Chapter 9 — I Built an Empire in the Wasteland

News of the battle that night spread throughout Phế Thổ with incredible speed, woven by each teller until it became an almost legendary story. It is rumored that there was a "leader of the wasteland" wearing silver-shining armor who single-handedly repelled an entire gang of notorious bandits with just a single shot, causing the leader to flee in disgrace. The story became more and more exaggerated as it spread, but the core remained the same: there was a place near Tàn Đô where the weak no longer had to fear.

In the Black Market, that rumor became a topic of endless discussion for many days. Some people believe it, some people doubt it is just an exaggeration of drunk people, but no one can deny an obvious truth: the prestige of the Gray Wolf gang has clearly decreased. They no longer dared to arrogantly collect protection money like before, and Lôi Quang Việt almost disappeared from public view for nearly a week after the battle, leaving Hạ Tử Kỳ and Quắc Bá Long to maintain the shaky internal order of the gang.

For ordinary people who lived in constant fear of bandits and the harshness of Phế Thổ, rumors about Camp Dawn were like a glimmer of hope in a land of despair. Each person, each small group, began groping their way to the barrier area, hoping to be accepted into that legendary shelter.

The first person to come was Ha Diễm Thư, a woman over twenty-seven years old, who had partially studied medicine before the Great War broke out, and since then lived wandering around Phế Thổ, using her little medical knowledge to treat anyone who needed help, in exchange for food or a place to sleep for the night. She came to Camp Dawn after hearing from a patient she had treated, bringing with her a small but precious bag of medicine that she had carefully kept for many years.

"I heard that someone here was injured after the recent battle," Diễm Thư said when Bạt Phong came to welcome her at the farm gate, her voice was straightforward, without color. "I can help, if you need someone who knows how to heal." Bạt Phong looked at her for a moment, then nodded and led her inside. From that day on, Diễm Thư became Camp Dawn's unofficial health care provider, and she quickly discovered something special about Yên Nhi when the two had a chance to talk - Yên Nhi's biomedical knowledge, although fragmentary and without a clear system, was so profound that it surprised someone who had studied medicine like Diễm Thư.

"Where did you study medicine?" Diễm Thư asked when she saw Yên Nhi explain exactly how an antibiotic works in the body, something that even pre-war medical textbooks rarely mentioned in such detail.

"I don't remember," Yên Nhi replied, with a familiar confused look on her face every time she was asked about her past. "But it seems I used to know a lot about biology, especially about... blood, and serums." A few days later, a young girl named Nhiêu Bích Vân, only nineteen years old, also came and asked to join. She is the child of a small trading family in the Black Market Area, her parents have just died from an epidemic spread by polluted water, leaving her alone and without support. Bích Vân was agile, had sharp eyes, always observing everything around her, and was quickly assigned the reconnaissance task of guarding the perimeter of Camp Dawn with a few other young men who had also just joined.

Camp Dawn, in less than two weeks, has grown from a group of four people into a small community of nearly twenty people, each with their own story of loss, but sharing a common desire to live safely and meaningfully in this desolate land.

During the meeting that night, when the whole small community gathered around a much larger fire than in the first days, Bạt Phong stood up and officially announced a decision he had been considering for many days.

"From today, I want Diệp Thanh Sơn to take on the role of deputy general of Camp Dawn," he said, looking towards his best friend who was sitting a bit surprised by this declaration. "He will be in charge of managing logistics, assigning defense tasks, and taking care of my work in my absence."

Thanh Sơn stood up, a bit embarrassed with the eyes of the whole community focused on him. "I... I mean, I will try my best not to disappoint everyone's trust," he said, his voice still awkward but his eyes full of determination.

Applause and congratulations rang out around the fire. Yên Nhi sat next Tô Bạt Phong, smiled slightly looking at that scene, then turned to whisper to him: "This community is growing, faster than I thought."

"Yes," Bạt Phong nodded, his eyes looking around at the smiling faces by the fire - Tư Rỗ was telling old stories to a few new young people, Sáu Mộc was scooping porridge to share with everyone, Diễm Thư was checking the minor injury of a person who had just joined, Bích Vân was standing guard outside but occasionally still looked back and laughed along with Tư Rỗ's story. "Much faster than I thought. But I'm worried, the more people there are, the harder it is to keep a secret, and the more mouths to feed."

"We will find a way," Yên Nhi said, her voice was unusually firm. "You saved me from the darkness, building all of this in just a few weeks. I trust you to find a way to give these people a better life."

Bạt Phong looked at her, a warm feeling crept into his heart that he did not dare to name clearly. He turned back to look at the fire, at the small community that was gradually growing from his empty hands, and silently thought that although the road ahead was still full of thorns, at least now he no longer had to go alone.

That night, after everyone had fallen asleep, Bạt Phong stood alone outside Camp Dawn, looking toward Tàn Đô in the distance, where the small flickering lights of the Black Market were still awake. He thought about Lôi Quang Việt, about the possibility that he would seek revenge, and about what was still hidden in the locked chest in the bunker that he had not yet had the chance to open. His widespread fame is a double-edged sword — it brings him people he needs to protect, but it also brings him the attention of people he doesn't want to confront.

Not far away, in the old Gray Wolf headquarters on the edge of the Black Market, Lôi Quang Việt sat alone in the dark, the bottle of cheap wine in front of him was half empty but he was still not drunk. The humiliation of the recent defeat stuck in his mind, unable to get rid of it. He remembered the blue light of the energy blast that tore the wheelbarrow to pieces, remembered the feeling of helplessness as live bullets fired only to bounce back harmlessly from Bạt Phong's strange armor.

Hạ Tử Kỳ walked in and stood silently for a moment before speaking. "Big brother, we've been whispering a lot these past few days. Some people are starting to doubt Gray Wolf's abilities. Maybe we're running out of time."

"Shut up." Lôi Quang Việt raised his voice, but without the usual weight. He turned the bottle of wine in his hand, his eyes looking far into the dark space before him. "The weapon that guy got is not a natural thing that a scrap collector can easily find. There must be someone, or some organization, behind this."

"What do you mean..." Hạ Tử Kỳ frowned.

"I want to know what it dug up and where it was." Lôi Quang Việt stood up and placed the bottle of wine firmly on the table. "If we don't have enough strength to face each other head-on, then we have to find another way. Go scout around to see if there is any organization operating around this Tàn Đô area that has enough technology to equip such a weapon. If we find it, maybe we need an ally, instead of just rushing into death alone." Hạ Tử Kỳ nodded. Although he was still skeptical about his leader's intentions, he knew this was not the time to argue. "Okay, let me let someone investigate. But be careful, don't reveal what we're looking for, or else we'll bring disaster upon ourselves before we can get any benefit."

"Go ahead." Lôi Quang Việt waved his hand, his voice was less harsh but his eyes still flashed with the familiar cold calculation. "The sooner the better. I don't want the name Gray Wolf to be laughed at forever because he lost to a scrap collector."

Hạ Tử Kỳ left the room, leaving Lôi Quang Việt sitting alone in the dark, his eyes fixed on the space outside the broken window, where the darkness of Phế Thổ stretched endlessly. He sat down on the chair, a dangerous plan had begun to form in his mind, the consequences of which he had not fully anticipated - a plan that would soon bring him face to face with people many times more cruel than him.