Chapter 26: Not Afraid of Costing a Life! Amy Smelled a Strange Scent!
The SUV door slammed shut with a bang, shaking off a few drops of dew from the leaves nearby.
Ling Feng couldn't even be bothered to put on his sweat-soaked tank top, walking over to the semi-circular fire pit completely bare-chested.
He drew the machete strapped to the outside of his thigh, and picked a piece of bear leg meat with charred, crispy edges from the makeshift smoking rack.
Without caring about the boiling hot grease, Ling Fengopened his mouth and savagely bit off a large chunk.
The rich aroma of the meat juices mixed with coarse salt and black pepper exploded in his mouth, grease coating his lips.
These hundreds of pounds of fresh meat definitely counted as top-tier nourishment in this apocalyptic world.
While chewing in big mouthfuls, Ling Feng clenched his empty left fist, feeling the astonishing grip strength transmitting between his finger bones.
After a full two-plus hours of high-intensity sprinting, if it were his body before the transmigration, he would have collapsed from exhaustion and sweating by now, his legs turning to jelly so he couldn't even walk steadily.
But right now, besides feeling slightly dry in the mouth, his lower back wasn't sore, his legs didn't hurt, and even his breathing rhythm was no different than usual.
Not only was there no fatigue at all, but an extremely abundant surge of heat was coursing through his body instead.
Even if he turned around right now, pulled open the car door, and went back inside to toss and turn for a whole night, it would be effortless and completely a piece of cake.
The passive talent "Kidney Emperor" given by the system was so formidable that it practically defied human physiological common sense.
Ling Feng was extremely satisfied, sitting straddled-legged on a flat rock beside the fire pit, concentrating on tackling the roasted meat in his hand.
Inside the SUV.
The one-way glass blocked most of the firelight from outside, leaving only the warm-toned reading lamp on the car roof inside the cabin.
Andrea collapsed limply onto that leather cushion covered in sweat.
She completely lost the strength to move, her head tilted, and her vision happened to pass through the less-than-three-centimeter gap of the car window, landing on Ling Feng's broad and sturdy back muscles beside the fire pit.
In this world devoid of any sense of security, this pure sense of power was more effective than any sweet words.
Andrea subconsciously brought her legs together, rubbing her two thighs against each other.
That near-crazed demand just now left her body with extremely obvious lingering aftershocks.
Yet the instant she closed her legs, the expression on Andrea's face completely froze.
An extremely slippery and sticky sensation came over her.
Her heart sank abruptly, and ignoring the soreness all over her body as if she were falling apart, she quickly reached down and wiped.
Raising her hand back up before her eyes, aided by the dim light from the roof.
Andrea clearly saw that her sweat-stained fingers were smeared with a patch of spilled milk from earlier.
This was no joke.
In this broken era where the medical system had completely collapsed and even a box of fever-reducing medicine required one's life in exchange, getting sick or having a fever could cost one's life at any moment.
If she were to get pregnant in these desolate mountains and wild ridges where she still had to deal with man-eating monsters every day, it would be no different from being sentenced to death.
Lacking nutrition, lacking antibiotics, once encountering danger with a big belly, there wouldn't even be a chance to run away.
Andrea's face instantly turned completely pale, her heartbeat so fast it almost threatened to burst out of her chest cavity.
"Ling~"
Andrea's voice revealed undisguised panic, even carrying a hint of a distorted, crying tone.
Ling Feng, who was gnawing on the meat, turned his head, the short blade in his hand still picking at half a bone, his tone extremely casual.
"What's wrong?"
"Did you put it inside?"
Andrea was so anxious her eye sockets turned completely red, staring fixedly at the man outside the car window, "How could you not take any safety precautions at all! Someone could die! What if I get pregnant, having a child in a ghost place like this will kill me!"
Andrea even felt like dying right now.
Just now, she had only cared about catering by any means necessary for survival, only thinking about tying this man down completely, yet she had completely forgotten about this most fatal matter.
After listening, Ling Feng didn't have the slightest awareness of guilt; instead, he let out a bold, carefree laugh.
"What are you yelling blindly for in the middle of the night."
Ling Feng bit off a piece of fatty meat, chewed and swallowed it into his stomach, his tone certain to the extreme, "Put your heart back in your stomach, it's impossible for anything to happen."
"How can you be sure!"
Andrea completely disbelieved such nonsense; where would she go to find emergency contraception pills now?
"I said it won't, so it won't."
Ling Feng pointed at her with his short blade, "My bodily structure is special; without my permission, you won't be able to get pregnant even if you want to."
This explanation was extremely perfunctory.
But precisely when Ling Feng said these words, his tone exuded a powerful confidence.
Although Andrea was full of questions and completely unable to figure out how any man could casually control such a physiological function, looking at Ling Feng's certain expression of unshakeable calm even if Mount Tai collapsed before him, her tightly strung nerves miraculously relaxed by more than half.
This was also her only psychological comfort right now; after all, even if something really happened, she had no way to reverse it now.
Andrea let out a long breath of foul air, powerlessly relaxing her hands, and leaned back against the leather cushion as if resigning to her fate.
The two of them completely failed to notice that there had actually been faint rustling noises at the rear of the SUV all along.
After the backseats of this car were folded flat, they connected directly to the trunk, forming a spacious and flat independent space.
Just when it ended, Andrea had asked Amy to go to the trunk to get clean bottled water and clothes.
Amy was kneeling right at the trunk position at the moment.
The extremely private topic of pregnancy that the two of them had just discussed drilled into her ears without missing a single word.
The little girl could only bite her lips tightly, lowering her head and pretending she hadn't heard anything, while clutching two bottles of mineral water she had dug out from the storage compartment in her hands.
"I... I got them."
Amy mumbled softly, grasping the two bottles of water with her left hand, propping herself on the leather cushion with her right hand, and slowly crawled toward Andrea's direction using both hands and feet.
The light in the cabin was simply too dim.
