Starting Cultivation in Wasteland-Chapter 451 - 323: Sunk Cost

After leaving the Spirit Fox, Qu Jianlei’s first thought was to rescue Pan Yifu. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

Old Pan said to save him when "capable," but since everyone came together, it’s impossible to just leave him behind, right?

However, Qu Jianlei glanced over and saw that Old Pan was already in enemy hands, being carried by a B-level and a Modified Warrior.

The Modified Warrior would be easy to handle, but the B-level Warrior would be quite troublesome.

No matter the attribute or frailty, any B-level Warrior would be tough to tackle.

In the past, Qu Jianlei didn’t even need to blink when dealing with B-level Warriors.

But in those situations, he at least had five or six percent of his Inner Breath available—at worst, not less than three percent, right?

However, Qu Jianlei’s current Inner Breath was barely at half a percent, not even close to one percent.

Earlier, when he left the high tower, he had about one percent of Inner Breath, but after using a Thunder Strike Skill, it became like this.

However, should the Thunder Strike Skill not have been used? If not used, the Spirit Fox might already be dead by now.

That’s all in the past; the current issue is: rescuing Pan Yifu is a bit problematic.

During this process, he sneakily perceived the entire control center and was stunned again.

The Hongyun he knew was already crippled, both legs severed at the knees, now in the hands of the Star Thieves.

Fangcao was also burned beyond recognition, life or death unknown, lying on the ground with only the chest slightly rising and falling.

Among the A-levels Qu Jianlei knew, only the Bald One was still fighting.

The other supportive A-level was probably White Clothes, Qu Jianlei guessed, but had also turned into Blood Clothes.

If Qu Jianlei wanted to escape now, he could basically get away unless specifically targeted by the Supreme.

But just running away seems like a waste. Shouldn’t he at least leave with a comrade?

Pan Yifu, Hongyun... or Fangcao? That’s a question.

It’s not about the dilemma of saving the wife or the mother from drowning; he wasn’t that close with these three.

But the choice objectively exists.

Logically, he had more contact with Pan Yifu, and neither were from the Pioneer camp.

Moreover, Old Pan’s goal wasn’t hijacking the signal but the Black Box, so their objectives were different.

They had collaborated to dismantle the Park Department, so rescuing Old Pan seemed more appropriate.

But Qu Jianlei didn’t think so. Deep down, he felt Pan Yifu wasn’t the same kind of person as him.

Additionally, with Star Thieves around Old Pan, the rescue would require a certain cost.

But the current Qu Jianlei was unwilling to pay even a little cost.

With Inner Breath down to half a percent, as a person with a poor sense of security, he did want to save people, but was it realistic?

As for Hongyun? Rescuing was really troublesome; on one hand, she’s in the Star Thieves’ hands, and her injuries are too severe.

So for now, Fangcao seemed the better choice, and this absolutely had nothing to do with her gender.

Besides, if he rescues Fangcao, this would be the second time.

If he chooses not to save, then last time’s Regeneration Potion would really become a sunk cost.

With his target set, Qu Jianlei quietly circled around, just as at that moment, the high tower’s explosive fire medicine detonated.

The amount of explosive was definitely not small, and the power was astonishing, but compared to the massive tower, it was still a bit inadequate.

The sealed three doors tightly locked the explosive impact within the tower, also accumulating tremendous energy.

If looked at closely, one could see a slight bulge at the base of the tower.

The bulge appeared twice, almost consecutively, accompanied by a very slight tremor.

This was caused by the successive detonations of explosive fire medicine and Energy Blocks, slight but containing massive energy fluctuations.

Such fluctuations could not be unnoticed by the superpower warriors present, even in a very chaotic battlefield.

However, this was merely an appetizer; the next moment, the entire tower shook violently.

This shock stunned everyone present, including the warriors in battle, whose movements instinctively halted.

The Bald One, being more sensitive, was alarmed by the first wave of explosion, and without thinking, turned and ran.

The Fire Attribute Supreme hovering in the air also noticed something amiss.

He couldn’t afford to consider trivial matters like Black Heaven, turning his head in astonishment.

Subsequently, the massive tower’s base exploded with a bang, metal fragments violently flying out, the speed comparable to bullets leaving the barrel.

Then, the explosive fire at the base burst upward, like a rolling earth dragon, rushing straight to the tower’s top.

A series of explosive fires instantly made everyone present realize, "This is self-destruction!"

The self-destruction started from the bottom to the top, functionally completely destroying the tower’s relay function.

From the structural standpoint, the destruction was not yet over.

The violent explosive fire left the tower teetering, especially the intense explosion at the base, depriving the massive building of support.

The tower swayed three or four times before finally toppling and collapsing.

The collapse began slowly, but quickly accelerated, crashing heavily to the ground in a flash.

After a muffled roar, the earth trembled incessantly, dust billowed, accompanied by blazing flames.

