Chapter 48: The Valley of White Bones

“Did you pull an all-nighter again?”
“I slept!”
“No, you didn’t. I’m a professional doctor. I’m not blind. You can’t fool me.”
Ren Zhong replied, “I said I slept, so I slept.”
“Forget it, do as you like. Frankly, I’d be glad if you just dropped dead. That would put my mind at ease.” While watching the mechanical arm deftly stitch up Ren Zhong’s knee, Sun Miao rolled his eyes and continued, “But it’s only been half a month and you’ve gone from a sickly invalid to this—looks like you’re not dying anytime soon. What a pity.”
Ren Zhong shrugged. “Thanks for the kind words.”
“Seriously though, even with the cellular activity enhancers, your progress is pretty astonishing. Tsk, tsk. What is it now? Is it trendy these days to torture yourself with cancer until you’re half-human, half-ghost, then time your recovery for a miraculous comeback and skyrocket in strength? Like those TV dramas where the protagonist pretends to be sick and weak, then suddenly reveals his true power to amaze everyone?”
Ren Zhong pondered for a moment, then looked at Sun Miao with grave sincerity and shook his head slowly. “Not really. It’s just that some mysterious voice keeps telling me, Brother Sun, that you need my cancer cells. So I crossed billions of light years, transcending time itself, to come and meet you. Are you moved?”
Although his words were utterly absurd, his tone was unusually earnest and solemn.
Sun Miao was momentarily at a loss for words, simply staring straight at Ren Zhong.
Two men with thick eyebrows and large eyes, locked in a strange gaze.
The atmosphere became oddly…
It was actually Sun Miao, the notorious trash talker, who lost his edge.
He turned away, refusing to meet Ren Zhong’s eyes. “Damn it, why should I be moved? I’m begging you, can you stop going on and on about cancer? I really can’t handle these shocks anymore. I’m begging you!”
By now, the mechanical arm had withdrawn from Ren Zhong’s knee.
The suture was beautiful—organic fibers tightly interwoven, looking indistinguishable from real skin.
Beneath the organic fibers lay a layer of bionic fat and various muscle substitutes, and below that, a high-end bionic meniscus that claimed to last thirty years without wearing out.
There were also some medications Ren Zhong didn’t recognize, but they were said to be top quality.
According to Sun Miao’s pre-op explanation, the wound would gradually heal itself over the next half month.
Except for the meniscus, the other bionic tissues would be absorbed by the regrown skin and muscle.
Ren Zhong jumped off the bed, testing his leg on the ground. There was a faint pain, but no stiffness at all—he could hardly tell he’d just had major surgery.
He gave Sun Miao a thumbs-up. “Nice work.”
“Of course! But don’t change the subject! Let’s make it official: as long as you never mention this again, today’s operation is free.”
“Otherwise, how much should I pay you?”
Sun Miao held up two fingers.
“Two bucks?”
“Get lost! What do you think this is, a brothel? That cheap? Two hundred! Two hundred! I gave you the best of everything! Material costs alone are two hundred! And that’s not counting my skill! Ren Zhong, I’m begging you, be reasonable! I surrender, isn’t that enough?”
Ren Zhong narrowed his eyes. “I could agree, but I need a convincing reason.”
Sun Miao glanced warily at the door and lowered his voice. “I used to be a senior researcher at the Mengdu Group. If I hadn’t insisted on pursuing this research, I’d probably be a director at their headquarters by now. They let me leave on the condition I swear never to touch this project again. But oaths mean nothing. They let me go because they were sure I couldn’t get my hands on late-stage cancer cells outside. They even hope I’ll change my mind and go back. But if word gets out, not only will you and I die, but everyone in this town except the registered citizens will die too. Do you understand?”
Ren Zhong was silent for a moment.

