Chapter 44: The "Treasure Map"

Retreating to a spot more than a dozen meters away, Chang Xin stared fixedly at the pitch-black metal lump in Liu Hen's hand.

From that metal lump, she actually sensed an immense sense of danger.

If they didn't go all out, even she would get injured, or worse, face mortal peril.

Clearly, that was no mere decoration; it was the real deal.

Of course, Liu Hen had no intention of using his only fragment grenade right now; he was merely trying to scare his opponent.

At present, he only had this single fragment grenade on him, and it was extremely precious.

He retreated to the doorway of the homestead building and sneered, "Not only am I a walking granary, but I'm also a walking armory. Feel free to try me."

"..."

Chang Xin fell slightly silent, then spoke again, "We can be equals."

"If we are to cooperate, it naturally has to be centered around me, because I don't need your so-called protection at all."

Liu Hen said coldly, "Besides, I don't trust you, so this cooperation is off."

Chang Xin: "..."

Liu Hen looked at Zong Ni, "Want to follow me? I'm planning to leave this place. Follow me, and I can guarantee you have a meal every single day."

"Poaching my people right in front of me, isn't that a bit inappropriate?" Chang Xin was speechless.

"For an Awakened one, you're actually living so miserably that I'm almost embarrassed to mention it," Liu Hen said indifferently.

Chang Xin: "You already mentioned it."

Liu Hen was slightly startled, "...You've got quite a sense of humor."

Chen Ye couldn't help explaining, "Sister Chang only just awakened, so naturally she can't compare to someone like you who awakened long ago."

"Liu Hen should have just awakened recently as well."

Zong Ni looked at Chen Ye and Chang Xin, explaining, "The last time we parted ways, Liu Hen should still have been an ordinary person. That was only half a month ago."

Chen Ye raised an eyebrow and said no more.

If they compared it this way, Chang Xin had lost.

Because Chang Xin had been awakened for about a month.

It was just that the external environment was far too harsh, and food was virtually impossible to find, which was why she was living in such a wretched state, barely any different from before she awakened.

Chang Xin also looked at Liu Hen with some surprise.

"How about it? Want to come work under me?" Liu Hen asked.

Chang Xin: "..."

"I know your choice."

Liu Hen said indifferently, "Wu Yuanming, see our guests out."

"Are you really not going to consider it?"

Chang Xin frowned and said earnestly, "If we join forces, establishing a camp would be absolute child's play."

"The problem right now, however, is whether you are willing to come be my hired muscle."

Liu Hen said calmly, "Two tigers cannot share one mountain. Without any premise of mutual trust, two Awakened ones gathering together will only lead to infighting. Anyway, there's no way I'd submit to you right now, and would you submit to me?"

Chang Xin fell into a brief silence, nodding a few seconds later, "Indeed. Let's hope we don't become enemies. We're leaving."

She turned and left directly.

"Zong Ni, wait a moment," Liu Hen called out.

"If you want to follow him, I won't blame you," Chang Xin said with an unchanged expression, continuing to lead Chen Ye away without slowing her pace.

Zong Ni turned to look at Liu Hen, "A few days ago, I almost ended up in someone's cooking pot. It was Sister Chang who saved me."

Liu Hen understood and didn't try to persuade her further, simply drawing a simple map on the ground instead, "There are good things in this place. Go get them. It might take a bit of effort to dig through those iron ores. Also, there might be danger underneath, so remember to remind that Chang Xin."

He didn't want to take risks, yet he didn't want to completely throw away that horse meat either, so this was a convenient way to do a favor.

As for whether Zong Ni and the other two could actually get it, that was their own business.

"Thank you." Although Zong Ni didn't know what good things Liu Hen was talking about, she carefully memorized the map nonetheless.

After Zong Ni left, Liu Hen turned to Wu Yuanming, "Take turns getting some good rest. The next twilight, we set out and leave this place."

"Understood, sir," Wu Yuanming replied respectfully.

Liu Hen returned indoors, pondered for a moment, and still crafted four sets of thermal gear, four black iron longbows, and a hundred iron arrows.

The iron arrows weren't upgraded items; they had to be crafted using the workbench.

The crafting materials were wooden arrows and iron ore, which was equivalent to an upgrade in its own right.

During the crafting process, a ball of light suddenly burst from Liu Hen's arm.

Immediately following that, to his astonished gaze, a palm-sized humanoid figure appeared, tightly hugging his arm as if terrified of falling off.

"Black Stone?"

Liu Hen was dumbfounded, "How did you become so small?"

