Middle-Aged Man and Youth

In the darkness of the wilderness, the arrival of strangers at the camp always brings a sense of novelty.

Almost everyone around the campfire was subtly observing the middle-aged man and the boy from a distance.

The boy threw his backpack heavily to the ground with a thud, and everyone could tell how heavy it was.

The middle-aged man made no attempt to help, instead finding a rock to sit on and waiting for the boy to start a fire and cook.

The girl always felt that this boy was not the rich kid her brother had described at all; instead, he seemed more like a servant of a middle-aged man.

Seeing this, Old Man Qin Cheng said, "That young man is probably not from a wealthy family. I can tell just by his voice. His backpack must weigh at least 50 kilograms. The nearest city is over 100 kilometers away, and the nearest federal forward base is over 40 kilometers away. Carrying 50 kilograms of stuff for over 40 kilometers, what wealthy kid from Upper District 3 could endure that kind of hardship?"

At this moment, the boy skillfully took out a folding stool from his bag.

The middle-aged man sat comfortably on the stool, and the young man took out a reader from his bag and handed it to him.

Beside the campfire, the young man Qin Tong suddenly hesitated. "He certainly doesn't seem like a rich kid."

As they spoke, the boy took out a silver thermos from his backpack, skillfully poured a cup of tea with the lid, and handed it to the middle-aged man.

The middle-aged man nodded in satisfaction and continued looking at the e-reader in his hand, seemingly oblivious to everything else and only focused on browsing the news.

Only now did the boy finally breathe a sigh of relief...

He sat on the large rock, catching his breath for only a few seconds, then took a hand axe from his backpack, picked the thinnest tree trunk not far away, chopped it down, and gathered some dry branches together.

They even went so far as to build a tripod on the woodpile with branches and hang a small pot on it to cook rice.

"His camping technique is very skillful," Qin Tong said by the campfire. "But it's strange, the boy's skin is also very fair, he must be someone who rarely comes to the wilderness."

Compared to the fair skin of the middle-aged man and the boy, Qin Tong and Qin Cheng had dark skin, clearly indicating that they lived in an environment exposed to wind and sun for many years.

The intense ultraviolet rays caused them to peel off layer after layer of skin, leaving behind tough but rough skin.

That is why the boy immediately displayed a unique temperament upon his appearance.

The other person possessed a fair complexion and delicate features rarely seen in the wilderness.

The girl sat by the campfire, watching silently, her eyes seemingly glued to it.

The boy took out a small black box from his backpack, and then pulled out six black needles from it.

As they were talking, the boy stood up a piece of firewood and used the back of his axe to drive the six black needles into the top of the firewood one by one until all the needles were embedded in the wood.

Soon, the black needles began to heat up, and wisps of white smoke rose from the firewood.

Qin Tong looked at the old man. "Dad, it's Qing's nanotechnology."

Qin Cheng nodded. "I've seen that thing before."

Anyone with wilderness survival experience knows that firewood is very difficult to light.

Sometimes, it might take an hour of hard work to get the firewood to spark. After the sparks appear, the person who started the fire has to keep blowing on it, and eventually the smoke will sting their eyes and blacken their face.

These six black needles absorbed the force of the boy hammering them into the wood, and continued to heat up directly in the heartwood, igniting a piece of firewood in just 10 minutes.

Qin Tong said, "When I went to City No. 18 to look at outdoor products last time, I saw this Qing family's nano product, I think it was called Thor. I asked about it at the time, and the price was extremely expensive. Six inconspicuous needles could replace my entire mechanical limbs."

But at this moment, Qin Tong realized that what he considered very expensive was actually nothing in other people's Reagan.

Old man Qin Cheng opened the cigarettes the boy had just given him, took one out, smelled it under his nose, and then put it back in.

In the wilderness, this pack of cigarettes can sometimes be traded for quite a few good things, such as rough maps, wild animal pelts, and life-saving herbs.

You can even exchange them for the characteristics of certain strange animals from Forbidden Zone.

The wilderness is not like the city; there are many unknown dangers here.

Money is hard to spend here; you need hard currency.

The girl by the campfire watched the boy work silently, while the middle-aged man showed no intention of helping, acting like a pampered boss.

The boy poured water and white rice into a small pot and started cooking white porridge.

Not only that, he also added raisins and red dates to the congee, making it look exceptionally refined.

But the boy himself didn't drink the porridge; instead, he sat quietly to the side and started munching on a bland synthetic protein bar.

These protein bars are usually only eaten by people who live in the wilderness. One bar can provide a day's worth of nutrition, and the boy ate four in a row.

After the congee was cooked, the boy carefully served it to the middle-aged man...

The girl was somewhat indignant. "Doesn't that middle-aged man have hands and feet? Why does he have to be served by others?"

At this moment, the girl by the campfire suddenly noticed that after the boy sat down on the ground, he took off his hiking boots, and the white socks inside were already stained red with blood.

The boy slowly took off his socks, revealing feet covered in congealed blood, seemingly filled with wounds and blisters.

The boy cleaned the wound with alcohol and cotton swabs, and then applied ointment to it.

During this process, the other person was clearly in a lot of pain but didn't say a word, only frowning deeply.

Moreover, the other person's expression was normal, and their walking posture was not abnormal at all, as if the wound on their foot did not exist.

The girl felt a pang of sympathy for the man who had endured the pain to serve him.

The girl suddenly said, "Why don't I go help him, Dad? Look, his feet are all blistered from walking, and he still has to do heavy work."

Qin Cheng frowned and said in a serious tone, "He's a servant, this is what he's supposed to do. You stay here obediently. If you really fall in love with a servant, you're hopeless. They're people without freedom, understand?"

The girl felt a little wronged, but didn't say anything more.

I just watched from afar.

At this moment, the boy was sitting on the ground, continuing to treat the wound on his foot.

Although the collar of the windbreaker covered most of the other person's face, the girl inexplicably felt that the other person's profile was very handsome.

"Dad, you said he was a servant?" the girl asked.

"Yes," Qin Cheng nodded, "You've seen people like this in the city, selling their lives to big shots, and they can never escape the fate of being bound by them."

The term "servant" is not unfamiliar in the Inner World; it is almost synonymous with slave.