The dump truck slowly drove out of the village.
Big Niu sat in the passenger seat. His burly body filled it completely, and his wounds were slowly healing.
Chen Mo watched in astonishment. Was this the recovery ability of the beastman sequence?
Both men remained silent.
Neither had fully recovered from the intense fighting in the village.
Chen Mo began thinking about the claw.
It was material taken from an anomaly that had nearly reached level two.
Although Chen Mo had no use for it, even an idiot could tell that its value was probably incalculable.
Ultimately, Big Niu had done most of the fighting. Without him, Chen Mo probably would have died fighting even the wounded Hairy Savage.
Big Niu hadn't mentioned it.
That didn't mean he didn't know. He was simply looking drained now and might not have gotten around to asking for it.
Once they returned to camp, Chen Mo probably wouldn't be able to keep it.
The truck stopped on the outskirts of camp. A black, heavily modified command vehicle was parked beside the road.
Lin Lu leaned against it, his eyes covered by his trademark strip of white cloth.
Beside him stood Xiao Qi, Big Niu's driver and assistant.
When they had heard the scream earlier, Big Niu had wanted to come over, but Xiao Qi had stopped him, saying it was nearly dark.
So Big Niu had told Xiao Qi to drive Brother Dao and the others back to camp first.
Now Xiao Qi stood beside Lin Lu, his head lowered as he said something.
Big Niu looked up, pushed open the door, and got out.
He jumped down from the truck, walked over to Lin Lu, and scratched his head.
"Go get some rest."
Lin Lu spoke first.
Big Niu scratched his bald head, then nodded and walked toward his off-road vehicle.
Chen Mo stayed in the truck.
Hearing that Big Niu hadn't yet mentioned what had happened in the courtyard,
he felt a little relieved. As long as he had some breathing room, there was still something he could do.
Wait for Big Niu to tell everyone about the Hairy Savage?
Then hand over the claw?
Absolutely not.
Fortune favored those who took risks.
Why should I hand over a fortune I risked my life to obtain?
Without drawing attention, Chen Mo slowly drove the dump truck into camp.
He found a deserted spot and reached beneath the seat.
He pulled out the jet-black hand.
It felt icy cold. The black hair gave it a furry texture.
It looked somewhat like an oversized chicken foot, roughly three times the size of an adult's hand.
The nails on its five fingers were long, measuring about thirteen or fourteen centimeters.
The thick black nails gleamed with an eerie light.
The sight left Chen Mo a little dazed.
He hurriedly bit the tip of his tongue to clear his head.
Even this severed piece of the anomaly could cloud someone's mind.
Chen Mo picked up the Mountain-Cleaving Blade.
He brought it down hard on the base of the shortest finger.
A blue film of light slowly lit up along the blade as it cut into the finger's base.
Chen Mo untied the red strip of cloth around his wrist.
He quickly wrapped up the severed finger.
Getting out, he checked his surroundings and discreetly tucked the finger into a crevice in the dump truck.
Once that was done, Chen Mo climbed back in.
He slowly drove to a spot just behind the center of camp.
He jumped down and lit a campfire.
Thud!
Chen Mo dropped two heavy burlap sacks onto the ground.
Taking out an empty sack, he began dividing up the supplies.
The gazes around him crept in through the flickering firelight.
They were filled with greed.
"Isn't that the kid who went into the village this afternoon?"
"There was actually that much food in the village? I'd have gone too if I'd known."
"All those potatoes and flour-the stuff in those sacks must weigh over fifty kilos altogether!"
Chen Mo didn't look up. As if he couldn't hear them, he kept his head down and divided the supplies himself.
Then he sat on a bulging sack and waited.
Old Yang arrived.
He calmly glanced around at those itching to make a move.
The greedy gazes around them instantly died, like flames doused with cold water.
An awakened sequence transcendent.
Even one from a support sequence was far more effective than blades.
"Not bad, kid."
"So, how was it? Knife and the others told me there wasn't much danger in there?"
Chen Mo gave a vague account of his experience in the village, leaving Old Yang repeatedly stunned.
Chen Mo cut the account short and said no more.
