RHWHEG – Chapter 57 Rumors of the Wind

As the sun was about to rise, the sky had already faded from black into a dusty yellow. At this moment, the temperature had yet to exceed the limits of what the human body could endure, hovering around 30°C, and some of the terrifying natural disasters were still asleep. This was now the optimal time for human activity.

In the city ruins, people began to stir. Some hurried back to formal shelters, while survivors from wild shelters moved with their entire families in tow, hoping to find the next safe place to settle. Their guiding principle was singular: stay far away from the Eight-Legged Frostfall in the Fourth Ring!

Yu Qunqing’s team had long been accustomed to this schedule when operating in the wild, so they all woke up early and began packing.

“Are we heading back to the residential complex?” Sun Min asked. After resting for a night, he was full of energy. Seeing She Lulang sitting very close to Yu Qunqing, he thought to himself that the two of them really got along well. He then looked at the still half-asleep Little Crocodile and asked, “Or does Crocodile have some new mission?”

Yu Qunqing replied that Crocodile wanted to build a new residential complex here and might make use of the Eight-Legged Frostfall’s attacks.

They hadn’t spent that long together, but the perceptive ones all knew that Yu Qunqing had close ties with the residential complex. They simply chose not to point it out. First, they really had benefited a great deal in terms of supplies because of it. Second, most of them had people they cared deeply about in the complex, and their abilities were visibly outstanding there. If even they didn’t go out to fight, then who would protect those people? Finally, Yu Qunqing’s combat experience was exceptionally rich, helping them avoid many detours. Even if Yu Qunqing didn’t think of himself as a good person, everyone present except 060 felt that he was a very reliable leader, and so they subconsciously followed his command, entrusting life-and-death decisions to him.

“It’s so huge—can we really win, or even make use of it?” Sun Min said worriedly. “Most of us here are only LV1. Wouldn’t it be better to go level up first?”

“Only one of its legs is awake,” Yu Qunqing said calmly. “Right now is the best opportunity to take advantage of it. There’s no need to force leveling up—developing the depth of your abilities matters far more than obsessing over radiation.”

“Exactly! Even though Little Bee doesn’t have any attack power, I just feel like it’s definitely going to be useful!” Lin Luyi said enthusiastically, using himself as an example. Ever since he’d obtained the queen bee as a ‘pet,’ the more he looked at it, the more adorable he found its fluffy face and huge compound eyes.

Dong Changxin hugged her gun tightly. She was thinking that next time, her consciousness would have to keep up with the speed of the bullet—she couldn’t keep being a fox borrowing a tiger’s might.

Sun Min said, “I don’t even know what direction I should take for leveling up…”

Yu Qunqing seized the chance to pitch an idea: “Do you like cats? What do you think about that Klein bottle you saw before?” He himself was indifferent to cats, and She Lulang didn’t like them either. Since he was going to be living with the vice-captain, of course he had to hurry up and give the cat away.

Inside the cat carrier, the Klein bottle rolled over, its tail swishing back and forth unconsciously.

Sun Min had no idea that Yu Qunqing had already captured the Klein bottle. He only declared righteously, “I won’t drag animals around like Lin Luyi does. That’s too childish. I want something cooler.”

Lin Luyi said, “Who are you talking about?”

Listening to the group’s noisy banter, 060 let out a long yawn. She guessed it was only a little past four in the morning. Life outside the residential complex was really too hard—inside the complex she woke up at eight, went to work at nine, and even had days off… She really wanted to go back.

Little Crocodile also yawned hugely, crawled forward a few steps, then sprawled over 060’s tail and went back to sleep.

The shelter members on the first floor had also gotten a proper night’s rest on a physiological level. With sufficient water supplies, they spent the night in relative comfort. Their wounds had been cleaned and no longer burned with searing pain; the prickly sensation in their throats from extreme dryness had disappeared; and needless to say, the usual sunburn from overly intense sunlight was gone as well.

But psychologically, they were under heavy strain.

“Did those people from the residential complex really just let us go?”

