After packing his game and sealing the basket tightly with a white cloth, Tang Wen was about to climb a tree to observe his surroundings.
Suddenly, a sound came from the woods behind him.
In the distance, Tang Wen saw a dark figure running toward him. He raised his binoculars.
A moose, a full two meters tall, appeared in his line of sight.
"It's got to be 1,000 pounds, right?"
A look of delighted surprise appeared on Tang Wen's face.
But a second later:
THUMP-THUMP-THUMP-THUMP-THUMP...
The ground trembled, and snow cascaded from the branches.
One moose, two moose... a whole herd of them!
Behind the moose were other animals: wolves, wild boars, bison...
They were stampeding, kicking up snow and mud, as if fleeing for their lives!
"Holy shit!"
Without a moment's hesitation, not daring to wonder what was happening, Tang Wen turned and ran toward the camp.
He spared no stamina, sprinting across the snow with large strides, his right hand tightly gripping a Flying Blade.
"AWOOOO!"
It was a beast's roar, one he had never heard before.
VMMMM!
Tang Wen felt his head spin. His legs tangled, and he pitched forward, falling to the ground.
Fortunately, the ground was covered in a thick layer of snow.
"HUFF... HUFF... HUFF..."
"What... what was that?"
Panting, he scrambled to his feet and looked in the direction of the sound. Behind the herd of beasts were silver shadows.
'Is that... a Silver Wolf the size of a moose? It's a Mutated Beast!'
'No... not one. A pack of them.'
Tang Wen's heart pounded like a drum. His limited knowledge of biology and physics told him that the roar must have contained infrasound.
It was a force that ordinary people had absolutely no way of resisting.
He shouldered his basket and started running again, his mind gripped by fear:
'What the hell are Mutated Beasts? How can they be so strong?'
'Tigers on Earth have infrasound in their roars too, but it's not this powerful, is it?'
'Will the camp be safe? No... the camp has been here for so long. They must have a way to deal with them!'
'...'
The weight of his pack and the sheer terror made cold sweat stream down his back. In weather dozens of degrees below zero, sweating was dangerous.
Sweat freezing into ice would rapidly sap his body heat. He'd develop hypothermia in less than two hours.
When Tang Wen reached the main road, he froze, dumbfounded. Before him was a sea of people!
All of them Scavengers!
As the saying goes, a crowd of ten thousand is a boundless sea.
The Scavengers before him were just that: a boundless ocean of people, packed together front to back without a single gap. There was no telling how many there were.
"Damn it!"
Tang Wen stopped in his tracks and cursed.
It looked like the Scavengers' gathering place had encountered some kind of crisis as well.
'Flee for your lives, fine, but what's the big idea blocking the road to the camp?'
"Get that kid!"
Dressed in thick clothes with a basket on his back, Tang Wen's figure on the roadside was quite conspicuous.
A large group of Scavengers with bloodshot eyes rushed at him. From their murderous expressions, it was hard to tell if they wanted to rob him of his basket or eat him alive!
"You're courting death!"
"Argh!"
A stone shot out. After a short, sharp scream, the fastest Scavenger collapsed, his Adam's apple crushed and his eyes bulging.
This act frightened off a good number of them; only the truly crazed ones kept coming.
Tang Wen turned and ran into the woods.
That brief, half-minute pause was enough for the sweat on his back to freeze. His clothes became stiff as a board, and the cold made him shiver uncontrollably.
A group of them followed Tang Wen into the forest.
Tang Wen was fast. Since he couldn't get in through the normal gate...
...he planned to take a detour and head straight for the gate to the Inner City.
The camp's Inner City had its own gate, so one could enter and exit without passing through the outer areas.
SWOOSH!
The sound of something slicing through the air reached him.
Tang Wen dodged, ducking behind a tree as a sharp arrow grazed his shoulder.
"You're courting death!"
He dropped his basket, drew his long blade, and charged back at them.
He unleashed a continuous volley of Flying Locust Stones.
The fastest Scavengers clutched their eyes, screaming as they fell one by one.
It wasn't that Tang Wen didn't want to aim for their throats; this group was different. It made sense, for people who still dared to chase him after watching him kill.
They wore thick clothing and had heavy scarves wrapped around their necks.
