Chapter 42: Meeting Again

"Yes, My Lord."

Wu Yuanming turned and left once more.

Liu Hen waited patiently on the spot.

Before long, Wu Yuanming returned with three people, all of whom were women.

Other wastelanders followed as well, perhaps curious to see whether the esper living here was truly willing to exchange food for a stone entirely incapable of producing a flame in the extreme cold.

In this bitter cold, although the air was dry and deadwood was available, starting a fire was extremely difficult due to the plummeting temperatures.

In particular, the light of a fire would attract danger.

Therefore, unless strictly necessary, no one lit fires in the dark, and the wastelanders possessed almost no food requiring cooking.

This made the value of flint remarkably low.

The tools used by other scavenging teams to light fires inside caves were high-pressure windproof lighters bought at a steep price from Red Snail Camp.

To Liu Hen's surprise, of the three women Wu Yuanming brought, one was intimately familiar to him—Zong Ni, his temporary partner when he had first transmigrated here.

Perhaps because his status had completely changed and he had washed his face, Zong Ni wore an expression of bewildered hesitation upon seeing him.

The other party clearly recognized him, yet found it hard to believe it was truly him.

"Zong Ni, you're still alive. Not bad," Liu Hen smiled slightly.

"Is it really you?" Zong Ni asked in astonishment.

"Zong Ni, you know this lord?"

Both of Zong Ni's companions were startled.

Wu Yuanming was also somewhat surprised, but he kept to his duties and asked nothing.

"It's me."

Liu Hen smiled slightly. "I heard you have flint?"

"Sister... Sister Chang has a piece."

Her former temporary partner had suddenly transformed into a lofty esper, leaving Zong Ni with a complex mix of emotions, yet she still spoke calmly.

The woman referred to by Zong Ni as 'Sister Chang' immediately produced a fist-sized black stone, looking restrained as she asked, "My Lord, is this the flint you need?"

Liu Hen took the stone, drew his Tang saber, and gently struck it, sending sparks flying in all directions.

He nodded in satisfaction immediately. "It's flint."

"Then..." Sister Chang asked nervously, "The food..."

The nearby wastelanders who had gathered around also craned their necks, eager to see if this esper was truly willing to trade precious food for stones that were practically useless to them.

"Rest assured, I am not someone who would skimp on this bit of food."

Liu Hen directly produced a large bowl containing nearly half a bowl of bark paste, what remained of his previous meal, amounting to about a pound.

"Hot food?!"

Seeing the steaming white bowl of food, Zong Ni and the others were shocked.

The wastelanders watching from afar were also greatly astonished. They had assumed getting cold food would be fortunate enough, let alone hot fare.

Compared to this steaming food, they were not particularly surprised by Liu Hen's ability to conjure items out of thin air.

Since they already knew Liu Hen was an esper—a legendary figure capable of miraculous feats—such methods seemed entirely normal.

"Take it."

Liu Hen handed the bowl to Sister Chang and then looked at Zong Ni.

"Thank you, My Lord." Sister Chang excitedly took the large bowl with both hands, preparing to discuss with Zong Ni how to divide the food.

At that moment, however, Liu Hen produced another full bowl of bark paste and handed it to Zong Ni. "I said back then that I would repay you. Take it."

When he first transmigrated, Zong Ni had given him a small piece of bark paste, allowing him to hold on a little longer.

"This... so much?!" Zong Ni's breathing grew shallow.

Sister Chang and the others looked at Zong Ni in surprise, realizing that this companion's relationship with the esper was likely far from ordinary.

"Drink it quickly, it won't taste as good if it gets cold," Liu Hen said.

Zong Ni gave Liu Hen a deep look, then accepted it without hesitation, taking the large bowl and gulping it down eagerly.

The steaming food entering her stomach instantly filled her with a bliss that nearly brought her to tears; in all her life, this was her first time eating such food.

