Chapter 97: Spark Town

The Ghost Crystals had been gathered. They walked out of the ruins.

The wind changed.

Before, the wind carried the ash and rust smell of the ruins.

Now, this stretch of wind had a scent of soil.

Mu Yingying looked up and took a deep breath.

“It smells like soil.”

Su Shuang’er, pushing the bike ahead, also stopped.

She took a breath too.

An An walked at the front.

She didn’t look back, but her footsteps paused for a beat.

“We’re out.”

The team crossed the last stretch of rubble.

The ruins were behind them.

Ahead lay a wilderness.

The ground was covered in short weeds.

The sky had changed too.

The blood-colored, oppressive sky of the ruins was gone.

But it was still that gray daytime sky.

They reached a low-lying area.

Several large rocks formed a natural windbreak.

The terrain was low, blocking the wind.

Between the rocks was a relatively flat patch of grass, with a small puddle nearby.

Su Shuang’er stopped pushing the bike.

“We’ll stay here tonight. We’ll move tomorrow.”

Mu Yingying immediately threw her backpack to the ground. “Finally, a break.”

“You’ve only been walking a short while.”

Su Shuang’er shot her a glare.

Mu Yingying smiled and pulled things out of her backpack.

She arranged them on a flat stone on the grass.

“Time to eat.”

Su Shuang’er glanced at it. “This… it’s like Chinese New Year.”

“Yeah. We’re out of the ruins, so it’s time for a New Year.”

Su Shuang’er was silent for a moment, then pulled things from her own backpack.

She laid the food out too.

“Then let’s do it.”

Mu Yingying smiled.

“Good Frost, finally letting your guard down.”

“When was I ever guarded?”

“You’re guarded every day.”

“I’ve been pushing a bike until my back is breaking—what guard am I holding up?”

“You’re guarded on the inside.”

“. . . Stop analyzing me.”

They bickered while eating.

Su Shuang’er went to gather firewood.

There weren’t many large logs in the wilderness, but plenty of dry shrub branches. She gathered several bundles.

Mu Yingying found stones to build a stove.

It wasn’t built well, but it was usable.

White Peace stood a little farther away.

She didn’t join in gathering firewood or building the stove.

She just stood there.

About a dozen meters outside the camp, the scattered small stones, dry grass, and random branches were slowly drawn together by a faint air current.

They formed a light cordon encircling the camp.

It wasn’t a Barrier, but if anything approached, White Peace would know immediately.

White Night saw this from the bike basket.

“An An, what are you doing?”

“I’m keeping watch.”

“It’s not nighttime yet.”

“In advance.”

White Night let out an “oh” and didn’t ask further.

A fire was lit.

The moment the flames rose, the atmosphere of the camp changed.

The wind was still the same.

The sky was still that pale gray.

But with the fire, the circle where everyone sat felt different.

Now that it was safe, White Night didn’t hesitate. She directly upgraded the System.

The bike instantly transformed into an electric scooter.

“That was so fast, I didn’t even see it, and I don’t feel anything.”

White Night closed her eyes and focused.

She felt nothing at all.

“Nice ride. I want to take it for a spin.”

Mu Yingying couldn’t wait to get on the scooter.

But then, awkwardly, the scooter didn’t move at all.

“There’s no…”

“I checked, Auntie Ying. Recharging costs one Point. I couldn’t bear to spend it…”

White Night gave an awkward explanation.

“Yeah, it’s not worth wasting Points on that,” Su Shuang’er agreed.

White Peace also nodded in approval.

Seeing that, Mu Yingying had no choice but to give up.

As the sky gradually darkened, everyone decided to rest.

White Peace didn’t sleep.

She sat in place, keeping watch for the whole team.

That cordon stayed lit… only she could see it.

The entire wilderness was silent. Dawn came.

The team set out again.

White Night awkwardly discovered that, having turned into an electric scooter, she actually made Su Shuang’er’s effort more wasted.

“I’m sorry, Auntie Frost. I think I was a bit shortsighted with the upgrade.”

“It’s fine, Little White Night. Auntie has plenty of strength.”

Su Shuang’er reached up and rubbed White Night’s head, shaking her own to show she didn’t mind.

They walked all morning.

The terrain began to change.

The wilderness slowly turned into hills, and a small path appeared ahead.

Signs of human activity gradually emerged along the path.

A few patches of land that had once been cultivated… long abandoned, but still showing signs of planting.

Several abandoned chicken coops… now empty.

A few handmade wooden windmills, blown crooked by the wind, stopped turning.

Traces of people living here after the Doomsday.

“Someone lived around here recently,” Mu Yingying said quietly.

