Temporary Camp.
Three Landbreakers had set up a crude tent not far from Hub Base, and they'd even lit a bonfire—burning on top of a tire.
They were waving their arms around as if cheering about something, looking… honestly, not very bright.
"Uh… could we try talking to these guys and getting them to back off?"
Hao Fan's first reaction upon spotting the Landbreakers wasn't to fight immediately. Instead, he clung to a hopeful, naive idea—maybe he could reason with them.
After all, he came from a peaceful modern society. He'd grown up without ever killing so much as a chicken.
Now he was suddenly being forced to kill people. Of course he hesitated.
He wasn't some born warrior.
"Most Landbreakers are irredeemably dangerous. But there are some you can communicate with. Endfield even has one reliable operator who came from a Landbreaker background."
As Perlica spoke, she raised a hand and pointed toward the Landbreakers ahead.
Those three Bonecrusher Raiders had already spotted them—and now they charged straight in, cleavers in hand.
Clearly, they meant to kill anyone who came out of Hub Base.
"Unfortunately… these ones aren't the type you can talk to."
"…Alright. I get it."
Hao Fan let out a quiet sigh. The hesitation in his eyes drained away completely.
If hostility was unavoidable, then to defend his right to live, he wasn't going to show mercy to people trying to kill him.
And he'd always believed one thing—
You can be bad. You can be weak. But when it counts, you can't chicken out!
BANG!!!
Hao Fan fired.
A bullet from Howling Sentinel screamed through the air toward the Landbreaker charging in front.
The enemy had already prepared to dodge the moment he saw Hao Fan draw the hand cannon—but a sudden, uncontrollable bout of hiccups slowed his movement.
So the Landbreaker took the shot.
Blood burst from the gray-white chest—one clean hit into the vital point where the heart should be.
But that didn't mean Hao Fan was a good shot.
To maximize his odds, he'd deliberately aimed for the largest target—the torso—and just happened to strike the heart.
Even so, the recoil sent a numbing jolt through his right hand. If he kept firing, his accuracy would drop sharply.
So… was he supposed to go in for melee next?
No chance.
For him right now, that was beyond his limits.
Shooting a gun and fighting with cold steel were two completely different worlds.
So the remaining two Landbreakers were instantly taken out by Chen Qianyu.
"Po Feixia!"
Dual blades in hand—five rapid slashes.
As Yangzhi's edge carved a perfect arc through the air, the Landbreaker couldn't hold the guard. The final heavy strike slammed straight into a vital point, killing them on the spot.
"Easy!"
Chen Qianyu casually flicked the blood from her blade and sheathed it cleanly—so relaxed it didn't even feel like she'd just taken two lives.
Because even if she was kind at heart, she would never go soft on Landbreakers—those murder-without-blinking bastards.
If she let them go, they'd bring suffering to others later.
She would never allow that.
Compared to her, Hao Fan's reaction to killing someone was… much bigger.
"Ugh… urgh—"
He doubled over and gagged twice, but didn't actually throw up. Just the sight of the corpse made nausea roll through him.
He'd probably have nightmares tonight.
Hao Fan thought that bitterly.
"Doctor… is this your first time doing something like this?"
Seeing him like that, Chen Qianyu panicked a little—awkward, not sure what to do.
"Uh… I don't really know how to comfort you… Deep breaths?"
"Cough—cough. It's fine. I'm just not used to it. But I don't regret it… This counts as self-defense."
Hao Fan adjusted his breathing. His emotions steadied quickly.
Yes. This was necessary.
Back in the underground lab, he'd already seen plenty of corpses.
Those Landbreakers who'd snuck in had killed Hub Base security personnel—and might even have been carrying some malicious scheme.
So against scum like that—people who shattered the order of civilization—Hao Fan believed pulling the trigger was the right choice.
He convinced himself.
And next time something like this happened, he wouldn't hesitate.
After all—starting is always the hardest part.
Once there's a first time, there will absolutely be a second.
Humans adapt fast. You don't become incapable of something you've already done.
But even so… killing was never a good thing.
Hao Fan let his thoughts drift.
He didn't show it. He didn't want Chen Qianyu—simple as she was—to worry.
"Anyway—let's loot the bodies and see if they've got anything useful!"
He changed the subject with that suggestion.
Chen Qianyu did stop worrying… but her expression became complicated, like she wanted to say something and couldn't.
Clearly, she thought looting corpses was immoral.
But the amnesiac Administrator didn't share that idea at all.
"Great idea—you're a genius!"
The Administrator gave him a thumbs-up, convinced only someone with an unusually rational mind could think like that.
Unfortunately, Perlica didn't agree.
As a civilized person with moral standards well above average, she felt she needed to correct this line of thinking.
But before she could speak, Hao Fan actually found something worthwhile.
"This is… grass-seed dry powder?"
Just like a player looting mobs—
Hao Fan found a small iron canister on one of the Landbreaker corpses.
According to intel from Hub Base security, Bonecrusher Landbreakers had a habit of carrying this "local specialty" on them:
Grass-seed Dry Powder.
A canned dry powder mixed with fragments of grass-seed husk. It had a certain level of toxicity—apparently the Landbreakers' "instant energy drink" when brewed.
Though it was also possible they used it as a seasoning.
And beyond that—
Hao Fan also found a recipe.
Seshka-Style Meat Steak.
Ingredients: Landbreaker homemade grass-seed dry powder, fresh wild fangbeast meat, and Qiaohua powder to neutralize the toxin.
There was even a note written on the recipe:
"A pitch-black steak you can chew bone fragments out of. After eating it, your whole body fills with strength… Uh, this isn't dark cuisine, is it?"
Hao Fan cracked a joke without thinking.
But unexpectedly, it caught Perlica's interest.
"Let me see… Hmm. Rather than a Seshka dish, it's more like… a Seshka dish as imagined by Landbreakers. I've never eaten something like this before."
Perlica commented enthusiastically—she genuinely seemed interested in tasting a Landbreaker version of Seshka-style steak.
Because nobody was perfect.
Perlica was competent and reliable in every way… but she had one rather special hobby.
Pushing her taste buds to the limit.
She'd try anything, could eat anything without gaining weight—an honest-to-god foodie girl.
It really was an unexpected contrast.
And it wasn't always this extreme—she'd only developed a stronger interest in "trying all kinds of unfamiliar foods" after meeting Chen Qianyu.
She even had a refined term for it:
Gourmet medicinal cuisine.
"…If you're interested, take it."
"Mm. Thanks. I really like it."
Perlica's trust level increased by one. She didn't even mention correcting his "wrong ideas" anymore.
And right then, faint voices drifted from the distance.
"Come on, you bastards! If I chicken out today, I'm not a union man!"
A silver-haired man of the Perro race in green workwear was trapped up on higher ground by several Landbreakers. He gripped a long blade, ready to fight to the death.
That made Perlica remember: back at the Central Control Tower, she'd promised Qin Jiangchi that besides dealing with the enemy, she'd also bring scattered workers to the tower for shelter.
So she immediately said—
"It's a union worker. Save him first!"
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