The Most Important Thing About Being Human Is Forgetting Your Roots!

"Deputy Commander Bai, the mutated beasts haven't been dealt with yet, and food is really scarce. How about you conserve a little and have a cockroach protein bar to tide you over?"

Tan Jie pulled out a pitch-black rectangular protein bar.

Several cockroach antennae were faintly visible on it.

This was the everyday food of the wasteland residents: cockroach protein bars!

It even had simple packaging, printed with a crude slogan:

Cockroach protein bars taste truly great! Meet all your nutritional needs for the day! —Cockroach Protein Workshop

Bai Ye took one look at the cockroach protein bar and flew into a rage. This thing had appeared plenty of times in the original owner's memories. It counted as a staple food. It looked disgusting, but at least it tasted awful.

That flavor... was like someone with sweaty feet wearing short stockings inside fur-lined snow boots, running five kilometers through the snow, stuffing the stockings into the boots and sealing them up until spring, then taking the stockings out and rubbing them against your tongue.

"Before I became deputy commander, I ate cockroach protein bars every day. Now that I'm deputy commander, I'm still eating this? Then what the hell was the point of becoming deputy commander?

Take it away! Even dogs wouldn't eat this!"

With a sweep of his hand, he sent the cockroach protein bar flying off the table. It landed among the crowd and immediately sparked a scramble.

Tan Jie's expression darkened slightly as he forced a stiff smile. "But weren't you eating them all along?"

As if he had not seen it, Bai Ye draped an arm around Tan Jie's shoulders and said earnestly, "Old Tan, do you know the first thing a person does after becoming successful?"

"What?"

"Of course, they forget their roots! If you succeed and still don't forget your roots, then what was the point of succeeding?"

Tan Jie: "..."

"Old Tan, don't worry. With me here, a few mutated beasts can be wiped out with a snap of my fingers. By then, won't there be all the meat we could want? So stop being so stingy and bring it all out for me to nourish myself.

After all, you wouldn't want me to be low on vitality and blood and unable to deal with the mutated beasts, would you?"

Bai Ye had swallowed plenty of empty promises in his previous life. After eating enough pies in the sky, his skill at making them naturally improved.

"Yes, yes, Deputy Commander Bai is right. Someone, hurry and bring the meat!" Tan Jie wore a flattering smile, but inwardly, he had begun forgetting his roots. Once Bai Ye dealt with the mutated beasts, he would kill him!

It was not only to reclaim his authority, but more importantly for the forbidden artifact. That thing was worth a fortune. Even if he could not use it, he could sell it for money.

Of course, if Bai Ye used too much vitality and blood shooting the mutated beasts and died on his own, that would be even better. It would save Tan Jie from bearing the blame.

After stuffing himself senseless, Bai Ye went to sleep in the house Tan Jie had arranged for him. He certainly was not going back to his old doghouse. Forgetting his roots, after all...

After he left, Tire Tavern fell completely silent.

Tan Jie's face was gloomy, and killing intent flashed through his eyes from time to time. His underlings sensed their boss's anger, and none dared to say a word.

At that moment, one of his trusted men quietly stepped forward and whispered, "Boss, I think Bai Ye is relying on his forbidden artifact and showing you quite a bit of disrespect."

Bang!

Tan Jie slammed his palm onto the table and roared, "Is that just a bit of disrespect? That bastard clearly doesn't take me, Tan Jie the Wild Boar, seriously at all!"

As his fury rose, every hair on his body stood on end, turning black and hard like the bristles of a wild boar. A savage aura unique to beasts spread outward.

Two faint streams of white vapor puffed from his nostrils.

The crowd hurriedly prostrated themselves on the ground. "Boss, calm down! Boss, calm down! You're a genetically enhanced person who has received gene injections, while that kid is merely an ordinary person relying on an external object.

Once he finishes shooting the mutated beasts, his vitality and blood will surely be depleted, and he won't be able to fire again. Won't he be at our mercy then?"

"Hmph!" Tan Jie's expression eased slightly. His subordinate's words had struck right at his heart, but as the commander, he could not simply agree. He had to preserve his image.

