Chapter 9: A Miracle Beyond Belief

In the darkness, Liu Hen strode ahead. Though he was painfully hungry—so much so that dizziness and black spots clouded his vision—he refrained from eating the tree cakes immediately, considering it wasteful. He intended to experiment, hoping to cook the cakes into porridge so he could ration them over several meals. The most arduous phase was far from over; he dared not squander any food and had to conserve every morsel.

Before crossing over, he had never truly appreciated the value of a pound of food; in his previous life, leftovers were simply discarded. Now, reflecting on that wastefulness, he cursed his past self. Was his current plight in this famine-stricken world a form of divine punishment?

Behind him, a skeletal little girl staggered, her steps unsteady but unwavering, never daring to fall behind. She had not uttered a sound from beginning to end, even shivering in the icy night wind, yet she resolutely followed Liu Hen barefoot. This girl was a pure wasteland native, possessing a tenacious vitality and iron will. It was nearly impossible for her to faint from hunger before death, so Liu Hen paid her no mind. If she perished now, it would simply be her misfortune.

Most of his attention was devoted to vigilance. In the darkness, he gripped a piece of iron ore in each hand, ready to hurl them with full force at a moment’s notice. Fortunately, luck was on their side; they had not encountered any murderous robbers. Perhaps the poor visibility of the deep night and their light footsteps, drowned out by the howling wind, kept any lurking ambushers oblivious to their presence.

Finally, after covering more than five thousand meters in one stretch, Liu Hen prepared to make camp. Yet he did not begin immediately. Instead, he and the little girl circled within a few hundred meters to ensure no danger lurked nearby, then stopped beneath a rocky cliff. The cliff was only four or five meters high, rugged and jagged—a typical feature of the stony mountains—but it was the best spot around.

“Help me keep watch,” he said, glancing back at the little girl. “If anything stirs, you must alert me immediately. That’s your main task.”

“Okay, okay, I will,” she said nervously, nodding earnestly. She was gambling on the man not being evil enough to see her as food.

“From now on, don’t be surprised or ask about anything strange you see on me,” Liu Hen continued. He took out the campfire, cleared a space, then flipped out his multipurpose pickaxe. “I’ll tell you what you need to know. For what I don’t tell you, don’t ask. Your first job is to keep your mouth shut.”

The girl’s eyes widened in shock at the sudden appearance of the campfire and pickaxe. Hearing Liu Hen’s words, she quickly covered her mouth and nodded emphatically.

“Behave well. I won’t just keep you alive; I’ll help you live well—but we must work together. Now, keep watch,” he said, scanning the surroundings carefully.

Satisfied there was no threat, he faced the cliff and swung the pickaxe, mining stones while digging a cave.

[Slag Stone +4]

[Slag Stone +4]

Each strike yielded at least four pieces of slag stone, the speed much faster than before.

The sharp clinking of mining echoed continuously, mostly drowned by the wind but audible up close.

The skeletal girl stood seven or eight meters away, scanning the area. From that distance, if she spotted danger and sounded the alarm, Liu Hen would have more time to react.

Occasionally, she glanced back at him. Watching him swing the pickaxe, the cliff visibly caved inward, though few stones fell to the ground. Her shock deepened.

“Could this be the ‘supernatural being’ my father spoke of? A new human with divine abilities? Am I truly fortunate to follow such a one?” she wondered with trembling uncertainty, reminding herself to obey and not anger this man.

Supernatural beings were said to be those assimilated by darkness, special existences in the world engulfed by night mist. Such individuals adapted better, called new humans or evolvers, but were exceedingly rare.

Even Liu Hen, inhabiting this body, had only heard rumors and never seen one; their existence was uncertain.

Half a minute later, Liu Hen waved his hand, and a hundred pieces of slag stone appeared, scattered on the ground. He planned to use them to build defensive walls. If he could find ice or water nearby, he would settle here to make trips to the Red Snail Camp for food. Unless he could procure sustenance, he had no intention of traveling far from there.

Clearing space, he continued mining. Time passed, and a cave one meter wide and two meters high was dug almost visibly deepening. Piles of squared-off slag stones accumulated at the entrance.

