Sunlight filtered through the leafy canopy, dappling the ground with light and shadow. A hand pushed aside the bushes, revealing a haggard face.
Han Xiao had been on the run for seven days, spending all seven in the jungle. He had finished his military rations and fresh water, leaving only a pile of equipment seized from the Night Owl squad in his backpack.
At the cost of destroying his lightweight power arm, he had jammed Silver Knife's dagger in place. What followed was only natural. Even with just a sliver of health left, he could still thrash Silver Knife, who was no good at close combat. How could he lose with a dragon right in his opponent's face? Even if he jinxed himself, there was no way he could lose!
He had the blueprints anyway, so he could rebuild the equipment as long as he had the materials. He didn't feel the least bit sorry about it. Mechanics damaging equipment in battle was all too common.
Medical conditions in the jungle were poor. Fortunately, his endurance stat was high enough that he didn't have to worry about infected wounds and the like. If he endured the pain and dug out the bullets, the wounds would slowly heal. The sniper rifle wound was a bit troublesome: the bullet had lodged in a gap in his shoulder blade. Digging it out hurt so much that it took Han Xiao a full half hour to recover. As for the image of Lord Guan calmly reading the Spring and Autumn Annals while a doctor scraped poison from his bone, Han Xiao felt it didn't suit him in the slightest.
Lady Luck had watched over him along the way. He hadn't encountered any ferocious beasts, and the few long-eared rabbits he had come across had all ended up in his stomach. The beasts on Planet Aquamarine were extremely fierce, and quite a few were even intelligent. They had attacked cities many times throughout history. Some powerful beasts, such as the amphibious whale elephant, were dozens of meters in length, width, and height. Impervious to gunfire and artillery, one could even destroy a city on its own.
Although Han Xiao remembered the map of Planet Aquamarine, it was no use when he didn't know where he was. He could only imitate Kuafu and run toward the rising sun. At night, he slept in trees, waking seven or eight times to insects, more often than he woke to pee. He had come to understand deeply that mosquitoes were the most annoying creatures in the world, bar none.
"When am I ever going to get out of this forest?"
Han Xiao panted.
Just then, a camp appeared in the distance. Oddly shaped fences and ground spikes made of wood, cement, and scrap metal formed simple defenses. Dozens of felt tents stood in the camp, with wisps of cooking smoke rising from them. It was unmistakably a wanderer settlement, a common sight on Planet Aquamarine.
Han Xiao was delighted at once. He was in desperate need of supplies.
After walking forward a few dozen meters, Han Xiao's expression suddenly changed, and he retreated rapidly.
The dirt on the ground before him churned, and a large net of thick rope abruptly rose up. Thin metal blades were tied to its mesh. It was a dangerous blade-net trap. Luckily, he had reacted quickly, or he would have had a bunch of holes in him.
"This guy actually dodged it!"
A long-haired young man stepped out from behind a tree. He wore wanderer clothing stitched together from various animal hides and stared maliciously at Han Xiao. Raising a homemade shotgun and aiming it at Han Xiao's head, he said arrogantly, "Stop right there! Don't move!"
The young man was clearly a resident of the settlement. Han Xiao didn't want to start a conflict, so he raised both hands. "I'm just passing through."
"Passing through?"
The long-haired young man noticed Han Xiao's bulging bag and immediately saw an opportunity for profit. Greed shone in his eyes. "What's in your bag? Take it all out!"
Seeing this, Han Xiao sighed inwardly. It looked like he had run into a robber. No wonder the blade-net trap was just about the size of a person-it was meant to catch people. In troubled times, human lives were as cheap as grass. Most wanderers were people from fallen nations who had refused to join the Six Nations. The harsh wilderness had fostered in them a habit of greed like that of hyenas, and killing for resources was all too common.
"Are you deaf? Take your stuff out!" The long-haired young man approached, cursing, and shoved the homemade shotgun hard against Han Xiao's forehead.
The backpack was full of guns and ammunition, and they were standard Germinal Organization equipment. How could he possibly show them? Han Xiao didn't budge.
"Can't you understand what I'm saying? You believe I can fuck you up in one shot?" The long-haired young man racked the gun, looking vicious.
