Earth Dungeon 30.2

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Chapter 30.2. Pre-Market Preparations

A week later.

Three people were walking through an abandoned town. They're a middle-aged man, a woman, and a young girl. It's not an ordinary place for that kind of people to go, in a world where monsters and bandits roam.

In an abandoned town, people fight each other for food and life. It's a simple world of the weak and the strong where violence reigns.

Therefore, the people who live there are very cautious and don't trust people easily. Recently, however, there has been a slight change.

They can now obtain clean water. They can get it from the core store by defeating slimes. In the past, they used to boil rainwater and drink it. But there is a limit to how much rainwater they can accumulate. That's a big change since they used to filter and drink the dirty water while praying they wouldn't get sick.

By defeating big rats, they could even get coupepans. Their life became easier because they could get some food. But only a little.

The man who puts on dirty clothes takes the child by the hand, looks around busily, and goes to the rumored place. There have been rumors of it everywhere lately, and although he is not sure of its authenticity, he decides to go there.

"Honey, is there a market here? It's not even the outer town."

My wife anxiously asks me, her face contorting into a semi-doubtful expression.

"I don't know, but I'll have to see if it's true. I heard they exchange the cores to get that."

Even though I can take down big rats, I only can take one every once in a while. Slimes are relatively easy to take down, but water alone won't fill my bellies.

"And since one of my guys died in the demolition the other day, I'll have to stay away from that site for a while. If the rumors are true, we'll have food."

A man was demolishing a building in the outer city with one day's ration coupon, but he was demolishing it so crudely that the building collapsed. Some of his fellow workers were crushed. So the man rushed out. The reason why he ran away is because the house next door was also involved in the collapse.

What would happen in that case? The answer is simple. They blamed the collapse on the people in the abandoned town. They hire those people out, scapegoat them as criminals for trespassing, and let the police catch them. And the rest will lead to a disastrous end. From decoys to killing the intruding monster, to forced slavery, to illegal work. No matter how many lives they have, it will never be enough. Even though they understand that it is not the fault of the people in the abandoned town, they use those without identification till the end.

Therefore, the people of the abandoned town fled from the demolition site as if the tide was receding. Then a man heard a rumor and came to this place fearfully.

He heard that they converted a former station building into a market. The station building, which once flourished as a hub station, is lined with buildings in the surrounding area. They built a simple wall using the building as a base.

Soldiers with bows stood guard on the roof of the tiny abandoned building, and a thin steel plate door blocked the way to the station building.

But the door was open, and guys in the same position as themselves moved cautiously inside.

The man goes in the same way, again being very wary. He has only a few things of value, but it's the inhabitants of the abandoned town who are after them.

The gatekeeper only glanced at him and remained standing, not doing anything.

Then, when we got inside...

"Honey, is this it?"

"Oh, what's this?"

Beyond the door, in front of me, I saw a vibrant crowd of people walking around.

A sight wasn't possible in an abandoned town. There was a world there that people living in this corner of the world had no connection to.