Apocalypse: Grinding EXP through Hunting

The hut before him wasn’t tall. Tang Wen sized up the doorframe—he’d have to duck his head to get in.

Using his Night Vision Ability, he peered through the simple wooden door.

Just inside, a set of four or five steps led down about half a meter.

This design both expanded the interior space and took advantage of the cool ground.

The hut had no windows, and no bed inside. A person, so thin they were nothing but bones, slept on the floor. He was bald with a white beard, his age impossible to guess.

Besides a fire pit and some firewood, the hut contained a few pieces of rag-like clothing, a hemp rope caked with mud, a few unidentifiable fruits, and two buckets filled with muddy water...

’Even right after I crossed over, I would’ve been a rich man compared to them.’

’This wasn’t living. It was just surviving.’

’Surviving like beasts.’

Tang Wen muttered a few words under his breath and drifted to another earthen hut. The scene inside was much the same.

Only this time, two small, skinny children were sleeping on the floor.

It looked like they had parents, who were probably out fetching water and hadn’t returned yet.

He checked several more homes. The situation was largely identical.

In the center of the village stood a large house.

Tang Wen activated his newly acquired beginner’s Breath Concealment Technique, using muscle control to make his steps as light as a cat’s.

With a blade in one hand and a Flying Stone clutched in the other, he crept silently to the window of the large house.

The two window shutters were wide open. He gave them a second glance. The wooden frames were well-crafted and neatly sealed with yellow paper.

He reached out to touch it. The yellow paper was high-quality kraft paper.

A complicated look entered Tang Wen’s eyes.

The windows were made by a professional carpenter. The large house before him had a total of four windows—eight shutters in all.

By Flame Camp’s prices, they were worth over a hundred pounds of maize, at the very least.

Inside, a few oil lamps flickered with yellow flames.

The lamps burned low-quality oil thick with impurities, causing black smoke to dance above the flames.

Peering inside, the look in Tang Wen’s eyes grew even more complex.

A huge wooden bed, intricately carved, stood in the room, draped with a canopy of light gauze. Tang Wen’s vision was so sharp he could see clearly right through it.

A fat old man lay stark naked on the bed, his legs spread wide.

With him on the bed were about a dozen women.

Two were kneeling at the foot of the bed, each cradling one of his wrinkled feet and massaging it carefully.

Four more women knelt on the bed beside his legs.

They kneaded his hairy thighs and calves.

He was leaning back against the fair, plump body of another woman, of course.

’That wretched old geezer!’

’He’s still in pretty good shape!’

More than ten seconds passed with Tang Wen just standing there and staring, yet the slave master on the bed remained completely oblivious.

He just grunted and whimpered, wholly absorbed in his pleasure.

Tang Wen pursed his lips and had an idea.

FLAP FLAP FLAP!

A Blood Crow slammed into the door, then immediately flew off.

The noise was exceptionally clear in the dead of night.

"Who’s there?" the old man asked, but he remained motionless on the bed.

Tang Wen was left speechless.

’Seriously?’

’If someone were really here to kill you, would they announce their name?’

After a moment, when there was no further disturbance, the old man didn’t even get up to check. He just muttered a few curses and went back to his "enjoyment."

Tang Wen backed away and regrouped with Bai You Ruo and Bai Xue.

"I thought you were going to make a move."

Bai You Ruo and Bai Xue had just taken a look around the village themselves.

They had seen the scene inside the large house from a back window, casting a single glance before leaving.

Tang Wen asked calmly, "After I kill that man, what will happen to the others?"

"What do you think?" Bai You Ruo’s eyes lit up, filled with admiration.

’Judging by his reaction, this must be the first time he’s encountered a slave village like this.’

’As a Martial Artist who grew up in a safe camp, he didn’t immediately kill the slave master.’

’Instead, he came back to ask questions.’

’That alone makes him better than I was back then.’

Tang Wen didn’t answer her question, stating directly, "I’m still going to kill him. But after I do, I want to stay here for two days."

Bai You Ruo was taken aback. Her brow furrowed as she stared at him.

Bai Xue spoke up bluntly, "Young Master Tang, we’re on a tight schedule. Besides, we might run into many villages like this on our journey."

The two women understood. Tang Wen wanted to help these villagers, just as they had when they first left White Stone City all those years ago.

After becoming Martial Artists, their clan elders had deliberately taken them to confront various minor slave masters.

Those slave masters were much like the old Martial Artist who had enslaved this poor little village.

They were either Martial Artists with no hope of advancement or a few wannabe-powerful Martial Artists who enslaved ordinary people, forcing them to toil like beasts of burden just to satisfy their own delusions of superiority.

This was part of White Stone City’s method for training its younger generation.

Back then, Bai You Ruo had made the same choice she thought Tang Wen was making now: kill the slave master, save the people.

She had even used her own resources to teach them to read and to cultivate the land...

But she quickly discovered it was all in vain.

The mindset of people raised in slavery was worlds apart from her own.

Once they had freedom, full bellies, and a perceived sense of power, there was only one thing they wanted to do...

’Flame Camp is just a small place, after all.’

Bai You Ruo shook her head inwardly. Tang Wen had obviously never gone through this kind of training.

"You’ve misunderstood me."

Just as the two women were exchanging glances, wondering how to talk him out of it,

Tang Wen spoke. "You both think I want to stay for two days to help these people."

"Aren’t you?" the two women asked in surprise, exchanging a look.

Tang Wen shook his head. "I learned long ago that people are powerless against most of the world’s problems."

Bai You Ruo asked bluntly, "Then why stay?"

Just then, the villagers who had been fetching water returned from the wilds. They carefully skirted the large house in the center of the settlement, sticking to the peripheral paths as they returned to their own huts.

Instead of answering directly, Tang Wen decided to be mysterious. "Miss Bai is so clever, why don’t you try to guess the real reason I want to stay? I’m going to kill him now. If you figure it out before I get back, we’ll leave immediately. If not, you’ll have to stay with me for two days."

With that, Tang Wen sprinted away. A hundred meters out, he launched a Flying Stone, and a sudden roar echoed through the night.

A streak of fire flashed, and the roof of the large house in the center was blown clean off.

"Which great lord has graced us with their presence?"

"This humble one has failed to greet you properly! I deserve death for my offense!"

A trembling voice cried out.

Tang Wen froze.

The slave master showed not a shred of resistance.

He was still pantless, already kneeling expertly on the bed and kowtowing frantically in Tang Wen’s direction.

Tang Wen collected himself and killed him with a single slash of his blade.

Ignoring the women who were also kneeling in submission, he hung the old man’s corpse on the wall.

Then, he shouted through the village, telling everyone they were free.

After doing all this, he didn’t linger, returning directly to Bai You Ruo’s side.

The three of them, along with their Sand Wolves, moved a safe distance away and found a high point overlooking the village to stop and rest.

They watched as Tang Wen took out a Thousand-Mile Telescope.

Miss Bai’s brow smoothed out, a hint of surprise in her voice. "You want to observe them? To see what these people will do now that their slave master is dead?"

Without turning his head, Tang Wen replied, "Correct, but too late!"

Bai You Ruo laughed. "I really did underestimate you, Young Master Tang. The Sand Wolves are fast enough; staying here for two days is no problem at all."

As they spoke, the women from the large house in the center of the village came running out.

They began shouting and banging on all the doors.

The village erupted into a commotion.