The lead vehicle slowly decelerated and stopped on the highway amid waves of golden wheat.
Lin Lu's voice came over the radio.
"Wait. Up ahead, that looks like a person, but there are weird fluctuations too."
Everyone instinctively poked their heads out.
They looked ahead.
The Transcendents' eyesight had all been greatly enhanced.
On the highway that stretched beyond the horizon,
a black dot slowly appeared.
Neither fast nor slow, it steadily approached the convoy.
A weird creature?
Everyone followed Lin Lu out of their vehicles.
Big Niu rubbed his hands together, ready for a fight.
Chen Mo slipped his scalpel into his sleeve,
led the donkey out of the vehicle, and stared into the distance.
As the dark figure drew closer, its outline gradually became clear.
It was an old man.
When he came closer still, everyone finally got a good look at him.
An old man dressed in a ragged black hooded robe.
He was hunched, his chin covered in half-gray stubble.
His eyes were sunken, his skin as wrinkled as dried bark.
He held an iron chain.
Tethered to it was a strange creature consisting of nothing but a lion's head.
When Chen Mo saw the newcomer clearly, his mind filled with one thought: Holy shit.
Was this a corpse herder?
Fucking creepy.
At the front of the convoy, Lin Lu, Su Qian, and Big Niu had already gotten out.
The three spread out in a triangular formation.
Xiao Ya stood beside Su Qian, ready to back her up at any moment.
Old Yang stood beside Lin Lu, holding a wrench fitted with a black box.
The old man slowly stopped ten meters from the convoy.
"Don't be nervous. Hello. Sequence Three, Wandering Merchant."
The white strip of cloth on Lin Lu's head stirred without a breeze, but he visibly relaxed and stepped forward.
He introduced himself in turn. "Perceiver."
What the hell? Wandering Merchant?
Chen Mo stared at the old man, pondering how strong he might be in a fight.
It didn't sound like a particularly powerful combat sequence.
The old man ignored Chen Mo's gaze and shook the iron chain in his hand.
"Want to buy anything?"
As he spoke, the old man took a black cloth bundle off his back.
He spread it open.
Three items lay quietly on the ragged cloth.
An old flip phone.
An energy core shimmering with pale golden light.
And a syringe filled with pale blue liquid.
Chen Mo nudged Red Hare, who was sitting on the ground like a dog, with his foot.
He crouched beside him and asked in a low voice.
"Hey, what's this old man's deal? He's got plenty of good stuff."
Chen Mo waited, but Red Hare said nothing.
He turned to find Red Hare's donkey mouth hanging open, drool spilling from its corners and pooling on the ground.
Following his gaze, he saw the donkey staring fixedly at the resentful spirit bound by the chain.
"Let's take a look first. We probably can't beat this old man together. Would you believe someone traveling alone had no way to save his own skin?"
Lin Lu turned around and began explaining to everyone.
"Wandering Merchant. A special sequence that grows stronger through traveling and trading. That's why most of them travel alone. It's a very peculiar sequence."
"This sequence is very peculiar. Weird creatures rarely attack them unprovoked. They're the wasteland's traveling general stores, completely neutral."
"Let's take a look."
So that was it.
The tense atmosphere around the convoy immediately eased considerably. Some of the bolder survivors even got out of their vehicles and peered ahead curiously.
Everyone gathered closer to inspect the goods.
"An Anomalous Artifact, number 82100, the Fantasy Phone. Once activated, anyone photographed with it will be forcibly controlled."
"The duration depends on their strength, ranging from ten seconds to one-hundredth of a second. It has no effect on anything above level two."
"Side effect: you must not take it out between eleven thirty and midnight, especially not point it at yourself."
Big Niu picked up the warm energy core.
"A complete level-one weird energy core. It can slightly improve an Anomalous Artifact's ranking, or... you can absorb it directly, if you're not afraid of dying."
The old man spoke unhurriedly, then slowly turned his gaze to the syringe in Su Qian's hand.
"An Impersonator potion. Once injected, it completely conceals your aura as a living person for twenty-four hours. Good stuff for saving your life."
Having introduced his wares, the old man sat down against his bundle and drawled.
"I only accept materials from weird creatures or Anomalous Artifacts in trade. Food, water, gasoline—I don't need any of those."
