Chapter Seventeen: An Encounter with Robbery

"Did you come from across the river?" A group of about a dozen men and women stared at Shen Lie in astonishment, their eyes filled with suspicion.

Though his leg was broken, Shen Lie didn't consider these ten or so ordinary people a threat. Each of them looked pale and gaunt, swaying as they walked, and though they gripped axes, iron pipes, and other makeshift weapons, they posed little real danger. Without hesitation, he nodded.

In truth, denial was pointless. Given his current state and the lingering spider monsters across the river, anyone could see what had happened. They simply wanted confirmation.

Their leader was a young man with a scorpion tattoo on his arm, the same one who had spoken first. Upon hearing Shen Lie admit he'd come from the other side, the tattooed man's expression shifted as he pressed further, "How did you get across? Didn't the river attack you?"

Shen Lie immediately realized the river's abnormality was no secret—these survivors were all aware. He nodded again and pointed to the signal tower on the opposite bank. "I was chased by those spider creatures and had nowhere else to go. I jumped over from up there. Are you all survivors from here? Are there monsters like that on this side?" Shen Lie kept his tone as ordinary as possible, hoping to extract information from them.

The tattooed man glanced at the signal tower, then at Shen Lie, his gaze lingering on Shen Lie’s bandaged leg.

"What’s in your backpack? Bring it here and let me see," the tattooed youth demanded, dropping the subject of Shen Lie’s origins and going straight for the backpack.

Shen Lie noticed the others’ eager expressions at the mention of his backpack and understood: despite the river separating the two sides, supplies here must be desperately scarce.

Having just hidden several bags of supplies, Shen Lie wasn't too concerned about the contents of his backpack, but he couldn't show it. These were his things, and if they wanted to take them, he would see whether he agreed.

"Why should I let you see it?" Shen Lie shifted his backpack, a faint smile playing on his lips as he looked at them.

The tattooed youth was stunned, clearly not expecting a refusal. His face quickly twisted into a sneer. "Looks like you survived by hiding, and still don’t understand the rules of the apocalypse, huh? Since you want to know why, I’ll make sure you learn properly!"

He waved a hand, signaling those behind him to give Shen Lie a lesson. The tattooed man folded his arms and stepped aside, openly mocking.

"Ha, kid, you’d rather drink the hard wine than the easy one. Brother Cheng wants your backpack and you dare stall? Fine. It’s been a long time since we’ve come across a lone survivor. Let’s have some fun with you!"

At his signal, two men in their thirties stepped forward—one in casual clothes, the other, oddly enough, wore glasses and looked almost scholarly, as if he were a teacher. Yet both had cold, indifferent expressions as they closed in on Shen Lie.

Shen Lie frowned. When the apocalypse struck, he’d escaped to another world and knew little of how things had deteriorated here. He couldn't guess how twisted humanity had become, but he wasn’t naive enough to expect order to persist in such extremes. In dire circumstances, people could do anything—these men might well kill him. So, without hesitation, he struck first.

Ignoring the pain in his injured leg, Shen Lie lunged forward, meeting the two men head-on. He didn’t use his black spear, but clenched his fists and, with two quick blows, felled them both.

He didn’t stop there. With the rest stunned and fearful, he charged into them like a wolf among sheep. A series of thuds and cries later, none were left standing. They all lay groaning in pain, including the tattooed youth, who, as their leader, received some extra attention.

"Name," Shen Lie said calmly, tapping the tattooed youth—who was feigning death on the ground—with the tip of his black spear.

"Hmph, you’ve got guts—kill me, or I’ll never forgive you!" The tattooed youth shuddered at the spear’s touch but still tried to bluster, shouting at Shen Lie.

"Is that so? Well, even if you don’t forgive me, you won’t live to see it," Shen Lie replied coolly. He tore a strip from a shirt to bind the man’s hands, stuffed a rag in his mouth, and then drove the spear tip through his palm. The tattooed man screamed in agony, writhing on the ground.

"I’ll talk, I’ll talk!" Before the tattooed youth could finish howling, a woman lying nearby broke first, lifting her pale face.

"Mmmph mmmph…" The tattooed youth struggled anew, but with his mouth gagged, could only make muffled noises.

"Good, you speak. What’s your name? Why are you here? How many survivors are left in this town?" Shen Lie wasn't especially cruel—he stopped tormenting the tattooed youth once someone answered.

"My name is Zhang Jing. I’m the owner of Serenity Salon. Maybe I even cut your hair once?" The woman, not badly hurt, rubbed her injuries and tried to warm up to Shen Lie.

He remained expressionless. She must have mistaken him for a local survivor; perhaps her salon was well-known here. But none of that mattered—he only wanted information.

Just as he was about to continue his interrogation, a sudden sense of danger shot through him from behind. Instantly, he channeled energy into his right hand, spun, and struck backward with the black spear while rolling to the side.

A gunshot rang out.

"Ah! You… you’re… you’re an Awakened?" The bullet missed. The tattooed youth, seeing Shen Lie's right hand turn golden, cried out in terror as if witnessing the impossible. The others looked on with varied expressions.

"Give me one reason not to kill you," Shen Lie said coldly, his eyes icy, unmoved by the revelation that he was an Awakened.

They had a gun—he’d underestimated them. If he hadn’t been alert, he might have died right there. Now, murderous intent surged within him.

"Brother—no, no, Big Brother, I didn’t recognize you for who you are. Had I known you were an Awakened, I wouldn’t have dared touch you, not even with a hundred lives! Please, let us go! We’re just ordinary people, starving for days and desperate for food. We’ve never hurt anyone!" The tattooed man threw the gun aside, raised his hands in surrender, and pleaded. The others, too, crouched and held their heads, as if they’d practiced this posture before.

"Awakened? Where did you hear that term? Have you seen one before?" Shen Lie asked, a little exasperated by their cowardice. They were the epitome of bullying the weak and fearing the strong, but at least it made them less likely to provoke him further.

"You don’t know what an Awakened is? Did you just Awaken?" The tattooed man’s eyes filled with awe and envy at Shen Lie’s question, but a glare from Shen Lie made him shrink back.

"I don’t want to hear nonsense. If you can’t prove you’re useful, I’ll show you the consequences of shooting at me," Shen Lie said coldly, making the tattooed youth shiver.

"Big Brother, I really wasn’t targeting you personally. In times like these, who doesn’t rob a lone survivor? We came together because we’d been robbed too many times ourselves. If you spare us, we’ll do whatever you say from now on. Oh, and I just found a Phantom Mushroom. It almost cost all ten of us our lives. Please accept it as a token of our respect!" The tattooed youth produced a small paper box from his pocket and revealed an egg-sized mushroom.

Shen Lie’s eyes widened. The mushroom shimmered inside the box. Normally, it was a dull gray, but every three or four seconds, it turned almost transparent. The effect was brief but unmistakably unnatural.

Indeed, the apocalypse had changed everything. The others watched with reluctant eyes, even the salon owner, Zhang Jing, seemed about to protest but held her tongue.

Before Shen Lie could ask, the tattooed youth continued, "This mushroom grows only in a medicinal field to the north. It used to be just a medicinal fungus, but after the apocalypse it mutated. It’s useless for us ordinary folks, but the town’s Awakened are crazy about it. They say eating it makes them stronger. Just one can be traded for two boxes of instant noodles or twenty pounds of rice!"

"Oh? If it’s so valuable to Awakened, why don’t they get it themselves? If it’s a fixed location, shouldn’t it be easy to find?" The idea of something that could make him stronger tempted Shen Lie. If it worked for other Awakened, perhaps it would work for him as well.