CHAPTER 29: CHAPTER 29: I’M BROKE!

Qu Jianlei replenished his supplies and spent three days finding a relatively safe area to camp.

It was by a small river, on a little hillock.

There was a relatively gentle platform on the hillock, with a bulge on the perimeter that could block external sightlines.

Such terrain, back when Qu Jianlei was down and out, he would never dare to choose.

But when he had some self-defense capability, this kind of terrain was quite rare.

He stayed here for fifteen days, until his body subtly stirred, and then he said to himself, "Let’s call it Qi Refining Stage Two."

Another ten days passed, and he confirmed the injections were completely ineffective on him, finally breathing a sigh of relief.

In these twenty-five days, he consumed less than half of his total food supply, but was running low on water.

There was a small river nearby, but he didn’t dare to take water from it, as he hadn’t seen any life in that river.

That was also why he stopped by the river initially—in the Wasteland, wild rivers could basically be regarded as trenches.

But these days were not wasted; he not only reached "Qi Refining Stage Two" but also greatly improved his physical fitness.

Previously, he was about 1.65 meters, skinny and small, but now at least... maybe 1.75 meters?

Some muscles had grown on his previously long-term malnourished body, making him not only stronger but also more responsive.

However, he was still thin... Nutrition surely can’t be made up in a day.

Over these twenty-something days, there were also a few times people came by from a distance, with unknown intentions.

Qu Jianlei wouldn’t interact with them; he usually fired a shot into the open space in front of them, "Scram!"

His shooting was very accurate, which was quite intimidating, and firing a blank shot proved he wasn’t lacking ammo.

Qu Jianlei thought he was being quite gentlemanly—at least he didn’t ambush them, right?

But these days should come to an end; staying too long might draw a behemoth.

The key point was he had consumed a lot of his supplies, and although he could last a while, it’s always better to avoid "regretting when it’s too late."

He’d had enough of the wilderness, and with some recent wealth, finding a way to make money was proper.

Starting a business with bare hands, isn’t it quite hard?

He planned to have a good night’s sleep, get up early the next day, pack up, and then search for a suitable development place.

But in the middle of the night, a slight noise woke him; an alarm device had been triggered.

Since he had the means, his alarm system was set up in several layers, responding at different levels.

The current alarm was the lowest level—small size, slow speed, distant.

So the warning sound was also small, just enough for him to hear.

If it were a bigger threat, a piercing bell was necessary—not just to wake him up but also to intimidate the other side.

He picked up the night vision binoculars and saw a small human figure, still five hundred meters away.

A dwarf? Qu Jianlei was startled, then... continued to sleep.

The Wasteland never lacked all sorts of strange people, and the probability of dwarfs was actually much higher than on Blue Star.

As long as the intruder hadn’t reached the advanced alarm level, there was no need to bother.

But trying to sleep... it was hard to really fall asleep; with an unknown danger factor, who could sleep soundly?

Besides, Qu Jianlei himself had little sense of security—what are you trying to do in the middle of the night in the wilderness?

Luckily, that figure took a few more steps, then curled up there without much movement.

But even so, Qu Jianlei didn’t sleep well in the latter half of the night, almost always in a half-dream, half-awake state.

At dawn, he woke up and began to pack various things.

He had lived on the little hillock for almost a month, and packing up wasn’t something that could be done quickly.

It wasn’t until noon that he was almost done; some consumables... he was too lazy to pack anymore.

Three months ago, he wouldn’t have let any of those consumables go.

But now, things were different, especially with an unknown character around.

However, since this guy dared to sleep in the wild, he couldn’t be bothered to care about that oddity.

But while walking around, he realized, that this... might not be a dwarf.

He had interacted with many dwarfs and mutants, and had considerable knowledge; the bald figure in front of him was way too skinny.

Adult dwarfs and real children are really different, and someone with experience can tell at a glance.

But so what? None of his business.

But just as he was about to leave, he couldn’t help himself; he went forward and kicked the child.

"Alive or not? If dead, say a word... I’ll bury you."

The Wasteland had a mandatory requirement; if a survivor died, they must be buried to rest in peace.

Firstly, to prevent the Fallen or Mutant Beasts from devouring the corpse, and secondly... there are said to be other concerns.

With one kick, the small body turned over, revealing a pale and swollen face, while the stomach was gaunt.

"Poisoned with purple lichen," Qu Jianlei recognized it immediately—he had been poisoned himself.

Except this child was more deeply poisoned; natural recovery... might starve to death before getting better.

Qu Jianlei shook his head speechlessly and turned to leave.

