Phoenix!

Tang Fei was carrying his 'prey' home when the old man and Little Fatty were smashing rocks.

To be more precise, the old man was lying in a worn-out rattan chair, holding a large iron pot filled with several tree roots. He was directing Little Fatty, who was using a large hammer to shape the big stones Little Fatty had carried down from the mountain into neat square blocks.

Shameless old geezer!

The square stones were for building houses. Such houses were sturdy, strong, and well-sealed, capable of withstanding monster charges, sunstorms, and acid rain erosion.

After the Great Cataclysm, humanity was reduced to less than one in ten. Those with the means, like scientists and tycoons, had long been developing Red Moon Base.

Those without means, like Tang Fei, became orphans of the ruins.

To defend against all sorts of terrifying animals or even more terrifying fellow humans, people naturally gathered together, forming one human settlement after another.

Huddling together for warmth was human nature, but one also had to be wary of embracing a poisonous snake or a hedgehog.

People died every day in the settlements, and new wanderers arrived from somewhere. Thus, there was a great need for stones to build houses.

The profession of stonemason, which was almost obsolete before the Great Cataclysm, was now in short supply and had become the top choice for young people seeking employment and a livelihood.

"Brother, you're back?" Little Fatty stopped hammering, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and greeted Tang Fei with simple honesty.

As he wiped, the dust on his palm mixed with the sweat on his face, leaving streaks on his face, turning him into a painted clown.

The old man pointed at Little Fatty and cursed loudly, roaring in anger, "How many times have I told you? Don't wipe your face while working. Look at you, what am I supposed to use to wash your face?"

"When did you ever let someone wash their face with water?" Tang Fei spoke up for Little Fatty, sneering. "Aren't you just letting them wipe it with their sleeves? We've forgotten when we last washed our faces."

"When I last washed my face is when you guys wash your faces," the old man retorted unceremoniously.

This was because Tang Fei and Little Fatty used the old man's used wash water to wash their faces. The old man was first, Tang Fei, being half a year older than Little Fatty, was lucky enough to be second, and Little Fatty was third.

Although there were only two people ahead of him, due to not washing their faces for a long time, by the time it was Little Fatty's turn, the water was practically mud.

It was uncertain if it would be clean, but it was definitely moisturizing.

Otherwise, how could they still be fair-skinned and plump like a decorated steamed bun after working and living in harsh conditions of wind and sun all day?

After the Great Cataclysm, the planet's surface water resources were heavily polluted. Even groundwater had become highly corrosive due to acid rain backflow and the ingress of toxic gases.

That wasn't water; it was sulfuric acid. Finding clean, usable water sources was as difficult as ascending to heaven.

"You call that washing your face? Do you have any shame saying that?"

"You little brat, you have the nerve to talk to me? You went out hunting, what are you carrying on your back?"

"A person," Tang Fei said.

The old man shook his head, looked at Tang Fei with a serious and earnest expression, and said solemnly, "How many times have I told you, we don't eat this. We didn't before, and we certainly won't in the future."

"The meat is sour," Little Fatty said with a silly grin.

"."

Seeing Tang Fei and the old man looking at him in horror, Little Fatty quickly explained, "I haven't eaten it. I heard it from Grandma Wang at the village entrance. I won't eat it, not even if I starve to death."

"This isn't for you to eat; I picked it up from outside." Tang Fei patted the woman's full buttocks and shouted, "Hey, wake up."

He carried her back as if she were a sheep, his shoulder propping up her abdomen, her upper body casually slung behind him.

His left hand was holding the two-headed sheep, so he had to use his right hand to pat her to wake her up.

Yeah, patting like this was indeed more convenient.

After making eye contact with the woman who had fallen from the sky, she closed her eyes and fainted.

This made Tang Fei feel a deep sense of frustration, and for a moment, he even doubted his own appearance to some extent.

Of course, when he thought of his name, he instantly dismissed this absurd thought.

"Picked it up? Where did you pick it up from?"

"Hate Mountain," Tang Fei said.

"How did you find it?"

"I was carrying the two-headed sheep home when... suddenly there was a flash of white light in the sky, and a big metal box fell. She climbed out of the metal box."

The old man got up from the rattan chair, walked over, and carefully examined the woman's clothing and appearance, his expression grave. "She must have come from a new star. I don't know what disaster she encountered. We can't keep someone like this; send her away quickly."

"Okay." Although Tang Fei thought the old man had poor character, he trusted his survival wisdom. Otherwise, a combination like theirs, an old man and two youngsters, would have long been eaten clean, with not even bone dregs left.

Tang Fei carried the woman and turned to leave. When he reached the courtyard entrance, he asked, "Where should I take her?"

The old man then displayed his characteristic expression of constipation, deliberating for a long while before waving his hand. "Since you picked her up, she's your personal property bestowed by heaven. It's up to you whether to keep her or discard her."

After saying that, the old man walked back into the house with his large teacup.

"."

