Calabash, Panda, Swords, and Crystal

Chen Fan did not take long to agree to the bespectacled man's proposal.

He had already been considering joining the other man's convoy. Now that the man had proposed an alliance rather than a merger, allowing him to keep his position as captain, he had presumably taken Chen Fan's situation into account.

What reason did he have to refuse?

They briefly discussed how the alliance would work.

The two convoys would remain independent, each managing its own affairs.

The same went for supplies: each would scavenge separately, without interfering with the other.

But if either side needed something, they could trade.

Of course, an alliance could not mean having no obligations to each other at all.

If they encountered danger, they were to help each other as far as they were able.

It was a fairly loose alliance, and problems could certainly arise if they encountered a major crisis.

But both sides understood that, so there was no need to say more.

Under this arrangement, Chen Fan's group could take advantage of the other convoy's numbers and employ the "sardine" strategy.

The bespectacled man's group, meanwhile, had gained three supernaturals at once, greatly increasing its strength.

Both sides got what they needed.

Everything had come together at just the right time.

Had the bespectacled man's group not run into a team like Chen Fan's, which had suffered a great disaster and lost nearly its entire convoy,

an alliance would have been difficult to reach with any other convoy of several hundred people.

Without a need for each other, there would naturally have been no cooperation.

Seeing that the alliance had been settled, the bespectacled man proposed, "We're all on the same side now. Why don't we introduce ourselves and get to know each other? That way we can work together better in the future. We'll start on our side."

Chen Fan nodded. "That's only proper."

The bespectacled man said, "I'll go first. Let me formally introduce myself. My name is Nie Shufeng, captain of the Fairness Convoy. My supernatural power is [Vajra Calabash Brothers]."

All three people on Chen Fan's side were stunned. What the hell were the Calabash Brothers doing here?

Nie Shufeng smiled helplessly. "You heard me right. That really is my supernatural power. I gain one of the Calabash Brothers' abilities with each tier."

"Wait." Chen Fan stared at the two calabashes hanging from his waist. "Does that mean you're already a second-tier supernatural? If I remember right, First Brother had great strength and could grow huge, and Second Brother had clairvoyance and superhuman hearing..."

"I didn't expect you to remember the Calabash Brothers so well..."

Chen Fan turned to Li Yuanyuan with a smile. "Looks like we'll have to write things down when we want to talk in private."

Li Yuanyuan smiled faintly. "Writing won't work either. Did you forget Captain Nie can see with his clairvoyance too?"

Nie Shufeng cleared his throat. "Ahem. You can trust my character. I'm not the peeping type. I generally only use my abilities to observe eerie beings and monsters."

Chen Fan laughed. "Haha, I'm only joking. Of course I trust your character, Captain Nie."

I'm lying. I don't trust you one bit.

Chen Fan was full of wariness and began considering whether to find a way to obtain a perception-blocking artifact.

After Nie Shufeng finished introducing himself, the panda man beside him spoke.

"My turn. My name is Wu Zhiyou, but you can also call me Wu Di. My parents deliberately split the two characters in Wu Di apart when they named me.

"My supernatural power is [Iron-Eating Beastman]. As you can see, I'm a panda man. Also, I really can eat iron."

As he spoke, Wu Zhiyou grabbed a pair of stainless-steel chopsticks from the table, put them in his mouth, and crunched them up.

His teammates beside him looked at him speechlessly.

Just introduce yourself. Why are you eating the chopsticks?

Li Yuanyuan asked curiously, "Um... are you always like this? Can't you turn back into a human?"

Wu Zhiyou was in the middle of enjoying his performance, but his face fell the instant he heard that.

The girl with swords on her back slapped the table and burst out laughing.

"His supernatural power is pretty strong, but the cost is no small thing either. His cost is that he can't leave his beastman form."

With his teammate exposing his shortcoming, Wu Zhiyou sulked as he silently picked up another pair of chopsticks and used them to eat peanuts.

"Hello, my name is Zheng Alin." The girl with swords on her back took over and began introducing herself. "My supernatural power is [Seven Heroes Sword]. Each of the seven swords on my back can wield the power of a different attribute."

Chen Fan looked at the seven swords of different colors on her back and got a general idea of her ability.

Beside Zheng Alin, the robed woman in a blue dress said, "Wang Bing. Supernatural power: [Crystal Witch]."

