As they walked for a few dozen more meters, Jiang Cheng spotted a broken water bag hanging on a dead branch. It was the same water bag that belonged to Pan Wei'an.
Without stopping, Jiang Cheng pressed on ahead.
The two girls walked silently beside him. With Jiang Cheng by their side, they didn't feel completely hopeless. His attitude towards them had changed, and he had become a reliable support, a sturdy tree that could protect them from the storm. For them, drifting was nothing new. Although this encounter had been terrifying, it wasn't that different from what they had experienced before.
Suddenly, Jiang Cheng saw the tree hole shelter where they used to live. The huge tree had broken off from the tree hole. The upper half had flown away, and the bison hide sheets inside had disappeared. Only a 15-meter-tall stump remained.
Seeing this scene, he secretly rejoiced. Fortunately, they did not hide in it at that time. Otherwise, things would have been miserable.
The three of them continued to move forward.
Thud!
Jiang Cheng cut open the dead wood blocking his way with his sword. He suddenly stopped when he was about to continue walking.
There were two people below the dead tree…
To be exact, it was a living person and half a corpse.
Liang Xin, the thin woman, held onto the upper half of Pan Xiaoan's lifeless body. With a blank expression, she gently patted his head, and tears of blood streamed from her eyes.
Liang Xin was as thin as a skeleton. There was no longer a piece of cloth on her body, but strangely, she was oddly unscathed, with not a single scratch or wound on her body. In contrast, Pan Xiaoan had been ripped apart by the cyclone, leaving only his upper body behind.
Upon hearing the noise, Liang Xin looked up briefly at Jiang Cheng before returning to silently patting the corpse's head. The once friendly and intelligent woman seemed emotionless and numb in that moment, showing no reaction to Jiang Cheng's arrival.
Jiang Cheng was slightly sad, but he quickly suppressed his emotion.
After hesitating for a moment, he only waved his sword to cut the dead wood on Liang Xin and the dead body to help her free from it. Then, he left with the two girls.
Having come from a world of peace, he had not yet become fully desensitized to this harsh reality. He couldn't bear to witness such a scene.
But he had to prioritize his own survival and that of his loved ones. He couldn't afford to waste time and resources helping others.
So he had no choice but to turn a blind eye.
The most important thing now was to catch up to the Terrawheeler as soon as possible, or else they would die of thirst sooner or later.
"The water in this world…Where did it go? Why is there almost no water vapor in the air?" Jiang Cheng muttered to himself in puzzlement. He felt that this phenomenon was not scientific at all.
After the three of them walked far away.
Behind them, in the pile of dead wood, Liang Xin looked at the dead wood that was originally pressing down on her body but had now been split open. Her eyes regained some light.
She expressionlessly put down her son's body and covered it with a withered branch. Then, she wiped the blood and tears off her face, climbed out of the pile of branches, and staggered after Jiang Cheng and the other two.
"Brother-in-law…" Yaya suddenly shouted.
Tong Xiaorou also saw the people behind her and hurriedly said, "Jiang Cheng, that woman is catching up."
Jiang Cheng stopped in his tracks and turned his head to look behind him. As expected, he saw Liang Xin climbing up the small hill of withered branches, stumbling but firmly chasing after him.
He hesitated for a moment, but he still continued walking forward, ignoring her.
Liang Xin, who was behind him, did not stop him. She just followed him silently without saying a word. After calming down, she still wanted to continue living.
As Jiang Cheng continued walking forward, he attempted to discern the direction in which the giant bison was moving.
After conducting some analysis, he was surprised to discover that despite the giant bison's path differing from that of the Terrawheeler, their general direction was the same.
'Even the previous herd of bison migrated in that direction, and now the Terrawheeler is heading that way too. Even such a highly-evolved beast is moving in that direction...'
Jiang Cheng gazed into the distance and pondered what could be located in that direction. 'Could it be water?'
As these thoughts flashed through his mind, he quickened his pace. He held Yaya in one hand and used his Tang Dynasty Sword in the other to chop the dead branches blocking his way.
Tong Xiaorou tugged at the corner of his shirt and followed him silently.
