CHAPTER 49: CHAPTER 49: EARLY SPRING FAMINE

The Crack gave a vague explanation, and Xiao Jing had to occasionally ask follow-up questions, but with little effect.

Qu Jianlei didn’t pay attention to their interaction at all; he was on guard against the Crack suddenly launching an attack.

From an intuitive perspective, he believed the possibility of this man turning traitor was low, but... what if?

A month after Crack was picked up, Qu Jianlei had a sudden stroke of insight and broke through to the fourth level of Qi Refining!

In an instant, the aura within the Great Cycle surged like a river, and he felt an inexhaustible strength throughout his body.

Then he cycled the energy through nine Great Cycles to stabilize this feeling, and then stood up tall to start practicing Tai Chi Boxing.

Recently, he had gained quite a bit of insight into Tai Chi Boxing, feeling that he had almost mastered it.

However, as he practiced the form now, he only felt his heart surge with excitement, becoming more fluid the more he practiced.

Was the set of Tai Chi Boxing I practiced yesterday fake?

After practicing the boxing three times, he felt that he seemed... a bit hungry again.

But at this critical point of practicing boxing, carried away by enthusiasm, he couldn’t even think about whether he was hungry or not.

"Ha~~~" He let out a long breath, and at that moment, he understood why someone would "let out a long howl."

There are few things in the world as exhilarating as this!

Then he bent down, picked up the short club, and began practicing the Tai Chi Thirteen Sabers.

His mastery of the Tai Chi Thirteen Sabers was far inferior to his Tai Chi Boxing.

But at that moment, all his confusions became clear, the saber followed his will, moving smoothly and freely.

For a moment, he felt so smooth that he just wanted to shout, "The Sword King is here, who dares to object?"

However, this was just a thought, as Tai Chi emphasizes stillness overcoming motion and softness overcoming hardness, which is the same for the Tai Chi Thirteen Sabers.

Focused entirely on practicing the saber technique, he was unaware that Crack, acting out of the ordinary, watched intently nearby with knitted brows.

After watching for a while, Crack couldn’t help but raise his hand to call over Xiao Jing, "Is he practicing... a saber technique?"

Xiao Jing glanced at him with some pride and nodded, "It’s rare, but you’ve managed to recognize that this is a saber technique."

To the average person, seeing someone holding a short club, wouldn’t they think they were practicing a staff technique?

Only an expert could tell that Qu Jianlei was practicing a saber technique.

The trajectory of the short club, the angle of the attacks, the force from the wrist... all indicated that this was indeed a saber technique.

However, the next moment, Crack frowned, "This soft saber technique... from whom did you learn it?"

Xiao Jing’s eyes widened at his words, "You aren’t qualified to criticize my Black Heaven brother’s saber technique!"

In his heart, Qu Jianlei was akin to a god, so how could he tolerate anyone’s slander?

"Such a saber technique..." Crack was clearly unimpressed but eventually sighed.

"If you all think it’s good, then it’s good. But I hope... you don’t use this saber technique in combat."

"You’re overthinking it," Xiao Jing sneered, "I can’t even learn this saber technique... When I can learn it depends on Brother Black Heaven’s mood."

"Such a saber technique..." Crack shook his head again, "If you want to learn saber technique, I can teach you, more practical than his."

"You?" Xiao Jing gave him a disdainful glance, then shook his head, "Forget it, I don’t want to discourage you."

Crack’s mouth twitched for a moment, but his eyes became unfocused the next moment.

He had always been like this, only... today was a bit of an exception.

After finishing a set of Tai Chi Thirteen Sabers, Qu Jianlei picked up a towel to wipe his sweat; today was truly refreshing.

Xiao Jing came over and recounted the previous conversation, unafraid that Crack would hear.

In fact, Qu Jianlei had heard bits and pieces, but he didn’t react much and only said, "Having more skills doesn’t burden you."

This was him encouraging the now hairy freak - now with fur - to learn some saber techniques from the other party.

To survive in the wild for over twenty years, the saber techniques he mastered might not be very strong, but they were definitely practical.

"I won’t learn from him," Xiao Jing’s attitude was firm, "Such a big person nearly starved to death... isn’t that disgraceful?"

His attitude towards Crack was always like this, without the slightest courtesy.

Crack sat there with drooping eyelids, without any reaction, as if he hadn’t heard.

Qu Jianlei also made no comment; in fact, in the past, he and someone like Crack would never have any intersection.

The reason he could save Xiao Jing was very much because: Xiao Jing was a child.

If he had met Crack at that time, he would probably have just walked away.

And now the three could share a room mainly because Xiao Jing was a link between them.

So he just smiled, "Water is running low, let’s go get some, today I’ll treat you to a feast."

Breaking through to the fourth level of Qi Refining was something worth celebrating, even though those two didn’t know what he was celebrating.

It’s also normal for water to run low, with an extra person using it.

Although Crack never got used to bathing, every three to five days, Xiao Jing would force him to bathe.

