past two days. I hope you will recover soon."

Penny looked at the surrounding Wilderness Wandererss again. At this time, a surprised voice suddenly came from the crowd, "Penny? Linda?"

"Dak?"

Penny was stunned.

Dak was the young man who held a shovel in the factory and took advantage of the power outage to lead the Wilderness Wandererss to resist the foreman. When he saw Penny, he came over excitedly.

Dak and Penny were originally in the same hunter team and had a good relationship. He liked Penny's cousin Linda.

The three of them met again, smiling happily and chatting while walking.

Penny also shared what happened in the wilderness with Dak and Linda.

When they heard that He Ao killed Ku Yuan, returned to the temporary camp with Ku Yuan's body, and dug out Bitter Ape's Heart, both of them were extremely excited.

At the end of the discussion, Penny saw the dense crowd of Wilderness Wandererss and suddenly asked softly, "Has the leader said how to arrange everyone?"

"No," Dak shook his head, "I just said he would settle here temporarily."

"We can go back to the wilderness," Penny looked at the dense crowd and said softly, "With so many people, we may be able to rebuild a more glorious camp."

Hearing this sentence, Dak fell into silence.

After a long time, Dak looked at the Wilderness Wandererss in the square and said slowly, "In fact, no one is willing to return to the wilderness."

He has spent time in factories and knows the thoughts of people in factories.

"Why?"

Linda asked softly.

"Because there is no Exotic Beast here."

Penny answered instead of Dak. She looked at Dak, "But the city does not welcome us."

Dak lowered his head and fell into silence.

Except for Penny, the visas of all Wilderness Wanderers here have long expired. Once found, they will be expelled from Leaving the City city.

They live in the city and have to avoid Federal Bureau of Investigation and dawn Municipal Police Department. Gangs and gangsters will not be friendly to them. If they cannot find formal jobs, they can only find ways to take jobs that do not require social security numbers.

Dak had asked Money Rat Gang before if there was such a job.

Yes, but the price is low and the money earned can only enable them to live in Hope Building.

They can only live like mice in the city.

Or one day, they will be captured again by factories like Kyle Manufacturing Company and become disposable labor.

But even so, they don't want to go back to the wilderness, where they never know who will come first, Dawn or death.

Even a once-prosperous camp like Ronald's camp would be destroyed by a Exotic Beast attack.

Every time a camp or family in the wilderness is attacked, many lives will be taken away. Countless people become Exotic Beast's meals, or become a hotbed of flesh and blood for them to hatch their offspring.

In the city, you can live.

Even if you are like a mouse, living a humble life with a shortened lifespan.

The three of them fell into silence at the same time.

Silent clouds covered the sky.

——

By the time He Ao arrived at Hope Building, it was almost evening.

The sky was shrouded in dark clouds like night. He Ao passed by Wilderness Wanderers one after another, and finally saw a lonely figure in the corner.

Penny stands alone in front of the huge Floor-to-ceiling Window, looking at the city full of Brilliant glory under the dark clouds and dark sky.

She stood quietly there.

He didn't even notice that his arm was cut open by a sharp piece of scrap steel, and blood with a light green glow overflowed from the long wound.

She seemed to hear footsteps behind her and turned her head.

Looking at He Ao in confusion.

He Ao stood beside her, gazing with her at this glorious city under the dark clouds.

"Chief,"

Penny spoke softly, a tear sliding down the side of her face, "Why do we either have to face the dangerous wilderness, or live a humble and fearful life in the city?"

She raised her head and stared at He Ao,

"Did we do something wrong? Are we just born in the wilderness and have to bear this fate?"

She looked at He Ao, tears welling up like spring water. Her whole body seemed to have been drained of all her strength, and she stumbled to the ground, "Are we born wrong?"

He Ao squatted down, hugged her gently, and patted her back.

Penny is very similar to Ronald when he was young.

He Ao stared into the void, as if saying to this girl, and also as if saying to himself,

"It's not our fault."

Next year, Qingyun will go away on this day, but he will laugh at the busyness of raising children in the world.

Good luck in the college entrance examination.

I wrote more, it will be later.