Still Getting Carried Away

Hairless Freak watched the other vehicle speed up and up, and he could no longer suppress the fear in his heart.

He shouted, "I really know this place well. You can ask me anything you want to know!"

Qu Jianlei ignored him completely. He was nothing more than someone looking to freeload.

As the vehicle got farther and farther away, the child began panting from running too fast.

In his despair, he could not help shouting, "Do you want Mutated Beast Crystals?"

What a braggart... Qu Jianlei smiled disdainfully, but the next moment, he froze. Crystals?

He slowed the vehicle and turned to look at Hairless Freak chasing after him. "What did you say?"

The child ran up, gasping for breath. "Mu-Mutated Beast Crystals."

Qu Jianlei could not hide his interest, so he could only cover it with a teasing remark. "So you really are a stutterer."

Hairless Freak did not care about that. He merely said, "I really know a lot."

The motorcycle slowly came to a stop. Qu Jianlei gave him a suspicious look. "You have crystals... and you nearly starved to death?"

Hairless Freak finally caught up. After taking several rapid breaths, he asked, "Have you ever been weak?"

He could tell that the other party was a lone traveler with plenty of resources, but he could not see the face behind the mask.

So he instinctively assumed this was a very powerful person.

Qu Jianlei fell silent at once. I was not just weak before. I am not that strong even now! After a pause, he asked something else. "You know the Wasteland well?"

The child nodded decisively. "Very well."

"What is this area called?" Qu Jianlei asked. He truly had no idea where he was.

The child stared at him in astonishment. "You don't know?"

"I'm asking you!"

The child hesitated, then shook his head sheepishly. "I don't know either. It's hard to tell directions in the wild."

That made sense. Qu Jianlei nodded. "Then give me a rough idea. Which Settlement does this place belong to?"

The child thought for a moment, then shook his head again. "I don't know... I'm terrible at finding my way."

"This is what you call knowing the Wasteland well?" Qu Jianlei was a little stunned. Where was this kid's shame? For Survivors who lived in the Wasteland, knowing the way was a basic skill. He could not even recognize routes, yet he had the nerve to claim he knew the place well?

"That's not what I'm familiar with," the child answered gloomily. "I used to live in a Settlement, and my family was fairly well-off..."

"I know much more than you wild Survivors do about the various specialties here and a lot of other things."

"Well... all right." After thinking it over, Qu Jianlei had to admit the kid had a point.

The key was that he was not very familiar with the Wasteland. In the six years since he had crossed over, his movements had all been centered around Luan Shi Camp.

So this Hairless Freak... was still somewhat useful.

He asked again, "Which Settlement did you live in before?"

"I... don't want to answer that." The child hesitated, then shook his head firmly. "My family is all gone."

It seemed Settlements were not exactly peaceful either. After thinking for a moment, Qu Jianlei asked, "You have Mutated Beast Crystals?"

"Yes." Hairless Freak tapped his bald head, then hesitated before replying, "I didn't dare carry them. I hid them."

"Understandable!" Qu Jianlei nodded readily. You were simply too weak. Then he said naturally, "Take me to get them. I'll buy them at a fair price. Do you trust me?"

He said it with complete confidence. Although he did not have much money right now, as long as he was willing to work seriously, making money would not be hard.

Would he break his word to a child? Absolutely not! "I do." The child nodded his bald head again.

Qu Jianlei suddenly thought of something. This child could not have been born without eyebrows and hair, could he?

Back on Blue Star, he had spent some time thinking about beauty and makeup.

Without resorting to surgery to change one's face, shaving off one's eyebrows could be called the ultimate crude disguise. It drastically changed the impression a face gave.

So he asked, "Did you shave your head and eyebrows yourself?"

To avoid enemies, that was not much of a price to pay.

The child found it baffling. Was this man's train of thought not jumping around too much? But this was his hope of survival, so he answered honestly, "A while ago, bugs got into my hair, so I shaved it off."

I overthought it again! Qu Jianlei lifted his chin. "Get on. Where did you hide the Mutated Beast Crystals...?"

By the end of the question, he was already starting to feel that something was wrong.

The child sprang onto the flatbed, then answered awkwardly, "I-I forgot... how to get there."

Qu Jianlei said nothing. After a long silence, he spoke. "Then get off."

He had opened by saying he knew the Wasteland well, but in the end he had nothing to offer. Did he really think Qu Jianlei was running a charity?

"I can do odd jobs," Hairless Freak hurriedly said. "I also know a lot about Mutated Beast Crystals."

The next moment, he jumped off the vehicle and shot away like an arrow. "Please wait a moment. I need to relieve myself."

The lingering effects of the Purple Flower Lichen... had indeed not been completely cleared out.

Qu Jianlei stood there blankly for a long while before shaking his head with a laugh of helpless disbelief.

