Chapter 361: Person

Hearing what Zhang Wenda said, Wang Shaojie quickly waved his hands. “No, no, it’s the people. The rules around here were re-established by you, after all. Even outside the outposts, murder and robbery have become much less common. But the swamp is different. It’s still the same as it’s always been.”

“There are a lot of people, and with no stable order, the place is full of all sorts of riffraff.”

Although that was what he said, Zhang Wenda read between the lines. ‘Lots of people? And they’re all fighting each other… Does that mean the area is rich in resources? Otherwise, with such a harsh environment, it couldn’t possibly support so many people, right?’

“You… could say that, I suppose. It’s a swamp, after all, so resources are fairly abundant. But if life there was really so good, I wouldn’t have ended up here trying my luck.”

Another thought now formed in Zhang Wenda’s mind. ‘If the factions there aren’t powerful, maybe I could give it a shot. I could try to take over the entire swamp in the future. Its potential for development is far greater than the reservoir area’s.’

Led by Wang Shaojie, they gradually left the vicinity of the Federation’s assembly point and headed southeast from the reservoir.

Along the way, Zhang Wenda ran into a couple of people. Judging by the vines and dried mushrooms they carried, they had clearly come from the swamp. It was obvious that Wang Shaojie wasn’t the only one who knew the entry point to the swamp region.

The entry point to the swamp was a stretch of water—or more precisely, a patch of filthy water suspended in clear freshwater. Rotted wood and tangled weeds floated lifelessly on its surface.

The filthy water didn’t disperse, but simply floated there on the surface.

As Zhang Wenda stepped into it, the strange, viscous sensation under his feet made him frown. The faint, foul odor rising from it was enough to make the hygiene-conscious Hu Maomao cover his nose and mouth.

“How do we get through?” Zhang Wenda asked.

“Jump in.” When Hu Maomao heard Wang Shaojie say this, he immediately turned to Zhang Wenda. “I can’t stand this. Open up your Inner World. I’ll wait inside. Once you’re through, you can just bring me along.”

“Of all the times to be picky… You think I *like* being dirty?” Despite his words, Zhang Wenda ultimately did as he was asked. What could he do? The man was his elder.

SPLASH! The two of them jumped directly into the filthy water. After holding their breath for seven seconds, they climbed out to find the world before them had completely changed.

The bright reservoir had instantly transformed into a gloomy swamp. There was almost no solid ground. Beneath their feet was nothing but meter-deep murky water and various shrubs.

A canopy of trees blotted out the sky, and filthy spiderwebs hung from them, so low you could almost reach out and touch them.

All sorts of mushrooms sprouted from every corner, many of them puffing clouds of fine powder into the air, making the already turbid atmosphere even fouler.

Seeing how filthy everything was, Hu Maomao emerged from the Inner World and simply remained floating in the air, refusing to land.

After following Wang Shaojie for only a short while, Zhang Wenda quickly experienced the area’s “rich” natural resources firsthand.

He felt something moving inside his left sleeve. Rolling it up, he discovered that at some point, his forearm had become covered in wrinkled leeches. They were writhing and sucking his blood.

The sight made Zhang Wenda’s skin crawl. He hastily tore off his clothes, only to find them swarming with leeches. It was as if he were wearing a suit of flesh armor.

He stared in shock at the nonchalant Wang Shaojie. “You couldn’t have given me a heads-up?”

Wang Shaojie, however, just gave a wry smile. “There’s no point in a warning. Don’t pull them off. Just let them drink their fill for the day, and they’ll stop.”

“Let them drink?!” Zhang Wenda couldn’t stomach that. He immediately began tearing the leeches off his body.

But this wasn’t a sustainable solution. Finally, the Little Black Cats offered a suggestion: Zhang Wenda should smear the concocted “liquid agony” all over his body.

Before any leech could suck his blood, it would first have to touch the agony. The number of leeches that latched onto him was drastically reduced.

Realizing it worked, Zhang Wenda was overjoyed and urged Wang Shaojie and Hu Maomao to do the same.

Just then, he froze. He spotted a patch of red in the distance moving toward them. ‘Trouble.’

He quickly clapped a hand over Wang Shaojie’s mouth just as he was about to speak, yanking him down into the water.

Even as leeches, drawn by the scent of blood, crawled onto his face, Zhang Wenda remained perfectly still, his eyes fixed on the patch of red.

He was extremely sensitive to the size of these red signatures. That was clearly the red of a living person! ‘Someone’s approaching!’

Suddenly, the red patch stopped a few dozen meters away. Then, as if startled, it began to retreat rapidly.

‘Trying to run?!’ Zhang Wenda’s body instantly became monstrous. He dashed across the surface of the water with incredible speed, charging toward the red signature.

‘I have to find out who this is. If it’s a scout from the Big Circle, this could be trouble.’

Sensing the commotion behind, the red signature fled even faster.

Although Zhang Wenda was fast, his target was clearly more familiar with the local terrain. They kept trying to lead him into thickets, using the environment to widen the distance between them.

But it was clear that even so, they were no match for Zhang Wenda. He reached into his Inner World, grabbed the peeking “Yellow,” and hurled it with all his might toward the fleeing figure.

Amid Yellow’s frantic squawking, it rapidly closed in on the distant red signature.

Just as it was about to collide, a thought flashed through Zhang Wenda’s mind, and his body instantly swapped places with Yellow in midair.

With a flash of cold steel, ten sharp scythes shot out like prison bars, blocking the figure’s path.

Just as Zhang Wenda prepared for a fight, he got a clear look at the person and froze. “You?”

It was none other than the “garbage bag” figure who had previously traded information about Hu Maomao for forty doses of “solid bliss.”

Zhang Wenda just never expected to run into him here.

“You’ve got to be kidding me. What were you running for? I thought you were someone else,” Zhang Wenda said as the sharp scythes slowly retracted.

After all, they’d met and even made a deal, which made them acquaintances of a sort. The other man, however, didn’t seem to see it that way.

The man in the garbage bag grew even more tense, especially when he saw Hu Maomao and Wang Shaojie catch up from behind.

“What’s wrong? Cat got your tongue? Say something,” Zhang Wenda asked again.

“I… I have things to do. I’ll be going now,” the man said, turning to leave while dragging a sack of something behind him.

Zhang Wenda didn’t try to stop him. Instead, he turned to Hu Maomao. “What do you think is going on with him?”