Phoenix!

Tang Fei was carrying his "prey" home when Old Man and Little Fatty were smashing rocks.

To be more precise, Old Man was lying in a battered rattan chair, soaking several thick tree roots in the large iron mug in his hands while directing Little Fatty to use a sledgehammer to shape the huge stones he had hauled down from the mountain into neat square blocks.

Shameless old bastard!

The square stones were for building houses. Houses like that were sturdy and well-sealed, able to withstand monster attacks, solar storms, and acid rain erosion.

After the Great Cataclysm, fewer than one in ten humans remained. Those with the means had migrated to New Star, the Red Moon Base that scientists and financial magnates had begun developing long ago.

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

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

Huddling together for warmth was human nature, though one also had to beware of finding oneself huddled with venomous snakes and porcupines.

People died in the settlements every day, while new wanderers arrived from somewhere else. That was why so many stones were needed to build houses.

Stonecutting, a profession that had nearly been phased out before the Great Cataclysm, was now in such high demand that it had become a top choice for young people seeking work and a livelihood.

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

That wipe was all it took. The dust on his palm mixed with the sweat on his face, leaving several finger marks behind and instantly turning him into a painted-face clown.

Old Man pointed at Little Fatty and cursed furiously, roaring, "How many times have I told you? Don't wipe your face while you're working! You've made yourself look like this—where am I supposed to get water to wash your face?"

"When have you ever let anyone wash their face with water?" Tang Fei stood up for Little Fatty and sneered. "Don't you just make people wipe themselves with their sleeves? We've forgotten when we last washed our faces."

"You wash your face whenever I wash mine," Old Man shot back without hesitation.

That was because Tang Fei and Little Fatty both washed with Old Man's used wash water. Old Man went first. Tang Fei was half a year older than Little Fatty, so he had the good fortune to go second, while Little Fatty came third.

Though there were only two people before him, their long-standing failure to wash their faces meant that by the time the water reached Little Fatty, it was practically a basin of mud.

Whether it got him clean was uncertain, but it definitely kept him well-moisturized.

Otherwise, how could he remain so fair and chubby, like a steamed bun with a painted face, while living and working under harsh sun and wind all day?

After the Great Cataclysm, much of the water on the planet's surface had been contaminated. Even groundwater had become highly corrosive due to acid rain seeping into it and poisonous gases infiltrating it.

That wasn't water. That was sulfuric acid. Finding a clean, usable water source was harder than reaching the heavens.

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

"You little brat, and you've got the nerve to criticize me? I sent you hunting, and what the hell is that thing on your back?"

"A person," Tang Fei said.

Old Man shook his head and looked at Tang Fei with a grave, serious expression. "How many times have I told you? We don't eat that. We couldn't before, and we definitely can't in the future."

"The meat's sour." Little Fatty grinned foolishly.

"..."

Seeing Tang Fei and Old Man stare at him in horror, Little Fatty hurriedly explained, "I've never eaten it. I heard Granny Wang at the village entrance say it. I wouldn't eat it even if I starved to death."

"This isn't for you to eat. I picked her up outside." Tang Fei slapped the woman's plump backside and called, "Hey, wake up."

He had carried the woman back like a sheep, with his shoulder pressed against her abdomen and her upper body casually flung behind him.

His left hand held the two-headed sheep, so he could only use his right hand to smack her awake.

Well, it was indeed convenient to slap her like this.

After he had exchanged a glance with this woman who had fallen from the sky, she had closed her eyes and fainted.

Tang Fei felt deeply frustrated by that. For a moment, he had even begun to doubt his own looks.

Of course, the moment he remembered his name, he dismissed that absurd thought.

"Picked her up? Where did you pick her up?"

"Hate Mountain," Tang Fei said.

"How did you find her?"

"I was carrying the two-headed sheep home when a flash of white light appeared in the sky. Then a big metal box fell down, and she crawled out of it..."

Old Man climbed out of his rattan chair and stepped forward to examine the woman's clothes and appearance carefully. His expression grew solemn. "She should be from New Star. Who knows what disaster she encountered? We can't keep someone like this. Send her away immediately."

"Fine." Tang Fei thought Old Man had poor character, but he trusted his survival instincts. Otherwise, a group like theirs—one old man and two boys—would have long since been eaten clean, bones and all.

Tang Fei turned to leave with the woman on his shoulder. When he reached the courtyard gate, he asked, "Where should I send her?"

