Chapter 1 Su Lun's Harvest

Su Lun returned to the transport team's camp before the time to get up and break camp.

The night watchmen were listlessly smoking around the camp, with flickers of light appearing and disappearing in the darkness.

He quietly slipped back into his tent from the top of the rock wall, unnoticed.

Having been busy for most of the night, Su Lun finally had some downtime, and he began to take stock of his gains.

The "Iron Knights" were, after all, outer members of the Umbrella organization, and their equipment was decent, and could be sold for a good price when bundled together.

But what Su Lun cared about most was the diviner's storage ring.

Inside were some strange divination materials, and the crystal necklace he had used for divination.

Upon identification, it was, as expected, an ancient cursed object.

[Seria's Crystal Pendant]

Description: A crystal necklace engraved with the words "To my dear Seria";

Cursed Trait: When you have difficulty making a decision, it can help you make one; depending on the level of the divination, it will exchange an equivalent amount of lifespan as the price;

Details: Although the crafting technique is not very clever, it is an alchemical necklace full of love; wearing it will make you highly likely to be immune to divination probes below the second tier; it can be used as a job-change material for a 'Pendulum Diviner';

Su Lun felt that the name "Seria" was a bit familiar, as if he had seen it somewhere before.

But because it was also a common female name, he didn't think too much about it.

Speaking of the effect alone, this was a very practical necklace.

Su Lun was previously worried that his whereabouts would be divined, but this pendant's "anti-detection" attribute solved this problem perfectly.

The curse trait was also acceptable, as lifespan was only deducted when using divination.

Su Lun wasn't a diviner, although he had gained some divination skills, he felt that he probably wouldn't forcibly divine like that guy before, causing himself to vomit blood and lose lifespan.

Wearing it would be good enough if it just had a passive attribute.

The item was good, so Su Lun wrapped the pendant around his wrist to conceal it, and muttered to himself: "As expected, accurately robbing professionals is the 'shortcut' to obtaining exclusive items for that profession."

After taking stock of the spoils, Su Lun lay down on his sleeping bag, carefully recalling what had happened that night.

Now that he had figured out the origin of the original owner of this body, a weight was lifted from Su Lun's heart.

He also understood what the bounty in the black market was all about. It must have been done by the hostile forces of the original owner "outside the Tower."

Even if he was exiled to this underground world, they wanted to kill him completely.

But this was also good, at least the enemy wasn't some big family in the inner city.

What Su Lun had to face was just an increasingly useless wanted order.

He hadn't been recognized before, and now that he had injected the "X Serum," who could associate his blue skin and muscular body with the delicate noble young man that the original owner was?

...

Not long after, the assembly call rang out in the camp.

The transport team began a new day of escorting their goods.

Previously, they had heard that there would be monster attacks in District D24, which made everyone in the team frightened along the way. But after a few days, their transport team actually went surprisingly smoothly.

D24, D25... all the way down, apart from encountering a few small-scale Abberant monster attacks, they didn't encounter any battles that could be called dangerous.

They did see many traces of battle along the way, but the corpses had been cleaned up. It looked as if a very powerful large team had come before them and cleared the way.

Without battles, the wasteland hunters in the team were also happy to be idle.

Finally, after several days, they arrived at the Dawn City ruins.

...

Coming to Dawn City, his "birthplace" after crossing over, once again, Su Lun felt quite emotional.

In the past, this place was like a mass grave, without any vitality.

But now, with "Storm Manor" as the center, the mountains and plains were covered with various buildings under construction.

From a distance, he could see the camp was brightly lit, and the towering steam boilers were puffing out white smoke. These boilers could provide a continuous supply of energy to the large workshops in the camp, accelerating construction...

In the manor, there were also two sets of large mechanical equipment composed of various tanks and pipes, like a chemical plant. These were the "air filtration device" and "drinking water treatment device." These were also the most important devices to ensure that wasteland hunters could survive in the underground for a long time where the dark energy was rampant.

Calling it a camp was more like calling it a war town.

The wasteland hunters used stones and steel supports to build a super-large wasteland hunting camp that could accommodate 100,000 people. Convoys of merchants were still constantly transporting various building materials from Old Lindon City. In the near future, this place would become a bustling small city...

However, when Su Lun saw Storm Manor, his gaze became distant.

Revisiting the old place, he thought of Pestoia.

The ghost-type little girl who gave him the "Puppet Master" advancement materials.