Crawling halfway, Amy happened to arrive at the side of Andrea's thighs, originally intending to change posture to stand up and hand the water over.
As a result, her right hand pressed downwards.
With a "slurp" sound.
Amy's palm slipped directly on the leather cushion, and losing her center of gravity, her whole body pitched forward, her chin almost knocking against Andrea's lower leg.
"Ah."
Amy stabilized her body, her face full of confusion.
This high-end leather seat cover usually had very good friction, how could it slip?
Raising her right hand, she only felt that the palm of her hand was damp, stained with a certain extremely sticky and slightly warm liquid.
Driven by curiosity, Amy brought her liquid-stained palm directly under her nose.
She sniffed very hard.
In this extremely quiet environment, Andrea happened to turn her head, watching this scene completely and clearly.
Andrea's eyes instantly widened into saucers, her whole body looking like she had been struck by high-voltage electricity, her brain completely crashing.
That was... the stuff from down there!
When she turned over just now, she had accidentally leaked it onto the cushion beside her, and as a result, her younger sister had pressed right down on it with a single palm.
Pressing it was one thing, but Amy actually brought that thing under her nose to smell it!
Andrea was horrified, her mouth wide open, her throat tightening, unable to spit out half a word; wanting to reach out and snatch it back was already too late.
Amy sniffed twice, her pretty brows knitting together directly.
This scent was weird.
What was even more terrifying was that after smelling this scent, Amy not only felt no rejection, but instead felt the dry heat that she had managed to suppress while eavesdropping outside earlier surge wildly from the roots of her thighs toward her lower abdomen once again.
She had suffered simply too much stimulation today.
"Sis... why is there so much water on the cushion? The smell is so weird."
Without figuring out the situation at all, Amy raised her right hand stained with the turbid liquid in front of Andreawith an innocent face, full of curiosity and a desire for knowledge.
Andrea was going crazy.
She felt that her sense of shame built up over thirty years was completely crushed to pieces at this moment.
"Don't touch it randomly with your hands!"
Andrea suddenly sat up from the leather cushion, snatched the mineral water gripped in Amy's left hand, unscrewed the cap, poured half a bottle of water directly onto the stain on the cushion, and began scrubbing desperately with a dirty towel left behind by Ling Feng.
She didn't dare look into her sister's eyes at all.
The water had been handed over.
According to normal logic, Amy should hurry and turn back to the bonfire outside to take care of the smoked meat still hanging on the rack.
But Amy had no intention of leaving at all.
Not only did she not retreat, but she instead directly knelt down at the rear end of the car cushion.
Amy's pair of untainted blue eyes stared straight at Andreabefore her.
Andrea didn't even have a decent piece of clothing right now; Ling Feng had just torn her shirt into ragged strips and tossed it in the corner.
Her body was only barely covered by a thin gray blanket that Ling Feng usually used as a cushion on the front passenger seat.
That short, small blanket couldn't cover anything at all.
Large patches of snow-white skin were exposed to the air, covered entirely in startling red marks and bruised traces pinched out by fingers.
The most prominent was still the clear bite mark on the side of her neck.
The entire cabin was still permeated with that kind of aura only adults understood.
For Amy, who hadn't even seriously dated a few times, the visual impact was simply too exaggerated.
Andrea felt extremely uncomfortable being stared at by her sister's extremely direct and inquisitive gaze.
She yanked hard on the blanket, trying to cover her chest, her voice growing lower and lower.
"What are you still staying here for, go outside and watch the fire..."
Amy twisted her hands together in front of her, her breathing growing a bit heavier.
Not only did she not obediently leave, but she instead boldly moved forward by half an inch, her gaze tracing down from her sister's neck all the way down, finally locking onto Andrea's still-slightly-shivering legs.
Outside the car, Ling Feng chewed on the roasted meat, watching the movements inside the car with great interest through the gap in the window, a malicious smile hanging on the corners of his mouth.
Amy licked her somewhat dry lips and threw out a question that almost caused Andrea to faint on the spot.
"Sis, your legs have been shaking..."
Amy's voice was suppressed very low, carrying an irrepressible curiosity, "When he does it... exactly how comfortable is it?"
Chapter 27: Twenty Thousand Pleasure Points, Purchasing Intermediate Shooting Skill!
"You…"
Andrea's face burned hot, her entire body blushing so intensely it looked like it could drip blood.
Completely ignoring the aching soreness that made her feel like her body was about to fall apart, she lunged forward, hooking Amy's neck with her left arm and pulling her forcefully downward.
Her weight of over a hundred jin, combined with the force born of shame and anger, instantly dragged her younger sister, who was squatting on the ground, down onto the leather cushion.
Taking advantage of the momentum, Andrea pressed Amy's head firmly into the snowy expanse of her chest, wildly messing up her smooth blonde hair with her right hand.
"Wuu… Sis… Let go… I can't breathe!"
Amy flailed with her hands and feet, her voice entirely muffled against Andrea's chest, making her words slurred and unclear.
Gritting her teeth, Andrea didn't lessen the strength in her hand at all; instead, she pinched a soft spot on Amy's waist.
"That'll teach you to ask blind questions! That'll teach you to look around randomly!"
Keeping her voice low, Andrea's tone was filled with embarrassment and annoyance.
"What kind of messy nonsense are you thinking about every day! If you dare tease me with this kind of thing again, do you believe I'll throw you out to feed those monsters outside?!"
Pinching made Amy shrink back, and she finally struggled to turn her face out by a crack, taking large breaths of the turbid air inside the carriage.
When had she ever seen her usually dignified and rigorous lawyer older sister looking so flustered and exasperated?
"I was just curious…" Amy mumbled softly, feeling her sister reach out to pinch her again, and hurriedly covered her head with both hands to beg for mercy, "I was wrong! I didn't see anything! I'm going to sleep right now!"
Resentfully letting go, Andrea pulled the thin grey blanket beside her, wrapped herself up tightly, rolled over with her back to her younger sister, and played dead.
As long as I don't respond, the awkward one is someone else.
