"Alert, alert... unknown powerful electromagnetic waves have intervened!"
On the touch control screen, dozens of red lights flickered wildly, and the sweet artificial feminine voice unexpectedly carried a clear tone of panic.
Qu Jianlei, dressed in pajamas, stared dumbfounded at the scene, "Faraday Cage... did it miss any frequency bands?"
Immediately after, he only felt a blackness in front of his eyes, and then he lost consciousness.
The next moment, he felt a chill on his body, abruptly waking up, only to feel a splitting headache.
"Is it another dream returning to the Divine Land?" Qu Jianlei sighed inwardly and slowly opened his eyes.
The view was a bit dim, and for a moment he couldn't discern where he was.
But why are his hands and feet tied up?
Do they want to rob him of money, or perhaps... his body?
If it's robbery, he has been destitute since crossing over six years ago, with not a penny to his name. The other party has poor judgment.
If it's for his body, the original owner of this flesh wasn't unattractive, but... too weak and frail.
Undoubtedly, he was still in the desolate land, which he secretly dubbed the "Wasteland."
As his vision gradually adapted to the dim environment, he vaguely saw something white hanging.
Focusing intently, he was almost frightened out of his wits: those white things... were human limbs!
Dismembered... human bodies? For a moment, he felt his whole body shiver with fear.
Had he been captured by the Fallen?
The Fallen... are mutants that eat people.
This Wasteland had been polluted by some unknown substance, with many mutants among the survivors, but not many that ate humans!
When Qu Jianlei first crossed over, he knew about the existence of the Fallen, but had never actually seen one.
Pain throbbed from the back of his head, a different kind of pain from the usual internal skull ache, more like an external wound, and his head felt a bit dizzy.
He concluded that he had been ambushed!
Then, before being knocked out... what was he doing? How had he been so careless?
Focusing intently, he recalled the scenes after crossing over, one by one flashing before his mind.
Every time he dreamed of returning to the Divine Land, he would review his experiences to calm his nerves—his obsession had no cure.
He had crossed over into the body of someone also named Qu Jianlei, an eight or nine-year-old orphan, not very bright, who froze and starved to death.
The original body left him no grudges but was a person everyone could bully.
After crossing over, Qu Jianlei, though he had some ideas to make a living, for someone as weak as him, wealth was a sin.
Currently, he is a coachman, making a living by helping people transport garbage.
The Wasteland has large dumpsites, where one can often find many recyclables.
Many survivors make their living scavenging from dumpsites.
Qu Jianlei also tried to find good things from the dumpsites, but unfortunately, he was just too weak.
He couldn't compete with others for territory, and any decent items he painstakingly found were always snatched away.
No matter how well he hid them, it was useless.
So he resolved to make a tricycle to help Scavengers transport the collected garbage.
Not all Scavengers are willing to spend money to transport garbage, so Qu Jianlei barely got by, living hand to mouth for several years.
The good thing was that everyone knew he didn't make much money, and his encounters with robbery significantly decreased.
But they didn't disappear completely.
This time... thinking carefully, he was knocked unconscious on a garbage haul.
The one who hired him was a Scavenger who had been at the dumpsite for less than a year, usually too stingy to spend money.
This person seemed to have found something valuable this time, deciding to hire his homemade tricycle.
Qu Jianlei, extremely hungry at the time, only asked for a tube of Nutrient Injection as compensation, which he took immediately before starting work.
Yet not long after they set off, he felt a jolt in his head and lost consciousness.
No one expected that he would be captured by the Fallen! Thinking this, he couldn't help but sigh softly, "Alas."
Doomed, like Liu Laolao entering the Grand View Garden—facing overwhelming odds.
Barely had he sighed when a faint "huh" sounded not far away, "Is that... Sha Qu?"
Qu Jianlei turned his head at the voice, seeing a shadow curled up a few meters away.
The voice was somewhat familiar, "Rogers?"
Rogers was among the few who didn't bully him, though their relationship wasn't very warm either.
A year or two younger than Qu Jianlei, Rogers nearly froze and starved back then, saved by Qu Jianlei with a bowl of hot water and half a tube of Nutrient Injection.
They lived relying on each other for a while, but one of Rogers' betrayals got Qu Jianlei beaten black and blue.
Afterwards, Rogers merely said, "Sha Qu, I just want to survive better."
The small boat of friendship sank, and Rogers successfully joined a small gang, growing much stronger now.
Still, he never bullied Qu Jianlei, nor did he speak up when others did, but he never joined in himself.
At first, Qu Jianlei deeply resented him, but later... the resentment faded considerably.
Surviving in the Wasteland, everyone has their own principles.
Rogers sighed faintly, "Sha Qu, do you still hate me?"
