Chapter Nineteen: Encountering the Team

In his previous life, Fang Xia had even heard that the lord of Dawn City possessed a spatial satchel rumored to hold up to a hundred thousand kilograms. This was the largest capacity spatial equipment humanity had discovered in six years.

Fang Xia placed the jade pendant against his neck, and it vanished in an instant, leaving a fine line around his throat as though painted on his skin. With this pendant, capable of storing a thousand kilograms, he could now carry far more supplies.

Beyond the pendant, Fang Xia also drew out a battle blade, and for his final item, he chose something new—a high-tech lighting device.

“A genuine solar-powered lamp. Once fully charged, it can last half a month.”

Essentially, unless it rained continuously for fifteen days, the lamp would never go dark. It recharged quickly as well—just an hour to full power. The switch was at the back. It seemed he would no longer need candles.

As Fang Xia stowed away his last item, the clock struck nine. Just like the day before, the sky was once more laced with fine fissures, followed by a rain of airdropped crates.

Unfortunately, there was no way to tell the quality of these airdrop chests from appearance alone; one had to open them to find out. Five minutes slipped by in a blink, and Fang Xia dashed in the direction where the crates seemed most densely clustered.

At this moment, time was money. Many people would have witnessed the airdrop just now, and no doubt, curiosity would drive plenty to seek out the crates. As soon as someone found something good inside, word would spread fast, and after that, people would have to fight for every crate.

Along the way, Fang Xia still chose not to disturb the zombies, and he began to notice a few humans emerging from houses. Most of these people were drawn out by the promise of airdrop crates—they were all rivals now.

Having chosen his direction well, Fang Xia quickly found a crate, and another group arrived at the same time.

This was a high-end neighborhood, filled with villas. Such communities rarely lasted more than three days in this world—sometimes, being too wealthy was a curse. As Fang Xia cleared out the zombies in his path, the other group did the same at a swift pace. Judging by their coordination and technique, this was not their first time hunting zombies.

Is this guy a monster? There are seven of us, yet we’re not killing zombies as fast as he is.

His two blades are incredible. If only we could snatch them from him later.

He’s just a brat—let’s trick him for a bit, then take him out when we get the chance.

Several voices echoed in Fang Xia’s mind. He hadn’t even considered killing anyone, yet the others were already plotting murder. How interesting.

As they neared the last two zombies, Fang Xia deliberately slowed his pace, waiting for the others to catch up. Thus, under his subtle control, both groups arrived at the crate simultaneously.

“Young man, you’re quite capable. Why not join our team? The world’s turned into such a hellscape—shouldn’t humans stand together?”

Let’s keep him calm for now, then deal with him later. This kid’s too strong—if he joins us, I’ll lose my position as leader for sure.

So this is the world of adults? Saying one thing and thinking another, all with such practiced ease.

“I want this crate. Any objections?” Fang Xia said.

The man’s face froze. He’d spent all that effort talking, and this kid hadn’t listened at all—he just wanted the crate.

“Young man, that’s not fair. We found the crate together, and there are seven of us.”

A violet flash of the blade.

“Now there are only six of you. The crate is mine. Any objections?”

“You… you actually killed someone? We’re all human—shouldn’t we help each other, not kill our own—”

That voice—wasn’t it the same person who’d just called him a brat?

“Now there are only five of you. Still any objections?”

The remaining five exchanged terrified glances, then bolted for the gate in a panic. What kind of madman was this? Two sentences, two lives taken.

Watching them flee, Fang Xia sheathed his blade. If only they’d done this sooner—why insist on throwing away their lives?

In his previous life, luck had landed him the lowest-grade airdrop crate, which allowed him to survive the initial chaos. Now, on only the second day, this was already his fourth.

Even after opening a top-tier crate, Fang Xia still approached each one with a sense of reverence.

Rubbing his hands together, he set to work.

A Streamlight Battle Blade—no surprises there.

Next, a canteen.

That was all…

As expected, the lowest-grade crates were the most common.

Fang Xia was not discouraged—countless crates still awaited him outside.

This routine continued until after three in the afternoon. Fang Xia found two more airdrop crates, but they, too, were low-grade, yielding only two lunchboxes and two canteens. Even so, the lowest-grade crates mainly provided food, ensuring that no one starved.

During his search, Fang Xia killed a fair number of zombies as well, finally gathering five tier-one upgrade crystals. Once back, he could use them to help Bai Xing level up.

Whether searching corpses or opening crates, it was best to leave it to someone as lucky as Bai Xing—his own bad luck was simply too much. Besides, leaving her alone in the hotel made him uneasy.

Once he returned today and upgraded Bai Xing, they could venture out together tomorrow. With him around, there was no danger to fear at this stage.

It was already close to four. Time to find one last crate.

Winter days grew dark early; by five at the latest, he had to head back, or else, with zombies growing stronger at night, even he would be hard-pressed to survive.

He picked a direction at random and walked for some distance when he suddenly heard human voices, which seemed to come from a courtyard ahead.

Stealthily, Fang Xia found the main gate. Upon entering, he saw dozens of people. Even though he moved lightly, he was noticed immediately.

With so many present, even Fang Xia wasn’t confident he could prevail in a fight. Judging by their wary stances, they were divided into several smaller groups, each on guard against the others.

“Another young man joins us. Care to team up? One more person means one more strength,” someone called out.

Fang Xia hesitated, unsure whether to stay or leave, but someone had already greeted him.

“No thanks, I’m used to being alone,” he replied without hesitation.

He was about to leave when another person called out to him.

“You seem capable, young man. Have you ever come across those crates that fall from the sky?”

This time, it was a member of another group—a burly, bearded man with a surprisingly friendly face, giving him an oddly endearing appearance.

“Don’t be afraid, just exchanging information. Besides, the things that come out of those crates are all similar. If you have any extras, we could trade.”

Though the words were addressed to Fang Xia, the man’s eyes never left the two blades in his hands.