Chapter 33: Still Missing

Lu Yu was very blunt, never caring about social status.

Someone who would use human lives as bargaining chips clearly held no regard for others’ lives, only pursuing personal gain. Someone like that, if provoked, would dare to kick even a person like Wang Tao.

“Damn, I completely forgot about the bet with that idiot Wang Tao,” Lu Yu suddenly recalled, realizing he had another bet with Wang Tao. He had been so angry that he completely forgot about it.

Sighing slightly in regret, Lu Yu stood there.

Behind Lin Ting, someone else had overheard Lu Yu’s bet with Wang Tao the previous night. Hearing Lu Yu mention it now, they shook their head regretfully too, clearly disappointed. They weren’t particularly fond of Captain Wang either and had wanted to witness the moment he was defeated.

Now, it seemed like they wouldn’t get to see it.

Lu Yu was a man of his word. If he said he wouldn’t go, he wouldn’t. At worst, he’d just wait for another opportunity to kick Wang Tao another time.

“Are you really not going? Two tons of food could help the camp survive the winter if we ration it carefully,” Lin Ting frowned, looking at Lu Yu with a sigh.

Lu Yu smiled, “What if I die at the hands of that monster? What would you do then? Do you think you can’t survive without me?”

Lin Ting stared at Lu Yu, caught off guard by the sudden question.

She had never even considered the possibility of Lu Yu dying.

Deep in her heart, she had always believed Lu Yu would survive.

Hearing Lu Yu speak of death, Lin Ting felt a dull ache in her heart.

Lu Yu continued, looking at Lin Ting, “I have a bad temper. Once someone angers me, I never give them a second chance. Don’t think your rank protects you. What good is your authority here? Hmph, you might value him highly, but what does that have to do with me? If all of you die, he’s just another piece of meat for the monsters.”

Lin Ting sighed softly, “Then what would it take for you to go?”

Lu Yu smiled, “I said I won’t go, so I won’t. Officer Lin, don’t count on me anymore. You should try to find someone else willing to go.”

“I understand,” Lin Ting nodded slightly, comprehending Lu Yu’s mindset.

She had known Lu Yu for quite some time now and understood his personality well.

There was no point in continuing to persuade him.

“Then, see you tomorrow!” Lu Yu waved at Lin Ting and quickly disappeared into the darkness.

That night, Lu Yu hardly rested at all.

He roamed the city, hunting wolf demons one by one.

Just before dawn, he was only fifteen wolf demons short of triggering a special effect.

He had his eyes set on that demon gorilla. Finding an offensive skill on a demon gorilla was extremely rare.

For that alone, he had to get it.

For his own goals, he had to obtain it!

That night, Lu Yu collected a pile of low-grade soldier souls and mutated star pearls. Although the quantity was large, high-quality items were rare.

At the edge of the mine, the corpses of more than eighty wolf demons and twenty black wolf demons lay piled together like a mountain of death—terrifying and gruesome.

He obtained eighty star pearls in total, a considerable number.

That night, thirty demon gorillas also yielded eight star crystals.

Xiao Xiao returned at dawn.

From No. 1, Lu Yu learned that Xiao Xiao had buried the woman’s body in a small garden not far from the mine.

After all, she was just a little girl, and one night had been exhausting.

After returning, Xiao Xiao fell asleep instantly, resting her head on her small backpack.

After thinking for a long time, Lu Yu took four star crystals and left the mine, heading toward the camp.

It wouldn’t be easy to defeat that demon gorilla in the short term.

Even with more star crystals, without sufficient power, it wouldn’t matter.

This time, he was going to the camp to look for items using his Truth-Seeking Eye.

If he could find something that boosted his base attributes, he would have a better chance of confronting the demon gorilla head-on and defeating it.

As he approached the stadium, the atmosphere felt increasingly off.

Outside the stadium, dozens of black wolf demon corpses were piled up. More than a hundred wolf demons and countless demon gorillas lay scattered around the stadium.

It looked as if a war had taken place.

But judging from the few hundred people inside the stadium, Lu Yu didn’t believe they could have withstood such a massive monster assault.

Outside the stadium, dozens of people wore rare smiles on their faces as they carried monster corpses out through the entrance and threw them outside.

Since the apocalypse began, no one had ever looked this happy.

But today, Lu Yu saw the smiles on their faces—relieved and carefree.

“What’s going on here?” Lu Yu stopped one person, surprised, “Did you kill all these?”

“Of course!” One person puffed out his chest proudly, “Didn’t expect that, did you?”

Recognizing Lu Yu, he continued, “It’s a shame you weren’t here last night. Yesterday was the most exhilarating day of my life. We repelled the monster attack and killed all these. Now, we can each have a star weapon.”

He pointed at the pile of corpses outside the stadium.

