Chapter 40: Combat and Proliferation
A wild wind swept across the dunes.
A swarm of locusts devoured the wheat fields.
The entire mountain range echoed with mournful wails.
Under the almost ruthless, ground-scraping raids of Zheng Tian’s squad, the rodent-type Ruin Beasts of Mouse Cliff Mountain were suffering.
…
The most perilous moment for the squad that day was a sudden encounter with five Ruin Beasts.
Four were Level One, one was Level Two.
Ren Zhong remembered there had only been four Level One rodents in that area before. They’d avoided them last time, but now, guided by his intel, Zheng Tian decided to attack head-on.
It wasn’t difficult. The four members with combat ability paired off and could handle them.
But unexpectedly, as soon as the battle began, another Level Two rodent burst out from a pit, blindsiding them.
Even the vehicle’s sensors had been fooled.
It was a nested rodent den, with a Level Two Ruin Beast lurking within—a Shadow Mouse, a fearsome creature barely a foot long, pitch-black and hairless, with exceptional stealth and speed. Unlike ordinary rodents that gnawed with their teeth, this one specialized in vicious claw attacks.
Another twist, but not surprising. Humans and Ruin Beasts were always hunting one another.
Such accidents happened everywhere, all the time.
There were thousands of scavengers in the town; on average, a few died every day, sometimes dozens.
After the ambush, Zheng Tian made a snap decision, firing two shots to lure away two Level One rodents.
Ou Youning quickly set up a powerful explosive trap.
Wen Lei tried to intercept the Shadow Mouse, hoping to stall it, but was easily shaken off and immediately entangled by another Level One rodent, leaving him helpless.
Bai Feng attempted to engage, but was a step too slow.
Fortune and misfortune intertwined—the Shadow Mouse went straight for Ren Zhong.
What happened next was unexpected.
Ren Zhong, gripping his heavy sword blade with both hands, did not fall swiftly under the Shadow Mouse's assault.
It had chosen the wrong opponent.
Ren Zhong held his ground, twisting and spinning his body rapidly.
The broad blade whirled about, flipping up and down.
The Level One hard alloy blade weighed seventy-six kilograms; wielded like a Western sword, much of its power would be wasted fighting inertia.
Ren Zhong’s spinning technique used centrifugal force to harness inertia, exploiting the rigidity of the armored material and maximizing the exoskeleton’s power into blade momentum.
He looked like a child twirling a magic wand.
His body could not match the Shadow Mouse’s speed, but the tip of his whirling blade barely kept pace.
Clang after clang echoed.
Ren Zhong, spinning like a snowstorm, was surrounded by flickering shadows and showers of sparks.
No one knew how he managed it—only that the tip of his blade always met the attacking Shadow Mouse, quickly and accurately.
He successfully stalled this formidable foe.
Everyone, including Zheng Tian who was being chased by two rodents, watched in astonishment, their eyelids twitching.
Only Ren Zhong knew the truth.
It was not luck, nor a superhuman feat.
He relied on his brain response index, now surpassing the threshold for Level Two professionals—an astounding 51.2.
His mind always raced ahead of his body, allowing him to track the Shadow Mouse’s movements in time.
…
At the same time, the intense training matches with AI robots in the intermediate arena had greatly enhanced his body control.
He mimicked the two-handed sword technique of Master Yu Chenghui, capturing a few strokes of its essence.
Seeing the others frozen, Ren Zhong shouted angrily, “Don’t just stand there! Move faster! I can’t hold out much longer! Ou Youning! Don’t bother with more explosives, just prepare a big shrapnel mine!”
His mind was sharp, but his body was rapidly exhausting.
A minute later—
Bai Feng tore his opponent to pieces.
Wen Lei smashed the Ruin Beast that was clinging to him with his heavy shield.
Zheng Tian managed a counterattack, taking down two at once.
As for Ren Zhong, he held out until Ou Youning’s trap was ready, then gradually maneuvered the Shadow Mouse into position.
He collapsed!
As he fell, the tip of his blade struck the pressure-activated detonator of the shrapnel mine.
The Shadow Mouse, leaping to deliver a fatal blow to the fallen Ren Zhong, was blasted full of holes by the explosion.
This ordeal, though thrilling, passed without true danger.
…
At the end of the day, after tallying their gains, the team had eliminated thirty-one Level One rodent Ruin Beasts and two Level Two.
Total earnings: one hundred forty-four contribution points.
An unprecedented harvest.