What surprised him the most was that Little Black Stone was still wearing that set of thermal gear, and the thermal gear had actually shrunk right along with her body.

"I am practicing the art of transformation."

Little Black Stone hugged Liu Hen's arm tightly, clinging to it like a koala grasping a tree trunk, while answering earnestly, "Sir will be leaving soon, and I hope to continue keeping watch for you, sir."

The appearance of the Wu siblings had generated a deep sense of crisis within her, driving her to work hard every single moment without daring to slack off even slightly.

As she spoke, she suddenly dropped to the ground, her body rapidly expanding until she stood over two meters tall in the blink of an eye, only to shrink right back down the next moment.

This time she became even smaller, shrinking to the size of a thumb.

Liu Hen stared dumbly at the Thumbelina before him, fighting down the impulse to pick her up, and asked, "...What kind of ability is this?"

"This is the spirit-beast's illusionary transformation art. I can only alter my size and change back into the appearance of a stone; I cannot transform into other people."

Little Black Stone was practicing very earnestly, "However, the fusion isn't complete yet, so I can't fully control this ability."

"Then keep practicing slowly," Liu Hen smiled.

***

Several hundred meters away.

Chang Xin traveled with Chen Ye and Zong Ni while asking, "Zong Ni, what is your impression of that Liu Hen?"

"Impression?"

Zong Ni thought for a moment, "We cooperated a long time ago, but as for a specific impression... it's hard to summarize. Personally, though, I feel he can be trusted. At least he never tried to monopolize any benefits obtained during our team-up."

Chen Ye, standing nearby, chimed in, "After becoming an Awakened one, he still remembered the grace of a meal from Zong Ni. His character should be fine, which is exceedingly rare. Too bad he's unwilling to cooperate with us."

"Indeed, what a pity."

Chang Xin wore a look of regret, then asked again, "What kind of thing did he ask us to go look for?"

"He didn't say," Zong Ni shook her head.

Chen Ye warned, "Sister Chang, we feel that we should still be a bit careful. If it turns out to be a trap, we'll be in trouble."

"I'll be careful."

Chang Xin casually disposed of a wandering demon monster, picked up the demon crystal on the ground, and was just about to continue speaking when her brow suddenly furrowed.

"Crouch down," she hurried to crouch behind a massive boulder.

Zong Ni and Chen Ye quickly crouched down as well.

Half a minute later, the sound of dense hooves rang out, growing closer and closer.

Although Zong Ni and Chen Ye couldn't see anything, they could sense that many people on horseback were passing close by.

In Chang Xin's field of vision, a group of at least thirty people riding tall steeds galloped through the night fog, passing by just over fifty meters away from them.

Only after that group had ridden far away did she stand up with a solemn expression, "There are more and more outsiders. This area probably isn't safe anymore."

Zong Ni recalled Liu Hen's previous words, "Liu Hen probably wanted to leave because of this reason too. Should we leave?"

"Let's go see what he left for us first."

Chang Xin quickened her pace.

Time flowed on, and the deep of night arrived swiftly.

Although they were very familiar with this region, because the map Liu Hen gave them was far too rudimentary, the three of them searched for several hours before finally locating the exact spot.

"Is this it?"

Chen Ye looked at the "tower" built entirely from square giant stones, wearing a look of astonishment.

Upon seeing that "tower," a look of complex uncertainty flashed across Chang Xin's face as well, "A seal? He must be showing off his strength to me; he definitely didn't use all his methods earlier."

"What kind of ability is this?" Chen Ye looked shocked and curious.

"I don't know."

Chang Xin shook her head, "An Awakened one's abilities—unless the person themselves states it outright—are very difficult to accurately guess, even if you see them firsthand."

"Then underneath this..."

Zong Ni said, "Liu Hen said there might be danger underneath."

"There's a half-dead cyborg down there."

Chang Xin said with a serious expression, "What Liu Hen intends to give us should be this cyborg. Every single component on this kind of cyborg is extremely valuable."

"What on earth is he playing at?" Chen Ye was utterly puzzled.

"To be able to casually give away such precious things—his capabilities probably go far beyond what we've seen."

Assuming she had guessed Liu Hen's intentions, Chang Xin spoke with a serious expression, "Perhaps he feels that my current self isn't worthy of cooperating with him at all, so he gave me these things to let me develop first."

With that, brilliant silver light flared across her body, and a silver-white full-body armor materialized, "You two back away a bit. I'm going to dismantle this seal."

After Zong Ni and Chen Ye retreated to a safe distance, she went to work, directly dismantling the hill of iron ore with her bare hands.