Starting Cultivation in Wasteland-Chapter 403 - 281: No Such Thing as a Free Lunch

"Energy Block Alliance?" Qu Jianlei was stunned upon hearing that.

Although he’s a bumpkin from the Wasteland, he had heard about how formidable the Energy Block Alliance is.

No need to hear about it; just talking about Energy Block Silver Notes, they’re hard currency everywhere, you can imagine how powerful this alliance is.

Logically speaking, Energy Block Silver Notes are just proof to exchange Energy Blocks, yet they’ve been brutally turned into currency.

Not only can they exchange energy, but they can also exchange goods... Doesn’t it sound terrifying for energy giants to control minting rights?

Some things become clear upon slight pondering, even if the Energy Block Alliance usually keeps a low profile and doesn’t have much presence.

The idea of Captain Mu is... these people were born with a golden key, wealthy and powerful, why would they need to collaborate with Star Thieves?

Must admit, this logic is quite strong.

But Qu Jianlei really doesn’t buy it; even till now, he doesn’t quite understand the Imperial power structure.

He only knows one thing, the growth of capital stems from greed, and once the behemoth of greed forms, it devours everything.

Even devouring masters is common; this thing cannot be controlled.

So Qu Jianlei instead thinks Captain Mu’s logic is a bit odd.

Considering the extent of technological development in the empire, shouldn’t socio-cultural and economic thinking be thorough?

However, saying these words out loud would expose his inexperience.

He decided not to engage in this topic but instead directly asked, "Aside from Diamond and Fat Fox, who else can be confirmed to have defected?"

Mu Guoguo sighed, "Two more Earth Level groups, others... it’s hard to distinguish truth from falsehood, the key is it’s causing panic."

It can really be like this... Qu Jianlei felt he had underestimated things, he’s truly not skilled at deciphering human hearts.

But one day later, Captain Mu sent another message, confirming that injured personnel would be evacuated that night, asking Qu Jianlei to assist in reception.

He repeatedly emphasized, saying it’s rare to find a gap, urging Black Heaven to seize this opportunity.

Listening to these reminders, Qu Jianlei felt uneasy; why does it feel like there’s something off about his physique... Bah bah.

Thinking about it, he contacted Pan Yifu, mentioned he had something to do that night, hoped for his cooperation to create some distraction. 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

After agreeing on a rough time and location, Pan Yifu asked, "Is this to repay a favor this time?"

"No," Qu Jianlei replied bluntly, "we don’t know how many times we’ll have to cooperate like this in the future."

"Alright," Pan Yifu didn’t dwell on it, "I’ll call you if I need help."

That night, he created quite a commotion, even launched a sneak attack on a medium-sized military station’s watchtower.

However, for some reason, Old Pan couldn’t suppress his aura well, exposed his cultivation level after making two moves.

Fortunately, he was aware of this, and after making a move, he flew away directly.

His estimation wasn’t wrong at all; not even a minute later, the military station was bombarded.

The Star Thieves hated the Fire Attribute A-level with gritted teeth; the deaths of the third and tenth leaders affected them too much.

With other A-level attributes, they probably wouldn’t resort to bombing.

Bombardment location was just beside the military station, no need to worry about collateral damage.

However, although Pan Yifu fled in haste, he was unsatisfied with the bombardment, "Just that few shells."

He had heard from "Wen Xin" about how saturated the attack that guy faced was, "They’ve underestimated my defense."

In fact, the commotion he caused was by no means small; the range of bombardment exceeded what Qu Jianlei faced.

Even the Blazing Fire’s injured evacuation team was shocked.

They had already broken through the first blockade line, "Were we discovered?"

Fortunately, Huahua, who led the team, was relatively calm, "There seems to be a deviation from the agreed direction, hope it’s alright."

They broke through the first blockade line rather smoothly—this was the long-observed gap, the second line was a bit difficult.

Luckily, Qu Jianlei had already infiltrated the blockade circle, made timely contact with the Blazing Fire team.

With him leading the way, the second blockade line passed without calamity, the injured personnel were incredulous after crossing.

Someone murmured softly, "Wasn’t it said the second line had particularly many hidden sentries?"

Qu Jianlei quietly scolded, "Indeed there are many, hush."

After crossing the second blockade, danger was largely eliminated.

However, Qu Jianlei was unsure about his physique, urged them to continue marching.

The breakout team had twenty-six people in total, four heavily injured, meaning those needing to be carried.

Seven could walk themselves— or with support.

Eleven lightly injured, including Huahua, mainly skin wounds, she was there as protective combat power.

Only four were unharmed, rotating to guard, explore, and carry the injured.

Their struggles along the way can be imagined, but Black Heaven demanded they keep moving.

Fortunately, these Pioneers were tough enough, gritted their teeth until nearly dawn.

Captain Mu’s escape route was quite distanced from Qu Jianlei’s secret camp creation.

Upon receiving notification, he had to temporarily open a hiding cave nearby.

The conditions in the cave weren’t great, but none of them could afford to care too much about that. Once inside, they took a rest, planning to continue on when night fell.

