Leaving the sight of the crowd, Lu Heng began to wander around Fallen City to better understand the situation within.
He expanded his senses to their limit and then began to frantically collect the information he wanted to know. As long as it was something people were thinking, he could hear it within his reception range. Those thoughts continuously poured into Lu Heng's mind.
Filtering out the uninformative content, he finally captured a lot of useful news. However, it was somewhat regrettable that the leaders of those organizations also resided in a central area, which was cordoned off separately. Outsiders who were not major members of the organization could not enter.
However, the commotion he caused at the city gate earlier and the disappearance of the carriage and its occupants after entering the city had already been reported to the powers that be here.
Many people in the city were now secretly searching for his whereabouts. But perhaps they would be disappointed, as Lu Heng had changed his attire to conceal his tracks.
While Fallen City was in chaos, Lu Heng was still leisurely collecting information.
Before long, Lu Heng arrived at a trading market here. This trading market was not as orderly as the base where Lu Heng was staying.
Anything could be sold here, and if your strength was sufficient, you could directly snatch whatever caught your eye, provided you were strong enough.
Lu Heng had been targeted the moment he entered the market. It was unavoidable; even though he had changed his attire, the clothes in his spatial dimension were still much better than those sold elsewhere in the post-apocalyptic world.
As he walked past a stall selling ordinary supplies like instant noodles and compressed biscuits, Lu Heng was not interested.
Just as he was about to move on, a hoarse, booming voice called out from behind him, "Hey! You there, stop."
Lu Heng ignored him. Who was "hey"? It wasn't him.
Being ignored, the person behind him became enraged and quickened his pace, reaching out to grab Lu Heng's shoulder.
Lu Heng dodged with a flash and then stood aside, looking at the man.
Although it was now winter, and there were no heating facilities in the post-apocalyptic world, so even staying indoors was exceptionally cold, the man possessed a strong physique, with his arms exposed to the air.
Lu Heng could tell that the opponent was a fifth-tier strength-type ability user. His level was not low at this time, so with his powerful physique, he could barely withstand the cold weather.
However, Lu Heng did not want to kill anyone else. Everyone here was looking for him, and he did not want to expose himself so quickly. 138 reading network.
Seeing that Lu Heng did not speak and had dodged his attack, the man stepped forward impatiently and continued to shout at Lu Heng, "I say, where are you from? Do you understand the rules? Once you enter this market, you have to pay protection fees."
Lu Heng thought, this scenario felt so familiar. He recalled that the previous person who tried to charge him, the one with the dyed hair, had ended up crippled and had become an ordinary survivor. Moreover, even if he consumed crystals again, he wouldn't be able to cultivate.
"Oh? How much is the fee?"
"Ten third-tier crystals, and I'll guarantee you can trade freely within this market."
"Heh!" It only guaranteed safety within this market?
It seemed his strength was also so-so.
In this era, strength-type ability users like them were no longer popular. Unless they reached higher tiers again, with his current level and tank-like ability attributes, he was likely just cannon fodder.
"I just entered the market, and I haven't seen anyone else paying protection fees," Lu Heng said, pointing to the ability users coming and going in the market.
"They all have monthly passes. Do you want to get one too?"
"Oh?" It seemed Fallen City had its own management system. However, he wasn't sure if this person was impersonating a manager or was genuine.
"How can you prove you are the manager here? What if someone else comes out later to charge me protection fees?"
"Damn it, I've been managing here for four months, and no one has dared to question me..."
Lu Heng raised his hand, interrupting the man's clamor, and then spread his hands, saying, "Then I'm truly sorry, I don't have any third-tier crystals on me."
This was the honest truth. Besides some first and second-tier crystals, Lu Heng only had some fourth-tier crystals. Those third-tier crystals had all been absorbed by him.
"Are you messing with me? I think you're tired of living..." The man raised his fist and swung it towards Lu Heng.
Lu Heng sidestepped, skillfully dodging the opponent's attack again, and then kicked towards the strong man's abdomen.
Boom!
The opponent was kicked out of the trading market by Lu Heng and crashed into a pile of debris stacked outside.
"My apologies, I didn't control my strength well." Lu Heng flicked off imaginary dust from himself and looked at the crowd within the market.
He had already held back his strength, so the strong man wouldn't be kicked to death with one blow, but he probably wouldn't be much better off.
After waiting for a while, the few people who had been following the strong man finally reacted. Two of them quickly went to check on the strong man's condition.
"Zhang De, how are you?" a wind-type ability user asked while investigating.
"Cough, cough, cough, I'm going to kill him..." Before the strong man named Zhang De could finish speaking, he fainted again.
Lu Heng clapped his hands and said to the onlookers, "Haha, everyone, continue browsing the market. It's over now."
Then, without paying attention to the gazes cast by others, he continued his own browsing.
After observing the surroundings, he realized that the ability users here were all fourth-tier. Therefore, him kicking away a fifth-tier strength-type ability user with one move was enough to subdue these people.
After walking for a while, Lu Heng saw a place selling living people. There were several sturdy iron cages, containing several people, both men and women.
And these people were, without exception, young people, and all were ordinary people without abilities.
Those people's eyes were vacant, sitting or lying in those iron cages.
Seeing Lu Heng looking over, the stall owner immediately came forward to greet him, "Which one do you fancy? I'll pull them out for you to see."
Lu Heng shook his head. These survivors without abilities were not in a good situation in the hands of these people. And even if Lu Heng saved them now, these people would soon be captured again.
Therefore, the fundamental way to change this situation was not to rescue one or two people, but to completely eradicate the rulers of this Fallen City.
Seeing Lu Heng about to leave, the stall owner did not dare to utter any vulgarities. He had seen Lu Heng knock out the fifth-tier ability user with one move just now.
As Lu Heng turned away, a thin arm stretched out from a cage and tightly grabbed Lu Heng's pant leg.
Because the person grabbed him with a speed that carried no hint of threat, Lu Heng was caught off guard and thus grabbed.