Wasteland: I Awakened A Plant System-Chapter 70: Truth Of Savage Wolf Shelter

Meanwhile, after ending the communication with Divya, Vikram immediately sought out someone else to talk to.

[Vikram: How’s it going? Have you been doing well these past two days?]

The person he contacted was none other than Abhishek, who was still wearing the slavery bracelet.

[Abhishek: Hehe... very well. Brother Vikram, is there something you need me for?]

In the −30°C Wasteland World, the land lay buried beneath a thick silver blanket of snow. Everything was draped in a pale white veil, blurring its original colors.

At the foot of one mountain, however, a patch of ground remained strangely bare. Six iron houses stood there in a connected row, thin trails of smoke curling upward into the frozen air.

Unlike Vikram’s Territory, which was hidden neatly between two hills, these iron houses were simply built against the mountain’s base, forming a crude settlement.

Inside the iron house farthest from the slope lived nearly ten Survivors. Among them was Abhishek, curled up on a trembling bunk bed, his body shivering uncontrollably.

The interior of the shelter was filthy and chaotic. Rusted tools lay scattered in corners, damp clothes hung from makeshift ropes, and the sour smell of sweat mixed with smoke lingered heavily in the air.

The bed beneath him creaked constantly, its poor craftsmanship obvious. Lying on it felt like resting on floating driftwood, unstable and unreliable, forcing him to worry at every moment whether it might collapse.

The entire room measured barely thirty square meters, far too cramped to hold ten proper beds. Instead, rough bunk beds were stacked together, leaving almost no walking space.

"Bang!"

Finally unable to endure it any longer, Abhishek slammed his fist hard against the iron frame.

"Stop shaking, damn it! If you want to jerk off, go outside!" he snapped angrily.

Ever since his failed attempt to seize power, which had cost two lives, his standing within the Brown Wood Shelter had plummeted.

From once having a proper bed, he had been reduced to sleeping on the lowest bunk. Worse still, he had been assigned gate-watch duty, forced to endure icy winds that swept into the room each time someone entered or left.

But the thing he hated most was not the cold or humiliation.

It was the cursed bracelet on his wrist.

Every time the thought of revealing Vikram’s Territory crossed his mind, a sharp electric shock would surge through his body without warning, leaving him gasping and trembling in fear.

Sometimes, even the mere thought of resistance would cause his entire body to convulse violently from the electric shocks.

He couldn’t even attempt to destroy the wristband; every rebellious thought had to be buried deep within his heart. All he could do now was obediently act like Vikram’s dog.

He had long believed that his life in the Wasteland was already over. Yet unexpectedly, Vikram actually contacted him today.

[Vikram: I’m relieved to see you’re doing well. After all, the wristband on your hand is expensive, so you absolutely cannot die on me so easily.]

[Abhishek: Brother Vikram, just tell me what you need, and I’ll do my best to help you.]

His tone was extremely fawning, even somewhat humble.

"What the hell... who adjusted this?" Hearing such a submissive tone, even Vikram, who knew Abhishek could not resist him, felt slightly uncomfortable.

"Didn’t I just put a wristband on him? Why is he so obedient? Or is the wristband’s effect even more sensitive than described?"

"Hiss... if this thing were used somewhere else..."

"Pfft!" He slapped his own cheek lightly. These past two days of ambiguous interaction with Divya had clearly made this hot-blooded young man a little distracted.

After calming himself, he asked in a serious tone:

[Vikram: Ahem... I contacted you today to learn about Savage Wolf Shelter.]

[Vikram: Since you are all part of the three major Shelters, there must be some hidden dealings between you. Tell me everything you know about Savage Wolf Shelter in detail.]

[Abhishek: Hmm... it’s true that our two sides have some contact, but I don’t know too much.]

[Abhishek: I only know that their boss is called Rahul Soniwal. As for their Shelter, our Brown Wood members have always looked down on them.]

[Abhishek: Savage Wolf Shelter is basically a half-baked group. In the beginning, they used a photo of an unfinished iron house to deceive people in the chat channel and recruit Survivors.]

[Abhishek: Boss Rahul Soniwal himself doesn’t have much capability. Their current scale mostly comes from the resources brought in by new members who joined them.]

[Abhishek: After they gained strength, they started committing all kinds of atrocities — murder, arson, rape, and plunder. You could say they are completely lawless.]

[Vikram: I don’t believe Brown Wood Shelter hasn’t done any of those things you just mentioned.]

[Abhishek: I... we usually only eliminate Survivors who obstruct our development. As for women, sometimes we exploit them to satisfy our desires... but compared to Savage Wolf Shelter, we are far less depraved.]

