Chapter 63: Sacrificing One’s Own for the Sake of Justice

“Mr. Ren, you really didn’t have to push yourself to this extent,” said Wen Lei, the upright-walking means of transportation, as he carried Ren Zhong on his back.

Today, Zheng Tian had wrapped up the hunting expedition earlier than usual. Before five in the afternoon, the team had already returned to town. After selling their loot, Zheng Tian and Wen Lei hurried to the mech warrior training ground at the time agreed upon with Ren Zhong.

In fact, Zheng Tian didn’t need to come today, but, fearing Wen Lei’s lack of social finesse might ruin things, she decided to tag along as his wingman. According to her original plan, tonight was a prime opportunity for Wen Lei to showcase his solid skills, use the free mech warrior introductory training as bait, and further lure Ren Zhong into their fold.

On the way, Zheng Tian repeatedly reminded Wen Lei to do his best and not let the team down. Wen Lei had even found time earlier in the day to prepare a teaching outline.

But to their surprise, upon arriving at the training ground, they found Ren Zhong lying flat on his back in a corner of the beginner’s section, looking like a corpse.

He hadn’t been beaten—he’d simply overworked himself to exhaustion.

Ren Zhong was well-practiced in this kind of extreme training. Zheng Tian couldn’t help but roll her eyes. Looking at him now, what was the point of further practice?

With Wen Lei’s carefully prepared lesson plan rendered useless, he could only “expertly” fulfill Ren Zhong’s request, hoisting him off the ground and murmuring with a hint of resignation.

Zheng Tian would have liked to help carry him herself, but with Ren Zhong clad in a full set of exoskeleton armor, only Wen Lei had the strength to manage it.

Zheng Tian sighed, “Exactly, you can’t train like this in the beginner’s section. If your nutrition can’t keep up, it’s too much of a drain on your body and actually harmful.”

Ren Zhong waved weakly, “It’s fine. Manager Ju gave me two servings of the intermediate section’s high-absorption nutrition meals. Just enough for me to push myself to the limit.”

Zheng Tian and Wen Lei: “…”

Is that even allowed?

Clearly, they’d underestimated him.

We really can’t imagine the happiness of a man with connections like this.

“By the way, Mr. Ren, what are your parameters now? My talent is average, but before I passed the first-level professional qualification, I learned a lot of foundational knowledge. I could give you some advice on your training regimen,” Wen Lei said as they left the training ground.

Ren Zhong thought for a moment. “Load capacity: 3.7 kilowatts. Physical index: 8.1.”

He didn’t mention his terrifying 52.9 neural response index, not wanting to discourage anyone.

But Wen Lei was already shaken.

So human parameters could improve this much?

Yesterday he’d looked sickly, yet today his physical index was nearly up to standard?

Wen Lei almost asked if Ren Zhong had tried training coordinated movements, but then remembered—this man had ridden a motorcycle in armor the previous night.

According to Zheng Tian, he’d even managed to drift—with a first-level suit, the amplifier on, and massive operational lag, he’d still pulled off a drift!

Wen Lei silently closed his mouth.

He planned to go home and burn his lesson plan.

The three returned to the team’s courtyard. This time Wen Lei drove, Ren Zhong sat in the middle, and Zheng Tian sat at the back, holding on to Ren Zhong. Given the cramped circumstances, it was impossible not to hold on, or Zheng Tian would have fallen off. With Ren Zhong wearing his exoskeleton, there was no awkward physical contact.

After reaching the courtyard and resting for a while, Ren Zhong casually asked during dinner, “So, how was your haul today?”

The question immediately cast a gloom over what had been a lively dinner.

Zheng Tian put down her chopsticks and sighed. “Ah, today was just bad luck.”

She’d splurged on expensive, fresh ingredients for dinner to entertain Ren Zhong, but remembering the day’s events, even the fresh stir-fry tasted bland.

“Oh?” Ren Zhong feigned surprise. “What happened?”

Hearing Zheng Tian recount the day, Ren Zhong understood everything.

History had repeated itself with a strange twist: the team had chosen Iron Bug Forest as their hunting ground again. Except for not running into the Blade Mantis, their search route had overlapped subtly with his own from the previous day.

But all the “leeks” had already been ruthlessly harvested by him the night before.

No wonder they’d returned empty-handed.

Ou Youning cursed, “Who the hell was so shameless, getting there first and copying the pros—taking just the chips and leaving the bodies? The sensors kept pinging, we’d rush over, and all we’d find were corpses, never a single chip. Unbelievable.”

Zheng Tian scratched her head. “It’s weird. This is a classic route I mapped out. Every few months, we cycle through and always get results. Today, nothing. It’s like we’ve been cursed.”

Wen Lei echoed, “Yeah, everyone only got 0.3 points today. It’s a headache.”