As Zheng Tian put it, among all the semi-professional scavenger teams in Spark Town, this was the greatest single-day hunt in two years.
Zheng Tian: “We made history.”
Additionally, Bai Feng was lightly injured.
Ren Zhong and Wen Lei’s gear suffered some damage.
Costs for treatment, repairs, ammunition, and energy cells totaled twenty-two points, leaving a net profit of one hundred twenty-two points.
Whether facing the Armored Long-Tailed Giant Mouse or the Shadow Mouse, Ren Zhong played a vital role.
After discussion, the team decided to award Ren Zhong sixty points.
The rest split the remaining sixty-two, each contributing twenty percent of their share to public funds.
…
On the way back, Ren Zhong asked Wen Lei about repayment.
Wen Lei said not to rush—he had no immediate need for money, no bills to cover.
Private transfers incurred taxes; it wasn’t worthwhile, so they let it be.
After a brief conversation, Ren Zhong fell silent, feigning rest with closed eyes.
Today was his first time rejoining the world as a warrior since abandoning his pen for the sword.
He performed well, but his body was weary.
Ren Zhong finally understood why the others in Zheng Tian’s squad rarely visited the training grounds.
As professional scavengers, their daily journeys into the wild, battling again and again, were the most intense training imaginable.
Though he hadn’t gone back to check, Ren Zhong was certain his stats had risen again.
He gazed at the scenery rushing past the car window, then at the blue sun drifting toward the western hills.
He sighed inwardly.
The scene resembled something from long ago, but his feelings were entirely different.
The Thunderbolt car sped along, leaving behind scattered pairs and lone scavengers to eat its dust.
Only a handful rode battered motorcycles or open-top off-road vehicles.
…
But these ordinary vehicles were no match for the Thunderbolt’s speed.
These scavengers, heading toward town, were like ancient farmers, working at sunrise and resting at sunset.
The only difference was, scavengers always had a foot on the threshold of death.
Most walked hunched over, some empty-handed, others carrying or dragging Ruin Beasts of varying sizes.
Whether burdened or not, many were wounded, some blood-soaked, missing limbs, staggering on.
Those with crude gear and no team found it nearly impossible to live well in this world.
The journey Ren Zhong completed in seven days would take more than ninety percent of scavengers a lifetime.
Ren Zhong wanted to complain.
Given all this, why bother having children, condemning them to such hardship?
But then he remembered what he’d seen and heard in town, the basic info in his watch, and a policy currently enforced by the Origin Star Commercial Association.
He truly hadn’t expected it.
Despite dire material conditions, the scavengers had an exceptionally high motivation to reproduce.
Spark Town’s scavengers were open-minded, men and women alike.
Take his companions—Chen Hanyu was still unclear, but during her last revival, Zheng Tian absolutely wanted to devour him.
Ren Zhong politely refused.
Not because he was a saint, but because he disliked Zheng Tian’s looks, was preoccupied, felt wary, and hadn’t solved his survival needs.
As for others, Ou Youning, with his foul mouth, was a genuine playboy, with more than one lover in town.
Even Bai Feng, usually quiet as a stone, had several harmonious relationships.
Wen Lei was the exception—perhaps because his heart always held his childhood sweetheart.
In short, in Spark Town, fervent physical needs drove an irrational birthrate.
According to sparse historical records, in the brutal ancient times when human productivity was abysmal and Ruin Beasts ravaged everywhere, humanity survived only thanks to this strong reproductive impulse.
In modern times, the Origin Star Commercial Association implemented policies encouraging childbirth.
When adults raised children, each birthday earned both parents contribution points.
At age one, the child brought a total of one point. Each year, one more point.
This policy applied to everyone.
Moreover, children at five could rent a watch and earn contribution points through sleep.
A five-year-old’s daily food expenses were far less than 0.1, making it profitable.
Ren Zhong instinctively found this policy discordant and bizarre.
First, the scavengers’ living conditions were pushed to the extreme; then money was given to encourage births. Yet when children turned sixteen, they were sent into the wild to fend for themselves.
Heh.
He chuckled unconsciously.
Ou Youning, beside him, immediately asked, “Ren, what’s so funny?”
Ren Zhong replied, “Nothing, just thinking life is truly amusing.”
From below, Wen Lei, serving as a seat cushion, grumbled, “Ren, are you going to the training ground tonight?”
Ren Zhong shook his head. “No, I need to rest today.”
“Oh, you should take a break, Ren. Enjoy life a little, hehe.”
Zheng Tian, up front, chimed in.