Chapter 111: Self-Exploitation
Chapter 111: Chapter 111: Self-Exploitation
The streets were bustling with people.
People, with their families in tow, were moving into the Outer City.
"What’s going on?"
After three weeks in seclusion, Tang Wen came to the Outer City again and saw this lively scene.
The people moving in wore all sorts of clothes and gave off an unpleasant, sour smell.
For ordinary people, water was precious. They barely had enough to drink, so bathing was out of the question.
Brother Li recognized the newcomer, bowed slightly, and moved closer to explain:
"These are the first batch of refugees who have passed the test."
"What kind of test?"
"Well, some of them are farmers who cleared land by the lake and grew enough food. Others are craftsmen who produced enough goods.
Even more were Martial Disciples and Martial Artists who joined the Hunting Teams and killed a certain number of prey in the South."
The camp’s cooperation with the Sand Wolf Pack had started long ago.
Further south in the wilderness, the Black Hyena packs and saber-toothed cat prides, led by the Sand Wolves, were nearly annihilated.
Aside from a small number that fled further south, all the herbivores they raised were claimed by Flame Camp.
Flame Camp’s Hunting Guards also suffered casualties. Most of the dead and injured were refugees who had only recently joined.
They wanted to join Flame Camp and move into the Outer City, so they had no choice but to risk their lives.
"We want to go in too!"
"We’ve made contributions too!"
Suddenly, a series of shouts erupted at the Outer City gate.
A group of tattered Scavengers, at least a hundred strong, stood together shouting.
More and more refugees gathered around them.
"My child died in battle, but you say his contribution wasn’t enough... *sob*... My poor, poor child..."
"My husband and my brother are both dead, but you only gave our family a hundred pounds of maize, and it was stolen the very same day!"
"We just want to survive..."
"..."
Tang Wen noticed that the ones who had stepped forward were all the old, the weak, women, and children.
With their children, they knelt on the ground, crying and shouting.
The onlookers watched them with expressions of sorrow, sympathy, or even schadenfreude.
Commander Zhang came out.
The camp’s Guards filed out in formation.
Tang Wen didn’t watch any longer. He had lost the desire to leave the city.
He turned and walked toward the Inner City. The words someone from another faction in Five Families City had said to Commander Qian suddenly echoed in his mind:
"Every faction, every person, including you and me, including those Extraordinary ones—who isn’t just struggling to survive?! What gives you, Flame Camp, the right to be the good guys? Huh? On what grounds?!"
The crying and shouting at the gate grew louder. More and more people gathered until the entrance was completely blocked.
Tang Wen continued walking toward the Inner City’s Royal Palace. After a few deep breaths, he let out a frustrated sigh, and his eyes hardened with resolve.
’On what grounds?’
’Because we’re the strongest, dammit!’
’Time to get back to training!’
"Weren’t you going for a swim in the lake? Why are you back so soon?"
Qian Dong, who was on duty at the gate, offered Tang Wen a small handful of peanuts—about three or four of them.
Tang Wen didn’t take them, instead pointing toward the courtyard where he was in seclusion.
Qian Dong didn’t mind. He pursed his lips and said, "You really are a training maniac. Go on, go on, get to it!"
WHOOSH!
Tang Wen snatched the peanuts from his hand and strode away coolly.
"Damn it!" Qian Dong took two steps to give chase, but then he saw the muscles in Tang Wen’s arm bulge—a sign he was about to strike. He quickly retreated and said, as if to save face, "I’m a magnanimous guy. I won’t stoop to your level."
After speaking, he glanced left and right. His subordinates all nodded, seemingly in agreement with his words.
Qian Dong breathed a sigh of relief. ’It’s not that I’m a coward. Besides the Generals, who in the camp would dare say they could definitively beat this freak?’
Munching on the peanuts, Tang Wen inexplicably felt a lot better.
Returning to the underground secret chamber, he resumed the monotonous cycle of sleeping when tired, eating when hungry, and training right after.
Mountain-Opening Cannon, Head-On Cannon, Half-Step Bombardment, Dragon Emerges from the Water, Undersea Shock, Eight-Armed Divine Fist...
He could be said to have tempered these five Fist Techniques thousands of times.
The only exception was the Tenth Form of the Mountain-Opening Cannon Fist: the Mountain-Shattering Cannon. He still had no clue about it.
In the past, he might have tried every method he could think of to figure out this move.