Outside the vehicle.
The pine needles in the fire pit crackled loudly as they burned, and large billows of white smoke drifted upward along the wooden frame.
Ling Feng sat on a stone, chewing and swallowing the palm-sized piece of roasted bear meat in his hand in just a few bites.
The commotion and playful scuffling inside the car all fell into his ears.
Indifferently shaking the grease off his hands, he casually sheathed the short machete stained with oil specks back into the scabbard on the outer side of his thigh.
He focused his attention directly on the system panel in his mind.
This entire day had been an absolute bumper harvest.
The rewards plucked from Andrea and Lori, combined with his previous savings, made his current total of Pleasure Points extremely impressive.
Exactly twenty thousand points!
This was a number that could definitely let him walk unhindered in this damned world.
Ling Feng directly opened the interface of the Pleasure Mall, and a translucent blue light screen popped up in front of his vision.
The exchange options for various supplies and skills were densely packed.
With twenty thousand points, if he budgeted carefully, he could completely buy two intermediate skills priced at ten thousand each.
Ling Feng's gaze swept quickly through the mall list, finally stopping at a row of weapon mastery options.
In the early days of the apocalyptic world dominated by firearms, no matter how high one's hand-to-hand combat skills were, it couldn't withstand a stray bullet flying from a long distance.
He currently had a glock 17 pistol, and in the trunk was a major lethal weapon, the m200 sniper rifle.
Fighting that giant bear earlier entirely relied on guts and luck to push through; his shooting posture and accuracy were actually a complete mess.
He had to make up for the shortcoming in long-range firepower.
Ling Feng stared at the skill descriptions in the list.
[Primary Shooting Skill: 1000 Pleasure Points (A scout who has held a gun for two and a half years)]
[Intermediate Shooting Skill: 10,000 Pleasure Points (A special forces soldier who has practiced frequently for eight years)]
[Advanced Shooting Skill: 50,000 Pleasure Points (Raise the gun and shoot, every shot leaves no survivors)]
[Grandmaster-level shooting skill: 100,000 Pleasure Points (You are the gun, the gun is you; extra reward Gun Kata)]
Ignoring the worthless primary skill, Ling Feng locked his gaze directly onto the second item.
Ten thousand Pleasure Points in exchange for eight years of special forces-level practical firearm experience.
This deal was definitely not a loss.
As for the advanced and master-level ones, the price tags were too exaggerated. His current savings were simply not enough, so there was no need to aim too high; securing the intermediate one for self-defense first was the hard truth.
"Purchase Intermediate Shooting Skill." Ling Feng gave the instruction in his mind.
[Ding! 10,000 Pleasure Points deducted, Intermediate Shooting Skill purchased successfully!]
The moment the notification sound ended.
An extremely massive and complex stream of memories forcibly poured into Ling Feng's cerebral cortex without warning.
There was no splitting headache, only extremely clear images and the forced writing of muscle memory.
Wind speed calculation formulas, trajectory drop curves, firearm disassembly and assembly steps, and shooting feedback for various caliber bullets.
Even tactical gun-holding movements under various complex terrains were deeply engraved in his neurons.
Ling Feng lowered his head and spread out his hands.
A layer of hard calluses silently grew on the skin of his fingertips, which had originally been smooth.
Those were all traces worn from years of gripping gun handles and pulling triggers.
The veins on the back of his hands twitched twice.
Ling Feng drew the glock 17 from his waist.
This time, the feeling had completely changed.
Previously, when holding this gun, it just felt like a piece of cold, hard metal lump.
Now.
Holding this gun in his hand, the weight, center of gravity, and fit of the handle were all just right.
Ling Feng pressed the magazine release button with his thumb.
"Click."
The magazine filled with nine-millimeter bullets slid into his left hand.
His right index finger rested on the slide, pulling it sharply backward.
A bright yellow bullet popped out from the ejection port, which he caught in his hand with extreme precision.
The entire bullet-ejection movement was smooth as flowing water, taking less than a second—completely an instinctive reaction engraved in his bones.
This powerful illusion of controlling everything made Ling Feng's chest warm up.
He really wanted to stand right up, fire two shots into the pitch-black night sky, and shout out that he was invincible.
But he held back.
This was an outdoor Camp, gunshots would attract countless troublesome monsters, and he definitely didn't want to work overtime doing manual labor in the middle of the night.
"Low profile, low profile."
Ling Feng pressed the ejected bullet back into the magazine and pushed it back into the gun handle.
Special forces-level shooting skills were indeed enough in this small Camp.
The remaining ten thousand Pleasure Points had to be tightly grasped in his hands and saved up entirely.
Waiting until next time he gathered fifty thousand points to directly take down the Advanced Shooting Skill.
Ling Feng tucked the pistol back into his waist, stood up, walked over to the fire pit, and rummaged through the bear meat on the rack.
The surface of the meat chunks had been smoked into a dark brown color, the moisture thoroughly baked dry, wrapped in a shiny, charred crust on the outside.
In this state, storing it for ten days or half a month definitely wouldn't cause it to spoil.
This trip up the mountain's harvest could be considered completely secure.
The second half of the night passed very quickly.
Ling Feng leaned against the hood of the off-road vehicle, closing his eyes to rest his mind while serving as the Camp's covert sentinel.
The horizon gradually took on a hint of grayish-white.
The few early morning bird calls in the Quarry Camp broke the silence of the long night.
Several tents in the distance successively showed movement.
Someone crawled out of a tent, yawning, and went to the bushes nearby to relieve themselves.
The back door of the off-road vehicle opened at this time.
Andrea supported herself on the car door frame, stepping down with her legs trembling.
Her torn plaid shirt could no longer be worn; at the moment, she was wearing a large black T-shirt that Ling Feng had prepared in the trunk.
The clothes were too long, directly covering the base of her thighs, looking somewhat nondescript.
Her walking posture was extremely awkward, and her brows would wrinkle with every step she took.
