Chapter 14: Expensive Water

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Jiang Cheng muttered to himself, ‘This is the second time… No, this is the third time I’ve killed someone, and I don’t feel scared anymore!’ He realized that the environment had forced him to adapt. Despite his thoughts, he continued to collect materials with steady hands.

[Bison Bone +1]

[Bison Meat +2]

…

After three minutes, the bison was finally harvested.

In total, Jiang Cheng had obtained more than three hundred servings of belly meat and more than twenty pieces of tenderloin.

Ten bison bones, four pieces of bison hide, and two ox horns.

There was no bison blood. He was not sure if his gathering skill had directly extracted the salt and nutrients in the bison blood or if there was no more bison blood left.

On the ground lay a large pool of blood mist and cow dung, with meat scraps weighing at least a hundred pounds. Jiang Cheng didn’t bother to pick them up. Given better options, he couldn’t be bothered with such scraps. After all, what was left behind after his gathering was just residual waste with little nutritional value.

Jiang Cheng was a little excited. Now that he could eat meat freely, his evolution speed should be accelerated.

He left immediately and quickly returned to the tree.After putting away his Tang Dynasty Sword, he called out to Yaya, who was at the entrance of the tree cave.

“Hey Yaya, jump down! I’ll catch you. Let’s get out of here soon,” Jiang Cheng said.

“Okay, Brother-in-law! I’m jumping now,” replied Yaya enthusiastically.

After seeing Jiang Cheng kill the powerful bison alone, Yaya was full of confidence in him. She was brave and not afraid at all. Yaya jumped from the three-meter-high tree hole, and Jiang Cheng caught her and placed her on the ground. He then said to Tong Xiaorou, “You too. Jump down. I should be able to catch you.”

“Okay.” Tong Xiaorou didn’t jump straight into the hole. Instead, she held onto the hole with her hands and slid down for some distance before jumping down.

Jiang Cheng caught Tong Xiaorou easily as she was small and slim. Her body had suffered from long-term malnutrition, and she didn’t even weigh 70 pounds. It did not require much effort to catch her at all.

“Let’s go quickly. We’ll talk when we move to another location.”

Jiang Cheng picked up Yaya in his arms and drew out the Tang Dynasty Sword. He led the way as Tong Xiaorou followed behind.

Only after the three of them had walked further did someone appear behind them. The next moment, a large number of people rushed out and snatched the remaining bison dung and meat scraps on the ground. They even fought over it.

To Jiang Cheng, it was nothing but trash, but to them, it was a much-needed source of sustenance.

Unfortunately, there were too many of them; the amount of meat scraps that remained was not enough to share among the group. Moreover, not everyone liked to work for their food, so someone set their eyes on the man who Jiang Cheng had killed earlier.

…

Jiang Cheng had a feeling about what was happening behind them, but he couldn’t bring himself to care. In this wilderness, anything edible was food for survival, and the Wildlings didn’t discriminate. While some people could maintain their moral code, not everyone could. Jiang Cheng recalled a story from his previous life about wealthy people stranded on a deserted island who resorted to eating insects when they were too hungry.

“That guy…”

Jiang Cheng had just walked for a distance when he suddenly saw a sturdy man dragging a bison carcass toward the Terrawheeler. Following behind the man were a middle-aged woman, a young woman, and a little boy of around ten years old

“Is he an Evolver?” Jiang Cheng sensed a similar aura emanating from the man and knew he was stronger than himself.

At this moment, the man stopped in his tracks. He seemed to have sensed something and turned to look at Jiang Cheng. After seeing Jiang Cheng, that man raised his eyebrows slightly and nodded as a greeting. Then, he continued to drag the bison carcass away. Obviously, that man had also sensed Jiang Cheng’s identity as an Evolver.

This was Jiang Cheng’s first encounter with another Evolver. They shared similar auras. Those auras should be showing their own vitality; they were so exuberant that they were glowing in the eyes of Evolvers.