[Abhishek: The most disgusting thing is that these people aren’t satisfied after playing with women; they even bring them back to the Shelter and imprison them. They often ask us where they can find pretty women.]

Looking at Abhishek’s indignant messages in the chat box, Vikram felt that he wasn’t faking it. After all, the wristband was still on him; Vikram was certain he wouldn’t dare to lie.

[Vikram: Do you know if there’s a woman named Shalini in Savage Wolf Shelter?]

He hadn’t forgotten to investigate this mysterious group member. As someone from Savage Wolf Shelter who had remained relatively safe until now, she was definitely not ordinary.

[Abhishek: This... Vikram Boss, may I ask what your relationship with her is?]

[Vikram: No relation. Just answer directly.]

[Abhishek: She is the step-sister of Rahul Soniwal, the boss of Savage Wolf Shelter. Our Boss has also mentioned her name before.]

[Vikram: I want detailed information about her. Find a way to get it.]

[Abhishek: Brother Vikram, I really can’t do that. When I returned to the Shelter last time, the two members who went with me died, and I was even deprived of a proper place to sleep. How am I supposed to gather such information now?]

[Vikram: I won’t let you work for nothing. I’ll give you three kilograms of food. I don’t care how you obtain the information, but I want results within three days.]

With that, Vikram directly closed the chat.

He then opened Divya’s chat window.

[Vikram: [Image]]

Without any further explanation, he simply sent her the screenshot of the chat log.

[Divya: Is this information really reliable?]

Although she had also sensed that something was off during the past two days, she still found it hard to believe that Shalini’s Shelter with whom she had maintained a good relationship could be so terrible.

[Vikram: Abhishek is a member of Brown Wood Shelter. He wouldn’t dare lie to me.]

[Vikram: Her real intentions are still unclear, but for now, it’s safest if you keep some distance from her.]

Vikram tried his best to be subtle, deliberately avoiding any mention that Abhishek was completely under his control.

[Divya: Okay.]

After leaving only that brief reply, Divya went offline.

Sensing the low spirits hidden behind her simple response, Vikram could understand. She had been quite close to Shalini. 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

After experiencing such a revelation, anyone would feel upset. So he chose not to say anything more that might worsen her mood.

Ignoring everything else for the moment, Vikram, who had been almost rotting lazily on his bed, finally decided to go out for a walk, stretch his muscles, and see if he could harvest some spoils from Crimson Creatures.

"During the extreme cold, that voice clearly said that Crimson Creatures would completely disappear within two weeks."

"Counting forward... that means only eight days are left before they go extinct."

He didn’t stop walking as he headed toward the door.

"It might be difficult to gather another Crimson Orb... but that doesn’t mean I can’t trade Crimson Shards for valuable resources."

Reaching the entrance, he pushed the door open.

Cold air rushed in instantly, but Vikram didn’t mind. His gaze swept across his territory, landing on his trained Plant Sprout Team.

With a simple gesture, he signaled them to follow.

Then, with a flick of his hand, he summoned his Universal Vehicle.

"Let’s move."

One by one, the sprouts responded.

The Guardian Sprout, Warrior Sprout, Healer Sprout, Archer Sprout, Fire Mage Sprout, Water Mage Sprout, and Light Mage Sprout all quickly climbed onto the vehicle.

However, this time, Vikram frowned slightly.

"It’s a bit crowded..."

With four additional sprout units compared to before, the space on the Universal Vehicle was nearly filled.

Even so, he had no intention of leaving anyone behind.

After all, he still hadn’t properly tested the combat capabilities of his newly expanded Sprout Team.

As he exited the territory, he observed the surroundings.

The snow brought by the extreme cold wasn’t particularly terrifying in volume, but the temperature itself was brutal.

A thin, hard layer of snow covered large portions of the ground. Walking normally would require specialized cold-resistant boots.

But Vikram didn’t need to worry.

With a mechanical shift, his Universal Vehicle smoothly transformed into Snowmobile Mode, gliding effortlessly across the frozen terrain while maintaining high speed.

He then activated the Creature Detection Function, which he hadn’t used in some time.

As expected, the number of detected creatures had dropped drastically.

Within the system’s twenty-kilometer detection radius, only a few scattered signals appeared, most of them located near the outer edges.

Vikram frowned slightly.

"Coming all this way... just for a handful of Crimson Shards?"

For a moment, he considered turning back.

But soon, he shook his head.

"Today is the last day before the extreme cold evolves again. If I delay any longer, I might not even be able to go outside afterward."

His gaze locked onto the distant flickering markers shown by the system.

Slowly, his expression hardened.

"Let’s clear them all."