"Storm Manor has been occupied, which means that the cursed space has been broken..."

Su Lun frowned slightly.

"She was quite the likeable little girl, even though she wasn't human."

Oh, he almost forgot.

There seemed to be a brooch she gave him, buried somewhere.

...

Coming to the ruins under District D33, the concentration of dark energy was several times that of Old Lindon City.

For humans, this was a dangerous area where it was easy to cause physical aberrations if they stayed for too long.

But for Su Lun, it had no impact at all.

On the contrary, he felt that his pores all over his body were relaxed in this environment.

The "X Serum" amplified his body's comfort level with this high concentration of dark energy. Even without meditating, the increase in the dark energy value in his body was almost the same as when he meditated before.

Moreover, there were no signs of aberration due to absorbing this dark energy too quickly.

This concentration was only on the hillside. In the distance, in the ruins of the city, there were "particularly concentrated areas" filled with black mist.

It was foreseeable that in this environment, Su Lun's dark energy value would soar. Perhaps in the next month or two, his dark energy might reach the threshold of a second-tier professional.

If he could find suitable advancement materials by then, maybe he could successfully break through to the second tier.

...

"Okay, our employment contract ends here. Thank you all for your dedicated escort. According to the contract, there were no losses to the goods, and an extra 10% of the escort fee will be paid..."

"Oh, praise Mr. Abagong for his generosity!"

"Our Chamber of Commerce will return to the city in ten days. If you are interested in continuing to take on our Chamber of Commerce's return escort mission, you can sign up at our Chamber of Commerce's office in the camp..."

"..."

Arriving at their destination, the mission of Su Lun and the other wasteland hunters was completed.

Abagong gave everyone the remaining wages and went to deliver the goods.

Because there were no fierce battles and no additional combat subsidies, Su Lun only received the basic commission, but it was still nearly 100,000 Lisos.

High risk also brought high returns.

Everyone took the money and dispersed.

Su Lun looked at the camp not far away, but he wasn't in a hurry to go over.

The Abomination Warrior was his life-saving weapon, so he naturally had to carry it with him.

However, its three-meter-tall body was too burly. Even with the shroud of invisibility, it was easy to be discovered in crowded places.

Moreover, because the living corpse had vital signs, it couldn't be put into the storage ring, which was the most troublesome thing.

Su Lun felt that his second-tier advancement direction would definitely prioritize cursed materials that could awaken "spatial abilities."

Otherwise, if he controlled more puppets in the future, he would probably have to lead them like ducks, with a long string following behind him.

After a while of tossing around, Su Lun bought a steam dog from a returning caravan and disguised the living corpse as goods carried by the mechanical dog, which was less conspicuous.

...

Su Lun led the mechanical dog towards the wasteland hunting camp.

At this moment, there was already a long queue at the entrance of the camp.

Before coming, Su Lun thought that the camp at the Dawn Ruins would be a scattered camp full of tents. He never expected that in such a short period of time, its scale had reached a town surrounded by high walls.

There were heavy machine guns and cannons on the city wall, and some fully armed guys were setting up checkpoints at the entrance.

He thought they were checking identities, but it turned out they were just collecting city entrance fees.

Su Lun silently looked at the layout of the guards at the city gate, and instinctively estimated whether he could retreat safely if there was a conflict.

Then, he quietly lined up at the back of the queue.

Listening to the conversations of the people in front of him, he also learned about the general situation in the city.

The high entrance fee also made the newly arrived wasteland hunters complain.

"Damn it, staying in this camp for one night costs 3,000 Lisos in entrance fees?! I only earn 100,000 from an escort trip, and staying for a month will cost me everything?"

"A month? You're thinking too highly of yourself! I heard from the guy who went in before that everything is expensive in this camp. Ordinary-looking girls that cost 300-500 in Old Lindon City cost 5,000 here. Drinking water is ten times more expensive than in Old Lindon! And food, medicine, and ammunition supplies are also several times more expensive..."

"So expensive? Then aren't we risking our lives to hunt in the wasteland just to make these unscrupulous merchants rich?"

"It's not that expensive, actually. Everyone comes here to hunt in the wasteland, who comes here to stay for a long time? At most, they just resupply and repair, and don't stay in the city for a few days. Besides, those big corporations spent a lot of money to build the city and install so much equipment, so they naturally have to recoup their costs..."

"I curse his mother, I haven't even started earning money yet, and I have to spend this money..."

