Chapter 12: The Wanderers and the Fortress Dwellers

“What’s going on with Roland Fortress?” Riye stared intently at Roland Fortress, his mind filled with questions.

“That’s probably a fortress faction within the mobile cities,” came a calm voice from behind him.

Riye turned his head and saw it was Lin Wu.

“Fortress faction?”

Lin Wu adjusted his glasses and began to explain. In this wasteland world, mobile cities are divided into two factions: the Wanderer faction and the Fortress faction.

As the name suggests, the Wanderer faction refers to those mobile cities that roam about, collecting resources and calling the world their home; these make up the vast majority.

The Fortress faction, on the other hand, consists of those mobile cities that have abandoned mobility and instead establish a fixed stronghold.

These cities often choose to settle in resource-rich areas upon reaching a certain scale, prospering and growing there.

Compared to the Wanderers, the Fortress faction has a significant advantage.

They possess far greater usable space.

Once settled, Fortress factions are no longer constrained by living space and farmland limitations.

They can extensively cultivate the surrounding land, grow crops, raise livestock, thereby securing more food for survival.

With increased food supplies comes the ability to support a larger population, which translates into more laborers and greater fortress strength.

Residents are no longer confined to cramped quarters; they can build spacious homes according to their preferences, even with yards.

Thus, at the same level, fortresses usually have a larger population and better living conditions than mobile cities.

However, this approach also has a glaring drawback.

Once mobility is forsaken, a fortress can only defend its own territory and cannot venture farther to gather resources or develop.

Most fortresses remain at their original level, rarely upgrading.

“I see,” Riye nodded repeatedly.

If it were up to him, he would definitely choose to be a Wanderer.

Though they have no fixed home and live a frugal daily life, at least every day’s journey is something to look forward to.

After all, you never know what experiences or gains await you each morning.

...

Thanks to Lin Xia, the lord’s daughter, vouching for them, Riye and his group’s visit to Roland Fortress went smoothly.

Along the way, Riye noticed a breach in the city wall.

Seeing his puzzlement, Lin Xia explained.

The Scarlet Hound had long coveted Roland Fortress’s population and resources and had launched multiple attacks.

The breach in the wall was caused by a level-1 cannon fired by them.

Lin Xia’s lord father did not personally greet them but sent the steward instead.

To thank Riye for rescuing his daughter, the lord of Roland Fortress presented him with a gift.

From then on, Roland Fortress opened its gates to the Tomorrow ship, allowing Riye free trade and recruitment within the fortress.

Riye was pleasantly surprised to hear this. Now the Tomorrow ship had a safe harbor in the wilderness for rest and resupply.

The lord also arranged a meal for them, with a table laden not only with various vegetables but also some fruits and meat.

Riye ate heartily. Since crossing over to this world, he had rarely tasted anything good—mostly potatoes and steamed buns. Old Zhou and the others ate ravenously alongside him.

“Speaking of which, when will the Tomorrow ship have such provisions?” he mused wistfully as he ate.

After the meal, led by Lin Xia, the group headed toward the fortress market.

On the way, Riye curiously examined Roland Fortress’s interior.

Roland Fortress is divided into upper and lower towns: the lower town houses various small shops, workshops, and markets; the upper town is residential.

According to Lin Xia, Roland Fortress now has over 2,000 inhabitants.

It was originally the level-1 mobile city Roland, which settled here ten years ago.

Its scale now dwarfs its former mobile city size by dozens of times, with ample internal space.

During the visit, Riye unexpectedly spotted a mobile city.

It was docked near a workshop in the lower town, where its enforcers directed slaves unloading various materials collected from the wild, preparing them for market trade.

Riye observed with interest.

This mobile city had a grand exterior with a rugged and bold architectural style, painted red—clearly reflecting its lord’s personal taste.

It flew a flag of bright red, emblazoned with crossed knives and axes.

From his observation, this city had about twenty to thirty enforcers or combatants, with fifty residents and slaves.

It was equipped with four cannons, eight heavy machine guns, and appeared to have upgraded its tracks and tires.

The fighters carried level-1 submachine guns.

Most astonishingly, this mobile city even had a level-1 cannon.

The cannon was sleek and elegantly streamlined, with a barrel larger than usual.

[Item Name: Erosion Cannon]

[Item Level: 1]

[Effect: Targets hit suffer a temporary slowing effect.]

[Crafting Requirements: 300 units of Erosion Ore (Level 1), 1 Erosion Crystal]

“This mobile city’s strength is quite impressive,” Riye remarked.

“Oh, that’s the Conqueror,” Lin Xia noticed his gaze and introduced it.

“The Conqueror is an old partner of Roland Fortress.

It often comes here to sell materials gathered from the wild, replenish food, vegetables, fresh water, and conduct routine maintenance and repairs.”

“You say this is the Conqueror?” Riye was surprised.

Isn’t this the mobile city described in the intelligence reports, the one desperately needing lava spider silk?

He hadn’t paid much attention before but didn’t expect to encounter it here.

Lin Xia pointed toward the tracks of the Conqueror.

“There stands its lord, Lei Jian.”

Riye looked over and saw a middle-aged man in his forties.

The man possessed a Schwarzenegger-like physique—broad-shouldered, burly, tall, with thick arms and wearing sunglasses.

“Don’t be fooled by his tough appearance; he’s very approachable,” Lin Xia added.

“He likes to take the lead in everything, and his subordinates respect him greatly.”

As they chatted, the group arrived at the market.

Compared to Wild Plains Town, Roland Fortress’s market was noticeably livelier.

It was the size of a small town, bustling with all kinds of people.

Scavengers, bounty hunters, fortress residents, survivors from outside convoys...

The market sold an array of goods: food, vegetables, fruits, iron ore, coal, furniture, weapons, firearms, even level-1 items and blueprints.

The lively, bustling scene reminded Riye of life in his hometown city, soothing his mood somewhat.

Yet it also stirred a touch of melancholy.