Something to Look Forward To

Qu Jianlei was stuck at the third level of Qi Refining, but his understanding of Tai Chi was advancing by leaps and bounds.

In his spare time, he had gradually begun trying out Tai Chi Fist.

Cultivation could not be rushed. He had once advised Xiao Jing of that, and he would naturally keep it in mind himself.

Seeing how graceful the movements of Tai Chi Fist were, Xiao Jing wanted to learn it too.

Qu Jianlei felt that the boy had good judgment. He had never once asked to learn meditation.

Was Xiao Jing clueless? Qu Jianlei truly did not think so.

Anyone with eyes could see that he consumed the most calories when meditating.

Sitting there quietly in a cross-legged position while consuming the most calories—what did that mean? Anyone with a little sense knew that where the investment cost was high, the returns were bound to be great.

Simply put, there was a good chance that much of his ability came from meditation.

And those Mutated Beast Crystals, far more precious than gold, were also used during meditation.

Was Xiao Jing stupid? Absolutely not. He did not want to learn meditation because he knew full well that the waters ran too deep.

If you did not have the ability, do not set your sights on it! Xiao Jing's history of wandering proved that he had mastered this sense of proportion.

But Qu Jianlei was in no hurry to teach Xiao Jing Tai Chi either.

First, he had not even figured it all out himself, so how could he teach someone else? Second, he felt he needed to remind the boy of something.

"Other than cultivating and tidying the room, you also have sentry duty outside. Now that it's cold, do you think the drones will stop coming?"

Even Blue Star's drones emphasized all-weather combat.

Conditions for survival on the Wasteland were harsh, but before the Doomsday, its technology had absolutely crushed Blue Star's.

So he believed that even the brutal cold of sixty degrees below zero could not stop drones from patrolling.

Human patrols, on the other hand, might indeed cease.

After all, for the previous six winters, he had been struggling just to stay alive. He truly had no idea what things were like around the Garbage Dump.

Hearing this, Xiao Jing gave him a look, his expression exceptionally strange. "Black Sky Bro, I know this is your first time at the Garbage Dump..."

"But you shouldn't be unfamiliar with the Garbage Dump's situation, should you?"

"Should I be?" Qu Jianlei frowned and rubbed his chin.

Then he answered with complete certainty, "I really don't know... Tell me about it?"

"No way." Xiao Jing stared at him in shock. "You came from a Settlement too."

"I really didn't come from a Settlement," Qu Jianlei answered without hesitation.

"If there's anything I do that makes you think I'm from a Settlement, point it out directly. I'll change... isn't that enough?"

"Impossible," Xiao Jing stated without hesitation. "With the knowledge and skills you have, there's no way you're some wild man."

Whether it was Five Animals Play, Eight Section Brocade, or even standing meditation, none of those were things an ordinary Survivor could master.

It was obvious from his lifestyle habits too.

What Survivor treated bathing as something so important? Who cared about the health benefits of eating vegetables? He clearly came from a prominent family.

Qu Jianlei smiled when he heard that and could not even be bothered to argue. "Tell me about the Garbage Dump."

After thinking for a moment, Xiao Jing replied, "The garbage at the Garbage Dump keeps increasing. You know that, right?"

"I know." Qu Jianlei nodded, thinking that garbage at a Garbage Dump naturally ought to increase.

A place where garbage kept decreasing was called a garbage treatment plant! Xiao Jing looked at him with great interest. "Do you know where that garbage comes from?"

"I don't." Qu Jianlei answered straightforwardly. I'd been busy fighting for my life. How could I spare the attention to think about such questions?

Xiao Jing paid no attention to his feelings and instead showed off his own knowledge.

"After every Winter Hibernation, the garbage increases. Do you know why?"

"I don't." Qu Jianlei was getting a little impatient. "I'm not familiar with how things work at the Garbage Dump."

"Because people dump garbage during winter," Xiao Jing said mysteriously, looking like he knew everything.

"If you've got nothing to say, I'm going to sleep," Qu Jianlei said, thoroughly fed up.

He actually did want to understand the reason, but the other boy's behavior had stirred up his rebellious streak.

I only chose the "most dangerous place" to spend the winter because it was safer.

I won't have anything to do with this place in the future anyway!

Seeing that he was getting annoyed, Xiao Jing took the initiative to reveal the truth. "Because the garbage is transported here from outside."

"Outside?" Qu Jianlei was instantly stunned. "Outside where?"

The news hit him far too hard.

He had never considered where the garbage came from. He had only assumed that after the Doomsday descended, transport capacity on the Wasteland was limited.

A lot of garbage was hazardous, so it needed to be collected in one place, but transportation had delays.

As for the fact that the Garbage Dump contained quite a few useful items, that was nothing surprising.

Even on Blue Star, plenty of people made a living scavenging garbage, and some had even built fortunes from it.

Qu Jianlei had never considered much else.

Every day when he opened his eyes, all he thought about was where to find something to eat.

