Translator: Legge Editor: Legge
The band was back? Ren Xiaosu was a little puzzled by this. It would have taken them at least two months to go back and forth from Stronghold 112 and here.
Calculating the time, it was probably only a week since the band left. So... they couldn’t have reached Stronghold 112 at all. In fact, they wouldn’t even have reached the foot of the Jing Mountains.
In theory, there shouldn’t be any danger along the way other than the wolves. But the appearance of the wolves here in town was staggered with the band’s timing. If the band had actually encountered the wolf pack, they probably wouldn’t have made it back alive.
After all, the wolves were no longer afraid of gunshots!
When he remembered the wolves, Ren Xiaosu got a little worried. When the subject of the wolves was brought up during a conversation with Wang Fugui yesterday, Wang Fugui revealed that he learned some news from one of the town administrators, Chen Haidong. He said that the wolves had suffered heavy casualties after ambushing the private troops, and the entire wolf pack had retreated in the direction of Stronghold 111 to hide in Mount Yang. They presumed that the wolves would not dare to come back here again.
However, Ren Xiaosu did not think so. The wolves had also gone away once before, but didn’t they still come back? And they were even more ferocious than ever!
What had caused these wolves to evolve again? Ren Xiaosu didn’t know.
Ren Xiaosu was watching the commotion through the clinic’s window. He saw the refugees in town coming out of their shacks as they watched silently. They were very curious about the band initially, but when they realized that something might have happened to them, they became even more curious.
When the band departed from here, they had with them four off-road vehicles. However, only one of those was left, and it was even moving slowly. The stronghold’s celebrity, Luo Xinyu, and three private soldiers sat in it while others followed behind on foot. Their outfits were all torn to pieces.
Yan Liuyuan wondered, “When they left, they were all prim and proper. Now that they’re back, why have they become like us?”
Although their current lives had improved, there was still a lack of water. The refugees were always treated equally when it came to the allocation of any water. The stronghold was very strict about this administration.
So if there was any excess water at home, Ren Xiaosu and Yan Liuyuan would automatically let Xiaoyu use it to wash up. Meanwhile, they would brush their teeth with a little bit of the water.
What it really meant to brush teeth was to dip a willow twig into some coarse salt and scrape their teeth with it. After brushing for some time, they would then gargle water in their mouths to rinse.
When the dirty-looking Ren Xiaosu and Yan Liuyuan saw that the people in the band had also become like them, they felt a little happy on the inside.
The cap-wearing girl with Perfect Firearms Proficiency was also walking behind the off-road vehicle with holes all over her clothes. But when Ren Xiaosu examined her, he realized that although she looked pathetic just like everyone else in the band, her steps were still light and steady.
From this observation alone, the cap-wearing girl was much stronger than the accompanying private troops.
Of course, this was also what Ren Xiaosu had expected. After all, how could someone withPerfect Firearms Proficiency be outshone by those private troops?
The celebrity, Luo Xinyu, who was in the off-road vehicle, ordered, “Run along and report to the stronghold that we’re going in. Don’t let these refugees look at us like we’re monkeys.”
When the private troops received this order, they pointed the black muzzles of their automatic rifles at the refugees. One of them said ruthlessly, “Return to your respective pigsties.”
When the refugees saw the private troops getting ready to take action after being annoyed, the refugees hid back into their shacks.
“Another thing!” Luo Xinyu said coldly, “Go and find that Wang Fugui!”
The clamor of voices in town died away. Everyone only dared to talk in whispers within their own shacks. If they felt that chatting among the family was not enough, they could also chat with their next-door neighbors through the curtain doors. Those were not soundproof anyway.
Ren Xiaosu and Yan Liuyuan were leaning on the windowsill as they looked outside. They saw that the band was divided into two groups. One group went to process the clearance for entry into the stronghold while another headed straight for Wang Fugui’s grocery store.
“Bro, why are they looking for Old Wang?” Yan Liuyuan asked.
“They could be looking to settle the score with him. He was the one who recommended the guide, after all. That hunter who went as their guide didn’t come back with them, so who knows whether he was the one who led them into trouble and made them have to come back earlier in such a pathetic state.” Ren Xiaosu gave a rough assessment of the situation.
Ren Xiaosu smacked his lips sympathetically. When the guide was leaving town, he had given Ren Xiaosu a pompous look. But who could have known it would turn out to be farewell for him.
Ren Xiaosu saw the group of people knocking on the door at Wang Fugui’s grocery store. Wang Fugui leisurely opened it from the inside and seemed to be quite calm.
Ren Xiaosu had been a little worried about Wang Fugui. However, when he saw him looking so calm, he thought that maybe there wasn’t a need to worry for him.
The people in the off-road vehicle got out as well. Luo Xinyu was dressed in white casual wear, or rather, it had been white at first. She stared at Wang Fugui and questioned, “What kind of guide did you recommend to us?”
Wang Fugui asked, “What’s the matter?”
He was truly a little curious. Since that person was supposedly an experienced hunter, it was unlikely that he would make any rookie mistakes. So why were these people so angry?
“You dare to ask what’s the matter?” Luo Xinyu said coldly, “Before we could even get near the Jing Mountains, he had taken us in the wrong direction. We couldn’t figure out our exact location even after trying for three days.”
A lot of people knew that it was possible to drive to the Jing Mountains because there was a gravel road in the canyon where there likely had been a riverbed. But for some reason, that river had dried up.
Of course, ordinary cars couldn’t go on this road. But it wasn’t difficult at all for off-road vehicles.
This showed that the guide was not even able to lead the band to that road.
“So, where is he now?” Old Wang asked startled.
“He died before he could find the way.” A private soldier said coldly, “As a hunter from around here, he didn’t even know that there was danger in the waters. When he went to wash up at the riverbank in the morning, his face got bitten to a bloody pulp by something. When we found him, he was already dead! What’s more, there were so many cruel monkeys on the route that he took us by. We almost didn’t make it back alive!”
Ren Xiaosu was taken aback. No, there was something very wrong here. He had never heard of any fish in the nearby rivers that bit people.... Was it really a fish?
Wang Fugui leaned against the doorframe of the grocery store and said, “Oh, so that’s what happened eh? But I probably won’t have time to find you a new guide. I have to get something done for Boss Luo Lan.”
In reality, Boss Luo hadn’t arranged any tasks for him. He was just trying to let them know that he was in the care of Boss Luo!
The private troops started frowning, and even Luo Xinyu was shocked to hear that. They didn’t expect the man they wanted to teach a lesson to be backed by Luo Lan.
Relaxed, Wang Fugui said, “I told you a long time ago that if you’re looking to get there, you have to find Ren Xiaosu.”
“That guy who’s sick in the head?” A private soldier frowned deeply. “That kid who fantasized about being a doctor?”
Wang Fugui suddenly felt a little awkward. He pointed at the window of the clinic across the way. “Perhaps, none of you expected it, but he has really become a doctor.”
Luo Xinyu and the private troops were surprised.
Everyone looked in the direction Wang Fugui was pointing. They saw two dirty-looking faces leaning on the windowsill of the clinic curiously looking back at them.
Honestly, Wang Fugui was also feeling a little emotional at this moment. He thought, ‘That’s right, just how did this kid suddenly end up becoming a doctor?’