All eyes instantly focused on him, mixed with scrutiny and vigilance.
Zhuang Fan's tone was calm, as if stating an established fact: "But I have a few conditions."
Harry was the first to jump out, pointing his gun at Zhuang Fan's head. "Who do you think you are, daring to negotiate conditions with us!"
Before the words even fell, Zhuang Fan moved.
His movements were as fast as lightning, without the slightest bit of unnecessary flourish.
Disarm, twist wrist, elbow strike.
Three movements executed in one fluid motion—precise and efficient.
A crisp crack came from Harry's wrist. The intense pain made him subconsciously release the gun.
Immediately after, a heavy, vicious force crashed into his lower jaw. Blood sprayed from his nose, his head snapping back uncontrollably.
*Thud—*
Even after he crashed heavily to the ground, he couldn't fully comprehend what had just happened.
His entire skull was blank, as if stuffed with thick fog. His thoughts were sluggish, and even his anger was a beat slow.
"I... want you dead..."
After Harry regained his senses, he flew into a rage, struggling to climb to his feet.
But that cold gun muzzle had already reversed, pressing firmly against his forehead.
Several team members also immediately aimed at Zhuang Fan.
But Zhuang Fan didn't care at all. He merely looked down at Harry from above, his voice betraying not a hint of emotion.
"Calmed down yet?"
"...Calmed down."
Harry squeezed out a few words from between his teeth, the humiliation nearly swallowing him whole.
"Very good." Zhuang Fan withdrew the gun.
The alert was lifted.
Hui Yan had ignored Harry's clown-like antics from beginning to end. She looked at Zhuang Fan calmly.
"State your conditions."
"First, remove all restrictions on me and cancel the bounty. I need your formal guarantee.
"Second, I need a wrist panel—a 'Wasteland Traveler.'"
The Wasteland Traveler was a curved, ring-shaped machine worn on the wrist. It possessed functions such as communication, identity verification, mapping, and emergency distress signaling. It was standard equipment for wastelanders.
More advanced versions even included thermal imaging, infrared night vision, virtual projection, and battlefield AI analysis.
With it, Zhuang Fan could attempt to access the shelter's system and secure more initiative for himself.
"In your dreams! You're nothing but a prisoner. Once we break your arms and legs, let's see if you still talk tough!"
Harry still wanted to rush forward, but Hui Yan stopped him with a sharp shout.
She stared intently at Zhuang Fan, rapidly weighing the pros and cons.
On one side: dying trapped here, exhausting resources in despair, eventually becoming food for one another.
On the other: choosing to believe this fugitive with a mysterious identity.
She made the only choice.
"Before we leave Strange Rock Hill, I guarantee your safety. I won't arrest you."
Zhuang Fan nodded, unsurprised by this outcome.
Hui Yan walked up to Harry and, without hesitation, removed the Wasteland Traveler from his wrist, formatted and reset it on the spot, then tossed it to Zhuang Fan.
Harry's face flushed red. His had been a high-end version, but this time he had learned to be smart, keeping his mouth tightly shut and only staring at Zhuang Fan with venomous eyes.
After Zhuang Fan put on the Wasteland Traveler, the cold metal clasp automatically locked tight.
His gaze swept over the silent Julian standing nearby, and he added one final condition.
"They come in too."
Julian grinned, revealing yellowed teeth. "Of course. I'll protect the little brother."
Hui Yan had no objections. This was indeed the choice most favorable to Zhuang Fan.
Locking two mutually wary forces inside the same cage—they would restrain and suspect each other, thereby creating the greatest possible living space for him.
Everything was settled.
Zhuang Fan turned around, facing that alloy gate bearing the hopes of everyone present.
Through the Wasteland Traveler, he sent an access request to the gate's system.
The sensor atop the door lit up with a faint red glow.
Then, in ancient Chinese, he clearly spoke that long-sealed password.
"With wine running high, my breast and gall still swell wide."
After hearing this, Hui Yan's expression changed slightly once more.
*Click—Rumble rumble—*
Gears interlocked, hinges turned, and the alloy gate, which had slumbered for who knew how many years, opened amidst a cloud of dust.
"Damn! It really opened."
Julian felt that his team had been like a bunch of clowns, not knowing what the hell they had been doing for the past two weeks.
The people on Hui Yan's side also looked at Zhuang Fan, none daring to believe he had actually pulled it off. Harry's momentum weakened by a third, but he still maintained a cold face.
The group walked in with complicated emotions.
Before their eyes, the view suddenly opened up into a massive, empty central hall.
The air was thick with a musty smell of long-sealed dust. Footsteps suddenly rang out, their echoes exceptionally clear in the empty space.
All around were overturned metal benches and a glass information desk smashed to pieces. The scattered papers had long since decayed beyond recognition.
