Wasteland: I Awakened A Plant System - Chapter 132: Sam

Chapter 132: Sam

The two of them lightly leaped down from the tree; having eaten a few physique fruits, climbing such a not-too-tall tree wasn’t very difficult for them.

“So where do we run now?” Anjali asked as soon as they landed.

“Vikram gave me the coordinates. We’ll run there first; he’s also rushing towards us,” she answered Anjali’s question simply, then began to find her direction using the coordinates.

After aligning with the target direction, she breathed a sigh of relief, realizing it wasn’t the same path as the Savage Wolf Shelter members.

“Hurry, they’ll likely realize something’s wrong very quickly if they don’t find anyone,” she said, grabbing Anjali’s hand and leading her out of the forest.

The reason they didn’t run away immediately when they spotted the five men from the Shelter at the foot of the mountain was because the distance was too short, and they wouldn’t be able to create much space by just leaving.

Now, Divya and the group from the Savage Wolf Shelter were going in opposite directions. By the time they realized, at least half an hour’s distance would have been put between them.

Though the two of them had temporarily escaped danger, they weren’t entirely at ease, because in the direction they were heading, there were practically no good hiding spots.

This meant they had to keep running without stopping, trying to put as much distance between themselves and the pursuers as possible, while also praying they could hold out until Vikram’s rescue…

—

“Boss, we’ve been searching for ages, and haven’t found any other figures.”

The five men, who had been extensively searching the forest, were a bit confused.

“Could it be that we got the direction wrong, and those two women were still near that spot just now?” one of the subordinates asked, stroking his scruffy chin.

“Yeah, if they really ran from here, they couldn’t possibly have left no traces at all.”

Although Kuldeep was the leader among them, his intelligence wasn’t much higher than theirs.

Seeing his subordinates all say the same thing, he led them directly back to the bush.

“Damn it, Boss, they really were hiding here just now. The ground is covered in fresh footprints.”

One of them immediately squatted down to examine the ground. “That’s right, these footprints are the size of a woman’s, and there are exactly two sets of footprints.”

“Damn it, these two are really good at hiding.”

“They made us waste so much time. Forget about what Rahul Soniwal will do; today, once we catch them, we’ll all play with them hard together.” At this moment, Kuldeep’s eyes were filled only with rage.

In the Wasteland World, he, who usually killed without batting an eye, was actually being played for a fool by two little girls today. How could he tolerate this?

“If you two had found a place to continue hiding, perhaps I really wouldn’t have been able to do anything to you, but you chose to run.”

Looking at the footprints on the ground, Kuldeep immediately broke into a run, following the tracks.

His subordinates behind him also followed suit…

—

At this moment, Divya and Anjali had been ahead of them for almost an hour.

They moved quickly through the snowy landscape, deliberately avoiding obvious roads and open areas, choosing to travel along densely wooded paths.

“Divya, can…can we really escape?” Anjali’s voice trembled slightly. Her stamina was nearing its limit, and her legs felt as heavy as if filled with lead.

Divya gritted her teeth, glanced back at the path they had come from, and whispered, “Don’t stop. They’ll catch up soon. We have to find a place to hide, or…or find a way to fight back.”

“Fight back?” Anjali’s eyes widened, her voice filled with disbelief.

“Don’t think so much, just run first!” Divya interrupted Anjali. She knew there was no time for them to hesitate now.

“I…I can’t run anymore…” Anjali’s voice was tearful; her legs were numb.

Divya didn’t answer, she just held Anjali’s hand tightly, forcing her to continue.

She didn’t know when the group from the Savage Wolf Shelter would catch up, but at present, not only Anjali, but Divya, who had been running for over an hour, was also starting to feel her strength wane.

Just as she was considering whether to find a hidden place to rest, a figure by the roadside caught her eye.

It was a Survivor cutting down a tree, with an iron building not far from him.

She quickly assessed the man in front of her, weighing the pros and cons in her mind.

She knew nothing about his background, but they were now at a dead end. She took a deep breath, trying to make her tone sound calm and sincere.

“Sir, we are passing Survivors being pursued by a group of people, and we’re truly desperate. Could your Shelter…let us take refuge for a while? We won’t bother you for too long; we’ll rest for a bit and then leave.”

Her voice carried a hint of fatigue, but her tone was firm, neither appearing overly humble nor revealing too much fear.

In this environment, excessive weakness might arouse suspicion, or even malicious intent.

The man put down his axe, narrowed his eyes, and his gaze swept over them, as if assessing something.

