Don't Want?

Just as the sun began to rise from its usual place, the village in the jungle had already come alive.

A crowd of muscular men, big and small, grunted and shouted as they worked off their excess energy in the morning breeze. In the kitchens, the women occasionally glanced out the windows at their children or husbands and smiled silently.

Less than two days had passed here, but Little Cat already looked much more haggard. She couldn't bring herself to do anything, because for the past two days, someone very important to her had been missing from her life.

The hubbub outside abruptly fell silent, then a jumble of greetings rang out.

Little Cat suddenly stopped looking so downcast. Her face brightened, and she hurried out of the treehouse and down to the ground. When she saw that familiar figure approaching through the morning light, she smiled so happily that the gloom in her heart vanished.

Though Bai Yang's clothes looked strange and unfamiliar, Little Cat still went to meet him amid the villagers' chaotic teasing and catcalls.

This time, Bai Yang had taken care to dress up before coming over: a white T-shirt, faded jeans, and a pair of outdoor boots reaching halfway up his calves.

Nothing was wrong with any of that, but the floor-length black trench coat made him look like a show-off. And wearing sunglasses this early in the morning made him look like a lunatic...

"Hey, how's everyone doing?"

Seeing the villagers crowd around him enthusiastically, Bai Yang waved and greeted them in Chinese without thinking. To their ears, it sounded like gibberish...

There was nothing he could do about it. He barely understood their language to begin with, and after a few days back home, he'd nearly forgotten it.

When he saw Little Cat standing prettily in front of him, her little face wearing such a pitiful, almost-about-to-cry expression, he felt a little awkward. Anyone who didn't know better might have thought he'd seduced her and then abandoned her.

"Little Cat, I'm back."

Bai Yang waved hello in their language. He spoke slowly, stumbling over the words.

Why do I sound like a husband returning home after a long trip? Bai Yang grumbled inwardly.

"I... I'll go make you something to eat..."

Little Cat smiled happily, then hurriedly tossed out that one sentence and turned to run off. She didn't care where Bai Yang had gone, so long as he had come back. She would still look after him as attentively as she had so many times before.

This is so awkward. I haven't even put my hand down yet. And speak more slowly—I didn't quite catch that...

Bai Yang scratched his head, then took off his sunglasses. It was already rather dim in the jungle; with those on, he'd nearly gone blind.

"Here, play with these."

Seeing Hu Zi staring at the sunglasses in his hand, unable to look away, Bai Yang tossed them to him, exasperated.

Hu Zi fumbled to catch the sunglasses and put them on like Bai Yang had. Unable to adjust to the change in light, he took only a couple of steps before pitching headfirst to the ground...

There's no saving this guy!

Clapping his hands to get the villagers' attention, Bai Yang pointed outside the village. Speaking their language haltingly, he gestured wildly and spasmodically as he said, "I brought everyone some gifts. Could you help me carry them over?"

That was easy enough. A crowd of muscular men charged out, big and small. They hadn't gone a hundred meters before they spotted a huge pile of things behind a few trees.

The villagers were simple and honest. They didn't touch anything, only carrying the whole lot over to an open space in the village.

Bai Yang was speechless. How could all that stuff appear out of nowhere outside the village, and these villagers not be the least bit curious? Their ability to accept things was way too strong.

After getting everything ready back on Earth, Bai Yang had sneaked over here for a look. He'd waited until an hour or two before dawn to start moving the goods. It took half an hour of back-and-forth trips to get everything done. Then he changed into that flashy outfit and appeared before the villagers in the morning light.

"Young Master Bai, what is all this...?"

The white-bearded village chief appeared beside Bai Yang and pointed at the pile, asking in confusion.

In the villagers' eyes, Bai Yang was some rich young master from who knew where. After learning what "Young Master Bai" meant in their language, Bai Yang had corrected them countless times, but they'd never learned their lesson. In the end, he'd just let it go.

Understanding what the white-bearded village chief meant, Bai Yang pointed to the pile and said, "You've all taken such good care of me. I prepared some gifts for everyone. This is all for you!"

It was a long sentence, and Bai Yang struggled to get it out. He relied mostly on gestures...

"How could we accept this...?"

The village chief hurriedly waved his hands. He didn't know what the things were, but there were far too many of them. Given Bai Yang's usual generosity, they had to be incredibly precious.

The things Bai Yang had brought weren't just the Titanium Alloy Armor and Titanium Alloy Blades. Those could only equip a hundred people. The villagers wore shabby clothes, or none at all, so Bai Yang had gone to a shop selling fabric on the other side of the city and nearly emptied its warehouse, hauling away a whole truckload of all kinds of cloth.

