Chapter Three: The Wanderer, the Tower City, and the Goblins!

"Wake up, buddy, we’re about to head out!"

Feeling someone patting his shoulder and speaking in a loud voice, Tang Zhen snapped out of his semi-conscious state. His muscles tensed, and his eyes flew open instantly.

He remained in the same state of heightened alertness he had held before losing consciousness, gripping the sharp bone spike in his hand tightly against his chest. If anything seemed amiss, he would not hesitate to plunge the weapon forward.

However, once he took in his surroundings, he slowly lowered the bone spike, eyeing the person in front of him with caution.

It was a raggedly dressed young man with a delicate, oval-shaped face. He looked harmless enough, smiling down at Tang Zhen. He appeared to be in his early twenties, standing about 1.75 meters tall. Although his face was sallow and gaunt and his hair was dry and unkempt, his eyes were remarkably bright and piercing.

Tang Zhen noticed the youth's clothes were in tatters, covered in patches and holes—items that should have long been consigned to a trash bin were now draped over his frame. In fact, he wasn't the only one dressed this way; Tang Zhen glanced around and saw that everyone nearby was in similar attire, making the place feel like a refugee camp.

The visual impact was so stark that, for a fleeting moment, he felt as if he had been transported back to a bygone era. Yet, recalling the monsters he had encountered earlier, he knew that even if he hadn't traveled back in time, he was certainly no longer in his original world.

*Where exactly is this place?*

Seeing Tang Zhen staring at him blankly, the youth reached into a pocket with a hole in it, rummaged for a moment, and pulled out half of a coarse grain bun stained with dirt and grass clippings. He held it out to Tang Zhen. "Are you hungry? Go ahead and eat!"

*He wants me to eat this?*

Tang Zhen stared in astonishment at the half-bun. He guessed it had been sitting in the youth's pocket for at least three days, leaving it dried out and misshapen. He couldn't bring himself to swallow such food, and given the uncertainty of his situation, he politely declined the youth’s kindness out of caution.

The youth pulled his hand back, wearing an expression that seemed to say, "You've got food right there and you're refusing? You must be an idiot!" He then carefully tucked the bun back into his ragged pocket.

Tang Zhen patted his own pockets and felt relieved to find his phone still there. He shifted his shoulders; they still ached, but the wounds had been cleaned, medicated, and bandaged with a scrap of cloth.

He cast an inquiring look at the youth, who nodded and said, "You were clawed by a zombie, so I had to treat it while you were out... uh, no need to thank me!"

Tang Zhen offered a look of gratitude and nodded his thanks.

He stood up and looked around carefully. He realized he was in the same crude camp he had seen before losing consciousness—a dozen or so tattered tents cobbled together from various materials. Around the tents, many people were moving about, all dressed in rags with the same sallow, malnourished complexions as the youth.

Near a fire, Tang Zhen saw two middle-aged women tossing a handful of unwashed wild vegetables directly into a pot of boiling water, followed by two broken pieces of dry bread. After stirring the mixture with a stick, the "meal" was ready.

Watching the process, Tang Zhen curled his lip. Truth be told, he thought even dog food would be more appetizing and filling than this. Yet, even for such abysmal fare, many people scrambled for a share.

Once the food was ready, one of the women shouted that it was time to eat, and a crowd rushed forward with all manner of containers. Each person was given a ladle of the "soup," and they scurried off to the side to drink it slowly. They ate with such relish, as if it were a supreme delicacy, licking their bowls clean to the very bottom.

Tang Zhen felt a deep sense of shock. Why were they in such a wretched state? Were they truly refugees fleeing some disaster?

It didn't look quite like that upon closer inspection, so why had they fallen to this? Among the beggars, there were even a dozen "foreigners" of various skin tones.

"Hurry up and eat, or there won't be any left!"

While Tang Zhen was lost in thought, the youth who had offered the bun reminded him before running off himself. He pulled an enamel mug from his tattered bag, filled it with a portion of wild vegetable soup with fine sand swirling at the bottom, and drank it with great satisfaction.

Tang Zhen noticed words on the enamel mug; upon closer inspection, it read, "Serve the People!"

*Good grief, what is going on here?*

"What are you all planning to do?" Tang Zhen finally couldn't help but ask the youth.

"What do you mean? We're forming a team to explore the Wild Tower, obviously. Why ask?" The youth said, drinking his soup while looking at Tang Zhen with a hint of disdain.

Suppessing his confusion, Tang Zhen asked a few more probing questions and finally gained a basic understanding of his current situation.

This was a bizarre world. There were no national governments; instead, the land was filled with locust-like wanderers of all races and "Tower Cities" of varying sizes.

