Chapter 132: The Oath

Lin Wang, who had already led his team dashing out of the small town to begin hunting, decisively turned back and met Ren Chong at the entrance of his manor.

Compared to before his "injury," Ren Chong appeared slightly leaner.

Lin Wang glanced at the team command system, read Ren Chong's parameters, and confirmed that his strength had increased rather than decreased, with all three core indices showing significant improvements of up to several dozen points. This completely put his mind at ease.

He laughed heartily, raised a hand, and patted Ren Chong on the shoulder. "It's good that you've recovered. From now on, you're officially a top-tier hunter who has killed a Level 4 feral beast at Level 2 standards."

Ren Chong replied with modest humility, "It's all thanks to the excellent equipment the captain gave me."

Lin Wang grunted affirmatively. "Your recovery this time is largely thanks to Manager Ju, a Level 2 citizen, who didn't mind your Wastelander background and took such meticulous care of you. We owe her a huge favor, and you must repay her well in the future. Come to think of it, the equipment I gave you is entirely her handiwork. Manager Ju is also my benefactor."

Ren Chong nodded honestly. "The captain is right. She did say she racked her brains over the armor I'm wearing."

"Mmm. Once we make it big in the future, we'll have plenty of opportunities to repay her. Alright, now that you've regained your strength, let's pick up the pace today and take down more feral beasts."

With a wave of his hand, Lin Wang led the team out once again.

Following closely behind, Ren Chong looked at Lin Wang's back while his mind raced.

In the previous timeline, he had not known that Ju Qingmeng was entirely responsible for the full set of equipment Lin Wang used during the late stages of his Level 3 phase.

Although Ju Qingmeng had also made a considerable amount of money off him, regardless of how one looked at it, she had played a crucial role in Lin Wang's rise to prominence.

Without Ju Qingmeng's all-out technical support, Lin Wang—whose parameters had just advanced from Level 3 to Level 4—could never have completed the comprehensive upgrade of his entire equipment set from Level 3 to Level 4 in a mere half-year.

The word "benefactor" in Lin Wang's mouth was not a hypocritical courtesy; it was the absolute truth.

Yet, when Lin Wang came into contact with the people of Chongyi County and touched upon the opportunity to climb the ladder to the heavens, he betrayed people without the slightest hesitation.

When he cornered Ren Chong back at the abandoned mine and brought up Ju Qingmeng's plight, there was not a shred of the attitude one should hold toward a "benefactor" in his words—only madness and bloodlust.

Ren Chong felt that Lin Wang's acting skills were probably no worse than his own.

This was the highest form of praise.

At noon, four figures carrying massive backpacks walked out of the abandoned mine, all looking refreshed and high-spirited.

Ren Chong was in a fantastic mood, and Lin Wang's mood was equally stellar.

Ever since his clash with Tang Shuying and the other two professional teams five days ago, his hunting status had returned to normal.

Due to further casualties, their combat personnel now consisted solely of Lin Wang and Bei Lihui.

Since Bei Lihui also had to split his attention to protect Sima Wan, Lin Wang basically had to rely on solo combat to take down feral beasts. Still, they had managed to secure new gains. By being even more ruthless during their afternoon extortions—raising the "accidental encounter tax" from fifty percent to seventy percent—they had barely managed to restore their income.

Furthermore, Lin Wang's deep-seated suspicions regarding Tang Shuying had completely transformed into a confirmed certainty.

I picked a fight with you, and only then did you quiet down; if it wasn't you, who else could it be?

No matter how many times Tang Shuying "quibbled" and offered various explanations, it was all useless.

Seeing the lingering murderous intent in Lin Wang's eyes, she even sought him out privately, offering an additional, non-repayable interest-free loan of thirty thousand points as a compromise to smooth things over.

Lin Wang accepted Tang Shuying's money and expressed his willingness to reconcile.

However, no one—including Yang Bingzhong—believed the matter could simply end there.

Given Lin Wang's extreme tendency to hold grudges, this could only be a delaying tactic under mutual compromise.

After all, Lin Wang had been thoroughly humiliated over the past few days and had nearly lost his good reputation.

Today had finally turned around; Ren Chong, whose luck was so incredible that he could stumble upon mineral source stones, was truly a lucky charm.

With his joining, the probability of encountering targets at feral beast spawn points today had increased significantly.

Moreover, with Ren Chong acting as Sima Wan's bodyguard, Lin Wang and Bei Lihui were able to operate at full capacity, greatly increasing their hunting efficiency. In just a single morning, they had reaped a harvest with a total value of forty thousand points.

"Ren Chong, we've recently changed our rules. In the afternoon, if you run into anyone, the demanded percentage should be seventy percent, not half. Remember that."

Just before they dispersed to operate individually, Lin Wang gave this instruction.

Ren Chong frowned slightly. "Captain, isn't that ratio a bit too high? I'm afraid these people won't agree."

Lin Wang smiled faintly. "Kill everyone who doesn't agree, and won't the survivors become much more agreeable? Besides, out in the wild, you can easily make up any excuse. Dead men have no right to appeal."