Since everyone here, adults and children alike, had broad, sturdy builds, he couldn't buy clothes that would fit them all at once. So he'd simply brought a pile of fabric for them to make their own. Bai Yang had deliberately observed the villagers' daily lives and knew they were actually pretty good at sewing. He'd even bought them a pile of needles and thread...

Pointing at the 155 bundles of fabric, each about the size of a table, he said, "These all contain cloth and needles and thread. One for each household!"

He stumbled through this sentence too, relying mostly on gestures to get his meaning across.

There were 155 households in the village, and Bai Yang had counted them on purpose. When he bought the fabric, he'd had the shopkeeper divide it up for him, saving himself the trouble now.

With the village chief's approval, the villagers came forward in an orderly line. Each household carried off one bundle. Before long, exclamations of surprise rang out from the treehouses...

Bai Yang was pleased that the villagers had accepted his gifts. It seemed he'd simply forgotten about his own "family," though. Little Cat was watching him from the window of his treehouse, looking aggrieved...

Now came the main event. Bai Yang pointed at the pile of wooden crates and said to Number One Barbarian, "Zhu Zi, bring me one small crate and one large one!"

The crates filled with Titanium Alloy Armor and Titanium Alloy Blades weighed four or five hundred pounds apiece, but Zhu Zi carried one in each hand with ease.

Bai Yang scanned the area, took a "little knife" about a meter long from a nearby rack, then walked over to the wooden crate and hacked it apart in a few strokes. The Titanium Alloy Armor inside was revealed to the villagers.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw one villager after another staring wide-eyed, their eyes shining like those of a man who'd been celibate for eighty years and had just spotted a naked beauty!

"Zhu Zi, try it on," Bai Yang said.

After a lot of fussing and with Bai Yang showing him how, Zhu Zi finally managed to put on the Titanium Alloy Armor, which weighed 110 pounds. He stood there like a cold metal statue!

Bai Yang heard a chorus of people swallowing hard. Every one of them stared at the remaining crates like rutting bulls.

With a few more chops, he smashed open the crate containing the Titanium Alloy Blades. Ten of them spilled onto the ground. Bai Yang picked one up and tossed it at Zhu Zi's feet, signaling for him to pick it up.

Wearing the Titanium Alloy Armor, Zhu Zi bent down and grabbed the Titanium Alloy Blade. With a shing, he drew the fearsome long blade. In the morning light, he looked like a cold god of slaughter. A chorus of sharp intakes of breath came from the crowd.

"Ah...!"

Zhu Zi suddenly let out a strange cry and charged toward a tree so wide that it would have taken a man to wrap his arms around it. He swung the Titanium Alloy Blade. A flash of cold light passed, and the tree crashed to the ground, its cut surface smooth, without even a splinter!

If this guy goes berserk and chops down a tree that crushes one of the wooden houses, will they beat him to death?

Grumbling inwardly, Bai Yang turned to the white-bearded old man and said, "Chief, I have a hundred sets of this armor and these blades. Could you help distribute them?"

The white-bearded old man was trembling all over. His aged face flushed red, his breathing grew labored, and he looked like he was about to die of a heart attack at any moment.

As Bai Yang stared in bewilderment, the old man shouted a stream of words. Zhu Zi reluctantly took off the armor and put down the Titanium Alloy Blade.

That left Bai Yang baffled.

The old man bowed deeply to Bai Yang, but Bai Yang dodged the gesture. He couldn't accept it...

Looking at Bai Yang, the old man spoke very slowly. "Young Master Bai, we've accepted the fabric, but this armor and these weapons are far too precious. Please forgive the ignorance of us mountain folk. We can't even begin to estimate the value of these weapons and armor, so we can't accept them!"

Bai Yang had imagined many different ways the villagers might react to being given the armor and weapons, but this had never crossed his mind. If you don't want them, they're no use to me either. They wouldn't fit me, and even if I put one on, could I still walk? Besides, how many lifetimes would it take me to wear a hundred sets?

His eyes rolled, and Bai Yang came up with an idea. "Of course I'm not giving these things away for nothing. They're payment. How about letting a few villagers serve as my guards for a while? Guards often risk their lives, after all. Life is priceless, so these things aren't that much in comparison, right?"

That was a really long sentence, and Bai Yang struggled to say it. He stumbled over the words and flailed around like a shaman before finally making himself understood...

(To be honest, I'm not happy with this chapter at all. I'm too embarrassed to ask for votes or favorites.)