Tang Fei was dumbfounded.

That old guy actually used the "mind your own business" tactic?

"Brother, keep her," Little Fatty said, wiping his nose and standing beside him. "Keep her to help us smash rocks."

"."

When the young woman opened her eyes, she saw Tang Fei pulling a clump of thick, dark green goo from his mouth and smearing it onto her exposed calf.

Splat!

Very precise!

The unknown substance landed perfectly on the wound on her calf. A strong coolness spread, significantly suppressing the burning sensation of the injury. Only then did she catch the faint, fresh scent of medicinal herbs.

"What are you doing?" the young woman asked.

Her voice was hoarse, as if she hadn't drunk water in a long time.

"Healing you," Tang Fei replied. "You're injured. Eleven cuts on your body, three big ones and nine small ones... oh, eight small ones."

"You don't have any tools for pounding herbs?"

"I do," Tang Fei said. "Outside. I was too lazy to get them, and there's no water to clean them with anyway."

"..."

"Besides, my mouth is a bit inflamed lately. The sap from the snake-skin tree leaves has anti-inflammatory and sterilizing properties, and I don't want to waste it."

Completely reasonable!

"...Thank you," the young woman said.

At a moment of life and death, all minor details could be disregarded.

If someone was starving to death and still complained that the bowl someone gave them food in wasn't clean, they were either stupid or being difficult.

Thinking of this, the young woman glanced at Tang Fei's bruised mouth, thinking to herself, Thank goodness that wasn't the bowl I was being served food in.

"Who are you? Where is this place?" the young woman asked.

Tang Fei looked at the woman and said, "Shouldn't I be the one asking you those questions? I've taken in a woman of unknown origin, and the pressure on me is immense..."

The old man doesn't care, Little Fatty can't manage it, so he has to be responsible for his own safety.

He had already sacrificed his meager daily water ration, and even used the snake-skin tree leaves he had collected for a long time. He might have to sacrifice even more...

Therefore, he absolutely had to figure out this woman's identity and origin.

"I'm from New Star," the young woman said, looking at Tang Fei.

This made her attitude seem more sincere.

"I can tell," Tang Fei nodded. Judging by her clothing and the pile of scrap metal she arrived in, her origin was obvious.

There were no such high-tech products in the ruins.

Besides, her face was so pale...

Above the ruins, there was either acid rain or solar magnetic storms. Food and water were scarce, and the survival environment was extremely harsh. Who could have such skin?

Except for Little Fatty!

"We came to Earth for an exploration, but our spaceship had an accident. In a moment of crisis, I escaped in a pod," the woman said.

"What's your name?"

"Phoenix," the woman replied.

"Phoenix?"

"Phoenix."

"Liar," Tang Fei pouted and said.

"..."

"I said you have eleven wounds. Two are from swords, one is a bullet wound, and the rest are scrapes from falling. If your spaceship had an accident, how did you get sword and bullet wounds?"

"Besides, I know there's a Phoenix Empire on New Star. You're from the Phoenix Empire, aren't you? You just woke up, and you probably haven't had time to concoct your fake name, so when I asked for your name, you just blurted out 'Phoenix'."

Phoenix looked at Tang Fei with some surprise. She thought to herself, This guy who couldn't even do basic addition and subtraction correctly actually has such a meticulous and sharp mind?

Suddenly, she felt a chill down her spine: What if he's doing this deliberately?

He's deliberately pretending to be an ordinary young man just to make me let my guard down, so he can extract more useful information from me.

This is terrifying!

Phoenix sighed softly and said, "My name really is Phoenix. Many girls in the Phoenix Empire are named Phoenix. I'm just one of them."

Tang Fei nodded and said, "I can accept that reason."

Whether he accepted it or not was one thing; whether he believed it was another.

"As for the sword and gun wounds on my body, I originally didn't want to talk about them. I'm a student at the Phoenix Empire's First Royal Military Academy. We came to Earth for an exploration under the guidance of our instructors, searching for legendary ancient ruins."

"At first, everything went smoothly. But then we found a tomb of a great king. A group of people wanted to claim the tomb for themselves, which led to a fierce conflict. I managed to escape by getting into the spaceship and into the escape pod."

"What about the others?" Tang Fei asked.

"Most of them are dead."

"And those who aren't dead are the ones who wanted to claim the tomb for themselves. To silence witnesses, they might track you down, right?"

Phoenix nodded and said, "Yes."

There was no way she could hide this, and she needed to be prepared.

"But don't worry, once my injuries have healed a bit, I'll immediately take an escape pod and leave. I won't cause you any trouble."

"And when will your injuries heal?" Tang Fei asked, full of anticipation. "Can it be tonight?"

Phoenix glanced outside and asked, "What time is it now?"

"Nine thirty-five PM," Tang Fei replied, lifting his wrist to check the electronic watch he'd 'found'. "It might be forty-five minutes, though. This watch's error is less than ten minutes. You don't have much time left."

"."