At dawn, outside the walls of the Level 3 Scavenger Camp, a mass of gray mist rose alongside the morning fog — and from within it stepped a tall, handso man whose bearing couldn't be concealed even by the dust and gri of travel.
A new player had arrived.
Zhang Jinjun — Li Wei's forr colleague. He looked sharp, capable. Hard to tell which departnt he belonged to.
Li Wei didn't go out to greet him. He just had Leon handle the handover, and then the five of them set off, pushing three wheelbarrows down the road heading west. Adai was nestled inside Li Wei's tactical backpack, lazily watching the scenery and dozing — though that was a perk he'd earned. On this scavenging run, Adai's role would be critical.
The road was still relatively smooth. Occasionally they passed a few rusted, broken-down vehicles piled along the roadside, as if still whispering of the noise and bustle of days long gone.
Here and there they ca across heaps of tangled wreckage — and through those ruins, you could almost see it: people from over a decade ago, panicked, piling their families into cars and fleeing in desperation, only to be caught in a chain-reaction pileup sowhere along the way.
Soone crying out. Soone screaming. Flas burning.
And perhaps mutated creatures in a frenzy, hunting and killing.
Dozens of lives — maybe hundreds — had ended right here.
But now there was nothing left of any of it. Just a heap of rusted tal. Not even a mutated creature in sight.
The wild grass, on the other hand, was thriving. Roadside weeds stood nearly waist-high, and thick tufts had pushed up through cracks in the asphalt, brazen and unruly.
In a few more decades, even this road would be swallowed by ti.
"Adai!"
Li Wei called out suddenly. The next mont, the Blood Crow — which had been lounging lazily in the backpack — shot into the air with a burst of energy, climbed several hundred ters, and flew ahead, vanishing from everyone's sight in no ti.
That was the limit of Li Wei's direct connection with Adai while wearing the Tracker title — five kiloters. But that didn't an Adai could only fly five kiloters. Without needing Li Wei to direct it, if it chose to, it could fly a hundred kiloters or more. That was perhaps its greatest advantage: though it cost Li Wei the 1 Perception bonus, it compensated with capabilities in an entirely different domain.
Once Adai flew off, it didn't co back. Li Wei paid it no mind. They walked on for roughly twenty kiloters, and it was nearly noon by the ti Adai finally returned at its leisure, landing on Li Wei's shoulder with an air of self-satisfaction, not making a sound.
At the sa mont, Li Wei quickly switched to the Tracker title — Perception 2. In that instant, up to fifty images surfaced in his mind: everything Adai had scouted over the course of the morning, every valuable target it had spotted and recorded.
More than just convenient.
A few seconds later, Li Wei switched back to the Dog Butcher title. He had a clear picture now.
Adai had been flying for nearly four hours, reaching a maximum distance of roughly thirty kiloters, and had conducted deep reconnaissance up to ten kiloters on either side of the road.
Three valuable targets had been identified.
First: about a kiloter and a half further ahead, there was a fork in the road on the right side. Following that fork for roughly five kiloters led to a small forest town nestled in a valley.
Second: roughly ten kiloters to the left of the road they were on, there was a river.
Third: continuing about twenty-five kiloters further ahead was a sizable city — at least county-seat scale. In the city's northeast corner, there were people. Most likely a survivor camp.
Beyond those, so of the images were related to mutated creatures. In the river to the south, Adai had spotted a mutated creature over twenty ters long, roughly the size of a large vehicle. And near the survivor camp to the west, there were large stretches of what appeared to be farmland, with people visibly working in the fields.
Two of the images, however, stood out. In one, taken near the farmland, Adai had apparently tried to get closer — and imdiately, soone on the ground had raised a bow and arrow. Judging by the perspective, that person was at least three hundred ters below Adai at the ti, yet they seed entirely confident they could hit it at that altitude.
A powerful Ability User?
The other image was from inside the city — in one of the taller buildings, behind a shattered glass curtain wall, Adai had spotted a pair of blood-red eyes. The image was blurry, and it was clear Adai had sensed a threat and pulled back.
After processing all of this, Li Wei had a solid grasp of the situation.
This was the payoff for all the hundreds of kilograms of dried rat jerky Adai had gorged on over the past month.
Lazy and gluttonous the rest of the ti, insufferable in every way — but when it counted, Li Wei had to tip his hat and call it Big Bro Dummy.
"Everyone rest for an hour. Eat sothing and recover your strength."
At Li Wei's order, the group stopped. Leon ca trotting over eagerly. "Cousin, want to pitch a tent so you can get so sleep? You'll rest much better that way!"
Li Wei understood imdiately. Back at the camp, Leon had been desperate to activate the Conspiracy Card but hadn't dared. He'd been holding it in for a full month — and now, forty kiloters from camp, he'd finally found his chance.
"Go ahead."
