The identity card had been burnt by the flames. The laser-printed photo had turned into a cluster of dark wrinkles, making it impossible to see what it looked like.

However, the name next to it was indeed ‘Thousand Treasures Sea’.

Naturally, Bai Xiaolu could not take out her identity card. She could only raise her identity bracelet and pretend that she was weak and in pain. She mumbled, “My—my name is Bai Xiaolu. I was separated from you when I escaped yesterday. I only remember the explosion, the fire, the blast, and the blood. It hurts. My head hurts. I don’t remember anything!”

“Yes. It was a terrible escape.”

The young man named ‘Wan Zanghai’ sighed. He seemed to believe Bai Xiaolu’s words, but the gun aimed at the boy did not move at all. “Do you have any weapons on you or in your backpack?”

There had been a pistol on Bai Xiaolu’s waist, but it had been lost in the thunderstorm.

There were still two folding automatic rifles and a dozen or so magazines of bullets in his backpack. He was unable to take them out in a short amount of time. However, the muzzle and the grip of the gun were protruding out of his backpack. Even a blind man would be able to see it. It would not be good to lie, so he could only force a nod.

“Very good.”

The smile on Wan Zanghai’s face grew thicker and more unpredictable. His voice became more and more refined as he said, “Student Bai, we are all on the same side. At first, we were attacked by the devils, and then we were swept into a thunderstorm for a day and a night. Even so, we were lucky enough to survive and still meet each other. It can be seen that we are destined for each other. We should be walking side by side in this wretched desert. Don’t worry, I will absolutely not abandon you.

“However, you are not in a good mental state right now. It is too dangerous to hold a weapon. You might hurt yourself or other people. Therefore, your weapons are all in my custody. I will return them to you when necessary. Is that okay?”

Bai Xiaolu was dazed for a moment.

In the Wasteland, a weapon filled with bullets was as important as a heart. No one would hand it over to others easily.

“Huh?”

Wan Canghai shook the muzzle of his gun and narrowed his eyes. His tone turned gloomy as he said, “Little brother, firearms are dangerous things. Not everyone can play with them. With our school’s firearms education, it will be good enough if you can learn where the trigger and safety are. Do you really think that you are not yourself just because you have a gun?”

Bai Xiaolu hesitated for a moment, but her brother said in his heart, “Give him the gun.”

“What?”

Bai Xiaolu exclaimed, “Brother, guns are your life in the desert!”

“It doesn’t matter.”

His brother smiled. “I’ve recovered. I can activate it at least once.”

Bai Xiaolu was greatly relieved.

His brother was his biggest reliance. No matter how strong and cunning his opponent was, he was just a teenager. He wouldn’t be more difficult to deal with than ‘Master Snake’, would he? His brother could blow up his opponent’s cerebrovascular vessels at lightning speed without alarming him. There was no way that his opponent would have the opportunity to pull the trigger.

“Alright.”

Bai Xiaolu nodded. She pretended that she was at a loss and stammered, “Then—then I will teach it to Brother Wan.”

He was about to open the military backpack when Wan Zanghai said, “Wait. Don’t move. Leave the two backpacks where they are and walk ten meters away with your back facing me. Let me remind you that this is a boundless desert. Deadly quicksand, sandworms, Wasteland Wolves, landmines, terrifying robots, and Wasteland Gangs are everywhere. There are also deadly acid rain and radiation zones. Without food, supplies, and radiation detectors, no one will be able to escape. You must not do anything stupid.”

Bai Xiaolu was clearer than Wan Zanghai about the formidability of the Wasteland, especially the uninhabited area in the north of the Wasteland. He did not play any tricks and obediently left his backpack where he was. He walked ten meters away with his back facing Wan Zanghai.

His brother, on the other hand, focused all his attention on the young man behind him.

Crack. Crack.

It was the sound of a folded automatic rifle being loaded.

“Hehehehe!”

Then came Wan Zanghai’s laughter.

The young man’s laughter sounded like that of a lizard.

Although Bai Xiaolu was well aware that lizards wouldn’t smile at all, not even the double-headed venomous lizards that had undergone radiation mutations could.

“Alright, turn around.”

When Bai Xiaolu heard Wan Zanghai’s words, she turned around and discovered that the resources that he had painstakingly gathered were scattered all over the ground.

The young man was sitting cross-legged with one rifle across his legs. He was adjusting the scope of the other rifle, while clicking sounds were echoing from his mouth from time to time.

Then, Wan Canghai threw his shotgun to Bai Xiaolu and it fell to the boy’s feet. “This one is yours!”

Bai Xiaolu was overjoyed. She picked up the shotgun immediately, only to find that something was wrong. She opened the magazine and found that it was empty. There were no bullets at all. Besides, the trigger and the barrel of the gun were somewhat crooked, suggesting that the gun had been seriously burnt and electrocuted. Even if there were bullets, they might not be able to fire.

“Hehe. I’m sorry. I forgot that the gun had no bullets.”

Wan Zanghai aimed at Bai Xiaolu with the automatic rifle. His voice turned extremely cold as he said, “But there must be one in this one.”

Bai Xiaolu’s heart turned cold.

But his brother’s head was burning.

But Wan Zanghai only aimed at him for half a second before he moved the gun away. An innocent smile blossomed on his face, which had been cold and cruel a moment ago. “Ha. Just kidding. Look at how scared you are right now. You are too timid. How did you escape from the siege yesterday?”