“All right. I promise. Whether for your sake, mine, or the sake of the outcasts in this town, I won’t mention it again.”
“Thank you.”
“No need.”
Ren Zhong grinned. “But next time, I’ll be charging more.”
Sun Miao: “Huh? Next time? You’re lucky I don’t charge you now, and you want to hike the price? What are you planning?”
Ren Zhong replied, “Heavenly secrets cannot be revealed.”
“Whatever. But remember, this is the last time you get a freebie! You have to pay next time! No exceptions!”
“Sure, no problem,” Ren Zhong shrugged.
After Ren Zhong left, Sun Miao still couldn’t feel at ease.
For just two hundred contribution points, he’d eliminated a potential threat—a fantastic deal. Yet, for some reason, he had an uneasy feeling, as if he’d stepped into a trap.
“How bizarre. That Ren bastard doesn’t seem like a man who goes back on his word. And I made it clear—even if he tried to sell this information, he’d never live to spend the money, right?”
Sun Miao scratched his head, forcing himself not to overthink.
As for killing to silence him, the thought had crossed his mind briefly.
But he wasn’t stupid, and he knew that Ren Zhong, who’d extorted him several times and always hit his sore spots, was even more cunning.
So, in Sun Miao’s imagination, the despicable, shameless, crafty, and devious Ren Zhong must have his own backup plan.
If Ren Zhong died, that backup would activate, and doom would await Sun Miao as well.
He had truly misjudged Ren Zhong, though.
Ren Zhong could have, but simply didn’t see the need.

...

At 7:13 in the morning, Ren Zhong drove first to the Spark Resource Recovery Company.
In front of the three platforms, three uniformed staff members had just arrived and were chatting idly.
The normal operating hours for the recycling platform were 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., just like the munitions market.
The working hours were very long.
However, most of the time, these employees just stood around, loafing and slacking off—they weren’t actually busy.
Early mornings, just after seven, were their slowest time; the real scavengers were only just getting ready to head out.
Only a handful of people, who’d come back very late the night before and missed closing, would show up at dawn to sell their goods—but that was rare.
Until a few days ago, when their peaceful mornings were shattered by an uninvited guest.
And it had happened for six days straight.
“Hey, friend, can you come in the afternoon or evening next time? We’re really not used to working first thing in the morning.”
A female staffer stood up, grumbling as she did so.

Ren Zhong offered an embarrassed smile. “Next time, I promise.”
After deducting the 30% freelance seller’s tax, he received 160.7 contribution points, exceeding his target—his total wealth now stood at 591.36.
He was just 96.64 away from the “Armored Insights” manual.
If all went smoothly, he expected to reach his goal by tomorrow afternoon, just in time for the professional qualification evaluation.
Instead of resting, Ren Zhong insisted on working through his minor injuries, meeting up with Zheng Tian’s team to begin another day of hunting.

...

“So where are we off to today?”
As the Thunderbolt van drove out of town, Ren Zhong—half awake—noticed the vehicle wasn’t taking their usual route and asked offhandedly.
There were two unexpected changes today: the rear seat had been reinstalled, and there were only five people in the car.
Wen Lei wasn’t with them.
But Wen Lei hadn’t been left behind; he was driving a box truck that hadn’t been used in ages, following behind the Thunderbolt.
This left Ren Zhong curious.
Zheng Tian replied with a pleased smile, “To White Bone Valley.”
Ren Zhong’s brow furrowed.
According to legend, many years ago, there had been a prosperous city in that valley, with a permanent population of a hundred thousand.
But one night, the town was razed to the ground, bodies piled high, rivers ran red, and the land was covered in bones.
The valley’s name was changed to White Bone Valley.
For a long time after, there were no human settlements in the area.
Only years later, when Spark Town rose from the wilderness and tens of thousands of outcasts flocked in, did the region regain some human presence.
But the valley—about 50 kilometers from Spark Town—had become a forbidden zone for humans.
Within that three-kilometer-long, 0.8-kilometer-wide valley, a great number of different types and sizes of Ruin Beasts roamed.
It should have been a goldmine for scavengers, but unfortunately, there were even Grade Four Ruin Beasts there.
For ordinary scavengers in town, that was far beyond their abilities.
Even skilled semi-professional teams would be courting death by going in.
Ren Zhong was well aware of this and frowned. “Isn’t it dangerous? With our current strength, I’m afraid...”
Zheng Tian waved it off. “No problem. Today is the semi-pro teams’ harvest day in Spark Town.”
“Oh?”