Just then, Han Xiao moved, faster than lightning-or jingling bells. He raised his elbow and drove it hard into the young man's chest. The young man screamed and flew backward as Han Xiao snatched the homemade shotgun away with his other hand.
I'm screwed. I picked the wrong guy!
Clutching his chest, the long-haired young man scrambled backward on all fours in a panic, wanting only to get farther away from this dangerous man.
Han Xiao took down the blade-net trap, pulled out a length of thick rope, and tied the groaning young man to a tree. Then he picked up the homemade shotgun and gave it a look.
The gun was crudely made, and even its barrel was crooked. It was bound to burst if fired. Anyone who took something like this out to rob people had to have a screw loose, but it also proved that the young man had surely never killed anyone. He had only been bluffing.
When the long-haired young man saw Han Xiao pick up the gun, he panicked and hurriedly begged for mercy. "B-big brother, I failed to recognize Mount Tai. Please spare me."
Han Xiao slapped him across the head and demanded, "Only now do you know you were wrong?!"
The long-haired young man had no backbone whatsoever. "I was wrong, I was wrong," he said hastily.
"What did you do wrong?"
The long-haired young man hesitated for a moment, then asked cautiously, "I should have brought another gun?"
Han Xiao was so angry he laughed. "You're a cheeky bastard, aren't you!"
"Please be magnanimous and let me go like a fart." The long-haired young man looked ready to cry.
"Piss off. My farts aren't as big as you."
Han Xiao raised the gunstock and knocked the young man unconscious with one blow. He shook his head helplessly. The man was a resident of the settlement, and Han Xiao still needed to enter it to buy food and water. He didn't want to kill anyone and cause even bigger trouble, so he had to tie the man up and knock him out.
"Lucky you," Han Xiao muttered.
After trekking for half an hour, Han Xiao finally entered the wanderer settlement. The residents all looked at him warily.
The wilderness was dangerous, so wilderness wanderers banded together and shunned outsiders. Although outsiders were rare, they had come before, so people didn't crowd around Han Xiao as if he were a monkey in a zoo.
The wilderness wanderers lived like Gypsies, migrating frequently. Beside every family's tent stood a small pickup truck covered with a dust tarp. These pickups were mostly modified vehicles, covered in rust. Some didn't even have body panels, leaving their frames exposed to the air.
Each pickup represented a family. The settlement wasn't large, with only a few dozen families, but small as it was, it had everything it needed. Han Xiao easily found the market, where a bearded white man was doing business from the bed of a pickup.
"Outsider?" The bearded merchant glanced at Han Xiao indifferently. "Do you know our rules here?"
"What rules?"
"We only barter."
That's perfect. I don't have a penny on me.
"I need a map, three barrels of water, and five kilograms of food. Dried meat or bread will do." Han Xiao grabbed a handful of bullets from his bag. "I'd like to pay with these."
"Ammunition?" The bearded merchant's eyes lit up. He instinctively looked at Han Xiao's bulging backpack, and greed appeared in his eyes.
Ammunition was hard currency in the wilderness. All wanderers needed bullets, which were more complicated to make than homemade guns. Even if small groups of wanderers could manufacture ammunition, their output was terribly low. Every shot fired meant one less bullet.
"One hundred and fifty bullets," the bearded merchant said.
Han Xiao's expression darkened. "That's an outrageous price!"
What he wanted was just everyday supplies. At market prices, they would never cost more than a hundred. Even accounting for the scarcity of resources in the wilderness, the markup couldn't possibly exceed five hundred percent.
And bullets? Each one cost at least three, and that was for the lowest-quality homemade rounds. Every brass bullet Han Xiao offered was high-quality, assembly-line-produced ammunition, its casing shiny, brand-new, and finely made. Even ten apiece wouldn't be expensive. A hundred and fifty were worth at least fifteen hundred. Han Xiao had only brought three hundred bullets, and the merchant wanted half of them in one go. He was clearly gouging him.
"Then don't buy it if you can help it." The bearded man leisurely lowered his head and filed his fingernails, looking as though he had Han Xiao right where he wanted him.