"Hey, didn’t you get any sleep last night?"
"No, you didn’t. I’m a professional doctor. I’m not blind. You can’t fool me."
Ren Zhong: "I said I slept, so I slept."
"Alright, whatever you say. Anyway, I wouldn’t mind if you hurry up and die. That way, I can be at ease." Sun Miao said, rolling his eyes while watching the mechanical arm stitch on Ren Zhong’s knee, "But in less than half a month, you’ve gone from a sickly person to this. You won’t die so easily. Sigh, what a pity."
Ren Zhong shrugged, "Thanks for the good wishes."
"Speaking of which, even though you’ve used the Cell Activity Enhancer, the speed of your improvement is still quite astounding. Tsk tsk, what’s the deal? Is it trendy now to use cancer to torture yourself until you’re a ghost of a person, then heal just in time before dying, and start leveling up at light speed? Like in those TV dramas where you play sick, act weak and then shock everyone with a massive comeback?"
Upon hearing this, Ren Zhong thought for a moment, looked at Sun Miao seriously and solemnly, and slowly shook his head, "Not really, it’s like there’s a voice in the dark telling me, Brother Sun, that you need my cancer cells. So I traveled across billions of light years and through time to meet you. Are you moved?"
His words were obviously nonsense, yet his tone was extraordinarily sincere and serious.
Sun Miao instinctively forgot to retort and just stared straight at Ren Zhong.
The two men with thick eyebrows and big eyes stared at each other oddly.
The atmosphere somehow became a bit...awkward.
It turned out that Sun Miao, the seasoned trash-talker, lost the upper hand in demeanor.
He turned his face away, no longer looking directly into Ren Zhong’s eyes, "Damn it, I’m not moved at all! I beg you to stop mentioning cancer, cancer, cancer all the time, alright? I really can’t handle this kind of shock. I’m begging you!"
Meanwhile, the mechanical arm had withdrawn from Ren Zhong’s knee.
The seam was beautifully done, with organic fibers densely interwoven, looking no different than real skin in color.
Beneath the organic fibers was a layer of bionic fat and various body substitutes, and further beneath, a piece of high-end bionic meniscus that reportedly wouldn’t wear out for thirty years.
In addition, some medications that Ren Zhong didn’t recognize were applied, though they were said to be good stuff.
According to Sun Miao before the surgery, in the coming half month, Ren Zhong’s wound would gradually self-heal.
Besides the meniscus, the other bionic organisms would be absorbed by the regrowing skin and muscular tissue.
Ren Zhong jumped off the bed, stepped on the ground, and tried moving his leg. There was just a slight pain, but no sense of stiffness, making it hard to believe he had just undergone major surgery.
He gave Sun Miao a thumbs-up, "Nice work."
"Of course! But don’t change the subject! Let’s make it clear, if you don’t mention this thing again, today’s on the house."
"Otherwise, how much should I pay?"
Sun Miao held up two fingers.
"Get lost! Do you think this is some cheap brothel service? It’s two hundred! Two hundred! I used the best materials for you! The cost alone is two hundred! And that doesn’t include my workmanship! Ren Zhong, I’m begging you, be a decent person! I’m really scared of you, is that not enough?"
Ren Zhong squinted slightly, "I can agree with you, but I need a reason that convinces me."
Sun Miao, hearing this, cautiously glanced outside the door and lowered his voice, "I was a Senior Researcher at Mengdu Group. If it weren’t for my determination to pursue this research, I should’ve become a Senior Director at Mengdu Group’s R&D headquarters by now. They let me leave on the condition that I swear never to touch this project again. But swearing is meaningless. They let me go because they firmly believed I couldn’t get super-late-stage cancer cells outside. They hoped I’d change my mind. But if news got out, not only us but everyone in the town except the Citizens would die. Understand?"
Ren Zhong was silent for a moment.
"Alright. I promise you. Whether it’s for you, myself, or the scavengers in the town, I won’t mention it again."
"No need to thank me."
Ren Zhong grinned, "But next time, I’m raising the price."
Sun Miao: "Huh? Next time? It’s generous enough that I’m not charging you, and now you want to raise the price? What’s your point?"
Ren Zhong: "It’s a secret."
