The fierce wind swept over the sand dunes.
A swarm of locusts swept across the wheat field.
The entire mountain range emitted a mournful wail.
Under the near-ground-scraping plundering development of Zheng Tian’s team, the mouse-type Ruined Beasts on Rat Cliff Mountain felt the pain.
The most dangerous situation for the team all day was the sudden encounter with five Ruined Beasts.
Four First Level, and one Second Level.
Originally, Ren Zhong remembered that there were only four First Level mouse types there.
They avoided it last time, but this time, under his intelligence guidance, Zheng Tian decided to launch a frontal attack.
The four of them with combat capabilities could settle it with pair-matched skirmishes.
But unexpectedly, just as they started on the creatures, another Second Level mouse-type suddenly rushed out from inside the hole.
The vehicle’s sensor was fooled.
That was actually a chain nest, a hole within a hole with the Second Level Ruined Beast Shadow Mouse lurking inside. It was a terrifying life form, only one foot long, pitch black and hairless, with extremely strong concealment abilities, and extraordinary speed, unlike ordinary mice that focus on gnawing with teeth, it excelled in claw attacks.
This was another unpredictable mishap, but not surprising.
The relationship between humans and Ruined Beasts is essentially mutual hunting.
Such unexpected situations occur everywhere at any time.
There are thousands of Scavengers in the town, and on average, a few die each day, sometimes dozens.
After the accident, Zheng Tian made a quick decision, firing two shots to lure away two First Level mouse types.
Ou Youning urgently laid out a high-power explosive trap.
Wen Lei originally intended to confront the Shadow Mouse and hold it off, but he was easily shaken off, immediately getting entangled by another First Level mouse type, feeling helpless.
Bai Feng tried to intercept the creature but was a step too slow.
Both fortunately and unfortunately, the Shadow Mouse went straight for Ren Zhong.
Something unexpected happened.
Ren Zhong, gripping the Heavy Sword Battle Blade with both hands, did not quickly falter under the Shadow Mouse’s charge.
It chose the wrong opponent.
Ren Zhong held his ground, his figure twisting and spinning rapidly.
The wide Battle Blade spun around, flipping up and down.
The First Level hard alloy Battle Blade weighs a total of 76 kilograms, and if used like a rapier, a lot of power would be wasted controlling the inertia.
Ren Zhong’s spinning technique was precisely to leverage the centrifugal force to guide the inertia, utilizing the rigidity of the armor material, and converting the exoskeleton’s power to the maximum into the Battle Blade’s kinetic energy.
He looked like a child spinning with a fairy wand in hand.
His body speed couldn’t match the Shadow Mouse, but the tip of his whirling Battle Blade could barely keep up with it.
Only the sound of clinking and clanking could be heard.
Black shadows flickered around the snowball-spinning Ren Zhong, with sparks shooting off continuously.
Nobody knew how he did it, but the fact proved that the tip of his Battle Blade could precisely and swiftly meet the charging Shadow Mouse.
He successfully held off this strong enemy.
Including Zheng Tian, who was being chased by two mouse types, everyone watched with eyes twitching, clicking their tongues in amazement.
Only Ren Zhong himself knew best.
He could do this not by luck or extraordinary performance.
He relied precisely on a Brain Reaction Index that had already exceeded the limit of a Second Level Professional, reaching as high as 51.2.
His brain always stayed a step ahead of his body, allowing him to timely capture the Shadow Mouse’s movements.
Moreover, his body control, honed through high-intensity matches with AI robots in the intermediate training area, also helped significantly.
He imitated three to five tenths of the essence of the double-handed sword technique he saw from Master Yu Chenghui in his memory.
Seeing others dumbfounded, Ren Zhong shouted angrily, "Don’t just stand there! Move it! I can’t hold on much longer! Ou Youning! You don’t need a massive blast, just get a big fragmentation mine ready!"
Although his brain was sufficient, his body was far behind, and Ren Zhong’s physical condition was rapidly declining.
Bai Feng shredded his opponent.
Wen Lei flattened the Ruined Beast mouse type that was tightly clinging to him with his heavy shield.
Zheng Tian, fighting one against two, even succeeded in counter-killing.
As for Ren Zhong, he held out until Ou Youning set up the trap, then moved step by step, luring the Shadow Mouse over.
As he fell, the tip of his Battle Blade struck precisely on the pressure fuse of the fragmentation mine.
The Shadow Mouse, in its arrogance, was attempting a deadly strike as he inexplicably fell, was immediately riddled with holes by the explosive fragments.
This hurdle was passed with thrilling safety.
By the end of the day, after tallying the harvest, the group had eliminated 31 First Level mouse-type Ruined Beasts and two Second Level ones.
The total income was 144 Contribution Points.
An unprecedented abundant harvest.
As Zheng Tian said, looking throughout all semi-professional Scavenger Teams in Starfire Town, this was also the largest single-day hunting result in the past two years.
Zheng Tian: "We made history."
Besides, Bai Feng sustained minor injuries.