Li Wei nodded. Leon waved a hand, and Thomas understood without a word. Zhao Xuanxuan ca over to help as well. As for Zhang Jinjun, he read the room and said, "Brother Wei, I'll do a patrol around the area — see if I can bag so ga."
Everyone understood.
Once the tent was up, Thomas shot a sidelong glance at Zhao Xuanxuan. She gave a disdainful sniff and moved a short distance away.
Thomas took up a guard position outside the tent. Leon, barely containing his urgency, activated the Two-Star Conspiracy Card.
"Brother, what's the plan? Things are getting rough."
Li Wei didn't answer Leon's question. Instead, he asked, "Which departnt is Zhang Jinjun from?"
"Zhang Jinjun is from the Logistics Departnt. But the Logistics Departnt had a deal with us before, so he's probably a friendly — and even if he's not, he can't stir up much trouble. He's roughly the sa generation as ; I could handle him with my eyes closed. The real problem is those two won. They've got serious backing."
"Keep going." Li Wei remained calm. Things were what they were — what good was panic?
Leon took a deep breath and lowered his voice even further. "Brother, you don't know — those two won are theoretically in the sa tier as Night Owl. Not quite at her level, obviously, but definitely above Hathaway. That Liang Yuzhi — her codena is Widow Yang. She's a big shot in the Tactics Departnt. Word is she's already running cross-dinsional missions. I have no idea why she'd be joining a three-star Pioneering Mission, which is honestly absurd."
"Though there's another possibility — she died once during a cross-dinsional raid and lost one or even two Profession Cards. That would explain why she'd join a Pioneering Mission mid-run. No other reason makes sense."
"Didn't they say death in a cross-dinsional mission is permanent?" Li Wei was genuinely curious.
"In theory, yes. But it depends on the situation. If a teammate managed to recover her body, she wouldn't die permanently. And if she was carrying so kind of special item card, there's also a chance. But that's not the point — the point is, Widow Yang would never co here just to drag you down and help the Tactics Departnt's Zhao Kewu win. It's like a university student wouldn't help a high schooler cheat on an exam. Her only reason for joining this mission is to replace you and recover her losses. Fast."
"Understood. Sa story either way. What about Li Yue — what's her background?"
"Li Yue is from the Comrce Departnt. Her codena is Scorpion. Her standing and strength are a step below Widow Yang. Worth noting: she's a Five-Star Scout. This ti she probably also failed a cross-dinsional mission, took heavy losses, and ca down to a lower-tier Pioneering Mission to recover."
"Either way, whatever Widow Yang and Scorpion are after, I think the odds are against us. Night Owl's resources are just a bit thin. I'm not trying to be pessimistic — we have to be realistic. I'd bet both of them are holding Five-Star Retention Cards. They might look perfectly cooperative right now, but once they get their footing, you won't have a chance."
Leon's head drooped, and the gloomy words kept coming.
Fair enough. Even Li Wei found it tricky.
Two high-level players who'd been wrecked in cross-dinsional missions, now looking to recover their losses in his Pioneering branch storyline?
His luck really was terrible. Though he still had one question.
"Why did they both end up in my branch storyline? Weren't there openings in any of the others?"
"Exactly — there really weren't. Brother, you're new, you don't know how the All-Heavens Lord Alliance's mission launch rules work. It's not like there's always a fresh mission ready and waiting for you at any mont. You have to queue up — like a train, you know?"
"And in that particular month, the only active, worthwhile mission with an open slot was yours."
"And Widow Yang and Scorpion probably didn't even know they'd end up in the sa mission together. It's like buying a train ticket — you don't know who else is in your car. That's handled by central dispatch."
"Got it. Then there's nothing more to discuss — let's wrap up." Li Wei nodded, not planning to ask anything further. The intelligence Leon had provided didn't change much for him. Once enemies were identified, you dealt with them. Lose, and he stepped down. Win, and he stepped up. Nothing to make a fuss about.
Night Owl couldn't be blad for this — she'd just have to accept that his luck was terrible.
In the worst case, he'd go grind smaller missions. Look at the inspiring story of Thomas — from a nobody rcenary, he'd worked his way up step by step. Hadn't he?
"Hey, hey — brother, do you want any white bread? I've still got so."
Leon said it quickly. After a month of eating nothing but rat jerky, he was nearly sick of it — but he'd only dared eat it in secret, never offering any to Li Wei. Poor guy.
For a mont, Li Wei was genuinely tempted. But in the end, he shook his head.
"Can't eat it. You can't either. And Thomas — don't eat it either."
"Heh, relax, little brother. Since the day I arrived in this mission world, I haven't had a single bite." Thomas let out a strange laugh from outside the tent. The distance was too short — Conspiracy Card or not, he could hear everything.
Li Wei glanced at Leon. The latter looked a little embarrassed. Details, man. You have to watch the details.
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