Rotting Land: Survive

"I don’t care what tricks those two have up their sleeves. How are you going to explain what happened today? We made it very clear—You hand over supplies, I keep you and your woman safe. But now..."

Watanabe’s eyes narrowed slightly, his face suddenly turning cold and sinister.

The change caught Xu Renjie a bit off guard, but Derek reacted quickly: "What happened today is my fault. Boss Watanabe, I hope you can give us a break for the sake of all the work I’ve done for you."

"Give you a break? If I let you off, what do I tell my men? So many mouths to feed, am I supposed to carve off my own flesh for them?"

Aggressive and overbearing, Watanabe stopped pretending to be reasonable.

"No, it’s on me. I was careless and lost the supply pack. If Boss Watanabe can give me one more chance, I promise I’ll bring back twice—no, three times the supplies."

"Really?" Hearing that, Watanabe’s expression eased a little.

Kid’s still young, but pretty sharp. Xu Renjie watched Watanabe’s change with a cold gaze.

"Really! As long as Lei Tong and Old Xu help out, it won’t be a big problem."

Watanabe glanced at Old Xu again, gave an ambiguous nod, then turned his eyes on his own people: "So, you all heard what Derek just said. He’s going to bring us back three times our usual haul to make up for today’s screw-up. What do you think? Are you willing to give him that chance?"

Impartial, fair, transparent! Xu Renjie almost laughed to himself—Watanabe sure had plenty of little tricks.

Sure enough, that fake "democracy" immediately drew responses from the other Japan students.

"Give him the chance, Boss Watanabe. I really want to see how Derek plans to make good on that promise." The first to speak was Jiang Kou, the one who’d just blocked Derek and Xu Renjie.

"Exactly! I wanna see what those two Huaxia guys can do. Heard these monkeys are good at climbing—if they pull it off, then keep them."

...

One voice after another, the Japan students all chimed in with their opinions.

But it boiled down to one thing: accept Derek’s "apology" and give him another shot to atone.

After hearing his men out, Watanabe turned back calmly, then theatrically slapped his palm down on Derek’s shoulder: "See that? We people from Japan are generous. We can let this ’mistake’ slide. But remember this, Derek—once is all you get. My patience has limits. I hope these two Huaxia men can really do what you say. Otherwise, our agreement..."

His five fingers slowly tightened. Watanabe didn’t finish his sentence, but the pain digging through Derek’s shoulder said plenty.

"Relax, I...I’ll keep my word!" Derek clenched his teeth and forced the reply out.

"Good! I’m looking forward to your performance!" With that, Watanabe let go and pointed at Jiang Kou by the door: "Jiang Kou, take them to the pharmacy."

At the order, Jiang Kou shrugged, putting on a "whatever" look, but the flicker in his eyes still gave away his displeasure at being called.

"Move it. Follow me."

"You go too." Watanabe glanced back and saw Lei Tong half-kneeling on the floor, motioning for him to go along with Derek and Xu Renjie.

The group followed behind Jiang Kou, left the classroom, and headed toward the pharmacy.

On the way, Xu Renjie’s gaze swept the surroundings. It was instinct as a special operations soldier—he was studying the terrain, preparing for the rescue raid to come.

Before long, they stopped at another classroom. Jiang Kou pushed the door open and drawled, "Go in. And remember, don’t try to stash any meds. If you get caught, heh heh..."

He flexed his hand; the crisp crack of his knuckles made the threat crystal clear.

Xu Renjie wasn’t about to be scared by some punk’s cheap tricks, but to cooperate with the coming operation, Old Xu forced himself to play along, putting on an Oscar-worthy timid grin: "Heh, don’t worry, man. Old Xu’s always been honest. I never grab more than I should."

"Heh, I doubt that. You Huaxia people love cutting corners for petty gains. If you ask me, that supply pack today—bet you were the ones egging Derek on to hide it. How else does he go half a year without a single screw-up, then suddenly blows it the moment he runs into you two Huaxia guys?"

Jiang Kou’s words were a straight-up insult to Huaxia Country. Old Xu almost swung a fist and sent him to hell right there.

But like he kept telling himself—the bigger picture. Old Xu forced out a few awkward laughs: "You’ve got us wrong, brother. If we pulled that kind of filthy stunt, may lightning strike us dead."

"Heh, whatever. Save the bullshit. Whether you hid it or stole it, I don’t care. Derek, I just need to remind you—don’t forget your promise. I covered for you today. If you can’t pull off this job, I’m gonna lose face. And those two... hahaha!"

A burst of loud, wild laughter rolled out as Jiang Kou’s eyes flashed with greedy light. Seeing that look, Derek couldn’t help clenching his fists.

Xu Renjie caught the shift in the young man’s mood clearly, but he didn’t know the real reason.

In his mind, Derek was probably still pissed about getting beaten earlier, so he didn’t dare waste time now and quickly dug through the scattered meds, grabbing some stuff for external wounds and a few bandages.

Done, he walked over to Jiang Kou with a grin: "Brother, we’ve got everything. Take a look."

Jiang Kou gave the items in Xu Renjie’s hands a glance, then reached out: "It’s just some scrapes. Why do you need that much stuff? This can go. This too. Just keep these."

He picked out the iodophor, Yunnan Baiyao, and Zheng Honghua oil from Old Xu’s hands, leaving only a small bottle of alcohol and three abdominal bandages.

Old Xu could only smile, quietly put away what was left, and bow and scrape: "You’re right, brother, I overdid it. So, we can head out now?"

Jiang Kou stepped aside and made a mock "after you" gesture: "Go. Derek, make sure you show them the way. You know the rules—look at what you’re supposed to look at, ignore what you’re not. If something happens, you’ll be the one dragged into it."

Derek gave a dull nod, then turned and walked out, clearly not wanting to stay around Jiang Kou any longer.

The moment Derek moved, Old Xu went right after him to support him.

Watching the backs of Derek, Xu, and Lei disappearing into the distance, Jiang Kou’s smiling face slowly turned cold. The corner of his mouth twitched, then spat out a few words: "Heh, Derek, I’ll be watching how you handle tomorrow’s three-times supplies. If you can’t pull it off... heh heh, those two chicks..." (To be continued. If you like this work, please come to Qidian (qidian.com) to vote for recommendations and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please go to m.qidian.com to read.)