Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
It was three forty in the afternoon. The skies above the basin were clear after the rain.
There was no trace at all of the furious thunderstorm that had raged the entire night.
The storm had gone on for more than ten hours, which had not only resulted in a terrifying 700ml of rainfall but also caused the appearance of two rainbows over the basin—one pale and one more vivid.
If one were to stand at a distance and look at the basin this very moment, they would see two streams of smoke billowing into the air from the kitchen chimneys on the silvery-gray Iron Rock Mountain—which the rain had now washed clean of all dust—and intersecting with the two rainbows.
It was so calm and peaceful.
It looked like a small secluded fishing village. Under Su Mo’s protection, there were no conflicts and no harassment by foreign races. Even though Hope Village did not have very many people, it could rank as one of the top places in the wasteland in terms of unity and cohesion!
Of course, today was a day worthy of celebration, so the village was much more lively.
The two members of the militia standing on the mountain path guarding the entrance to the mountain surveyed the distance with great care, snatching moments of rest in between. Occasionally, they exchanged a few words.
The sentry on the left was named Su Yuan. He had the same surname as Su Mo and had also previously been a fitness instructor, which was why he had been fortunate enough to be singled out from the rest of the militia and picked for this duty.
The sentry on the right was Chen Kai, Chen Shen’s cousin. He was also a muscled individual, and his strength was extraordinary.
With these two guarding the mountain entrance, the management felt at ease. In fact, even the villagers would joke about it, saying that these two were the threshold guardians of Hope Village!
However, these two guardians seem to be a little absent-minded today.
“Hey, young Kai, hurry and pull up your game panel—see if your brother has sent you a message. I’m so anxious right now. Quick, ask him how much we’ve already sold!”
As Su Yuan spoke, his face expressed his nervousness, and he swallowed twice to help calm his inner agitation.
He was anxious!
It was the kind of anxiousness that could not be faked!
When Chen Kai heard himself being addressed, he glanced at his surroundings to make sure there were no suspicious figures in sight before shaking his head resignedly.
“Brother Yuan, chill out. Look at you now—you can’t even hold your spear properly. I don’t want to harp on it, but it’s been less than two hours since we changed shifts for sentry duty, and this is already the fourth time you’ve asked me that. What, are you afraid that what the Shelter Leader ordered can’t be sold and that we’re messing this up?
“Don’t worry. I guarantee that when you go up later, they’ll give you a figure that you’ll be satisfied with!”
As Chen Shen’s cousin, Chen Kai was privy to more information, so he was more calm and collected. At least his grip on his spear was very stable, and he betrayed no trace of anxiety at all.
What Chen Kai did not know was that the calmer he was, the more anxious the man standing across from him became.
This time, the amount the village had spent to buy the sap of the white sap tree was considered outrageous even for a large shelter!
Like rubber trees, the white sap tree could be seen abundantly throughout the wasteland.
This was why anyone who wished to purchase all the stock on the market before anyone else was aware it was for sale had to use a huge amount of resources to exchange for it.
Even after the last harvest, relying solely on every single villager’s taxes to buy the sap was definitely not enough.
That was when the “crowdfunding” began!
As the person who initiated the event, Su Mo had decided to set an example by purchasing 50% of the quota.
As for the other 50%, 8% was covered by the villagers’ taxes while the remaining 34% was covered by the villagers’ savings.
Of course, every villagers’ harvest from before the welfare disaster was different, so their individual contribution of supplies was different as well.
The more radical ones took out 80% of their savings with just enough supplies left for three months. This was to prevent them from starving just in case something went wrong with the campaign.
The more rational ones left themselves half a year’s supply and contributed the remaining 70% to the village. That was the safest choice.
However, apart from these two kinds of individuals, there was no lack of those who were more extreme.
Su Yuan was one of those people!
At that moment, Su Yuan’s hand shook even more when he heard Chen Kai’s consoling words. Despite the pleasantly cool weather, his forehead was thickly beaded with tiny drops of sweat.
“Young Kai, it’s not that I’m trying to hoodwink you or anything, but most of the people gave 70%, and those who wanted to give more contributed 80%. Do you know how much I contributed? I gave 95%! I’m only left with half a month’s supply of food; the rest I gave to the campaign. If this falls apart, I’m back to square one!
“It’s not that I don’t believe in the Shelter Leader. We all saw the public notice board—he undertook to purchase 50%, and that’s no small amount. However, you know that I almost starved to death before. If the Shelter Leader hadn’t forcibly stopped the blizzard and you hadn’t saved me out there from the cold, I might have died on the streets there and then a month ago. I wouldn’t have been able to see my village prosper or stand beside you in this devouring hell of a wasteland and talk about our harvests.”
Su Yuan’s voice was tearful as he spoke.
Not all the people who lived in Hope Village had led good lives!
Su Yuan aside, more than 60% of the villagers had almost lost their lives before they were lucky enough to become part of this village.