“That guy… he’s so strong!” exclaimed Tong Xiaorou.

That bison carcass weighed at least 400 to 500 pounds, or even more. It was terrifying how effortlessly that Evolver was dragging it.

“Yea, you’re right.” Jiang Cheng nodded. At least, he could not do it now. After all, he had only awakened a few days ago and had just started his path of evolution.

“He’s probably trying to trade it for water.” Jiang Cheng pursed his dry lips and pondered for a moment before following the person. He wanted to see if that Evolver could successfully trade it for water. At the same time, he quietly took out a piece of bison hide, which contained ten pieces of bison meat, weighing ten catties in total.

Near the Terrawheeler, when other Wildlings saw the man dragging the bison carcass, they looked over in shock.

“An Evolver!”

“He’s actually an Evolver!”

“No wonder he’s so strong, unlike us…”

Many of them looked fearful, trying their best to remember that man’s face in case they accidentally provoked him. No one revealed a look of admiration. After all, everyone was struggling to survive in the wilderness, and if someone else was stronger, it meant less food for them.

In such situations, individuals tend to appreciate the strength of a person rather than the person themselves, unless that strong person is a part of their own community.

As Jiang Cheng scanned the area, he estimated that there were around three to four thousand people present. Despite his careful sensing, he couldn’t detect any other Evolvers among them. ‘Evolvers must be a rare breed,’ he thought to himself. ‘Or maybe they just don’t want to follow behind a Terrawheeler as laborers.’

Looking around, Jiang Cheng noticed that all the giant trees within a hundred-meter radius had been cut down, leaving the ground bare. Not even a single withered vine or branch was left behind. The only remnants were the craters and the blood of the bison that had been killed. Even the rotten leaves had been cleared away.

Jiang Cheng didn’t know what the interior of the Terrawheeler was like. He wondered if even the decayed leaves could be recycled. As he pondered, a power armor approached that Evolver who was dragging a dead bison. The Evolver stopped in his tracks.

“What do you want to trade it for?” asked the power armor pilot.

“Water.” Although the man was an Evolver, he was a little nervous at the moment. “Can I get it?”

“Sure, two pounds of meat for one pound of water,” said the power armor pilot.

“That’s too expensive!” exclaimed the man, taken aback.

Jiang Cheng furrowed his brow. ‘Did he say two pounds of meat for one pound of water?’

“I don’t need to explain what time it is now, do I?” retorted the power armor pilot. “With our strength, it’s easy to obtain fresh meat, but water is a scarce resource. Although we can synthesize it using elements, it requires electricity and can’t be conjured out of thin air. We’re the only ones willing to trade with you. If you go to those camps, ten catties of meat might not even get you one catty of water. They might even seize you.”

The Evolver knew the pilot was speaking the truth. He was not willing to give up and tried to negotiate for a better deal. Eventually, they agreed to weigh the entire bison together and exchange three catties for one catty of water. However, the Evolver didn’t settle for just water. He requested fifty catties of water and a custom-made alloy knife. Surprisingly, the power armor pilot agreed and had the necessary tools and materials on board the Terrawheeler.

As the power armor pilot agreed to the Evolver’s request and price, Jiang Cheng was taken aback. He couldn’t believe how generous the shelter people were. The power armor pilot could have easily taken the resources by force, but instead, he chose to trade fairly with the Wildlings. Jiang Cheng was pleasantly surprised by the pilot’s friendly demeanor, which was unexpected.

After finished talking to the Evolver, the power armor pilot turned to Jiang Cheng and asked, “What about you? What do you want?” Jiang Cheng noticed that the pilot’s power armor had already scanned the bison meat inside the bison hide he was holding.

Seeing this, Jiang Cheng did not hide anymore. He walked over and said, “I’ve processed this bison meat using a secret technique passed down from my ancestors. Can I trade it for some more water?”