After walking until almost dawn again, they finally arrived at the pre-established Secret Camp.

Qu Jianlei had been on edge the whole time, fearing some unexpected change, but fortunately, nothing happened.

When they reached the Secret Camp, more than twenty people were in tattered clothes, and with the seriously injured lying down, they looked worse than beggars.

However, after entering the cave, everyone was a bit shocked: the camp was built amazingly well!

Inside, there was a spacious hall, and square, regular living quarters, along with a kitchen, bathroom, and shower room...

The most crucial thing was that there was electricity! It wasn’t as bright as daylight, but at least it wasn’t pitch black.

Qu Jianlei explained that he generated this electricity using solar panels.

However, to avoid detection, the solar panels were set up under trees, which lowered efficiency, and they couldn’t be used often.

So, they needed to conserve electricity.

But for these injured, most of the time rest was enough, and they didn’t have many lighting needs.

Anyway, just having electricity gave a cozy sense of life.

What was especially surprising to them was the rich supply of resources Black Heaven had stockpiled.

Not only was there food, but also a considerable amount of guns and ammunition, and even some precious medicine, fuel, and Energy Blocks.

Mu Huahua knew that Black Heaven had taken over three small Military Stations, but she didn’t know that he also had a Storage Ring.

The living resources here were enough for everyone to use abundantly for three months.

She curiously asked, "You managed to carry away this much stuff from the Military Station?"

"There were other gains," Qu Jianlei didn’t want to elaborate. In fact, he had raided flagpoles and Fat Fox’s warehouse, albeit briefly.

After traveling the whole night, arriving in this environment, they didn’t feel sleepy anymore and washed up before resting.

One of the people who had a good relationship with Qu Jianlei was also a seriously injured person, the Maintenance Master Ah Hu.

He had a broken leg, and his abdomen was injured by shrapnel, he looked utterly haggard.

Qu Jianlei hadn’t had the chance to talk to him during the journey. He finally spoke, "When did you get injured?"

Ah Hu was surprisingly spirited, "When the core camp was breached."

"That’s hard to come by," Qu Jianlei was amazed that despite such injuries, Blazing Fire was willing to break out with him.

"If they left you behind, you’d be dead for sure."

Star Thieves generally wouldn’t touch common people — since most of them were technical talents, but Blazing Fire’s members were exceptions.

"I consider myself lucky," Ah Hu bitterly laughed, "Of the severely injured, only I was taken away."

If he wasn’t skilled in maintenance and hadn’t injured his hands, he probably would have been abandoned too.

Qu Jianlei’s face subtly changed, "Those who were executed, were they all common people?"

Ah Hu remained silent; life has always been this unequal. On the battlefield, those most useful were prioritized for rescue.

After a long silence, he gave a light sigh, "Mostly common people."

"Hmm," Qu Jianlei hummed expressionlessly, patting his shoulder, "Rest well, I’ll get you some medicine."

After leaving the Secret Camp, he couldn’t shake off the feeling of being weighed down — wasn’t war supposed to have nothing to do with common people?

This feeling persisted until the afternoon when Pan Yifu contacted him by hand-held radio.

Old Pan had gotten word of another Secret Vault belonging to Fat Fox and invited him to join — mainly because he valued his Storage Talisman.

However, he stated that it would be a forty-sixty split, with him asking six Wu Xin and four anyone else, and if they couldn’t reach an agreement, he would rather take his time moving it.

He wanted a quick in-and-out as the unpredictable risks in the war zone were too great, so he wanted to use the Storage Talisman to offset the risks.

But if the other party wanted too much, he’d rather take the risk.

After thinking it over, Qu Jianlei agreed to his request. He was already feeling quite depressed and owed Old Pan a bit of a favor from the day before.

By the time they met thirty kilometers away, it was already evening.

Old Pan hadn’t brought along that B-level Warrior, and Qu Jianlei couldn’t be bothered to ask how he dealt with him.

Fat Fox’s other Secret Vault was fifty kilometers away. Supposedly, the supplies weren’t insignificant, but it was unknown if anyone was guarding it.

The two of them stealthily moved forward. After a while, Pan Yifu was unexpectedly surprised to find that Qu Jianlei’s Body Technique was much more agile than his.

Earth Attribute stronger than Fire Attribute? That didn’t make sense, "How is your Body Technique so strong?"

Qu Jianlei casually replied, "Just a bit of luck, isn’t that normal?"

Pan Yifu couldn’t ask further, but he still said, "Since that’s the case, when we reach the place, you’ll take care of the reconnaissance?"

Qu Jianlei nodded.

Two hours later, they reached a spot three kilometers away from the Secret Vault.

Pan Yifu stopped, gesturing to Qu Jianlei with a wave of his hand, clearly indicating: After you.

Qu Jianlei silently disappeared into the night, and seeing this, Pan Yifu clicked his tongue in awe: his Body Technique was indeed impressive.

Half an hour later, he quietly returned, the voice under his hood carried a hint of gravity, "There are traps."

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