Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Uninvited Guest

Even though the Clean Zone held higher status, all buying and selling happened in the Wastewater Zone.

Disaster materials weren’t just foul-smelling. Plenty of them were outright dangerous. Jin Ling Base had learned that the hard way—there’d been an accident once, and the resulting contamination had ruined nearly half the city.

An armored vehicle rumbled past, its tires throwing up sheets of filthy water.

Wang Jie crossed the street and entered the Wastewater Zone, heading for the district that specialized in disaster materials.

The market sprawled beneath massive canopies. Buildings from the old world couldn’t survive long-term exposure to disaster materials; they rotted and collapsed too easily. Most of the stalls and shops here were built light and replaceable, meant to be torn down and rebuilt again and again.

People moved through the aisles every day. For cultivators who wanted to boost their combat strength quickly, absorbing the imprint power hidden in disaster materials was the fastest path.

Wang Jie was a regular.

“Hey, isn’t that Wildgrass?”

“What’d you bring this time? Sell to me—I’ll pay fair!”

“Wildgrass! Fresh mutant beast blood—interested?”

Voices rose from every direction.

Wang Jie didn’t even glance over. He walked straight to the back of the district, where the biggest disaster-materials shop in all of Jin Ling stood. It wasn’t just large—it was backed by Jin Ling Base itself.

A thunderous roar shook the canopy overhead. Blood sprayed several meters into the air, pattering down like rain, and then the roaring cut off abruptly.

Wang Jie didn’t change expression as he stepped inside.

On one side of the shop, a five-meter-tall mutant beast lay on the floor, barely alive while workers carved out disaster materials. That kind of operation was rare. Only a shop with base-level support could capture a mutant beast alive and haul it in.

Staff moved everywhere. Wang Jie swept his gaze across the room, found a woman in her thirties, and walked over.

She looked plain enough to fade into the background. Only when he reached her did she truly register him—and her eyes lit up.

“Wildgrass? You’re back.” She leaned in, voice bright. “How’d it go? Any good haul?”

Wang Jie shook his head. “Not much. Just one mutant beast tooth.”

“It’s fine.” She smiled, unfazed. “You’ll have better luck next time. You here to sell, or to buy?”

“Buy.” His tone stayed even. “I need a flower that’s grown for thirty-three years.”

Her brows drew together. “Thirty-three? You need the age that exact?”

Wang Jie nodded once.

She told him to wait and disappeared into the back warehouse. When she returned, she carried two mutant plants.

“I can’t guarantee their age,” she admitted, setting them down carefully. “But they grew in an old residential compound. Flowers and trees there can easily go ten or twenty years. These might be close. Take them and try.”

“Thanks.” Wang Jie paid for both without arguing. He couldn’t test them here, and taking them without paying wasn’t even an option.

When he left the shop, his gaze caught on the massive bounty board hanging at the center of the materials district. It was a joint list posted by the five major bases, reserved for criminals who’d committed serious offenses.

The list updated constantly. The number of names wasn’t fixed—at its peak, there’d been over a hundred.

Wang Jie scanned it and stopped on a familiar name.

Hu Guan.

Extremely dangerous. Combat strength at the fifth-seal level.

Crimes: robbery, murder, and worse.

If spotted, report immediately. Act at your own risk.

Reward: one hundred tubes of beast blood.

Wang Jie’s eyes flickered. That entry hadn’t been there last time. The South Base had been hunting Hu Guan for a while, so it must have been added recently.

The notice didn’t mention hibiscus tears.

He lifted his gaze and kept reading, face after face, until he reached the very top of the board.

There was no face there at all.

The target was wrapped in shadow.

No name. No identity.

Extremely dangerous. Combat strength unknown—suspected seventh-seal level.

Crime: hostile to humans.

Traits: likely between sixteen and twenty years old. Has used at least five combat techniques. Believed to be badly injured.

If encountered, report immediately. Once confirmed: reward of one hundred stalks of disaster materials.