Ren Chong gave a thumbs-up. "The captain makes complete sense!"

This logic was indeed airtight. Even Ren Chong, who had won first prize in a high school debate tournament as the lead debater, felt it was flawless and could only offer a thumbs-up.

Waving goodbye to the others and darting off in separate directions, Ren Chong wore a genuinely sincere smile on his face.

For three consecutive nights—totaling 24 hours—he had engaged in high-intensity combat against Ma Xiaoling in the Level 4 virtual reality simulation.

Under the premise that both parties completely disabled their sixth-sense functions, Ren Chong's performance had grown steadily better.

At the very beginning, even with a power output of 1500 kilowatts against Ma Xiaoling's 1000 kilowatts, he could barely last less than three minutes.

By nearly six o'clock this morning, he was already able to stalemate Ma Xiaoling—who was operating at 2000 kilowatts—for nearly half an hour without defeat at a power output of 2162.1 kilowatts.

Of course, the reason he had nearly won that time was because Ma Xiaoling had disabled her own sixth sense in the virtual reality simulation, and Ren Chong, who knew nothing of such subtleties, had almost beaten the master with sheer chaotic punches.

Later on, to avoid being kicked offline and wasting money for nothing, Ren Chong had no choice but to disable the function as well, resulting in a streak of never winning a single time up to this very moment.

Every time, it looked like he was about to win, but he always fell just a fraction short.

It wasn't that he wasn't pulling his weight; it was simply that Ma Xiaoling's equipment was too overwhelming.

Even when both operated at the exact same power output, Ma Xiaoling's simulated equipment featured a stronger modified auxiliary brain chip, superior material performance, energy transmission structures, stress-resistant structures, a cooling system for reactor-grade batteries, and a broader array of multi-functional weapon configurations based on systematic design principles.

She was essentially a walking humanoid fighter jet. No wonder Lin Wang was envious of her equipment—taking just a single component from it could match a normal person's entire set of Level 4 exoskeleton.

Ren Chong and Ma Xiaoling had also stealthily slipped out into the wild together under the cover of night, finding a spacious battlefield for a genuine, proper duel.

This time, Ma Xiaoling fully verified that Ren Chong's combat intuition from last time wasn't just a random flash of insight, but a genuine sixth sense that, much like her own, consistently erupted at critical moments.

Had it not been for her superior experience, technique, and overall equipment performance, she really would have suffered an upset in the gutter.

Although he kept losing against Ma Xiaoling, his personal progress was visible to the naked eye, and Ren Chong's confidence in taking down Lin Wang grew stronger by the day.

After observing him closely all morning today, that confidence had transformed into absolute certainty.

During the ten days he had faked his injury, neither Lin Wang nor Bei Lihui had made any major equipment updates, performing only piecemeal maintenance.

At present, he possessed not only the combat memories of his previous life-or-death battle and mutual destruction with the severely wounded Lin Wang, but also a massive amount of information gathered through days of close-range observation. He also had an equipment power exceeding two thousand kilowatts that continued to grow, a vast array of intelligent weapons designed for laying traps and ambushes, a deduced and finalized hunting route for Lin Wang in the abandoned mine tomorrow, and finally, a comprehensive, meticulously detailed full ambush plan.

It would be harder for him to lose than to win.

...

At 5:00 PM, inside the cave located at Rat Cliff Mountain, Ren Chong met with his subordinates once again.

The group first handed him the storage boxes filled with Level 1, 2, and 3 crystal chips, and then sat upright in strict silence.

Although Ren Chong hadn't spoken yet, everyone could sense that his aura today was vastly different from usual.

"Turn off your wristbands first," Ren Chong instructed.

The group followed suit without hesitation.

He slowly stood up and said, "I'll tell you something first."

Pausing for a moment, he said slowly, word by word: "I have become a Level 4 mecha warrior, and I have already mastered perfect-grade five-sense resonance."

The entire room fell into stunned silence.

Wen Lei, who had acted as a cargo-hauling tool during the first few days and carried Ren Chong back to the centralized sleeping pods every day, was especially dumbfounded.

He clearly remembered that Ren Chong had only begun transitioning into a mecha warrior after arriving at Spark Town.

Not only had he never heard of or seen such a rate of improvement, but Wen Lei had never even imagined it.

Fortunately for him, Wen Lei did not know that in a certain past timeline, he had once been Ren Chong's guiding mentor; otherwise, he might genuinely have vomited blood.

"Don't make a fuss over nothing. In my hometown, while people like me aren't exactly on every street corner, there are actually quite a few," Ren Chong continued. "Furthermore, I have completely modified my equipment. It is now a set of modified Level 4 full-body exoskeleton armor disguised with Level 3 camouflage. I can now go toe-to-toe with a Level 4 feral beast barehanded and unscathed."

The entire room was struck dumb once again.

Clearly, everyone had trained desperately hard this month, but how was it that they were now on the verge of losing even the qualification to shine Ren Chong's shoes?