“Yu Qunqing doesn’t look like someone who goes back on his word.” Li Yue Bai didn’t have many belongings—he only took the shelter’s standard protective suit. His medical kit had been withheld by Yu Qunqing. He said to his former companions, “They must be awake by now. Before they show any other intentions, hurry up and leave. But once you’re back at the shelter…”

Li Yue Bai paused, then said, “Tell the research center that I’m dead.”

The injured assumed that Li Yue Bai was worried the central city residential complex would make trouble using his identity as a doctor, so they agreed. After proper rest, they were already able to move about. If they were careful, perhaps two or three out of the nine of them could make it back to the shelter. They all understood this well. After all, in past operations, the survival rate for teams entering the Fourth Ring was only 10%. They had all signed up for this mission for the sake of their families back at the shelter—living one more day was one more day gained.

Li Yue Bai bade them farewell, knowing that this was very likely the last time they would ever see each other. His heart was heavy, yet he was already accustomed to it.

Watching the shelter team depart into the distance, Li Yue Bai let out a long sigh and began to face an entirely new state of survival.

“They’re all gone.”

Li Yue Bai turned around to find Yu Qunqing standing at the stairwell entrance.

The people from the residential complex came downstairs, passing by Li Yue Bai one after another.

Yu Qunqing said to him, “Then let’s set off as well, Doctor.”

Chapter 57.2 — Translation

After confirming that Yu Qunqing had no intention of pursuing the shelter team, the last heavy stone weighing on Li Yuebei’s chest finally dropped away. Now, he had to start planning for his own survival.

Li Yuebei: “Where are we going? This isn’t the direction of the residential complex. In that direction there’s the Eight-Legged Frostfall.”

Yu Qunqing: “That’s exactly why we’re heading there—straight to the big guy’s side.”

…

Meanwhile, the injured shelter team that had left earlier moved cautiously northward. Although the shelter lay to the east, too many natural disasters had gathered nearby. To improve their chances of survival, they had no choice but to detour laterally, heading north toward the wetland park. There had once been plants there—maybe they could find something to eat.

All of them were ability users, and they moved far faster than ordinary people. Half an hour later, they unexpectedly ran into a survivor group of more than twenty people.

“This is the Fourth Ring—there are still survivors here?!” The shelter team was shocked.

The survivor group was clearly organized by families. All of them had intact limbs and no major injuries—most likely because anyone seriously injured had already died.

The shelter’s temporary leader immediately said, “We are a temporary sub-squad of the Shelter’s W-Team on an external operation. In accordance with the Shelter’s Human Mutual Aid Principles, we will do our utmost to escort you back to the shelter. Do you need any help right now?”

“Worry about yourselves first,” said the leader of the group—a man in his fifties. “We were staying in the ancestral hall, praying day and night for the Crocodile Immortal’s protection. But those foreign disasters were too vicious, so we had no choice but to relocate the entire village…”

This group of survivors were original residents of Sha Family Ancient Town. They had later taken refuge in the ancestral hall—no wonder there had been signs of habitation there. At the time, the area around the hall had been sealed off by concrete walls that had collapsed forward, forming a relatively safe enclosed space. More than a dozen villagers had died before the survivors finally figured out how to stay alive, even managing to grow vegetables and become self-sufficient. Unfortunately, when the Eight-Legged Frostfall awakened and the steel ruins collapsed on a massive scale, they were forced to flee.

“And we’re not going to the shelter,” a woman added. “We’re going to the residential complex in the city center.”

An injured team member said, “The city-center complex might not be full of good people, but the shelter is absolutely trustworthy—”

“Who cares whether they’re good or bad!” the woman shouted. “It’s closer to us. We want to live! To reach the shelter, we’d have to cross the Fourth Ring—so many monsters guarding it. If you want to go, go by yourself!”

“And besides, the shelter’s broadcast has gone silent, but the complex’s broadcast is still on…” The villagers eyed them with unclear intent.

The temporary leader stopped the injured member from continuing and instead said, “Then we’ll escort you to the complex.”

“What?!” Both the shelter team and the villagers were stunned.

The villagers were pleasantly surprised—this meant their safety along the way would be much better assured.

The injured team members, on the other hand, were shocked.

“According to the Shelter’s Human Mutual Aid Principles: first, never abandon any compatriot; second, prioritize the safety of the majority…” The temporary leader recited the principles engraved deep in their hearts.

