Chapter Ninety-One: The Hidden Cave

But in this deserted mountain wilderness, when they encountered a lone man, they dared not be careless. They watched Lin Dong in secret, trying to judge his origins.

Seeing that he was alone, he probably was not from the Black Scorpion organization, since those maniacs usually moved in groups.

Besides, he was neatly dressed, clean and presentable, with the bearing of some big-time boss or a rich second-generation heir.

"Maybe he’s a survivor from the villa district... and he might be carrying a lot of supplies."

Whether for crystal cores or for supplies, the two of them felt there was good reason to keep him here.

"Let’s go."

Having made up their minds, they stopped hiding and walked straight up to him.

Lin Dong glanced at them.

At last, they had shown themselves.

He had been waiting for them for quite a while.

Meeting Lin Dong’s gaze, the two of them first raised their hands and smiled.

"Don’t be nervous. We mean you no harm."

"Mm."

Lin Dong nodded.

He saw that both men were wearing light blue security uniforms with short sleeves, but the clothes had been torn to rags by branches. Their hair was long, their beards untrimmed, and their faces were smeared with grime, making them look like wild men.

One of the young men, named Wu Dazhi, asked first.

"Brother, where did the man-eating vine go?"

"I don’t know," Lin Dong said, shaking his head blankly.

The two exchanged a glance. It was much as they had guessed; he had also come running after hearing the commotion, just to investigate the situation. That made them relax a little.

Wu Dazhi’s narrow eyes turned somewhat brazen as he looked Lin Dong up and down.

"Then did you pick up anything?"

"No."

Lin Dong answered.

Meanwhile, the other man was scanning the ground everywhere. All around them lay only withered vines and rotten roots, nothing like the so-called super crystal they had imagined.

"Could it be... there wasn’t any after all?"

Wu Dazhi was fairly clever. He did not believe it. He felt Lin Dong must be lying, because in a place like this, no fool would find treasure and then tell a stranger about it.

"Alright then."

Wu Dazhi nodded, showing nothing else on the surface, and changed the subject.

"Brother, this mountain forest is dangerous. Where have you been hiding for the past half month?"

"I haven’t been hiding anywhere," Lin Dong answered truthfully.

Wu Dazhi narrowed his eyes slightly. The reason he had asked was to probe Lin Dong’s secret base, figuring it must contain plenty of supplies.

To his surprise, this man was rather guarded and refused to reveal anything.

He’s quite cautious, Wu Dazhi thought.

There was not the slightest opening to exploit.

Now in the apocalypse, the more people there were, the more strength there was. We should unite and work together if we want to survive. I think you can join us, Wu Dazhi continued.

"You? There are others?"

Lin Dong asked casually.

"There are."

Before Wu Dazhi could answer, the man beside him nodded and said, "Our security team originally had more than twenty people. But more than ten have died now, and..."

Halfway through, he suddenly fell silent.

It seemed the rest of his words were not easy to say.

But Lin Dong had already guessed something. On this mountain villa estate, aside from the security guards and servants, there were also wealthy tycoons with immense fortunes and prominent backgrounds.

But now it was the end of the world. Whether one had money, was a rich second-generation heir, or was a beautiful rich girl, everyone had been thrown onto the same starting line.

It was equality for all living beings now; everything depended on strength.

The guards had once served the rich, ordered about and shouted at by them. Some of them even harbored intense resentment toward the wealthy to begin with, already full of envy, jealousy, and hatred.

Now that they had suddenly risen to power, it was not hard to imagine what they might do. Those rich people were probably being tormented badly...

Such was the darker side of human nature.

Lin Dong had seen far too much of it already.

Wu Dazhi said, "Our captain is a crystal-core awakener. He’s very strong, and he treats people well. It’s only because he protected us that we’ve survived until now."

The meaning was obvious: he was telling Lin Dong that he had the protection of a crystal-core awakener, so he should not harbor any foolish ideas.

But Lin Dong asked instead, "Then... didn’t you still lose more than ten people?"

"Uh, th-that..."

Wu Dazhi opened his mouth, but for a moment he was at a loss for words.

His companion hurriedly said, "Anyway, just join us. The captain will definitely protect you too."

"All right, I can go take a look at your place first."

"Okay, no problem. If you don’t like it, you can leave whenever you want."

Wu Dazhi’s lips curled faintly.

Then Lin Dong followed the two of them at an unhurried pace into the dense forest.

Of course, each of them had their own hidden agenda.

What Wu Dazhi was thinking was that since this man was dressed so neatly, he must have a lot of supplies, and might even have a small shelter.

After all, some rich second-generation slackers had, even before the apocalypse, liked building such things for fun, which had turned out to be a fortunate coincidence.

Besides, the crystal core of the man-eating vine might well have been picked up by him; the only question was where he had hidden it.

So he decided to first keep Lin Dong steady, then slowly fish for information later. Or perhaps... he could secretly follow him, and once hunger forced him to fetch food, they would find out exactly where he had stashed his supplies.

As for Lin Dong’s own hidden intentions, there was no need to elaborate.

He had originally come to deal with the vine.

But on the way back, he did not mind picking some wild fruit to eat.

Wu Dazhi smiled as he said, "Actually, this mountain really isn’t short on food. Food isn’t the only standard for surviving the apocalypse. Those man-eating monsters are evolving, so strength is what matters. Don’t you think?"

"Mm, that’s true."

Lin Dong did not deny it.

At the same time, he heard the implication behind the words: food was useless. If one did not improve one’s strength, one would sooner or later be eaten by monsters. Better to take it out, share it with teammates, and then hunt monsters together to grow stronger...

In short, he was trying to influence him bit by bit, seeping ideas into his mind, something like psychological manipulation.

Unfortunately... he had clearly chosen the wrong target.

After about twenty minutes of walking, signs of human activity began to appear around them. Lin Dong saw a wire snare set beneath a tree, clearly meant for catching wild rabbits.

There were many similar little traps nearby.

After a while, a small earthen mound appeared ahead, and this was where Wu Dazhi and the others were hiding.

Lin Dong silently sensed it and discovered that there were more than ten living human presences inside, about half of them awakened ones.

"We’re here. Let’s go in," Wu Dazhi said.

But the earthen mound was overgrown with weeds, and there was not even a door. It looked like a giant grave mound.

He walked forward and called out, "Third Brother, we’re back."

"Password."

A muffled voice came from inside.

"The Heavenly King covers the Earth Tiger."

Wu Dazhi answered at once.

Then there came a dull rumbling sound, and the earth ahead slowly split open and moved apart to the left and right. In the blink of an eye, an entrance about two meters wide, two meters high, and two meters deep appeared.

This was the power of a earth-element awakener.

Moreover, the inside of the entrance was not dark at all. Flickering firelight could be seen, driving away every trace of gloom and dampness.

Not bad at all... Lin Dong thought with quiet admiration.

And this place really was well hidden. Even he would probably have a hard time finding it if he were not deliberately searching...