Chapter 5 Hinderance

The map of the safe zone was extremely large. Even the geography teachers at "Ju'an School" didn't have a detailed one.

Naturally, Qin Siyang had no idea about the distribution of the safe - zone exits.

He only knew the approximate location of Exit 114514 of the safe zone because it was relatively close to him.

Out of over a hundred thousand numbered safe - zone exits, this was the only one he knew.

For an ordinary person, unless they intended to attach themselves to a sequence ability user, who would pay attention to the location of the safe - zone exits?

Not knowing the locations of the safe - zone exits wasn't an insurmountable problem. He remembered that there was a route map at the bus stop near the main road. There was a high chance that the locations of the safe - zone exits were marked on it.

On previous weekends, Qin Siyang would just lie around at home, as this could reduce his energy consumption and make him eat less. But this weekend was destined to be different.

Now, he was full of fighting spirit.

There was only one belief in his heart.

To become stronger.

As long as he became stronger, he could leave this dreadful place!

Qin Siyang put on his schoolbag filled with food and walked for more than ten minutes to reach the bus stop.

This was his first time at the bus stop. Since he could barely afford food, taking the bus was out of the question for him.

In Qin Siyang's memory, in the safe zone after the end - times, the poor walked on foot while the rich took the bus.

As for those who drove private cars? Gasoline was an even rarer resource than electricity, and there was no such wealthy person in the edge area of the safe zone. He stood in front of the route map at the bus stop and studied it for a long time.

He found that many of the station names along the bus route were named after the safe - zone exits. The only bus line on the edge of the safe zone passed by several safe - zone exits, and their numbers were all smaller than 114514.

As for which safe - zone exit to go to, Qin Siyang wasn't sure yet.

He would just play it by ear.

Since he had never taken a bus in this life, he didn't know the distance between each bus stop.

"Alas, it would be great if orphans could take the bus for free."

Qin Siyang looked at the five - copper - coin ticket price and shook his head helplessly. All the ten copper coins he had left were given to the Internet café yesterday.

"Five copper coins for one - way, ten for a round - trip. I might as well go to the Internet café to look up some information again."

Qin Siyang started the task of measuring the distance between bus stops on foot. He needed to know the approximate distance between them to estimate which safe - zone exits he could reach on foot.

He walked along the bus route for twenty minutes and arrived at the next bus stop.

"The bus stops here seem to be much farther apart than in my previous life."

After eating the god remains yesterday, his strength had increased, and he walked extremely fast, far exceeding ordinary passers - by. Whenever there was no one on the road, he would quicken his pace and move forward at full speed.

Even so, he could only cover a distance of three stops in an hour.

After knowing the distance of one stop, he roughly understood his activity range.

"The seventh stop is called Exit 54320 of the safe zone, the seventeenth stop is called Exit 89757 of the safe zone, and the twentieth stop is called Exit 38324 of the safe zone. Judging from the current situation, only these three stops give me a chance to look for god remains."

"The farthest Exit 38324 of the safe zone allows me to return home before tomorrow. Any farther safe - zone exit might prevent me from coming back home before Monday, and then I won't be able to go to school on time."

On Monday, Qin Siyang had to go to school in advance and report to the librarian that he intended to continue working part - time.

Otherwise, someone else would take over the part - time librarian position next week, and he wouldn't have the money to go to the Internet café.

After thinking for a while, Qin Siyang decided to walk to Exit 54320 of the safe zone first to check the situation.

The one - hour - and - forty - minute journey didn't make Qin Siyang feel the slightest bit tired. Instead, he became more and more cheerful as he walked.

Material abundance and spiritual abundance often need to be discussed separately. Once a person has something to look forward to, they will be energetic in whatever they do.

Even though the streetlights around were very dim, casting a sense of depression in the air.

According to the time, it was daytime, but the sun had disappeared ten years ago. Although it was early morning, the sky remained as dark as midnight.

The infrastructure on the edge of the safe zone was very simple. On the main road where he was, there was only a dim streetlight every few dozen meters, which could only barely illuminate a few steps ahead.

And the alleys beside were completely dark, and people had to grope their way through.

Looking up, he could vaguely see starlight through the air - defense glass of the safe zone, as well as the occasional passing figure of a god.

The cold wind blew, piercing through Qin Siyang's several layers of non - insulating coats and making intimate contact with his skin. Goosebumps all over his body popped up in response.

Qin Siyang turned up his collar to cover his face, preventing the cold wind from directly blowing on it, and then continued to walk forward quickly.

After walking seven stops, he arrived at Exit 54320 of the safe zone.

The number of this exit was more than 50,000 smaller than that of Exit 114514. Logically, there should be more sequence ability users hunting gods here.

