The First Order

Ren Xiaosu said with a smile, “Your teacher just wants y’all to study hard so you can work in research or similar fields in the future. Wouldn’t that be better?”

A student said, “But we can’t always depend on others.”

Ren Xiaosu glanced at Jiang Wu. “Alright, I’ll teach y’all tomorrow.”

“Thank you,” the students said earnestly.

With this wave of thanks, he received another 20-odd gratitude tokens. Ren Xiaosu suddenly felt that his decision to bring these students along was one of the wisest decisions he had ever made!

Meanwhile, someone among the escapees asked in a soft voice, “Why don’t we go and apologize to them?”

“How would that help?” someone wondered.

A middle-aged woman said, “If so many of us apologize to him, what more could he ask for?”

But in the end, still no one dared to say anything to Ren Xiaosu and company. They did not even have the courage to apologize.

However, the other escapees who were not involved in the attempts to take the rabbit for their own also kept a distance from the group that did. They feared they would end up becoming collateral damage if those people got punished later. But only a minority of the escapees were not involved, and they probably only made up 20% of the entire group. At that time, they maintained their rationality and stuck to their morals.

As it turned out, they were right. Although Ren Xiaosu had killed the perpetrators, he was still a little angry about the incident. In the middle of the night, he was still thinking about whether he should open up some Shadow Doors and drop snowballs over the campfires of those escapees to extinguish them.

However, the person whose fundamental values were rocked most was actually not Jiang Wu and her students, but Chen Wudi.

While divvying up the meat, Chen Wudi kept hold of a small stick as he sat on the edge of the campfire.

When Ren Xiaosu handed him some meat, he asked, “What’s the matter?”

Chen Wudi thought for a little and said, “That group of people felt like a cloud of darkness trying to devour me.”

The long-awaited palace finally spoke at this time. “Quest: Help Chen Wudi stabilize his mental state.”

In fact, even if the palace did not say anything, Ren Xiaosu would still do it. However, the palace probably also recognized Chen Wudi’s current state of mind and did not want him to be defeated by reality. Therefore, it assigned Ren Xiaosu a quest to help him.

But wasn’t there something wrong with how the palace had phrased its words? By stabilizing his mental state… did it mean that it did not wish for Chen Wudi to get better?!

Ren Xiaosu thought for a long while before saying, “Humans are always being attacked by reality and the ugliness of their own species. Everyone will slowly begin to think that everything is meaningless. When that happens, they try to seek the light in the dark.”

Chen Wudi was somewhat confused. “Master, what’s wrong with this world?”

This time, Ren Xiaosu said in a serious tone, “But, Wudi, try to think about it differently. If you constantly feel that you’re devoured by the darkness, wouldn’t it mean that you are that light?”

Chen Wudi’s eyes lit up. “Is that true, Master?”

“Yes.”

“Quest complete. Awarded 1.0 Strength.”

Currently, Ren Xiaosu’s physical attributes reached 9.5 Strength and 6.1 Dexterity. He was still unable to accurately gauge how strong his punches were, but it became an even more terrifying power when they were amplified through his shadow clone.

However, Ren Xiaosu did not wish to gain any further Strength right now. He preferred having a few Basic Skill Duplication Scrolls so he could learn other people’s cycling.

When the sky turned bright, Ren Xiaosu’s group quickly packed up and prepared to set off. They had followed the large group of escapees because they were afraid of the wolves. But now that Ren Xiaosu realized the wolves were not going to attack them, he decided to speed up their journey. The earlier they could locate a new human settlement, the easier it would be for them to determine which direction Stronghold 88 was and readjust their route.

Ren Xiaosu did not intend to enter a new stronghold yet. He only wanted to ask around for directions in the town outside the stronghold so they could avoid getting into any conflict with the authority of the stronghold.

After all, there were a few too many supernatural beings in their group, so it was inevitable that the stronghold overseer would regard them as enemies.

It was only they who had eaten meat for their meals and had blankets to cover themselves with on this escape so far. The other escapees did not have such comforts at all.

Some of the escapees even had to resort to eating ice to quench their thirst. In the morning, a minority of the escapees’ faces were flushed and their temperatures went up. In their current condition, they most probably would not get up anymore.

Ren Xiaosu knew that even the cleanest-looking snow in the wilderness had to be boiled for at least 15 minutes before it was safe for drinking.

