Idea Three

"Were you planning to buy some? That's yours.?" Yu Hong looked at the little chubby girl and asked in a low voice.

"Mm, my daughter, Aisena." Li Runshan smiled. "She's very well-behaved and can draw, too. When I have time, I'll show you some of her drawings. They're beautiful."

As he spoke, he pulled a rolled-up sheet of white paper from his waist pouch.

Written on the paper was a list of things available for exchange.

'Edible Wild Vegetables.'

'Cattle Leg Mushroom.'

'Sanitary Cockroach.'

'Red Tail Lizard.'

'Custom Small Furniture.'

'Mailing Letters.'

'Mailing Items.'

'Candles.'

'Basic Survival Skills Teaching.'

'Basic Fighting Skills Teaching.'

'Basic Firearms and Weaponry Skills Teaching.'

"..." Looking at this extremely detailed exchange list, Yu Hong fell silent.

"No wonder you dared to bring a child here alone, to this barren wilderness. You really are something!" he exclaimed softly.

"You flatter me, you flatter me." Li Runshan smiled. "These are actually all essential skills for a Mailman. After all, some places lack everything, so you have to make it all yourself."

"What can these things be exchanged for?" Yu Hong asked. "I don't see any prices marked."

"Let's see what you have. For example, I'm currently cultivating mushrooms and raising cockroaches, so I'm rather short on food and drinking water. If you can provide some, they can be used as items for trade. Of course, Glowstone and Large Glowstone would be even better." Li Runshan smiled.

"I have Large Glowstone, but we'll have to discuss the price. Also, if I exchange for this basic survival manual, will you teach me how to raise mushrooms?" Yu Hong asked.

"That's possible, too. It mainly depends on what you need and what you're lacking—filling in the gaps." Li Runshan nodded. "None of this is really confidential. These are all essential wilderness survival skills."

Yu Hong nodded. It seemed that compared with the previous Mailman, this Li Runshan was clearly much more versatile.

"I'd like you to teach me how to raise mushrooms and lizards, as well as basic fighting and firearms skills. How much would that cost?"

"Do you have any surplus food? I'm running a little short here," Li Runshan asked.

"Will this do?" Yu Hong took out a protein bar and held it out. "One of these can keep you from feeling hungry for a whole day. It's very filling, and I made it myself."

Li Runshan raised his eyebrows, took the protein bar, and examined it.

"Can I try it?"

"Of course." Yu Hong nodded.

Li Runshan picked it up and smelled it, then broke off a tiny piece and put it in his mouth. His eyes narrowed, and faint wrinkles gathered across his face.

"Very high in calories! Sesame, peanuts, beef tallow, sugar, cream, rice flour. Mm, and plenty of things I can't identify. There's no way you made this. You don't have that many ingredients."

Yu Hong's heart jolted. He hadn't expected the other man to be so capable that he could distinguish so many ingredients with one taste. The protein bar was extremely sweet, masking most of the flavors, and Yu Hong himself couldn't taste them at all. He hadn't expected—

"You're right. This is some of my old stock, and there really isn't much left. Just tell me whether you can make the exchange." His expression remained unchanged.

"Fine. For the breeding techniques, I'll charge you ten of these, provided one really can last a day." Li Runshan nodded. "As for the other two, fighting and firearms... Fighting has many subdivisions, and it requires an extremely high caloric intake. You have to replenish your food properly, or you'll actually damage your body. I suggest you start with one specific branch, such as boxing, ground fighting, leg techniques, knife techniques, and so on.

"As for firearms, at most I can give you the manual I recorded. You'll have to practice on your own. To be honest, ammunition is in short supply now. Since firearms are completely useless against the Black Calamity, a large number of military factories have already been converted to other uses. So firearms and bullets become fewer with every use. They're generally only used internally. I suggest switching to archery. I happen to know quite a bit about slingshots."

"Slingshots??" Yu Hong blinked, wondering whether he had heard correctly.

"Mm, that's right. This." Li Runshan drew a metal slingshot from behind his waist. Its handle was as thick as an egg, and more than ten elastic bands hung from it.

"You can think it over. It's a little laborious, but stones can be used as ammunition. You can pick them up anywhere, and the stopping power is sufficient."

"Mm, let me think about it first." Yu Hong was speechless. "Since you know breeding techniques, and from what you just said, it sounds like you've already started growing mushrooms?"

"Yes. They'll produce mushrooms in about a week, and after that the cycle will get going quickly. I brought the cultures with me." Li Runshan nodded. "So right now I need a week's worth of food. If you can give me fourteen of these protein bars, I'll trade you survival-manual instruction and three sessions of training in a fighting discipline."

Yu Hong was somewhat tempted.

If he could obtain the survival manual, he could produce his own food and wouldn't have to keep relying on outsiders.

And fighting skills were also something he urgently needed. Sooner or later, he would be able to strengthen his bulletproof vest equipment. Once firearms gradually fell out of use, close combat would become an extremely crucial ability.

Most importantly, the Advanced Physical Training Method he had practiced had greatly strengthened the power in his legs, as well as his overall stamina and endurance.

So he had to start preparing for a rainy day.

Last time, if he hadn't had a gun, he definitely wouldn't have beaten Jenny. And if Jenny had been wearing a bulletproof vest, he probably would have been the one to bite the dust.

Come to think of it, if an agile close-combat expert wearing a bulletproof vest appeared and swiftly closed the distance before being hit by gunfire...

