The Law of Survival X and X the So-Called "Treasure Mountain"

Qi Zhou walked slowly toward the settlement. Although he didn't know what purpose going there would serve, he couldn't help wanting to get closer to a place with more people.

Abandoned refuse lay everywhere along the dilapidated main street, and the occasional passerby was always in a hurry.

The street was short, though there were plenty of branching paths leading in every direction. But there were hardly any intact houses, let alone shops.

Qi Zhou saw someone about his size-perhaps a child-approaching from one direction, dressed in a protective suit that covered every inch of their body.

They walked toward each other, but as they passed, Qi Zhou sensed a venomous, wary gaze shooting toward him like a snake.

Qi Zhou looked toward the source of the gaze. There really was a child inside the protective suit, though the child was too sallow and emaciated for him to tell whether they were a boy or a girl.

As their eyes met, the child tensed up and stared fixedly at Qi Zhou like a small beast poised to strike-ready to fight or flee for its life.

Qi Zhou looked at him without moving, then slowly turned his body to the side.

A few seconds later, the child dragged his bag past Qi Zhou one step at a time, then quickly ran off into the distance.

Qi Zhou thought for a moment, then followed him from afar.

Qi Zhou estimated they had been running for about an hour before the child in his sights finally slowed down.

It was hard to imagine that a child in this world could run for an hour straight without resting.

After the child stopped, Qi Zhou stopped too, not because he had been discovered, but because...

It was hard to imagine that garbage could be piled as high as a mountain.

The last time he left Meteor City with the Phantom Troupe, he had only glanced at it from afar and hadn't thought much of it. Now that he was closer, he realized that "piled as high as a mountain" wasn't a figure of speech, but a literal description.

All manner of garbage filled his view: discarded appliances and furniture, spent batteries, plates from finished cakes, rotten vegetable leaves, bones, the corpses of all sorts of creatures... All of it was piled into mounds more than ten meters high, each one connected to the next.

Airships in the sky and trucks in the distance approached, one after another, unloaded their holds or beds full of garbage, then departed.

Qi Zhou saw many people standing on the garbage mountains. Wearing protective suits and carrying bags, they picked through the trash beneath their feet and placed whatever they chose into their bags.

Qi Zhou gazed at the endless "garbage mountains." Rats and cockroaches scurried through the refuse, while vultures circled overhead.

The garbage that outsiders discarded like worn-out shoes was the only source of livelihood for the people here.

The ridiculous thing was that outsiders called this place "garbage mountain," but to the people here, it was "treasure mountain."

Countless shattered IV bottles, rotting IV bags, syringes with needles attached, and bloodstained cotton balls... There was no sign that any of it had been treated before being scattered everywhere.

Some bottles had skull symbols printed on them, but they had shattered on the ground, and most of the liquid inside had evaporated.

Qi Zhou caught a whiff of an indescribable smell, and his vision went black. Although he immediately used Ten to block the odor, he still passed out for a few seconds before coming around.

Looking into the distance, Qi Zhou even saw yellow metal drums bearing a symbol of three inverted triangles.

This deadly garbage had been dumped here without treatment or a second thought.

Even with Ten, he had to be careful not to step on sharp, bloodstained needles while walking on the garbage mountains. He also had to watch out for things that smelled strange-if he came into contact with a poisonous substance without Ten, he was certain he would die.

But what about the ordinary people? What were they supposed to do? Were their lives really so insignificant in the eyes of outsiders?

Qi Zhou couldn't understand.

The people on the garbage mountains noticed Qi Zhou, because almost no one stood around in a daze while working-if they couldn't find anything useful to exchange for food and water, it would be hard to make it through the day.

Qi Zhou sensed their gazes and the rejection in them. He slowly took a step back, changed course toward an area where there were hardly any people, and continued on.

After another ten-odd minutes of walking, he found that the garbage here consisted almost entirely of medical waste.

No one wanted to come here. Not only was there nothing to find, but it was also easy to step on a needle.

Suddenly, Qi Zhou felt as though he had kicked something. He looked down and saw a broken yellow trash can at his feet-the kind commonly found in hospitals. It was full of needles and bloodstained cotton swabs, along with a sealed black plastic bag.

Qi Zhou bent down, covered his hand in Ten, and pulled hard, dragging the yellow trash can out. Then he emptied its contents onto the ground.

He tore off the trash can's lid and used it to sift through the garbage on the ground, uncovering the plastic bag. He gathered Nen at his fingertip and sliced the bag open. Unexpectedly, there were two packs of compressed biscuits inside.

He slowly bent down and picked them up with two fingers.

The packages hadn't been opened or torn, but the dates printed on them read 1989.10-1990.10.

Although he couldn't be sure what day of March 1992 it was, no matter the date, the biscuits had already been expired for a year.

Qi Zhou was still wondering whether they were safe to eat when he sensed an unmistakable malice and slowly raised his head. Two people who had originally been far away had approached him at some point.

A large man in a protective suit shouted from a distance, "Brat... hand... over... die!"

Qi Zhou didn't understand what he had said, but he roughly got the gist... The man wanted him to hand over the food. The second half probably meant either "or I'll kill you" or "and I'll spare your life."

Qi Zhou turned sideways, dodging a stick that someone behind him brought down hard.

One calls out while the other sneaks up on me... huh.

Qi Zhou stuffed the two packs of biscuits inside his clothes and slammed hard into the person behind him, sending him staggering. Then he leaped down from the garbage mountain, more than ten meters high, leaving the people who had surrounded him far behind.

The child he had met that morning was also nearby, watching him through the goggles of his protective suit-or rather, watching the place where he had put the compressed biscuits.

Qi Zhou thought for a moment, then ran toward him.

The child froze abruptly and turned to run, but he couldn't move faster than Qi Zhou.

Qi Zhou tried to grab him, but suddenly pulled his hand back.

The child was holding a small, brightly polished blade. The instant Qi Zhou reached for him, he slashed at Qi Zhou's wrist with a viciousness and force beyond his years.

After dodging, Qi Zhou saw that the child was about to strike again after the failed blow. He said, "I mean you no harm. One pack of biscuits for a few answers. All right?"

The child ignored him and instead flung a handful of sand at Qi Zhou's eyes.

Although Ten protected his eyes, his vision was still blocked for a second. In that single second, the child had already closed in, reached into Qi Zhou's clothes, and grabbed the biscuits he had tucked inside. Then, gripping the blade in his other hand, he stabbed toward Qi Zhou's heart.

But in the next instant, the child, who had thought he could kill Qi Zhou, went rigid after having relaxed slightly-because Qi Zhou had clamped a hand tightly around his wrist.

Qi Zhou's expression was equally grave.

It was hard to imagine that a child he had encountered at random... could have such speed and skill.

If Ten hadn't absorbed some of the force, the blade in the child's hand would certainly have done more than just cut his skin.

He looked at the child, held his hand down, and took the biscuits and the blade pinched between his fingers.

Despair and suppressed anger showed in the child's eyes.

"Can we talk now?" Qi Zhou asked. "I'll give you your knife back in exchange for answering a few questions."

At Qi Zhou's words, the dark pupils in the child's exposed eyes contracted slightly. After a long moment, he said softly:

"Let go of me. We'll go somewhere else."

It was a boy's voice.

As if afraid Qi Zhou would be unwilling, he added, "It isn't safe here."

Qi Zhou gently released his hand. "All right, lead the way."

The child said nothing. He turned and set off.