Soon, they passed through the place where the giant green bison passed and continued forward.
After walking for another 1,000 meters, Jiang Cheng suddenly saw the Evolver he had met previously. He guessed that that man should have some special means to survive, but it was obvious that he could not protect everyone around him. At this moment, the man expressionlessly carried a dead body to a pile of dead wood and placed it down.
Under the pile of dead wood, the woman in her thirties was sobbing.
The Evolver also had a sorrowful expression and his eyes were red, but he just silently stood beside the woman and did not say a word.
Jiang Cheng took a glance and was about to leave.
Suddenly, the Evolver spoke up, "My name is Liang Weilun, and I'm from the Azure Camp. We left the camp because of the lack of water, and traveled a long distance with my family. As an Evolver with strength, I thought it would be easy to find water, but my father died of illness on the way. Sadly, my mother and son also died tragically while facing a high-level evolved beast."
Jiang Cheng stopped walking and remained silent for a moment before continuing forward.
"Would you be interested in working together?" Liang Weilun asked.
Jiang Cheng looked at him in confusion and asked, "What do you mean? You should know that even if we find water and food in a region, they are limited resources. Cooperating means increasing the population, and if there aren't enough resources, the gains won't make up for the losses."
Liang Weilun cast a brief glance at his wife, who remained kneeling by the corpses of his mother and son, sobbing. He then turned his gaze to Jiang Cheng. "Let's team up and take down the Terrawheeler. We'll claim all the resources on it for ourselves. We'll have a limitless supply of food and water, and a formidable mobile fortress. Even if another disaster strikes, we can just hide inside and be safe."
Jiang Cheng almost laughed out loud at Liang's proposal, feeling a surge of anger. 'What makes you think you can take down a Terrawheeler? You're just a Rank-1 Evolver at best, and only in the late stage. You're not that much stronger than me, let alone being able to defeat a Terrawheeler or even a power armor.'
Jiang Cheng turned around and left.
"Do you think I'm courting death?" Liang Weilun asked from behind.
"Isn't it? You're a late-stage Rank-1 Evolver, right? Since you used to be from the camp, I believe you know how terrifying the combat power and defense of a Terrawheeler are." Jiang Cheng stopped and wanted to see what the other party would say.
Liang Weilun balled his fists so tightly that his knuckles cracked. His face turned cold as he spoke. "I heard from some of the elders in the camp that during the previous disaster, the people in the shelter left us to fend for ourselves. They took a huge stockpile of food and advanced technology with them and retreated inside. Our ancestors were originally part of the shelter, but they were ruthlessly abandoned and left outside forever."
"So?" Jiang Cheng was silent for a moment.
"The resources in the shelter originally belonged to us. We should take back what belongs to us, " Liang Weilun said.
Jiang Cheng turned around and continued to leave.
Tong Xiaorou and Liang Xin hurriedly followed behind.
"Aren't you angry at all?" In the distance, Liang Weilun shouted, "Those people in the shelter have taken over a large amount of living resources and the technological artifacts that create food and water, but they did not give us a single cent. Those things originally belonged to us, but they shamelessly took them and were proud of themselves. With their technological means, they could have spread those technologies and let us live a good life. At the very least, they could reduce the number of deaths. However, they took over the resources that originally belonged to us, but they did not do anything. Aren't you angry at all?"
"Is anger useful?" Jiang Cheng asked. "It's useless!"
After saying that, he ignored Liang Weilun.
Liang Weilun had wanted to instigate Jiang Cheng to attack the land Terrawheeler, but he was greatly overestimating Jiang Cheng's abilities. To Jiang Cheng, the Terrawheeler was an invincible steel monster that he could never hope to defeat.
'Besides,' Jiang Cheng thought, 'why should we fight them? Wouldn't it be better to befriend the people on the Terrawheeler and gain access to their resources?' His mind wandered to the magical mirror he had received from Yang Kuifeng in exchange for making 1,000 portions of roast meat.
Although Yang Kuifeng had fled, Jiang Cheng was determined to make him pay for the promised 1,000 portions of roast meat if they ever crossed paths again. 'And don't forget,' he added to himself, 'there was another piece of meat on top of that.'