CHAPTER 33: CHAPTER 33: SPIT

The thin guy thought he was speaking softly, but little did he know Qu Jianlei heard everything clearly.

However, after that, neither of them said anything more, so Qu Jianlei stopped channeling his inner breath to his ears.

As for spending money for peace of mind, he actually felt indifferent about it.

This habit was cultivated on Blue Star, and from childhood to adulthood, he had never really lacked money.

As he grew older, he earned more money through his own abilities, further developing the habit of not caring about small amounts of money.

No matter how others viewed him, as long as they could get things done after taking the money, it was fine.

Spending a bit of money to avoid worrying about too many trivial matters, isn’t that good?

That night, he and the hairless creature... Little Jing, slept in that shallow pit.

It wasn’t that Qu Jianlei genuinely trusted the kid.

In such an unfamiliar environment, if Little Jing dared to harm him, he wouldn’t escape even if he succeeded.

With the hairless creature’s small frame, he would absolutely be chewed up without a trace by other people.

He believed that Little Jing had a clear understanding of this possibility.

The conditions in the shallow pit were poor, yet it was the most comfortable sleep the two had since they set off.

Just before dawn, it started to drizzle, but the cart over the pit kept them unaffected.

By the time they woke up, it was almost noon.

Qu Jianlei originally planned to dig the shallow pit deeper and remodel the dwelling, but since it rained last night, today was not suitable for construction.

Rain on the Wasteland was rare, and most of the rainwater that fell was poisonous, so it was not advisable to work.

Qu Jianlei covered his face with a scarf again. The guy named Old Mo had already checked it out, so wearing it again shouldn’t be an issue.

He first went to the grocery store to take a look, and uncharacteristically found two pieces of meat and some grain, so he decisively bought them.

There was also a small repair shop here. He went in and picked out some materials, planning to reinforce his ride later on.

Later, he discovered that missions could actually be posted here!

There was a mission that intrigued him a little, which was to collect the salivary glands of the putrid-skinned giant lizards.

The reward was quite average, two silver coins per salivary gland. Qu Jianlei valued the fact that it reduced his giant lizard hunting costs.

But it wasn’t urgent. He planned to stay here for a while and take things slowly.

Immediately afterwards, he found another mission that had been posted for a long time, the writing already fading.

It was a task to repair a mechanical arm, with a rather high reward: at least twenty silver coins, with no upper limit.

He wanted to try taking up this task; unfortunately, although the other party didn’t restrict identities, it needed to be notarized at the Settlement!

Qu Jianlei could only comfort himself: Actually, I’ve never even seen a complete mechanical arm.

To figure out the entire principle would probably take a lot of time and money...

The camp wasn’t very big after all; it didn’t take long to explore, and seeing that it was still early, he headed outside the camp.

Three kilometers out, he practiced two sets of "Eight Pieces of Brocade" and "Five Animals Qigong" continuously, and then stood in a pose for an hour.

Then he sat cross-legged and began practicing the Nameless Qi Refining Technique.

Actually, on that earth mound, his days were just spent like this, quite addicted to cultivation.

By the time evening came, he leisurely returned to the camp.

Upon reaching the camp, he saw a young lad pressing down and beating the hairless creature.

He glanced at the shallow pit and found that everything inside was intact, so he didn’t intervene.

He didn’t know what happened between the two, and in the Wasteland, the big bullying the small wasn’t uncommon.

However, the thin guy was standing by watching the fun, so he walked over and asked, "Old Mo, doesn’t this kind of thing... get managed here by you?"

"Is this unusual?" Old Mo looked at him strangely, "As long as no one dies in a fight in the camp, it’s fine."

"No one dies?" Qu Jianlei softly repeated, then walked forward and directly kicked out.

With a dull thud, the young lad flew five or six meters away and rolled several times.

However, the Wasteland people’s resilience was truly different; the lad sat up and shook his head, surprisingly looking over in bewilderment.

He gritted his teeth and spoke, "You... you dare hit me?"

It was apparent that this guy was definitely not one to take a loss, even intending to retaliate against Qu Jianlei.

Qu Jianlei, armed with long and short guns, naturally didn’t care about the other party. He merely snorted coldly, "You can only hit others?"

The young lad showed a hint of malice in his eyes, "He tried to steal stuff!"

"You’re lying!" The hairless creature also sat up, "Brother Black Heaven, he’s the one trying to steal our things!"

The cart had quite a bit of supplies; when Qu Jianlei went out to practice, he took the most important small part.

Most of the not-so-valuable supplies were left in the camp, guarded by Little Jing.

The hairless creature, with its small frame, couldn’t possibly stop a thief, so it was responsible for witnessing.

Yet there was that underlying rule: in the wild camps, significant malicious events were generally not welcome.

Qu Jianlei knew upon hearing that the hairless creature was telling the truth, and the other’s young lad was lying.

As soon as Little Jing spoke, the young lad stood up and ran away, still shouting loudly.

"You’ll see, the Iron Palm Gang won’t let you off!"