"I originally wanted to become brothers with Bai Ye and govern the East District together. Yet after obtaining a forbidden artifact, that boy became so smug and carried away. His temperament is unruly and his greed knows no bounds. If he governed the East District with me, he would surely become a disaster for its people.

For the future of my brothers, and even for the future of all the East District's people, I, Tan Jie, would rather bear infamy than keep my promise."

"Boss is righteous!"

"We swear to follow Boss unto death!"

Inside a rundown red-brick house, Bai Ye stood naked before a mirror after finishing his bath.

He stroked his chin and examined himself repeatedly. "Not bad. Just the right amount of handsome."

In the mirror, the young man's short black hair hung messily over his brows and eyes, as if deliberately concealing those sharp, untamed black eyes like a wolf's.

A still-unhealed scrape stretched across his high nose bridge, its edges crusted with dried blood. Rather than damaging his appearance, the wound added a touch of wildness.

He was tall and lean, his skin carrying the pallor of malnutrition.

This was the first time Bai Ye had seriously looked at his own appearance. Mainly because water was scarce, and everyone was usually filthy and disheveled. Most people in Gray Soil Town were like that, aside from certain special workers.

Now that Tan Jie was covering for him, he could naturally enjoy a comfortable bath.

"If I'm not mistaken, Old Tan should be discussing how to kill me right now, shouldn't he? Tsk, tsk... Old Tan really is a piece of work. Good thing I never intended to let him off either."

Bai Ye knew Old Tan's character well. Given the man's personality, once the matter was settled, he would definitely seize the forbidden artifact and sell it for money.

He did not care about Old Tan's threat. Containing the forbidden artifact had previously cost him ten seconds, and he still had fifty seconds left. Killing one Old Tan would be easy, even if he was genetically enhanced.

No matter how much his genes had been modified, he was still a carbon-based lifeform. Even if his body was covered in bristles, his throat, groin, eyes... were all fatal weaknesses.

The reason he was not killing him now was because he needed Old Tan to deal with the mutated beast horde.

The mutated beast horde had surrounded Gray Soil Town. If they were not dealt with, everyone here would be trapped to death.

Bai Ye lay on the bed, toying with [Breath of Bones], a faint smile on his lips. "Perfect containment. That was an unexpected delight."

Ordinary people only knew that forbidden artifacts could be contained. They did not know there were two containment modes: ordinary containment and perfect containment.

As a wasteland hunter who had hunted across the wasteland to survive, Bai Ye had encountered many other wasteland hunters. They might not have been particularly strong, but their experience and knowledge were exceptionally vast. He had learned this information from them.

Simply put, ordinary containment meant the user fulfilled the conditions set by the forbidden artifact, and then the artifact would work for them. It was like a boss hiring an employee, paying wages in exchange for labor. The employee's body belonged to the boss, but their hearts were not truly aligned.

Perfect containment, on the other hand, was like recruiting a deathsworn. It had been completely won over, body and soul belonging to you.

Bai Ye's six bullets had directly achieved perfect containment of the forbidden artifact [Breath of Bones].

[Breath of Bones] had a simple ability: it drew vitality and blood from its user and attached it to bullets, enhancing their power. Ordinary firearms found it difficult to break through a mutated beast's hide, and even if they did, it was hard to inflict serious damage. [Breath of Bones], however, could easily penetrate their defenses and even kill them.

Because it drew vitality and blood, using [Breath of Bones] was extremely harmful to the body. If it was fired too many times, the user might even be drained dry and die.

But perfect containment was completely different. Though it still drew vitality and blood, after [Breath of Bones] killed an enemy, it would return the vitality and blood it had seized from that enemy to its master. This meant Bai Ye would not only avoid depletion, but would grow stronger the more he fought.

Bai Ye toyed with [Breath of Bones], the corner of his mouth curling into a malicious smile. "Eating Old Tan's meat, ordering Old Tan's men around, and finally using Old Tan's strength to harvest vitality and blood. Old Tan, you really are such a good person."

He was already looking forward to Old Tan's expression when he saw him growing stronger and stronger in battle.

(Protagonist image)------------

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