Scavenger, Danger!

Just three minutes.

The twelve-meter-long behemoth had been completely devoured by Calamity.

All that remained on the ground was a thick layer of reddish-brown powder—the waste left behind after Calamity absorbed it. It covered the ground like a blanket of red snow.

Lin Fan glanced at Calamity in his hand.

The jet-black blade didn't look much different than before, except that its matte surface seemed a little deeper in color.

Then, the data stream on his retina refreshed slowly:

[Consumed industrial carbon steel: 48 tons.]

[Calamity growth progress: +0.2%, current growth progress: 0.27%.]

[Current load compatibility: +0.2%.]

[Weapon density increased, current weight: 3,100 kilograms.]

"..."

Lin Fan stared at the progress bar, which had barely budged, and his mouth twitched.

"Forty-eight tons of steel, and that's all I get?"

"What a bottomless pit."

Though he grumbled to himself, Lin Fan didn't dwell on it.

At least it wasn't picky. It would even eat scrap metal, which was no small thing.

But the conversion rate was outrageously low. To fill the bar, he'd probably have to chew through half the county.

"Forget it. At least there's plenty to eat, and it can restore my stamina. I'm not losing out."

Lin Fan flipped his wrist. Calamity vanished into thin air, returning to the Space Ring on his finger.

The terrifying weight pressing down on his body disappeared in an instant, leaving Lin Fan feeling light as a feather.

"Let's keep going."

He raised his head and fixed his gaze on the entrance to the underground fuel pipes beneath the gas station.

If he'd finished everything aboveground, he couldn't leave the stuff underground alone.

He had to make this trip worthwhile!

But just then—

Lin Fan's ear twitched.

Rumble, rumble, rumble!

The roar of a large-displacement engine came from the direction of the county entrance, racing toward him.

"Someone's here?"

Lin Fan froze, his brows instantly knitting together.

Without hesitation, he slipped backward and pressed himself into the shadow of the gas station's half-collapsed wall, like a gecko.

His breathing slowed, and he blended into the surrounding ruins.

Just don't let them find me...

Barely ten seconds later—

Screeech!

The shrill squeal of brakes rang out.

A black SUV, reinforced with welded steel bars and modified to look like an armored vehicle, came to a forceful stop at the entrance to the gas station.

The doors were shoved open roughly.

Four burly men in black combat suits jumped out.

Each carried a combat knife, and the bulges at their waists had the unmistakable shape of firearms.

Most conspicuous of all was the badge on their chests: a vulture pecking at carrion.

"Damn it, what a lousy break!"

The leader was a bald man with a face full of hard muscle and a vicious scar running across it. He looked like bad news.

He carried a modified heavy machine gun with a large caliber, and kicked a piece of rubble off the roadside, spittle flying as he spoke.

"Didn't the intel broker say this gas station was a Shadow Cat den? Where are the cats? There isn't even a single hair!"

"Boss, something's not right."

A skinny member of the squad held a life detector and swept it across the area, his brows furrowing.

"I smell blood."

"It's faint, and the wind's scattered most of it, but it's definitely fresh."

As seasoned warriors who'd spent years living by the sword, their noses were even sharper than those of wild dogs.

"Someone beat us to it?"

The bald man narrowed his eyes, a fierce glint in them.

"If someone beat us to it, where are they? Where's the body?"

His gaze swept across the empty ground of the gas station before settling on the strange reddish-brown powder scattered there.

He stared, dumbfounded.

"What the hell is this stuff?"

Another squad member crouched and pinched up a bit of the "red snow." He brought it to his nose, and his expression immediately changed.

"Boss, it's iron oxide powder..."

He looked up, his voice laced with uncertainty.

"And... I remember the map marking a heavy tanker truck as parked here."

"Where is it?"

At that, the bald man's pupils contracted sharply.

A tanker weighing dozens of tons had vanished into thin air?

All that remained was a pile of red powder?

"Some mutated beasts have highly corrosive acidic fluids that can melt metal in an instant..."

The bald man tightened his grip on the heavy machine gun, his earlier swagger fading considerably.

"Or it could be some kind of special mutant we've never seen before."

"Everyone, be careful. There's something sinister about this place."

In their understanding, things like Space Rings didn't exist. It was even less likely that they'd imagine someone could "eat" a tanker truck.

The only explanation was that something unknown was lurking here!

"Boss! Over there!"

The skinny squad member, who'd been watching the life detector, suddenly shouted and pointed at a shadowed corner behind the gas station's half-collapsed wall.

"There's a faint heat signature! It hasn't moved! Whatever it is, it's hiding there! Looks like a person!"

"Shit!"

The bald man's face twitched as his fierce eyes locked onto Lin Fan's hiding place.

Click!

The heavy machine gun was cocked.

Its pitch-black barrel pointed straight at the broken wall.

"Come out!"

"Human or ghost, you keep hiding and I'll blow that wall to pieces! I'm counting to three!"

In the shadow behind the wall,

Lin Fan sighed softly.

I got careless.

He silently reviewed what had happened.

I avoided their visual search and didn't make a sound, but I forgot these bastards had thermal imaging.

Still too inexperienced.

But...

Lin Fan's mind raced as he analyzed the situation in an instant.

Four men, four guns, and one heavy machine gun.

Fight them head-on?

That was asking to die.

But who was he supposed to be right now?

Just a student scavenging for trash.

If he couldn't beat them with force, he'd have to beat them with acting.

Lin Fan took a deep breath.

The ruthless determination he'd shown moments ago vanished. His facial muscles relaxed and slackened.

The sharpness in his eyes disappeared, replaced by the fear and bewilderment of a high schooler who'd never seen the world.

He even glanced down at the cheap canvas shoes he'd bought for fifteen yuan.

Then he slowly raised his hands and stepped out of the shadows.

His hands were empty, and a limp canvas bag hung from his shoulders.

His shoulders hunched slightly, and his legs trembled uncontrollably.

"D-don't shoot!"

"Please, big brothers, don't shoot!"

Lin Fan's voice trembled and broke as though he were a terrified little bird.

"I... I'm a good person!"

The four members of Vulture Squad were visibly stunned when the person who emerged from behind the broken wall turned out to be a boy in cheap camouflage clothes, with an innocent face and an almost foolishly harmless look.

The atmosphere froze for a second.

This was... a far cry from the "terrifying mutated beast" or "cunning expert who'd beaten them to the loot" they'd expected.