CHAPTER 25: CHAPTER 25: SAND SCORPIONS

About five hundred kilometers away from the Chaotic Stone Camp, there’s a small camp called Bowei.

One day, a motorcycle arrived at Bowei Camp, the rider fully armed and wearing a face scarf.

This kind of attire is very common in the Wasteland; the sandstorm here is so severe, wearing a face scarf outside is extremely normal.

Of course, having a face scarf also comes in handy if you intend to kill and rob.

The rider purchased some oil and water, then returned the way they came.

Coincidentally, a few Hunters were also in Bowei; two motorcycles gave chase, but they reacted a bit too slowly and lost sight of the target.

The arriving rider was Qu Jianlei, and Bowei was already close to the area where Mutant Beasts appeared frequently, so he planned to stay here for a while longer.

He circled around outside the camp to shake off any possible pursuers.

Then he chose a sheltered spot less than thirty kilometers from Bowei to set up a temporary camp.

Qu Jianlei always lacked a sense of security, a mindset that consistently accompanied him, so even a temporary camp had to be dug into a shelter.

He spent a day and a half digging a semi-open shelter, and then began his cultivation.

The result was that on the second night of cultivation, a group of sand scorpions surrounded him, each about half a foot in length.

Qu Jianlei was delighted at the sight; he was familiar with these sand scorpions, ordinary insects that were edible, and their poisonous sacs could be sold for money.

He was worried about his low supply of food and water, and didn’t have money to buy more, but hadn’t expected prey to come knocking on his door.

The scorpion swarm was sizable, numbering in the hundreds.

He brandished his Long Blade and hacked away for nearly an hour, finally managing to slaughter the scorpions completely.

A few scorpions escaped, but it didn’t matter; there was enough scorpion flesh to last him three or four days.

This was while he was actively cultivating; if it were in his more destitute days, this scorpion meat would have sustained him for twenty days.

However, after cleaning up the battlefield, a question came to his mind: What attracted these scorpions?

His best guess was the Mutated Beast Crystal, because aside from that, the other items he had were all quite ordinary.

Even though sand scorpions were more plentiful here, they shouldn’t be that much more than in the Chaotic Stone Camp.

Unfortunately, with the scorpions either dead or escaped, he couldn’t find any live ones to test his theory.

But it didn’t really matter; he didn’t have many Crystals left anyway.

This treasure not only aided his cultivation but also helped repair the damage to his body from the Transformation Potion.

As of now, he’d received injections for over twenty days and needed at least four doses of Antidote to survive.

He’d only received two doses, and for the third dose, he used a small amount of Antidote and consumed some Crystals to get through it.

For the fourth dose, he again used some Antidote as a primer and consumed some Crystals.

Initially, he attempted to repair his body with the Qi Refining Technique, but reality proved he was being a bit idealistic.

However, regardless of the challenges, the outside resources needed for body repair were decreasing, and he felt confident he could overcome the difficulties with his own strength.

With this scorpion meat, he started cultivating luxuriously again, and the results were significantly improved.

Until three days later, when only a tenth of the scorpion meat was left, he had to stop cultivating and go make some money.

The sand scorpion’s poisonous sacs were in high demand, not only for their toxicity but also for mitigating certain mutation trends.

Unfortunately, in his frantic slaughter, nearly half of the poison sacs got damaged.

This was inevitable; although Qu Jianlei had developed Qi Sensitivity through cultivation, he had no knowledge of Saber Technique.

Back on Blue Star, he once had the chance to learn some Swordsmanship, but he himself wasn’t interested.

Now, using brute force, he did achieve his goal, but the scene was somewhat gruesome.

Yet, it was precisely due to the large amount of leaked poison that other animals were deterred from approaching.

Otherwise, how could Qu Jianlei have been so at ease in his cultivation?

He collected over four hundred poison sacs, which should be worth a fair amount of money.

Then he walked to Bowei Camp, changing to a different scarf this time.

However, the camp’s general store was a bit shady, haggling over the fullness of the poison sacs in every possible way to drive down the price.

Qu Jianlei wasn’t skilled at bargaining, so his attitude was: a 30% markup, and I’ll sell, otherwise I won’t!

Even with a 30% markup, it was well below his psychological expectation, but he didn’t want to linger any longer.

People really are insatiable; the shopkeeper assumed there was still room for negotiation, so they continued to haggle.

Without a word, Qu Jianlei turned and left.

The shopkeeper watched coldly as he walked a few steps, then, realizing it was no joke, quickly chased after him, "Friend, let’s st..."

Before he could finish, a dark gun muzzle was already pointed at him, with the safety simultaneously disengaged.

Qu Jianlei said expressionlessly, "Intent to rob?"