Amy followed behind and got out of the car, still clutching a few pieces of dirty clothes, her blue eyes darting everywhere, not daring to look at Ling Feng at all.
"Go to the lake to wash the clothes and wash your face clean."
Ling Feng leaned against the front of the car, holding an unlit cigarette between his fingers, and directly issued the command.
Andrea looked up and glared at him, said nothing, snatched the dirty clothes from Amy's hand, and turned around limping toward the direction of the water-accumulation lake.
After completely crossing that line, Andrea's mindset actually stabilized instead.
Since she had sold herself, she should enjoy the treatment of being protected; as for odd jobs like washing a couple of clothes, she accepted it.
As for Ling Feng saying Lori would help them wash clothes, you'd better believe that scumbag!
Chapter 28: The Women's Girls' Gathering, Amy Makes a Shocking Remark!
The morning sunlight pierced through the tree canopy, beating down somewhat harshly on the gravel road around the Quarry.
Andrea was wearing the oversized black t-shirt given by Ling Feng, the hem just covering the base of her thighs.
She walked unsteadily down the slope, holding a pile of dirty clothes stained with sweat and strange odors in her arms.
With every step she took, a soreness that felt almost like a cramp came from the muscles on the inner sides of her thighs.
Last night's rainstorm lasting over two hours had completely overloaded her body, which was nearing thirty.
Amy followed beside her, carrying a plastic bucket in her hand, her little eyes occasionally glancing at her older sister's extremely unnatural walking posture.
"Sis." Amy finally couldn't hold back the question in her heart, leaning in closer and lowering her voice, "Didn't Ling say yesterday that Lori would help us wash these dirty clothes? Why did he want us to bring them to the lake to wash ourselves early this morning?"
Andrea's footsteps paused for a moment, rolling her eyes to the heavens, and she reached out to pull her collar up slightly, trying to cover the startling red mark on her collarbone.
"You actually believe that man's nonsense?" Andrea let out a resentful, cold snort, her tone full of disdain, "He's just a scumbag who talks big and is full of bad intentions! A green tea bitch like Lori who can't wait to strip and throw herself at someone just for a bite to eat—he might as well just play with her for a bit, how could he possibly really order people around to wash clothes for us?"
"Then he lied..." Amy mumbled softly.
"Not only did he lie, he has no bottom line either!" Andreagritted her teeth, but strangely, her exhausted face didn't have a shred of real anger, instead revealing a sense of resignation after being thoroughly tamed.
In just a few short days of contact, Andrea had completely figured out Ling Feng's temperament.
Vicious, overbearing, and arrogant, making no secret of his possessiveness toward the prey he had set his eyes on, he was practically a bandit in the apocalypse.
But in this damned world where laws and morals had all turned into scrap paper, his practically perverted strength was his greatest talisman for survival.
Whether it was taking down a giant bear with his bare hands, or kicking and crippling that group of ill-intentioned civilians in the Camp with a few strikes.
As long as he could protect her and her sister, being a scumbag was fine.
Anyway, she had already thrown herself in bones and all; last night in the off-road vehicle, she had lost even that last shred of dignity completely.
The two of them followed the downhill road and soon arrived at the pooled lake at the bottom of the Quarry.
This was just a stagnant puddle accumulated from rainwater.
Beside a few flat, large stones, Carol and the Black woman Jacqui were squatting there, vigorously scrubbing the clothes in their hands.
Hearing the sound of rolling gravel, the two stopped their actions and turned their heads back.
When Carol saw clearly that it was Andrea and her sister, that face always filled with sorrow and timidity instantly squeezed out a very friendly smile.
Yesterday, Ling Feng kicked away her domestic-abusing husband Ed with a single blow, not only preserving those hundreds of pounds of meat, but also indirectly saving her from a severe beating.
This unspeakable gratitude naturally all transferred over to these two women by Ling Feng's side.
"Andrea, Amy, are you guys here to wash clothes too?" Carol hurriedly moved her tattered wooden basin aside, making space on the best bluestone slab, "Come on, sit here and wash, this stone is smooth and won't hurt your hands."
If it were back when she was an elite lawyer entering and leaving high-end office buildings, Andrea absolutely wouldn't have even glanced at a housewife with calloused hands like this.
But now, she walked over very naturally and soaked the dirty clothes into the water.
"Thank you." Andrea squeezed out a bit of a smile.
Jacqui shook her hands covered in soap bubbles, her gaze circling around Andrea's split-like walking posture, and finally locked onto her completely ill-fitting men's black T-shirt.
With the natural uninhibited boldness of a Black woman, Jacqui cracked a wide smile and chuckled.
"Oh my, walking must be quite a struggle for you, huh?" Jacqui directly bumped her wet elbow against Andrea's shoulder, lowering her voice and making faces, "In the middle of the night yesterday, the commotion from that off-road vehicle of yours was really exaggerated.
Those shock absorbers were squeaking so loud that my teeth felt sour even sleeping in the tent, I almost thought it was an earthquake."
The clothes in Andrea's hand abruptly slipped and fell into the water, splashes spraying half her face.
A scorching blush rapidly flew across her cheeks, but in this precarious wilderness, having stripped off the cloak of civilized society, women chatting about such intimate topics had instead become a special channel for venting pressure.
Carol was also someone who had been through it all; while scrubbing the tattered rag in her hands, she quietly moved closer.
She looked at the slope in the distance, making sure none of the men in the Camp were nearby.
"What is he... actually like?" Carol's voice was kept very low, carrying undisguised gossip and curiosity.
In Andrea's mind, the nearly suffocating, violent thrusts inside the car carriage from last night instantly rushed forth, making her feel her legs turning weak all over again.
That kind of terrifying core strength simply shouldn't belong to a normal man.
"He's just a lunatic." Andrea bit her lip, exhaling a long breath half in complaint and half in reminiscence, "His stamina is too terrifying, he's simply like an untiring beast, not treating people like humans at all.
I feel like my bones were taken apart and reassembled all over again."
