Fairy Tale, Three High Walls

Jiang City, residential district.

Du Qionghua held Chen Xiaoyan, who was wrapped tightly in a soft blanket, and walked quickly all the way home, her breathing somewhat uneven.

She carefully placed the little one in her arms onto the sofa, rubbed her aching arms, and complained with doting affection:

"You child, if you grow any bigger, Mommy really won't be able to carry you anymore."

Chen Xiaoyan gave an embarrassed, sheepish laugh.

Immediately, like a nimble little loach, he slipped out of the blanket and ran to his room at lightning speed.

He then slammed the door shut with a "bang" and nimbly changed into a clean set of loungewear.

At home, he dared not use his Chaos Qi to conjure clothes at will...

Because every piece of clothing in the house was bought by his mother personally; she knew exactly what she had bought and how many pieces there were.

If a new piece of clothing of "unknown origin" suddenly appeared, Chen Xiaoyan really wouldn't be able to explain it.

On the other side, Du Qionghua tied on her apron and began to prepare a simple dinner.

The familiar scent of home cooking soon wafted from the kitchen.

Usually, Chen Xiaoyan's three meals a day and his snacks were all taken care of at kindergarten, so the stove at home hadn't been properly used in a long time.

After the simple dinner, Du Qionghua cleared the dishes and looked at her son tenderly:

"Baby, you were frightened today. How about Mommy asks for a leave of absence from kindergarten for you tomorrow so you can have a good rest at home?"

Chen Xiaoyan was about to refuse instinctively, but then he thought, isn't this a perfect opportunity?

He could just use the excuse of reading at home to cram some knowledge about fierce beasts and general common sense of this era.

So, he immediately put on a well-behaved expression and nodded vigorously: "Okay, Mommy! Then... will you take me to buy some books?"

Du Qionghua was amused, wiped her hands, and walked over to pinch his little cheeks:

"Hmm? You barely know how to read, yet you want to study like a grown-up?"

"I know a lot!" Chen Xiaoyan puffed out his small chest, looking proud. "I've finished reading all the fairy tales in the kindergarten reading corner!"

"Really?" Du Qionghua sat down beside him with interest. "Then, baby, tell Mommy a story? Let's see how clever our Xiaoyan is."

Chen Xiaoyan: "Hmm..."

He tilted his little head and began to improvise:

"Once upon a time, there was a princess who was very, very white, so everyone called her Snow White."

"But her stepmother was jealous of her beauty, so she ordered her to go to the boiler room to boil water."

"As a result, Snow White's skin was blackened by the smoke, and she became all dark. The guards in the palace couldn't recognize her, so they quickly called for the farm owner..."

Du Qionghua's smile suddenly began to stiffen.

"In the end, she was taken away from the evil stepmother by the kind farm owner and lived a happy life of... um... picking cotton every day!"

Chen Xiaoyan finished his story and nodded his little head as if to affirm himself.

Du Qionghua: "..."

She was silent for several seconds, looking at her son—who was waiting for praise—with a complex expression, and asked cautiously:

"Baby... are you sure this is really the Snow White written in the fairy tale book?"

"It... it is." Chen Xiaoyan lacked confidence.

Du Qionghua helplessly covered her forehead, feeling that it was indeed necessary for her son to read some normal books.

She pinched Chen Xiaoyan's cheek, then picked up her phone, found Teacher Li's number, and dialed it.

The call was answered quickly, and she said in a gentle tone:

"Hello, Teacher Li, I am Chen Yan's mother. Xiaoyan just went for a check-up; there's nothing seriously wrong with his body, he's just a bit mentally exhausted."

"I was thinking of letting him rest at home for a day tomorrow, so I wanted to ask for leave for him."

Upon hearing this, Teacher Li on the other end of the line agreed almost immediately:

"No problem, no problem! Mother of Xiaoyan, it's a blessing that the child is fine! Of course, you can take leave!"

