Wang Tong spotted a giant Zerg less than a few paces away.
Wang Tong's impulse was to run out of his hideout and towards the mine as fast as he could, but he didn't.
"Impulsiveness is your greatest Demon," Old Fart always reminded Wang Tong.
Wang Tong had been an impulsive teenager, and he knew that his impulsiveness was the culprit of his tragic life so far. Wang Tong gritted his teeth and tried as much as he could to stay put and not to run out into plain sight. He knew that the Zerg would tear him to pieces before he could enter the mine.
He waited for five minutes without moving a hair.
"Kah Chah-Kah Chah...Kaah..."
Wang Tong heard the grinding of the Zerg's exoskeleton; the noise gradually faded away into the distance as the Zerg left the area.
Wang Tong finally rushed to safety. Once the mine gate was closed, he plopped down on the ground and leaned against the gate. He had never felt such an adrenaline rush in his life.
Before Wang Tong had regained his peace of mind from his close escape, another glaring issue presented itself immediately: food. The rations Wang Tong had gathered out there would only last a week at most. That meant he would starve to death if the Confederation reinforcements didn't arrive in time.
With only a C-class domestic robot by his side, roughly one week of rations in his backpack, and pitch dark and hazardous mine cave as shelter, Wang Tong was in a dire situation. Most people under this much stress would have already fallen into helpless despair if they were not completely mad yet. Wang Tong, however, did not seem to be so bothered by the perils ahead of him, he merely blamed it on his bad luck, and then, like nothing had happened, he went on to eat his lunch like a typical day.
It didn't matter how he felt; the situation wasn’t going to get any better or worse, there was still a week's time after all. God had created the whole world in a week, and that just demonstrated how much could happen in seven days.
On a more optimistic note, maybe there would be a cargo ship in front of the mine tomorrow, perhaps there will be even an attractive space stewardess welcoming him aboard, exactly like he loved them.
Wang Tong hadn't fully recovered yet, adding the stress and fear of what he had just gone through made him feel extremely sleepy. His mind drifted off, and he fell asleep with a half chewed piece of jerky still in his mouth.
In the darkness, Charcoal guarded him loyally while Wang Tong slept.
Old Fart always told him, "You haven't failed until you have completely given up on something."
Old Fart liked to preach life lessons to him, although Old Fart himself had neglected to learn from his own teachings, all of them.
It would be a pity if a young man like Wang Tong died here without a cause. On the flip side, thanks to his young age, he had quickly adapted to the pitch dark environment in the cave. With the help of Charcoal, he also extended his range of scavenging activities.
Most of the Zerg army had already left Norton, only a few small forces remained, scattered all over the planet. Although the Zergs that remained stationed here were relatively weaker compared to those that had already left, they were still deadly. That said, Wang Tong would not sit by and wait for his death, so he started to scavenge the nearby buildings for anything useful. To his surprise, he found a functional nutrition transformer in a pile of junk which had overly exceeded his expectations.
It was able to transform any inedible organic matters into a pill that had the same equivalent nutrient content. It tasted horrible, but they could work miracles. On the desolate Norton， providing the workers with enough nutrition had always been a problem, so it had quickly become a necessity.
Norton was covered with giant plants that could be used in the nutrition transformer; therefore Wang Tong's food crisis seemed to have been resolved. He searched further into the base and got lucky again; he found a box of cheap wine and some crumbled biscuits, Wang Tong treated them like precious treasures, savoring them in small quantities at a time instead of squandering them all at once.
All the while, Wang Tong heard booming in the distance and saw explosions in the sky almost every day, the war was still going on; the Zergs had most likely resisted the human's push back. Wang Tong knew that he would have to wait longer than he had initially thought for the rescuers to come, but it didn't matter now because he was prepared.
Perhaps Wang Tong was born with an optimism gene; he felt like this dangerous life was much more thrilling than watching robots hacking at rocks with a pitchfork repetitively every day. Thanks to his EMF, he had become much more aware of his environment, and much more alert to any threats than he ever had been before.
Humans always had a fear of unknown entities, on the flip side, when Wang Tong started to learn more about his enemies, the fear gradually dissipated. He had learned how to avoid the Zerg's attention and made his pitch dark cave into a new cozy home.
