Chapter Twenty: Encounter

With a strike from the Disintegration Hammer, the giant python was reduced to a blood-red bead and a piece of snakeskin about a square meter in size. The snakeskin was incredibly tough—even the Gale Hunting Knife failed to leave a single mark on it. Removing the **** from the Flame Gun’s muzzle only managed to make a barely noticeable dent. In contrast, the Explosive Bow could easily pierce the snakeskin, a clear testament to the superiority of elemental weapons.

“Tsk, this thing’s bulletproof!” Fang Tang clicked his tongue, running his hand over the supple snakeskin, eyes gleaming with the impulse to fashion it into a bulletproof vest. Yet, while the skin might stop bullets, the impact behind them would still be too much to bear.

After stowing away the spoils, he surveyed the thoroughly upended cavern and couldn’t help but let out a wry smile. More than once, he’d nearly fallen prey to the giant python’s attacks. If not for his enhanced vision, he might have met his end in the serpent’s jaws. Fortunately, the beast had been dealt with, and his only loss was two missing arrows—a price he could accept.

In a corner lay an overturned silver chest. Fang Tang opened it without hesitation; the contents were a feast for the eyes. He gained: beef ×3, chocolate ×4, coffee ×2, fiber ×5, cotton ×5, glass ×3, and hemp ×2. The hemp was a new material, the main ingredient for making wound medicine. Lastly, the chest yielded three silver ingots after being dismantled.

With the spoils organized, Fang Tang turned his attention to the other walls. His pickaxe had seven uses left—once he finished exploring, he could finally rest.

[There’s an iron chest to the left.]

He nodded, picked up his pickaxe, and walked over. Entering Cavern No. 54, he approached the iron chest. Just as he was about to open it, a muffled sound caught his ear.

He looked toward the noise and saw a neat round hole appear in one of the walls, black mist curling from within—the door opened by the pickaxe.

“Someone’s coming!” Fang Tang tensed, his hand instinctively going to his lower back, where he’d holstered his ****.

Before long, a middle-aged man entered, followed by a young woman.

“Oh? There’s light?” The man was briefly stunned by the bright cavern, then quickly spotted the opening Fang Tang had made. His pupils contracted as he instantly found Fang Tang in the corner. His expression shifted before he broke into a warm smile.

“At last, another human! Hello, I’m Zhang Feng.”

Zhang Feng strode toward Fang Tang, hand extended, eager to strike up a conversation. The woman, seeing another survivor, looked excited at first, but the light in her eyes faded when she took in Fang Tang’s bedraggled state.

“Stay where you are. Don’t move,” Fang Tang ordered coldly. “What do you want?”

Zhang Feng halted, smiling gently. “No need to be so tense, brother. I’m not your enemy. We could team up—after all, in a strange place like this, it’s best to work together, isn’t it?”

Fang Tang’s mouth twitched into a faint smile. “I have no intention of teaming up. I got here first. You two can leave.”

Zhang Feng’s smile froze. He nodded lightly. “All right, we’ll go.”

He took a step back—but suddenly stopped, cocking his head and regarding Fang Tang with a strange, mocking look.

“Brother, you must’ve had a rough couple of days, judging by how battered you look. Ran into some cavern creatures, did you? I’m offering a real partnership here. Two men against these monsters—that’s our best shot, don’t you think? Look at the woman behind me—such a young body. If you join us, she’ll be yours to enjoy.”

His expression grew more exaggerated, madness flickering in his eyes as he watched Fang Tang expectantly. The woman behind him, however, was overwhelmed by pain, glaring at Zhang Feng with undisguised resentment. But all her belongings were in his hands—escape was impossible.

Fang Tang’s face remained impassive. None of Zhang Feng’s offers tempted him in the least. He simply repeated, “This is my cavern. You can leave.”

Zhang Feng’s patience snapped; his face darkened so quickly it would have surprised a seasoned actor.

“****, you look young—probably just started out in society, huh? Guess you don’t know how tough life outside is. It’s much easier in a group than on your own,” he muttered, sighing heavily, as if to himself. “I’ve been more than fair. Why won’t you agree? Hard enough to find another person, and you won’t cooperate. I even offered you my woman—why won’t you take the bait…”

His features twisted with rage, bloodshot eyes wild. Suddenly, he reached for his belt.

The woman screamed, “No, don’t!”

Bang!

A deafening gunshot rang out.

The woman clutched her ears, collapsing in pain, face buried in her knees as she sobbed uncontrollably.

“Why… why is this happening? Why did he have to kill again? I’ll end up dead too—I don’t want to die… I want to go home, sob…”

Crying into her knees, she trembled as footsteps drew closer. She felt the presence of the devil before her, and, kneeling, grabbed his hand, begging for mercy.

“Please, don’t kill me. I’ll do anything… If you want me, I’m willing, right now… Eh?”

She looked up through tear-filled eyes and saw a dirty but unmistakably young—and strikingly handsome—face.

“You… you…” she stammered, even more nervous now.

Fang Tang looked at her indifferently. “Zhang Feng is dead. You’re free.”

“What? You… you’re letting me go?” Her shock gave way to disbelief. She wiped her tears with trembling hands, staring at Fang Tang as if she couldn’t trust her ears.

“You really mean it?”

Fang Tang frowned. “You tried to help me just now, so I’ll let you go. Take your things and leave. Quickly.”

She looked as if she’d been granted a pardon, joy flooding her face. “I’m finally… finally free. Thank you, thank you!”

She bowed again and again, hastily gathering her backpack, pulling out a sheet of newspaper and grabbing a pickaxe, about to leave when Fang Tang spoke up.

“Wait. Leave the elemental stones.”

“Ah? Oh…” She nodded frantically, rummaging through the newspaper but found nothing. She glanced at the one Zhang Feng had dropped.

“Um, my benefactor, all my things… they’re with Zhang Feng.”

Fang Tang retrieved a newspaper from Zhang Feng’s mangled corpse and flipped to page two. Only three blueprints: shovel, rope, and ****. He wasn’t interested. Turning to the third page, the storage blueprints were pitifully sparse: some bread, bottled water, and only iron, copper, and silver ingots, plus a bit of cotton and fiber.

There were, however, three elemental stones: Lightning Stone, Bluewater Stone, and Swiftwind Stone.

Fang Tang took all the supplies except the water and bread, tossing the newspaper to the woman.

“You may go.”