Chapter Twenty-Six: Those Worthless Things
Once again, it was a spatial gate. Long Yu led the tiger through, and in the blink of an eye, they appeared at the outskirts of Liangzhou City.
Gazing at the city faintly visible through the tangle of trees and weeds in the distance, Long Yu felt elated—a long journey had finally brought him here.
“Who are you?” a wary and somewhat angry voice called out.
Li Guangjin had been out with his team, tracking and hunting a mutated sheep with a body index of 50. Just as they were closing in, this stranger had abruptly appeared, scaring off their prey.
That sheep had been under their watch for days. They’d painstakingly mapped out its movements, rented several weapons—an RPG and a modified sniper rifle among them—just for this hunt. Success would have meant a decent windfall.
But all their plans had been ruined by this inexplicable newcomer. Now, not only had they lost the sheep, but they’d have to pay for the rented weapons out of pocket. No wonder Li Guangjin was furious.
Yet, the man before him had appeared out of nowhere, with a tiger that radiated strength—enough to make Li Guangjin feel a twinge of fear and caution.
When Long Yu arrived, he’d already suppressed his aura, and the tiger had done the same. These people had no idea just how terrifying Long Yu truly was.
Those with high physical attributes could easily hide their presence from those who were weaker; but even if the weak tried to conceal themselves, the strong could still roughly gauge their strength. Such was the gulf in perception and control that came with physical power.
Hearing the voice, Long Yu’s heart leapt with joy. The vague worry that had always lingered vanished completely. Humanity still survived on this planet—they hadn’t been wiped out, though perhaps they were no longer the world’s sole rulers.
“Hello, everyone! My name is Long Yu, and this is my companion, a tiger. Hmm... Sorry, I haven’t given him a name yet.”
It was only at that moment that Long Yu realized he hadn’t bothered to name his first tamed pet.
“I’m from somewhere else. I ran into some trouble on the way back, and when I got home, I found my family had all come to Liangzhou City. So I hurried here to look for them.”
As he spoke, Long Yu strode toward the group, excitement evident in his movements.
Li Guangjin was still weighing whether this stranger might be a threat, but before he could decide, Long Yu was already before him—then, to everyone’s astonishment, he threw his arms around Li Guangjin in a tight embrace, murmuring almost feverishly: “After all these years! The first living human I’ve seen in so long, a real, living person!”
Long Yu was simply too overwhelmed with excitement, and so, for a moment, he lost his composure.
The others, however, hadn’t caught his muttered words.
Li Guangjin stood frozen by the suddenness of it all, thinking to himself, “Does this guy have a screw loose? Why hug me like I’m his father?”
He dared not voice these thoughts aloud—the man had moved with such speed that he hadn’t even had time to react. From Long Yu’s speed alone, it was clear he was a formidable opponent, not someone Li Guangjin could handle. For the moment, he had no choice but to let himself be held in this rough embrace.
Behind Li Guangjin, the rest of the team were equally dumbfounded. This man wasn’t playing by any rules they knew.
They all stood there, just like Li Guangjin, unsure what to do—watching the two men locked together in broad daylight, a scene so odd and intimate it would’ve been the talk of the city, had there been anyone else around. Luckily, they were deep in the wilderness, far from prying eyes; otherwise, Long Yu might have become famous for all the wrong reasons.
After several minutes, Long Yu finally regained his senses, realizing he’d gotten carried away.
Noticing he was still holding Li Guangjin, he quickly let go, inwardly berating himself—what had come over him? Even in excitement, he shouldn’t have hugged another man!
Why hadn’t he hugged the woman standing nearby instead? Dressed in sportswear, hair pulled back in a ponytail, she looked fresh and lively—not to mention, quite pretty.
At that moment, the young woman was glaring at him in annoyance, her cheeks puffed with indignation.
Where had this man come from, scaring away the mutated sheep they’d been tracking for days, and now hugging her father in such a familiar way?
Could he be... interested in men? The thought made her uneasy. Her father was a perfectly normal person, after all.
Fortunately, Long Yu soon apologized to them all.
Having composed himself, Long Yu explained as he offered his apologies: he’d simply been overwhelmed after so long without seeing another human being.
The misunderstanding cleared, his earlier outburst actually helped them warm up to him more quickly.
As they grew acquainted, a young man asked Long Yu, “Brother Long Yu, what’s in the bags you’re carrying, and the ones strapped to your tiger’s back?”
“Seasonings and cigarettes! I found them at my house,” Long Yu replied.
“Why’d you bring those?” the young man asked, his face full of confusion—nothing like the excitement or envy Long Yu had anticipated.
“Aren’t these valuable? I thought, without production, you’d be in short supply of things like this.”
But the moment Long Yu finished speaking, the group erupted in laughter, each of them bursting out with a hearty “hahaha.”
It was a while before the only woman in the group—Li Guangjin’s daughter, Li Xiaolu—managed to catch her breath enough to explain, still giggling:
“Where did you hear that we’re short on these things? They’re not worth anything. Seasonings have been back in production in the safety zones for ages, and there are huge reserves of salt, all planned out when the zones were built. As for cigarettes, nobody really needs them—hardly anyone smokes these days! None of this is valuable anymore. Now, everything in the base is traded with crystal cores.”
“What? You mean these aren’t worth anything?” Long Yu was speechless. All the things he’d hauled here with such effort were worthless junk?
He promptly dumped everything he was carrying, as well as the bags from the tiger, both embarrassed to see their continued laughter and cursing those misleading TV shows and novels under his breath.
Still, Long Yu was quick to adapt. If crystal cores were valuable, then he’d just find some—how hard could that be?
“These crystal cores you’re talking about—do they look like this?” Long Yu pulled out several crystal cores he’d collected from the first mutated dogs he’d killed and showed them to the group.
The laughter died in an instant.
They stared at the five crystal cores—each from a beast with a body index around 40.
Their eyes filled with awe and envy as they looked at Long Yu again.
The sheep they’d spent so much effort tracking had an index of only about 30, but even that could fetch a hefty price. The cores in Long Yu’s hand, though, all came from creatures with indexes of around 40!
It was common knowledge that crystal cores made up ninety percent of a mutated beast’s value.
And more than that—someone who could single-handedly kill so many powerful mutated beasts had to be incredibly strong.
“Yes, yes! Brother Long Yu—no, Lord Long Yu!” someone stammered.
“Here, you can have this.” Long Yu casually tossed a crystal core to Li Guangjin. Before anyone could thank him, he was already striding away.
He needed to collect more crystal cores before heading to the safety zone.
More money meant a better life for his parents, once he found them.