Even the emotionless cyborg, Bai Feng, spread his long arms helplessly. “Who can stand this?”

Ren Zhong: “Pfft!”

Zheng Tian asked, “Mr. Ren, what’s wrong?”

Ren Zhong replied, “Nothing, just choked a bit.”

Excellent. The containment plan had worked perfectly.

It was my error they didn’t come back completely empty-handed, but next time, I’ll make sure.

Perhaps it was a little underhanded, but Ren Zhong felt no guilt.

After all, they hadn’t run into their destined nemesis, the Demon Blade Mantis, today.

They’d survived.

Life was more important than anything.

“By the way, Zheng Tian, do you have any plans after dinner?” Ren Zhong began his next step.

At his words, Zheng Tian’s spirits revived, surprise and delight flickering across her face. She answered honestly, “I was going to check out the flea market. Do you need anything, Mr. Ren?”

“I have a friend who wants to learn to be a gunsmith. I have a small favor to ask—could you write an introductory guide to gunsmithing for me?”

Zheng Tian snapped her fingers. “No problem! I’ll write it right after dinner! You’ll have it by nine at the latest!”

She was elated. Mr. Ren had a new request—there was hope yet.

Ren Zhong smiled. “Sorry for the trouble, and thank you.”

“No need to thank me! It’s nothing!”

And so, Zheng Tian completely missed out on any news about the Thunderbolt Car that evening. She might hear about it tomorrow, but by then, the car would be gone.

Excellent—another unstable variable nipped in the bud.

Zheng Tian asked, “Does your friend need a gun? I have a spare rapid-fire machine gun, almost brand new. I’ll give it to you.”

Ren Zhong shook his head. “I couldn’t accept that. Let’s go with the market price—15 points. I’m short on funds at the moment, so I’ll pay you in a few days.”

When she persisted, Ren Zhong insisted, “If you give it to me, I won’t take it.”

“Alright, then.”

“It’s settled, then. I’ll take the gun tonight and pay you in a few days.”

Ren Zhong did have money, but he simply refused to give her the opportunity to buy a car.

Dinner ended in a warm, jovial atmosphere.

Zheng Tian was very pleased with the progress. Although she still hadn’t managed to invite Ren Zhong to join the team, nor had he expressed any intention, the fact that a man as cultured and refined as Mr. Ren was willing to dine with the team and openly seek their help showed he didn’t consider them outsiders.

A good beginning meant a bright future.

There was still hope to climb up by holding onto Mr. Ren’s coattails.

Keep working hard!

“So, Brother Ren, what are your plans for tonight? Want to experience our town’s nightlife? Didn’t you say you were looking forward to it? Haha! This is my specialty! I’ll take you to the brothel for some fun—you’ll be relaxed from head to toe!”

Prompted by Zheng Tian’s subtle glances, Ou Youning, now well-fed, patted his belly and made his suggestion.

Ren Zhong’s mouth twitched.

He’d miscalculated.

Even the best slip up sometimes. He hadn’t expected his casual boasting yesterday to leave a loophole for Ou Youning, that old rogue, to exploit.

Feeling uneasy, Ren Zhong thought he needed to bring up his alternate plans for the evening, or he’d be dragged off for sure.

He quickly turned to Chen Hanyu, who had been silent throughout dinner. “I was just joking about that. I’m not interested in that sort of thing. Chen Hanyu, are you free tonight?”

Huh!

Chen Hanyu immediately looked up, eyes wide with nervous surprise. Her gaze flickered, a blush rising to her cheeks, a mix of shyness, annoyance, and anxiety. She shot a pleading look at Zheng Tian.

Zheng Tian’s eyebrows were twitching furiously—five times a second.

The opportunity had come! Hanyu, you can go for it!

Wen Lei and the others exchanged meaningful glances, their expressions full of hidden implication.

Realizing the misunderstanding, Ren Zhong hurried to clarify.

Here we go again—another slip of the tongue. Perhaps this was just fate’s way of ensuring the timeline converged.

He quickly explained, “Sorry, sorry. It’s like this. Yesterday, I said I was interested in becoming a dismantler. I’ve already picked up some basic knowledge, but I’d like to learn more about your techniques. I trained for four hours this afternoon and I’m exhausted. I don’t feel like going out, so I thought I’d relax by learning something new. Are you free? I can pay you for the lesson.”

Everyone reacted differently to this.

Zheng Tian and the others were a bit disappointed.

Chen Hanyu, however, was slightly offended. “Mr. Ren, you call a dismantler’s techniques ‘relaxing’ knowledge?”

This touched on her professional pride; she felt as if she’d been underestimated.

Ren Zhong considered for a moment, then decided that since his talent would be obvious once they started, he might as well be honest.

“I may have only dabbled before, but my talent for this line of work might exceed your expectations.”