High walls

"The inner city?"

"Lu Zhan, that's not somewhere people like us can just walk into."

"We're not even allowed to approach it deliberately."

Caught off guard by the question about the inner city, Lin Kexian froze for a moment.

A bumpkin was still a bumpkin. He hadn't even become an Armored Warrior yet, and he was already getting full of himself, setting his sights on the inner city.

Was that somewhere "commoners" like us could even dream of going?

Forget ordinary Armored Warriors-even Gang Leader Hong of the Wutu Gang wasn't qualified to enter.

"Lu Zhan, there's an enormous barrier between Yero City's inner and outer cities."

"It's a wall over a hundred kilometers long and a hundred meters high. People from the outer city can't enter without special permission."

"Last time, I only stopped far away to take a look at the wall, and I got warned."

Recalling that experience, Lin Kexian still felt a lingering fear.

If he hadn't been quick-witted enough, he would have suffered far more than a 3,000-yuan fine.

Even so, they had given him a rough time.

The soldiers stationed on the wall really didn't treat commoners like them as human beings!

"A wall over a hundred kilometers long and a hundred meters high?"

"Isn't that a little excessive for the inner city?"

Lin Kexian's "revelation" left Lu Zhan rather stunned.

In his previous life, Lu Zhan had seen his share of magnificent architectural wonders.

But sealing off the inner city with a wall a hundred meters high and over a hundred kilometers long?

Such a feat was unheard of.

Even setting aside the staggering amount of work involved.

Just how frightened did Yero City have to be to build its wall so high?

Were the monsters in the Wilderness really that terrifying?

And why did he assume the wall was meant to defend against monsters?

For humans barely two meters tall, a wall a dozen or so meters high would have been enough.

Filled with intense curiosity, Lu Zhan asked Lin Kexian about the Wilderness.

The fellow merely looked embarrassed.

Timid as a mouse, he had never left the outer city himself.

His knowledge and understanding of the Wilderness were entirely superficial.

Perhaps he didn't want Lu Zhan to realize how little he knew, or perhaps Lu Zhan had already wrung every last bit of "worldly experience" out of him.

For the rest of the journey, Lin Kexian clammed up.

Unless he absolutely had to, he rarely spoke again.

Seeing this, Lu Zhan lost interest in chatting as well.

The coming meeting would likely be a tough battle, so he might as well conserve his energy.

Clank, clank!

Perhaps Lin Kexian was good at repairing vehicles, or perhaps Lu Zhan's luck was running strong.

Despite shuddering all over, the steam car actually managed not to break down again.

After traveling a dozen or so kilometers, it stopped outside a private compound.

"Lu Zhan, this is Helmsman Ma's residence!"

"He must have been waiting for us for quite a while. I'll go in and announce you first."

The steam car had barely stopped when a dozen or so gang members carrying weapons gathered around it.

Still sitting inside, Lu Zhan showed no fear whatsoever. He had even spotted a few familiar faces.

After all, his body's previous owner had grown up in this sort of environment and possessed at least a basic measure of courage.

"Brothers, Lu Zhan was invited by the helmsman..."

After getting out, Lin Kexian chatted for a while with the dozen or so men guarding the entrance.

Their gazes toward Lu Zhan immediately changed.

They had nearly misjudged him. Lu Zhan hadn't been brought here to be "disciplined under gang rules"-his fortunes had turned around.

Yero City was pretty strict about enforcing the law.

Even trusted men like these under Helmsman Ma didn't dare openly carry gunpowder weapons.

Throughout it all, Lu Zhan's gaze remained on their assortment of weapons.

Without exception, however, they were all melee weapons.

Yet as far as Lu Zhan knew, gunpowder weapons did exist in Yero City.

There was no way a criminal organization like the Wutu Gang didn't have a hidden stash.

Five minutes after Lin Kexian entered the compound, Lu Zhan was finally granted an audience with Ma Yancheng.

After passing through several more checkpoints and inspections, Lu Zhan at last met the much-talked-about Helmsman Ma.

Although he had grown up in the Wutu Gang, he had never been qualified to interact with senior gang figures like Helmsman Ma.

"My dear nephew Lu, we finally meet."

"The resemblance! It's truly uncanny!"

"You're your father's son, all right. Young and capable, with a boundless future ahead!"

The moment they met, Ma Yancheng assumed the manner of an elder.

Taking Lu Zhan's hand, he launched into an endless account of the "brotherly bond" he had shared with Lu Zhan's father.

At the most emotional moments, even the corners of Ma Yancheng's eyes grew moist.

Even Lu Zhan had to admit that Ma Yancheng was a superb actor.

No wonder that "little actor" Lin Kexian held him in such high regard and had spent much of the journey singing his praises.

Had Lu Zhan not grown up without receiving any special care whatsoever, he might actually have believed him.

"Uncle Ma, I've finally found you. Life has been so hard for me."

"You have no idea. Ever since I was little, I never had enough to eat..."

"Even after I started working, I couldn't afford to rent a place..."

Since Ma Yancheng wanted to put on a show of "affection between uncle and nephew," Lu Zhan would naturally cooperate wholeheartedly.

If he didn't pour out his woes properly, wouldn't his eighteen years as an orphan have been for nothing?

If Ma Yancheng truly intended to be a good uncle, Lu Zhan didn't mind putting up with this for a while.

After all, he still had no way to pay his rent!

Lu Zhan's complaints were so heartfelt that, at the most emotional moments, his body even began to tremble slightly.

Yet throughout it all, his gaze remained fixed on Ma Yancheng's left arm.

Ma Yancheng's entire left hand and arm, all the way up to his shoulder, were covered in metal.

At first, Lu Zhan had thought it was a mechanical arm.

In gang life, losing an arm or a leg was hardly unusual.

But when Ma Yancheng clasped Lu Zhan's right hand with that metal hand, Lu Zhan knew he had been wrong.

There was clearly flesh and blood beneath that layer of metal.

Yet this wasn't something Lu Zhan had seen. His body had told him.

Strangely enough, the instant that metal hand gripped his, Lu Zhan's body felt fear.

That fear came not from the metal's coldness and hardness, but from an instinctive reaction triggered by contact with a powerful creature.

Lu Zhan's body told him that Ma Yancheng's left hand was a powerful "predator."

What was going on?

Why was my body having such an intense stress response?

Could Ma Yancheng be an Armored Warrior?

Although his body was panicking like crazy, Lu Zhan's mind was clearer than ever.

First, he could be certain that what had just happened wasn't a hallucination.

The Blood-Red Antenna in his mind had picked up the "warning signals" his body had collectively sent out.

Those warning signals suggested that Ma Yancheng was definitely no ordinary person.

His left hand possessed strength far beyond that of an ordinary human.

According to rumor, Armored Warriors were covered from head to toe in metal armor.

Given Ma Yancheng's current appearance, Lu Zhan could hardly avoid suspecting that possibility.