She pointed to the nearest patch of farmland.

The weeds there had been pulled recently, and the soil had been freshly turned.

“Somebody’s still around.”

“A town?” Mu Yingying asked.

“Maybe.”

The team continued walking.

They reached a small hilltop.

When they climbed up, the view below spread out before them.

It was a small town.

Not big.

Maybe a few hundred households.

A main street ran through the center.

On both sides were low buildings… mostly two or three stories, tiled roofs, styled like pre-Doomsday township houses.

Some buildings had signs hanging.

Freshly painted, by the look of them.

Lao Zhang Noodle House

Liu’s Grocery

Spark Medical Clinic

Spark Supply Cooperative

Spark 5-Yuan Store

At the town’s entrance, a wooden plaque hung on the archway.

Two characters were carved into it.

Spark

“Spark Town,” Su Shuang’er said.

“I didn’t expect we’d end up here.”

White Peace stood on the hilltop, gazing at the town for a long time.

White Night, on the scooter, also looked down.

“An An,” she said softly. “This town looks lively.”

There were indeed people in the town.

From the hilltop, they could see… people moving on the main street.

Someone carrying a pole.

Someone sitting at a doorway fanning themselves.

Someone hanging laundry on a rooftop.

At the town entrance, two middle-aged men who looked like “greeters” were waving toward the hill.

They had spotted the group.

“Visitors!”

“Come on in, come on in!”

“We’ve got water and food here!”

The welcome was excessively warm.

The kind of warmth you’d get at a tourist town before the Doomsday.

But this was after the Doomsday.

Such warmth shouldn’t exist in a post-Doomsday town.

Strangers shouldn’t shout like that.

“An An,” White Night said quietly. “They’re calling us.”

An An didn’t answer.

She stared at the two waving figures for a long time.

After a moment.

“They’re not human.”

Su Shuang’er and Mu Yingying both turned to look at An An at the same time.

“Not human?” Mu Yingying asked.

“Yeah. Almost every one I can see in this town isn’t.”

“They’re almost all Fake Humans and Weirdnesses.”

Su Shuang’er’s pupils contracted.

“All of them?”

“Yeah. There are a few real people in the town, trapped in certain places, unable to get out.”

“The town looks normal from the outside because the Fake Humans are pretending. They’re very good at it. Their goal is to trick passersby into entering.”

“The moment a living person steps into this town, they enter the Fake Humans’ Barrier. Inside the Barrier, everything looks like the town. But the people inside can’t get out.”

“Anyone without special abilities who steps in will never come out.”

“The real people inside have been trapped for days. They desperately want to escape. But they can’t.”

The team fell silent.

“Then should we take a detour?” Su Shuang’er said.

“We can,” An An said.

But she paused.

“But I want to kill all these Weirdnesses and harvest their Ghost Crystals.”

The two “greeters” at the town entrance were still waving and shouting.

“Visitors!”

“Come on in!”

“We’ve got water here!”

“Hot water!”

Their voices carried far.

Nothing in their voices seemed wrong.

It sounded exactly like the rare warmth of a survivor town in the Doomsday.

“This world…” Mu Yingying said quietly. “Weirdnesses sure know how to trick.”

Su Shuang’er didn’t speak. She glanced at White Night’s scooter.

“An An, do you have the confidence?”

“Of course. I can go in, and I can get out. I’ll take you all in, and I’ll get you all out.”

“What’s inside isn’t a problem for me. But you all have to follow me. No acting on your own. No talking alone with Fake Humans. No walking alone with Fake Humans. No eating anything Fake Humans give you. No taking anything Fake Humans give you. They pretend very well—you might not be able to tell. Just do as I say.”

Su Shuang’er nodded. “Got it.”

Mu Yingying and White Night also nodded in understanding.

An An looked at the town below.

“Those real people inside have been waiting for days. The sooner we go in, the fewer die.”

The team went down the hill.

Su Shuang’er pulled the scooter. Mu Yingying walked at the rear.

Her hand was already on the hilt of her Tang Dao.

Her gaze was the complete opposite of the relaxed look she had by the campfire last night—she was back to the tension of the ruins.

The team approached the town entrance.

The two “greeters” came forward to meet them.

Their smiles were very gentle.

They extended their hands toward Su Shuang’er and Mu Yingying.

“Welcome, welcome.”

“You folks are passing through, right?”

“Not many pass through these days.”

“Spark Town welcomes you.”

“Come in and rest. Drink some hot water. Have a hot meal. Then you can be on your way.”

Their eyes were real people’s eyes, their smiles were real people’s smiles, and the hands they held out looked like real people’s hands.

But they weren’t people.