Chapter 122: No Need to Thank Me, Saving the Captain Is Only Right and Proper

Lin Wang, drenched in sweat and looking bitter, stared at the entrance of the valley for a long time in silence. He felt both relieved and dejected. His armor bore over a dozen wounds of varying sizes, though fortunately, none were fatal or particularly severe. Beside him, Bei Lihui was crouched on the ground, gasping for air with eyes full of lingering fear. He, too, struggled to lift his head to look toward the valley, his gaze filled with anxiety, a flicker of anticipation, and a deepening sense of gloom.

The four of them had been resting for over ten minutes, but the other two had not emerged; their chances of survival were slim. Sima Wan was in much better shape, looking only slightly disheveled. A large section of her combat suit had been torn at the thigh, revealing a foot-long wound running from her hip bone down to the back of her knee. However, she had already applied a hemostatic agent, and the wound was not deep enough to expose bone. Nearby, a hover-bike lay in ruins, reduced to a charred frame. Ren Zhong, covered in injuries, lay not far from the wreckage, groaning softly. His helmet was cracked, and his exoskeleton was severely damaged in several places. Among everyone present, he was in the most miserable state.

Lin Wang walked over to Ren Zhong and sat down. "Pan Fenglian and Song Qianlian are likely dead."

Ren Zhong wore an expression of lingering terror before saying gloomily, "Sigh, what a pity."

Lin Wang shook his head, blaming himself. "It’s my fault."

Ren Zhong struggled to sit upright and patted Lin Wang on the shoulder. "Captain, don't blame yourself. Who could have foreseen this? General Manager Yang told us to hurry back, and we were just following orders. After all, you didn't know there would be a Legion Beast in this valley. It really isn't your fault."

Lin Wang gritted his teeth in hatred, abandoning his usual composure to curse, "It’s all that bastard Ma Dafu’s fault. It’s a foregone conclusion that Spark Town has no future, and it was only logical for Manager Yang to prepare for an early relocation. Goddamn it, I don't know what kind of poison Ma Dafu took to dare incite those low-level scavengers to come and cause trouble."

Ren Zhong asked in confusion, "Aren't there two professional teams in town? Can't they handle those scavengers?"

"When it comes down to it, Manager Yang is indeed in the wrong. The others didn't open fire; they just surrounded the company demanding answers. We can't start a massacre in the town; that would only give Ma Xiaoling an excuse to attack. Manager Yang asked me to return early because I still have some reputation among the scavengers, hoping I could step in. Who could have thought... sigh."

Ren Zhong patted Lin Wang again with concern. "Captain, man proposes, God disposes. Please accept my condolences."

"Speaking of which, I owe you, Ren Zhong. If you hadn't turned the tide, Bei Lihui and I would have been in danger today. I don't know how you managed it; you were truly brave," Lin Wang remarked with renewed emotion. He recalled the overwhelming, sprawling sea of beasts that had suddenly surged forth, and he still felt a lingering chill.

As a high-level, unranked variant ruin-beast, the Legion Beast possessed intelligence rivaling that of humans. It could forcibly command all ruin-beasts within a certain range that were of a lower rank than itself, exerting lethality comparable to a human army. Its appearance shattered the common knowledge that ruin-beasts were mindless creatures easily wiped out by human methods. It had always been listed as one of the highest threats, consistently ranking near the top of the ruin-beast wanted list. In some sense, the danger posed by a Legion Beast was even greater than that of a Descended Demon Infant. Regardless of its level, a Legion Beast had to be eradicated the moment it was discovered. Thanks to the persistent hunting by top-tier human professionals, Legion Beasts had not been seen for a long time. Even those that managed to survive were wise enough to know the danger humans posed, remaining hidden and rarely appearing.

Yet, no one could have expected that Lin Wang’s seemingly accidental decision to take a shortcut would lead the squad face-to-face with that Legion Beast—a creature shaped like a human, but without eyes, nose, or ears, its only facial feature a gaping, bloodthirsty maw—crouched outside a tree hollow, gnawing on food. At the time, they hadn't thought much of it, but Bei Lihui, reacting with lightning speed, fired a shot, which the creature easily dodged by tilting its head, then twisting its neck to stare back at them. Seeing that ghastly face, Lin Wang immediately realized it was a terrifying ruin-beast with human-like intelligence. As it stood up, Lin Wang's armor sensors began to blare frantically, the detected energy intensity climbing rapidly until it surpassed 20,000 points.

