Chapter 85: Relief

At noon, the encampment chief hosted a grand feast for the guests; everyone celebrated wholeheartedly, and rare sounds of jubilant festivity rang out across the barren land.
During the meal, Zhao Qi of the cargo fleet put his hand on the shoulder of encampment chief Ning Yang.
“Want to make the camp stronger faster, Chief Ning?”
“With a clean water source, becoming an intermediate encampment is just within reach, brother. I’m a pragmatist—I figure adding flowers to brocade isn’t as good as delivering coal in the snow. I’ve got an opportunity here for plenty of timing or even blueprints—game to join in?”
A sharp gleam flashed in Ning Yang’s eyes.
Then, sounding a bit skeptical, he said:
“You’d actually share news like that with me?”
“Hey—you think I’m bluffing? That newly formed scene land, Mutiny Scar, is too far from our camp, but it’s only a day’s journey from yours. I was planning to keep it secret, go back, find some people quietly, and carve it up. But now, consider this a share I’m throwing in for you. What do you say?”
A day’s journey wasn’t too far.
Ning Yang mulled it over in his mind.
After the meal, the cargo fleet departed for the next small settlement. Zhao Qi agreed to return in two days and head over with them, so Ning Yang arranged the manpower.
……
At night, after everyone had rested, Ning Yang, turning things over in his mind, called Captain Jia over and said,
“Keep a close watch on Room of A, and those fellows around him.”
“What, is there something wrong with this man?”
Ning Yang paced back and forth, then after a moment sat down on a chair and said, gripping the armrests,
“Master Zuo had just built the Despair Engine, and this guy showed up, even hitting it off with him within a single day. Heh, quite a clever move, isn’t it. It just struck me—he also got through to us as soon as he arrived, becoming part of this place, didn’t he?”
On the armchair pressed against the stone wall, Captain Jia shot to his feet, his eyes wide.
“That’s exactly it—I was so eager to welcome him in back then!”
“I’m going to go take him out right now.”
Ning Yang raised his hand to stop Captain Jia’s impulse. He tapped the armrest on the chair and slowly spoke:
“Master Zuo said today that the engine wasn’t built by him. I think the idea of leaving has already crossed his mind. If he hadn’t said that, I wouldn’t have realized this point.”
“I see!” Captain Jia suddenly understood why Ning Yang had grown suspicious of that Room of A.
He remarked with relief,
“Huh? As expected, you’re the sharpest among us, Brother Ning. That Yang Zicang is definitely shady—who would bring a suitcase into a merging zone? He’s probably an infiltrator sent from another shed zone!”
Ning Yang squinted his eyes with a sense of relief and said:
“It’s very possible, dammit. Those guys around him must be snooping for info in our place—otherwise, the timing wouldn’t be this precise.”
The realization that every move of his shed zone’s talents was being monitored by outsiders sent chills down Ning Yang’s spine.
He said with lingering fear:
“It’s just that he was too goal-oriented, heading straight for Master Zuo. If Master Zuo had delayed making the engine for two more days, this shed zone’s development opportunity might have been delayed for who knows how many years…”
Jia suddenly jolted awake.
Lately, Master Zuo had been scorned by everyone; if he had left with someone, Jia might have thought it was a good thing—finally getting rid of a freeloader occupying a good house.
The thought that if not for Master Zuo’s eagerness to show off, the imaginary scenario might have played out tomorrow, or even tonight—
Sent a surge of hot anger rushing from his chest to his head.
“How infuriating, absolutely infuriating! I’ll go take care of him.”
“Hold on.”
The furious man stopped mid-step and turned his head to look at the shed zone chief who had called him.
Ning Yang, fixing his gaze on Jia’s narrow, dry eyes, said:
“You’re no match for him. Only by mobilizing the entire shed zone’s members to attack simultaneously can we subdue him.”
“How could that be?”
Ning Yang said grimly: “His model is quadrilateral.”
Ning Yang would never forget the first time he witnessed a Quadrilateral unfold back in the city, how that man had displayed its overwhelmingly formidable power—ridiculous lines giving birth to an absurd yet horrifying Model’s might.
From that moment on, Ning Yang understood one thing: only by rallying more people could he better survive in this world.