Her tone even carried a hint of relieved urgency, and she immediately and "thoughtfully" offered:

"Is one day enough? The child was frightened and needs to rest well."

"How about... just take a week off? Let him fully recover his energy before coming back to school. We have absolutely no problem with that here!"

Hearing this, Du Qionghua glanced faintly at Chen Xiaoyan, who was listening with his ears pricked up and his big eyes wide open.

"That's fine, then I'll take your advice and ask for a week's leave. Sorry to trouble you, Teacher Li."

"No trouble, no trouble! It's only right! Let Xiaoyan have a good rest!"

After asking for leave, the mother and son set off for the largest bookstore nearby.

The bookstore had a rather grand facade, but right next to it, separated by only a single door, was an internet cafe with a flashy sign.

A sign hanging at the entrance read "New Era Electronic Reading Room," which felt rather like an attempt to cover up the truth.

Du Qionghua frowned, pulled Chen Xiaoyan closer to her side, and walked straight into the bookstore.

In the children's section, Du Qionghua carefully selected several illustrated literacy cards, classic fairy tales, and primer picture books—all reading materials suitable for an average preschooler.

Chen Xiaoyan's gaze, however, had already drifted toward the distant bookshelves...

Those shelves were filled with heavy, serious tomes like Secrets of the Spirit Realm Rift, Illustrated Guide to Ferocious Beasts, Introduction to Basic Martial Arts, and Brief History of the East Continent Alliance.

At checkout, Du Qionghua looked at the massive volumes in her son's arms, which were clearly beyond his age level, and put a stop to his selection.

"Xiaoyan, it is still too early for you to read these books."

"Once you reach elementary or middle school, teachers will naturally teach you this knowledge."

How could I possibly wait that long? Chen Xiaoyan thought.

"Then let me read for a while longer before we go home!"

"That is acceptable," Du Qionghua permitted.

The bookstore upheld an open-reading policy, allowing all books to be read for free.

Du Qionghua looked around and saw many readers comfortably enjoying this convenience. Thinking of the new books she had just bought in her shopping bag, she felt a bit more confident in settling down to read.

With a clear goal, Chen Xiaoyan resolutely hugged those thick books, found a quiet corner with a sofa, sat down, and immediately immersed himself in them.

He flipped through the Illustrated Guide to Ferocious Beasts, which contained detailed color illustrations and exhaustive information on their habits.

The descriptions regarding the formation principles of beast cores and energy tiers, in particular, allowed him to rapidly fill the gaps in his knowledge.

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Almost the moment he understood and memorized the new content, a cold chime sounded in his mind:

[You are reading carefully, skill "Photographic Memory" proficiency +5]

[Proficiency +5]

Chen Xiaoyan felt a slight stir in his heart.

He discovered that reading these dense, complex, and heavy books yielded proficiency far more efficiently than the simple fairy tales from kindergarten.

In kindergarten, devouring a thin fairy tale book would only grant about 10 points of proficiency.

Yet now, after only a few minutes of focused reading, the chime had already sounded twice, totaling 10 points of proficiency!

This discovery invigorated him, and he dove even deeper into the ocean of knowledge.

Page by page, he flipped, understood, and memorized with lightning speed.

When Du Qionghua looked up, she was stunned by her son's astonishing reading pace.

Watching his "quantum speed-reading" method, she couldn't help but chuckle and shake her head gently.

Elsewhere.

"My name is Du Yan."

Chen Yan calmly offered a pseudonym.

Zhou Li nodded and gave him a deep look, but did not press further, as if the truth of the name mattered little to him.

He turned around and ordered the other guards to drive the pickup truck away.

Then, he silently led Chen Yan and the others deeper into the camp.

The heavy iron gate closed slowly behind them with a dull thud.

Beyond the gate was not the camp itself, but a massive suspension bridge spanning a deep chasm.

Beneath the bridge was not a river, but a low-lying area packed with crude, dilapidated shacks.

There were crooked mud-brick houses, drafty wooden sheds, and even tents patched together from tattered tarps and scrap.

