So Many Old Sayings?!

The next day.

"Deputy Commander Bai, you're more or less familiar with the Spear now. The Mutated Beasts are quite large. If we let them get close, hitting them shouldn't be a problem. How about we set out today?" Tan Jie asked.

Bai Ye impatiently waved a hand. "Old Tan, it's not that I'm criticizing you, but there's an old saying: haste makes waste. Yesterday, I practiced shooting stationary targets, but Mutated Beasts aren't dead objects. They move. Today, I'll practice on moving targets!"

Tan Jie suppressed the fury in his heart and reluctantly nodded.

The third day.

"Deputy Commander Bai, you've practiced on moving targets too. We should act today, right? It's not that I'm rushing you, but the food in our East District is nearly gone, and we don't have many bullets left either. If this continues, before we can deal with the Mutated Beasts, we'll probably be the first to collapse. How about today..."

"Old Tan, there's an old saying: more haste, less speed..."

Bai Ye had barely begun when Tan Jie was about to explode. Where the hell were all these old sayings coming from?!

Just as he was about to lash out, Bai Ye abruptly changed his tune. "But another old saying goes: speed is the essence of war, and a sharp knife cuts through tangled threads. So... no time to lose. Let's set out as soon as possible!"

Tan Jie: "..."

His chest heaved violently as his triangular eyes glared fixedly at Bai Ye. He was so angry that he wanted nothing more than to split Bai Ye's head open and see just how many old sayings were stuffed inside!

"Old Tan, what are you standing around for? Hurry up! Move out at a run, quick, quick, quick! Thinking of the residents of Gray Soil Town suffering from hunger under the threat of the Mutated Beasts feels like a knife twisting in my heart!"

Bai Ye, who had already walked several meters away, urged him impatiently, as though Tan Jie were the one who had been dragging his feet and refusing to leave.

Tan Jie took a deep breath and silently followed with his men, killing intent surging in his heart. He was nearly at his limit. Once Bai Ye killed the Mutated Beasts, he swore he would immediately kill Bai Ye. Otherwise, Bai Ye would piss him to death sooner or later.

After a long while, the group arrived at the walls of Gray Soil Town in grand procession.

Rather than city walls, they were more like earthen barricades piled together from dirt, bricks, and barbed wire. They were crude, but highly effective.

"Brother Bai Ye, three days apart and you look even more impressive." Standing atop the wall, King Snake greeted him with a smiling face, completely ignoring Tan Jie.

Now that Bai Ye had washed himself clean, coupled with the bright vigor of youth, even his tattered clothes could not conceal the vitality unique to a young man.

Bai Ye glanced at King Snake and said flatly, "Call me Deputy Commander Bai."

His expression was cold, showing no respect whatsoever for King Snake, the commander of the West District. Yet this attitude actually made Tan Jie feel somewhat better.

So Bai Ye wasn't targeting me. He treated everyone this way.

King Snake narrowed his eyes and calculated silently. He had heard about Bai Ye's attitude toward Tan Jie these past few days. The two being at odds was exactly what he wanted. What he feared most was them getting along like real brothers; then the pressure on his West District would be enormous.

Logically speaking, since Bai Ye and Tan Jie did not get along, he should at least have treated him, the West District commander, better. After all, the enemy of one's enemy was a friend. Yet Bai Ye treated him the same way, which was rather thought-provoking.

Had this kid been blinded by the Taboo Object? Did he think that holding a Taboo Object made him invincible, so he didn't even regard the two commanders as worth his attention?

Or was he hiding his true abilities? Deliberately acting arrogant so others would lower their guard?

In truth, Bai Ye was not hiding anything. He simply looked down on everyone. A settlement commander was nothing to him in the first place, much less after three days had passed.

Three days apart could make a world of difference, and the saying suited Bai Ye perfectly. Because by the third day, his reserve of time had reached three minutes and fifty seconds!

What did three minutes and fifty seconds mean? It meant Bai Ye could instantly kill King Snake, Tan Jie, and even all their men!

That was why he could not be bothered to build relationships with King Snake or Tan Jie. To ordinary people, the commanders of settlements with eight hundred residents were lofty figures who controlled life and death. But to him, sorry... every last one of you here was trash.

The reason he had not killed them yet was not because Bai Ye was kind-hearted. Though he came from a civilized world, he was no bleeding heart. The crimes King Snake and Tan Jie had committed in Gray Soil Town over the years were enough to earn them a hundred executions. He felt no psychological burden whatsoever in killing people like them.

The main reason was the Mutated Beasts.

There was not just one Mutated Beast, but a whole pack. Bai Ye needed King Snake and Tan Jie to help him deal with them. Otherwise, if the Mutated Beasts breached the settlement, he would suffer as well.

At that moment, Tan Jie handed him a battered tactical binocular. "The Mutated Beasts are hiding nearby. Those bastards never come within a hundred meters of Gray Soil Town. They just surround us outside. As long as anyone dares to leave, they attack."

Bai Ye took the binoculars. Before him stretched a barren expanse of land. The yellowish-brown ground was split by countless savage cracks, while howling winds swept past and stirred up dust that filled the sky.

By all rights, no plants should have survived in such terrain. Yet scattered weeds, withered trees, and even several patches of shrubs grew across the ground.

They were all mutated plants, though their mutations were not severe enough to turn them into living entities like Taboo Objects.

His gaze swept across the land through the binoculars, and he soon spotted several pairs of scarlet eyes within a shrub over half a person tall, more than a hundred meters away!

The fierce wind pressed down the shrubs, revealing their full forms.

Hyenas!

These Mutated Beasts had mutated from hyenas. Large patches of their originally tawny fur had fallen away, replaced by grayish-purple tumors covering their entire bodies. The surfaces of those tumors were covered in vein-like protrusions, while their claws and fangs were as sharp as blades.

"Why are there only a few of them?" Bai Ye asked, lowering the binoculars.

"These Mutated Beasts were merely scouts sent by the Hyena King to keep watch on us and prevent us from escaping," Tan Jie explained.

"Those little bastards aren't stupid. What's your battle plan?"

"Leave the settlement!" King Snake narrowed his eyes as he watched the hyenas hidden in the shrubs. "Tan Jie and I will each bring our best men, along with you, and leave the settlement together. We'll keep the hyenas occupied while you use [Breath of Bones] to kill them."

"Why do we have to leave the settlement?" Bai Ye was slightly surprised. "Can't we lure them over and shoot down at them from above?"

King Snake shook his head. "We already tried that. We sent people out as bait to lure the hyenas within a hundred meters, then opened fire. We did kill a few hyenas, but after that, they became smarter. No matter how we lured them, they wouldn't rashly approach again. So we can only leave the settlement and fight them head-on!"

Bait? Bai Ye's heart stirred. He did not need to think to know the fate of those bait. They had surely long since ended up in the dogs' bellies.

On the wasteland, human lives were the cheapest thing of all.