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墨書 Inktalez
As soon as I heard him say that, I really wanted to spit in his face. What kind of people are these? They must be carrying grudges from their past lives into this one.
At least for now, I managed to suppress the situation. If they really started fighting when we got back, I wouldn't bother intervening; if they ended up seriously injured, I'd just send them to the hospital. But here, it was different. If these two got riled up, it wouldn't just be a matter of one of them getting hurt; even a serious injury could be fatal. The problem was that it could very well cost me my life too, and I couldn't just abandon either of them.
A gunshot rang out from the water, and Jack cursed as he crawled ashore. His clothes, which had just dried, were soaked again.
This fish wasn't as big as the first one I caught, but it was enough to keep us busy. The riverbank had nearly a two-meter drop to the pavement, and getting the fish up was a messy affair that left us covered in slime and blood, draining the last bit of warmth from our bodies.
The oil and meat from the fish quickly solved our hunger problem. The fire fueled by fish oil burned hot but gently, producing no smoke. As we grilled the fish, I thought of Cao Zijiang's seven-step poem, which seemed quite fitting for our current situation.
Even though the campfire warmed us up, being half-naked felt inappropriate. Tang Yumo seemed inexperienced in such situations; her expression remained awkward, and she couldn't bring herself to meet my gaze. Fortunately, her clothes dried quickly enough for her to put them back on, sparing me from having to face her bare-chested.
Yes, we were sitting across from each other by the campfire. To minimize any potential conflict between Jack and Fatty, I separated them and had each sit beside me. This arrangement left me facing Tang Yumo in an awkward silence.
It became particularly uncomfortable when I noticed her grilling a silk bra. The thought of her earlier wearing only my shirt sparked an unexpected sense of embarrassment within me. I quickly chastised myself, rationalizing it as surprise at encountering something so civilized in Hakka Village.
Regardless of how things were going, we needed water. However, there were irritants in the river water. Although we no longer sensed irritants in the air, it was hard to tell what might be in the water. After boiling some water, Fatty volunteered to be our guinea pig; he blew on it before gulping it down.
Generally speaking, using Fatty as a reference point often led to inaccurate experimental data. We were near the coast where seafood was abundant, but seafood had a significant drawback: its shelf life at room temperature was too short. Especially in summer, once seafood died, it would quickly emit a foul odor that many people avoided—myself included; eating it usually resulted in an upset stomach.
But Fatty's stomach seemed immune; he guzzled beer and seafood without ever showing signs of discomfort.
Fatty patted his belly and said, "It's fine. We can drink."
I replied, "Not so fast; wait a bit. If you’re still alive after three hours, then we’ll drink."
"Such virtue!" Fatty scoffed.
After eating something, I gathered all our belongings in front of me to take stock of our supplies.
Jack's backpack was the most intact; not a single item was missing from his heavy pack. In contrast, Fatty had lost everything completely. He had injuries on his back and only carried a little food with him—resulting in him losing everything entirely.
I’m doing better; the medicine, batteries, and rope are all intact. However, we lost our only folding Engineer Shovel. I had it hanging on the outside of my backpack, but I don’t know when it fell off. I still have a few Hakka People Fire Oil Bombs in my backpack, and they’re all fine.
Tang Yumo lost her bow and arrows in the river; her backpack is light, containing only two torches and a few Fire Oil Bombs. Fortunately, she didn’t lose her Straight Blade.
I laid everything out on the ground, feeling increasingly uneasy.
Right now, we have more pistol bullets than automatic rifle rounds. Jack’s 16 will soon be useless as a fire stick. The pistol’s effectiveness here is very limited. It struggles against Giant Bats and Long-Tailed Monsters, and against Heimanluo, it’s less effective than a torch.
Thinking of this, I couldn’t help but glance at Fatty. It’s good that he brought back two torches, but he managed to lose everything else completely.
Seeing me look at him, Fatty grinned without a hint of guilt and pointed with his chin at the Straight Blade. “This knife feels good to use. Ah, the edge is dull; I’ll sharpen it.”
Fatty picked up the knife and sat down by the campfire, spitting on a protruding rock to start sharpening it.
What worries me most is that Fatty might try to take that rifle from Jack; it belongs to Fatty after all. Of course, all our automatic weapons were obtained by Fatty from Myanmar and from Vietnamese hands. Currently, the conflict between him and Jack is quite clear; if he insists on taking back the rifle, new conflicts and disputes are likely to arise. Jack’s preference for automatic weapons is much stronger than mine.
So when I saw that Fatty clearly intended to claim the Straight Blade for himself, I didn’t stop him. However, across the campfire, Tang Yumo shot me an unhappy look as if I were the one who took her knife.
I ignored Tang Yumo’s gaze. Fortunately, her dissatisfaction was only evident in her expression and was directed solely at me. She wouldn’t fight Fatty for anything; she knew it would be pointless.
To avoid making the same mistake again, I decided to mix up all our supplies into four portions so that everyone would carry a bit of everything instead of just one type of item. For instance, if Fatty lost food, we wouldn’t have anything to eat except fish. This way, even if someone lost their backpack, they would only lose part of their supplies rather than putting everyone in jeopardy.
Of course, some specific items must be assigned to particular people—like bullets.
I divided everything into four portions and pushed them toward each person. Fatty was stunned at first. He had lost his things so thoroughly that he even lost his backpack.
Watching us stuff items into our backpacks, Fatty angrily shoved what was given to him into his clothes. Some items could be hung on him like incendiary bombs or signal flares; others could barely fit on his belt like Glow Sticks. But most items had to be tucked away inside his clothes—like the food we had just prepared and dried fish meat—as well as the bundle of rope he used for fishing slung around his neck.
We spent less than two hours eating, resting, drying our clothes, and cooking dried fish. The distant rumbling from the Underground River had stopped; we could confirm that the crazed Piranhas had either been exterminated or dispersed. It was also likely that Heimanluo had returned to its lair. However, there was a chance it might still be patrolling nearby; such a commotion in that water area could attract its attention for quite some time.
It shouldn’t be far from here to the end of the Underground River; I made this judgment based on temperature but can’t guarantee its accuracy—it’s best to consult a professional about this. I gave Tang Yumo an awkward yet friendly smile.
After Fatty took the Straight Blade, neither Tang Yumo nor I exchanged glances again. There was no way to communicate; her eyes were filled with resentment. During the distribution of supplies, I didn’t look at her once.
“How far is it from here to the end of the Underground River?”
Tang Yumo looked at me with eyes that finally acknowledged my presence, gazing deeply before saying, "If we go fast..."
"At the fastest speed!" Jack replied decisively.
"We can get there in half the time."
"Can we reach the place where Heimanluo is holed up from this side of the river?"
This was the question I was most concerned about. The last time we entered Heimanluo's lair, we didn't come from the Underground River side, and I wasn't sure if there was a similar Flood Barrier we could cross.
"We can."
"Let's go. I hope the Black Giant is still out shopping." (To Be Continued...)
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