Wang Jie stared at the top entry for a long moment, then turned away and left the materials district.

Back home, he placed one of the flowers onto the green sprout.

It worked.

Wang Jie’s heart lurched with a thrill so sharp it almost hurt. The first one was the thirty-three-year flower—there was no need to test the second.

That left two requirements.

The tears of a heartbroken girl.

And the severed finger of an evil man.

His temples throbbed. Tears were the worst of it. How was he supposed to make a girl cry from heartbreak?

He’d never paid attention to women. He knew nothing about love.

As dusk settled in, he leaned against the bed and watched the sun sink behind the ruins.

A fiery red streak cut across the far sky.

A meteorite?

At the same time, meteors fell across Blue Star. Some struck land, some slammed into mountains, and most plunged into the ocean.

Boom—a meteor hit a crude settlement.

The shockwave rolled outward like a wall, flinging people through the air. Anyone too close was vaporized, leaving nothing behind.

Survivors farther out stared in terror as the dust and heat faded. In the crater lay a chunk of stone.

A meteorite. Rotten luck. Of all places, it had landed right on them.

Then the meteorite cracked open.

A surge of air burst out and blanketed the area.

No one dared approach. Another gust swept through, tearing the haze away—and the cracked meteorite was simply gone.

The witnesses rubbed their eyes, half-convinced they’d imagined it.

Not far from the ruined settlement, a woman in a purple veil walked forward. Her long hair flowed down to her legs. With each step, she crossed more than ten meters, as if distance had stopped meaning anything.

A longsword rested at her side. Its scabbard was exquisitely crafted, inlaid with gemstones.

She lifted her chin toward the shattered skyscrapers glowing under the sunset, lips curling faintly.

“The trial grounds are kind of interesting.”

Light flickered through her pupils as her gaze swept the settlement.

“They’re all so weak.” Her smile deepened. “Finishing the objective shouldn’t be hard.”

The same scene played out in every corner of the world.

On Blue Star, no one yet understood that uninvited guests had arrived.

Sleeping in the wild never felt safe, but inside a base, things were different.

When Wang Jie opened his eyes again, sunlight lay across the ground. Outside, the surface of the wastewater shimmered with oily color, as if a rainbow had been glued to it.

A night had passed.

He stretched, washed up quickly, and headed out.

The east gate of Jin Ling Base was already crowded with people coming and going.

When Wang Jie arrived, he saw a line of massive armored vehicles. The one in the center was clearly custom-made—more than three times larger than the others, like a house plated in iron. The emblem painted on its side belonged to the Zhao hunting squad.

Hui Zhua spotted Wang Jie and waved him over, eyes bright.

“Watch what you say,” Hui Zhua warned in a low voice. “The Zhao family’s Eldest Young Master is in that vehicle. Look.”

He pointed at the oversized armored truck. “I heard he’s got a terrible temper. He’s looking for Xueju to give Bai Xiao from Shang Jing City as a twentieth birthday present. We can’t mess this up, or neither of us is coming back.”

Wang Jie’s gaze sharpened. “Bai Xiao?”

Hui Zhua leaned closer. “Bai Xiao is Bai Yuan’s daughter. Bai Yuan is one of the Three Gods.”

So that was it.

No wonder the Zhao family’s Eldest Young Master was personally going into dangerous territory.

Blue Star had endured ten years of disaster. Heavy weapons had been destroyed long ago, but not everything had collapsed. Communications were unstable and spotty, yet many regions could still barely keep in contact.

In the early years, cultivators were ranked by the number of imprints they carried. A few years later, the system people used changed into a new phrase: the Three Gods and Five Poles.

The Three Gods and Five Poles were the eight strongest people on Blue Star.

People called the world Blue Star, but in truth—aside from the Eastern Continent—everything else had been overtaken by plants and beasts. Humanity’s remaining foothold was Hua Xia.

So the Three Gods and Five Poles were all from Hua Xia.