Chen Kai pursed his lips as he looked over this man who initially had frostbite all over his entire body, yet still steadfastly continued to work without shedding a single tear—and who was now in this situation.
He then said gently, “Brother Yuan, I’m aware of everything that you’ve told me. To be honest, if it were not for our Shelter Leader, I would still be working in the saltpeter mine. You didn’t know, did you—when that devil Kento Maeda forced us to work, we would only receive potatoes that were smaller than our fists even after working the entire day?
“In the civilized era, those were the kinds of potatoes that people wouldn’t pick off the ground even if they were thrown there. At that time, though, every time I slept, I kept thinking about when I would be able to eat two or even three of those very potatoes. I was so hungry. We worked so hard in the mines but were only given so little to eat. If our Shelter Leader hadn’t saved us, I would still be in that place. In the end though…
“When I saw Leader Su blast the doors open in his suit of armor and go on a rampage, haha, what a thrill that was, now that I think back on it!
“At that time, all of us were standing above. When we saw Leader Su kill those kobolds, that was absolutely thrilling. Those brigands had oppressed us for so long, and we finally had our chance to fight back. We relied on that drive and somehow found the strength to rush down and join our Shelter Leader in the fight—but do you know what happened after that?”
Chen Kai paused at this point, and Su Yuan’s interest was piqued. Even though his expression was worried, he still asked Chen Kai, “What happened? Hurry up and tell me, don’t leave me hanging!”
Chen Kai did not drag out the suspense but nodded and continued, “Hehe, I knew you wouldn’t be able to guess. This is my cousin’s dirty little secret. Normally he won’t allow me to tell anyone, so don’t you dare spread it around!
“At that time, we had been starving for so many days that when we had rushed down to engage in intense combat, everyone’s blood sugar was so low we all collapsed onto the ground. My cousin Chen Shen was in such a brain fog he somehow got it into his head that our Shelter Leader was a general that had transmigrated from the past to rescue us. Not only that, he was silly enough to think that our Shelter Leader was Lu Bu from the Three Kingdoms. Chen Shen even asked us to kowtow to Leader Su to see if this “General Lu Bu” would take us in!
“As for the rest of the people, they were starved and in shock, so they had no choice but to do so. Do you know what was I thinking, though, when we asked General Lu Bu to save us?”
Su Yuan raised his brows. “You were thinking that you could finally enjoy a good life under our Shelter Leader’s rule?”
“Oh no, no, no, nothing so profound. Just imagine, if you were about to die of cold and starvation, would you even think of something like that?”
Chen Kai shook his head. “At that point, I was wondering if this General Lu Bu could spare us some food from the supplies that had been seized from the camp after he saw us fighting alongside him and kneeling in front of him like that. I didn’t want much either; I just wanted two potatoes. It’s the truth—even if he wanted me to die there and then, I would die happy if he gave me two potatoes to eat.
“Right at that moment though, our Shelter Leader… sigh, he truly is a good man!
“Supplies were so scarce then, but our Shelter Leader still wanted us to hunt for all the food that we could eat—then he cooked everything up in a huge pot on the campgrounds. He didn’t take a single potato; he let us put everything into that pot to eat.
“I ate two and a half potatoes during that meal. In fact, the potatoes were the size of my fists. I ate so fast that I almost bit my tongue off, and that’s the truth. At that moment, I felt that I had never eaten a tastier potato in my life. I even drank two bowls of the broth used to boil the potatoes.”
Chen Kai paused, then continued, “I know you might not believe me when I say it now, but before Leader Su left, not only did he point out the location of Candlelight Village, but he even left me a stack of pancakes. From that time on, after seeing those pancakes, I was thinking that if Leader Su were to take me in, as long as he gave me something to eat, I would even give my life for him.
“I might look as steady as an old hand, but this time, I actually donated 95% as well. In fact, my cousin contributed even more. He only has one week’s worth of food left for himself. He contributed the rest!”
Chen Kai felt a little out of breath after saying so much, but from his expression, one could see the passion and love he had for this village, as well as…
His loyalty to Su Mo!
“I’m telling you, Brother Yuan, even if we’re just sentries guarding the entrance right now, you know very well that our village will increase in size under our Shelter Leader. We might even be able to go back to how things were on Earth. When that time comes, there’ll definitely be people who are even more accomplished. If we want to maintain our current position and improve our status, we’ll need to come up with more ideas and contribute more—not panic like this.
“You wanted to know how the exchange went, right? We don’t need to know the numbers—you just need to smell the aroma!”
Chen Kai pointed to the peak of the mountain. As smoke wafted down toward them in the breeze, he smiled. No words were necessary; the meaning was clear.
“Aroma?”
Standing across from Chen Kai, Su Yuan did not get angry even though he appeared to have been chided by way of instruction. Instead, he nodded, agreeing wholeheartedly with Chen Kai’s point of view, then began to sniff the air in earnest.