At the very least, he would have tried to understand the principles behind its power generation.
But now, once his Experience Panel accumulated enough experience, the intricacies of the techniques would be understood automatically.
’So why bother wracking my brains over it!’
’I’d be better off throwing a few more punches with that kind of time.’
HUFF... HUFF... HUFF...
After an explosive burst of over a hundred punches, Tang Wen’s stamina was completely drained. He collapsed to the floor like a sugar daddy who’d just been "serviced" by eight girls, not even wanting to lift a finger.
’Enough! Time to sleep.’
He closed his eyes.
But when one is overly fatigued, it can be hard to fall asleep.
He reviewed the day’s training in his mind:
’Eight Vajra Techniques, Earth Fire Mixed Element Stance, Traceless Step... I’ve practiced everything I was supposed to. Hmm, no, that’s not right. There’s one more thing.’
With immense willpower, Tang Wen forced his eyes open and began the Visualization for the Golden Bell Shield.
His brow furrowed, his eyes became bloodshot, and his fingers involuntarily clenched into fists.
A black defense crawled over his fist, bit by bit, with great difficulty.
After a long moment, it finally covered his right fist.
Then, the left fist!
Because his Spiritual Power was so depleted, a full three minutes passed!
Tang Wen’s gaze gradually lost focus. His temples throbbed, and his body arched like a jumbo shrimp.
This was a sign of pushing his Spiritual Power to its absolute limit!
The black defense slowly crawled over the fingernails of his left fist.
THUMP. His body collapsed, and he passed out.
This sleep was rather long; he was out for a full three hours.
According to his knowledge from his past life, that was two sleep cycles.
After waking up, he opened the Experience Panel. Apart from a slight increase in Experience Points, there were no other changes.
Forging oneself was not an overnight affair.
To be able to see tangible progress every day was already a great fortune.
After eating something, the secret chamber began to shake once more.
BANG! CLANG!
And at this moment, outside the gate of the small courtyard, stood a beautiful woman with a graceful figure.
She was even taller than Qian Dong, with the body of a perfect supermodel.
Qian Dong stood as far away from her as possible. "You’ve come at a bad time. He’s started up again! That guy... he’s not human. He’s really not human!"
Zhou Bing was both amused and a little proud. She listened from outside the courtyard for a while, her gaze falling on the large Blood Crow at the gate that was staring at her.
In the end, she didn’t enter.
Her own seclusion hadn’t ended; she had only come out for a day to relax.
Since her seclusion began, the camp had invested a massive amount of resources in her.
For example, High-grade Exotic Beast Meat, Extraordinary Exotic Beast Meat, Green Water Python Potions, Extraordinary Green Water Python Potions, and so on.
Not to mention material resources, there were also the Queen and Elder Xia, who personally taught her the key points of the Mountain-Opening Cannon Fist with hands-on demonstrations and more.
These were things that no amount of money could buy.
And she believed that Tang Wen’s Talent was better than hers.
If these resources were invested in Tang Wen, the results would be even better than they were with her.
But the camp would never do that.
You can’t put all your eggs in one basket.
Right now, Zhou Bing was already a Second-class Martial Artist, and before coming out, she had been trying to comprehend the Shocking Fist.
Once she mastered the Shocking Fist, she would instantly possess the combat power to rival a First-class Martial Artist.
’Xiaowen will be really surprised then, won’t he?’
The corners of Zhou Bing’s mouth curved up, and the regret of not being able to see Tang Wen faded slightly.
As her figure disappeared into the distance, Qian Dong’s expression was complex. ’Zhou Bing is even stronger! That aura... it’s definitely not something a Third-class Martial Artist could possess.’
’Maybe I should apply for seclusion too after a while?’
He thought about how he, Zhou Bing, and Tang Wen had all been promoted to Martial Artist and become Commanders together.
’But now, those two have left me far behind.’
’Especially that guy, Tang Wen. He actually managed to defeat a First-class Martial Artist.’
In the secret chamber, unaware that he had just missed his Ice Beauty, Tang Wen’s body once again arched uncontrollably, like a jumbo shrimp being flash-fried in hot oil!
And in fact, what he was feeling right now wasn’t much better than being deep-fried.
Having his already-depleted Spiritual Power repeatedly squeezed, wrung out to the very last drop—that tingling thrill was enough to make him want to pass out at any moment.
However, Tang Wen’s efforts always paid off.