Chapter 1102
"Since it's just the two of us, don't play dumb with me." Zheng Da said, "I'm not afraid to tell you the truth: Jiang Wenzhang has a very powerful ability that makes people involuntarily confess their secrets to him. And with Mr. Kang backing him up, even Gong Jiaji can't compare. If we go back to Little River City, there won't be any room for you or me... Why don't we join forces? We split the sub-class stone fifty-fifty, and when we get back, we act like nothing ever happened!"
Xu Huo naturally wouldn't admit to anything. He smiled slightly and said, "This is a conflict between you people of Little River City. As an outsider, I shouldn't interfere. I still have companions in Little River City. If Mr. Jiang dies and you try to pin it on me in front of Mr. Kang, wouldn't that be asking for trouble?"
It was clear these two had already communicated with each other.
"What sub-class stone..." he continued. "Tempting me with heavy rewards to deal with Mr. Jiang on your behalf—Mr. Zheng, that's not very honorable of you."
Zheng Da saw that he was unmoved and had no choice but to say, "Even if you want to let him go, he probably won't let you off either. You'll have to return to Little River City eventually. You saved him for nothing."
"I and my companions are just passersby in Little River City. I can't speak to other principles, but I do understand the phrase 'mind your own business.'" Xu Huo stood still, showing no intention of letting him leave.
Zheng Da had no choice but to turn around and climb back up the tree.
The night passed relatively peacefully. When dawn broke, the group, all visibly lacking sleep, continued on their way.
Zhou Yuanzhu still ate mushrooms along the way, but her hunger didn't ease. She kept eating the entire journey, nearly finishing all the food she'd brought.
Along with the hunger came deep exhaustion. She slumped on the flying vehicle and wailed, "If I get any hungrier, I'm going to start eating people..."
"Aren't you guys hungry?" she asked Wang Mo and the others.
But Wang Mo and the others were looking at Xu Huo—the man who even used an umbrella to shield himself from rain while eating. "Isn't he hungry either?"
"He didn't get rained on." Zhou Yuanzhu said casually, then pressed Wang Mo and the others for ways to suppress the urge to binge eat.
"You'd be fine if you ate something from Little River City." Jiang Wenzhang interjected. "Our water goes through special filtration. After drinking it, it can alleviate hunger to a certain extent—at least you wouldn't end up eating like this."
He pointed at Zhou Yuanzhu's noticeably swollen belly.
Zhou Yuanzhu had almost given up on herself. She shoved another handful of mushrooms into her mouth and said, "Isn't that what I'm doing—eating?"
Jiang Wenzhang and the others turned their heads away expressionlessly.
Xu Huo stepped forward and patted her cheek. "Are you still lucid?"
"Not really, about to pass out from hunger..." Zhou Yuanzhu forced a weak smile. "Give me some of your food, I'll trade you with potions."
That was unnecessary.
Xu Huo gave her a bag of dried meat, then said to the others, "She's not doing well. How about we rest for a while?"
"Rest again?" Zheng Da frowned. "We've been walking an hour and resting half an hour this whole trip. At this pace, when will we ever get back?"
"Didn't you say you could contact Little River City to send a vehicle?" Xu Huo said. "Haven't we entered communication range yet?"
Jiang Wenzhang checked the communicator again. Confirming it wasn't working, he turned to Wang Mo. "Check if the communicator is broken?"
"Communicators don't break." Wang Mo fiddled with his unfinished mechanical toy car without looking up. "But weather can affect it—sometimes the communication range fluctuates. Look at that black cloud on the horizon. There's probably a heavy storm coming."
Hearing the words "heavy storm," Zheng Da and the others perked up.
"Heavy storms might attract mutant swarms." Jiang Wenzhang said grimly. "Some mutated animals love heavy rain. They chase rain clouds when it pours, and once they start running, they never stop."
"The wind is blowing toward us." Zhou Yuanzhu licked her finger and held it up in the air, speaking weakly. "Looks like the rain cloud is pretty big. Maybe we shouldn't rush ahead—finding a place to take shelter is the real priority."
Wang Mo used professional tools to test the wind speed and confirmed, "It'll reach us in less than half an hour. Better to take a detour."
At this point, what else could Jiang Wenzhang and the others say? They could only estimate the rain cloud's size and head sideways. But before long, they discovered that the rain cloud, now closer, was still growing in patches—showing every sign of covering half the sky.
From their position, they could already see the curtain-like black torrential rain through binoculars.
"There's no getting around it. We have to turn back." Xu Huo said. The surrounding area was nothing but endless plains, with cover only near the big river.
The group hurried back to the river without stopping. Along the way, Xu Huo stayed behind to look after Zhou Yuanzhu, while Jiang Wenzhang, Zheng Da, and the others walked ahead. The group exchanged knowing glances and quickened their pace.
They returned to the riverbank at top speed. The moment they entered the woods, Jiang Wenzhang and the others scattered in different directions, giving Xu Huo and his companion no time to react.
"They're running!" Zhou Yuanzhu shouted.
"I was hoping they would." Xu Huo said calmly. "I wasn't planning to kill them anyway."
Zhou Yuanzhu looked at him with confusion. "I can tell you've been deliberately stalling our return. What's the point of that?"
"I want to verify something." Xu Huo didn't explain in detail. Instead, he took out the location prop "Only Entrance" and said, "There's heavy rain coming. Let's take cover first."
The rain cloud behind them hadn't even caught up yet when heavy rain began pouring over the woods, thundering loudly.
Xu Huo looked outside. The rain was so intense it nearly dyed the sky black. Staring out, everything was a vast expanse of darkness—he couldn't even make out the plants near or far. The downpour also stirred up countless venomous insects.
Zhou Yuanzhu set up a laser prop that could discharge electric current at the entrance. She clapped her hands and said, "Fly swatter—anything that comes in gets electrocuted."
No sooner had she spoken than a venomous snake trying to slither in from the corner triggered the electric grid and was instantly charred black. She walked over, picked up the snake, and grinned. "Perfect, we can add this to the menu."
Xu Huo was resting about ten meters from the entrance. Seeing this, he said, "It won't satisfy your hunger and there's a risk of poisoning. Better stick to dried meat."
Zhou Yuanzhu was also frustrated. "I bet the people from Little River City have some other way to suppress the binge-eating urge. That filtered water thing is definitely an excuse. I drank that water yesterday morning too—it did nothing."
Xu Huo checked the time again, slowly ate a piece of compressed biscuit, and asked her, "That night in Little River City, didn't you feel especially hungry?"
"Of course I was hungry..." Zhou Yuanzhu recalled the details. "But I went in on an empty stomach anyway. Seeing such a huge spread of good food that I couldn't eat—it's only natural to feel extra hungry."
"Is there a problem with that?"
"Whether there's a problem or not, I don't have a definitive answer yet." Xu Huo said. Because he hadn't felt anything unusual that night in Little River City. The only comparison he could make was with Tan Qi, but Tan Qi had left with the vehicle early the next morning. So he'd have to get back near Little River City to figure it out.