The girl’s astonishment grew, but eventually she became numb, no longer surprised, composed and attentive to her watch.

In just half an hour, the cave had reached over two meters in depth.

“That’s enough for now. I’ll deepen it later,” Liu Hen decided. He stopped, removed all the slag stones to free his backpack, then stepped outside, ready to call the girl inside.

“Something’s approaching...” she suddenly cried out in fear.

Liu Hen’s heart tightened. Instinctively, he grabbed his iron ores and looked up, but saw nothing.

He quickly summoned his will, lighting the campfire.

“Whoosh!”

Flames leapt over a meter high, dispelling the darkness.

Immediately, a four-armed demon appeared seven or eight meters away, lunging swiftly toward the girl five meters from Liu Hen.

“Four-armed...” The girl’s eyes flashed despair as she scrambled backward.

Having faced such beasts before, Liu Hen remained calm. He swung his iron ores with both hands, hurling them fiercely.

“Bang!”

The demon’s head snapped to the side, its speed faltering just before reaching the girl.

Liu Hen unleashed iron ores like a machine gun in both hands.

“Bang! Bang! Bang!”

The enraged demon tried changing direction toward Liu Hen but was beaten back repeatedly.

After a dozen iron ores struck, the four-armed demon shattered, its solid form condensing into a glowing orb.

“Boom!” The orb exploded, scattering eight demon crystals onto the ground.

The girl, now over ten meters away, stood frozen, her despair replaced by shock.

“The four-armed demon was defeated so easily?”

Could this be the legendary power of a supernatural being?

She found it unbelievable. She had encountered such a demon before, when her father was still alive. Four adults had fought together and barely survived. Though they had killed the demon, all suffered severe injuries, and the demon crystals were stolen. Her father died then, and even three years later, the memory lingered.

Liu Hen approached, gathering the dropped iron ores and the eight demon crystals with a gleam of joy in his eyes.

“The pickaxe can be upgraded again, and I’ll have three crystals left over.”

Upgrading the workbench required two hundred pieces of iron ore; he had only a hundred in his spatial bag. Since there was no iron nearby, he decided to upgrade the campfire first.

Thinking this, he looked at the girl.

“You did well just now, alerting me immediately. From now on, you protect yourself first. You don’t need to fight. Your job is to stay safe.”

He silently commended his wise choice. In such low visibility, an extra set of eyes was invaluable.

Because visibility could be relayed—the watcher stood at the edge of their sight, seeing farther, feeding information that bought more reaction time.

“Th-thank you, sir...” The girl was overwhelmed.

“My name’s Liu Hen. You can call me brother—or sir—whichever you prefer,” he said. “Let’s go back to the cave.”

He returned to the campfire. Since it was anchored to the ground and couldn’t be moved, he summoned it back with a thought.

Darkness fell again outside the cave.

The girl froze, then suddenly realized what had been glowing earlier. Her attention had been fixed on the demon, missing the campfire.

She dared not think further. Once her eyes adjusted to the dark, she hurried inside with Liu Hen.

At the cave’s deepest point, Liu Hen placed and lit the campfire again.

“Whoosh!” The flames rose once more, banishing the dark, filling the space with warmth. The cave’s temperature climbed rapidly.

“This... this...” The girl finally saw clearly—the light came from the campfire, stunning her anew.

A fire appearing from nowhere, flames radiating comforting warmth—it was nothing less than a miracle in her eyes.

To sit by the fire felt like heaven. In this freezing land where fire was scarce, many wasteland natives had never held a flame. She had never even roasted food as a child. It was like a dream.

Especially near this magical, smokeless flame, she felt her heart warm, as if an invisible force guarded her.

That was the campfire’s protective charm manifesting.

Although this effect extended only within a meter radius, matching the distance it could repel monsters.

“Sir, is this... fire?” she asked, disbelief written across her face.

Then, as if remembering something, she quickly added nervously, “Please forgive me, sir. I shouldn’t have asked.”

“This question is fine. You’ve never seen fire?” Liu Hen asked in surprise, finding it somewhat absurd.