"The third one. That was easy."
Zheng Shiduo clapped his hands and stepped out of the cramped room.
Wang Jixuan lowered his head as he entered, burned the Mimic Blade Beast and the "Human Skin," and watched the flickering flames.
They were still on the forty-sixth floor, at the edge of City of Joy's territory, in a slum built from stacked abandoned shipping containers.
Under the feeble glow of the surrounding streetlights, shadowy figures lay or sat calmly and helplessly inside and outside their "homes."
They were not curious about what was happening here.
Wan Xiaoqi crouched before several children who were nothing but skin and bones. She took out the emergency rations she carried and offered them over. The children reached for them, then seemed to remember something and drew back their trembling hands.
Lin Bo, who stood guard nearby, sighed and said softly, "It's useless. Without the gangs' permission, they don't dare eat."
"Why?" Wan Xiaoqi's voice trembled faintly.
"Because the Lower City lies outside order. It's an appendage of the fortress, the fortress's blood bank."
Zheng Shiduo curled his lip and muttered as he strolled forward with his hands behind his back, speaking dismissively:
"For the fortress to produce more supplies, it has to cultivate low-cost labor.
"Because of the Lower City, the fortress has enough miners willing to risk Blade Beast ambushes in the Outer Expansion Zone to mine and transport resources. The Middle City then turns those natural resources into guns and ammunition, protecting the fortress and supporting the front lines.
"Is that right? Of course it isn't. But would the fortress have enough firepower if it didn't do this? Probably not. The average firepower coverage of a fortress's defense zone and its internal capacity make for a complicated formula.
"Fortress No. 76 is considered