The Surprise Was Too Great

Qu Jianlei scraped the small stone twice with his short dagger, revealing a faint reddish glow within the brownish rock.

"This is..." His brows lifted slightly, unable to suppress his delight.

He glanced at the other man and asked tentatively, "A Mutated Beast Crystal?"

The honest-looking man kept his head lowered and said nothing. Once this thing had been discovered, there was truly nothing left to discuss.

Qu Jianlei had heard of this legendary item. It was said that only Rank B Mutated Beasts and above could produce crystals.

Mutated Beasts were ranked. The Black Fur Steel Bristle Rat he wanted to hunt was an unranked Mutated Beast.

With sufficient luck and skill, it could be killed with a high-frequency Vibrating Blade.

The stronger ones were C-level Mutated Beasts. A Gauss Automatic Rifle could deal with them, though generally speaking, a single Gauss Gun was not reliable enough.

For Rank B Mutated Beasts above C-level, one needed at least a Gauss Machine Gun or a Laser Sniper Rifle.

However, not every Rank B Mutated Beast contained a crystal. On the contrary, Rank B Crystals were rarely seen.

If he had to put a number on it, the odds might be higher than one in ten thousand, but they were absolutely far below one percent.

That was precisely why Mutated Beast Crystals were so outrageously expensive.

Normally, a Rank B Mutated Beast Crystal could roughly be exchanged for an Armored Vehicle like the one Mr. Sai rode in.

It would even come with a considerable amount of ammunition thrown in.

It was said that someone had once traded a Mutated Beast Crystal for residency rights in Hong Si Settlement, along with a large amount of wealth.

Qu Jianlei had never expected to come across something that might be such a treasure.

Kill and rob, and gold belts follow; build bridges and pave roads, and corpses pile up. The fastest way to make money still depended on whether one was willing to break the law.

But he was not truly certain, which was why he had asked.

Seeing the man remain silent, he raised his hand and chopped off nearly half of the man's foot. "Let me help refresh your memory!"

The honest-looking man rolled around on the ground in agony, wailing nonstop. "Spare me! I'll talk! Can you guarantee you won't kill me?"

"I already gave you the answer," Qu Jianlei said flatly. "I told you, you had to gamble on it."

"It's half a crystal," the honest-looking man answered through sharp breaths. "I found it by accident!"

He was hardly someone who took life and death lightly. He had been ambushing people alone for so long without getting into trouble, which clearly meant his desire to survive was strong.

The reason he had not answered earlier was mainly because he thought he was dead for sure. Only now did he realize that, besides death, pain was also hard to endure.

Found it by accident... Qu Jianlei would have to have water in his brain to believe that excuse.

But that was not important. What he was curious about was, "What Mutated Beast was this half-crystal taken from?"

"I really don't know that," the honest-looking man answered, gasping.

His guileless face twisted violently with pain. "I really didn't kill the Mutated Beast."

After thinking for a moment, Qu Jianlei asked again, "With a crystal like this, why didn't you go to a Settlement? Why do this kind of wicked business?"

The honest-looking man grunted and answered through gritted teeth, "With my strength, if word got out, I'd only die faster!"

Qu Jianlei fell silent at once. He had forgotten that factor. Once upon a time, he too had been someone who did not dare earn money even when it was there for the taking, simply because he was too weak.

In fact, even now, Qu Jianlei was not sure whether he could hold on to this half-crystal.

He looked at the man and shook his head helplessly. "Sorry, I really didn't mean to... The surprise you gave me was too great."

The honest-looking man did not beg anymore. He merely asked in a low voice, "Can you give me a quick death?"

"As you wish!" Qu Jianlei raised his Laser Gun and decisively pulled the trigger.

Watching the other man collapse to the ground, he shook his head. "All I can say is that your luck was too bad."

After that, he was in no hurry to find Old Cripple. Instead, he stared curiously at the crystal before him.

After looking at it for quite some time, he finally took out a damaged pair of tweezers and tried to place the crystal back into the box.

However, the instant the tweezers clamped onto the crystal, something in his mind suddenly stirred, as though it craved something.

Qu Jianlei's brows rose. Is this the effect of unknown energy?

But immediately afterward, a faint current of qi seemed to tremble slightly in his dantian. It should have been caused by this crystal as well.

Next, an extremely strange sensation spread through his entire body. His whole body actually developed an intense feeling of hunger! That was clearly abnormal. He had traveled some distance and fought a battle, but before that, he had consumed a full eight tubes of Nutrient Solution! In the depths of his mind, Qu Jianlei also had a strange feeling, though for the moment he could not figure out what it was.

He knew that something marvelous must have happened, but clearly, this was not the time to ponder it.

The Wasteland outside was far too dangerous. He needed to return to Luan Shi Camp first, sort out his thoughts slowly, and test things out.

It took him over another hour to return to Luan Shi. To avoid drawing attention, he buried that old Gauss Gun out in the wilderness.

He returned to his room without a sound and began studying the crystal.

After examining it for more than half an hour, he discovered that the crystal could not only effectively increase brain activity, but also repair the body.