Her tone was cold. She seemed to be a woman of few words.

Chen Fan nodded. It was their side's turn.

"Pleased to meet you all. I'm Chen Fan..."

Chen Fan suddenly paused. He had been about to introduce his convoy, but then he remembered that he did not seem to have renamed it after replacing Lao Mo as captain.

Lao Mo's convoy had been called the "Fierce Fish Convoy." Apparently, Lao Mo had spent ten years gutting fish at RT-Mart before the apocalypse...

Now that Chen Fan was captain, he did not want his convoy named after some stinking fish and rotten shrimp.

Help! How do I come up with a perfect, domineering name for an apocalypse convoy in a few seconds? Waiting online, pretty urgent.

Chen Fan's sudden pause made everyone in the tent look over.

In those few short seconds, an unprecedented brainstorm erupted in Chen Fan's mind.

"...I'm Chen Fan, captain of the Mortal Convoy. The convoy bears this name because I have always believed that until the apocalypse ends, you and I are all mortals."

Chen Fan tried to strike an aloof pose as he delivered those words.

The tent fell quiet for a moment.

Li Yuanyuan could not help covering her face.

Who asked you...

Nie Shufeng laughed. "Impressive! Captain Chen, your level of understanding really is high!"

"Not at all, not at all."

Chen Fan waved a hand and continued with a smile, "My supernatural power is [Immortal Master of the Artifact Dao]. It allows me to refine immortal artifacts."

When he finished speaking, a small furnace, a small banner, and a black coffin appeared behind Chen Fan in succession before vanishing back into his body.

Having briefly displayed his powers, Chen Fan once again wore that aloof expression.

This time, the members of the Fairness Convoy could no longer remain calm. They were all somewhat moved.

They had heard Nie Shufeng say last night that this man's supernatural power was extraordinary.

Now that they had seen it, it really was on a different level from theirs.

It was as if everyone else was practicing martial arts while he was cultivating immortality.

Immortal artifacts? Wasn't that a bit too overpowered?

Zheng Alin adorably raised her hand and asked, "Can other people use the artifacts your ability refines?"

Chen Fan was taken aback, then smiled. "They should be able to. It's just that my ability consumes quite a lot when refining an artifact, so I haven't tried it yet."

He actually had no idea whether it would work, but why worry about that?

Don't ask. If anyone asks, it works.

Zheng Alin's eyes brightened slightly. "Could you try it for me, then? Could you refine one for me?"

Chen Fan cleared his throat. He had not expected Zheng Alin to be so direct.

"I can try, but it costs me quite a lot, so this would have to be a trade. What kind of artifact do you want refined? What can you offer in exchange?"

He planned to agree first. If it did not work, he could find any excuse to turn her down later.

Zheng Alin thought for a moment. "Would a defensive one be possible? As for the trade, what supplies do you want?"

Chen Fan considered it. He certainly could not afford to lose out on Origin Artifact Materials.

He said, "Materials dropped by eerie beings or monsters. Two pieces for one artifact. But let me be clear upfront: I can't guarantee it will succeed. If it fails, I'll only return half the materials."

Two pieces of eerie material were worth 200 points, while refining an artifact only cost 100 points. Either way, he would not lose out.

Zheng Alin agreed at once. "Deal!"

She had a few eerie monster materials and had not known what to do with them anyway. Now she could use them for the trade.

The others did not ask why Chen Fan wanted eerie monster materials that nobody else wanted.

They could all make a rough guess. Refining artifacts was essentially forging, and forging obviously required materials.

Perhaps Chen Fan needed eerie materials to refine artifacts. At that point, they could not ask any more; further questions would touch on a core secret.

Once Zheng Alin had finished speaking, she went to her vehicle to get the materials.

The introductions on their side continued.

It was Li Yuanyuan's turn.

"Hello, my name is Li Yuanyuan. My supernatural power is [Wuxia Master]. I can use martial arts that only exist in wuxia novels."

Wu Zhiyou could not help praising him. "Whoa, that's impressive. Once upon a time, I had a wuxia dream too. When I was a kid, I even wanted to go to Shaolin to learn martial arts. Your convoy is either cultivating immortality or practicing martial arts. I say you might as well rename it the Immortal Martial Convoy."