People lived here too, but their state was vastly different from the relatively well-dressed Qiu siblings.

Their clothes were filthy, and their faces were mostly numb or carried a hint of malice.

As Chen Yan's group walked past, various gazes mixed with greed, jealousy, and inferiority were cast from all directions.

The fragmented thoughts Chen Yan caught inadvertently were filled with darkness and filth, causing him to frown slightly and feel a wave of physical discomfort.

Qiu Jiu, standing nearby, noticed his subtle change in expression and assumed he was feeling pity.

He curled his lip and whispered:

"Brother Yan, don't pity these people. They are stationed on the periphery because most of them deserve it."

"They either like to pilfer and steal within the camp, or they have completely given up, waiting only for handouts without wanting to contribute any labor."

Chen Yan nodded slightly, understanding.

This place was more like the camp's "exile zone," used to deal with those who did not follow the rules or refused to contribute.

At the end of the suspension bridge stood another equally sturdy iron gate.

Only after passing through this gate could one truly be considered to have entered the core area of the camp.

The scene behind the gate opened up, appearing much more "normal."

Before them lay a reasonably spacious rammed-earth plaza. On the left side stood two large public restrooms and a centralized washing area, crudely constructed from cement.

To the right were three rows of rammed-earth drying yards, where grains, animal hides, and plants of unrecognizable purpose were spread out.

Flanking both sides of the plaza were several rows of relatively neat and orderly brick-and-stone bungalows.

Though simple, they appeared sturdy and durable.

The people moving about here differed vastly in their attire and spirit from those in the outer exile zone.

While they still bore the marks of hardship, they were at least comparable to the ordinary civilians Chen Yan had seen in Jiang City.

"Do you live here?" Chen Yan asked Qiu Yashuang in a low voice beside him.

Qiu Yashuang shook her head, a faint trace of pride belonging to a reserve member on her face:

"We are considered reserve mercenaries; the place where we live is further inside."

She raised her hand and pointed toward the other end of the plaza.

Chen Yan followed the direction of her finger and saw that at the far end of the plaza, an even taller and heavier iron gate stood imposingly.

Behind the gate, the outlines of more solid structures were vaguely visible.

Damn it, no wonder this sense of déjà vu is so strong.

The corners of Chen Yan's mouth twitched slightly, and he couldn't help but complain inwardly.

Isn't this Maria, Rose, and Sina?

Walking past the wall of "Sina," Chen Yan's gaze swept over these buildings.

Suddenly, he noticed that next to some relatively orderly open spaces and sheds, people were carefully tending to some plants.

The leaves of those plants had strange shapes and faintly shimmered with an unusual luster; they were not ordinary vegetables.

Qiu Yashuang, noticing his gaze, explained with a hint of showing off:

"Those aren't just ordinary lettuce or cabbage; they are medicinal herbs cultivated by Uncle Zhou!"

"Things like 'Blood-Vein Grass' and 'Dew-Condensing Flower' are the main ingredients for refining 'Blood-Qi Pill.' They are very precious!"

"Uncle Zhou can also refine pills?" Chen Yan asked, following her lead.

"That he cannot, but these medicinal herbs are very picky about their growing environment."

"Once they leave a specific energy field or their place of origin, their medicinal efficacy and yield drop sharply, or they even wither."

"Our camp collaborates with the East Continent Alliance; we provide a specific scale of planting area, they provide the technology and seeds, and we are responsible for daily care."

Chen Yan nodded slightly, his gaze shifting to another area enclosed by a crude fence.

Inside, some livestock of various sizes and peculiar appearances were being raised.

"Those," Qiu Yashuang continued to introduce, "are mostly low-tier fierce beasts captured from the wilderness and domesticated."

"For example, that 'Thick-Skinned Guinea Pig'—although it's an unranked domestic animal, it's easy to raise, not picky about food, has a high meat yield, and grows fast!"

"These are our daily rations."

"Otherwise, relying solely on hunting wouldn't be enough to feed so many people."