"Oh my god." Jacqui let out an exaggerated exclamation, wolf-like light emerging in her pitch-black eyes, "A full two hours without stopping!
I even suspected back then if he took some medicine.
My old man back then—taking off his pants plus doing the actual deed—if he could last over five minutes I'd have to thank my lucky stars."
The several married women instantly found common language.
In this apocalyptic Camp lacking entertainment and unable to even fill one's stomach, an unexpected raunchy chat session thus unfolded right by the puddle.
Various colorful dirty jokes flew wildly amidst the sound of water from scrubbing clothes.
Listening to Jacqui's teasing, Carol lowered her head and glanced at the bruises on her arm that hadn't completely faded away yet.
Both being men, her husband Ed only knew how to use his fists to vent his incompetent fury on her, a weak woman.
Meanwhile, that Asian man named Ling Feng could actually blow off the head of a multi-hundred-pound wild bear in order to protect his own people.
The strong sense of contrast caused a flash of envy and bitterness to pass through the depths of Carol's eyes.
"You're really lucky, at least you found a real man who can protect you." Carol sighed softly.
Andrea noticed Carol's low spirits, and for the first time ever, she slowed down her clothes-washing movements, reaching out to pat Carol's thin back.
"Don't think too highly of him, that guy has a rotten temper." Andrea intentionally belittled him, but the uncontrollably upward-curving arc at the corner of her mouth couldn't be pressed down no matter what.
Amy, who had been quietly squatting on the stone washing clothes all along, was already in a state of brain freeze by this point.
She was a girl who had just stepped out of college gates, having never even been in a proper relationship; how could she possibly handle such straightforward and explicit dialogue from these three mature women?
The puddle reflected her pretty face, which was blushing completely red, and even the tips of her ears looked as though they were about to drip blood.
"Sis... what on earth are you guys talking about." Amypractically buried her head into the bucket, her voice as small as a mosquito's buzz, "What two hours, what five minutes..."
Looking at Amy's pure, innocent little rabbit appearance, Jacqui laughed even louder, the flesh on her chest shaking wildly along with it.
"Little girl, don't tell me you don't understand anything?" Jacqui pointed at the dark bite mark on Andrea's neck that hadn't faded yet, teasing, "Your sister had a lavish feast last night.
Since you slept in the same car with them, didn't you feel that the car was exceptionally hot, or hear any special sounds?"
With a "boom" inside Amy's head, that strange patch of water stain she touched while crawling on the trunk's leather cushion last night, along with that completely unfamiliar, unique scent of hormones, all rushed forth uncontrollably in an instant.
"I... I don't know anything!" Amy stammered out of anxiety, her brain short-circuiting, and she blurted out a shocking remark, "I only know there was a lot of water on that car cushion later!
And there was a weird smell, all sticky and thick..."
"Amy!"
Andrea was so embarrassed she almost died on the spot, grabbing and covering her sister's mouth, wishing she could press this loose-mouthed dead girl directly into the puddle to sober her up.
She felt like she had lost all the face she'd ever have in her life today.
Jacqui and Carol exchanged a glance, stunned for two seconds, and then clutched their bellies, laughing so hard they leaned back and forth, almost tumbling off the stone.
At the edge of this dilapidated and desolate Quarry, this burst of unguarded roaring laughter appeared exceptionally abrupt.
This half-hour-plus laundry session allowed these four women, who originally bore immense survival pressure and harbored mutual guards, to completely lower their defenses at this moment.
Their relationship had grown much more harmonious imperceptibly.
The clothes were almost washed; Andrea wrung out the very last piece in her hand, preparing to toss it into the bucket.
Right at this moment.
Chapter 29: Are There Really Fish in the Lake? Forcefully Trading Meat for the Saint's Fishing Gear!
"Splash——"
Andrea had just tossed the last wrung-out black T-shirt from her hands into the plastic bucket when the calm water in the distance suddenly burst into a patch of white splashes without warning.
Several people instinctively turned their heads to look.
They saw three or four large black fish, as long as a small arm, leaping out of the water one after another. Their silver-gray scales reflected a dazzling light under the scorching sunlight, doing a flip in mid-air before heavily slamming back down into the puddle, sending out ripples in massive circles.
The edge of the puddle instantly fell quiet, leaving only the rustling sound of a breeze blowing through the grass.
The rag in Carol's hand dropped straight into the water.
Jacqui opened her mouth exaggeratedly wide, not even bothering to wipe the soap foam off her face.
Andrea was also stunned; yesterday morning, Ling Fenghad just said by the lake that this was merely a stagnant puddle accumulated from rainwater and could not possibly have fish.
As a result, today there were not only fish, but they were also ridiculously large.
Gnawing on dry preservative canned goods every day—even though they were given roasted bear meat yesterday, that stuff had coarse, tough meat, and eating too much of it strained your jaws.
Now seeing the live, plump, and tender fish, the four women almost simultaneously made a motion of swallowing their saliva.
"Fish! Sis! It really is fish!"
Amy was the first to react, getting so excited that she jumped straight up from the bluestone slab.
She grabbed Andrea's arm and shook it desperately with all her might, her blue eyes filled with undisguised greed and longing.
"We can eat grilled fish tonight! Sis, look how big that one is!"
Andrea was shaken so hard her bones felt like they were falling apart, and the soreness coming from her inner thighs made her gasp.
"Alright, alright, stop shaking, I see it." Andrea quickly pressed down on her younger sister's hand.
Amy couldn't stop at all, grabbing the handle of the bucket and pulling upward.
"Let's hurry back and find Ling Feng! He definitely has a way to get these fish up!" Amy now had a nearly blind worship toward Ling Feng, always feeling that the man was omnipotent in this damned world.
Looking at her sister's eager look, Andrea sighed inwardly.
This girl was thoroughly falling for him.
However, recalling those crazy hours last night, Andreaactually knew in her heart that for any woman in such a precarious environment, encountering a man as overwhelmingly and unreasonably formidable as Ling Feng, falling for him was only a matter of time.