The wanderers were people like those around him. Half of the wanderers in this world were human, while the other half were said to be various alien races. Wanderers had no fixed abode, drifting aimlessly with the sole purpose of surviving.

These wanderers had been gathering here in small groups over the past few days, having heard news of a newly emerged "Wild Tower" that they were preparing to explore. Tang Zhen had appeared in the crowd yesterday evening, but because he had immediately fallen unconscious, everyone assumed he was just another wanderer here for the expedition, so no one paid him any mind.

Wild Towers were among the most miraculous existences in this world. They were ownerless structures that suddenly appeared in the endless wilderness, containing many useful resources but also teeming with danger. Every time a Wild Tower appeared, it was a tremendous opportunity for the wanderers.

When speaking of Wild Towers, one had to mention the powerful factions of this world: the various Tower Cities.

In this world, wanderers were like rootless duckweed, drifting across a boundless wilderness. They gathered wild vegetables, hunted beasts, explored Wild Towers, defended against terrifying monsters, and hoped for the day they could join a Tower City for protection.

However, the one thing this world didn't lack was wanderers. They were like weeds, growing in wave after wave. Many lived and died without ever getting the chance to enter a Tower City. If humanity in this world were divided into social strata, the residents of the Tower Cities were the highest tier—the objects of everyone’s envy and aspiration.

"Tower City" was a collective term for formal settlements recognized by the laws of this world, possessing magical power. According to the youth, anyone who obtained an item called a "Cornerstone" could conjure a Tower City out of thin air. Once established, residents who stayed within the city were protected from the various monsters that plagued the wanderers.

An initial Tower City was no taller than four stories and covered an area of about two thousand square meters, featuring a Cornerstone platform. It was said that the Lord of the Tower and its residents could offer monster brain beads on the Cornerstone platform to the gods, granting them a chance to obtain magical powers and items. If they had extra Cornerstones, they could even upgrade the city.

The more upgrades, the taller and larger the city would become, and the more magical abilities it could possess.

The youth mentioned he had once passed by a powerful Tower City that consisted of five buildings over a hundred stories tall, surrounded by high walls, housing countless residents. When monsters attacked, the city could conjure a massive, transparent bowl that covered it, shielding it from the assault.

Not all Tower Cities were built by humans; a significant portion were established by alien races. They were never willing to easily accept humans, often attacking and seizing the cities built by them.

Most of what the youth told him was hearsay, but it still left Tang Zhen dumbfounded. As the youth spoke, a storm raged in his mind.

*What kind of chaotic world is this? How did I end up here?*

"Perhaps because of that glass marble...?" Tang Zhen guessed inwardly, though he couldn't be certain.

An hour later, everyone finished their meal, and some began to pack up the tents. They took out all manner of strange weapons and began to move slowly toward the direction of the rising sun.

Tang Zhen now knew that the youth who had bandaged his wounds and offered him food was named Qian Long. At this moment, Qian Long was also carrying a sharpened iron rod, following the team with a solemn expression, his eyes vigilantly scanning the surrounding grass.

Seeing everyone looking as if they were facing a formidable enemy, Tang Zhen couldn't help but feel nervous. He touched the bone spike tucked into his belt and picked up a stone to hold tightly in his hand.

They hadn't traveled far when a low, strange, and miserable roar suddenly erupted from the grass.

Upon hearing the howl, the wanderers panicked for a few seconds before aiming their weapons toward the source of the sound, with several people firing arrows immediately. The entire process took only a few seconds, demonstrating the combat experience of the wanderers.

The dense grass was forcefully parted, and a dozen green-skinned, humanoid monsters about a meter tall, shaped like squat water vats, charged toward the wanderers while screeching. They looked filthy and ugly, like maggots crawling out of a cesspit.

Looking at the monsters' familiar, ugly appearance, Tang Zhen had a surreal feeling: he had been transported into a video game. Because the appearance of these monsters was that of a staple low-level enemy in many games—a Goblin!

Among this group of goblin-like monsters, one looked particularly ridiculous; it had a crude arrow stuck in its forehead, yet it continued to scream in a mix of pain and excitement, brandishing a large bone club covered in bite marks.

"It's a green-skinned goblin! Everyone, attack!" the leader of the wanderers shouted.

Immediately, everyone focused their fire on the group of goblins. Various weapons flew through the air, causing the short, fat monsters to shriek in pain.

However, these monsters were fierce; they pushed through the attackers' barrage and charged forward. Their red eyes were filled with greed, as if they saw the wanderers as delicious prey. Lured by the prospect of food, they didn't retreat even after sustaining multiple hits.

But compared to the sheer numbers of the wanderers, the goblins were at a disadvantage. Faced with the concentrated assault, the goblin monsters finally couldn't hold their ground. Before long, they wailed and fled into the grass, leaving behind several corpses.