Yet, because the occasion was inappropriate, she forcefully suppressed the emotion.

A look of intense longing appeared on the faces of the wastelanders watching from afar. Under normal circumstances, they would have already rushed over to rob them.

Yet, deterred by the esper's intimidation, they dared not approach and could only swallow saliva in the distance.

Though small in stature, Zong Ni had a large appetite, managing to finish all three pounds of bark paste.

Just as she prepared to return the bowl to Liu Hen, her hands suddenly emptied, and the large bowl vanished into thin air.

"Ah... What's going on?" Her expression shifted slightly.

Wu Yuanming, standing nearby, explained with an air of showing off: "This is food conjured by the lord's esper ability. Its sole purpose is to hold food. Now that you've finished the food, it has no reason to exist, so naturally, it disappeared."

These were the words Liu Hen had once spoken to Little Black Stone, which Little Black Stone had parroted back to the Wu siblings.

Now, Wu Yuanming was repeating them to Zong Ni and the others.

"The purpose of its existence?" Zong Ni looked at Liu Hen in astonishment.

Liu Hen nodded slightly.

"An esper... how miraculous!" Zong Ni marveled, her heart growing even more conflicted.

This former temporary partner had actually become an esper, arousing both envy and jealousy.

Sister Chang nearby quickly asked, "Then may I ask, My Lord, can we take this bowl with us?"

She had not yet eaten her portion of the food, evidently having previously agreed with the others to distribute it, refusing to cut Zong Ni out simply because the latter had obtained other food.

"Of course."

Liu Hen glanced at the distant wastelanders whose eyes were practically glowing green. "However, I suggest you eat it right here, lest it be snatched away."

"Many thanks, My Lord. In this area, we still hold some sway."

Sister Chang cast a cold glance into the darkness, bowed her farewell to Liu Hen, and departed with Zong Ni and the other woman.

Zong Ni nodded at Liu Hen and quickly followed Sister Chang away. Clearly, Sister Chang was their leader.

Once the three of them had left, Liu Hen looked at Wu Yuanming. "How many people went to chop trees?"

"Uh, this..."

Wu Yuanming immediately said with trepidation: "After I conveyed your words under the trees earlier, those people simply scattered. They didn't voice a refusal, but they didn't explicitly agree either."

With no one bringing back wood by now, it was obvious that those people had refused, feeling it wasn't worth expending so much effort merely for the right to live here.

After all, it wasn't as if the wood could be directly exchanged for food.

A cold smile flashed in Liu Hen's eyes. It seemed these wastelanders harbored deep skepticism toward his abilities; not a single person was willing to trade a tree for a place to live.

"My Lord, should this subordinate go pressure those people?" Wu Yuanming asked.

"No need."

Liu Hen said indifferently, "After all, I'm not the one losing out."

Just as well, the Creation Workbench was nearly upgraded to full Black Iron level, and it was about time to move. Traveling with too many people would be troublesome.

Once he found the copper mine, it wouldn't be too late to start building a faction.

"Right, take this."

He suddenly produced a bowl of bark paste and handed it to Wu Yuanming. "Put aside other matters from now on and serve me diligently. There will be plenty of this food to go around."

With the carbohydrate nutrient porridge, he would never lack food again.

Wu Yuanming's spirits surged instantly as he eagerly accepted the food. "Yes, My Lord!"

This marked a shift in their status—from peripheral members to official subordinates of this esper.

Dismissing Wu Yuanming, Liu Hen returned inside and glanced at the Creation Workbench.

To his surprise, the workbench's upgrade had already finished long ago.

*How long did I sleep?*

He frowned inwardly, then walked over, opened the crafting interface of the Creation Workbench, and examined the new recipe.

The workbench was now at level ten, the maximum Black Iron rank. Logically speaking, it ought to unlock a remarkably powerful recipe.

And indeed, it did not disappoint him.

For this time, the recipe was—a grenade!