The shelter broadcast these moral codes in a daily loop. They were a crucial pillar of shelter order—and a major reason the residents trusted the shelter.

“We must put the safety of more than twenty people first,” the temporary leader said. “And for just a few of us to cross the Fourth Ring would be far too dangerous. On the contrary, with the steel ruins blocking the way, the city-center side should have fewer disasters. We have a better chance of surviving.”

The shelter team wore grave expressions, but in the end agreed to the plan.

More than twenty strong villagers and nine injured ability users formed a large group and set off westward toward the city center.

The villagers’ faces were filled with hope for life; the shelter members looked heavy-hearted.

The city-center residential complex… what kind of place would it be?

After crossing the Fourth Ring, the road toward the city center was much easier than the one leading to the shelter. Though the terrain was more complex, the number of disasters had clearly dropped.

As a result, ahead of this group of more than thirty people, another group of over fifty was moving even faster.

Jiang Qiwen was among them.

The people around him flattered eagerly. “Brother Jiang really has true insight. Taking this route greatly increases our safety. Yu Yanlan refusing to follow you just shows his blindness. Who could you possibly fail to get?”

“Enough nonsense.” Jiang Qiwen felt irritated the moment he heard Yu Yanlan’s name. Still, Han Shuzhu was by Yu Yanlan’s side—he should be able to protect him. Han Shuzhu’s ability was extremely strange.

He snapped his fingers. Several strands of breeze swept across the fifty-plus people, all of them unnaturally blowing toward Jiang Qiwen, in defiance of physical laws.

This was his ability, “All Things, Wind’s Whisper.” Its simplest application was scouting the terrain.

Listening to the information carried on the wind, he pulled a cruel smile.

“Found them. There’s a residential-complex team ahead. Thermal-weapons squad, get ready. Environmental-control squad, flank from the sides.” Calmly, he assigned tasks to all fifty-plus members.

“The Eight-Legged Frostfall is beyond us for now, and the Klein Bottle’s whereabouts are unknown. But we will not return empty-handed. The final objective of this operation is—

to slaughter the city-center residential complex!”

Farther west in this direction, several ability users from the complex were fully absorbed in mining.

Go a little farther west and you’d cross the First Ring. Anyone familiar with the area could quickly find the complex’s external defense line. Inside the city-center residential complex, a gigantic crocodile lay drowsing in the mud. It was not the same species as the smaller crocodile, but a distant relative. One obvious difference was that it was vastly larger.

…

“Brother Crocodile, you’re finally awake,” 060 casually complained. She was almost the slowest in the team and could only walk alongside Li Yuebei. She could tell that Li Yuebei still had plenty of strength left, while she herself was already struggling over the rugged terrain.

She didn’t feel like talking to the unfamiliar Li Yuebei and instead chatted to the little crocodile. She sensed that her mind had become a bit clearer—before, she could only grasp simple meanings from the crocodile, but now she could understand more complex speech.

“So the big crocodile isn’t your dad—it’s a cousin…” This time, 060 fully understood some family gossip from the crocodile clan.

Li Yuebei watched them with interest and immediately realized that 060 was a rare psychic-type ability user.

“Hiss—”

060 and Lin Luyi suddenly clutched their heads.

Yu Qunqing heard many cats meowing—the Klein Bottle had awakened.

He immediately understood what was happening. They were walking atop the ruins, where the field of view was relatively open. At the far end of their sight appeared a group of people in black robes, with a large letter “T” emblazoned on their clothes. The Mind Library had originally been fleeing, but coming away empty-handed was too much of a loss, so they followed the psychic network to intercept their targets.

Yu Qunqing’s team included 060, Lin Luyi—who had awakened some psychic ability—as well as the Klein Bottle and the Queen Bee. Their psychic signal was extremely strong; of course the Mind Library found them with ease.

“I didn’t even go looking for them, and they’re delivering themselves to me…” Yu Qunqing impatiently opened his bow case. Listening to the Klein Bottle’s loud, cat-like complaints, a thought suddenly occurred to him—perhaps the Mind Library’s “resonance” could also be used as charging material for new gear?