Chapter 135: 135, Pollution

The tram hummed steadily within the barriers, and Ren Xiaosu had indeed ridden vehicles before, but this was his first encounter with such a "bus."

All one needed to do was toss two jiao into the box by the entrance when boarding, and they could ride as far as they wished—even from the starting station to the terminal posed no problem.

Wang Fugui had heard of trams long ago, for he had once dealt with the people inside the barriers and inevitably discussed the peculiarities of life there.

Thus, when Ren Xiaosu expressed his desire to tour the barriers, Wang Fugui declared the tram the most convenient and economical means of transport.

"Brother," Yan Liuyuan, leaning against the window, said, "Surely the people in the barriers never have troubles like this—life here is so convenient and safe. Just do some light work within the barriers, and you can enjoy a life hundreds of times better than the refugees."

"How could people have no troubles?" Ren Xiaosu, sitting beside him, smiled. "Even Luo Lan has her worries. Such things don’t diminish with material abundance."

"True," Yan Liuyuan nodded. "Then tell me, is there such a person in this world who has no troubles at all?"

"There is," Ren Xiaosu replied. "Dead people."

Yan Liuyuan slowly turned his head to glance at Ren Xiaosu. "On such a festive day, is it appropriate for you to say that...?"

"Even a fool like Chen Wudi has troubles," Ren Xiaosu sighed. At that moment, Chen Wudi sat in the last row, his face still swollen, and no one knew where he had gone or who had beaten him the day before...

The streets of the barrier city flanked by vendors selling breakfast buns, doufu nao, and hardware goods, their wares glittering in dazzling array.

Pedestrians moved along the sidewalks, and occasionally cyclists sped swiftly through the streets.

Ren Xiaosu asked, "How much does a bicycle cost in the barriers? This seems like a handy means of transport."

Once, an "old gentry" from the commune had acquired a bicycle circulating from the barriers, only to have it stolen that very night. The thief, fleeing the old gentry’s pursuit, rode the bicycle to another barrier...

Bicycles were a luxury in the commune, something unattainable even if one wished to buy them.

"I'll ask around this afternoon," Wang Fugui said. "It probably won't be cheap, given how scarce resources are now. Look at those cyclists—their clothes are quite proper. They must be relatively wealthy people from the barriers."

"If only we had asked Jiang Wu more on the way," Ren Xiaosu lamented. Though none of them had been to the barriers, Jiang Wu had grown up there since childhood.

Only now had Jiang Wu gone to school to report for duty as a teacher, likely at Barrier No. 13...

As they walked, Ren Xiaosu overheard people nearby discussing something: "Have you heard? Barrier 113 has been abandoned. Apparently, that earthquake collapsed it entirely, and even the Qing family consortium fled here to our barrier."

"Really?" someone exclaimed in surprise. "The radio news didn’t mention this."

"The radio wouldn’t tell you that," the other replied with a laugh. "But I have a friend who collaborates with the Qing family consortium. He told me that their big shots arrived here yesterday, bringing dozens of refugees with them."

"Refugees?" the other person asked in surprise. "Why would refugees come in when they can work outside?"

Ren Xiaosu glanced at them without speaking, but another voice chimed in: "Who knows? Maybe they brought diseases and bacteria and pollution from outside."

"Shh, look at those people behind us—they must be the refugees!" someone gasped in alarm.

At this reminder, the others on the tram turned to look, and the more they gazed, the more convinced they became that Ren Xiaosu and his companions truly might be refugees.

Then, to Yan Liuyuan’s astonishment, these people all alighted at the next stop.

In the span of a single stop, the tram was left with only the six of them. If the driver hadn’t needed to drive, Yan Liuyuan felt the driver might have gotten off too!

Ren Xiaosu surveyed the six of them. Today, they had all changed into washed clothes, and everyone had boiled water to bathe, their faces and bodies no longer dirty.

But the problem was that the clothes refugees could obtain and their sun-tanned skin bore stark differences.

"Brother," Yan Liuyuan whispered, "I feel the people in the barriers aren’t friendly at all."

These barrier-dwellers didn’t even inquire—they simply avoided them as if fleeing plague, merely because they might carry pathogens from outside.

For since childhood, the barriers had taught them that refugees couldn’t enter because they had been "contaminated."

Ren Xiaosu remained silent, merely saying calmly, "Sister Xiaoyu, buy two sets of new clothes for each of us tomorrow. We’ll change into them to look more like barrier people."

"I won’t wear them," Yan Liuyuan whispered in resistance, as if donning those clothes meant bowing to the barrier folk.

"We must survive whether in the wilderness or the barriers," Ren Xiaosu said. "To endure, we must first integrate, understand, and only then gain the power to resist. When you can’t change your environment, learn to disguise yourself first."

Wang Fugui was taken abusk—he hadn’t expected Ren Xiaosu to apply his wilderness survival theories to the barriers. Was he treating the barriers as a wilderness now?

"Perhaps we’ll leave the barriers someday," Ren Xiaosu continued. "Prepare yourselves."

Yan Liuyuan’s eyes brightened at this. Knowing Ren Xiaosu best, he had already sensed his intent to depart!

Wang Fugui laughed. "Why not leave tomorrow? I don’t know why, but I feel the commune days were more comfortable."

"Not yet," Ren Xiaosu shook his head. "We can’t get out now. Wait until I find an opportunity."

At that moment, the vehicle arrived at the terminal, and they planned to take the tram back the way they came. But then they saw, ahead of the terminal, many detached houses with small courtyards.

From afar, the area seemed sizable, yet quieter than most places.

Ren Xiaosu stopped the tram driver and asked, "What place is this?"

"This is the wealthy district of our barriers," the driver replied, shrinking backward as if afraid to come too close. "Only the rich and powerful may live here. There are no tram lines inside, for the residents here all have private cars."