Iron Palm Gang... A strange expression appeared on Qu Jianlei’s face: I wonder if there is also a Wudang Sect.

He naturally wouldn’t bother with such a young brat, and as for the gang... just be a bit cautious.

Then he looked at the skinny guy, "In this camp... you can’t kill people, right?"

The skinny guy nodded with a forced smile, "That’s the rule."

Qu Jianlei nodded and said no more, he kicked Xiaojing on the butt, "Get up, tell me what happened."

There’s really nothing much to say, just that the boy wanted to steal, and when Xiaojing caught him, he tried to rob.

Seeing things were not going well, Xiaojing shouted someone was stealing, which got him a good beating.

Sounds a bit incredible? But Qu Jianlei wasn’t surprised at all, such things have happened in Chaotic Stone Camp.

Sweet Water Camp is twice as big as Chaotic Stone Camp, so even if he looks really tough, people still dare to make a move.

As long as the strong figures are away, the thief would get away with the stolen goods, who can do anything about it?

Other people normally watch him stealing, pretending not to see it—stealing from locals is not unusual, let alone outsiders?

But if Xiaojing yelled "robbery" and he still continued, others couldn’t stay out of it.

It’s not about being heroic, the reason is Xiaojing has strong figures backing him.

Once the strong figures start to get angry with others... when Wasteland folk go wild, they don’t care about anything.

So the half-grown lad could only vent his anger by beating Xiaojing.

This phenomenon is rather odd, but it indeed has its own logic.

Qu Jianlei’s actions were also in line with the rules here: he acted against the boy but only gave him a kick.

Actually, even if he made the opponent bleed a little, it wouldn’t reach the camp’s limit.

However, since Qu Jianlei hadn’t clarified what happened, nor did he know the guy’s background, it was unwise to act too much.

Now he knew about the "Iron Palm Gang", but he still didn’t care much. Most gangs abide by these rules.

As evening was approaching, Qu Jianlei started a fire to cook.

He got some meat this time, and made noodles, sort of a reward for this trip.

When he was in Blue Star, he could almost be considered a foodie, so how hard it’s been these six years... no point in talking about it.

However, the sad thing is, this foodie can’t cook, at most he can make instant noodles or fry some eggs.

A foodie just needs to taste the flavors, it’s chefs who worry about cooking.

The Wasteland spices are just so-so, so the stew he made today tasted very mediocre,

Barbecue...? Don’t be silly!

It’s not that it can’t be done, but oil is too precious, it must go into the stomach, and not drip onto the charcoal to fuel the flames.

Noodles were easier to make, the grain he bought was also powder-like, somewhat akin to flour.

As for kneading the dough... there’s some difficulty, but it’s not too big, just add water bit by bit.

Anyway, water on the Wasteland is precious, the possibility of adding too much at once is almost nonexistent.

Due to the simple conditions, hand-rolled noodles were impossible, knife-cut noodles were difficult too, pulled noodles... haven’t mastered the technique.

He opted for "cat’s ears", it’s quite easy, even if you’ve never made it before, just seeing others make it is enough.

Once he started the fire here, it caught the attention of others, countless envious gazes cast over.

"Eating meat huh..."

"And grains!"

"Smells so nice."

Qu Jianlei felt his cooking skills were really bad, but... how come it smelled so good?

A little girl even burst into tears, saying, "Mommy, I want meat!"

"Snap" a crisp sound followed, and then a woman’s voice said, "Mom has meat on her, do you want to eat it?"

Qu Jianlei brought out a metal basin, scooped a large portion of broth, and handed it to Xiaojing, "Here!"

Xiaojing was suddenly stunned, couldn’t help but point at himself, "For, for me?"

Qu Jianlei was rewarding him for guarding the home today, hearing it he snorted, "If you don’t want it, pour it back."

"I’ll eat, I’ll eat," Xiaojing nodded quickly, taking out a plastic spoon from his bag.

Qu Jianlei’s pot had almost five pounds in total, he gave Xiaojing a little over one pound.

Although Hairless Monster was young, he was really good at eating, he could handle this amount.

And this little over one pound included not just meat and noodles, but also some broth.

There were about four pounds left in the pot, Qu Jianlei could finish it alone; after all, he’s at the age of growing.

Since starting cultivation, his appetite has greatly increased, he could eat twice as much.

Just then, Old Mo sauntered over, "Yo, smells good."

Xiaojing glanced at him, without hesitation spat into the metal basin, "Pah!"

This move on the Wasteland... not really effective, if you’re really hungry, as long as it’s not human flesh, what does a bit of dirt matter?

Coming from Blue Star, Qu Jianlei was quite particular about food, even when drinking urine, he just needed a piece of filter paper.

The behavior of the Hairless Monster was basically saying to the other party, don’t think of touching my food!

Being hungry enough to eat Poison Violet and get poisoned, his reaction was quite normal.

Qu Jianlei glanced at him, then at Old Mo, paused for a moment, then lowered his head and spat into the pot, "Pah!"

Old Mo couldn’t help but twitch the corner of his mouth, damn, what kind of people are these!