Hong Jian of Jin Ling Base was one of the Five Poles.

Bai Yuan of Shang Jing City was one of the Three Gods.

If the Zhao family could marry into Bai Yuan’s line, their standing would change completely.

No wonder they wanted Xueju.

Xueju wasn’t the point—it was a stepping stone, a gift meant to bring the Zhao family’s Eldest Young Master closer to Bai Xiao.

The convoy was enormous: more than fifteen armored vehicles and over a hundred cultivators.

Hui Zhua’s voice dropped, suddenly serious. “You understand how heavy your task is now, right? This entire trip depends on you. You have to find Xueju, or else…”

Wang Jie glanced at him. “You’re dragging me down with you.”

Hui Zhua’s smile stiffened.

“Who can guarantee we’ll find Xueju within three days?” Wang Jie continued, eyes forward.

Hui Zhua’s expression turned awkward. “You’re the best guide in Jin Ling. It’s not just me saying it—the Zhao family investigated you too. Otherwise, why would they listen to me and insist on you?”

Wang Jie didn’t argue.

The Zhao family would never trust an outsider without checking. They’d definitely looked into him.

And the truth was, there were plenty of competent guides. Anyone better than Wang Jie was either dead or had joined a hunting squad. He’d been guiding around Jin Ling for a long time. No one here had spent more time surviving in the wild than he had.

That was why the Zhao family valued him.

Soon the convoy rolled out.

Outside the base, ragged people watched with open envy, dreaming of becoming cultivators one day. But the first step was seeing the sky projection—and not everyone could.

Wang Jie drew a route for the Zhao family and handed it directly to the steward.

She went inside the largest vehicle to report. After a brief delay, the route was approved.

The path would pass the old resort where Liu Ying’s brother had gone.

One trip. Two tasks.

Once they entered the wild, they followed an old-world highway. Mutant beasts appeared from time to time in the brush, but seeing the size of the convoy, most backed away.

Now and then, one rushed in anyway—only to be killed cleanly. Wang Jie didn’t need to lift a finger.

This area counted as a safe zone. In a true danger zone, there were too many mutant beasts to care about any convoy at all.

Hui Zhua watched the formation with envy. “No wonder they’re a hunting squad. Look at them—ranged units, close assault, ambush coverage, drones scouting. I bet they’re monitoring everything within ten li. Anything moves, it gets spotted. We might not run into danger at all.”

Wang Jie didn’t soften. “Even when Hong Jian—one of the Five Poles—leads, trouble still happens. If we meet something with sixth-seal combat power, or seventh… we die the same.”

Hui Zhua rolled his eyes. “Can’t you say something luckier?”

Wang Jie deadpanned. “May you live to a hundred.”

“That’s worse.”

After a moment, Wang Jie asked, “By the way. Are you seeing someone?”

Hui Zhua froze and looked at him like he’d grown a second head. “Why are you asking that now?”

“Just asking.”

“…I am.”

“Does she love you?”

“She does.”

“Break up with her.”

Hui Zhua’s face twitched. If Wang Jie weren’t stronger, he would’ve slapped him on the spot and taught him exactly what tendon-splitting, bone-twisting hand meant.

Wang Jie sighed quietly. As expected, heartbreak wasn’t something you could manufacture on demand.

But he had an idea now.

He’d deal with it after they got back.

Traveling with a large convoy meant fewer worries. When a vehicle broke down, someone repaired it. Meals came in variety. For once, the road almost felt comfortable.

By Wang Jie’s estimate of their speed—plus the scattered fights along the way—they reached the outskirts of the resort right at dusk.

The steward walked over, face tight. “Why are we stopping?”

“The wild is more dangerous at night,” Wang Jie replied evenly. “Those plants can come up from anywhere.”

“You remember you only have three days, right?”

Her gaze was cold, proud—more threat than reminder.

Wang Jie didn’t blink. “Three days is enough.”

She returned to the largest vehicle to report.