Born Human, Seeking Only Peace of Mind

With the city's power grid down, Canchino Avenue lay in darkness without a glimmer of light.

Yu Yuan reached the door of No. 68. It was locked, and not a sound came from inside.

But in the Wasteland World, a locked door was suspicious in itself.

He listened again and again until he was sure there was no sound inside.

Then he took out his lockpicking tools.

The door was nothing special. He opened it in just three seconds.

His Excellent Grade Lockpicking skill was already proving its worth.

Yu Yuan closed the door carefully, gripped his Kukri, and searched the house for any Refugees who might have stayed behind.

After an upgrade to his [Street Rat] title, his Dim-Light Vision now let him make out the rough shapes of objects even in total darkness. They were still unclear, but that was far better than the blur he had seen before.

Yet after searching the whole house, he found neither a Refugee nor the woman with the beauty mark beneath her eye.

"Was I wrong? Wasn't she captured here?" Yu Yuan frowned. If so, things would get troublesome.

But the furniture and household items strewn across the floor told him something was wrong.

Tap...

His ears twitched. A faint sound reached him.

It was so quiet that he never would have heard it without his enhanced hearing.

He crept toward its source.

Tap, tap, tap...

The sound grew clearer.

After unlocking another door, Yu Yuan found himself in the garage. The sound was coming from the basement on the other side.

"Heh. Monkey and the others still aren't back. They must've run into someone tough. That means all the supplies are mine now. You bitch, I've wanted you for ages. Now you and everything here belong to me alone."

Crack...

Yu Yuan pushed open the basement door. Through the gap, he saw a bare-chested man with his back to him, swinging a long whip and indulging his desires.

I had the right place after all! Yu Yuan felt a surge of relief.

He raised his Folding Crossbow and aimed at the man's back.

Thwip!

The bolt struck the man's back and sank halfway in.

"Argh..."

The man looked behind him in disbelief, only to be met by the gleam of Yu Yuan's Kukri.

Yu Yuan quickly checked every corner of the basement. Once he was sure there were no other enemies, he turned toward the woman—then froze.

Even after everything he had seen of human cruelty and depravity in the Wasteland World, his hair stood on end.

He raised his Kukri and hacked viciously at the man again.

The reason was simple.

The family of three from the photograph in the pink wallet were all in the basement.

But their circumstances could not have been more different.

The handsome father hung dead by a rope around his neck. Cuts and gashes covered his body. It was a horrific sight.

The child had been stuffed into a paint bucket and submerged. The swollen body floated in the paint.

The woman with the beauty mark was the family's only survivor.

But her hands were bound and she hung in the air, covered in scratches, bites, and whip marks of every size. Not an inch of skin was unbroken. She had been tortured almost beyond recognition.

If not for the faint rise and fall of her chest, Yu Yuan would have thought she had already died.

Even so, he suspected she was near death.

He cut the rope with his Kukri and laid her on the floor. She was unconscious.

He looked at her wounds. Some had split open, their edges curling back.

Then he lowered the man's body. It was all he could do.

A man's wallet lay on the floor. Yu Yuan checked the ID inside. His name was Fedmon.

He also found the woman's ID on the floor. Her name was Mona.

The good news was that he had found her.

The bad news was that Yu Yuan had no desire whatsoever to complete the [Lust Card] task. If he had to choose, he would rather catch a sheep.

He took a deep breath.

Yu Yuan got to work. With the threat gone, the house was safe enough for him for now.

He had spotted plenty of supplies he badly needed and had to gather them quickly.

First was a complete toolbox on a basement Shelf. It held screwdrivers of various types, wrenches, hex keys, needle-nose pliers, regular pliers, a Pipe Wrench, and even a power drill set.

He packed it all up and listed it.

Next, he found the stainless steel pipe and faucet needed to build a Water Collector. He also found two PVC pipes, enough to build level-one Ventilation.

He went on to find Electrical Wire, copper wire, butane canisters, a portable gas stove, a metal polisher, cleaning solution, electrician's pliers, pipe-sealing tape, and sealant—common household supplies that were hard to find outside.

Yu Yuan treasured every find. He put the small or light items in his backpack and listed everything large, heavy, or awkward to carry.

Soon, all 25 of his Taotao Cave listing slots were full, and his backpack was packed with tools and Parts.

He planned to make another trip. So far, he had only taken the urgently needed supplies from the basement. He had yet to collect anything from the garage or the rest of the house.

An hour had passed by the time Yu Yuan returned.

A roller shutter sealed the garage, so he did not have to worry about anyone seeing the light.

He stuffed a few towels into the gap beneath the shutter, then switched on his Flashlight and searched freely.

The car in the garage had been dismantled for Parts. Tools lay scattered everywhere.

He found the car air-conditioning exhaust fan needed to build [Ventilation]. He also listed anything else that might prove useful: the car's Storage Battery, speakers, air-conditioning compressor, spark plugs, onboard computer, engine, and turbocharger.

It did not matter if the Hideout had no room. There was plenty of space in the air-raid passage.

What pleased Yu Yuan most, though, were the two truck tarps he found in the garage.

They were sturdy and waterproof. Yu Yuan had no use for them in his Hideout yet, but players surviving in the Wilderness would surely snap them up.

He listed both.

There was no way he could carry away everything in the house, even with several more trips. The building materials and tools alone were too much.

The owner seemed to have been planning to build something. Several bags of Quick-Drying Cement and other materials were piled in the basement.

Yu Yuan could only take the important supplies he needed right away. He could return for the rest when he needed them.

When he went back into the basement, he noticed that the woman with the beauty mark had woken up at some point.

She was awake, but might as well have been dead.

Her eyes were vacant, devoid of thought or spirit. She simply stared at the man's body nearby.

She was nothing but a shell.

Yu Yuan let out a long sigh.

He held the pink wallet before her eyes. The smiles of the family of three in the photograph were painfully bright.

Then her eyes moved.

She stared blankly at the photograph. A bloody tear slowly ran down her cheek.

She turned to Yu Yuan, her lips barely moving.

"Kill... kill me!" Her voice was hoarse and desperate.

Yu Yuan looked into her eyes and breathed out heavily.

He placed a dagger he had taken from a Refugee, along with two packs of food, in front of her.

"I killed the Refugees for you, including the three who went out. That's all I can do. I took some of your supplies; consider them payment for killing them. I don't think you should die. Only by staying alive can you send everyone you believe deserves it to hell."

Without waiting for her reply, Yu Yuan turned and left.

He had told Mona to live, but surviving would be far from easy.

Without antibiotics or medical care, her injuries might not let her last the night.

She was dying.

Yu Yuan did not know that, as he turned away, Mona etched the sight of his retreating back deep into her memory.

By the time he left the residential area and returned to his Hideout, it was two in the morning. Five hours of traveling back and forth had left him exhausted, but he was not done for the night.

He had followed his conscience, yet in doing so, he had backed himself into a corner.

He did not regret his choice. He was human, and he only wanted to live with a clear conscience.

But he still had to get rid of the [Lust Card]. He had no intention of dying for no good reason.

He had to do something...