Curly Noodles

"I've never eaten good things?" Li You immediately retorted, "Back in the day when I roamed the casinos, you've never seen the money I won in a single day in your life. Have you ever eaten curly noodles? I reckon you haven't even seen them!

Those noodles are bent and curved, compressed into a hard noodle cake, with patterns on top more complicated than a sweater. Boiled to a golden yellow in hot water, they aren't mushy like ordinary noodles at all; instead, they're incomparably chewy, topped with an egg—that taste is simply...

This is a delicacy that only city people can eat!"

Curly Noodles?

Bai Ye wore a strange expression. The more he heard about this thing, the more it sounded like instant noodles. Not just sounded like, this was fucking instant noodles!

Watching Li You's expression of lingering nostalgia, Bai Ye only felt a sense of detachment and absurdity. He had traveled through time relatively recently, and sometimes his thoughts still lingered in the Civilized Era. Now he felt a slight trance.

Instant noodles, once despised by him as junk food, were now a delicacy that most Wastelanders had never seen in their lives here on this wasteland.

Seeing Bai Ye suddenly fall silent, Li You chuckled. He knew his words had given this inexperienced kid a tiny shock of a hundred million.

"What? Craving some? Don't worry, seeing as you saved my life, once we get into Dawn City, I'll treat you to two... one bowl, with two eggs!"

"I really thank you so much," Bai Ye said unpleasantly.

"No problem, we're buddies!" Li You patted his chest, putting on a bold and heroic posture, even though his pockets were cleaner than his face right now.

"By the way, why didn't you join the Silent Court earlier? Looking at Tan Jie and the others, the Silent Court seems like a very powerful Transcendent organization, and yet you could heartlessly refuse an invitation from such a powerful and beautiful woman?"

"You can tell she's a beauty even while wearing a mask? Chances are she's just too ugly so she wears a mask. Who wears a mask unless they're up to no good?" Bai Ye recalled the appearance of the Knight Girl.

A tall and outstanding figure, long, straight black hair reaching her waist—she was definitely a silhouette killer.

"You don't understand this, back when I roamed the dating scene, I'd seen my share of countless beauties. Even though she wore a mask, I could tell at a glance that she was a beauty. That kind of unique temperament of a beauty can't fool anyone. I could see she was clearly interested in you, otherwise why would she not invite me, an overt Transcendent, and instead invite you?

I really feel it's a pity for you. If you had joined, maybe you'd have had a chance to win the beauty's heart."

"Childish." Bai Ye couldn't be bothered to entertain Li You's wishful thinking. In his view, this kind of male adolescent fantasy was very childish.

He, for one, wouldn't have such childish fantasies. As the god of the New Era, wielding supreme authority over time—it was just that his divine power was currently sealed, and he could only extract one minute of it each day, but his arrogance as a god remained.

How could a god fall in love? As everyone knew, falling love was the most time-wasting thing.

"Hey, you still haven't answered my reason. Why on earth did you refuse her? She has a deep background, powerful strength, and is kind-hearted. Could it be that you..." Li You's gaze gradually turned strange, a hint of vigilance and wariness revealing itself within the strangeness.

"What the hell are you thinking?" Bai Ye raged, "My reason for not joining is very simple. I don't want to waste time."

Li You froze, blinking blankly, "What's a waste about that?"

"An organization that executes justice on the wasteland—you don't even have to think to know they have a ton of enemies. Killing enemies doesn't waste time?"

"Uh... Whether it wastes time or not I don't know, but I figure it might cost a bit of your life."

Thump!

Bai Ye suddenly stood up and rushed toward the window.

Li You was startled, "What's wrong?"

Seeing Bai Ye lean against the window, he couldn't help but feel curious.

"Outside..."

"Don't speak. Cars are coming. Many cars!" Bai Ye listened closely, hearing the roar of a convoy moving forward.

Li You's expression changed, and he hurried up to look. As a result, because of his overly large movement, he tugged at his right hand, the pain causing his facial features to wrinkle together. However, he didn't make a sound, instead enduring the pain to listen, and sure enough, he heard the sound of vehicles as well.

Inside Gray Soil Town, ten military troop carriers moved forward in a single file. The truck beds of every vehicle were crammed with fully armed soldiers, visually numbering no less than a hundred.

Around the troop carriers, over two hundred dirt-covered Wastelanders followed, being driven forward by the soldiers like herding sheep.

Bai Ye looked through the window and saw quite a few familiar faces among those two hundred-odd Wastelanders.

"It's the residents of Gray Soil Town. They've been driven back."

"Eye of Apocalypse! Those soldiers are wearing the insignia of the Eye of Apocalypse on their uniforms. They're Dawn City's army!" Li You whispered in shock.

Bai Ye also saw the so-called Eye of Apocalypse. Its main body was an eye that seemed to contain the mysteries of the universe, embedded with patterns like scattered stars, while three silvery-white lightning marks pierced straight through the entire eye.

"What is going on here? Why is Dawn City's army driving the residents back?"

"You ask me, who do I ask?" Bai Ye said irritably. He hated variables. He just wanted to quietly accumulate a little bit of time—goddamnit, they won't even give me this little time!?

No matter what these Dawn soldiers had come to do, it definitely wasn't anything good.

"Stop. It's getting late. Rest here for the night, and head toward Black Mountain tomorrow."

The sound of a walkie-talkie rang out from a troop carrier in the middle. An officer was issuing orders, and the convoy quickly stopped in Gray Soil Town. Clearly, this army was going to spend the night here.

Neither Bai Ye nor Li You were ordinary people. Although the distance was still far, they still barely managed to clearly hear the officer's voice.

"Black Mountain!? They're going to Black Mountain?" Li You's eyes widened in some shock.

Nowadays, mutated beasts ran rampant in Black Mountain, and only this kind of regular army dared to head there.

What on earth was inside Black Mountain? Why did Dawn City keep dispatching troops? Was it really for a war? Yet this team of a hundred people carried no heavy weapons, nor did they transport supplies; they didn't look like they were going to fight at all.

Bai Ye pondered inwardly. To say he wasn't curious would be a lie, but he had no intention of joining the excitement because it was too time-wasting.

If he had an hour on him, he'd definitely go over and take a look, maybe even scrape up some benefits. But right now he only had one minute, so it was better to keep a low profile.

"They're going to Black Mountain, why are they still bringing these residents along? Could it be..." Li You suddenly thought of a possibility. He and Bai Ye exchanged a tacit glance, both understanding what the other was thinking.

"Cannon fodder."

"Suicide squad!"

The two said in different unison.

Facts proved that the two of them lacked the slightest bit of tacit understanding, differing not only in their choice of words, but even in word count.

"Driving a group of Wastelanders without combat power toward Black Mountain, it's obviously to make them act as a vanguard suicide squad," Li You said with an ugly expression.

He was also a Wastelander, so he felt extremely disgusted by this behavior of the Dawn soldiers.