Chapter 274 – Wasteland Star
“Hands on your head, squat down!”
“Don’t look around!”
“Behave! Don’t touch anything!”
Tu Ran, hit with three commands right from the start, followed their instructions, squatting down with her hands on her head.
Two people dressed like police officers approached her, twisted her arms behind her back, and clamped iron cuffs on her wrists before pulling her to her feet and marching her toward a police vehicle.
During the walk, Tu Ran finally got a clear view of her surroundings.
She seemed to be in a pedestrian street area. The commotion had drawn a crowd that encircled her, staring, with a mix of elderly people and young children. The children clung to the elderly, all dressed plainly, without any high-tech devices—no signs of anything like a Federation communicator.
As more people gathered, Tu Ran noticed that there wasn’t a single young adult in sight, and hardly any middle-aged people. The crowd was composed solely of elderly individuals with white hair and bent backs and children who barely reached her waist.
Looking at the surrounding buildings, she saw that the tallest structure was no more than ten stories high, all painted in white. Weathered by the elements, many of the walls were chipped and faded, with no signs of repainting.
On either side of the street, half the shops were open, while the other half were closed down, with sealing stickers on the doors, giving the place a desolate look.
Before being pushed into the vehicle, Tu Ran caught a glimpse of the shop names.
Grain and Oil Exchange, Meat Product Exchange, Mental Energy Sales…
“Click.”
The cuffs on Tu Ran’s wrists were secured to the interior wall of the police vehicle.
She sat in the middle of the back compartment, with two officers in police uniforms facing her, and another two sitting on either side of her. A fifth officer was driving in the front.
Tu Ran guessed that these people were likely the so-called “capture squad,” responsible for maintaining order in this city.
Her gaze fell on the weapons carried by the two officers directly in front of her—standard-issue handguns, one for each. A collapsible electric baton hung from each of their waists, but they carried no other weapons.
She looked at their communication system, which consisted of ordinary bone conduction earpieces.
The police vehicle she was in had a loud “vroom” from the engine and shook violently, leaving her uncertain whether it was due to the uneven road outside or the vehicle itself.
Looking out through the small window of the police car, she saw uneven greenery lining the roads, and occasionally, a few trees, which appeared weak and undernourished.
Tu Ran’s first impression was that this world was not very developed.
It might even be more backward than the First World, but she wasn’t sure what level the current city belonged to within this world, so she couldn’t draw any definitive conclusions.
Her second impression was one of oppression.
It felt stifling.
Every person here gave her a sense of oppression. Their faces bore no extra expressions; even the children she had seen earlier merely blinked their hollow eyes at her.
Although she wore attire that was completely out of place in this world, unlike children from other worlds—even those at the bottom of the social hierarchy in the Second World—who would show curiosity, stare, or even approach her with amazement or be scared to tears.
The environment was equally oppressive.
The names of those shops were still vivid in her mind.
The strange words spoken by the crowd echoed in her ears.
Beast horde, deserter, mental energy exchange…
This world was not the First World of the 1980s.
This world was at war, with the enemy being a powerful beast horde that had once invaded. Men and women of appropriate age had gone to the front lines, leaving only the elderly and children behind. Mental energy was a certain system in this world, but Tu Ran couldn’t quite grasp how it was specifically applied.
Tu Ran had always wanted to touch someone to read their memories, which would help her understand the functioning system of this world more quickly. Unfortunately, the capture squad had arrived too swiftly.
Before she could utilize her abilities, the iron cuffs had already seized the throat of her fate.
Just arriving in this world, it wasn’t wise for her to create too much commotion; she would have to take things one step at a time.
The police vehicle stopped in front of a building that exuded a sense of age.
Tu Ran was escorted out of the car and looked up to find the building’s sign. She spotted a small, rusted iron plate that had not been repainted; its reddish-brown color indicated it had oxidized. The words “Capture Squad” were written in yellow, with a smaller line beneath it that read, “Stationed in District 999,” both lines neatly arranged.
She was taken into an interrogation room, where her helmet had already been confiscated, and her dagger had also been taken. Tu Ran was relieved that she had stored her laser gun back in her space before jumping into the gate; otherwise, she would have lost it as well.
Seated at the interrogation table was a capture officer who was not particularly young.
As he approached the table, he took off his hat, revealing a short black-and-white crew cut, and casually lit a cigarette.
“What’s your name?” he asked nonchalantly.
“Tu Ran.”
“Your name isn’t here. Where did you come from?”
“I have a stomach ache.”
“? Stop trying to be clever in front of me. If you don’t answer my questions, you’re going nowhere.”
Tu Ran: “…”
What had she done wrong? She just wanted to find someone to touch.
“Uh… I came from the East.”
“The East?”
The officer stared at Tu Ran, his brows nearly knitting together as he forgot to take a puff from his cigarette. After a long pause, he managed to utter, “You didn’t go to school, did you?”
Tu Ran was confused, not quite understanding how the East related to whether she had received an education.
Looking at her expression, he confirmed his suspicion: Tu Ran had indeed never been to school.
He moved the mouse on his left, seemingly doing something on the computer, and then turned the screen toward her.
On the screen was an image depicting six planets, with one at the center and five evenly distributed around it.
Taking a deep drag of his cigarette, smoke billowed from his mouth as he spoke, “Point to one. Which one?”
In an instant, Tu Ran understood: this world had already achieved space colonization! The officer’s earlier remark about “no name here” meant there was no record of her on this planet, and he was asking which of the other five planets she had come from.
Her answer about the East, in terms of space, made no difference to whether she had gone to school or not.
Tu Ran pointed to the dull gray planet in the upper left corner. “That one.”
The officer inhaled deeply again, as if trying to suck back all the smoke he had just exhaled, and his frown deepened further.
Tu Ran had the instinct that she had just given an important answer.
“Wasteland Star…”
The officer muttered the name of the planet to himself, pausing for a long time afterward.
Tu Ran felt a surge of anxiety at his nearly three-minute silence.
She had already prepared for the worst.
“It’s not easy,” he finally said.
Tu Ran responded, “What? Huh?”
“I mean, it’s not easy for you to escape from Wasteland Star,” he explained.
The officer extinguished his cigarette and walked over to Tu Ran, taking her hand in his, his eyes glistening with tears. He repeated, “It’s not easy; I’m so glad you made it to our main planet.”
At the moment their hands touched, a flood of images surged through Tu Ran’s mind.
(⑉⊙ȏ⊙)
wow. z plot thickenzzz!!!