The shelter's interior was more intact than imagined. Most walls and pillars had faint light sources still operating, with quite a few luminescent crystals embedded within them.
It was precisely the presence of these light sources that had prevented the building's structure from being completely eroded by the eerie fog.
Zhuang Fan walked to the side. While everyone was distracted, he spoke several more voiceprint passwords, successfully acquiring the shelter's floor plan, which displayed clearly on his wrist panel.
But most areas on the map were gray and marked with danger warnings.
No matter how Zhuang Fan tried, he couldn't activate the external defense turrets. He had to reach the main control room to further verify his identity.
"Little brother, can you activate more shelter facilities? Can you connect directly to the system?" Julian came over to ask.
Zhuang Fan didn't want to get too entangled with this guy. "Sorry, I only happened to know the secret to opening the gate. I don't know anything else."
"You really don't know?" Julian was somewhat dissatisfied. He had originally assumed Zhuang Fan was on his side.
Zhuang Fan shook his head, maintaining a certain distance from everyone present.
He also had a gun in hand. This left both sides helpless; before things turned ugly, no one wanted to invite unnecessary trouble.
After a brief moment of hope, new despair descended.
Hui Yan crouched down, using her tactical glove to wipe away the dust on the ground, revealing several dark green scales.
She examined the gnaw marks on the walls and dried water stains, her expression growing grave.
"This place was ransacked. Lizardmen infiltrated it—the timing should be around two months ago."
Lizardmen.
Julian was stunned. "Why'd we have to run into these things?"
Through the old man's memories, Zhuang Fan learned the basic information about this race.
[Lizardman race: bipedal, generally 1.7 meters tall, blunt triangular head shape, narrow face, protruding red eyes, entire body covered in scales, large tail, capable of invisibility and wall-climbing]
What left Zhuang Fan speechless was that the professional identity of lizardmen in human society was actually chefs.
Because they could detach their tails, then cook their own tails. Their specialty was pan-fried dragon tail.
But wild lizardmen were all vicious predators. They could climb trees and turn invisible, specialized in sneak attacks—standard assassins.
Hui Yan stood up. After observing for a good while, she made her judgment. "We're going to be trapped in the outer hall."
Julian also realized the problem. He waved his hand, first having his underlings carry in the meat crates.
Hui Yan's icy gaze swept over. She knew full well what these crates contained.
Julian met her gaze and smiled. "You're a veteran mercenary too. On the wasteland, these things are perfectly normal."
He sized up Hui Yan again, revealing a meaningful look in his eyes.
In his view, this tall woman with smooth muscular lines was undoubtedly the perfect prey.
Hui Yan's eyes were calm. "Let's draw clear boundaries."
"Fine. People are prone to accidental discharge, after all."
Soon, the two groups distinctly dispersed, occupying advantageous terrain on both sides of the hall, maintaining a wary distance, their firearms kept chambered and ready.
Zhuang Fan retreated into the shadows in the middle, calmly observing like a ghost.
He quietly mobilized the surrounding eerie fog, slowly drawing it into his body to recover his previous expenditures while secretly accumulating power.
Both sides began busying themselves. The wounded removed their helmets and armor one by one. Hui Yan also removed her tactical helmet and mask.
A high ponytail, a few strands of sweat-damp hair hanging down at her temples.
Her skin was a healthy warm white, her nose small and refined, her amber eyes clear and bright in the dimness.
But this face that should have been perfect was occupied by ferocious dark green markings.
Those markings were like living things, covering half her cheek and neck, spreading from her jawline like a dense spiderweb.
The skin beneath the markings seemed to have been burned, becoming withered and pitted, completely destroying the original beauty.
When Zhuang Fan saw this, a trace of surprise flashed in his eyes. This was a typical symptom of being infected by "Spider Fungus," a type of fungus distributed in remote mountains and wilderness that scattered spores on the wind.
After parasitization, the host's skin would develop many web-like fungal filaments. Intense pain would gradually penetrate the bone marrow and brain. Though not fatal, it was a lifelong torment with no cure.
Because medical nanites' repair speed couldn't keep up with the Spider Fungus's diffusion speed under stress, the patient would instead die faster.
Even forced amputation and body replacement couldn't solve it.
Hui Yan was clearly used to outsiders' astonished gazes. She moved to help treat the wounded.
The medic opened the medical kit. Inside, only ten purification syringes remained.
This type of serum was extracted from genetic material inside cockroaches and could effectively prevent further mutation after being bitten by walking corpses.
Julian recognized this stuff. He spoke in a deep voice. "Two people on our team are infected."
Hui Yan wasn't stingy. She nodded. "Give them two."
"Thanks."
The medic handed over two, then injected one each into two wounded on their own side. Six remained.
