Chapter 23: An Encounter with Bandits

“Sir, are we leaving now?” Little Black Stone asked.

Having stayed here for over ten days, she had grown quite fond of the place.

It was sheltered from the wind, warm, and there was a fire to keep them cozy—infinitely better than the dark world outside.

“Yes, we can’t stay inside the cave any longer.”

Liu Hen didn’t bother to hide the truth for the sake of pride; safety mattered far more than face.

As he spoke, he approached the workbench, ready to pack it up, only to find it wouldn’t budge—the upgrade time hadn’t finished yet.

He quickly glanced at the countdown timer; thankfully, less than a minute remained.

Just then, the upgrade countdown ended: the Fate Workbench had reached level five.

Eagerly, Liu Hen opened the crafting interface and discovered a new recipe: thermal gloves.

The materials required were simple—two pieces of bark and a magic crystal—no extra components needed.

‘In that case... I’ll craft the gloves first to avoid carrying too many items.’

He immediately selected sizes for himself and Little Black Stone, placing two sets of materials into the crafting slots.

Each pair took one minute to make; although queued, it would only take two minutes total.

During this time, Liu Hen quickly reviewed what they needed to bring.

There wasn’t much left: over forty ice blocks remained in the spatial backpack, along with tree cakes and tree cake essence, all occupying three backpack slots.

Additionally, they had to pack up the campfire and workbench, which would take two more slots.

That left five slots free—one for leftover iron ore and one for bark, leaving three slots remaining.

Liu Hen put on the discarded coat and pants over his streamlined thermal suit, covering it up.

There were still two coats, two tattered pairs of pants, and a pair of worn shoes left.

Because these items belonged to different categories, they couldn’t be stored together in one backpack slot.

Considering the uncertain conditions after leaving the cave shelter, he reluctantly discarded the ragged clothes.

He had initially wanted to wrap his head with the foul-smelling garments to block the cold wind, but after trying, he gave up.

Those clothes had frozen into stiff chunks, and covering his head with them dulled his senses drastically, impairing his ability to detect danger.

At last, the first pair of gloves was finished.

Liu Hen took them out and checked their details inside the spatial backpack:

[Thermal Gloves: Like bark protecting a tree, these gloves retain the warmth of the hands, greatly reducing heat loss despite biting cold winds. They automatically conform to the wearer’s finger size within reasonable variation, fitting snugly to the skin. The gloves connect to the wearer’s hand neurons, ensuring no loss of tactile sensitivity.]

‘They don’t affect touch?’ Liu Hen’s heart leapt with joy. He immediately put them on.

Sure enough, the brown gloves slowly writhed, adapting perfectly to the shape and size of his fingers, just like the clothes, pants, and boots before.

Unlike those, however, wearing the gloves caused a slight tingling sensation on his skin.

This was likely the neural link forming, so Liu Hen wasn’t alarmed.

About a minute later, the gloves were fully worn and the neural connection successful.

Suddenly, a marvelous sensation arose, as if his hands had grown an extra layer of sensitive skin that didn’t diminish the original dexterity or tactile sense.

‘This feeling...’

He quickly waved his hands about, even making fists, realizing he could actually feel the wind brushing against his skin as he moved.

Like the clothes and pants, when he clenched his fists, the knuckles hardened, resembling tough, ancient tree bark.

‘These gloves are worth far more than the other gear.’

Because they could even serve as weaponized gauntlets.

“Black Stone, these are yours.”

He handed the second pair over to Little Black Stone, warning, “You might feel a little sting when putting them on; that’s normal.”

“Mm-hmm, thank you, Sir.”

Little Black Stone eagerly caught the gloves with her frostbitten hands and quickly put them on.

Liu Hen packed up the workbench and, thinking ahead about limited time for cooking and the difficulty of lighting a fire outside, decided to turn all the tree cakes into tree cake paste.

It took over an hour, but all the tree cakes in the spatial backpack were consumed, yielding forty-eight portions of paste.

There were also fifty-one tree cake essences remaining.

‘That should be everything.’

With a thought, Liu Hen packed up the campfire.

Immediately, darkness enveloped the cave, and the temperature plummeted rapidly.

Whether it was his imagination or not, the cave now felt eerie and grim without the fire’s warmth.

Once their eyes adjusted, they realized it was pitch black—almost impossible to see their own hands.

‘Does living here too long attract danger? Is this really just a nightmare?’ he frowned slightly, then said to Little Black Stone, “Stay close.”

Not knowing if the towering, many-headed mutated demon was still lurking outside, he avoided the front exit by the defensive fortifications and led Little Black Stone toward the exit 500 meters away.

Soon, following his memory, they left their dwelling and entered a safer passage where the darkness lessened, restoring visibility to about ten meters.

‘That place... really did become dangerous?’

Liu Hen felt grateful for his quick reaction.

‘It seems you can’t stay in the same spot inside the cave for too long.’

Primitive tribes usually didn’t stay in one place for extended periods, so the original owner’s memories lacked relevant information.

He suspected that if it weren’t for the magical campfire, they would have encountered danger much sooner.

‘If this goes smoothly, I should ask the Red Snail Camp how they handle this situation.’

Minutes later, the two reached the exit 500 meters away.

Liu Hen took out the All-Things Pickaxe and chipped through the one-meter-thick stone wall.

“Sir, I’ll go out and scout first,” Little Black Stone volunteered; keeping watch was her duty.

“Be careful,” Liu Hen nodded.

She slowly crawled out, leaving the cave entrance.

Half a minute later, she returned: “Sir, it’s safe outside.”

Liu Hen immediately climbed out.

The biting wind struck his face, causing stinging and a slight ache at the back of his head, but otherwise, his whole body felt warm—much improved from before.

Since the shallow night hadn’t ended, visibility outside was still about twenty to thirty meters.

Liu Hen sealed the exit and checked their direction, leading Little Black Stone toward the Red Snail Camp.

‘I wonder if the Red Snail Camp has any copper ore reserves?’

As they hurried along, he pondered that if they could trade for copper ore, he could upgrade the All-Things Pickaxe again.

He had a feeling that the next upgrade would bring some surprises.

In the darkness, both remained alert, stepping lightly.

Perhaps the monsters had been drawn away by the firelight ten days ago, or for some other reason, they traveled over two thousand meters without encountering any creatures.

But when they were about two thousand meters from the Red Snail Camp, suddenly seven or eight wooden arrows shot from the shadows.

Both of their expressions changed drastically.

Though quick to react, they were still struck.

Fortunately, the thermal clothing’s defense rendered the ordinary wooden arrows harmless.

‘Bandits, damn them!’

Liu Hen had no intention of fighting back and immediately ran with Little Black Stone, as there were too many enemies.

“Sir, over there...” Little Black Stone suddenly pointed about ten meters to the right.

Several men wielding rusty steel knives crawled out of a depression.

Without hesitation, Liu Hen grabbed a piece of iron ore, aimed at one of them, and swung his arm hard, hurling the ore with full force.

“Bang!”

One man’s head was smashed open, blood gushing forth, and he collapsed, screaming in pain.

The other three were terrified and quickly ducked back into the pit.

‘My explosive power seems even greater now.’

Liu Hen grabbed another iron ore, running alongside Little Black Stone, his gaze cold as he watched the spot.

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