You Really Eat It?

Li You frowned slightly. Before he could speak, several wastelanders nearby swarmed over like locusts, each extending a mud-caked hand toward him.

"Give us something to eat. I haven't had a meal in days."

"Me too! Me too!"

Seeing the desperate looks on their faces, Li You fell silent for a moment before taking out several more cockroach protein bars and handing them over.

Who would have thought that this would be like poking a hornet's nest? After finishing the food, their eyes lit up, and they excitedly asked for more.

More and more wastelanders noticed what was happening here, and they kept gathering around.

"He has food!"

"Give me some! I'm starving to death!"

"Get out of the way! Don't block the road!"

Li You's brows knotted tightly. He might have plenty of food, but there was no way he could feed this many people. If he gave everyone even a little, he would starve to death himself.

"There's no more! Get lost!" he shouted.

But to the crowd that had seen food, it was as though hungry wolves had spotted prey. Their eyes gleamed with a sinister green light.

"I saw it! That sack behind him is full of food!"

"Hand over the food! So many of us haven't eaten—are you trying to starve us to death?"

Some people could no longer hold themselves back and even began grabbing for the sack. Li You was instantly enraged. Though injured, he was still a transcendent. With a casual shove, he sent those people tumbling to the ground.

"What do you mean, I'm trying to starve you? Those soldiers have food. Why don't you ask them for it?"

A tall wastelander said righteously, "Nonsense! If the soldier lords would give us food, would we be asking you? Hand it over now, or don't blame us for getting rough!"

"Bastards! You bunch of bastards!" Li You's face went faintly pale with fury. His right hand began to hurt again, and with the crowd growing increasingly agitated, more and more people looked ready to make a move.

At that moment, Bai Ye, who had finished his cockroach protein bar, slowly stood. His unruly eyes swept across the crowd, and a chilling smile appeared on his face.

"Look at you, being so stingy. Everyone just wants a little food. Why refuse them?"

"Brother Ye, you..." Li You stared blankly as Bai Ye picked up the sack and walked toward the crowd.

"Everyone, who wants food? Come get it from me. I'm not as stingy as he is," Bai Ye said with a smile.

The crowd immediately became excited, rushing toward Bai Ye as though they wanted to devour him alive.

The tall wastelander forced his way to the front with his strong physique.

"Kid, you're the generous one. Hurry up and bring out the food!"

Bai Ye smiled and handed him a cockroach protein bar. "Don't rush. We're all from Gray Soil Town, so once we're outside, we should help each other. When people are hungry, naturally they need to eat. You have no food, while I happen to have some, so you come eat mine. That's reasonable, right?"

The man hurriedly reached for the cockroach protein bar, praising him as he did so. "Right, right, right! You really know how to talk, kid. Isn't it just eating a bite of your food? Why be so stingy... Let go!"

He had meant to take the protein bar, only to find that Bai Ye had not let go at all.

A flash of shock crossed his eyes. "Kid, what do you mean?"

Yet Bai Ye looked even more astonished than he did, as though he had witnessed something unbelievable.

"Wait, you really eat it?"

"You... Aah!!"

A miserable scream rang through the crowd. Bai Ye casually released his grip, while the tall wastelander collapsed to the ground, his right hand twisted at an unnatural angle.

The sudden turn of events frightened everyone else, and they looked at the youth before them with fear.

"I was just joking with you. I didn't expect you'd really dare to eat it."

"Aah! My hand! You bastard! I'll kill you!"

Bang!

Bai Ye stomped on the man's broken right hand. As he enjoyed the man's agonized screams, he ground his foot down harder.

"Still want to eat?"

"No... I don't want any more. Spare me..." Cold sweat covered the man's face, and his eyes were filled with terror.

"He only wanted a bite of food. If you didn't want to give it to him, fine, but was there any need to hit him?" A short wastelander in the crowd shouted in shock and anger.

"Fuck your mother!" Bai Ye abruptly stepped forward and yanked the speaker out of the crowd.

His powerful grip was like lifting a chick, and he immediately slammed the man viciously onto the ground.

"Aah!"

Another scream rang out.

But Bai Ye was not done. He stomped hard on the man's mouth, kicking the scream straight back into his stomach.

A savage gleam flashed through his unruly eyes. "I hate it most when people yap behind my back. Go on, bark! Fucking bark again!"

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Kick after kick, he knocked every tooth from the man's mouth, leaving behind only a bloody mess of mangled flesh.

"You fucking say he just wanted a bite of food, and ask why I hit him if I didn't want to give it? I'm beating him, and not only am I beating him, I'm beating you too!"

The brutal scene completely intimidated the restless crowd. They watched Bai Ye's violence with both shock and fury, yet not a single person dared step forward to help.

"What are you looking at? You bunch of idiots. Keep staring and I'll gouge out your eyes. Get lost!" Bai Ye's fierce, wild gaze swept over them, his savage aura and palpable pressure crashing down upon them.

The crowd hurriedly dispersed. No one dared come ask for food again.

Inside the troop carrier not far away, Ying and the officer watched the scene with interest.

"These are the barbaric, ignorant wastelanders. I truly don't understand why the Company keeps them around. If it were up to me, all wastelanders should be wiped out. Only then could the civilization of the old era be restored sooner," the officer sneered.

Ying said blandly, "Even trash has its value. How could you possibly imagine the Company's vision?"

"Yes, yes, Mr. Ying is right." The officer quickly smiled ingratiatingly.

"Reporting, sir. A wastelander just arrived and says he has important information to report." A soldier ran to the vehicle window and reported.

The officer inside the vehicle frowned slightly and waved his hand impatiently. "Tell him to get lost. A mere wastelander dares claim he has important information? If they see a mutated hyena in the wilderness, they think it's some earth-shattering event."

The soldier hesitated slightly. "Sir, he said it concerns a forbidden artifact..."

The officer's expression froze, and his eyes narrowed. Rather than making the decision himself, he glanced at Ying beside him.

A look of interest appeared on Ying's cold, stern face, and he nodded lightly.

"Bring him over."

Before long, a timid wastelander was led by a soldier to the vehicle window.