Few Survivors in the Wasteland cared about hygiene. It was not that they did not want to; they simply did not have the conditions.

To avoid relieving himself near others, Hairless Freak would rather risk losing his ride. That was quite rare.

Other Survivors would definitely call that "fussy"—staying alive was what mattered most.

But Qu Jianlei had crossed over from Blue Star, from a society with abundant material wealth, so he could understand that mindset.

"Someone this particular about things probably won't be as shameless as Rogers, right?"

No matter what, the child's behavior gave him a rare sense of closeness.

People from Settlements really were different.

Fine, he would wait. What were a few doses of Nutrient Solution and a few mouthfuls of water? Then he slapped his forehead helplessly. Still getting carried away. I've only been well-off for a few days. Yet though he was quick to criticize himself, he had no intention of changing. Maybe there'll be some surprise.

About five minutes later, Hairless Freak emerged from behind a boulder and sprinted back at top speed.

He jumped onto the vehicle without ceremony. "Thank you for waiting, sir. Let's go."

"Go?" Qu Jianlei shook his head helplessly. "Tell me where we're going."

The child was stunned for a moment before speaking. "You don't know where you want to go?"

"I don't need to know," Qu Jianlei replied without hesitation. "Somewhere with relatively better order will do."

"That's too vague." The child was a little confused. "Do you want to go to a Settlement?"

"If I were going to a Settlement, I definitely wouldn't take you with me," Qu Jianlei answered casually. "You ran out carrying crystals."

A single Mutated Beast Crystal was enough to guarantee at least one admission slot in a Settlement.

Yet Hairless Freak had run out of a Settlement with crystals. That could only mean the child was definitely in trouble.

Qu Jianlei simply had no interest in digging into it.

What was rare was that the child, despite being so young, understood what he meant. He did not deny it.

"Then where were you planning to go just now?"

"Wherever the road took me," Qu Jianlei answered casually. He truly was a rootless drifting duckweed, and did not care where he went.

"Didn't you say you knew the Wasteland well? Give me a suggestion."

The child thought for a while, then answered seriously, "Go to Hong Yi Settlement. The outskirts there are relatively stable."

"Hong Yi..." Qu Jianlei frowned slightly. "That's far away."

"I really don't know about other places." The child sighed. "Hong Yi is also closer to Mutated Beasts."

"Then Hong Yi it is." The moment Qu Jianlei heard the words "Mutated Beasts," he could not resist again.

He did not know how far Hong Yi was from here, but being close to Mutated Beasts and relatively stable was enough.

His problem now was how to reach Hong Yi's territory. There was no map, so he could only go to that Settlement from last time and buy one.

When he returned to the Settlement, the shopkeeper was as enthusiastic as before. But when Qu Jianlei mentioned buying a map, the man looked troubled.

"This area belongs to Hong Liu Settlement. I have maps for within its territory... but I really don't have any for outside it."

After a brief moment of surprise, Qu Jianlei understood. Information blockade?

He could not help feeling that it was absurd. They had Gauss Guns and Laser Guns, yet they still blocked maps?

"Then give me a map of Hong Liu," he said, not wanting to say more.

The shopkeeper immediately brought one out. "One Silver Coin, please."

"So expensive?" Qu Jianlei frowned slightly. Was this map made of gold?

On Blue Star, an atlas cost only a few dozen yuan. Here, it cost a Silver Coin? "Anyone who buys maps is a powerful adventurer," the shopkeeper answered solemnly. "The rules say they must be traded in Silver Coins."

He did not say who had made the rule, but there was no doubt the Settlement was involved.

After thinking for a moment, Qu Jianlei asked, "Can I use Silver Coins that aren't from Hong Liu?"

"That only counts as nine Silver Horns," the shopkeeper replied without hesitation. "They aren't accepted universally."

"Then I won't buy it," Qu Jianlei said decisively.

Even at a one-to-one exchange, he was reluctant to reveal that he came from Hong Four. Now there was even less reason to bother.

The shopkeeper looked around, then subtly pointed in a direction and spoke in a low voice. "Hong Yi... is that way."

Now that was tactful. Qu Jianlei smiled faintly. "Fill up my fuel tank, and I need Nutrient Solution and water too..."

Two Gauss Rifles and a Vibrating Blade made this transaction far smaller than the last one.

But his supplies were full again. Qu Jianlei did not haggle, and he left with Hairless Freak.

As they sped through the empty wilderness, the child sat on the vehicle and could not help asking, "You really don't know the way at all?"

Qu Jianlei felt something strange. "Do you think... you're in any position to laugh at me?"

"That's not what I meant." The child was still very sensitive.

He carefully explained, "Just catch two Survivors and ask them."

"If that doesn't work, ask a few more. Someone will tell you."

Qu Jianlei was speechless. After a long while, he finally asked, "What if they refuse to tell me?"