The First Order

When Ren Xiaosu heard Yang Xiaojin talking about the Pyro Company, he quickly processed what she said. That was because a lot of information was contained within that short passage of words.

Xu Xianchu obviously did not know this information about the Pyro Company. That was to say, Yang Xiaojin had far surpassed Xu Xianchu, who was a soldier of the private army, in terms of gathering intelligence.

Moreover, Yang Xiaojin had mentioned, “Perhaps only the core personnel of the Pyro Company know what really happened there.” Why was she so sure that only the core personnel knew about it rather than the entire Pyro Company? Yang Xiaojin must have sought out information from some of the Pyro Company’s members before but to no avail.

Ren Xiaosu felt that Yang Xiaojin couldn’t have managed that alone. It was just like how he didn’t know how many strongholds had been built by humans until now, with the highest number that he had ever heard of being Stronghold 178.

He did not know about the Pyro Company, nor how many organizations were out there. To be able to understand the overall situation of the world in this era where communications infrastructure was underdeveloped, she had to have an organization behind her!

Therefore, Yang Xiaojin must belong to an organization. As for which organization she belonged to, nobody knew.

Ren Xiaosu was someone who liked learning and contemplation a lot. At this moment, Yang Xiaojin stopped talking when she noticed that Ren Xiaosu was deep in thought. Yang Xiaojin was not stupid. She realized that Ren Xiaosu was analyzing the information she had just said.

Ren Xiaosu suddenly asked, “Are these the only two known locations with mysterious activities happening?”

Yang Xiaojin gave him a look. “There will be more and more of such places.”

In the afternoon, everyone was showing signs of fatigue except for Ren Xiaosu. As Liu Bu, Luo Xinyu, and Wang Lei were only normal people, their soles had already started blistering. However, they did not dare to fall behind or ask if they could take a rest.

Ren Xiaosu finished a bottle of water and then refilled it in a shallow stream. As the other three did not have any containers with them, they had to find some large leaves to hold the water.

In front, Xu Xianchu had a canteen while Yang Xiaojin had a bottle of water hidden on her too. As for Ren Xiaosu, needless to say, he not only had a water bottle, there was even the metal cup he’d brought from home.

However, Luo Xinyu, Liu Bu, and Wang Lei did not have any containers. As such, Ren Xiaosu, Yang Xiaojin, and Xu Xianchu were strolling ahead of them with their hands swinging about. Meanwhile, Luo Xinyu, Liu Bu, and Wang Lei each held a leaf in their hands as they followed them and looked pretty pathetic.

When they were getting water, Ren Xiaosu expressly instructed, “Y’all can’t go near the deep end. Just get water from the streams. Once you get it, leave A-SAP.”

When Xu Xianchu mentioned the prehistoric birds had appeared in the place controlled by the Pyro Company, he remembered the dark shadow in the river he encountered when he was catching fish!

It was a creature that even other fishes in the water were afraid of. Ren Xiaosu even regretted that he didn’t catch a glimpse of what it really was.

At dusk, they finally found a new cave to settle in, but it was tiny this time. It was a little crowded with six people sitting inside, but they had no choice. The forest was too scary at night.

When they huddled together to keep themselves warm over a fire, everyone felt a rare sense of security. Perhaps humans would only realize the importance of companionship during moments like this.

Ren Xiaosu carefully checked the inside of the cave to look for any traces left behind by humans, such as inscriptions like the ones left in the hollow last night. Unfortunately, he could not find any traces of that here.

Xu Xianchu instructed, “If anyone wants to relieve themselves, it will be best not to head into the forest in case of accidents. If the ladies want to relieve themselves, we’ll just turn our heads the other way. The two of you can take turns to watch over us to make sure we’re not peeking. This is also for the sake of everyone’s safety.”

As the group chewed on the cooked pine roots, Liu Bu remembered the aroma of the roasted boar from before and joked to Ren Xiaosu, “Why don’t you make another wish? Wouldn’t it be great if another animal ran into a tree?”

Ren Xiaosu snapped at him, “Why don’t you wish for it yourself then?”

He wouldn’t sacrifice Yan Liuyuan’s health in exchange for food for himself. This pine root tasted just like celery anyway and was not too difficult to swallow either.

Right now, Ren Xiaosu was paying great attention to what he said since he was afraid of causing harm to Yan Liuyuan at home.

After getting rebuked by Ren Xiaosu, Liu Bu felt a little embarrassed. “Come on, it was just a joke. I would have wished for it a long time ago if it were effective. If I wished for a wild animal to get presented to us, do you really think that a wild animal would really get presented to us?”

But at this moment, they heard a strange sound coming from the forest outside the cave. It sounded like there was a lot of movement.

Ren Xiaosu, Yang Xiaojin, and Xu Xianchu instinctively picked up their guns upon hearing the sounds. The next second, three boars, two wildcats, two snakes, and seven monkeys scattered out of the forest.

The wildcats already looked the size of the leopards found in the schoolbooks, not to mention the size of the boars! The monkeys were nearly as tall as humans, and if they stood upright, they would probably be 1.6 meters tall!

Ren Xiaosu was quite sure this was not caused by Yan Liuyuan’s luck from making a wish. With all of these animals put together, they would probably be more than enough to kill the six of them. This should not fucking be considered good luck!

Ren Xiaosu stared blankly at the wild animals and said, “Liu Bu, is your mouth fucking jinxed?!”

Liu Bu was nearly in tears. “I was just saying…”

The wild animals and humans were caught in a deadlock. It seemed that the wild animals had not expected anyone to be in here either. Ren Xiaosu lowered his voice and whispered, “Liu Bu, go tell them that we’re vegetarians today so they can leave.”

Liu Bu burst into tears. He looked at the pack of wild animals outside the cave and said, “Would my words be effective? Hey, you all there, please leave!”

Ren Xiaosu was just kidding. But after Liu Bu said “please leave,” those wild animals actually turned around and ran in another direction.

In reality, Ren Xiaosu felt that he could defeat them. Although pistols would barely cause any substantial harm to these animals, he still had a “shadow clone” as his greatest trump card.

But Ren Xiaosu did not want to get exposed. As soon as his shadow clone appeared, Xu Xianchu and the others would know that he could copy other people’s powers. It would be difficult to say what kind of consequences there would be.

Moreover, the Shadow Clone he copied turned out to be even stronger than Xu Xianchu’s, so that wouldn’t make him look good either!

Ren Xiaosu looked back at Liu Bu in surprise. ‘Did this guy awaken his skill of luck just like Yan Liuyuan had?! That’s not it!’

Ren Xiaosu looked back to the forest and said, “What drove those wild animals out here to where we are?! Wild animals shouldn’t get along this well. They neither attacked each other nor attacked us. That means something even more terrifying is oppressing them inside the forest. They intended to take refuge in this cave!”

“It seems like that’s really it.” Xu Xianchu nodded and said, “But because we’ve already occupied the cave, they have no choice but to go elsewhere.”

“Do y’all remember? Some strange commotions came from the forest yesterday evening as well, but whatever made that noise went away before it showed itself. I assumed that whatever made that sound was the source of the danger. But now that I think about it, it might’ve been animals searching for a cave to seek refuge in,” Ren Xiaosu recalled. “Just what’s in this forest that made these ‘natives’ stay away from their own territory and cause the different species to get along with each other?”