“Come on, you’re joking,” Lu Yu laughed, “You guys only have less than a hundred fighters here, and very few star weapons. There’s no way you could have held off all these monsters unless—”

Lu Yu paused, then turned serious, “Unless you had reinforcements?”

“You guessed right,” the person nodded excitedly, “Last night at 11 PM, a thousand-soldier military unit contacted the camp via radio and then parachuted in.”

“A thousand soldiers!” Lu Yu exclaimed, “So those people entered the stadium, attracting the monsters here, causing this battle?”

“Exactly!” the person proudly shook his head, “The people who came brought many star weapons dropped by wolf demons, and some even had powerful protective skills. Together, we repelled an attack of nearly five hundred monsters, with less than fifty casualties. With them, this city is almost returning to normal.”

Lu Yu smiled, though he didn’t think things were that simple.

As he entered the stadium, the noise hit him like a wave, hurting his ears.

The number of people had multiplied. Many weren’t wearing military uniforms, but their soldierly demeanor and sharp movements made them stand out clearly.

A small portion of them carried star weapons dropped by wolf demons.

Last night’s battle had given the people hiding here hope, and now they smiled.

That’s why today felt unusually lively. Large pots released the aroma of meat, along with the rare scents of vegetables and steamed rice.

Many people had set up stalls—selling star weapons dropped by wolf demons, mutated star pearls, and soldier souls.

“Better lucky than early. It seems last night’s battle dropped quite a few items,” Lu Yu smiled slightly, stopping at one stall.

The sharp-eyed stall owner immediately recognized Lu Yu.

Quickly, he pulled out mutated star pearls, star weapons, and soldier souls he had previously hidden away for himself.

Although they couldn’t see the attributes of mutated star pearls and soldier souls, they had kept them based on instinct, believing they might contain skills.

“Brother Lu, found anything interesting?” The stall owner, seeing Lu Yu’s attention, rubbed his hands nervously, trying to hide his excitement.

If Lu Yu showed interest, there was a real chance of exchanging for a star crystal.

After all, look around the camp—everyone was still using stone clubs and similar crude weapons. The only real star weapon was Silver Blade.

So, obtaining a true star weapon was the dream of everyone here.

“Just browsing,” Lu Yu smiled slightly and nodded. His Truth-Seeking Eye didn’t detect anything particularly good.

He moved to the next stall, leaving the previous stall owner slightly disappointed.

After passing several stalls, Lu Yu stopped again at another stall.

He had his eye on a mutated star pearl and was hesitating on how to bring it up.

The stall owner stood up, “Hey, Brother Lu, found something interesting? My mutated star pearls are dropped by black wolf demons, and this soldier soul is from a wolf demon, and that one is from a demon gorilla. I’m an honest businessman—I don’t lie. I guarantee everything I said is true.”

“A mutated star pearl from a black wolf demon?” Lu Yu, unsure how to begin, immediately pretended to be interested as the stall owner spoke. He picked up the mutated star pearl and asked, “How much for this?”

“A mutated star pearl from a black wolf demon costs thirty star pearls. Of course, if Brother Lu wants to exchange with star crystals, I’d be willing to give you ten extra star pearls,” the stall owner looked at Lu Yu longingly.

That was equivalent to forty star pearls for one star crystal.

In this era, people would pay any price for star crystals.

Lu Yu smiled and handed thirty star pearls to the stall owner, “I’ll just pay with star pearls.”

Nowadays, many people already knew about his connection to the mine.

If he acted too openly about having many star crystals, it would only raise suspicions.

The more cautious he was, the more others would believe he didn’t have many star crystals of his own.

The stall owner could only sigh as he accepted the star pearls.

Lu Yu put away the mutated star pearl and continued walking past other stalls but didn’t find any particularly good skills.

As he squatted down to examine a soldier soul, several shadows suddenly stopped behind him, blocking the light.

“Isn’t this Lu Yu?” a voice laced with mockery said, “So, you weren’t here last night. Did you foresee a big battle and get scared, so you didn’t come?”

Hearing the voice, Lu Yu put down the item in his hand and stood up.

Around him, the previously noisy crowd quieted slightly, eyes turning toward this direction.

Lu Yu turned around and saw several people standing behind him.

Wang Tao stood there proudly, a two-meter stone sword strapped to his back, looking smug.

Behind him, several soldiers stood solemnly, following closely.

Beside Wang Tao stood a young man about Lu Yu’s age, bearing a strong resemblance to Wang Tao.

The young man wore a military uniform, his back straight, and his eyes flashed with a hint of fear upon seeing Lu Yu, quickly replaced by a cold, hostile glare.

It was Wang Tao who had spoken, his tone arrogant.

“So, with reinforcements, you two seem quite confident. However—” Lu Yu smiled slightly, glancing at the two, “No matter how confident you are, there are still things you lack.”