Some of the equipment of Ren Zhong and Wen Lei was also damaged.
The cost for treatment, equipment repair, ammunition, and energy cells was 22 points, leaving the team with a net gain of 122 points.
Whether dealing with the Crystal Armored Long-tailed Giant Mouse or the Shadow Mouse, Ren Zhong played a crucial role.
After some discussion, the group decided that Ren Zhong would uniquely receive 60 points.
The others divided the remaining 62 points and each put 20% of their earnings into the public fund.
On the way back, Ren Zhong asked Wen Lei about the debt.
Wen Lei said it wasn’t urgent.
He currently didn’t have any immediate need for money, so there was no need for advance payment.
Private transfer incurs tax, which isn’t cost-effective, so it remains on hold for now.
After a brief conversation, Ren Zhong stopped talking and pretended to close his eyes and rest.
Today was his first time rejoining the world as a warrior after putting aside his pen and taking up arms.
He did well but was also quite exhausted physically.
Ren Zhong realized why the other members of Zheng Tian’s team seldom visited the training ground regularly.
After becoming professional Scavengers, walking in the wilderness every day and experiencing battle after battle is already the highest intensity of training.
Although he hadn’t gone back to test, Ren Zhong knew his parameters must have increased again.
Ren Zhong looked at the scenery flying past outside the car window and then at the blue sun drifting toward the western mountains in the distance.
He felt a sense of reflection.
Similar scenes as long ago, yet with entirely different mindsets.
The Thunderbolt Car raced forward at blazing speed, leaving behind the scattered or solitary low-level Scavengers to eat dust.
Only a few brave souls rode motorcycles, or drove open-top off-road vehicles and similar transport.
However, the speed of these ordinary vehicles was vastly different compared to the Thunderbolt Car.
These Scavengers were also heading toward the town, like ancient farmers, working from sunrise to sunset.
The only difference is that Scavengers always have one foot on the threshold of Ghost Gate.
Most of the Scavengers hunched over, whether empty-handed or carrying various sizes of Ruined Beasts on their shoulders or dragging them on the ground.
Whether carrying something or not, many people were injured all over, and some were even bloodied, missing arms or legs, trudging along unsteadily.
For those poorly equipped and without a team, it’s exceedingly difficult to live well in this world.
The path that Ren Zhong walked in seven days would take more than ninety percent of the wasteland drifters an entire lifetime to cover slowly.
Ren Zhong felt like making a sarcastic remark.
With things this way, why bother having children, allowing them to suffer?
But he remembered what he saw and heard in the town and the information recorded in the basic information library on his Wrist watch, and a policy currently being enforced by the Source Star Business Association.
It was genuinely unexpected for him.
Despite the extremely low material conditions, the procreative motivation among the wasteland drifters was extraordinarily high.
The wasteland drifters in Starfire Town were very open, both men and women.
Just speaking of those around him, although he wasn’t clear about Chen Hanyu, during the last resurrection, Zheng Tian definitely wanted to consume him.
Not because he was a saint, but firstly because he didn’t like Zheng Tian’s appearance, secondly because he was still full of thoughts and had no heart for those pursuits, thirdly due to apprehensions, and fourthly because he hadn’t yet resolved his survival needs.
As for the others, from what he knew, Ou Youning, with his annoyingly talkative mouth, was quite the playboy, having more than one female acquaintance in the town.
Bai Feng, who kept silent like a gourd, surprisingly had quite a few harmonious living partners.
Wen Lei was the odd one; maybe his heart had always been occupied by a childhood sweetheart.
In short, within Starfire Town, the boiling physiological demand brought about an unreasonable birth rate.
According to extremely brief historical records, during the ancient times when human productivity was extremely low and Ruined Beasts were rampaging everywhere, humanity indeed survived to this day through this strong procreative motivation.
In recent times, the Source Star Business Association implemented policies encouraging childbirth.
When adults nurture offspring, every time the children have a birthday, both parents receive Contribution Point rewards.
At the age of one, the child receives a total of 1 point. Each year older, they gain another 1 point.
This policy applies to everyone.
Moreover, when children reach 5 years old, they can rent a Wrist watch and earn Contribution Points through sleep.
The food expense of a 5-year-old child every day is far less than 0.1, hence profitable.
This policy gave Ren Zhong an instinctive sense of incongruence and weirdness.
First, press the survival conditions of the wastelanders to the extreme, then use money to encourage childbirth, yet once children reach 16, they are driven out for self-reliance.
He subconsciously chuckled.
Sitting beside him, Ou Youning immediately asked, "Ren Bro, what’s up?"
Ren Zhong replied, "Nothing, just thinking life is quite amusing."
Wen Lei, who was lying below as a seat cushion, muffledly asked, "Ren Bro, are you going to the training ground tonight?"
Ren Zhong shook his head, "Not going, need to rest today."
"Oh, Ren Bro, you should rest a bit. Enjoy life a little, hehe."
Zheng Tian in the front row immediately chimed in.