In other words, the antidotes might well contain ingredients similar to crystals!

But that was purely speculation, and it was inconvenient to verify for now.

Since he had just killed that honest-looking man, Qu Jianlei did not want to seek out Old Cripple for the time being, lest others connect the dots.

But he did not want to go to the Garbage Dump either, so he simply went to another camp to ask around about Black Fur Steel Bristle Rats.

This time, he encountered a small merchant caravan from Hong Si Settlement.

The caravan had come mainly to purchase goods, saving the Survivors the trouble of making a special trip to the Settlement while earning a little for their efforts.

They did not sell many goods, or the general stores in the various camps would not have tolerated it.

The caravan sold Qu Jianlei a piece of information. The price was not high—two Silver Horns. If he did not have currency, he could settle the payment with Nutrient Solution.

However, there was an additional condition: if Qu Jianlei killed any Black Fur Steel Bristle Rats, he was to give them priority in buying all the ones he did not keep for himself.

This condition was almost completely nonbinding. It was mainly a way to build goodwill.

Still, Qu Jianlei agreed. Helping others was ultimately helping himself.

However, just after he stated his position, a three-man Hunter team invited him over, saying they had news of a C-level Mutated Beast.

They hoped the four of them could form a team to kill a C-level Mutated Beast. It was better than killing a few little rats.

But Qu Jianlei politely declined. In a place like the Wasteland, one could never be too careful.

The other side was somewhat unhappy. One burly man said disdainfully, "What, kid, are you too scared?"

Qu Jianlei had that much self-restraint. He simply smiled and did not reply. Whether I have guts or not, is that for you to decide? Because of those three, he even decided to delay hunting Black Fur Steel Bristle Rats, lest they take an interest in him.

As for whether the information fee might go down the drain? He truly did not care that much.

Back when he had no money, he naturally had to treat every tube of Nutrient Solution as precious. But now, there was no need.

After he left the camp, the three Hunters exchanged looks. "That kid's pretty wary."

The short one was somewhat dissatisfied. "It's just a Gauss Automatic Rifle. Your Sister Na... isn't she being too stingy?"

The burly man who had mocked Qu Jianlei immediately grew serious.

"Sister Na is generous in how she handles things. If she can lend it out for a fight, she must be prepared not to get it back."

"I just heard about it and couldn't accept it. Killing people was one thing, but he even dared to take their weapons?"

The Sister Na he spoke of was the very woman who had lent the Gauss Automatic Rifle to two of Third Master's subordinates.

After Qu Jianlei killed the two men, he naturally treated their weapons as spoils. He could not even be bothered to ask where they had come from.

Sister Na had not sought justice from him, but she had casually mentioned it to a friend.

As a result, the burly man had taken it seriously. He thought that little brat really did not know his place—shouldn't he have asked around before reaching out? Sister Na more or less knew that Silly Qu was no longer the Silly Qu of old, but since she had only mentioned it casually, she did not say much more.

The burly man remembered the matter but did not ask further. He only thought that if he ran into the fellow someday, he would teach him a lesson.

Unexpectedly, only a few days later, he really did run into him. He wanted to trick the boy out of the camp.

But Qu Jianlei was highly vigilant and did not fight over pride or face. The burly man failed, and his companions even thought he was making trouble for nothing.

Hunters were indeed mostly desperadoes, but risking their lives against someone for no reason was a losing deal.

Qu Jianlei's weapons were indeed fairly good, but good weapons also meant greater danger in a fight.

If it had been the burly man's own problem, his two companions could have helped. But for another woman... that was truly pointless.

Qu Jianlei had no idea that he actually had some other entanglements with those three Hunters.

But even if he had known, he probably would have only sighed, The Wasteland really isn't that big.

As he gradually rose from insignificance, it was inevitable that a chain of reactions, grudges, and conflicts would follow.

The days passed in a flash, and before long, it was time to ask for the antidote again.

Over those days, Collins and the others had desperately investigated the whereabouts of the Pink Mecha, completely neglecting scavenging.

Yet in the end, no one managed to find out what the Pink Mecha's background was.

The filthy woman did get one piece of information: mechas were not supposed to be pink.

So that mecha was probably custom-made, and the implication was rather terrifying.

It was not until the night they set out that Qu Jianlei appeared near the Garbage Dump.

Someone had already run out of patience. "What have you been doing these past few days?"

Qu Jianlei looked innocent. "I was asking around for information. It's not like you people would let me into the Mine."

Collins could no longer suppress the fire in his heart. "Don't tell me you were slacking off?"

Even if I was slacking off, it's not your place to manage me, Qu Jianlei thought, feeling rather displeased.

But he also knew that he was not good at dealing with people. He did not know how to measure his words and often ruined things with a single sentence.

So he pretended not to hear it.

Morrison spoke up. "Little Qu isn't a Scavenger. Since when is it your place to criticize him?"

His business had remained good lately, and he could still skim from the goods. His days were quite comfortable and carefree.

Now that his benefactor was being targeted, of course he had to step forward and protect him.

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