Beginning in Night City

McCoy had no choice either.

For the Nomads, the family came before everything else.

He was about to speak.

When he noticed a Nomad holding a pistol, admiring it with pure joy, unable to stop smiling.

"What are you laughing about? Did your wife give birth?"

"No, it's actually like this."

The Nomad recounted everything that had happened to McCoy.

McCoy was stunned.

He completely forgot why Charui had sent him to find Su Xiao.

He stepped forward, grabbed Su Xiao's arm, and his face was full of excitement.

"Su, is this true?"

"Absolutely true."

Su Xiao didn't hide anything.

Nor did he feel there was any need to.

McCoy hesitated for a moment.

He revealed that Charui wanted to drive Su Xiao away.

If possible, McCoy didn't want Su Xiao to be driven away either.

Because, in the eyes of some people, someone like Su Xiao was a treasure trove, the absolute best.

He was exactly the kind of person the Random Blade Society loved.

Su Xiao was someone he had saved.

He couldn't bear to push Su Xiao back into the fire pit again.

"You wait here, I'll go call Charui and everyone else over right now."

What happened next went much more smoothly.

McCoy summoned Charui, the leader of the Buckle Family, and several other influential members of the family to the logistics area.

He had Su Xiao demonstrate his repair skills again in front of everyone.

An hour and a half later, Su Xiao handed the repaired "DS1 Pulse" submachine gun to Charui and the other Nomads.

They examined it repeatedly and confirmed it was in perfect working order.

Just like that, he was allowed to stay with the Buckle Family.

No one would object to his staying anymore.

From then on, Su Xiao's job at the camp was to help others repair their broken firearms.

Because his repair skills far surpassed those of the other repairman.

Everyone was willing to wait in line just to come to him.

In contrast, the other repairman's station was much quieter.

However, neither Su Xiao nor the other repairman received any pay.

It wasn't directed at anyone specifically; it was just how the Nomads operated.

Everyone was a part of this big family.

Everyone had to contribute to the family.

And because of that, the family had to protect everyone.

Not only did the Nomads not get paid for working for the tribe, but if they took on jobs outside, they had to put half of their earnings into the camp's public supply chest.

No matter how much they earned, the camp took half.

One day, McCoy returned to the camp from a mission and found Su Xiao.

"Come with me."

"What's up?"

"You're considered half a Buckle Family member now, and it's not wise to be without some life-saving skills out here in the Wasteland."

"Okay."

Up to this point, Su Xiao only had the "Firearm Maintenance" skill that came with the system when it first launched.

He believed that having more skills was always beneficial and had wanted to learn more.

Unfortunately, everyone else in the camp had already been briefed by Charui.

Do not teach Su Xiao any skills.

This is to prevent Su Xiao from leaving the Buckle Family after learning them.

Charui wanted Su Xiao to remain a logistics personnel with no combat skills from beginning to end.

Only then could he be firmly tied to the Buckle Family's war chariot.

Now that McCoy had come to him proactively, it was like someone sending a pillow just as he was about to fall asleep.

How could Su Xiao possibly refuse?

He walked out of the tent and got into the car with McCoy.

"Can you drive?" McCoy asked.

Su Xiao shook his head, "No."

"You can't be a Nomad if you can't drive. It looks like you have a lot to learn."

With that, McCoy started the vehicle and left the camp.

"This should be good enough."

McCoy stopped the car.

Su Xiao got out and looked around, finding himself in a vast, open wilderness.

Blinding sunlight and choking sandstorms dominated the scene.

In the distance, towering wind turbines spun ceaselessly.

"Here."

McCoy tossed a set of simple protective gear to Su Xiao.

At the same time, he took off the Power Armor he always wore, which Su Xiao had rarely seen him without.

"Now, attack me with the Wooden Sword you have. Don't worry about hurting me, go all out."

Su Xiao put on the protective gear neatly.

He had never learned swordsmanship.

Mimicking what he'd seen in movies and games, he struck a stance.

Then he charged at McCoy.

Half an hour later.

"McCoy has taught you [Blade Mastery], learning progress 10%"

"McCoy has taught you [Strength], learning progress 7%"

"McCoy has taught you [Evasion], learning progress 4%"

"McCoy has taught you [Block], learning progress 1%"

Staring at the constant stream of information in his retina, Su Xiao sat on the ground, gasping for air.

Before McCoy could say anything, he spoke first.

"Let me rest for five minutes, then we'll continue."

McCoy was stunned.

Shouldn't he be the one saying that?

How could Su Xiao be so self-aware?

What McCoy didn't know was how encouraging it was for someone to be able to see a progress bar.

If he could have seen his learning progress in his past life, he would have already gotten into top universities.

From then on, McCoy often took Su Xiao out.

During Su Xiao's second sword practice, he learned the skills [Blade Mastery], [Strength], [Evasion], and [Block].

Time flowed like water, and years flew by.

Soon, Su Xiao had been staying at the Buckle Family's camp for nearly half a year.

He discovered that as long as he kept using a skill, its level would increase.

As a result, over the past half-year, [Firearm Maintenance] had reached Level 5.

[Blade Mastery], [Strength], [Evasion], and [Block] had all been raised to Level 3.

He had also learned [Marksmanship Mastery], [Vehicle Driving], and [Throwing].

However, Su Xiao still didn't know how to use the skill [I Guess].

The skill level is ???, and I don't know if it's invisible or if it has reached max level.

The activation requirements are unknown, so Su Xiao had no choice but to set it aside for now and not dwell on it.

Also, there's one thing that hasn't improved: Potential Points.

Potential Points are gained by killing people.

In the past half-year, Su Xiao hasn't participated in any battles, and therefore, he hasn't been able to acquire any Potential Points.

Thus, Su Xiao has recently started contemplating finding a suitable time to leave the Buckle Family.

Although he hasn't been with these Nomads for even a year.

It's already been enough.

He's seen it clearly.

The leader of the Buckle Family, Charui, is an ordinary person.

Under his leadership, the Buckle Family isn't exactly thriving, but at least they aren't losing money.

The current Buckle Family is purely living off their past savings.

McCoy once said that the Buckle Family had a wise leader before, named Serita Buckle.

During her reign, the Buckle Family was always on the rise.

But after her death, the Buckle Family began to decline.

Three family leaders have been replaced in five years.

The first died in a conflict with the Random Blade Society.

The second resigned.

Charui is the third.

Therefore, in Su Xiao's opinion, the Buckle Family's ship is bound to sink sooner or later.