Everyone nodded in understanding.
Chen Mo lurked off to one side of the group, staring openly at the items on the ground.
The greed in his eyes was almost tangible.
Good stuff!
It was all good stuff!
Standing nearby, Xiao Ya was startled by Chen Mo's gaze.
She discreetly tugged at his clothes.
Chen Mo, you...
Su Qian stood up as well.
The items were excellent, but she had nothing of equal value to trade.
As she rose, she found herself facing Chen Mo's unabashedly greedy gaze.
Her pretty face flushed. She was just about to say something.
Then she saw Chen Mo shift position, looking past her voluptuous body to stare intently at the items on the ground.
The donkey beside him was drooling all over the ground, his eyes practically turning into hearts.
Su Qian: "..."
Like owner, like donkey.
She still walked over and pulled Chen Mo aside.
"I'm telling you, don't try anything."
"This is Sequence Three!"
"Even if it isn't a primary combat sequence, he's not someone we can handle."
Everyone passed the items around, feeling regretful. They were all excellent goods.
They were just too expensive.
Lin Lu did have some things in reserve, but he clearly had no intention of trading them for items they didn't urgently need.
Seeing their apparent embarrassment, the old man smiled.
"No problem, no problem. We can still part as friends even without a deal."
"I passed through over there just now. There was a level-two weird creature that didn't know its place, so I dealt with it."
"You can head through without worrying."
Lin Lu cupped his hands toward the old man in thanks.
The old man packed up his wares and prepared to get up and leave.
Just then,
Chen Mo shook off Su Qian's grip on his arm and walked over.
"Sir, that... resentful spirit of yours. Would you trade it?"
Everyone's eyes instantly converged on him like spotlights.
Su Qian immediately grew anxious. She and Old Yang reached out to pull Chen Mo back.
Chen Mo had only just awakened. What did he have besides a useless donkey?
The old man seemed somewhat surprised. He looked up and studied the young man with three fingers.
He had noticed Chen Mo's greedy gaze long before.
Clearly, he hadn't taken Chen Mo seriously.
"Trade? What would you trade for it?"
Chen Mo grinned, showing a mouthful of white teeth.
He abruptly pointed at Red Hare behind him.
"I'll trade him!"
Everyone looked in the direction he was pointing.
Red Hare had his hind hooves tucked underneath him and his forehooves supporting his body, sitting by the roadside like a dog and drooling.
He looked utterly harmless.
"This here is a level-two mutant beast, Red Hare!"
For an instant, even the wind in the wheat fields seemed to stop.
Big Niu scratched his head, remembering the battered dog bowl he had fed Red Hare from a couple of days earlier. He opened his mouth, but couldn't get a single word out.
"Uh... Chen Mo... you... I..."
Old Yang covered his face in anguish, his shoulders shaking violently. He couldn't bear to look.
The corners of Lin Lu's mouth twitched uncontrollably, and he turned away.
Anyone standing close enough could even hear the strange "keh-keh" laughter coming from his throat.
Su Qian covered her face and slowly crouched down, as though one more glance would be an insult to her dignity.
Occasionally, she looked up at the old man, as if checking whether he was angry.
Xiao Ya held the Barbie Doll in front of her face. Her small body trembled slightly, and she was red all the way to her ears.
Even the ordinary people watching from a distance turned around and climbed back into their vehicles.
Embarrassing!
So fucking embarrassing!
That was what everyone was thinking.
The old man, too, was stunned by Chen Mo's declaration and froze in place.
His sunken eyes examined the young man before him.
Was this kid crazy?
Did he take me for a fucking idiot?
But the composure of a Sequence Three expert, along with the experience accumulated over a long life in the wasteland, kept him from lashing out immediately.
He suppressed his sense of absurdity, his voice turning somewhat cold.
"A level-two mutant beast? Young man, you'd better not make jokes like that."
He stood up and slowly walked toward Chen Mo and the donkey.
The old man extended his withered hand and cautiously placed it on Red Hare's head.
Red Hare sat obediently, flicked his donkey ears, and even nuzzled the old man's hand affectionately.
The next second, the old man's expression froze.
It was real!
He really was a level-two mutant beast, and judging by how intelligent he seemed, his potential for growth was probably considerable!
"You... what kind of trade did you have in mind?"
Before you continue