She reached out and gently rubbed two times on Amy's golden head.
"Alright, let's go back and find him to figure something out."
Carol and Jacqui enviously watched the sisters carrying the bucket and walking back.
They didn't have that blessing; at night they would still have to keep gnawing on sour canned beans, or count on those empty-handed men in the woods to bring back some rabbits.
On the open ground of the Quarry.
The scorching sun was overhead.
The rear door of the off-road vehicle was wide open.
Ling Feng was shirtless, lying on that genuine leather pad lined with a gray blanket, holding a completely smoked strip of bear meat in his hand, slowly tearing at it with his mouth.
The Intermediate Combat Skill coupled with that heaven-defying Kidney Emperor passive talent made his physical recovery ability reach an extremely abnormal level. Having slept for a few hours, his whole body was now filled with endless strength.
Urgent footsteps came from the gravel road.
Amy, carrying a half-empty plastic bucket, ran over like a frolicking little deer.
She completely forgot those blush-inducing dirty jokes by the lake in the morning, leaning directly against the car door frame and sticking most of her body into the carriage.
Because she leaned too close, the neckline of her washed-out camisole hung down significantly, and a patch of snow-white skin stopped right underneath Ling Feng's line of sight.
"Ling!" Amy's voice was crisp and clear, carrying an obvious spoiled, coquettish tone.
Ling Feng chewed on the jerky, his gaze unceremoniously sweeping across that scenery before finally landing on Amy's sweat-covered little face.
There was no need to guess what this girl wanted to do.
"What? You can even find a treasure just by washing clothes?" Ling Feng reached out his fingers and pinched Amy's flushed cheek without any avoidance.
Her skin was smooth and scalding hot, feeling exceptionally great to the touch.
[Pleasure Points +50!]
The wonderful prompt tone put Ling Feng in a great mood.
Amy shrank her neck when pinched, but instead of dodging, she took the opportunity to rub her face against Ling Feng's large palm, like a cat begging for food.
"There are fish in the lake! Super, super big fish!" Amygestured the size with wild gestures, "Can we eat fish tonight, okay?"
Andrea, walking behind, happened to hear these words.
She put down the dirty clothes in her hand and leaned against the hood, panting heavily. Although she didn't make a sound, her eyes clearly revealed a trace of anticipation.
"There are fish?" Ling Feng sat up, raising an eyebrow.
That stagnant puddle actually hid some goods.
Looking at Amy's eager and greedy look, Ling Fenggrinned.
"Alright, wanting to eat fish is no problem." Ling Fengcasually tossed the remaining half of the jerky into his mouth and patted the crumbs off his hands, "I'll go find a set of tools, and the two of you go down and fish yourselves."
"Really! That's great!" Amy was so happy she almost bounced in place. If it weren't for considering her sister nearby, she probably would have jumped straight into Ling Feng's arms.
Ling Feng didn't waste words.
He got out of the car and walked over to the smoked meat rack nearby.
Those smoked meat chunks were all dry now, their surfaces coated with a hard crust of pepper and salt grains.
Ling Feng pulled out the machete short knife on the outside of his thigh, randomly picked a piece of rump meat weighing about a catty, chopped it down with one knife, and held it in his hand.
He turned around, his sight directly locking onto that conspicuous old RV dozens of meters away.
Dale's RV.
If he remembered the plot correctly, this old man full of benevolence and morality was a senior outdoor fishing enthusiast, and the RV definitely hid a full set of high-end fishing gear.
Ling Feng strode forward with long legs, carrying that piece of smoked meat directly toward the RV.
Old man Dale was wearing that iconic bucket hat, holding a screwdriver and tinkering with the water tank valve on the side of the RV.
Hearing the heavy footsteps, Dale stopped what he was doing and turned his head.
Seeing that it was Ling Feng, this moral model in the Campwas obviously a bit restrained, even taking half a step back.
The one-sided beating on the open ground yesterday was still vivid in his mind; these commoners' fear of Ling Fenghad long been carved into their bones.
"Ling… do you need something?" Dale clutched the screwdriver in his hand tightly, his tone somewhat dry.
Ling Feng couldn't be bothered to exchange pleasantries, directly tossing the one-catty-heavy smoked meat in his hand over.
"Thud."
The hard chunk of meat slammed onto the RV's hood, making a muffled sound.
Dale was startled, looking at the meat perplexedly and then back at Ling Feng.
"You have fishing rods in your car, right." Ling Feng went straight to the point, his tone leaving no room for negotiation, "This piece of meat, in exchange for your fishing rods and bait."
Dale was stunned.
The aroma of meat kept drilling into his nose, but he quickly snapped out of it, waving his hands repeatedly with refusal written all over his face.
"No, no, no, Ling, this isn't necessary." Dale put on the posture of an earnest elder, his brows furrowing together, "We are all survivors of the same Camp, and everyone is a companion. Borrowing tools from each other is a matter of course. How can you trade food for them?"
This old man was starting his saintly act again.
Dale reached out to grab the meat on the hood, wanting to stuff it back to Ling Feng.
"Take the meat back, and I'll go get you the fishing rods. You can use them for as long as you want. Only by staying united can we survive in this world."
Ling Feng looked at the meat Dale was handing over, his feet remaining still, and only let out a cold sneer.
"Cut the crap about companions with me." Ling Fenglowered his voice, "I don't like owing others favors, and I'm even less patient with you guys bothering me later over borrowing things."
He raised his hand, pointing at the door of the RV.
"One catty of meat is enough to sustain two adults for a day. Go get the fishing gear out. This is a fair trade. Once you take the meat, this set of tools will be mine from now on."
Dale's hand outstretched in mid-air stiffened.
Looking at Ling Feng's face that left no room for negotiation, he completely understood that the man in front of him simply didn't buy into Camp mutual aid. In this person's world, everything had a price tag.
Several passing refugees nearby almost popped their eyes out, staring at the smoked meat on the hood and frantically swallowing their saliva. They couldn't figure out why Dale would actually refuse such a pie falling from the sky.