It was just a joke…

Bai Xiaolu cursed a hundred times in her heart.

He had thought that only the devils in the Furious Blood Wasteland, especially the ferocious ones such as ‘Master Snake’, ‘Butcher’, and ‘Boss Gold Tooth’, would be so insane.

He did not expect that a teenager from the underground world could be so bad.

“However, you should understand now…”

Wan Canghai’s smile only lasted three seconds before it was entirely gone. He stared at Bai Xiaolu and said, “You should’ve listened to somebody, right?”

“Understood. Understood.”

Bai Xiaolu pretended to be timid and said, “You should’ve listened to Brother Wan.”

“Excellent. Come and eat!”

Wan Zanghai’s smile was like a mysterious mask that could be taken out of one’s face instantly. He gestured to Bai Xiaolu. “Let’s eat and drink so that we can be on our way!”

Bai Xiaolu focused her attention and sat down in front of Wan Zanghai, trembling in fear. She watched him rip open the colorful wrappers one by one and take out a folded container made of tinfoil. He broke off a small piece from a gray-brown solid that seemed to be a ‘compressed biscuit’ and put it into the container. Then he blew a few sparks on the solid with what seemed to be an electronic lighter.

After a ‘Bo’ sound, the solid suddenly expanded into a big bowl of clean water!

“Well—”

Bai Xiaolu’s eyes bulged. She did not know that there was such a marvelous thing in the world. She had thought that she was collecting compressed biscuits, but it turned out to be compressed water! A cluster of solid objects that was smaller than a fingernail could produce such a large bowl of clean water. It was truly unbelievable!

How many treasures did the underground people have? How many lives could be saved if the treasures were passed on to the surface?

Thankfully, he didn’t know how to use them until he ran into Wan Zanghai. Otherwise, he might’ve become a laughing stock and even killed somebody!

Wan Canghai divided the clean water into two halves, soaked the real compressed biscuits in them, and gave Bai Xiaolu a few high-energy sugar pills.

Bai Xiaolu secretly heaved a sigh of relief and swallowed it just like Wan Canghai did. She thought to herself that it was a good thing that Wan Canghai did not ask her to prepare food and water. Otherwise, she would have been exposed.

After eating and drinking to his heart’s content, Wan Canghai’s physical strength was somewhat restored. He studied the compass carefully, only to find that the pointer was shaking and spinning nonstop.

“Damn.”

The young man mumbled, “It is indeed as the textbooks say. The thunderstorm has just passed, and the magnetic field interference is very strong. All kinds of advanced automatic equipment are unusable. Even the compass has been seriously jammed. There is no way to tell which direction is which.”

He narrowed his eyes and raised his head to look at the sky. The sky was as dense as before, as if it would collapse at any moment. There was no sun at all except for a few bleeding clouds in the horizon.

“Hey, do you think that’s the sun?”

Wan Zanghai kicked Bai Xiaolu.

Bai Xiaolu observed for a while and shook her head. “I don’t know.”

“True.”

Wan Canghai grinned. “The sky has been covered in lead clouds for decades, and we’ve been living underground all the time. We’ve never seen the real sun except in our computers. How do you know?”

“If that’s the case, we can only try our luck and pretend that it is! In any case, we can’t just sit here and wait to be killed. The devils attacking the city are not entirely wiped out. There are still countless scattered soldiers and bandit gangs active in the Wasteland. If we are captured by them, the two tender-skinned underground dwellers will be doomed!”

“Let’s go. If the sky is bleeding toward the sun, this should be the west. Let’s go west. Didn’t we agree yesterday that we would meet the reinforcements of the ‘alliance’ if we went west?”

Bai Xiaolu said obediently, “I will listen to Brother Wan.”

The two of them packed up the supplies on the ground. Wan Zanghai, on the other hand, did not watch Bai Xiaolu work alone. He even helped her share a bag. Together with the weight of the two automatic rifles, it was still him who carried the heavier load.

Moreover, he had taken the initiative to walk in front and face unknown dangers.

It confused Bai Xiaolu. Was the ‘Myriad Hidden Sea’ a good thing or a bad one? If he had ill intentions, he could’ve shot the two fully loaded automatic rifles and taken all the assets for himself.

He had the advantage and was willing to team up with Bai Xiaolu. Did it mean that he really considered Bai Xiaolu to be one of his own?

“Don’t trust him too much.

His brother replied casually, “If I were him, I wouldn’t shoot him, either—but that doesn’t mean I’m friendly.”

“Why?”

Bai Xiaolu did not understand.

“Firstly, there are too many heavy assets here. We don’t have any vehicles. We will collapse if we walk in the desert with only two bags of assets.

The elder brother analyzed, “With our age and physical strength, one package is already the best we can do on foot. Even if he kills us, he will only be able to take away one package of supplies. If he lets us go for now, he will be able to get a grateful, unsuspecting mule. If we help him carry one more package, he will be able to earn half more even if we consume half of the supplies.”

Bai Xiaolu exclaimed in her heart.

It was always like this. The biggest problem for him could be solved by his brother instantly.

“Secondly, and more importantly, we are very important assets in the first place, which means a piece of fresh meat.

His brother sneered, “If necessary, he could’ve killed us and harvested dozens of kilograms of meat. It wouldn’t have been a problem for him to survive for three to five days. The guy is apparently very smart. Why would he waste such a good piece of meat?”