He pointed to one of the sacks he had filled.
"Old Yang, here's the forty percent we agreed on."
"If you can give me this device, that sack over there holds another twenty percent. You can take it all."
Old Yang picked up the sack and hefted it. It weighed about fifteen to twenty kilos.
At Chen Mo's next words, he slowly shook his head.
"I can't trade it."
"I call this thing the Charging Enchantment Device."
"I can temporarily infuse it with my supernatural power to strengthen a weapon, allowing ordinary people to injure and kill anomalies."
"Once it's used up, it needs to be replenished. I'm only at sequence one right now, so I need several days of rest after each refill."
"Without me, it's just a pile of scrap."
Chen Mo nodded.
He didn't press the matter. Silently, he picked up the other sack and tossed it into the truck bed.
It seemed keeping this thing
wouldn't be as simple as he'd thought.
Just then, a familiar figure approached.
It was A Ye, the blond-haired man under Brother Dao.
A Ye looked at the supplies beside Chen Mo, then at Old Yang, his eyes full of wariness.
"Old Mo, from what the boss said, I thought you weren't coming back."
"Same rules as always. You understand, right?"
Under Brother Dao's old convoy rules, anyone returning from a supply run had to pay ten percent as a protection fee.
Of course, some stubborn people refused. Bound by Lin Lu's rules, Brother Dao didn't dare act recklessly.
But those people always ran into trouble. Either their tires were deflated, or their belongings disappeared in the night.
A Ye didn't spell it out, seemingly testing Old Yang's attitude.
"A Ye, go back and tell Knife."
"Chen Mo is one of mine. Understand?"
Old Yang's voice wasn't loud.
A Ye visibly froze when he heard that.
He immediately plastered on a smile.
"You're overthinking it, Old Yang. The boss just sent me to check on Chen Mo. Nothing else."
With that, he turned and slunk away.
After dismissing A Ye, Old Yang didn't stay long either.
He asked a few questions about Chen Mo's experience using the enchantment device, then left.
Chen Mo gathered the supplies on the ground, packed them up, and tossed them into the passenger footwell.
He returned to the driver's seat.
Chen Mo examined the claw lying on the seat.
The claw gleamed coldly.
The black hair on the back of the hand seemed to possess a mind-clouding magic.
Xiao Liu would probably be coming over soon.
Chen Mo sighed, pulled his clothes tighter around himself, and prepared to rest.
Just then,
an argument broke out a short distance from the truck.
"Why should I?! I nearly died bringing this out of the village!"
"Don't forget the convoy's rules! If Captain Su finds out, you won't get away with this!"
It was Hu Yaya.
Chen Mo raised his head and watched the argument.
Hu Yaya clutched a burlap sack.
It was the half sack of rice she had carried out.
Behind her stood the woman who had stayed in the passenger seat instead of entering the village.
Hu Yaya's best friend, Li Shiqi.
Rather than step forward to help, Li Shiqi hid to one side and cried.
Standing beside them was A Ye, who had just been rebuffed.
"Why should you? Pretty girl, you're quite a looker. Take my advice: hand over ten percent, and everyone's happy."
"This isn't robbery. It's entirely voluntary. Have I laid a hand on you?"
A Ye seemed to have regained his confidence, his words thick with threats.
Hu Yaya clutched the sack tightly, gritting her teeth as she stared at him.
A Ye glanced at the people around them who had been drawn by the commotion.
He seemed afraid of making too much of a scene, too.
With a cold chuckle, he slowly backed away.
"Pretty girl, we'll cross paths again. Be careful when you go to sleep tonight."
A Ye had gone, leaving only Hu Yaya standing there with her teeth clenched,
and Li Shiqi, who approached from the side.
Seeing that A Ye was far away, Li Shiqi moved closer to Hu Yaya and said something Chen Mo couldn't hear.
The faintest smile suddenly curved Chen Mo's lips, as though he had discovered something interesting.
"That best friend of Hu Yaya's is quite something."
He murmured it softly, half an appraisal, half a sneer.
"Yeah. What a pity, such a pretty girl."
Before you continue