A month later, Han Yanyan and Ding Yao took Qiao Chengyu for the first time to a place where people gathered. They both knew that Qiao Chengyu had looked forward to this for a long time, but they also understood that he would undoubtedly be disappointed.
And indeed, he was disappointed.
Qiao Chengyu had long wanted to see a human settlement. It wasn't that he didn't believe in Yanyan's words, but rather that he hoped to find a better way out. After all, someone from a prosperous place like him wouldn’t want to live in a dump for the rest of his life.
But after seeing it with his own eyes, he realized that everything Yanyan had said was true. Even though there were human societies here, their order had long since collapsed. He witnessed two robberies in town and saw several fresh corpses. He also saw that more than half the trades were now bartering, having regressed from the civility he was used to.
Qiao Chengyu understood deeply that the knowledge and skills he once possessed were not enough for survival here.
Yanyan and Xiao Yao had saved his life, but they had also provided him with a shelter. Since that day, Qiao Chengyu had become unusually silent.
Yanyan said to Ding Yao, “Now he knows he can’t do without me. He should treat me a little better, right?”