Lin Wang, leading the pack, didn't hesitate to turn his hover-bike and flee. The formation had been: Lin Wang, Bei Lihui, Pan Fenglian, Song Qianlian, Sima Wan, and Ren Zhong, who was the "least skilled" at piloting the hover-bike. Without needing a signal from Lin Wang, the others followed suit. Then, a sound like a torrential downpour erupted in the dense forest. One after another, ruin-beasts emerged from the water, the ground, the trees, and the sky, rolling in from all directions like a massive, surging wave. Ren Zhong and Sima Wan, who were trailing, managed to break through the encirclement first and escape. Lin Wang and the other three, however, were trapped.

Ren Zhong, glancing back while fleeing, keenly noticed that the hover-bikes of Lin Wang and Bei Lihui, which should have been at the back, had overtaken Pan Fenglian and Song Qianlian in a very short time. The two of them had hesitated slightly while turning and accelerating, their speed just a hair slower than usual. That tiny fraction of a second allowed Lin Wang and Bei Lihui to overtake them. Those two were immediately trapped, besieged by over a dozen level-four ruin-beasts. Lin Wang and Bei Lihui were in slightly better shape, but several flying level-four ruin-beasts were chasing them, attacking the rear of their bikes. Lin Wang kept sending orders for Ren Zhong to turn back and rescue them. Ren Zhong simply pretended not to see, escaping several kilometers away until he reached a small hill. Sima Wan was still running, but Ren Zhong stopped. Looking back, he saw Lin Wang and Bei Lihui had jumped off their bikes, using their individual skills to fight while retreating. Further in, violent explosions erupted one after another—that was Pan Fenglian’s death throes. Over a dozen level-four ruin-beasts could be seen encircling the area in an orderly formation, attacking repeatedly like ancient soldiers surrounding a fierce enemy general.

Undoubtedly, the person trapped inside was the augmented soldier, Song Qianlian. At this point, Lin Wang stopped sending rescue orders. He assumed Ren Zhong had long since fled. But he was no longer as panicked. Although he and Bei Lihui were surrounded, their strength was a notch above the rest of the squad, and thanks to Pan Fenglian and Song Qianlian acting as bait, the quality and quantity of the beasts surrounding them were far lower than in the inner circle. As for the humanoid Legion Beast, it had stood under the tree the entire time, unmoving, as if contemplating something, and had not intervened.

From afar, Ren Zhong watched, his face expressionless, his eyes gleaming. He began to simulate the scenario. In the previous timeline, the positioning of Lin Wang’s team must have been different; Sima Wan would have been the one trailing, and Xing Ming would have been in the second or third position. Thus, there would have been three people acting as bait for Lin Wang and the other. This time, there were only two. The pressure on Lin Wang and Bei Lihui was undoubtedly greater than before. In the previous timeline, Ren Zhong had seen two hover-bikes parked next to the heavy transport truck, but this time, both Lin Wang and Bei Lihui’s bikes had met their end. If he did nothing, the most likely outcome was that Lin Wang would use his superior equipment to escape with severe injuries, while Bei Lihui would die here. Simulating the subsequent events, it was highly probable that Lin Wang would once again encounter the Chongyi County Guard.

Fine. Bei Lihui wasn't destined to die today; he should still die by his, Ren Zhong’s, hand.

Ren Zhong then did something that stunned everyone. He turned his hover-bike around, suddenly accelerated, and charged straight toward Lin Wang and Bei Lihui. He roared, "Captain! I found a way! I'm here to save you!"

Ren Zhong, a level-two mecha pilot clad in a level-three exoskeleton, descended like a god, suddenly surging to within twenty meters of the duo. He then lifted his right arm, used an amplifier to boost his output to 1000 kilowatts, and hurled an information-stream jamming grenade. The grenade flew straight over the battlefield of Lin Wang and Bei Lihui, detonating about fifty meters in front of Pan Fenglian and Song Qianlian. An invisible ripple of information-stream shockwave spread out. In the distance, the Legion Beast clutched its head and shrieked. The previously disciplined tide of ruin-beasts suddenly fell into chaos.