Dale let out a long sigh.
Knowing he couldn't win against Ling Feng, he could only turn around helplessly and crawl into the RV.
In less than a minute, the old man came out carrying a sturdy long black fishing gear bag and a plastic tackle box filled with various artificial lures and small parts.
"It's all inside." Dale handed the things over and shook his head.
Ling Feng snatched the fishing gear bag; it wasn't light, and touching the texture told him it was good stuff.
"Pleasure doing business."
Ling Feng didn't even have a single extra word of nonsense, directly turning around and returning the way he came.
No matter how you calculate this deal, he profited.
Trading a catty of the most worthless dead meat for high-end tools that could continuously provide fresh fish meat—this old man's saintliness was simply adorable.
Ling Feng carried the fishing gear through the edge of the Camp.
He happened to pass by a gravel path leading to the back mountain.
A burst of hurried footsteps came from the bushes.
Following closely, Shane emerged from the depths of the woods with a dark expression on his face, leading three men from the Camp.
Each of them held wooden sticks and nooses in their hands, their bodies stained with leaves and mud, panting with exhaustion.
Most crucially, these four grown men had tossed about for an entire morning, and let alone rabbits, they hadn't even caught a single bird feather in their hands. They could be described as completely empty-handed and wretched to the extreme.
Shane looked up and happened to collide head-on with Ling Feng, who was carrying a brand-new fishing gear bag and looking completely relaxed.
The atmosphere instantly dropped to freezing point.
Chapter 30: Sister Double Kill and Kiss, Shane Plots to Scavenge the City!
The atmosphere on the gravel path tightened instantly at that moment.
The people from both sides crossed paths, but neither side spoke first.
Shane was holding a thick wooden stick used for making traps in his hand, and the back of his hand was covered in blood oozing from scraped skin.
The three men behind him were in an even worse state, their shoe soles caked with thick mud, their clothes torn into several gashes by branches, and they were panting heavily from exhaustion.
In contrast, Ling Feng was shirtless, without a single drop of sweat on his body, and the high-end black fishing gear bag in his hand didn't even have a speck of dust on it.
That extreme contrast made Shane feel a burning pain on his face.
After spending the entire morning boring through the woods without even touching a rabbit's hair, that kid across from him had just strolled around casually and managed to get his hands on the high-end fishing gear that Dale treated like a treasure.
Shane clenched his back molars tight, and the muscles in his cheeks bulged.
But in the end, he didn't say anything, nor did he provoke any conflict.
Having witnessed the absolute suppression of force in the open space yesterday, these few men simply lacked the guts to court bad luck.
Shane forcibly suppressed the anger in his heart, his face gloomy, and nodded very stiffly toward Ling Feng as a greeting, then turned sideways to yield half of the path.
Ling Feng didn't even give them a proper look, carrying the fishing gear bag and striding straight past these dirt-covered men.
This complete and utter disregard was far more soul-crushing than direct verbal mockery.
Shane glared at Ling Feng's back, spitting a mouthful of muddy saliva viciously into the bushes nearby.
Returning to the SUV, Ling Feng casually threw the fishing gear bag onto the car seat.
"The bag has the full set of things, fake lures, sinkers, hundreds of meters of nylon line."
Ling Feng opened a bottle of mineral water nearby and took two big gulps, "Take it and play with it."
Amy let out a cheer, directly pouncing onto the back seat and unzipping the fishing gear bag with a yank.
Seeing the neatly arranged various colored lure spoons inside, the little girl clapped her hands in joy over and over again.
Andrea also walked over, her gaze sweeping over the obviously expensive set of tools, and then looking at Ling Feng's nonchalant demeanor.
"Thank you."
Andrea reached out to lift the bag, her tone extremely serious.
She understood that in this place lacking supplies, getting this set of gear from that saintly old man was definitely not easy.
Ling Feng capped the water bottle and naturally leaned against the hood.
"Exchanged for a pound of the fattest bacon, and just a breezy verbal thanks?"
Ling Feng dragged out his tone, putting on a wronged look of having taken a huge loss, "I went through so much effort, and you guys plan to brush me off with just words?"
Andrea stopped her movement, standing in place holding the bag, looking somewhat flustered.
Amy hugged the fishing box and turned back, looking at Ling Feng's mercenary and roguish appearance.
If it were before, she would definitely have avoided such a man at all costs.
But having experienced the escape over the past few days, she instead felt that Ling Feng's unpretentious personality was real to the point of being somewhat cute.
He never pretended to be noble; whatever he wanted was laid out entirely in the open.
Amy put down the fishing box, mustered her courage, and walked closer.
She stood on tiptoe, gently resting her hands on Ling Feng's broad shoulders, closed her eyes, and kissed Ling Feng hard on his left cheek with a blushing face.
Making a crisp "smack" sound.
"Is this thanks enough?"
Amy's face was completely red, even her neck dyed with a layer of pink.
[Pleasure Points + 50!]
Ling Feng raised an eyebrow, turned his head to look at Andrea who was standing nearby at a loss for what to do, didn't speak, but the meaning was very obvious.
Andrea really couldn't maintain that little bit of dignified facade on her face anymore.
She had accompanied him in acting crazy all last night; would she care about kissing a cheek right now?
She switched the fishing gear bag to her left hand and walked to Ling Feng's right side.
That oversized black T-shirt slipped down her shoulder a bit, revealing her distinct collarbones.
Andrea bent down, her soft, warm lips touching Ling Feng's right cheek quickly, the contact parting the moment it met.
[Pleasure Points + 50!]
"Are you happy now! You insatiable scoundrel."
Andrea rolled her eyes at him, turning her head away to hide her embarrassment.
Although the points added weren't much, this scene of a sister double-kill truly made one feel delighted.
Ling Feng reached out to touch the saliva mark on his cheek, waving his hand in satisfaction.
"Go fishing, stay right by that puddle, don't walk toward places blocked by bushes, shout loudly if anything happens."