"If you don't want to pay, you can also camp outside the city. It's just that Abberant monster attacks are frequent near these ruins, and there are also looters and thieves. I'm afraid you'll fall asleep and lose your life inexplicably..."

"Actually, there is a way to avoid paying the entrance fee."

"How so?"

"Join the wasteland hunting teams of the five major corporations. As long as you obey their orders and participate in some collective wasteland hunting missions."

"Join the wasteland hunting teams of the five major corporations?"

"Yes."

"You get a salary for joining. Then, you give them the priority to purchase the treasures you discover while hunting in the wasteland, and there are no other restrictions. I asked, and the prices are fair."

"..."

After listening for a few sentences, Su Lun roughly understood the situation of the camp.

The big corporations of the inner city built the camp and then came up with this entrance fee.

If you don't want to pay, you have to join their wasteland hunting team, listen to their arrangements, and perform some fixed exploration missions.

Su Lun didn't plan to join the wasteland hunting teams of these corporations.

After all, he wasn't risking his life to hunt in the wasteland for money.

He knew very well that what these corporations probably wanted to recruit were "cannon fodder" to clear mines.

After all, no one knows in advance what the danger level of the "cursed space" is. It needs human lives to explore it.

If they encounter an unreturnable "T-level" one, it would be a pity to lose a high-level professional. First, send some cannon fodder to explore the way, and you can roughly understand the level of danger.

Before long, it was Su Lun's turn in the queue.

He paid the money, took a colored sign and hung it in a conspicuous position, and successfully entered the city.

...

Su Lun didn't plan to set up a tent outside the city. Wasteland hunters who couldn't even afford the entrance fee probably didn't have anything good in their hands. He wanted to go to the wasteland market in the city first to see if he could buy the materials he needed. If he couldn't buy them, he would also go to the Wasteland Hunters Guild to inquire about some news first, instead of blindly plunging into the dangerous ruins.

There were no ordinary residents in the wasteland hunting camp, and there were no extra buildings.

Weapon shops, firearm shops, machinery shops, medicine shops...

After entering the city, the streets were lined with dense supply shops.

The signs also hung the names of major merchants in the inner city.

After walking a few steps, he could see the familiar bright lights and bustling atmosphere.

Speculators opened taverns and brothels in the camp as soon as possible.

Probably to avoid the trouble of explaining, there were signs with price tags at the door.

"Ladies ￡3,500 and up"

"Rye Wine ￡400/bottle and up"

Although the prices were ten times higher than in Old Lindon City, the business seemed to be very good.

Su Lun could see wasteland hunters walking in with their arms around each other, laughing and joking, just from the few steps he passed.

It wasn't easy to send such a group of delicate and weak prostitutes to the underground, so it was reasonable for them to be more expensive.

The precarious days put a lot of mental pressure on the wasteland hunters, and they needed to vent. The business of wine and meat was even more marketable here. Besides, wasteland hunters who could come out of the ruins alive had money in their pockets.

Su Lun walked all the way.

He had looked at the camp's planning map at the city gate before, and knew that there was a street on the east side that was specifically planned for wasteland hunters to sell things.

He led the mechanical dog and walked for two streets, and heard the noisy sounds like a fair coming from that direction.

"Silver job-change material [Eyes of the Human-Faced Owl] that just came out of the ruins yesterday..."

"Come, come, come, ancient alchemical scrolls that have just been unearthed, limited quantity..."

"Ancient weapons, swords that can cut iron like mud, alchemical crossbows, dwarf shields..."

"Freshly produced cursed materials, both black iron and silver quality, beautiful prices..."

"..."

Hearing the sounds in his ears, Su Lun became interested.

The merchants mentioned the names of many rare materials.

In Old Lindon City, it was impossible to see silver materials being sold on the ground in any place.

Even in the black market in Shadow Alley, silver materials were rare and popular commodities.

But here, they were sold by wasteland hunters as ordinary goods.

This was the advantage of having a direct source of goods.

Because there were no shops, antiques worth hundreds of thousands or millions were casually placed on the ground with a piece of broken cloth.

There were also many people coming and going on the street.

There were well-dressed speculators, and more wasteland hunters dressed as adventurers.

The cursed objects left over from ancient times were mostly rare goods. Even black iron materials were much better than those made in this era.

Here, wasteland hunters who wanted to advance in their professions could find real quality materials.

Su Lun had just walked into the market street when the first stall attracted his attention.