As soon as Qin Siyang arrived, he found a relatively tall, dilapidated building to get a view of the situation.

Sure enough, he saw nearly a hundred sequence ability users in anti - freeze suits gathering at the exit, far more than at Exit 114514.

Ordinary people dressed like him surrounded the area near the safe - zone exit so tightly that there were probably nearly ten thousand of them.

He sized up the crowd and the sequence ability users who were talking in the center of the crowd. No one noticed him.

Qin Siyang then pretended to wander around aimlessly, looking for the trash cans where the god remains were placed.

Finally, in a block next to the safe - zone exit, he saw the trash cans for the god remains.

And the scale of these trash cans at this exit was much larger than those at Exit 114514.

If the trash cans at Exit 114514 of the safe zone were like a luxurious dinner, then the area of the trash cans at Exit 54320 of the safe zone was like a grand Chinese banquet.

Seven or eight trash cans were lined up in a row, and each of them was filled with god remains! The dazzling array of strange - shaped god remains made Qin Siyang's mouth water.

If he could clear these seven or eight trash cans...Empty them out, wouldn't he skyrocket in power?!

Qin Siyang's heart was pounding wildly as he thought about how to clear out the god remains here as quickly as possible.

However, he suddenly noticed that there were two cleaners beside the garbage station, their bodies covered in bloodstains.

Qin Siyang initially planned to wait in the distance until the two cleaners left before approaching.

But when he came into the sight of the two cleaners, they both looked up at him simultaneously.

After a brief eye - contact, the two resumed cleaning the trash cans.

Qin Siyang's heart tightened, and he changed his plan.

Instead of stopping, he continued walking forward, getting closer to the trash cans and the two cleaners.

Qin Siyang pretended to be a passing student, walking nonchalantly in front of them without looking back.

The two cleaners glanced at Qin Siyang. Seeing his plain attire and young face, they didn't pay much attention to him.

Only when he walked far away and completely left the block did Qin Siyang heave a sigh of relief.

"What's going on?! Why are there people guarding the trash cans?! And they're in plain clothes! Could it be that the recorder in uniform reported it yesterday? Are the trash cans really being watched?"

When Qin Siyang made eye - contact with those two, his heart was in his throat. Although he remained expressionless, he observed them meticulously, and his mind was racing.

He realized that those two couldn't be ordinary cleaners.

The stains on their clothes were too deliberately dirty.

The god remains in the trash cans had long been separated from the god's body, and the blood had drained out during the hunting process.

The cleaner he saw yesterday at Exit 114514 of the safe zone only had a little dust on his body.

Even if there were a lot of god remains at Exit 54320 of the safe zone, there shouldn't be much blood on the trash cans.

Yet those two were covered in bloodstains as if they had just killed someone, with blood splattered all over their bodies. That was not what cleaners should look like!

It was clearly a deliberate smear.

Moreover, when Qin Siyang appeared far away from the trash cans, the two of them looked up at him simultaneously.

At the moment their eyes met, Qin Siyang sensed that they were highly vigilant.

Cleaners should just focus on their jobs. Why be vigilant and observe the surroundings?! And both of them were like this!

"Perhaps the disappearance of the god remains in the trash can last night drew others' attention! Maybe these god remains are recycled for other purposes?"

His worry before coming here was not unfounded.

Overnight, the people from the United Government had launched an investigation into this matter.

Without thinking, he knew that there must be more plain - clothes officers waiting for him at the trash cans of Exit 114514 of the safe zone.

Qin Siyang sighed. "If I had only taken one piece of god remains yesterday, would it have been less troublesome?"

However, taking only one piece of god remains each day might seem safe, but he would have to go to the trash cans more than thirty times to obtain his current strength.

Going there so many times would increase the probability of being discovered, and he was likely to be caught red - handed. It was more practical to make a big move.

It was precisely for this reason that he decided to empty the trash can of god remains yesterday.

Qin Siyang knew that his plan to obtain god remains from the trash cans might fail. But he didn't give up completely.

Even though he had a favorable impression of the United Government, he still doubted the work efficiency of its lower - level staff.

Otherwise, why hadn't "Ju'an School" set up courses related to sequence ability users yet?

Perhaps the situation hadn't developed to the point where all his chances were cut off.

"Forget it. There's no chance with these trash cans here. I'll keep walking forward and take a chance! Even if there's no opportunity, I've become much stronger with yesterday's harvest. This isn't a loss!"

Qin Siyang left Exit 54320 of the safe zone and continued walking along the bus route into the distance.

The next safe - zone exit was Exit 89757 of the safe zone, ten stops away.

"Ten stops. Alas, it'll take more than three hours to walk. I don't know if I can go home today. Maybe I'll have to sleep outside."