Chapter 1 The Traveler <TOC> Chapter 3 Mushroom Forest
Translator: SumTLMan
During the day, visibility was excellent; the sun made the sandy ground glisten with reflection.
Zhou Yi scrutinized the young A Jin.
He wore an outer garment fashioned from two strips of torn cloth, his hair was disheveled, and he was thin and small, standing around 1.4 meters tall.
The boy’s skin was pale and dry, with numerous old scars on his face and arms. He wore a pair of linen gloves and was barefoot; a layer of black grime covered his legs and feet. His right leg appeared injured, tightly bound with cloth, and bloodstains were still visible.
“Master, our Grub Grain Town is just to the west. We have to pass through an oasis and walk a long distance. It’s dangerous to cross at this time. Although you have Warrior Crab guards, it’s safer to go at night.”
The direct sunlight made A Jin squint; he shaded his forehead with his hand, appearing unaccustomed.
Zhou Yi rummaged through his backpack and pulled out two caps, smoothed them out, put one on himself, and handed the other to A Jin: “To block the sun.”
The youth imitated him and donned the hat; his eyes finally returned to normal.
He touched the brim and the “中” character embroidered on the hat: “The craftsmanship is exquisite, must be expensive. My head has blood and sweat; if I dirty it, I’ll clean it with sand. Don’t worry.”
Zhou Yi said: “It’s yours.”
The boy hurriedly shook his head: “I can’t accept such a valuable gift from you. I still owe you my life.”
“Take it if I tell you to.”
Zhou Yi told him: “I’m currently looking for a place to stay, planning to settle down long-term. What’s Grub Grain Town’s attitude toward outsiders?”
This question made A Jin pause, then he said excitedly: “Master, you want to settle in town? There’s absolutely no problem!”
“Although our town is small, just 120 people, and not wealthy, everyone is kind and united. We all wandered and fled from various places and eventually gathered to form this town…”
Grub Grain Town was originally a temporary camp built by scavengers. They rested here, avoided dangers, and traded the items they collected.
An oasis is not far away, and there is relatively clean underground water in the caves, quite suitable for living. Over time, it slowly developed into a settlement, peaking at nearly 300 people.
Like other settlements, locals rest during the day and venture out at night; they sleep when monsters roam in daylight and come out to scavenge when night falls.
In recent years, groups of Claw Boars have migrated here. They occupied the northern area of the town, continuously shrinking the oasis region where locals could safely operate, making survival much more difficult.
The Claw Boar groups are highly aggressive and well-organized; they even patrol their territory at night, turning the northern area into a forbidden zone.
Consequently, villagers have gradually left with merchants and hunting parties, willing to become laborers just to get away.
The population has thus decreased repeatedly.
Even so, the town has always welcomed outsiders.
Due to the continuous exodus, Grub Grain Town has many empty burrows from former residents, which can be occupied after a little tidying up. But in reality, few are willing to settle in such a poor place.
“…That’s the situation in town.”
As A Jin spoke, his eyelids kept drooping, and he could barely keep his head up; he looked extremely sleepy.
Zhou Yi said: “You should rest first. I’ll wake you in the evening.”
“Then I’ll take a nap. Daytime is when we sleep around here, and yesterday was exhausting.”
The pale, thin youth wiped his dirty face, carefully covered his head with the cap, curled up on the sandy ground, and soon began to snore.
Before long, several more Claw Boars appeared. They gazed over but didn’t act as recklessly as the previous two; after repeatedly observing, they detoured around the area.
A large and a small red-eyed vulture perched on a distant tree, staring at the bones beside the extinguished campfire and the remnants on the ground. The smaller one kept flapping its wings, eager to come over for a bite.
The larger one glanced at the man in black and smacked the smaller one with a wing, making it settle down and wait obediently for the humans to leave.
Besides that, several rodent-like creatures were active nearby.
The Warrior Crabs set up a sunshade umbrella for Zhou Yi, brought over a reclining chair, and then burrowed back underground.