"Sha Qu?" Qu Jianlei snorted coldly, lazy to say more.
Who was it back then who kept calling me "Brother Qu"? Which bastard was that? Thank you for showing me the true nature of human treachery.
"Sha Qu, we're all going to die, what else can't you let go of?" Rogers asked dismissively.
"I really regret not having a mind as sharp as yours, otherwise... I would definitely live a hundred times better than you!"
"Hmm," Qu Jianlei snorted lightly again, live a hundred times better than me? Your intelligence is truly touching!
Rogers didn't see any issue with his words, "Just join any organization, and you can show your worth."
What worth! Do you know what "using up and discarding" means? Qu Jianlei didn't even bother to respond.
On Blue Star, there's already talk of "slice research." The Wasteland people do things, and it's only worse.
You can't communicate well with these low-IQ creatures.
Fortunately, during the time they spent together, he still kept many secrets; otherwise, he might not have survived these six years.
"Still hating me? That's up to you," Rogers didn't seem to care much.
He chuckled, "Do you know why we are both still alive?"
"I don't know," Qu Jianlei replied indifferently. He said this not because he wanted to know the answer, but simply to avoid standing out too much.
If the other side was willing to talk, he wouldn't mind listening.
"It's because The Fallen want to 'raise meat with meat'," Rogers started to laugh, his laugh filled with glee at others' misfortune.
"Aren't you trying to uphold some moral ground? Sha Qu, let me ask you... do you eat human meat?"
Qu Jianlei was silent for a long time before he finally asked, "So... did you eat it?"
"Of course I've eaten it!" Rogers answered without hesitation.
The next moment, he became agitated, "Whether I ate it or not, what the hell does it have to do with you... Don't act like you're more noble than me!"
"Living! Staying alive is the most important thing!"
Those who've eaten human meat... can never be friends! Qu Jianlei had already made up his mind.
But he didn't bother to argue with this idiot.
After a long silence, he suddenly spoke, "Actually, you didn't eat human meat, did you?"
Rogers was silent, and after a few seconds, he gritted his teeth and spoke.
"Do you know? I really hate your self-righteous attitude."
"You seem to know everything, so why don't you know that The Fallen are coming for you?"
"I'm just familiar with you," Qu Jianlei answered calmly, "So now... do you want to seek death?"
"I want to stay alive, not die!" Rogers replied quickly, "I argue with you, just because I'm not convinced!"
"Bro... brother Qu, I don't want to die, you must have a way out, right?"
"I have no way," Qu Jianlei answered unperturbedly, "Just calmly wait for rescue."
The Fallen are common enemies of all survivors on the Wasteland.
No matter how much animosity there may be, when faced with The Fallen, they'd join forces without hesitation.
The reason is simple, The Fallen not only eat people but can absorb the mutated genes from human bodies.
Simply put, it's six words - the more people they eat, the stronger they become.
No one can tolerate such an evil existence, survivors truly have zero tolerance for The Fallen.
So the rescue he mentioned could indeed exist.
"Bullshit rescue!" Rogers snorted coldly, his emotions extremely unstable right now.
Then he let out a bitter laugh, "Brother Qu, do you know? I've been captured for three days now, where's the rescue?"
"In three days, they haven't even let me have a bite of human meat, claiming I'm too sturdy, but you, you might get to eat human meat earlier..."
As he finished, it's as if he thought of something amusing, and he actually started to laugh.
Worried about attracting The Fallen's attention, he didn't laugh too loudly, but the laugh still sounded a bit sinister.
That self-conscious? Qu Jianlei couldn't help but sigh softly, "I never thought I'd bring you such psychological pressure."
"Stop being so fake!" Rogers couldn't help but growl in a low voice.
Yet the next moment, he started pleading, "Bro... Brother Qu, save me, please."
"Saving me is also saving yourself, are you willing to eat human meat or willing to be eaten by The Fallen?"
He switched roles very naturally, and Qu Jianlei was not surprised by this at all.
Living in the wasteland, who doesn't wear several masks?
But the next moment, a doubt arose in his mind: Could this be a trap aimed at me?
In other words, there might not be any Fallen, just that some people are interested in his secrets.
So they set up this situation and had Rogers perform in his true colors.
This possibility truly exists objectively, the wasteland values interests greatly.
And Rogers, to some extent, knew something of his unusualness.
Qu Jianlei took a deep breath and then slowly exhaled.
He knew very well that his best choice was to refuse the other party or... just pretend not to hear anything.
I haven't even figured out my own secrets, at this critical moment, shouldn't I develop timorously and safeguard myself?
However, even though he knew in his mind that this was the right choice, he couldn't control himself.
Because... he's sick!