Old Man made his signature constipated expression, struggling for quite a while before waving a hand. "Since you picked her up, she's a personal possession bestowed upon you by heaven. Whether you throw her out or keep her is up to you."

With that, Old Man carried his giant tea mug back into the house.

"..."

Tang Fei stared dumbly.

That old bastard had actually used the poisonous move of washing his hands of the matter?

"Bro, keep her." Little Fatty wiped his nose and offered a reminder from the side. "Keep her to smash rocks for us."

"..."

When the young woman opened her eyes, she saw Tang Fei digging a lump of dark green, viscous matter from his mouth and smearing it over her exposed calf.

Smack!

Perfectly accurate!

That unidentified lump landed right over the wound on her calf. A powerful coolness spread through it, greatly suppressing the burning pain there. Only then did she catch the faint fragrance of medicinal herbs.

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

Her voice was hoarse, as if she had not had water in a long time.

"Treating you," Tang Fei said. "You're injured. You have eleven cuts: three large ones and nine small ones. Oh, eight small ones..."

"...You don't have tools to grind the medicine?"

"I do," Tang Fei said. "They're outside. I was too lazy to get them, and even if I did, there's no water to wash them."

"..."

"Besides, my mouth's been inflamed lately. Snake Skin Tree leaf juice reduces inflammation and kills bacteria. I didn't want to waste it."

That made perfect sense!

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

When life and death were at stake, all minor details could be ignored.

If someone was starving to death and still complained that the bowl used to serve them food had not been washed, they were either stupid or insufferably precious.

Thinking that, the young woman glanced at Tang Fei's bruised, darkened mouth and thought, Fortunately, that wasn't a bowl for serving food.

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

Tang Fei looked at her. "Shouldn't I be the one asking that first? I took in a woman of unknown origin. I'm under a lot of pressure too."

Old Man would not handle it, Little Fatty could not handle it, so Tang Fei had to take responsibility for his own safety.

He had already contributed his meager daily water ration and even used the Snake Skin Tree leaves he had saved for so long. He might have to sacrifice even more.

So he had to figure out this woman's identity and origins.

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

That made her seem more sincere.

"I could tell." Tang Fei nodded. Her clothes, as well as that metal shell she had ridden in, made her origins obvious at a glance.

There were no high-tech products like that in the ruins.

Besides, her face was so pale.

The ruins had either acid rain or solar magnetic storms, along with food and water shortages and an exceptionally harsh living environment. Who could have skin like that?

Other than Little Fatty!

"We came to Blue Star to explore, but our spacecraft malfunctioned. In the emergency, I escaped in an Escape Pod," the woman said.

"What's your name?"

"Phoenix," the woman said.

"Phoenix?"

"Phoenix."

"Liar." Tang Fei curled his lip.

"..."

"I told you, you have eleven wounds. Two are sword wounds, one is a bullet wound that passed through you, and the rest are scrapes from the fall. If your spacecraft malfunctioned, where did the sword and bullet wounds come from?"

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

Phoenix gave Tang Fei a surprised look. This guy who had just messed up single-digit addition and subtraction actually had such sharp, meticulous thoughts?

All at once, a chill ran down her spine. What if he had deliberately exposed those mistakes?

He had intentionally disguised himself as an ordinary young man so she would lower her guard, then draw more useful information from her.

Too frightening!

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

Tang Fei nodded. "I can accept that explanation."

Accepting it was one thing. Believing it was another.

"As for my sword wounds and gunshot wound... I originally didn't want to talk about this. I'm a student at the Phoenix Empire Royal First Military Academy. Our instructor led us to Blue Star on this expedition to search for legendary ancient ruins."

"At first, everything went smoothly. But then we found a great tomb belonging to an ancient monarch. A group of people wanted to claim that tomb for themselves, and a fierce conflict broke out. I managed to get into the spacecraft and enter an Escape Pod in time, which was how I escaped."

"What about the others?" Tang Fei asked.

"Most of them died."

"The ones who didn't die were the people who wanted to claim the tomb for themselves. To silence witnesses, they might track you down, right?"

Phoenix nodded. "Yes."

She had no way to hide that, and they needed to prepare for it.

"But don't worry. Once my injuries improve a little, I'll immediately leave in the Escape Pod. I won't bring trouble to you."

"When will your injuries get better?" Tang Fei asked expectantly. "Could it be tonight?"

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

"9:35 p.m." Tang Fei raised his wrist and looked at the electronic watch he had "picked up." "Or maybe 9:45. This watch is off by less than ten minutes. You don't have much time left."

"..."