Ren Zhong accelerated again, rushing to Lin Wang's side, and reached out. "Captain, get on!"

Lin Wang, both bewildered and touched, reached out, grabbed hold, and leaped onto the back of Ren Zhong's bike. Ren Zhong then turned to charge toward Bei Lihui, performing an aerial drift to swing the rear support frame of the bike toward him. "Brother Hui, grab on!"

Bei Lihui jumped immediately, catching hold of the frame. The next second, Ren Zhong engaged the jet-assisted acceleration and overload power system—upgrades that had cost him 30,000 points—and the bike shot forward like a lightning bolt, racing toward Sima Wan’s position. In the end, the bike carrying three people reached the valley entrance at almost the same time as Sima Wan, both vehicles being totaled. Ren Zhong crashed, which was how he had sustained his injuries. Lin Wang and Bei Lihui used their own methods, rolling or using anti-gravity engines to land safely.

...

"Captain, you’ve been so kind to me. I ran off earlier because I panicked, but once I realized what happened, I knew I was wrong. How could I abandon my comrades? I started looking for a way, and when I found one, I knew I had to try."

"Come to think of it, that information-stream jamming grenade you threw was a stroke of genius. When did you buy that thing?"

"The day after we encountered the leeches. Manager Ju said my strength was low and I had no self-defense against high-level ruin-beasts, so she introduced me to a wandering merchant to buy one for emergencies. I didn't expect it to be so useful today; it was purely good luck."

Lin Wang was silent for a few seconds, deeply moved. "Making a critical judgment at a critical moment isn't something that can be explained by luck. In any case, Ren Zhong, thank you for saving my life."

"Captain, please don't say that."

Lin Wang said no more, but his heart was filled with complex emotions. He was genuinely shocked. If he had been in Ren Zhong’s shoes, there would have been no reason to turn back; he would have run as fast as possible. When facing an unbeatable opponent, every man for himself was the survival law of the scavenger teams; Sima Wan had that same style, and there was nothing to blame her for. Just now, he had used his authority as captain to sabotage the bikes of Pan Fenglian and Song Qianlian, leaving them to cover the rear, and there was nothing to blame himself for either. If the situation had been worse, he would have betrayed Bei Lihui just the same. Lin Wang thought to himself that this was perhaps the biggest difference between a Citizen and a Scavenger—much like their views on love.

"Alright, although the situation was critical, we all miraculously avoided any serious injuries. Our bikes are broken, and we only have Sima Wan’s left. I'll see if I can contact any nearby convoys."

Lin Wang called out. Ren Zhong, however, suddenly shouted in pleasant surprise, "What a coincidence! The wandering merchant Wang Zhaofu, who sold me the jammer, is nearby! He has an armored escort vehicle! I’ve notified him, and he’ll be here in ten minutes!"

Lin Wang was stunned. Such a coincidence? He instinctively felt something was strange, but he couldn't put his finger on it. Taking the shortcut was a decision he had made on the spur of the moment after receiving a call from Yang Bingzhong that morning; no one had suggested it to him. It was entirely his own idea, unrelated to anyone else. And Ren Zhong had just risked his life to save him; there couldn't possibly be a conspiracy.

"Fine, an armored escort is even faster than our bikes, so that saves us some trouble," Lin Wang waved his hand.

At this moment, Bei Lihui enthusiastically and affectionately approached Ren Zhong. "Ren Zhong, I owe you an apology. I underestimated you."

Ren Zhong grinned. "You're too kind, Brother Hui."

Bei Lihui laughed heartily. "Then let’s let bygones be bygones!"

"What are you saying, Brother Hui? We never had any grudges."

"Hahahaha, true, true." Bei Lihui laughed happily. It seemed he had instantly moved on from the blow of losing a bedmate. As expected, for these people, the greatest joy in the world was surviving a near-death experience; that was more important than anything else.

Ren Zhong asked Lin Wang, seemingly casually, "Captain, you mentioned earlier that Spark Town has no future. Does that mean it definitely won't pass the census? What happened?"

