Chapter 257 - 117: Order Assimilation, the Terrifying Migration Tide! (Part 5)

"Let’s go!"

Together with Wang Kang, they walked out of the small shop, and the bus changed direction to head towards the chemical plant neighborhood.

Cheng Ye made a phone call ahead of time, but didn’t expect Luo Xiaoxue to be waiting at the neighborhood entrance with Yiyi.

As the bus approached, Yiyi, wearing a pink little jacket, rushed over like a small cannonball.

Wang Kang instinctively lowered his head, thinking the little one was going to jump into his arms, but saw Liu Yi bypass him and open her arms to Cheng Ye, who caught her steadily.

Ouch, that hurts!

"Cheng Ye Gege! Seeds! I want to see the seeds!" Yiyi hugged Cheng Ye’s neck, her little face pressed against his shoulder, her voice crisp and full of expectation.

"Hey, only thinking about seeds? Don’t you want to eat some delicious beef?"

Cheng Ye pinched her little cheek.

"I don’t eat beef!"

Poof.

Liu Yi said it seriously, and Cheng Ye couldn’t help but burst into laughter.

"Master Zhang, want to come up and sit for a while?"

"No need, I’ll just wait for you guys at the bottom of the building."

"Alright, thank you."

Cheng Ye tossed the backpack to Wang Kang and happily got off the bus with Yiyi in his arms.

To be honest, he could finally understand why those villain bosses often felt a sudden surge of emotion when seeing the new generation.

Yiyi’s vibrant energy, like a young plant growing wildly towards the sun, indeed could dispel the gloom in people’s hearts.

"Upon hearing you were coming, this little girl got all excited and insisted on dragging me down to greet you."

Luo Xiaoxue approached with a smile, "If her dad knew, he’d probably be green with envy."

"Ha ha."

Up on the fifth floor, Luo Xiaoxue pushed open the door to a blast of hot air.

Water was already boiling, indicating they planned to serve them with boiled cabbage once again.

However, after sitting down, Cheng Ye first took out a few packs of labeled seeds from his backpack and handed them to the eager Liu Yi.

He then pulled out a large slab of beef, still covered in a layer of frost, which hadn’t thawed yet.

"This..."

Luo Xiaoxue was taken aback, "Where did you get this?"

"Bought it from the caravan,"

Cheng Ye casually replied while taking out canned food, "Also got dried fish, but the smell is too strong, so I didn’t bring it today."

Hearing the sound of cans, Liu Yi, who had been squatting on the ground digging with a small shovel, immediately dropped her toy, ran back, and peeked over the table edge on her tiptoes, "Wow, it’s canned food!"

With Liu Bi’s status, buying canned food wasn’t difficult, but mostly it was locally-produced meat or vegetable cans. High-end fruit cans like these were extremely rare.

Li Changfeng considered this and mostly packed fruit cans.

Cheng Ye casually opened the cans of strawberries, peaches, and oranges... These commonplace fruits in modern times had become rare items in Stone Province and Happiness City.

Even Luo Xiaoxue couldn’t help but swallow and shake her head, "You’re being too... extravagant!"

"It’s okay, it’s not expensive."

Indeed, it wasn’t expensive, as they were gotten for free.

"Wow, it’s delicious!"

Wang Kang picked up a piece of orange with chopsticks and fed it to Yi Yi.

The little one smacked her lips and, like a wind-up toy, started jumping around the room, cheerfully declaring it delicious.

Luo Xiaoxue also picked up a piece and tasted it slowly, a touch of nostalgia in her eyes, "The last time I had this was five or six years ago... Back then, these things were still grown in the vicinity, but later, maybe no one bought them, or the yield was too low, and they gradually disappeared."

"I still have more, all prepared for the winter, by then..."

Cheng Ye smiled, ready to discuss his winter plans when suddenly the Defense Communication beeped.

He paused, took out the Defense Communication and glanced at it; it was a call from Jiang Chuan.

"It’s a call from Jiang Chuan."

"Alright, you can take it in the next room."

Cheng Ye stood up, went to the bedroom, and gently closed the door as he stood by the window.

"Hmm?"

"Inspector Cheng, it’s confirmed, the Guardian Extraordinary that came through the Fog Cave, codenamed: [Wanderer], has now left our Chuan City perimeter and entered the neighboring Cloud City."

"Confirmed?" Cheng Ye raised an eyebrow, half-relieved.

"Yes, after deploying resources extensively, we finally captured photos of him traveling through the Wilderness. However, due to confidentiality, we can’t send them to you."

"That’s good, it’s good he’s left."

The remaining half of Cheng Ye’s tension eased.

The Guardian Extraordinary, as expected, was distinct, not lingering in Happiness City, the direct influence should dissipate soon.

However, the next words from the receiver made him freeze instantly.

"It’s not over, although we can’t send the photos of the Wanderer, we can send these."

"What?"

Cheng Ye took the Defense Communication away from his ear and lit up the screen.

Sure enough, several videos sent by Jiang Chuan were loading.

He opened the first one, and was completely stunned.

In the pitch-black rainy night, the video seemed to be shot from high above, showing countless figures moving in the distant Wilderness, numbering in the thousands or more.

All wore raincoats and carried bulging backpacks; the procession was endless, resembling a migration of locusts leaving a trail across the muddy terrain.

An infection wave?

This was Cheng Ye’s first thought.

But the subsequent videos dispelled his suspicions; though hurried, the people were orderly, with some carrying flashlights to organize the group, and others carrying the old, sick, and weak.

One video shot from the ground showed that there were indeed family groups within the migration, and not even a shortage of children around Liu Yi’s age, clearly indicating an organized exodus.

Turning off the videos, Cheng Ye pondered, "These are?"

"They are Migrants."

Jiang Chuan’s voice was tinged with helplessness, "The Wanderer’s target isn’t us, nor did he intentionally affect Happiness City. His real influence was over the surrounding enclaves, even including Yueye Shelter City. Under his Extraordinary Ability’s influence, those who hesitated about coming to Happiness City are making up their minds, and what you’re seeing is the first wave of people who set out at noon."

"How many people?"

"The first wave numbers thirty thousand, having already crossed into our Chuan City boundary, but based on the Wanderer’s route... the overall number won’t be less than five hundred thousand!"

"How many?"

Cheng Ye raised his voice sharply, doubting his own ears.

Five hundred thousand?

What a joke, not counting the Industrial Zone population, even at its peak, the Buffer Zone’s resident population barely reached forty thousand.

Just this number alone already strained the infrastructure, let alone providing enough jobs.

And now, you’re telling him that five hundred thousand people are migrating to Happiness City?!

Have they gone mad!

...