"I... I didn’t mean that," the shopkeeper chuckled awkwardly, reverting to normal, "I was saying the price could still be negotiated."

"That’s just a more polite form of robbery," Qu Jianlei responded blandly, "My last offer is a single price..."

"If you agree, we deal; if you disagree, don’t follow me, it could actually be dangerous!"

He didn’t think he was threatening, he really would shoot!

Violent incidents were rare in wilderness camps, but he had no intention of staying long, and felt no attachment here.

After all, with his face covered, once he was gone, who would know who did it?

Upon seeing him turn again, a hint of viciousness flashed across the shopkeeper’s face.

But he still said loudly, "Hold on, I agree!"

Disagreeing was not an option; now the sand scorpion venom sacks were in high demand, and he could make a big profit.

Besides, he made a living at the foot of the slope; he couldn’t just rob openly in front of everyone.

The price was set, and Qu Jianlei didn’t take money, just exchanged for some nutrient injections and water, two emergency kits.

The rest, he traded for ammunition.

In the end, he didn’t actually gain much; these venom sacks merely compensated for the losses from previous days.

"Cultivation is really costly," Qu Jianlei returned to the temporary camp, sighed, and started the motorcycle.

This place was no longer safe to stay; remaining in one place for too long eventually causes trouble.

That shop owner was obviously a difficult character; being targeted by someone like that... Leaving sooner is better.

His thinking was spot on; a day later, someone tracked him down here, "So the sand scorpion group is nearby?"

After Qu Jianlei left, he was at a loss as to where he should go.

Thinking back, he had endured the antidote’s effects twice, a sudden curiosity arose: How was the mine?

So he rode the motorcycle back again.

He hid the motorcycle and all supplies outside, then with a face mask, went to the camp where the old cripple was.

But what surprised him was: the grocery store had changed owners!

He didn’t approach directly but took out a piece of rag and wrote a line on it.

"Bulk purchase of non-blooming purple flower lichen"

The wasteland wasn’t devoid of plant growth, just no big trees, few shrubs, more wild grass, and plenty of lichen.

Purple flower lichen tastes raunchy but has a high water content; when truly starving, lichen can sustain life.

However, eating too much of it leads to diarrhea, so many people accumulate purple flower lichen as a backup water pouch.

Anyway, this stuff is really worthless, and no one specifically purchases it.

Since he’s willing to buy, naturally people will sell, though few stockpile this kind of thing too much.

Purple flower lichen is best harvested before blooming when its water content is highest.

Also, harvested lichen can still bloom, and once it does, its water content drastically reduces.

This isn’t something that can be stored long-term; poor people gather some for emergencies.

It’s worthless, the quantity is small, hard for buyers to collect, hard for sellers to sell.

So some acquaintances would discuss and jointly sell, then calculate the small accounts afterward.

During this process, both inevitably exchanged a few words.

Until Qu Jianlei casually complained, "No grocery stores sell lichen... Despising small business, huh?"

"For those big shots, is this considered business?" a downtrodden woman replied.

"That old cripple here..." Qu Jianlei said halfway, "Oh, he went to the settlement to enjoy life?"

"Dead," the downtrodden woman replied indifferently.

"Really?" Qu Jianlei was genuinely surprised, "How did he die?"

He wasn’t good at dealing with people, but he thought his reaction should be quite normal.

The downtrodden woman’s lips moved to speak, but the man beside her snorted coldly, "You shut up."

Then he glanced at Qu Jianlei and continued to scold the woman, "Do you not know what can be said and what can’t?"

The woman had a disgruntled face but finally stopped talking.

Qu Jianlei grew even more curious and couldn’t help but ask again, "Did he offend some big shot?"

That’s his problem; knowing he should inquire indirectly, but curiosity made him unable to hold back.

He usually tried to control it, but this time his brain failed to manage his mouth.

If an average person heard him continue asking like this, they would become alert: Was he gathering information?

However, the man scolding wasn’t an average person; he had seen many tricks and ghostly activities at the bottom.

He thought the other’s reaction was purely curiosity—what spy would be so stupid?

If the other hadn’t continued asking, he might have held some suspicion, but now... the man was just reckless.

So he coughed lightly, "Well... do you understand the rules of gathering intelligence?"

Gathering intelligence rules? Qu Jianlei pondered, then shook his head directly, "I’m just curious... Won’t pay for it!"

No matter what, he couldn’t admit he was gathering intelligence, right?

The man increasingly believed he wasn’t a spy—what straightforward spy would there be?

He lowered his voice and said, "Our lichen will count as half... such a small matter isn’t a problem, right?"

To prevent refusal, he added temptation, "Listen, this information is very important, really cheaply given to you."

"After I finish, remember not to share it, or else I’ll die, but you’ll die before me."

At the end, he even used suggestive phrasing—he knew the person would agree.