Hui Yan picked up three and walked toward the several bitten civilians.
One of them was a child around five or six years old, with a wound on his arm deep enough to see bone.
When Hui Yan drew near, the child saw the terrifying spiderweb markings on her face and began wailing in fright, shouting, "Monster!"
The child's parents turned deathly pale, covering his mouth in panic.
"It's fine."
Hui Yan's voice was very soft.
She crouched down and injected the child with a purification syringe.
Then, she gave the remaining two syringes to two old men. "Press the bottom and inject."
But as soon as Hui Yan left, Julian immediately snatched those two purification syringes, looking at them with contempt. "Something as scarce as purification syringes, are they for wasting on you useless lot?"
With that, he pulled the trigger without hesitation. The gunshot was especially jarring in the hall.
"You!"
Hui Yan was finally enraged. She aimed her sniper rifle directly at his head and coldly ordered, "Return the purification syringes."
Her team members also raised their guns.
Julian's side showed no weakness. Both sides were at daggers drawn, conflict about to break out.
He scoffed, threw the syringes on the ground, and crushed them underfoot. "A stinking hag, really thinks she's something."
He looked Hui Yan up and down, his tone full of mockery. "Before, with your face covered, seeing your figure, I thought you were some kind of delicacy. Didn't expect you to be goods half-eaten by Spider Fungus. Simply disgusting."
Hui Yan didn't make a sound.
He seemed to enjoy this humiliation, deliberately explaining loudly to the people beside him, "Do you know why Spider Fungus is also called 'Corpse Fungus'? Because after these unlucky bastards die, their corpses grow clusters of mushrooms. Now that's disgusting."
"Haha, so that's how it is!"
"Boss, then these mushroom people are beyond saving?"
Julian snorted coldly. "Of course there's no saving them. They also have to regularly take painkillers and inject spore suppressants. Otherwise they'll spray spores everywhere like a mobile gas canister. Whoever gets near is unlucky."
The only armored soldier on Hui Yan's team, a man of few words but ruthless action, directly raised a rotary machine gun. The barrel spun rapidly, ready for a serious fight at any moment.
This made Julian not dare to open his mouth again. He hurriedly hid behind the crowd. "Shoot then! Aim right here!"
"Everyone stop."
Hui Yan silently put away her gun. Both sides ultimately tacitly retreated.
Julian felt ill at ease. He had acted on impulse earlier, but now he somewhat regretted it.
He greatly feared the armored soldier opposite him and decided to stop the hard confrontation.
Can't he run if he can't win? Perfect timing to search other places for weapons and food.
Looking at a hole in the corner chewed through by lizardmen, he hesitated repeatedly, then decided to lead his team deeper in.
"All of you, follow me! Whoever dares stay behind, I'll eat them first!" He threatened the surviving civilians with his gun.
Hui Yan didn't back down. "If you want to leave, leave on your own. The others can stay. I'll protect you."
Julian sneered. "Of course. They have their own feet. They can decide where they want to go."
After speaking, he glared fiercely at the crowd again.
In fact, these common folk had long since been scared out of their wits.
Driven by the instinct to survive, even knowing Julian's group were man-eating demons, they didn't have the courage to resist. They numbly followed along, ignoring Hui Yan's劝阻.
Julian revealed a triumphant smile. "Don't go empty-handed. Go carry the meat crates over."
Zhuang Fan silently watched this black comedy, feeling only that human nature was both complex and easily manipulated.
"What about you, little brother?"
Zhuang Fan shook his head and declined. "Thanks, but I don't eat human meat."
"You'll eat it sooner or later, don't worry." Julian muttered a few words and disappeared from everyone's sight.
Soon, only Hui Yan's squad and Zhuang Fan in the corner remained in the hall.
Empty, deathly silent, isolated without aid.
Hui Yan walked up to Zhuang Fan. Those amber eyes were very striking in the darkness.
"We need your help."
Zhuang Fan maintained his guard. "I don't need to."
Hui Yan hesitated for a moment, crouched down, leaned close to his ear, and whispered:
"Imperial Palace Jade Wine."
"One-eighty a cup."
After blurting it out, Zhuang Fan looked at her in stunned surprise.
I'll read every comment and bullet screen. If there are plot holes, I'll fix them. If there are typos, I'll correct them. If there is criticism, I'll read it too.
It's just that the author knows the full outline, far more information than readers possess, and has placed many Chekhov's guns.
So I can't discuss the plot with readers. I won't reply, nor can I explain. I'll never enter the arena, respecting every Hamlet.
But if you're willing to believe me, this won't be the kind of trashy "classic" wasteland novel you usually see. Some characters and subsequent plot points that can be easily guessed won't appear in my outline. This much creative confidence I do have.