Chapter 1 Leaving

Looking out, prosperity fell into view, a highly modern and bustling scene, practically a different world compared to the old district.

In a sense, the old district was no longer suited to this extremely prosperous city, and should have been greatly renovated or rebuilt.

However, Su Mo had always refused. On one hand, both renovation and rebuilding required huge sums of money, and Su Mo really didn't have that much. Another point was that after the old district was renovated, both rent and the cost of living in all aspects would skyrocket, which the original tenants simply couldn't afford.

To put it bluntly, his old district's tenants were basically the lowest rung of society in this city.

Of course, if the entire shantytown was rebuilt and sold, making tens of billions would be easy. But Su Mo didn't care about money at all, and he didn't want to go against his grandfather's wishes.

In his opinion, this old city was the last memento his grandfather had left him.

And so, Su Mo gazed in the direction of the old district, standing there for a long time.

After a while, Su Mo walked towards the public transit station, intending to take the train to the railway station.

Because he only had a thousand in cash on hand, he couldn't waste a single penny, and he tried to choose the most cost-effective way to get to the imperial capital.

Soon, Su Mo arrived at the transit station platform.

There were so many people waiting for the train, it was very crowded. Because it was morning rush hour, many people were eating quick meals like meat buns, and the air was filled with a mix of messy smells.

Soon, the public light rail arrived.

*Whirr!*

Everyone擠ed in, taking Su Mo along with them.

On the light rail, Su Mo wanted to find a relatively spacious corner, but realized he was thinking too much; it was packed everywhere.

A rather fashionably dressed middle-aged woman, carrying a light luxury bag, exuding a strong perfume scent, was standing right in front of Su Mo, staring straight at him.

Su Mo subconsciously turned his head to the side.

"Oh, are you shy? It's rare to see such an innocent young man. What's your name, young man?"

The middle-aged woman looked at Su Mo, not forgetting to give him a flirtatious look. Her eye for spotting potential was excellent. This young man had delicate features and an extremely outstanding appearance, yet he was only wearing an old-fashioned yellow sweater, with no valuable decorations on his body. It was clear at a glance that he was a poor guy, who should be easy to get close to.

The corner of Su Mo's mouth twitched slightly, and he endured his discomfort, pretending not to hear.

"Don't pretend to be innocent. Listen to my advice: a young man doesn't know the good of a rich woman, and regrets it when he's old."

Su Mo's face darkened, but he still endured it.

Unfortunately, the rich woman in front of him showed no sign of giving up, but instead became even more interested. Just as she was about to move closer to Su Mo, a girl wearing a blue turtleneck school uniform, with headphones on and an ice cream in her hand, suddenly stood between them, blocking the rich woman.

"Little girl, move aside," the rich woman replied, a little annoyed.

The girl acted as if she didn't hear, waving the ice cream in her hand back and forth.

It was as if she was about to brush against her clothes at any moment, scaring the middle-aged woman into quickly backing away, glaring angrily at the little girl in front of her.

"What are you doing? You won't be able to afford it if you stain my clothes."

"You were the one who insisted on getting close to me," the little girl replied with a smile.

"You!" the rich woman said, speechless with anger.

"Forget it, you're too ugly. I don't want to face you," the little girl turned around, facing Su Mo.

Su Mo couldn't help but look the little girl up and down, and the girl gave Su Mo a bright smile.

Su Mo was slightly stunned. He suddenly felt that leaving his familiar circle of life and seeing the outside world wasn't such a bad thing after all.

Not long after, they finally arrived at the railway station. After some effort, he boarded the high-speed train to the imperial capital. At that moment, Su Mo breathed a long sigh of relief.

The distance from the magic city to the imperial capital was 1318 kilometers. Logically speaking, taking the vacuum magnetic levitation train would be the fastest, taking only 10 minutes. But because it was too expensive, he booked an ordinary high-speed train.

This train was the first train of the route, and because Su Mo boarded relatively early, many passengers had not yet boarded, so the seats next to him were empty.

Su Mo looked out the window, feeling inexplicably excited. This was his first time traveling far from home, and he was a little excited.

He was also very curious about what the outside world would be like.

As the time for departure approached, more and more people boarded the train.

At this time, a group of very young young men and women boarded the train, excitedly chatting as they looked for their seats.

"Let me tell you, you don't know how much Supervisor Zhang values me. It's all thanks to me begging him that he agreed to let you join the guild. This trip to the imperial capital is an opportunity for us to take off in life. Don't mess it up. You all have to listen to me."

"Chen Tian, don't worry, we'll definitely listen to you. Is the treatment really that good there?" the partner beside Chen Tian replied excitedly.

"It's the Giant Guild. The entire guild has hundreds of thousands of people. How could they possibly deceive people? Moreover, they provide food and accommodation. So many people want to join, but can't get in. We'll have to sign a contract when we get there. Let me tell you, even if we die in the game, we'll still receive compensation."

"That's great."

"Who do you think found the guild?"

.....

It was at this time that Su Mo noticed that almost all of the passengers on this train were talking about Star Ring.

Moreover, many of them were going to the imperial capital for training.

It seemed that they were all elite players who had been absorbed.

At this moment, Chen Tian and his group walked over. He looked at the seat numbers and sat next to Su Mo.

The people he brought also sat down nearby.

The quiet atmosphere suddenly became a bit noisy.

Su Mo just glanced at them and didn't say anything.

At this moment, Su Mo's phone vibrated. He subconsciously picked it up and glanced at it, only to see prompts popping up on his newly registered WeChat software.

"Prompt: Join the Dawn Guild's 10th Legion chat group (183,923 people)?"

"Prompt: Join the Dawn Guild's 10th Legion 12th group chat (15,023 people)?"

"Prompt: Lin Zinuo has requested to add you as a friend."

Su Mo was a little surprised, and then clicked a few times, agreeing to everything.

As soon as he agreed, Lin Zinuo's messages popped up like bullets.

"Have you set off yet?"

"When will you arrive?"

......

Su Mo looked at the constantly popping up messages and couldn't help but fall silent. He wondered if he had been a little hasty in choosing to join in the first place. Why did it feel like he was being chased after, as if they were afraid he would run away?

He replied, "I've set off," and then put his phone on silent mode.

At this time, the train started moving. If it wasn't delayed, it would arrive at the imperial capital in three hours.

Su Mo leaned against the window, quietly admiring the scenery outside.

He watched the towering buildings disappear behind him, and soon the train left the magic city.

At this time, the scenery completely changed drastically. The buildings in the distance began to get shorter and less dense.

After a while, he began to see fields and forests.

However, most of them were in a state of荒芜.

This wasn't a waste of land and resources. Rather, over seventy percent of the world's land was affected by radiation left over from the last war. It was basically unusable. Although the crops that were forcibly planted could be eaten, they had extreme side effects.

Therefore, most people had given up on these heavily polluted areas.