Captain Jia shuddered, feeling his mind clear up considerably.
……
In the small wooden shed piled with various tin cans, Zhang Yuanxin, lying on his bed, thought back to the scene after lunch in the restroom.
A stranger had asked if he was making boilers, saying that several mid-sized encampments were already producing them, and Hub Town wouldn’t need that many boilers.
However, he could supply to Hub Town; if he was doing well and willing to switch encampments, he could help make the connection.
Moreover, he had even proactively given him ten years of Chronos as a greeting gift.
“Driving a wedge between us.” Zhang Yuanxin turned over, the wooden bed groaning.
He hoped Ning Yang could repair his stone house before autumn, he thought.
He had originally quite liked Zuo Fen’s house, but that guy had soared to new heights today; it seemed he could only dutifully wait for the new house.
He drifted off to sleep, vaguely sensing someone enter his room to look at the boiler, yet no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t open his eyes.
……
On the bed, Ning Yang had just closed his eyes when a somewhat stout figure suddenly came to mind.
Two days ago, that person reported to him about encountering a martial arts robber on the road. The slightly chubby man who had disappeared for a day or two mentioned Jiazi House.
Ning Yang opened his eyes and rubbed the bridge of his nose.
“What a headache.”
The model on his chest flickered and connected with Captain Jia. On the other end, Captain Jia said fiercely, {I’ve contacted people, looking for an opportunity to strike together and kill him in one blow.}
But this voice sounded a bit lacking in momentum.
[Take it slow for a moment, keep an eye on him first.]
Hearing this, Captain Jia secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
{I think we’d just better kick him out.}
[Tomorrow then.]
……
Still night, the sky was as dark as the darkest but not yet pitch black.
Yang Zicang got up and left the wooden cabin, jumping out of the shed area directly through the gap between the houses. A person wandering in the distance saw this and immediately muttered silently:
{Jiazi House has gone out, definitely suspicious. There he is, sneaking around.}
{Keep the others under watch, and let him go. Don’t follow him to avoid exposure.}
On the horizon.
“Hmm hmm hmm, oh oh oh, misty rain in green… oh oh, a beauty is waiting for me… Hey, boss.”
Passing by a stream, someone called out to Yang Zicang, “Where are you off to? Collecting any models?”
“What boss? Me?”
Yang Zicang pointed at his own nose.
“Didn’t you come two days ago to collect models.”
Yang Zicang shook his head, stepped into the night, and quickly disappeared into the horizon.
The man watching him leave yawned, got up, and carried the bucket toward the wilderness opposite the settlement. Before long, he arrived at a depression where several people wrapped in burlap blankets were gathered, with two wooden crates at the bottom of the pit.
“Got anything?”
“No, I asked all the mid-to-large settlements I know. No one by the name of Jiazi or Jiani anywhere. Big Li, why are we bothering about him? That guy’s just a passerby.”
“Heh heh, you don’t get it. When two masters meet, fate brings them into collision!”
“Cut the chuunibyou stuff, how old are you now?”
Big Li chuckled: “Let’s get ready to move out. Shi Qian Jr. should have already made his move.”
A figure appeared on the horizon, walking while tossing a small, glittering object in his hand.
As he drew closer and they saw the slowly emerging image of a well within that object in his hand, envy flickered in the others’ eyes.
“As expected of Shi Qian! Too cool, you snatched it just like that!”
The young man curled the corners of his mouth: “Let’s go. If we’re too late, the ‘human evidence’ will be exposed.”
“Thought you’d carry someone back again, though.”
“Shi Qian” turned his head to glance at the faintly visible settlement in the distance, ran a hand through his hair with the yellowish tips, and gave a scoff: “It’s a technique, not a model… And the maker is someone else. Let’s go.”
“Let’s go~”
“If we don’t go back soon, the illusion Brother Qian Jr. made is gonna crumble, hehe.”
“Just call me Xiao Li,” the young man said gently as he tossed the memory-loss engine.
……
After arriving at an uninhabited area, Yang Zicang summoned a train, boarded it, and the train transformed into a slightly visible phantom, galloping across the wilderness. It stirred wave after wave of surging winds before vanishing on the plains.