Su Chen brought a new high-power walkie-talkie with him into the forest.
It was a military-grade device that Pang Peng had brought from the city. He had personally modified it with a high-power amplifier module and replaced the stock antenna with an external high-gain one. Even deep in the forest, it could maintain a stable communication range of 6 to 12 kilometers.
If he stood high up in the canopy, with an unobstructed line of sight, the effective communication range could theoretically exceed 15 kilometers.
To test its actual performance, he planned to conduct communication checks at set intervals.
He hadn’t expected that just as he reached the ten-kilometer mark and successfully established contact again, the distant camp would hit him with some astonishing news.
Oran City!
The city on the southern horizon had been identified. It was an international metropolis with a population of two to three million.
He also learned about the lockdown on advanced technologies like artificial intelligence and nuclear power.
"A ten-day protective barrier for the city? That’s so unfair," Yu Ziyuan remarked from the side.
Su Chen was noncommittal. The barrier had its pros and cons. While a comfortable environment without monster invasions meant slower leveling, they would ultimately have to face the harsh reality after the ten days were up.
However, the Rune building Pang Peng had mentioned, the Trial Tower, offered an unparalleled advantage for leveling up.
By paying a certain amount of Rune Essence, one could attempt a tower-climbing challenge of a corresponding difficulty. Those who died would be buried inside along with all their Rune Essence, while successful challengers would make a fortune. There were also leaderboards and exclusive rewards.
It was an enviable advantage.
Furthermore, the other Rune buildings that Dongfu City lacked each had unique features.
The Mercenary Tavern, from which you could currently hire goblins as muscle, or goblins to help craft tools.
The Arena was an open field for personal PKs. After agreeing to a deathmatch, the loser would not only pay with their life, but all their Runes would go to the victor.
The Teleportation Hub, a Rune building that had just appeared today, created Teleportation Gates at various key locations within the city and in explored areas outside the forest, effectively cutting down on travel time.
Thanks to this, a group of people from Oran City didn’t have to spend too long on the road and managed to reach Dongfu City in just a few hours.
"A Spirit Core Well and a Life Pool? That’s just ridiculous! One provides Rune Energy Recovery, and the other provides Life Potions," Yu Ziyuan complained, feeling it was unfair.
Just as she’d said, the Spirit Core Well and the Life Pool would produce a certain amount of precious liquid each day, which could be collected, bottled, and used for free.
While this "Little Blue Potion" was nowhere near as potent as the rare Empowerment Potion, its ability to quickly restore a third of a person’s entire Rune Energy Bar was enough to make anyone burn with envy.
A Rune Mage’s Rune Energy consumption was nothing to scoff at.
Without proper planning, it was very likely they would completely exhaust their Rune Energy halfway through a fight, after killing just a few monsters.
But what evened the scales a bit was that while the resources were theoretically free to collect and use, a toll had been artificially imposed.
Not only that, but even using the Trial Tower involved an additional layer of exploitative fees.
"Leave it to the capitalists to never disappoint."
Pang Peng’s voice came over the walkie-talkie. According to his report, Oran City was far more chaotic than they had imagined. It had completely devolved into a dark, lawless metropolis, with the main Rune Core sites carved up and controlled by four major factions.
"They have Rune Core resources we can’t even dream of, yet their society has completely collapsed."
It was certainly a lamentable situation.
As for the reliability of the Priest’s words, and whether Hunter’s Home had exaggerated when relaying the information, everyone generally believed over eighty percent of it.
The man had come in the name of God to spread his doomsday gospel.
He was part of an advance team, so more people would inevitably follow to make contact. If he was lying, his story would be exposed sooner or later when their statements were compared. He should be able to weigh the pros and cons of that.
Besides...
"Oran City is a society where guns are basically legal, and it’s famous for its ’five-finger discounts.’ Believing that city hasn’t descended into chaos is like believing I’m the first emperor of China," Liao Dahai chuckled from the other end of the line.
Crude, but he had a point.
Stereotypes aside, the organizational structure of the city’s upper echelons was likely far too weak to begin with.
"Chaos is a ladder."
From another perspective, order did indeed hinder the flow of Rune Essence. Who knew how many ruthless, terrifying individuals would be spawned from a city as chaotic and dark as Oran.
This was not a good thing.
The worry was that the other side, accustomed to that way of life, might do something rash and offensive.
Su Chen wasn’t interested in discussing the city’s social dynamics. Based on the information he had, an unsettling premonition began to form in his mind: Dongfu City hadn’t been partially relocated—the entire city had likely been transported.
’Perhaps it broke apart during the transmigration, and the other sections of the city ended up somewhere else entirely.’
’This is not good news.’
He had only come to the campsite because his uncle’s family had invited him. He had no idea what their situation was now, or if they were even still alive.
"Is something wrong?" Yan Ruoruo had been listening intently but also noticed the shift in the man’s mood beside her.
"It’s nothing."
Su Chen didn’t elaborate on the subject.
Worrying wouldn’t solve anything, so he didn’t dwell on it.
Nearby, Yu Ziyuan glanced at the two of them, a thoughtful expression on her face.
Just then, the voice from the walkie-talkie began to break up and distort. They had finally found its maximum range.
Though it was hard to measure the exact distance, it felt like they were more than ten kilometers away.
"We’ll talk more when we get back."
Su Chen gave a quick reply while the signal was still stable, then ended the call and continued leading the two women deeper into the forest.

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