The Problem of Eating

"Hah... hah..."

On the wasteland, Lin Tuo stood in his thin clothes, body leaning slightly forward, still maintaining a combat stance.

From every pore, dense beads of sweat seeped out, frozen into a cold mist by the biting wind.

Before him, the Wasteland Savage Bear's body still twitched, blood staining the ground, its form rapidly cooling.

Only after confirming the kill did Lin Tuo's taut nerves finally relax, his racing heart slowly returning to normal.

The fight had seemed deceptively simple—just a single exchange—but that one move had placed immense strain on Lin Tuo's body.

It could be called the strongest strike he could currently unleash.

He hadn't chosen a head-on clash out of a lack of confidence in his strength, but because he felt his own defense was far inferior to this wasteland creature's.

In comparison, using combat technique to secure the kill was the most effective approach.

Of course, this was also partly due to the beast's low intelligence; if Lin Tuo had faced a battle-hardened human, he wouldn't have won so cleanly.

"During combat, my body's absorption of Aether is definitely increasing."

Letting out a deep breath, feeling the unprecedented activity of the cells within him and the tingling numbness of Aether seeping into his bones and muscles, Lin Tuo's eyes gleamed brighter.

Stopping to fight a wasteland creature wasn't about reckless bravery or pure thrill-seeking.

It had another purpose.

Lately, though Lin Tuo still trained his body daily with "body refinement," he'd noticed a clear drop in efficiency.

At first, climbing the "Heavenly Ladder" once could digest 5 points; later, it became 4, then 3... and eventually, it took two days to digest even one point.

It wasn't surprising—life evolution grew harder the further one progressed.

Lin Tuo figured he'd hit a "bottleneck" and was struggling to break through.

Until earlier, when he fought Hua Xi in Mine Town, he'd clearly sensed Aether's activity. Now, killing the Wasteland Savage Bear confirmed it:

"Life-or-death combat can drastically speed up body refinement!"

It made sense.

Before, Lin Tuo had only been tempering his body through sheer exertion, unable to fully activate it. But in real battle, a person's mind is highly focused, forcing every cell awake.

A few seconds of combat could "activate" the body far more than days of grinding.

Pushing himself to the limit, digging out his potential—that was the best way to refine the body.

Moreover, Lin Tuo realized that while his strength wasn't weak, he was severely lacking in combat experience. Hunting wasteland creatures could also fill that gap.

"Didn't expect an unexpected gain. Looks like I can stay here a few more days."

Lin Tuo muttered to himself.

After resting in place for a while, his blood flow returning to normal, Lin Tuo suddenly felt the cold and quickly walked back to the mountain hollow, pulling on his down jacket, gloves, and other gear.

As for Hua Xi, she only snapped back to her senses at that moment. Her face, red from the cold, bore an extremely complex expression—her eyes a mix of fear and curiosity.

Without speaking, she just stared blankly at Lin Tuo, as if trying to find something written on his face.

"What are you staring at me for?" Lin Tuo frowned after changing clothes.

"Ah, nothing... I... just..." Hua Xi stammered, her tone much weaker than before.

If earlier she'd still entertained the thought of recovering her strength and escaping when the chance came, now that was completely gone.

She knew very well that with the combat power this mysterious man had shown, capturing her would be far too easy.

But alongside her fear, her curiosity grew even stronger.

She even began to think that maybe sticking with this guy wasn't so bad—at least safety was guaranteed... well, provided he didn't have a habit of mistreating prisoners.

"Where are we roughly right now?" Lin Tuo gave the girl a puzzled look, sensing some strange thoughts churning in her head.

But he didn't bother overthinking it and simply asked.

"Ah?" Hua Xi was taken aback, then turned to carefully identify their surroundings, mainly the outlines of distant mountains. After a pause, she said, "I can't say the exact spot.

But I remember this should be northwest of Mine Town.

If I'm not mistaken, heading due north leads to Black Stone City. That's a city controlled by the Burning Fire Company, with military garrison. But with your strength... if you're careful, you shouldn't need to worry."

She paused, seeing Lin Tuo's stern face and silence, then continued:

"Heading south leads to the Central Mountain Range. Almost impossible to drive, only on foot—very barren."

"East and west are about the same, but the east is safer, with more human settlements. To the west, there are more Mutant Beasts.

It's more dangerous, but the chances of running into Old Era ruins are also higher."

After hearing Hua Xi's account, Lin Tuo lowered his head without immediately responding. Instead, he switched his consciousness back to his main body and used "Full Map Vision" for a rough scan.

Though he couldn't make out details, the general terrain matched what Hua Xi had said.

"Then we go west." Switching his consciousness back to his Avatar, Lin Tuo said from the driver's seat.

"Ah? Why?" Hua Xi was utterly baffled.

"Mind your place." Lin Tuo didn't explain, quickly started the car, and drove west.

Hua Xi froze for two seconds before hastily saying:

"Fine, leaving's fine, but at least cut up that bear and bring it along—it's all money..."

Yet her only reply was the unyielding roar of the vehicle pressing forward.

After confirming that combat could speed up his body-tempering progress, Lin Tuo found himself reluctant to leave.

The so-called "city" was nothing more than a scaled-up version of Mine Town.

