Empire Building With Infinite Warehouse-Chapter 91: Bottom-Tier Scavengers

High up on the cracked third floor of a ruined office building, three men crouched low in the shadows.

They wore fully black clothes wrapped tightly around their bodies to blend perfectly into the dark corners of the dead city.

They were seasoned scavengers, the kind of guys who survived by picking the bones of anyone foolish enough to leave the safe zones.

The tallest one, a big guy with a completely bald head and thick scars across his neck, stared down at the street below.

"Big brother, look at that," one of the skinny men whispered, pointing a dirty, calloused finger through the broken glass of the window.

"Looks like we just hit a jackpot today."

The bald man nodded slowly.

His eyes locked onto the wooden cart rolling down the broken street.

A cart meant supplies, money, food, and maybe even rare medicine.

He gestured quietly with his hand, and the three of them slipped down the concrete stairs to follow their new prey.

Down on the street, Julien was busy studying the path floating in his head.

The ruins were quiet.

There were no monster roars in the distance and no signs of other survivors. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

It was just the annoying squeak of his cart wheels.

Suddenly, a bright red notification popped up right in the middle of his vision.

The Streetwise skill came to life to warn him.

[Warning: Movements detected behind you.]

[You are being followed.]

Julien did not stop walking.

He kept his pace totally normal and just shifted his grip on the wooden handles of his cart, moving a little closer to Kyle.

"Looks like we got some company," Julien muttered quietly so only the big mercenary could hear him.

Kyle just scoffed.

He did not even bother looking over his shoulder and kept his eyes looking straight ahead at the empty road.

"You are quite slow, aren’t you?" Kyle replied, keeping his deep voice totally relaxed.

"They have been following us for ten minutes now. Two lightweights and one heavy stepper are trying to stay quiet. Should we just stop and beat them up?"

Julien thought about it for a second.

His first instinct was to say yes and let Kyle handle it immediately.

But he wanted to see how these specific deserters actually operated outside the Association walls.

It was a good chance to gather intel.

"No," Julien said, keeping his eyes looking forward.

"Let’s just keep walking and see exactly how long they can follow us before they try something stupid."

They kept moving deeper into the endless concrete canyon.

A few minutes later, the street curved sharply.

A massive, tall skyscraper had collapsed one year ago during the first gate breaks and was now leaning heavily against another tall building across the street.

It formed a giant, artificial tunnel over the road.

The second they walked under the leaning building, the sun was completely blocked out.

It was pitch black inside the crossing.

’Perfect place for an ambush,’ Julien thought, gripping the cart handles a little tighter.

Right as he took another step, the solid ground underneath his boots completely changed.

"Huh?" Julien looked down into the dark.

The hard concrete instantly turned into a thick, sucking pit of mud.

Julien sank right up to his knees before he could even react.

His boots were completely stuck, locked in place by the heavy sludge.

The wooden wheels of his supply cart sank deep into the muck, trapping all his goods in the middle of the dark tunnel.

Kyle stopped, too.

The giant mercenary was also buried up to his calves in the sudden mud trap.

Before either of them could pull free, the air shifted right next to Kyle’s head.

A completely invisible guy stepped into range and threw a punch right at Kyle’s face, hoping to knock the big guard out in one lucky hit while he was stuck.

The fist connected hard with Kyle’s jaw.

But Kyle did not even flinch.

He just stood his ground like a solid brick wall.

"Nice try," Kyle grunted.

He reached out his hand, sensing exactly where the attacker was standing just by the shift in the air and grabbed the invisible guy right by the front of his shirt, lifted him into the air, and threw him hard into the side of the building.

The invisible guy groaned loudly as he hit the concrete wall.

His camouflage dropped instantly, revealing a skinny man in black clothes rubbing his bruised back on the ground.

The mud trap stopped expanding.

Two more men stepped out from the dark shadows of the tunnel to join their friend.

The guy controlling the mud stood slightly behind the bald leader.

They regrouped perfectly, acting exactly like the organised street thugs they were, and surrounded the stuck cart, cutting off any escape routes.

"Leave your cart right now, and we will actually spare your lives," the bald guy commanded, crossing his thick arms over his chest.

He looked extremely confident, fully believing he had the upper hand.

Both Kyle and Julien just stared at him.

Their faces were totally deadpan.

They looked completely indifferent to the entire threat since they had literally just fought a giant boss monster a few days ago, so three guys in an alley were not very scary.

Julien actually let go of his cart handles and sighed.

"What are you even going to do with all of this?" Julien asked, sounding more annoyed than intimidated.

"Will you just keep using these potions on yourselves? Can you even find out what kind of potions they actually are? You don’t look like an appraiser."

The bald guy laughed out loud and looked at Julien like he was an absolute idiot.

"Oh, you are definitely from a shelter, aren’t you?" the bald leader mocked him.

"You think you rich kids are the only ones trading out here. There is a massive scavengers market just a few kilometres from here. We will just drag this cart over there and sell it for a fortune to the real merchants."

Julien blinked in surprise.

That was entirely new information, and it was highly valuable.

’A market in the ruins?’ Julien thought, his merchant brain instantly activating.

’That means an actual economy exists outside the strict Association rules. I could totally use that to buy information or rare monster cores without paying taxes.’

"Where is this market exactly?" Julien asked, looking right at the bald guy and ignoring the mud trapping his legs.

The leader just sneered and pulled a rusted machete from his belt.

"Why do you want to know?" the bald guy said, stepping closer to the edge of the mud pit.

"You are going to die right here if you do not give us the goods."

Julien completely ignored the threat.

He closed his eyes for a split second and focused.

His Streetwise map faded away, and his brand-new Examiner skill flared to life.

He looked at the three thugs, gathering instant information about their basic abilities and stats.

The system pinged in his mind, giving him quick, clean readouts.

The guy rubbing his back against the wall had a basic active skill for light bending, giving him short bursts of invisibility.

The nervous-looking guy hiding in the back had a weak terrain manipulation skill to turn solid surfaces into mud.

Julien looked closely at the bald leader.

The guy was huge, but he did not have any flashy magic or high-tier aura.

’Basic strength enhancement,’ Julien guessed, reading the subtle system cues.

’Nothing special at all. They are just bottom-tier scavengers.’

Julien turned his head and looked at his hired bodyguard.

Kyle was still standing in the mud pit, looking completely bored with the whole situation.

"Kyle," Julien said calmly, pointing a finger at the bald leader.

"Ask him exactly where that market is."

Kyle grinned.

"With pleasure," Kyle replied.

The mercenary casually pulled his right leg out of the thick mud.

He did it effortlessly, like stepping out of a shallow puddle on the sidewalk.

The mud guy’s eyes went wide in pure shock.

That trap was supposed to hold people tight like hardened concrete.

Kyle reached behind his back and grabbed the worn hilt of the sword.

He pulled the heavy blade free in one smooth motion, letting it rest easily in his large hands.

The faces of all three thugs went completely pale.

They suddenly realised they had made a massive mistake.

The bald leader actually took a step backwards, his cheap machete shaking slightly in his grip as he looked at the giant black sword.

Julien crossed his arms and looked at the terrified bandits.

"Let him show you what real strength is," Julien said.