Ling Feng gave a rare warning.
The two women carried their things, walking briskly toward the bottom of the slope, that relaxed momentum completely unlike being in the doomsday.
Meanwhile, by the RV on the other side of the Camp.
Shane walked back to his area with a gloomy face, tossing the sharpened wooden stick in his hand beside the RV's tire.
The wooden stick bounced twice, rolling right in front of a blue two-person tent.
Shane looked at that tent, feeling it to be extremely glaring.
Last night, he had originally thought that relying on his identity as the leader of the Camp, coupled with his care for them mother and son all along, Lori would naturally move into his tent as a matter of course.
As a result, who knows what wire crossed in this woman's head, she actually used such a lame excuse that Carl would be scared sleeping, directly shutting him out.
After coming to this damn Quarry, every single thing was challenging his nerves.
Under a large tree not far away, Lori was holding a small twig, writing a few simple English words on the flat sandy ground.
Carl and Sophia squatted on both sides, following Lori to learn how to recognize words.
The two children's minds were not on the sandy ground at all; Carl kept looking toward the bacon rack from time to time.
Hearing the commotion from the RV side, Lori stopped her movement and stood up.
She saw Shane standing there covered in muddy water and empty-handed, a trace of dissatisfaction uncontrollably welling up in the depths of her eyes.
This subtle emotional change was well-concealed by her.
Lori stepped forward, pulling out the handkerchief she carried with her and handing it over.
"Didn't catch anything?"
Lori spoke in a calm tone, "It's fine, the woods are so big, this is naturally a matter of luck, go wash your face and rest a bit."
Shane didn't take the handkerchief, instead wiping his face fiercely with the back of his mud-covered hand.
"Bad luck?"
Shane lowered his voice, his tone revealing undisguised anger, "That Asian kid can carry out over two hundred pounds of bear meat as soon as he enters the mountain! Why is it that the four of us drilled inside for an entire morning without even a single hair? Is this also called luck?"
Lori frowned, taking half a step back.
Hearing Ling Feng's name, the images of being completely tormented on that pine needle patch yesterday afternoon uncontrollably flashed through her mind, and her mouth seemed to still retain that strange taste.
By comparison, the frantic and angry police officer in front of her appeared somewhat incompetent.
"Don't compare him."
Lori took back the handkerchief, "That person doesn't play by the rules in what he does."
"Don't compare? Then what do these people in the Campeat? Relying on looking at his expression every day to beg for leftovers?"
Shane's chest heaved violently.
He took several deep breaths of hot air, forcing himself to calm down; he knew he couldn't act too hysterically in front of this woman, as that would make him look even more useless.
Shane put his hands on his hips, looking at Lori extremely seriously.
"I thought it through in the woods just now."
Shane said word by word, "When night comes, I will gather everyone for a meeting, and I want to call on everyone to form a search team early tomorrow morning to directly scavenge for supplies in the outer skirts of downtown Atlanta!"
Lori's expression changed, and she immediately retorted.
"You're crazy! Atlanta has already been bombed with incendiary bombs, and there are man-eating monsters everywhere now; entering the city is courting death!"
"If I don't go, everyone will die in these desolate mountains!"
Shane's temper flared up, "Look at what we have right now? Dozens of people don't even have a decent piece of soap; if Carl accidentally scratches his leg, we can't even find half a piece of anti-inflammatory medicine! Daily necessities are not enough, let alone bullets! The meat in that damn Asian kid's hands can hold out for a few days at most, what then?"
Shane's words hit the nail on the head; this was the desperate predicament they were currently facing.
Lori opened her mouth, but couldn't find half a sentence to refute.
Having stayed in this Camp for a few days, she knew all too well what kind of days everyone was living now; aside from civilians muddling along waiting to die every day, there were no long-term survival material reserves.
But entering the city was too dangerous, and nobody knew how many zombies were hiding inside those buildings.
In case Shane met with an accident in the city and couldn't come back, she and Carl would completely lose their umbrella of protection.
Relying solely on the few pounds of meat she traded her body for couldn't sustain them for long in this chaotic world.
Lori bit her lip, her brain spinning rapidly.
Suddenly, her gaze crossed Shane's shoulder, seeing the black heavy-duty SUV in the distance, as well as the long tactical gun case placed on the front passenger seat of the SUV.
That was the box Ling Feng used to hold his heavy sniper rifle.
Lori's cheeks flushed unprovoked, and a highly practical idea popped up.
"If you must go into the city."
Lori lowered her voice, moving a few inches closer to Shane, "You can pull Ling Feng to go together."
Shane was stunned, looking at her with a ghost-seen expression.
"You want me to go find him?"
Shane sneered directly, "Yesterday afternoon he beat the people in the Camp like that, and just now on the road he didn't even look at me properly, do you think he would be willing to listen to my arrangement to go risk his life in the city?"
"Didn't you say we need supplies?"
Lori was completely unaffected by Shane's emotions, analyzing for him very rationally, "That man also needs supplies; doesn't his large-displacement SUV need gasoline? Don't his two women need daily necessities? As long as their interests align, why wouldn't he go?"
Shane fell silent.
"And think about it."
Lori added further weight, "You've witnessed his skills, and his marksmanship is definitely not bad. If you guys take this kind of heavy firepower to the outskirts of the urban area, your safety guarantee can at least double."
This proposal completely struck Shane's soft spot.
He was currently extremely lacking in a sense of security, and his fear of downtown Atlanta was likewise deeply rooted in his heart.
If Ling Feng was willing to tag along and act as a super muscle, coupled with that heavy weapon capable of blowing a bear's head to pieces, the survival rate of entering the city would definitely skyrocket.
Most crucially, as long as Ling Feng was cajoled into the city, the dominance within the Camp would return to his, Shane's, hands.
A glimmer of calculation flashed in the depths of Shane's eyes.
"Good."
Shane rubbed the stubble on his chin, "I'll go talk about this matter."