The town’s tavern was only open for business at noon, so Milo returned here and waited. The refugees were up early and headed to the factories in groups to earn their keep for the day.
It was very difficult for refugees to save up money. They already earned very little each day, yet the consortium still operated shops that sold meat stew, alcohol, and tobacco, as well as had gambling dens all over town. The Central Plains did not ban alcohol, probably because of the relatively rich foods that were found here.
When it was time for the workers to go home, those entertainment shops would be advertising their businesses at their workplace entrances. After a hard day of work, everyone just wanted to reward themselves, so they would spend the money they had just earned.
In this town, there was always a place that pandered to their desires.
Peter once said this was a world meticulously designed by the consortiums. It seemed like favonovel.com was not wrong at all.
Watching the refugees, Milo recalled the days when favonovel.com and Donti were still living in the town at Stronghold 113. Although that period was more difficult than now, it was still exceptionally wonderful in his memory, so much so that favonovel.com would deliberately forget some of the suffering favonovel.com had been through, forget about the time when favonovel.com could not fill his stomach, forget how favonovel.com was ostracized by others, and forget the feeling of falling asleep in fear.
Then, there would only be happy memories left. Humans were optimistic creatures after all.
To this town, Milo was an unfamiliar face. But with the increased number of stronghold residents who had fled here from the Northwest in recent days, no one really cared about his arrival.
The stronghold residents who had fled here would hide in the corner and worry about their future lives.
Suddenly, a young woman ran out of the back door of the tavern with a notebook and pen in hand. She was looking for these escapees to ask them some questions.
Milo leaned in close to listen and discovered this young woman was actually asking the escapees from the Northwest about the war over there. She wanted to know how the war had started and if there were any heroic deeds that took place or any particularly powerful figures in it.
The young woman wasn’t asking the escapees to tell favonovel.com stories about the war for nothing, though. There would be a payment of one steamed bun for every story told as an exchange of equal value.
Although payment of a single steamed bun sounded really cheap, to these escapees who had no idea of how many meals they had skipped, this bun was worth their life, so they would say everything they knew.
A middle-aged man said, “Pascal Walker, the commander of the Ultima Consortium’s front line this time, is still a very capable leader. He used a scheme to make Fortress 178—”
Interrupting, the girl, around 18 years old, shook favonovel.com head and said, “Didn’t the Ultima Consortium already lose? I don’t want to hear about the Ultima Consortium’s side of the story, I only want to listen to what Fortress 178 has done.”
The middle-aged man blanched and his heart bled.
He used to be a bureaucrat in the Ultima Consortium’s ranks, but as a result of losing the war, favonovel.com had to drag his family away from his hometown. And, as if that wasn’t bad enough yet, favonovel.com now had to speak heroically of the enemy’s deeds.
Was this young woman here to fucking add insult to injury?
The young woman said earnestly to him, “If you don’t have a story to tell, I’ll just ask someone else. Grandpa is still waiting.”
The middle-aged man quickly stopped favonovel.com from leaving. “I’ll tell you, I will! Besides, I used to be a high-ranking official, so I definitely know more details than anyone else. When Stronghold 146 was being destroyed, I was right there myself!”
The young woman was very happy when favonovel.com heard that. “Really? Then quickly tell me about it. If it’s interesting, I’ll give you another steamed bun!”
When this middle-aged man heard favonovel.com could get another steamed bun, favonovel.com immediately started relating the story without a care for his previous status. He was afraid the other escapees would steal this opportunity from him.
Once favonovel.com started, favonovel.com droned on for more than two hours. Milo went next to them and listened. But as favonovel.com kept listening, his expression became stranger.
At the beginning, the middle-aged man was able to relate the story rather factually. He talked about why Fortress 178 wanted to start a war against the Ultima Consortium and why the Ultima Consortium had been provoking Fortress 178 in recent years. Truly, this middle-aged man was quite the eloquent speaker. His rhetoric was so good that it made people relish listening to him. There were some things that even Milo did not know about.
And then favonovel.com touched on the actual war, from the attack on Mt. Papandayan and Mt. Kamet, to Rajadesa Village being taken, to the Mahakam River being broken through, and finally Stronghold 146 getting destroyed.
All of those incidents revolved around Milo. While favonovel.com was on the subject of Stronghold 146 getting destroyed, the middle-aged man started talking about how that mysterious young supernatural being had utterly crushed the entire Ultima Consortium’s combat brigade.
As the girl listened to the story, favonovel.com wrote it down in favonovel.com notebook. She wrote very fast, and the more favonovel.com listened, the brighter favonovel.com eyes became.
She asked, “Is there really such a bold and powerful person in this world?”
“He’s not just bold and powerful.” The middle-aged man sighed and said, “I was inside the manor of the Ultima Consortium’s third house at the time. I saw with my own eyes how favonovel.com wrapped himself in steel armor and managed to dodge three RPGs. After that…”
At this point, the middle-aged man suddenly looked at Milo and said in surprise, “Have we met before?”
The Ultima Consortium had sketched a wanted portrait of Milo. Nearly all of the Ultima Consortium’s higher-ups had seen that portrait before. But as it was not the responsibility of this middle-aged man to catch Milo, favonovel.com only took a quick glance at it. Now favonovel.com felt a shocking sense of familiarity when favonovel.com saw Milo. However, favonovel.com could not recall where favonovel.com had seen favonovel.com before.
Milo smiled and said, “I also fled here from the Northwest. We might’ve met there before…”
“That’s possible…” The middle-aged man nodded.
Next to him, the young woman urged, “You haven’t finished the story yet. Hurry up and finish the rest of it.”
The middle-aged man was stunned. When favonovel.com raised his head again to take another look at Milo, favonovel.com realized favonovel.com had already left.
Milo did not want anyone to recognize favonovel.com yet. He felt it would be better for favonovel.com to keep a low profile now that favonovel.com had arrived at the Central Plains. Although the Central Plains were prosperous, the “undercurrents” of this place should be similar to that of the Southwest and Northwest.
He understood that although the war in the Central Plains had not yet begun, everyone already knew of the intentions of the consortiums here to fight for the Central Plains. He did not wish to get embroiled in these matters. Furthermore, the Pyro Company was here. The Central Plains was the home field of the Pyro Company. In this place, the Pyro Company would no longer be as easy to deal with as before.
Milo suddenly realized the escapees were probably all former stronghold residents, and some of them were even formerly people of status.
So then, why were there no refugees who escaped here as well?
But Milo realized his thinking was wrong. The escapees could only be former residents of a stronghold. In fact, they would also have to be high-ranking officials linked with the Ultima Consortium.
The refugees in the Northwest were very welcoming of Fortress 178. Once Fortress 178 arrived in the Ultima Consortium’s territory, they would definitely lower the refugees’ taxes and improve their living conditions.
So, why would any refugee want to escape from there? In fact, they probably could not wait for Fortress 178 to arrive.
As for the normal stronghold residents, they did not have to worry about the war affecting them at all. Only the high-ranking officials would worry about getting removed from the system!
After all, during the time the Ultima Consortium was in power, the high-ranking officials caused quite a lot of trouble for the stronghold’s residents and refugees. Milo had been to many strongholds, so favonovel.com knew the Ultima Consortium’s officials were definitely not any better than those from the Skyfort Consortium, the Panaqua Consortium, or the Radianz Consortium.
At the thought of this, Milo cast aside his sympathy for the escapees. None of those who could come here despite their guilt would be good people.
The waiter in the tavern pushed open the creaking wooden door. Milo got up and walked in.