However, just as he was about to push the motorcycle, he stopped again.

After thinking for a moment, he shook his head helplessly and sighed, "Ah... I’m just unlucky."

Returning to the child, he squatted down, pried open the child’s mouth, and rudely squeezed a Nutrient Injection inside.

After doing this, he muttered to himself, "It’s not that I forgot past lessons, mainly... can’t just bury someone alive, right?"

The Nutrient Injection only took two or three minutes inside, and the child’s eyes slowly opened.

The toxicity of the purple lichen isn’t strong; at most, it causes diarrhea and facial swelling, which can be cured by the body’s natural recovery mechanisms.

But during the recovery process, nutrition must be consumed—at the very least to endure.

Rather than being poisoned, this child was more like fainted from hunger; the poisoning was real, but he had long run out of things to excrete.

So it’s very normal that he woke up so quickly.

Qu Jianlei, seeing him awake, took a plastic bowl and poured some water... five or six mouthfuls.

Then he added a pinch of salt and instructed coldly, "Drink the water."

This is also a method to expedite physical recovery; he didn’t want to use a Nutrient Injection only for the child to still succumb.

The child’s eyes gradually gained focus; he cried out "Ah ah ah" a few times, but it was unclear what he meant.

"Mute?" Qu Jianlei paused slightly, but he wasn’t bothered; with Mutant humans around, what’s a disability?

He assumed the other didn’t understand the intention behind drinking water, so he explained, "Replenish fluids."

Whether the child understood or not wasn’t his concern.

Unexpectedly, the child closed his mouth, swallowed hard, and then opened his mouth again, "I, I... I’m not mute."

His voice was particularly hoarse, but if you listened carefully, you could understand him.

"Oh," Qu Jianlei nodded, still unconcerned, "Not mute, just a stutter."

The child swallowed a few more times before speaking again, "I... I’m not a stutter."

"Hurry up and drink the water," Qu Jianlei couldn’t be bothered with him.

The child waited a bit, slowly sat up, picked up the plastic bowl, and drank the water in small sips.

During this process, Qu Jianlei simply observed him curiously, without speaking.

Seeing the child finish the water, he picked up the plastic bowl, turned, and left.

When he came, he pushed both the cart and motorcycle to the dirt slope; now to leave, he had to push the cart down first, then the motorcycle.

As he pushed the motorcycle down the slope, the child had somewhat recovered his strength, timidly following behind him.

You think you can get free meals too easily? Qu Jianlei, without turning his head, remarked, "Hairless Freak, don’t follow me."

The child had no hair, eyebrows, or eyelashes, thus the nickname.

The timid little guy froze upon hearing this, "Wasn’t that... survival payment?"

His voice was still a bit hoarse, but much better than before.

"Why would I buy your life?" Qu Jianlei replied indifferently, "With your small physique, you can only mooch food and drink."

In the Wasteland, there’s no shortage of people selling their lives to work for others, but such weaklings are useless even if bought.

Hairless Freak’s eyes darted around, "I am useful, sir."

Qu Jianlei ignored him; after pushing the motorcycle down the slope, he began securing and tying the cart.

The child remained silent, just standing aside watching.

After Qu Jianlei finished securing it, without looking back, he mounted the motorcycle and started the engine.

The cart had many items; even though he secured them well, quick starts were unwise.

As the motorcycle accelerated, Hairless Freak panicked and shouted, "Sir, I’m really useful."

"Can’t afford it, too poor!" Qu Jianlei continued to speed up; the story of the farmer and the snake was not one he wished to experience again.

Seeing this, the child truly panicked, "I can pay a reward!"

Having had a near-death experience once, he truly didn’t want a second.

At first, he suspected the man had ulterior motives, even doubting he might become a living organ donor.

But at the time, he had no ability to resist, only telling himself: This was much better than starving to death.

However, as the man proceeded step by step, it seemed like he was... purely saving for the sake of saving.

This completely overturned his understanding, despite his young age, his knowledge of the Wasteland was deep.

Being a Saint in the Wasteland... such behavior was really quite unconventional.

The key was that the man, with a small cart attached to a large one, clearly didn’t lack resources.

Such people must be trustworthy... at least not inclined to harm others.

"Reward?" Qu Jianlei laughed indifferently, accelerating.

The most untrustworthy thing in the Wasteland is a stranger’s promise... can someone who can truly pay a reward starve?

Seeing this, Hairless Freak panicked, and chased after him, shouting, "I’m very familiar with the area."

"More familiar than me?" Qu Jianlei snorted coolly, ignoring him.

Nevermind your experiences; with your age, how much can you know?