"Charcoal, place the food and wine deeper into the cave... hold on, leave one bottle of wine for me."
"Yes master," Charcoal was the most loyal companion Wang Tong had on Norton. He couldn’t imagine a day going by without seeing Charcoal's lovely charcoal colored face.
The deeper end of the cave was a perfect place for hiding food or anything of value. It was badly ventilated and treacherous to navigate so only robots could go in and out easily.
Wang Tong spent most of his spare time practicing the “Tactics of the Blade”. He wasn’t sure if it was because of the EMF or if the Old Fart's version of the tactic was truly unique, but he felt like it had increased his inner power tremendously. It had not only enabled him to live with 5g gravity, but it also had made him quick minded, and both were essential elements to possess to survive on this planet.
On another scavenging hunt, Wang Tong found a weapon - a long, sharp-edged iron bar, probably snapped by a Zerg claw. This stick had more or less provided Wang Tong some sense of security, regardless of how effective it really would be when used against a Zerg.
A man once said: “The source of suffering for most people was pursuing the wrong dream.”
As Wang Tong just reached fifteen, he should be proud of himself for what he had already achieved and stay put. Instead, he became restless after staying in the cave for a few weeks and craved for further explorations and adventures. He dreamed of discovering a new path hidden in the labyrinth of crumbled buildings and encountering other human troops who had survived. These thoughts troubled him every night. At last, he decided to come out of his hiding place, since there was no point in simply waiting for anything to happen anyway.
Wang Tong had become bold and careless over the few weeks he had spent in the cave. Avoiding a Zerling’s attention seemed effortless, but he immediately paid for his boldness.
A Zerg had quickly spotted Wang Tong and suddenly jumped at him. Wang Tong was born with insensitive nerves, so the shock didn't affect him as much as the Zerg had expected. Instead of being stupefied like most people would be, Wang Tong simply turned on his heel, bolted away, and left only a gust of wind.
Wang Tong peered back to see what was after him and saw a spider-like creature about a meter tall and three meters wide that was brandishing its sharp claws—eight in total—stomping his way toward him and crushing everything in its path.
Humans loathed the Zergs immensely, and the opposite was true as well, if not more intensely. The Zergs had the most advanced form of biological evolution, the young Zergs not only inherited physical traits from their parents but also their emotions, including hatred. The Zerg force had been sweeping across the universe and seemed to be unstoppable; however, they had tasted bitter defeat for the first time during the war against humans four hundred years ago. Four centuries of genetically inherited hatred had made any Zerg's eyes go red with rage at the sight of a human.
"Charcoal... Charcoal, open the gate!"
Wang Tong had started yelling at Charcoal when he was still far away from the gate, fortunately, Charcoal had been listening. He lifted the gate about half a meter high - a height that was set by Wang Tong to ensure that nothing bigger could get through.
When Wang Tong finally reached the gate, he ducked and, with the aid of momentum, rolled to one side and spun around until he reached the other side of the gate. All the while, he didn’t dare look back again, fearing that he was within less than an arm's reach of the Zerg.
"Boom" The Zerg rammed the gate with its forehead and sent a shockwave throughout the cave; fortunately, the gate was almost a meter thick and was made out of exceptionally sturdy material, so it didn’t budge an inch at the Zerling's attack. The Zerg finally had to give up seeing that it had left only a few dents on the gate. Wang Tong concluded that this Zerg must be lacking in strength compared to a regular Zerg because otherwise, the gate would have already given way to the first impact.
Wang Tong continued lying on the ground trying to catch his breath. He’d never thought that he could run that fast, perhaps he should pursue a career as an athlete when it was all over.
"Ahh, where is my weapon?!" Wang Tong suddenly cried out and stared at his empty hand. He then remembered that he had dropped the iron bar during the encounter with the Zerg. He hadn't even thought about fighting back against that monster.
"Master, I will retrieve it for you."
"Save it; you are not much stronger than me."
It would take less than a second before Charcoal would be torn apart by that monster. Wang Tong didn’t want to see Charcoal become a pile of junk as he was the only companion Wang Tong had on this lonely planet.