Chapter 25: A Stunning Spectacle (Happy New Year)

"Sir..." Little Black Stone whispered, his voice trembling as he encountered such a situation for the first time.

"The person inside is an itinerant merchant from afar. If nothing unexpected happened, it's likely his treasures were seized by the Red Snail Camp." Liu Hen whispered back, "Stay quiet for now."

Both fell silent, waiting patiently.

*That merchant, Hong Ming—looking at this now, he is definitely an esper, and a very powerful one at that.*

Listening to the gunfire and the successive cries of agony from within the Red Snail Camp, Liu Hen was secretly astonished. Could an esper truly be powerful enough to contend with firearms?

Suddenly, angry cursing erupted from behind, and the furious voice of Pang Xuan could be vaguely heard.

Liu Hen’s expression shifted slightly. He quickly led Little Black Stone to a higher vantage point. From here, they had a clearer view of the Red Snail Camp, and the craggy boulders provided cover, with relatively flat paths on both sides for a quick retreat.

Half a minute later, a group of people emerged from the darkness—it was indeed Pang Xuan and his men.

Perhaps because his body was currently undergoing an upgrade, even without a distinct sense of increased physical prowess, Liu Hen noticed his eyesight was gradually improving. Though they were at least forty meters away, he could vaguely make out their silhouettes. Not only that, he could faintly hear their voices.

The original group of nine had grown to eleven, with several women among them. This was likely because some had been left behind to guard their cave; otherwise, there would have been even more. They were all armed with iron blades or wooden bows, while Pang Xuan, leading them, carried a pistol.

However, upon coming within two hundred meters of the Red Snail Camp, the group stopped, looking toward the camp with suspicious, unsettled expressions.

"Captain, it seems something happened at the Red Snail Camp," one of them said.

"I have ears!" Pang Xuan snapped coldly.

He was already seething with rage after losing two men and having another left in critical condition. If not for a shred of remaining sanity, he would have killed a few of his own subordinates just to vent his frustration. He couldn't understand it; usually, once his prey was targeted, they would be terrified into submission and offer no real resistance. Yet this time, he had lost a man right at the start.

In particular, the enemies seemed to be only two people, one of whom appeared to be a child. After those two damned targets slipped out of sight, they didn't hide; instead, they had detoured to ambush his men and steal the copper ore he had worked so hard to acquire. He even began to wonder if they had accidentally stumbled upon espers.

As the most successful scavenging team in this region, they had naturally encountered espers before. But which esper wasn't arrogant and prideful? How could they possibly have their eyes on a mere piece of copper ore? Those high-and-mighty espers never traveled without a large retinue of followers clearing the way. He didn't believe he lacked the discernment to distinguish who could be provoked and who could not.

Most importantly, if they were espers, they wouldn't have been terrified by arrows at the beginning. He also figured that if they were espers, they would have certainly announced their names and scolded them from a position of superiority. But this prey’s behavior was no different from ordinary wastelanders—or rather, the only difference was that they dared to resist and had easily killed two of his men. What frustrated him most was that, to this day, he didn't even know who his enemies were, as he had no memory of any two-person team like them.

*If you aren't espers, don't let me find you!* He swore to himself.

"Boom..."

A loud explosion from inside the Red Snail Camp interrupted his thoughts.

Forty meters away, Liu Hen quickly pulled his gaze back to the camp’s walls. A small gate suddenly burst open, and a blood-soaked figure dashed out, disappearing into the darkness at incredible speed. Although the figure’s speed was astonishing, their movements appeared uncoordinated.

"Rat-tat-tat!"
"Boom-boom-boom!"
"Whiz... Boom!"

Dense gunfire erupted from the small gate, pockmarking the ground around the walls. A grenade was even fired into the darkness in pursuit.

"Bang, bang, bang..."

Liu Hen and Little Black Stone quickly ducked, as stray bullets began chipping away at their rocky cover.

*The merchant Hong Ming seems to be injured.* Liu Hen looked grave; it seemed these true espers weren't as invincible as he had imagined.

As if venting their fury, the people at the Red Snail Camp kept firing into the darkness for half a minute. Finally, when the gunfire ceased, Liu Hen peeked out again and witnessed a shocking scene.

"Chase them!"

A roar came from inside the camp, and massive steel-clad figures surged out, pursuing the direction Hong Ming had fled. Each of these figures stood about two and a half meters tall, encased in thick metal armor.

*Is that... an exoskeleton? Surely it can't be a mech?*

Liu Hen felt uneasy; he figured a mech couldn't be that small. Although the exoskeletons looked crude and unpainted, their movement was swift and agile, and with machine guns mounted on their shoulders, they were clearly not to be trifled with.

*It seems the technology in this world isn't bad at all; it just doesn't belong to the wastelanders.*

He had expected that since Hong Ming had gone on a killing spree, the Red Snail Camp would pursue him to the end. To his utter astonishment, the exoskeleton-clad figures stopped after chasing for only a hundred meters.

"Rat-tat-tat!"
"Rat-tat-tat!"

The exoskeletons fired blindly in all directions, scaring Liu Hen and the distant scavenging team into ducking their heads again.

"Bang, bang, bang..."

The surrounding rocks shattered under the hail of fire. The seven or eight exoskeletons kept firing into the dark until their ammunition was depleted, then turned around to head back. That was right—they just turned back, with no intention of pursuing the target to the end.

*Wait... with such a massive mobilization and such superior equipment, you only chased for a hundred meters?*

This bizarre tactical decision left Liu Hen stunned.

By now, the visibility was dropping rapidly as the shallow night ended and the deep night began to descend, the temperature plummeting with noticeable speed. This was likely the main reason the Red Snail Camp’s soldiers had abandoned the pursuit.

Even so, the camp's behavior left him dumbfounded. *Even the people of Earth in my past life dared to conduct expeditions in the extreme cold of the Antarctic, and these camp people...* Liu Hen didn't know how to evaluate them.

Just then, the upgrade of the All-Things Pickaxe completed, and a wealth of information flooded his mind.

*This is... a homestead-building function? With level bonuses? Hmm? Wait, what the hell is a 'Homestead Cannon'?*

The new functionality startled him. He quickly led Little Black Stone into the darkness, busy reviewing the data of his brand-new, upgraded All-Things Pickaxe.