The Fire Attribute Supreme instantly flashed over a thousand meters away. Seeing this scene, he raised his hands slightly.

He originally intended to clear the site—the collapse couldn’t be stopped, but tidying up was not difficult.

However, after a moment’s hesitation, he gave up on this attempt: the Relay Tower was already destroyed, so what was the point of clearing anything?

Qu Jianlei felt very fortunate that the direction of the tower collapse didn’t crush either side of the battle.

Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been able to rescue anyone from between the two fighting sides.

Amidst the enveloping smoke, he instantly flashed to Fangcao’s side based on memory, grabbing her with one hand.

In the next moment, he dodged a rapid stream of bullets by a hair’s breadth.

This string of bullets was fired from a heavy machine gun, the caliber was substantial, comparable to a machine cannon, with immense destructive power.

Who knows which Star Thief was so diligent; the tower had collapsed, yet they still sought to eliminate Fangcao.

Obviously, though Fangcao hadn’t been captured earlier, she was already regarded as something in the Star Thieves’ possession, hence they hadn’t struck harder.

At the same time, heavy weapons still targeted Fangcao to prevent any accidents, and now they opened fire directly.

Fortunately, Qu Jianlei’s perception ability was good, and the rescue was timely enough to narrowly whisk Fangcao away.

Fangcao was severely injured, but her mind was still clear. She knew that Black Heaven’s timely action had saved her.

"Thank you. Could I trouble you to also rescue Hongyun?"

You’re really not shy... Qu Jianlei was a bit speechless, "I’ve nearly depleted my inner breath."

Fangcao paused and sighed, "Hongyun is with the military and has good connections."

Qu Jianlei pondered for a moment and decided to take a risk since Hongyun also owed him a favor, representing a sunk cost.

In truth, Pan Yifu was an equal partner whether with Black Heaven or Wen Xin.

Regarding the division of achievements, he was meticulous.

Their cooperation was quite harmonious, and they achieved significant feats without just focusing on capturing trophies.

Whether it was the allocation of spoils or the unreserved effort to achieve certain goals, the two would always discuss it together.

In other words, although the two were as close as real brothers, they were fair in their dealings, possibly lacking a bit but fundamentally not by much.

Since Old Pan didn’t owe him anything, it was up to him whether to save or not.

Qu Jianlei sighed lightly, drew out a hand cannon, and flashed into the smoke.

Guarding Hongyun was a B-level Water Attribute Warrior, who was momentarily at a loss upon witnessing the tower’s collapse.

He pointed a laser gun at Hongyun’s chest, nervously glancing around while fiddling with a handheld radio.

Yet, the radio was overwhelmed with an abundance of calls, utterly chaotic.

Moreover, the collapse of the tower triggered complex electromagnetic fluctuations and reactions, greatly affecting all kinds of electronic equipment.

This B-level Water Attribute Star Thief couldn’t contact others and dared not arbitrarily deal with Hongyun, merely clutching his laser gun tightly.

In the next moment, his mind briefly wavered, and when he sobered up, found the gun barrel inexplicably pointed aside.

A young man stood before him, aiming a hand cannon squarely at his forehead.

He couldn’t help but wail, "No!"

Yet at that moment, it was too late to say anything, and Qu Jianlei nonchalantly pulled the trigger.

The first shot didn’t blow off the opponent’s head, but the enormous impact made the Star Thief stagger two steps back.

However, the gun barrel never left his forehead, the opponent’s body followed relentlessly.

The Star Thief gritted his teeth and pulled the trigger on his laser gun.

Unfortunately, the gun barrel was blocked by the opponent’s body, and where the laser beam hit was unknown.

This was a futile venting, for in the smoke-filled environment, lasers attenuated rapidly, making even accidental injuries improbable.

In the next moment, the hand cannon fired again, and this time his defense couldn’t withstand it anymore; his head exploded with a bang.

Qu Jianlei put away the hand cannon, carried Fangcao in one hand, Hongyun in the other, and ghost-like flitted outwards.

Yet, just as he burst out of the smoke, he found a cold gaze sweeping towards him from above.

He hesitated, put down the two in his hands, and bowed slightly to the figure in the sky, "Bolt greets the Supreme."

The Supreme’s brow furrowed slightly, "Whose man are you?"

"I’m from the Department of Gardens," Qu Jianlei replied respectfully, "Pan Yifu and Black Heaven have raided our archives..."

"The Department of Gardens’ archives?" The Supreme was somewhat surprised.

However, he quickly waved his hand disinterestedly and said, "Don’t delay too long, deliver to the Prisoner of War Camp swiftly."

In his perception, the other party was just an Earth Attribute C-level, negligible but sufficient to transport these two people.

As for these two captives being A-level, while usually noteworthy, now... it just didn’t matter much.

In the Supreme’s view, A-level wasn’t much stronger than B-level.