The first second, his face betrayed a puzzled expression.
A second later, this confusion turned into surprised delight.
However, by the third second, he suddenly seemed to experience an epiphany and began nodding vigorously.
The aroma wafting down from the mountains was not unfamiliar to them. It was the mingled smell of beef and carrots after they had been wrapped into little packets and placed into a steamer to cook.
The village had cooked this delicacy in celebration once, after seizing resources from the villainous Zeus Shelter.
Back then, the aroma was so appetizing that everyone was unable to focus on their work. It was only after everyone had eaten the food that had been portioned out to them at dinner that things went back to normal.
As a person who had experienced starvation before and was afraid to go through it again, this aroma was firmly embedded in Su Yuan’s memory!
However, on an ordinary day like this when he smelled this aroma once more—this aroma that signified “celebration”—and noticed that Chen Kai’s expression was very relaxed, Chen Kai felt like a fool. He silently went back to his position and did not say anything else.
Chen Kai nodded calmly when he saw Su Yuan’s demeanor.
However, just when he was about to resume speaking, his sharp eyes caught sight of a black dot appearing on the horizon.
“Su Yuan, nine o’clock!
“Be ready to transmit the signal at any moment!”
Without any guns, the two militiamen’s responsibility upon encountering an unknown enemy was more like sounding the alarm. All they had to do was transmit the news up the mountain.
However, as the black dot drew increasingly closer, both of them slowly relaxed.
Even if the car seemed a little more “prosperous” than before, they could still identify it as Su Mo’s Earth Tiger.
Furthermore, after the vehicle was parked, the group who descended from the car was very familiar to them.
It was the intelligence team that came and went like a shadow every day.
Su Yuan thought over the fact that Chen Kai had told him to use his brains more. When he noticed a dejected Pei Shao trudging along in front of the group with goodness knows what thoughts running through his brain, a trace of a smile appeared on his face.
At the same time, he went forward to greet them with a meaningful smile. “Team Leader Pei, you’re back from your mission! You must have worked very hard!”
When Pei Shao heard someone call his name, he nodded in a preoccupied manner but did not stop walking. “Oh, the mission’s complete, thank you for asking!”
Since Pei Shao had a lot of things on his mind as he spoke and the surface of the path was slick, he tripped and fell. As it so happened, he tumbled into Su Yuan’s arms.
The next instant, however, when Pei Shao looked up and was about to thank him, he noticed Su Yuan looking at him with a doting smile.
Pei Shao, “???”
Su Yuan, “Team Leader Pei, I know that you’re eager to find the answer, but don’t worry. Take a careful sniff; can you smell something in the air?”
Su Yuan sounded like a riddler. His expression was warm and gentle, but he sounded a little obtuse at the same time.
When Pei Shao heard Su Yuan speaking to him in a tone that carried a hint of an order, he involuntarily began sniffing.
Huh?
There was the fishy smell of mud after the rain.
However, there was a fresh scent in the air as well.
The smell of exhaust from Earth Tiger still lingered on their bodies…
Wait… the smell after the rain?
Pei Shao suddenly remembered that more than six hours ago, under Su Mo’s orders, Earth Tiger had circled within 100 kilometers of the nearby basin from start to finish, in 12 different directions.
Pei Shao then thought about the abruptness of the intelligence team moving out, the smell, and the weather around them…
He suddenly realized Su Mo’s true purpose in having them set out on this very day and in such awful surroundings.
‘So Leader Su wanted to stir things up and see if the foreign races would reveal themselves. Not only that, to prevent spies from infiltrating the base, he lured me out there as well.
‘Damn it, Pei Shao, if even a guard could see through the ruse, how could you be so stupid—you’re the intelligence team leader!’
Pei Shao suddenly felt a surge of excitement within him after “figuring out” what Su Mo was really thinking. He then stood up, disengaging from Su Yuan’s arms.
His face bore a solemn look after that.
“Brother Su Yuan, are you interested in joining the intelligence team? We really need someone with observation skills like yours!”
“Huh? Oh no, Team Leader Pei. Every position has its own purpose. The information team is vital—the same goes for sentries like us!”
Even though Su Yuan was deeply aware that he himself was a hypocrite, he was startled by Pei Shao’s demeanor.
However, Su Yuan’s modesty made Pei Shao nod yet again.
With the appreciation of one wise man for another, Pei Shao did not pursue the matter further. Somewhat moved, he patted Su Yuan on the shoulder. Leading the intelligence team, he vanished up the mountain path.
“Young Kai, your Brother Su’s done quite well this time!”
As he stared at the dumbfounded Chen Kai, Su Yuan waved his hand in a self-satisfied manner.
However, what met him was Chen Kai’s stern shout.
“Stop spouting any more rubbish! Leader Su is coming!”