I might be finished.

'This danger is far more troublesome than the Black Calamity, Ghost Shadow, and Evil Shadow. At least those things won't try every possible way to pick the lock.' Yu Hong calculated silently.

He counted the protein bars he had left. All his dried meat had already been converted into protein bars. Including his own supply and the two bags of dried meat he had scavenged, he had thirty-six protein bars in total after converting everything.

If he traded fourteen to the other man, he would still have twenty-two left. That was enough.

"Fine. If the mushrooms can grow in a week and replenish the supply, then we have a deal." After doing the math, Yu Hong nodded in agreement.

"That's wonderful. I was already planning to cut my daily food intake in half. You're doing me a huge favor." Li Runshan grinned. "So, which area of fighting do you want to trade for? I know boxing, knife techniques, leg techniques, and ground fighting."

"...Leg techniques." Yu Hong felt that his legs were growing stronger the more he trained them. Continuing to strengthen his advantage and widen his edge over other people was the best choice.

"Good choice. Training your legs first will make you fast on your feet! You don't need to run faster than Ghost Shadow. You only need to be faster than the people around you. The same goes for the Black Calamity." Li Runshan let out a chuckle.

The two agreed on a time to complete the exchange, then quickly went their separate ways.

Yu Hong went back to retrieve the protein bars. After counting out the agreed number, he returned to the Post Office.

The two of them stood facing each other across the Stone House's fence.

"Here's the survival manual you wanted, along with the basic leg-training steps I compiled. Take them and have a look. Ask me if you don't understand anything." Li Runshan handed Yu Hong two small booklets. Their edges were badly worn, and it was obvious they had been organized long ago.

"Remember to return them after you finish reading. You can copy them down, too. Just don't damage them."

Yu Hong took the booklets speechlessly. As he watched the other man carry off his bag of protein bars, he felt as if he had been taken for a ride.

If he had known, he would have only exchanged for the two booklets. He wouldn't have been willing to spend so many protein bars.

He picked up the booklets, chose the survival manual, and opened it.

The very first page clearly read: Detailed Explanation of the Ecological Cycle Breeding System.

"Go back and read it slowly. Come ask me if you have any questions, but only three times. Three times for survival, and three times for leg techniques." Li Runshan reminded him with a beaming smile.

"Three times? Why didn't you mention that earlier?" Yu Hong was speechless.

"Earlier was earlier. It's not as if I'm going to teach you for a long, long time just for this little bit of food, right? It's only enough food for a dozen days or so. Do the math yourself—would that be worth it?" Li Runshan laughed.

He seemed to love smiling. He was a strong, tall, burly man, yet whenever he smiled, he gave off the feeling that he was sly and calculating to the bone.

"...Fine." Yu Hong could understand. "How about this? If I have questions later that go beyond three times but still want to ask you, I'll exchange Large Glowstone with you. Two hours per session. How does that sound?"

"Large Glowstone?" Li Runshan's eyes flickered. "All right. Two hours is a fair deal."

"Then it's settled. I'll go back and study it carefully." Yu Hong nodded and slowly retreated. Once he was more than ten meters away, he swiftly turned and dashed into the woods, quickly vanishing from sight.

As he ran, the outline of the Pistol strapped to his lower back unexpectedly stood out, and Li Runshan saw it.

A smile unconsciously spread across Li Runshan's face. He weighed the protein bars in his hand, then turned and walked toward the Stone House.

"Aisena, look what I brought back. Delicious sweets!" He entered cheerfully, and before long, the cheers of a little girl rang out from inside the Stone House.

"Another daughter? Bringing his daughter alone to a place like this..." As Yu Hong walked back, he gradually formed a vague guess.

'Jenny was like this, and so is this Li Runshan. Could it be that his daughter was also involved in some accident, and he brought her here in an attempt to use Glowstone Disease to solve the problem?'

Judging from the experimental records in that manual, Glowstone Disease seemed capable of offsetting some of the marks and troubles brought by the Black Calamity outside.

'Otherwise, if there were no pressing need, who would willingly leave the Hope City district, which was perfect in every aspect, and come to such a remote and dangerous place?'

After returning to the Cave, Yu Hong set down the two booklets.

He picked up the survival manual and opened it. Aside from the title on the first page, it actually had a table of contents.

'Mushroom Breeding—pages 1 to 4.'

'Cockroach Breeding—pages 5 to 8.'

'Lizard Breeding—pages 9 to 13.'

He continued flipping through the pages.

'Mushroom cultivation requires sufficient Humus Soil, clean Culture Medium, and a suitable environment. Because the current environment is special, there aren't many mushroom varieties suitable for cultivation. Therefore, after thousands of attempts, the Silver Tower United Research Institute developed a special Culture Medium known as the Cattle Leg Mushroom. This mushroom contains abundant protein, and its fat and caloric content is more than forty percent higher than those of other mushroom cultures under the same conditions.'

'The most crucial point is that the Cattle Leg Mushroom is a lightless culture. It requires no illumination whatsoever to grow, making it extremely suitable for underground cultivation. Below is the required preparation for planting.'

Yu Hong glanced at the diagram below.

It showed a mushroom Breeding Box, rectangular and resembling a large wooden crate.

A bag of clean Culture Medium. It looked like a soil cylinder as long as an arm, wrapped in thick white plastic sheeting.

A pile of black, muddy earth, with two small characters marked beside it: Humus Soil.