Hard Currency

Gao Zhe stopped and turned around, his stern eyes sizing up Su Huan. "Payment?"

"Breakfast is being prepared in the dining car. How about a hot breakfast?" Su Huan said.

Gao Zhe's mouth twitched. A mocking smile appeared on his face, and he turned to leave.

Su Huan's jobs had never been easy. He thought one breakfast would be enough to make Gao Zhe risk his life?

Did he really think Gao Zhe was a slave?

"We've got steak, pasta, and grilled sausages. If you don't like those, we've also got buns, fresh porridge, and freshly squeezed soy milk..."

Su Huan called after him, rattling off the menu.

Gao Zhe didn't even look back.

Gao Zhe stepped into the muddy water. He frowned at the people sprawled across the ground, then called up to Su Huan on the truck, "I just need to check each of them, then load them into the car?"

"That's right. If you capture them all alive and in good condition, I'll throw in a glass of wine with dinner," Su Huan said with a smile.

Gao Zhe took a deep breath of the damp air, gripped the steel rebar, and headed toward the people on the ground.

The one closest to him was someone he knew: Brother Dog, the burly man.

"Useless!"

A dark look flashed through Gao Zhe's eyes.

He swung the rebar straight into Brother Dog's thigh. It landed with a dull thud.

Brother Dog instantly curled up like a shrimp, his hands clutching his knee as he opened his mouth and silently howled.

"No real threat."

Gao Zhe picked up the rope Su Huan had tossed down, wrapped Brother Dog up like a dead pig, and threw him into the truck.

Liang Kuan took him, checked the knots, then stuffed some rags into his mouth.

Gao Zhe went down the line, striking each person one by one. Whether they were really unconscious or just pretending, he gave them all a whack before loading them up.

Dull thuds rang out, accompanied by the sound of bones breaking.

As the bone-chilling sounds drew closer, Slanted Eyes lay facedown, seething with resentment.

He'd been planning to fake unconsciousness and launch a counterattack, but that bastard had zapped him four more times!

His head had nearly smoked!

If he hadn't become an Evolutionist and developed an astonishingly sturdy body, he'd have been laid out like the others.

He'd lain there for ages before he finally recovered.

He'd accepted defeat this time and planned to wait for Su Huan to come over so he could surrender. But Su Huan never showed up. Instead, a vicious-looking man came over.

Were they planning to kill them all to keep them quiet?

Slanted Eyes didn't dare get up. The approaching footsteps sounded closer and closer, like a death sentence.

With a furious roar, Slanted Eyes yanked his face out of the mud and lunged forward, wrapping his arms around the pair of legs in front of him.

That feeling... a Crafter. What a waste.

Su Huan immediately figured out what Slanted Eyes was. He felt a little regretful. Crafters were what his convoy needed most right now, but this one was no use to him.

"Keep this one alive for now."

At Su Huan's voice, Gao Zhe froze with the rebar raised. He frowned, tensed his muscles, and with a sharp jerk broke Slanted Eyes' grip.

Then he kicked Slanted Eyes in the chest.

Slanted Eyes tumbled away like a rolling gourd and landed sitting on the ground, gasping for breath.

Gao Zhe didn't chase after him. Instead, he looked down and pulled up his pant leg. Several red spots had appeared on his skin.

"Don't worry. They'll fade in a couple of days. It's even milder than a skin rash."

Su Huan's voice drifted down from the truck.

Pan-Energy Perception let him sense the Pan-Energy fluctuations inside an object, but it couldn't tell him someone's profession. For instance, Gao Zhe's status as an Evolutionist was about as hard for him to miss as a lantern in the dark.

It was plain as day. There was no hiding it.

Today, he'd just taken the opportunity to get a feel for Gao Zhe's evolutionary path and progress, so he'd know what to expect.

It would be a real joke if the Shepherd got knocked over by his own sheep.

"Thud!"

Gao Zhe tied Slanted Eyes up and tossed him into the truck. "Remember, you promised me dinner."

Then he limped around and climbed into the truck from the back.

Su Huan looked down at Slanted Eyes, who was in a sorry state, and rested a hand on Liang Kuan's shoulder to keep him from approaching.

If you asked which type of Evolutionist was the strongest in the apocalypse, there was no single answer; each had their strengths.

But if you asked which type was the strangest, then Crafters were the obvious choice.

Their core skill, Pan-Energy Erosion, let them change the properties of matter and trigger new transformations. They were also the first to cross the line of taboo.

The red spots on Gao Zhe's leg had been caused by Pan-Energy Erosion. But Gao Zhe was an Evolutionist too—the toughest kind, a Defender. He could tough it out for two days and be fine.

Liang Kuan, on the other hand, was just an ordinary person. If Slanted Eyes eroded him, it would be a problem.

Maybe on the first day, he'd just have a red spot. On the second, an eye might grow out of it. By the third, it might start talking.

"...Don't kill me! I surrender. I've got enough food at the Water Plant to last half a year. There's clean water, cars, plenty of gasoline, and women—lots of women. Let me go, and it's all yours!"

Slanted Eyes spat out a mouthful of mud and hurriedly pleaded.

Su Huan acted as if he hadn't heard. A layer of red light appeared over his hand as he reached into Slanted Eyes' waistband and pulled out a pistol. He ejected the magazine. It still held eight bright, gleaming 9mm rounds.

This was a fine thing to have, even years later, when all kinds of evolved creatures roamed the land.

The distinctive smell of gunpowder still hung in the air.

Guns were sturdy and dependable, too—far more reliable than the Pan-Energy firearms developed by those big companies. They were hard currency in the apocalypse, a survivor's best friend.

"Click—clack."

After a quick inspection, Su Huan loaded the gun again and waved it a couple of times over Slanted Eyes' head.

Slanted Eyes' eyes nearly bulged out of his skull. His lips trembled.

"Please, don't kill me..."

"Where'd you get it?" Su Huan asked curiously.

"I found it at the Law Enforcement Bureau."

Su Huan turned the gun over and saw a spot where its markings had been ground away. "Any bullets left?"

"There are some at the Water Plant. Sixty rounds."

"Does the Water Plant have a water purifier?"

Slanted Eyes froze for a moment, then hurriedly nodded. "Yes, yes! Big ones and small ones."

Su Huan smiled. Looks like there was no need to resort to anything rough.

He pointed to the sixteen survivors in the truck. "I'll give you a chance to live. Pick the two most loyal people here, and I'll send one of them back. Have him dismantle a small all-in-one water purifier and bring it to me. Then you'll live."

Slanted Eyes' eyes lit up. "Sure. I'll get it done for you, no problem."

"What's your name?" Su Huan suddenly asked.

"Hu An. You can call me Little Hu." Hu An smiled obsequiously, his eyes narrowing into slits.

Hu An...

Surprise flashed through Su Huan's eyes. He hadn't expected to run into someone he recognized.

In his previous life, only three convoys had escaped the High-Temperature Zone. Hu An had been the third-in-command of the Mojiang Mutual Aid Convoy, the largest of them, with several thousand people.

But he'd heard its management was a mess, so he hadn't joined.

They didn't have many strong fighters, but their number of Evolutionists was generally higher than the other two convoys. If he needed more manpower, he might be able to make use of them.

But with him in the picture this time around, whether that convoy would even form was another question.

The one Su Huan was really interested in was the other convoy: the Worker-Farmer-Doctor United Convoy.