A moment later, he nodded, stepping aside to clear a path, “Come in, it’s not safe outside.”

She felt a sense of relief, but remained vigilant. Holding Anjali’s hand, she cautiously followed him into the Shelter.

The man introduced himself as Sam, the owner of this Shelter. He led the two into a simple room with a table and a few chairs, and some food and water on the table.

“Eat something, you two look exhausted,” Sam said, offering them some food. His tone was gentle, and he didn’t seem like a bad person.

Divya didn’t take the food. Since entering the room, her gaze had been scanning the interior.

Such a decent Shelter, yet only he lived in it.

The shelter owner’s seemingly warm smile, which was actually a bit unsettling, combined with her tense nerves from the escape, made Divya feel suspicious.

“Thank you, we’ve already eaten,” Divya said softly, a faint unease lingering in her heart.

Sam sat to one side, his gaze occasionally sweeping over the two of them, an unreadable emotion flashing in his eyes. Seeing that Divya and Anjali didn’t take the food, he began to eat by himself and asked in a muffled voice, “Who are the people chasing you outside?”

“A group of bad people. They want to capture us,” Divya replied briefly, without revealing more details.

Her eyes continued scanning the room. Then, as if she had discovered something, Divya’s pupils suddenly constricted.

Relieved that she hadn’t touched the food, she grabbed Anjali’s hand, who had just begun to relax, and said to Sam, “Thank you for your help, but we have to leave.”

Hearing this, the previously gentle Sam suddenly turned around and blocked their way. The smile on his face vanished instantly.

“Leave? Do you think this is a place you can come and go as you please?”

Facing Sam, whose expression had suddenly changed dramatically, Divya’s heart sank. She gripped the short knife she had summoned from her backpack. “What do you want to do?”

Sam’s eyes turned sinister. He pulled a dagger from his waist, his voice filled with madness. “The weather’s getting cold, and food is hard to find. What do you think I want to do?”

He did not answer her question, but instead counter-questioned.

Divya could clearly see his throat bobbing. Combined with what he said, it fully confirmed her earlier suspicion.

It turned out that Divya had already noticed something was off much earlier.

When they first entered the Shelter, the pervasive stench in the air made her vaguely uneasy.

Initially, she thought it was just the common musty smell of an abandoned Shelter, but as they went deeper, the smell grew stronger, even mixed with a hint of fishy saltiness.

Later, her gaze swept across the dim room, and she noticed some things covered with rags piled in a corner. The edges of the fabric vaguely revealed a few stark white bones.

However, it was too late to talk about any of that now. The man in front of her had already decided to kill, and it was too late to leave.

“How about this, I’ll give you the food from our bags, and we’ll pretend we saw nothing. You let us go.” Divya’s eyes were grave as she negotiated with him.

If possible, Divya did not want to stay there for another second, but if she didn’t resolve this immediate trouble, she really couldn’t escape.

“Heh heh, I can get that food even if I kill you two.” Facing Divya’s negotiation, Sam was unmoved, his smile growing wider.

“Today is truly my lucky day. Two big fish came knocking on my door themselves, saving me the trouble of going out door-to-door to find food.” He shook his head, his tone relaxed.

In his opinion, these two women were defenseless, and it wouldn’t take much effort for him to take them down.

Upon hearing this, Divya’s expression completely darkened. Knowing that there was no longer any room to retreat, she immediately pushed Anjali aside.

Divya, who had never killed anyone, now had a hint of determination in her eyes. She raised her short knife, ready to fight him to the death.

Just as the two were about to make their move, outside the Shelter, a sudden shout echoed across the snowy ground.

“Boss, the footprints stopped right here. They must be hiding in this Shelter.” The speaker was one of the subordinates from the Savage Wolf Shelter.

“Hmph, they think this kind of iron Shelter can stop five of us, how naive.”

Then, without hesitation, he extended his arm, pointing at the iron door of the Shelter. “Brothers, let’s just tear this Shelter down.”

“I’d like to see where else those two can run today.” Kuldeep’s anger intensified when he saw that he was finally about to catch the two of them.

His subordinates, hearing this, all picked up their respective weapons and began to pound on the iron door.

“Clang—Clang—Clang—” The sound of blunt objects hitting the iron door was incessant, and it also reached the ears of the two people confronting each other inside, interrupting them.

“Damn it, you two sluts, who are these people chasing you? Why are there so many?” Sam put down the dagger in his hand.

He only chose to eat his own kind because he lacked food; his mind wasn’t completely mad. Seeing this scene, he also felt a little timid.

He ignored the two women and walked directly towards the door.