Upon hearing this, Xiao Jing stepped forward and kicked Crack’s leg, "Go fetch water!"

Crack’s reaction was a bit slow, so he received another kick, "What, trying to slack off again?"

Crack rolled his eyes helplessly, picked up the water bucket, and staggered out...

The next day, the small room suddenly started shaking, the kind of feeling where the earth and mountains were swaying.

"Earthquake?" Qu Jianlei jumped up, "Trouble, half a winter hasn’t passed yet."

"Maybe..." Xiao Jing hesitated for a moment and finally voiced his suspicion, "Dumping garbage."

"Let’s see what’s going on," Qu Jianlei reacted quickly and went straight to the observation port.

Xiao Jing’s hand moved slightly, as if wanting to stop him, but ultimately did nothing.

It really was garbage dumping, the new garbage blocked the observation port.

Fortunately, the ventilation port was closer to the edge of the dump, while the new garbage mainly piled up in the center, leaving the surrounding area mostly unaffected.

After the shaking passed, Qu Jianlei said, "The door is blocked, it needs to be cleared."

In the next ten days, there were two more garbage dumps, but at least they were on the edge of the dump, so the impact was minimal.

But the three huddled for winter were getting anxious—the ventilation port was almost clogged, they couldn’t risk being buried alive.

Previously, how leisurely they were, now that’s how anxious they get, the key is they can’t go out the door.

Xiao Jing murmured softly, "Looks like whether this place is exposed really doesn’t matter."

Qu Jianlei replied irritably, "Hurry and dig out, really can’t be trapped here."

Crack couldn’t help but add, "Luckily, I brought back four buckets of ice yesterday."

The rest of the winter just gradually wore away like this.

Two months later, finally a rain mixed with snow arrived.

For Wastelanders, the rain from sleet may not be clean either—water here wasn’t to be trusted.

However, the message brought by sleet was certainly reliable, spring had arrived.

Qu Jianlei and the others had already cleared a way out, there were still some surplus food and water, and most energy blocks were preserved.

Qu Jianlei stated decisively, "I’m leaving now, any of you who want to stay, just stay."

He knew Xiao Jing would surely follow, as for Crack... it’s up to you if you want to stay.

I fed you all winter, plenty of food and drink, gained at least twenty pounds, you should be satisfied.

Sure enough, Xiao Jing promptly said, "Black Heaven brother, I’ll go with you, old Crack, stay if you want."

"How could I?" Crack, usually quite dull, for once reacted promptly.

He forced a bitter smile, "I already said, as long as I’m alive, I won’t let you die."

In the following two days, the three quietly widened the exit passage.

On the third night, the off-road pickup truck sped out of the garbage heap, racing towards the distance...

Just past the bitter winter, the roads actually still held considerable risk, some places hadn’t thawed yet, and they needed to guard against "first spring cold snaps."

Crack had always been fuzzy-headed, slow to react, and indifferent about many things.

But he still suggested, "Xiao Jing, just past winter... there will be many wild predators."

"I know," Xiao Jing replied without hesitation, "late winter, early spring, resources are scarce, it’s the most unsafe period."

"But, I trust Black Heaven brother."

Crack directly shut up, he was never one who liked to talk—if you don’t listen, I won’t speak.

Qu Jianlei felt somewhat discontent, "Crack, you drive."

A winter had passed, a lot of resources were consumed, yet quite a bit still remained—even slightly increased.

For instance, the convertible now had a hood welded on using dump materials.

Put this in Blue Star, many might think convertibles are stylish, quite manly.

But Qu Jianlei knows well, driving a convertible in the Wasteland only proves one thing: you’re poor!

Saying nothing else, face wind or rain, you’ll have to scramble.

Why is Crack driving? Because so far, he hadn’t integrated well into this small team.

The weapon on him was only an Overclocked Oscillating Short Dagger, which he had when he was on the brink of death.

A real adventurer, even facing starvation, would still keep the last weapon on them.

The pickup truck had plenty of guns and ammunition; even Xiao Jing "temporarily borrowed" a laser pistol, but Crack hadn’t earned that right.

Qu Jianlei didn’t mind the wind, stood in the truck bed, alertly scanning around.

The weather was still very cold, doing this consumed a lot of heat, but he had no choice.

There was no way Crack could man the vehicle-mounted machine gun, and there were so many guns and ammunition in the bed.

Leaving now was inevitable, any later they might be discovered.

Fortunately, Qu Jianlei already had cultivation level, channeling energy throughout his body, these chills barely affected him.

However, doing so required him to eat a lot, food consumption was rapid.

The vehicle’s heading was Hongsan Residence Area.

This time they weren’t rushing, traveling by day and resting by night, also taking a break at noon, trying to keep the vehicle in good condition.

On the dawn of the third day, they entered the territory of the Hongsan Residence Area.

That evening, Crack, who was driving steadily, suddenly jerked the steering.

Almost at the same moment, Qu Jianlei suddenly ducked down, a string of bullets whizzed overhead.

Then the gunfire sounded from the left front.