Seeing the blow he had dealt to everyone, Ren Chong smiled. "Don't sell yourselves short. If I didn't truly need you, why would I tell you all this today?"

A sense of validation washed over the group's hearts.

As expected of you, Mr. Ren, you really know how to encourage people.

Ren Chong's expression turned serious once more. "Listen carefully to what I'm about to say."

"I've been in Spark Town for 59 days. I've witnessed too many human tragedies in this town, and seen too many people living like ghosts rather than humans."

"This place is filled with violence, bloodshed, deception, and oppression, pushing the law of the jungle—survival of the fittest—to its absolute extreme. On one side, Level 4 professionals in professional teams use equipment worth millions of contribution points, soaring through the skies and doing whatever they please; on the other side, bottom-tier Wastelanders have to scrape together money from their food bowls just to buy clothes to cover their bodies, living in constant terror and trading their lives for coin."

"In my view, this small town doesn't live up to its name. There is almost no spark here; it is a man-made purgatory. Tell me, whose fault is this? Where does the problem lie? You've been with me for a long time, and I hope each of you can give your own answer. Don't hold back—speak freely."

The group remained silent for a long time.

Zheng Tian was the first to reply: "Is it because our talent isn't enough, and we aren't strong enough?"

Ren Chong shook his head. "Zheng Tian, you're only focusing on yourself."

Ou Youning raised his hand. "It's all Lin Wang's fault!"

Ren Chong offered no comment, merely smiling faintly before looking at Wen Lei.

Wen Lei scratched his head. "Mr. Ren, this question is too complicated. I can't figure it out. But I feel Mayor Ma hasn't done a good enough job. If he could be stronger, stop Yang Bingzhong and the professional teams from being so outrageous, or create more industries and job opportunities in the town, everyone might be able to live just a little bit better."

Ren Chong then looked at Bai Feng.

Unexpectedly, Bai Feng, who usually spoke very little, said with absolute certainty: "It's the fault of Mendo Corporation. Only by keeping the Wastelanders trapped in extreme poverty can Mendo Corporation buy the lives of the elderly at cheap prices and recruit test subjects. We are all sacrifices."

Ren Chong nodded, then looked at Chen Hangyu.

Chen Hangyu: "Spark Resources and Yang Bingzhong are the main culprits."

Ren Chong nodded again and finally looked at Yu Jin.

He had originally expected the boy to say, "Whosever fault Mr. Ren thinks it is, that's whose fault it is," especially since Yu Jin hadn't lost his mother this time and hadn't yet experienced heart-wrenching torture.

Instead, the boy simply tightened his grip on the fanged heavy sniper rifle in his hands and slowly said, "Aside from Mr. Ren, everyone on Origin Star is at fault."

Ren Chong stared in a daze for a long time before suddenly bursting into laughter.

He excitedly raised a hand and ruffled Yu Jin's hair. "Kid, you really have a way about you."

Meanwhile, Zheng Tian and the others were left bewildered.

Was this the right answer?

It somehow felt rather strange.

They pointed at their own faces in confusion.

Zheng Tian: "Where are we at fault?"

Ou Youning: "Yeah, even though we've been living quite well lately, I actually feel like I've been pretty unfortunate too."

Wen Lei: "Before we met you, Mr. Ren, we really had it pretty rough, just surviving day by day."

Ren Chong smiled good-naturedly and waved a hand. "If it's not entirely correct, then naturally it's wrong."

With that, his tone suddenly turned stern.

"Without a doubt, someone must be making mistakes for things to end up like this. So, let me tell you: my true enemy is this very mistake! That goal is too distant for you and me to fully grasp right now."

"A towering building rises from the ground up; let's start tackling the first visible mistake right before our eyes. Tomorrow, I will kill Lin Wang! And I will take his place! Starting tomorrow, I will use my rules to forge a new order of my own among the scavengers of Spark Town! In my new order, I call the shots!"

Ren Chong didn't spell everything out completely.

In the end, he didn't dare use the word "revolution" with the others.

It wasn't that he doubted their loyalty, but rather that the fewer people who understood the essence of "revolution," the better.

Should someone accidentally drop the "keywords" in casual conversation, it would inevitably invite disaster.

He needed to disguise himself as a plausible, native-born small-town ambitious schemer who refused to stay at the bottom.

He simply added a silent vow to his own heart.

Starting today, I, Ren Chong, hereby take an oath.

I will declare war on all inequality in this world!

I will ensure tragedies never repeat themselves!

I will speak for all those who died unjustly, and make those who committed wrongs pay the price!

I will crack every unreasonable and unsolved mystery on Origin Star!

I will practice the creed of a revolutionary in this world and restore humanity to its proper face!

I will shatter the heavens and reduce the Nine Mega-Corporations to ashes!

I will travel to the starry skies and demand justice for humanity from the higher civilizations towering above Origin Star!

To achieve these goals, I will fight to the end of my days, unrelenting until death.

Ren Chong hoped that when the day of his true death finally arrived, he could proudly carve these words onto his tombstone as his epitaph.

If he could do that, this lifetime of rebirth would have been lived without regrets.