Under such immense pressure to survive, how could he have had the leisure to ponder such irrelevant matters?

Xiao Jing shook his head and answered regretfully, "I don't know. I only heard the adults mention it in passing."

After thinking for a moment, Qu Jianlei asked again, "Do you have any personal guesses about this?"

Xiao Jing thought about it, then shook his head blankly. "No, I don't. I'm still a kid."

I'm a kid too! Qu Jianlei was rather speechless. Without counting his experiences on Blue Star, this body was only fifteen or sixteen years old.

Then he asked, "What other information do you have about the Garbage Dump?"

Xiao Jing thought carefully before replying, "Apparently, this Garbage Dump doesn't have much useful garbage..."

"Garbage with high added value seems to be transported somewhere else."

That answer caught Qu Jianlei's attention. "The garbage gets pre-screened too?"

Xiao Jing continued to shake his head blankly. He was simply too young.

Qu Jianlei recalled another question that had puzzled him for a long time. "The Settlement... why is it called the Hong Character Settlement?"

"Are there Settlements with other character prefixes?"

Xiao Jing shook his head again. "I don't know that either, but... the Hong Character Settlement is already pretty big, isn't it?"

Qu Jianlei gave him a speechless look. "You really don't know what big means."

The conversation ended there, and Qu Jianlei picked up a book and began flipping through it.

The books the Settlement sold to outsiders were mostly stories and novels, with very little popular science material.

At most, there were guides for identifying plants and animals, as well as knowledge about the use and maintenance of firearms. Even travel journals were hard to find.

There were, however, some books on psychological research, as well as a few motivational books.

But even in the motivational books, many people had their real names concealed.

According to the editors, it was to respect personal privacy. After all, the Wasteland was far from peaceful.

But in Qu Jianlei's eyes, this confirmed his guess. "There really is an information monopoly."

He refused to believe that repair skills for so many machines had never been compiled into books. Was that normal?

The Wasteland was in ruins and waiting to be rebuilt. If knowledge could spread, then even if nothing else changed, the efficiency of recycling and reusing garbage would improve greatly.

So an information monopoly definitely existed, and the Survivors out in the wild were the Wasteland's lowest class.

This was unfair! Qu Jianlei was deeply indignant about it.

Having come from Blue Star, he placed great importance on fairness, to the point of being almost pathologically stubborn about it.

But then another thought struck him: Still, was this... really important to me? I'm someone who cultivates. Once my cultivation succeeds, even if there's a ceiling, I can smash right through it!

So... unfair was unfair. There was no need to fuss over it for now.

After all, his experience of transmigrating was an even greater unfairness to the local natives!

Once he figured that out, his mood improved considerably, and he began modifying the air heat-exchange system...

This winter was the most comfortable one he had experienced since arriving on the Wasteland, though he also had plenty of work to do. His days were very fulfilling.

Another six days passed. The palest crystal was completely absorbed, and Qu Jianlei had also organized the material on Tai Chi.

This time, the expenditure was considerable, but the gains were great as well. Besides Tai Chi Fist, there were also Tai Chi Sword and Tai Chi Thirteen Sabers.

Tai Chi Fist itself included the circulation of inner force, but after trying it, he felt it was not as effective as the Nameless Qi Refining Art.

As for Tai Chi Sword, he had no intention of practicing it for now. There were no weapons like swords on the Wasteland.

In truth, he preferred saber techniques. That was not just because he had several long sabers on hand.

Saber techniques differed from Sword Art. They did not focus on lightness and elegance, but emphasized boldness and wildness.

That suited his personality better. Swords were a little too gentlemanly.

So he began practicing Tai Chi Fist and Taiji Saber.

The room was rather cramped, making it impossible to practice with a real saber. Yet even with a short stick, he still could not properly move.

Qu Jianlei had no choice but to make a new suggestion: the room needed to be expanded, and they needed to move more garbage outside.

It had already been more than a month since winter began, and it was at its coldest outside.

But the two of them had been staying indoors the whole time and felt somewhat stifled. Xiao Jing even said, "We can replenish some water too."

Their water reserves had originally been quite plentiful, but both of them liked being clean and exercised every day. Going without baths was uncomfortable.

Qu Jianlei in particular expelled a great deal of impurities from his body whenever he practiced, as though there were an endless supply.

He deeply suspected that this body had consumed too much filthy stuff over all its years on the Wasteland.

The more they bathed, the more water evaporated. Their stored water had now decreased by nearly a fifth.

Xiao Jing felt that their current life was very comfortable, so it was necessary to ensure they had the freedom to use water.

Qu Jianlei supported such Subjective Initiative. He even gave Xiao Jing a Super-frequency Oscillation Blade to cut ice blocks.

In weather this cold, the ice should have frozen very thick. But the water was so filthy that obtaining ice was not difficult.

Xiao Jing chose to fetch water at night. Unexpectedly, on the third day, he dragged someone back.

"Black Sky Bro, this person is one breath away from death. Should we save him?"