"Whatever, anyway remember, today is the last time you get a free ride! The next time you have to pay! You have to pay!"
"Sure, no problem." Ren Zhong shrugged.
After Ren Zhong left, Sun Miao was still not happy.
Even though he had eliminated a hidden risk with just 200 Contribution Points, which was a great deal, he somehow had a sinking feeling like he stepped into a trap.
"Weird. That rascal doesn’t seem like the type to break promises. Plus, I’ve made it clear; he should know that even if he sold this info, he’d never get to spend the money, right?"
Sun Miao scratched his head, forcing himself not to overthink things.
As for killing to silence, Sun Miao had briefly considered it.
But he’s not stupid, and he knows that Ren Zhong, who has blackmailed him several times, hitting where it hurts each time, is even more cunning.
So, in Sun Miao’s imagination, devious, shameless, and insidious Ren Zhong surely had a backup plan.
Once Ren Zhong died, the backup plan would certainly activate, and what’s in store for him would inevitably be disaster.
Sun Miao had truly wronged Ren Zhong on this.
Ren Zhong wasn’t really concerned; he just found it unnecessary.
At 7:13 am, Ren Zhong first drove to Starfire Resource Recycling Company.
In front of the three platforms, three uniformed workers had just arrived and were gathered, idly chatting.
The recycling platform’s usual working hours are 7 am to 9 pm, just like the Military Weapon Store.
The work hours are pretty lengthy.
However, most of the time, these people just stand around doing nothing, not busy at all.
Typically, it’s right after 7 am that they’re the least occupied, as serious scavengers are just preparing to head out.
Usually, only a few people return late at night for some reason, and having missed the staff, they come to sell goods first thing in the morning, but that’s an unusual occurrence.
Until a few days ago, their morning serenity was disrupted by an unwelcome guest.
It’s been six consecutive days since then.
"Hey, buddy, can you come by in the afternoon or evening next time? We’re not used to getting right to work so early in the morning."
A female staff member complained as she got up.
Ren Zhong awkwardly smiled, "I’ll make sure next time, I’ll make sure."
After deducting 30% freelance sales tax, he received 160.7 Contribution Points, exceeding his target, bringing his total wealth to 591.36.
He’s just 96.64 away from "Armored Insights."
If all goes well, he expects to reach his goal by tomorrow afternoon, just a few hours before the title examination.
Instead of taking a break, Ren Zhong chose not to rest but to battle through his minor injuries, meeting up with Zheng Tian’s team to resume daytime hunting.
"Where are we going today?"
As the Thunderbolt Car drove out of the town gate, the half-asleep Ren Zhong noticed the vehicle wasn’t following a familiar path and asked without thinking.
Today presented two unexpected situations: the back seat of the Thunderbolt Car had been reinstalled, and there were only five people in the car.
Wen Lei wasn’t in the car.
But Wen Lei hadn’t been abandoned; he was driving an old box truck that hadn’t been out for a long time, following behind the Thunderbolt Car.
This left Ren Zhong confused.
Zheng Tian, with a joyful expression, replied, "Bone Valley."
It was said that many years ago, there was a bustling small town in the valley, with a permanent population of up to a hundred thousand.
But later, the town was flattened overnight, corpses piled high, blood flowed, and white bones covered the fields.
Thus, the valley was renamed Bone Valley.
Since then, this area had long been devoid of human settlements.
Until years later, Starfire Town rose out of the wilderness, attracting tens of thousands of nomads seeking refuge, and the area began to thrive again.
However, at this point, Bone Valley, about 50 kilometers from Starfire Town, had become a human no-go zone.
In that small valley, 3 kilometers long and 0.8 kilometers wide, many different types of Ruined Beasts roamed freely.
It should have been prime territory for scavengers, but unfortunately, it was inhabited by Level Four Ruined Beasts.
This was beyond what ordinary scavengers in town could handle.
Even a team of excellent semi-professional scavengers would be outmatched there.
Ren Zhong knew about this, only frowning and saying, "Isn’t it really dangerous there? With our current strength, I’m afraid..."
Zheng Tian waved a hand, "It’s not a problem. Today is a harvest day for our semi-professional teams from Starfire Town."