Tang Wen wanted to aim for their throats but couldn't find an opening.
'These aren't ordinary Scavengers,' he thought. 'They're probably bandits who specialize in ambushes!'
Not only were their clothes thick, but a few of them were also holding long, sharp iron spikes!
One poke from those things would probably leave a bloody hole in a person.
"Watch out for his stones!"
Someone shouted a warning.
Without even looking, Tang Wen flung a stone directly at the person who had shouted.
CLANG! The stone was deflected by a blade.
Hm?
Tang Wen's eyes narrowed. 'An expert?'
SWOOSH! SWOOSH!
Arrows flew toward him.
This time, he saw them clearly: two Crossbows!
His vigilance spiked. 'Who are these guys? They even have Crossbows! With these, why not go hunting?'
As the Crossbow Arrows flew at him, he didn't even dodge, instead flinging several stones with his left hand.
His right hand swung the blade in a blur: CLANG! CLANG!
The Crossbow Arrows were knocked aside, and Tang Wen, instead of retreating, charged forward!
His stone throws became even more vicious!
A rapid volley of throws and a string of screams later, more than a dozen Scavengers were no longer able to fight.
But the blade-wielding leader had already closed in on Tang Wen.
A cold glint flashed. Gripping his blade with both hands, he brought it down in a powerful overhead slash!
The wind from the blade rushed toward him, and Tang Wen could even smell the coppery tang of old blood on it. With no time for a two-handed grip, he could only meet the blow one-handed!
A savage, killing intent flashed in the swordsman's eyes!
'Die!'
CLANG!
A teeth-grating shriek of metal on metal.
The swordsman felt an irresistible force travel up his blade, nearly knocking it from his grasp. He stumbled back two steps, his face a mask of shock. With a flick of his wrist, he threw a packet of powder at Tang Wen and spun around to flee. The move was incredibly decisive.
"You think you can run!?"
Dodging the cloud of quicklime, Tang Wen gave chase, blade in hand.
Hearing this, the swordsman thought Tang Wen was about to throw a stone, so he ducked his head and hunched over as he continued to run.
THWIP!
It wasn't a stone. It was a Flying Blade.
His body went rigid, but inertia carried him forward for several more steps.
THWIP!
A numbing pain shot through his leg. His body lost all balance, and he tumbled to the ground, sliding a great distance.
"You picked the wrong guy, idiot."
Tang Wen said, picking up the man's blade.
The swordsman's vision blurred. The last image he saw was a hand reaching inside his clothes...
"Heh! A money pouch? How many people did you rob to get this?"
"A long blade, two Crossbows, and Crossbow Arrows..."
"AWOOOO!"
A sudden roar echoed, and Tang Wen nearly fell to his knees.
The smell of blood and the screams of the wounded had attracted a Silver Wolf.
'Shit! Is it after me?' Feeling the oppressive presence, Tang Wen fought down his fear and dizziness, grabbed his basket, and took off running.
The Silver Wolf, several meters long, stared at his retreating figure for a few seconds before lowering its head to bite into the "food" still writhing on the ground.
Since it was all fresh, it didn't matter which one it ate.
"Halt! Where is your identification token?"
At the gate to this unfamiliar part of the camp, a Guard holding a long spear emerged from his post to block Tang Wen's path.
"HUFF... HUFF... HUFF... Uh," Tang Wen finally managed to look back. Seeing nothing behind him, he breathed a sigh of relief and collapsed into the snow.
"Identification token!" the Guard repeated coldly.
Tang Wen said, panting heavily, "I'm a Medicine Gatherer. I ran into a Silver Wolf and forgot my token. Elder Li from the infirmary gave it to me. It's a round Copper Token, number 35."
The Guard's cold expression softened. "Alright, I'll have someone notify Elder Li. Put your blade away and come inside to warm up!"
"Thank you! Thank you so much!" Tang Wen got up, unfastened his snowshoes, and patted himself down at the entrance, knocking all the snow off his clothes before stepping into the stone guardhouse.
He was still drenched in sweat; staying outside any longer could have frozen him to death.
"Have some hot water." The Guard, who seemed to have a good impression of Tang Wen, handed him a ceramic cup.
"Thanks so much, Guard!"