Ren Zhong had long had a deep understanding of the injustice and cruelty of the world.
But when it wasn’t his problem, even though there was anger in his heart, it was like a rootless duckweed, ethereal and elusive.
Knowing it was omnipresent, visible, seemingly within reach, yet when reaching out, it was merely an illusion.
It wasn’t until injustice and cruelty bluntly descended upon him that Ren Zhong’s anger found a sudden outlet, like a fierce tiger unleashed.
He was completely defenseless.
Curled up under the frozen storage, Ren Zhong cursed the heavens.
Fuck your grass and everything else!
Fuck this dog-eat-dog world!
Fuck this Source Star!
After a long while, his curses took a break.
A warrior with no choice must face the bloody reality head-on.
The origins of the incident are twofold.
Four hours before "Ren Zhong’s Time," slightly past ten in the morning, Zheng Tian’s team was cheerfully singing and fighting.
Switching from a van to a Thunderbolt Car, many things have indeed changed, much like climbing to see farther, standing on different peaks always reveals different scenery.
This time, Zheng Tian made a bold arrangement, choosing a road never touched before, relying on the sharpness of the Thunderbolt Car to forcefully break through a blockade zone mainly of Second Level Ruined Beasts, entering Rat Cliff Mountain 90 kilometers west of Starfire Town.
Rat Cliff Mountain covers an area of about six square kilometers and is a low mountain range widely covered by broadleaf forests, where Ruined Beasts are mainly rodents.
The rodent Ruined Beasts reproduce extremely quickly, living in groups of three or five but are relatively weak individually, loved by many Scavengers.
If not for the perilous journey, everyone would want to come to Rat Cliff Mountain.
Well-prepared, Zheng Tian’s team charged in.
Indeed, it was a paradise; compared to the outside, it had fewer people and more meat, mainly easy-to-bully First Level rodent Ruined Beasts, a veritable wealthy mine.
The team was like a storm passing through, their luck exceptionally strong, reaping abundant rewards. In just two hours, they had taken down sixteen rodent Ruined Beasts, worth over fifty Contribution Points, while their military supplies had only consumed a third.
Taught by the previous lesson of greedy disaster with the Blade Mantis, Zheng Tian greatly respected Ren Zhong’s opinion on key decisions.
After discussing, they decided to slightly expand their gains, aiming to reach a total of 60 Contribution Points before noon and return.
Ren Zhong also planned to transform into a junkman with Wen Lei in the afternoon at the junkyard, even if just to gather a full five-piece set first.
Unexpectedly, just as everyone watched Ou Youning set up traps to lure a nearby nest with a pair of rodent Ruined Beasts, a floating motorboat arrived in mid-air and stopped with a drift in front of them.
On the vehicle, a man with a larger fierce black rifle than Zheng Tian’s big sniper looked cruelly solemn.
Once stabilized, the man took off his helmet, his side face sporting a half-smile half-smirk at the crowd.
Ren Zhong recognized this vehicle; it was from the professional team Zheng Tian’s team was affiliated with.
This professional team, renowned in the small town, consisted entirely of Fourth Level professionals with incredible strength.
Unlike semi-professional teams needing to stick together, the professionals of this team traveled solo on "low level maps" like Rat Cliff Mountain, riding their floating motorboats swiftly, and confronting Ruined Beasts regardless of their level or number, rushing them directly.
All of these people had mastered at least a First Level Demolition Master’s skill, dismantling crystal chips on the spot after slaughtering rodent beast lairs, leaving corpses behind to be devoured by other beasts and animals or picked up cheaply by lucky Scavenger teams.
This morning, Zheng Tian’s team had the fortune to pick up three corpses with a 50% damage rate, thrown into the back of the Thunderbolt Car.
Zheng Tian approached for negotiation, looking at the big box on the back seat of the man’s motorboat holding crystal chips, and smiled in the most ingratiating way possible: "Good morning Brother Hui, we are really lucky today to run into you."
The man named Brother Hui jumped off the car, squinting at the Thunderbolt Car parked not far away, then said, "Running into me, you guys are indeed lucky. What’s this? Got a new car and didn’t report it to the boss?"
Zheng Tian moved forward, took Brother Hui’s arm, and shook it, "It’s just a crappy Second Level car, such a small matter I wouldn’t dare trouble you guys with."
"Alright. Running into each other is fate. By rules, since you overlap with our hunting zone, you should express something, which is why I said you’re lucky. I’m only taking half of your things; if it were someone else, they’d ask for at least seventy percent. Let your Demolition Master bring over the box, hurry up."