Lin Wang thought for a moment and said, "There's no need to hide it from you. In any case, in less than a month, when Manager Yang moves away, the truth will come out. Spark Town truly won't pass this census. It has to do with the Chenhui Mining Area."

"Oh?"

"You’ve seen the scale of the Chenhui Mining Area. What are your thoughts?"

Ren Zhong recalled, "It’s huge. It should be enough to mine for at least ten years." In fact, the Spark Mining Area, which was only half the size of Chenhui, had been mined for 36 years. But now, two hundred years later, Zijin Mining hadn't made much technological progress, though the number of large-scale machines and high-precision equipment from interstellar trade had increased significantly, so Ren Zhong gave a conservative estimate.

Lin Wang nodded. "To be precise, fifteen years. A large mine with fifteen years of life is enough to develop a new town centered on the mining industry. By then, a new town will rise near the mining area. There is no need for two towns in adjacent areas. Spark Town will naturally lose its reason for existence. It will be converted into a transit warehouse, and there will be no need for any Scavengers there."

Ren Zhong asked in confusion, "But couldn't they just relocate the people from Spark Town here?"

Lin Wang shook his head. "There are so many Scavengers in this world. As long as they put up a sign saying they're accepting Scavengers, more will naturally flock here. As for the Scavengers in Spark Town, heh..."

"What?"

"They’ve all been bought by the Mengdu Group."

Ren Zhong’s pupils constricted. "Bought? Like, their lives? But those Scavengers... they don't know, right?"

Lin Wang retorted, "What difference does it make whether they know or not? The moment Spark Town fails the census, the Mengdu Group’s people will be right behind, and not one of them will be able to run. Manager Yang brokered this deal. When the time comes, the vast majority of the Citizens in town will vote in favor; only a few short-sighted ones... well, your old flame Manager Ju is a kind person, and there's nothing to blame her for, but everyone has their own path. In short, it’s a done deal, and Manager Yang has made a fortune."

Ren Zhong did the math. "Even if each Scavenger is sold for fifty points, isn't that only one million?"

"But the Mengdu Group promised Manager Yang the exclusive operating rights for a large town. In that town, there are six ruin-beast mining areas as prosperous as the Abandoned Mine! The yield of the old Abandoned Mine was indeed the best on Source Star, but it has declined. Six mining areas—that’s the real source of wealth. Once we move there, Manager Yang will definitely expand, and we are his inner circle. Good days are not far off."

Ren Zhong looked delighted. "I'm really looking forward to it."

Lin Wang: "I am too."

Ren Zhong immediately adopted a look of worry. "But I heard there's a professional assessment during the census. Captain, what if, just what if a master emerges among the Scavengers and passes the assessment?"

Lin Wang shook his head with a smile. "Impossible. This time, the Mengdu Group’s Liaoyuan branch and the Chenhui Company have joined forces to pay for a level-five examiner—the Cold-Blooded Butcher. A terrifying level-five augmented soldier. He represents the peak of his tier among augmented soldiers. His strength is beyond imagination. On this planet, no level-five professional of Scavenger origin can defeat him."

Ren Zhong grinned. "Then it’s settled."

"Yes, it’s settled."

...

Poor, pathetic, ridiculous Ma Dafu, actually wanting to save these Scavengers. Your townspeople have all been sold as commodities by a beast who runs a company! You can't even find out such important news. Without your daughter's guard, you are nothing. No wonder even small matters like the census official not showing up had to be told to you by me. You damn soft-hearted fool, you were sidelined long ago! You are a complete and total waste of a mayor! Your brain, which only has petty cleverness, must have grown inside a pig! Ma Xiaoling is so stupid, and you, Ma Dafu, are to blame!

Ren Zhong also realized why every Scavenger wanted to become a Citizen. It turned out that the few town Citizens who lived within the white walls, like parasites clinging to a host, could use their so-called votes to decide the lives—or rather, the deaths—of the vast majority of Scavengers. Oh, wait, it was death. The Scavengers who supported and sustained the Citizens' luxurious lives didn't even have the right to know! How absurd! For a moment, he felt a sense of unreality.