Bacteria is one of the most deadly things in the wilderness. Just because they could not be seen, some people would ignore their existence.

A man whose face was flushed stood in front of Ren Xiaosu’s group and blocked them from leaving. He begged, “Since you’re all so well-prepared, you must have brought along some medicine like antibiotics or something, right? Please, give me some of it. Otherwise, I definitely won’t survive for much longer.”

Ren Xiaosu looked at Yan Liuyuan. Then Yan Liuyuan said, “He was one of the troublemakers.”

With that, Ren Xiaosu ignored the man and left him pleading behind them.

The man realized Jiang Wu would be kinder, so he turned to her and begged for help.

However, Jiang Wu was no longer the young and naïve teacher. She said to her students, “Let’s hurry up and keep pace with the group. Remember this person. He tried to rob us of our things yesterday.”

Along the way, Ren Xiaosu taught some wilderness survival techniques to the rest of the group. He said in a loud voice, “Right now, it’s not the season for harvesting wild berries. But when you do encounter them, remember that 90% of the purple, blue, and black berries are edible, while 50% of the red, green, and yellow berries are edible. So if you’re extremely hungry, it’s better to find the purple, blue, and black berries to eat first…”

While the students rode on their bicycles, they felt that even though this young man was being ferried on the back of a bicycle, his back had become larger than life.

A little kid among the escapees shouted to an old lady next to him, “Grandma, I want to ride on a bike too. Get a bike for me!”

His grandmother, who had still been ordering people around, was stumped by her grandson’s request. Her grandson shook off her hand and started crying, “You’re not a good grandma. I want my mommy and daddy.”

When the other escapees walked past them, nobody cared about what was happening. No one had any sympathy for them nor were they going to offer any help.

Along the frontier in the heavy snow, Xu Xianchu was slowly advancing against a violent blizzard with a black cauldron floating in front of him. The snow was so deep that it had already come up to his waist. If it weren’t for his shadow clone carrying him, he probably wouldn’t have walked any further.

Suddenly, a dozen-odd people camouflaged in white cloth got up out of the snow. While pointing their guns at the big black cauldron, one of them shouted into the wind, “We’re the 3rd Combat Brigade of Stronghold 178! State your name and purpose!”

When Xu Xianchu heard the words “Stronghold 178,” he couldn’t be more overjoyed. He shouted, “I’m Xu Xianchu from Stronghold 113! I have a recommendation letter from Zhang Jinglin!”

The soldiers were stunned when they heard Zhang Jinglin’s name. As they cautiously approached Xu Xianchu, one of them went over to take the letter from him while the others stood by for further instructions. Their guns were still pointed at Xu Xianchu’s figure. It was just that the black cauldron and shadow clone felt a little strange to them. “Brother, you’re a supernatural being, right? Why do you have two types of superpowers?”

The soldiers from the observation post buried under the snow seemed to understand supernatural beings very well. Xu Xianchu was stunned by that question. “I’m not sure either. But can’t I have two superpowers?”

The person who questioned him read the letter and said to the person next to him, “It’s really Commander Zhang’s handwriting. The secret code in the letter is also correct.”

Everyone nodded. “Brother, come with us!”

They then led him towards Stronghold 178 in the distance. Currently, the walls of Stronghold 178 were white. It looked like it was encased within a wall of solid ice, giving it a sense of time-worn dilapidation. But it still looked exceptionally magnificent nonetheless.

While they walked against the blizzard, someone asked, “Brother, did you come from Stronghold 113? That place is so far away!”

Xu Xianchu shouted into the wind, “I came out of Stronghold 113 and went to Stronghold 112. Then I was forced to go to Stronghold 109 before finally heading here.”

The person next to him was stunned. “Brother, those strongholds you’ve been to are all gone now….”

Everyone around Xu Xianchu stopped in their tracks. It seemed like they were seriously considering whether they should still take him to Stronghold 178.

Xu Xianchu hesitated for a while before saying, “It wasn’t my fault.”

Creator’s Thought

Dear readers,

Regarding the East/West Gate matters that affected which direction the Experimentals would attack from.

-Stronghold 113 is in the northeast of Stronghold 109.

-Experimentals attacked from the east gate.

-Ren Xiaosu’s family moved from the east to the west of the stronghold.

-Li Shentan wreaked havoc in the Western District.

The wrong directions have been rectified.