Zhou Yi sat on the chair, took out an unread issue of —Story Collection— from his backpack, opened a 24-year-old can of cola, and began to pass the time.
In this wasteland era without the internet or mobile phones, reading was an excellent solo entertainment.
The only pity was the lack of ice cubes.
As dusk approached.
The drooling boy who was lying down suddenly sat up.
“I forgot something important.”
Seeing the book in Zhou Yi’s hand, A Jin looked at him with reverence: “You can read! That’s amazing! In that case, you can definitely figure out that thing.”
“Master, when I’ve been out scavenging lately, I always feel something’s off, but I can’t quite say why.”
“Last night, I was ambushed; only then did I realize they were marauders.”
“They had their eyes on me, so I hightailed it. Fortunately, I’ve been fleet-footed since I was a kid. But I’m as poor as a church mouse, often going hungry even with mushrooms and bugs. I can’t fathom why they’d target me.”
A Jin recalled: “After racking my brains, there’s only one reason.”
“Two days ago, I was down south near the Mushroom Forest, searching for dung, when I spotted a freshly collapsed mushroom pit. From the bottom of that pit, I unearthed a peculiar object, something that couldn’t possibly be crafted in towns or even cities. I suspect it’s a rare relic from the Dead Sea.”
The young man glanced at the yellow bicycle beside him: “It gives off a similar vibe to this thing of yours.”
Zhou Yi listened silently.
“The marauders must have caught wind of this and tried to rob me… Last night, they chased me all the way out here, far from the oasis. Their short spears even nicked my leg.”
A Jin pointed to his tightly bandaged right calf.
“Probably when the Claw Boar appeared near dawn, they thought twice about continuing the risky pursuit. Lucky for me, I ran into you, Master.”
“I hid that item in a tree hollow, planning to sell it when merchants come to town. Please wait a moment; I’ll dig it up, it might be useful to you.”
Zhou Yi agreed.
An hour later, A Jin returned, escorted by two Warrior Crabs.
“This is it.”
Zhou Yi gazed at the object in his hand, his expression turning peculiar.
It was a black remote control with a screen, perfectly square, featuring two thick, short antennas and two joysticks on the upper left and right. Aside from some surface scratches, it was well preserved.
He pressed the power button, no response.
Opening the back cover, he found it lacked batteries.
Adjusting the angle, Zhou Yi noticed a layer of silver geometric patterns adorning the remote’s surface.
This feature indicated it had undergone a mutation reaction in the Dead Sea and was no longer a conventional tool. Similar structures could be found beneath the thick fur of the Claw Boar and on the silver cross on the Warrior Crab’s shell.
The remote control seemed to be part of a mechanical Light Absorber species.
It lacked energy, but he had plenty.
Zhou Yi glanced at his own status panel.
……
[Body]
Health: 10,000
Defense: 425
Energy: 2,802
……
This was the fruit of his ten years in the wasteland era.
When Zhou Yi channeled 120 points of energy into the remote, the screen flickered to life.
Text appeared on the illuminated screen.
[Pairing in progress…]
[Pairing complete. Connected to Red Falcon.]
[Insufficient energy. Red Falcon failed to respond. Please proceed to manual retrieval.]
An electronic map emerged on the screen, displaying a blinking green dot and a steady red dot.
The green dot resembled the controller; the red dot represented an aircraft.
On the right side of the small screen was a detailed diagram of a quadrotor drone. Its main structure was highlighted in green, with a small yellow section indicating a malfunction. The battery level in the upper right corner read 0%.
Mechanical Light Absorber species were a rare sight indeed.
Zhou Yi’s curiosity was thoroughly aroused.
He asked A Jin: “Take a look at this map. What place is this?”
The local youth leaned in, studying it carefully: “These shapes here resemble the oasis belt and the river. The spot down here must be the Mushroom Forest.”
Zhou Yi said: “Lead the way. Let’s go and see for ourselves.”