In contrast, recklessly practicing his marksmanship on the wasteland, occasionally stepping out to fight, held far more appeal.

Though Hua Xi was full of complaints in her heart, as a captive, she couldn't say much, so she just curled up in the car and dozed off.

Before they knew it, half a day had passed. The sky remained gloomy, but it was now the brightest part of the day.

"Tch..."

Finding a sheltered hollow in the hills, Lin Tuo turned the key, killed the engine, and rubbed his frozen-red nose, feeling a bit worn out.

Driving aimlessly all morning, hunting and killing, was ultimately too draining.

Especially as hunger crept in, making it even harder to bear.

"Mmm, why'd we stop?" From the back seat, a groggy Hua Xi blinked open her eyes and asked in confusion.

Lin Tuo pushed open the door, thought for a moment, then hauled her out and dropped her onto the snow. "Lunch break."

"Huh?" Hua Xi stared blankly for a couple of seconds before snapping to attention. "We're eating, right?"

"Heh, I thought you'd slept so hard you forgot about that." Lin Tuo leaned against the car door, teasing her.

Hua Xi sat on the ground without a shred of dignity, wrinkling her nose. Having gotten used to Lin Tuo's temperament during the ride, she wasn't so tense anymore and said frankly:

"I've been starving for ages, my stomach's flat. You never said anything about food, so I figured I'd just sleep to save energy."

"Tsk, sounds like you've got experience."

"Of course. We wasteland hunters spend all year out in the wild. If luck's bad and we can't catch anything, going a day or two without a meal is normal.

My record is nine straight days without eating. When I got hungry, I'd just grab a handful of snow and tough it out."

She seemed almost proud saying this.

Lin Tuo fell silent for a moment, giving the girl another look, then said flatly:

"Alright, spare me your glorious tales. At the very least, I'm not about to let a captive starve—I can't afford that shame." Lin Tuo said coolly.

Hua Xi's heart leaped with joy at that, and she said, "Then we need to hunt something down fast. Geez, you killed so many earlier—if you'd just tossed a couple in the car, we'd have meals for days."

She was still thinking about the jerky and honey they'd found in that house in Mine Town. Too bad the situation had been urgent and they couldn't grab it—what a waste.

"Those things are crawling with parasites. I'm not eating that." Lin Tuo shook his head. He'd never even considered eating mutant beasts.

"Then what? Dig for wild greens? Doesn't look like there are any nearby." Hua Xi frowned, analyzing the situation.

Lin Tuo said calmly, "I have my ways. Wait here for me. And hey, if you want to run, I won't stop you."

With that, Lin Tuo took nothing and strolled leisurely toward a nearby patch of woods.

The woods weren't large, but they were dense. The trees were mutated varieties, extremely cold-resistant, still bearing leaves even in this harsh winter—though they looked twisted and eerie.

In some parts of the forest, edible wild greens grew, but Lin Tuo clearly had no interest in them.

After confirming the area was safe, Lin Tuo's eyes grew distant as he switched his consciousness back to his main body.

Lishan Martial Arts School, the study.

Lin Tuo opened his eyes and checked the time. Outside the sandbox, it was still deep night, around two or three in the morning.

At this hour, ordering delivery wasn't easy, but in Yangcheng's urban area, plenty of restaurants were still open.

Lin Tuo immediately recalled his avatar, switched the Evolution Sandbox to "Observation Mode," and placed the avatar in a food street in the city.

He found a restaurant, ordered rice and stir-fry, then thought about it and added a large portion of barbecue—after all, that had more meat. While waiting for the food to be prepared, he crossed the street to a 24-hour convenience store and bought canned goods, beer, snacks, and a case of bottled water.

By the time he was done, both hands were full.

He found a secluded spot, then used his main body to bring the avatar and all the supplies back out of the sandbox.

After that, he switched back to "Creation Mode" and put both the person and the supplies back in.

The items shrank first, then enlarged as they entered the wasteland, returning to normal size—no risk of a single grain of rice becoming bigger than a house.

This was another way Lin Tuo had explored and exploited the sandbox's rules.

The entire process took only twenty minutes in total.

When Lin Tuo reappeared in the wasteland woods with a large pile of food, he couldn't help glancing toward the direction of the vehicle and muttered to himself:

"Wonder if she ran off or not. Eh, if she really did, then you can only blame yourself for missing out on this treat."

Thinking this, Lin Tuo strode quickly out of the woods and sped toward the mountain hollow.

Soon enough, he spotted his car and Hua Xi, who was sitting obediently on the snowy ground.

The young girl was looking around idly out of boredom. When she saw him return, she visibly relaxed, sprang up from the ground, then suddenly sniffed the air and widened her eyes:

"You... what is this?"

"Food."

Lin Tuo explained flatly, pulled a piece of tarp off the car, spread it on the ground as a picnic cloth, and tossed a pile of things onto it.

After a moment's thought, he untied the rope around Hua Xi, then shoved a steaming hot boxed meal into the young girl's hands and urged:

"Eat up, quick. There are skewers here too. At this temperature, they won't taste good once they cool down."

With that, he sat down cross-legged and started eating first.

And Hua Xi, sitting across from him, stared at the stir-fried dishes and rice in her hands, taking in the indescribable aroma, her entire brain short-circuiting.