Chapter Seventy-Five: The So-Called Young Uncle

“All right, all right, I won’t go with you to make trouble. Here, I pestered my dad for ages before he finally drew this map. It’s a countryside map of Yuanchiang City, with dangerous areas marked out. If you’re heading out, you must pay attention—some places are absolutely off limits. For example, White Fang Forest, Bear King Ridge, and Herb Lake… You should just stay in the meadows.”

Although Zhang Xiaorou knew that Xiao Nan was powerful and not to be judged by his vitality alone, she still worried. After all, he hadn’t reached the level of a martial artist and hadn’t trained his skin or muscles—he was vulnerable to injury. She wanted to persuade everyone to stay within the city but thought better of it. Her father always said that women should mind their own business, especially when it came to men, or they’d only be disliked.

The map was torn as if chewed by a dog, the handwriting and drawings crooked beyond recognition. Mountains didn’t look like mountains, rivers didn’t look like rivers—clearly lacking any artistic talent. Xiao Nan immediately recognized Zhang Yi’s handiwork.

A line in the middle was highlighted in green crayon, with a few neat characters beside it: Lifeline. That must have been written by Zhang Xiaorou herself. Sure enough, she pointed at the path and said, “This is the main road. The authorities have cleared it multiple times, so it should be safe. But don’t go deep into the meadow, just hunt at the outskirts. Deeper in, I’ve heard from Dad, there might be wolf packs and other dangers.”

“Don’t worry, I never intended to take risks,” Xiao Nan replied sincerely. He was only planning to solve his nutritional needs. Of course, if he encountered a solitary, slightly stronger beast, he’d consider taking action.

In recent days, he had come to understand the predicament of martial artists. Independent ones didn’t have access to state-sponsored Vitality Pills. If they wanted to buy them at the market, resource controls and high markups made it a losing deal.

So, they had another option: hunting fierce beasts. Beasts of first rank or higher had blood rich in primal energy—if drunk fresh and hot, a martial artist could directly absorb it, slightly increasing their vitality. But that meant hunting and killing on the spot. The higher the beast’s level, the richer the energy in its blood. The peculiar thing about this energy was that once the beast died, within moments it dissipated into the air—not that the blood spoiled, but some essential element vanished with life itself.

That was exactly what Xiao Nan intended to do. He still lacked a great deal of vitality, his family was poor, and he had no supply of Vitality Pills. In this situation, catching up required taking risks.

Though drinking raw beast blood was harsh and could damage the body—nothing like the gentle effects of pills—this was a small price to pay compared to being stuck at a plateau. Besides, Xiao Nan had absolute confidence in his newly optimized physique; even he was sometimes startled by his own absorption capabilities. A Vitality Pill would vanish without a trace the moment he swallowed it—wasn’t that impressive?

“I suspect I could swallow even a beast whole, skin and bones, and not even burp. There’s nothing I can’t digest,” he mused.

The only side effect for him was producing a great deal of fertilizer for the world. Yesterday, after eating five pounds of rabbit meat and three pots of rice, he made five trips to the outhouse, each time with impressive results—a topic Xiao Nan preferred not to discuss.

With the map in hand, Xiao Nan prepared to leave the city. He wasn’t some sheltered high schooler—he’d roamed the wilderness in his past life and knew his way around. As long as he didn’t encounter a dangerous-class beast, this was nothing more than a picnic.

“Wait!” Zhang Xiaorou called as she saw him about to leave. “I’ve contacted an acquaintance to go with you—it’s much safer to travel with someone.”

Standing on tiptoe, she shaded her eyes and looked around, then waved. “Over here! Here, Zhang Wood, what are you looking at?”

A burly man in gray beast hide and hat, covered in dust from head to toe, turned around. When he saw Zhang Xiaorou, his jaw dropped. “Aunt, you’re not going out of the city too, are you? Dressed like this? No way, not a chance. I wouldn’t take you even if it meant my life—if Grandpa Zhang finds out, he’ll break my bones.”

Zhang Xiaorou glanced at Xiao Nan, a little embarrassed. Why did everyone talk to her this way? Was she really so unlikable? She rolled her eyes and snapped, “Get over here! Could you be any louder?”

She turned to Xiao Nan, apologetic. “He’s Zhang Shu. By our village reckoning, he’s my nephew—my father is third eldest, so Zhang Shu calls him Grandpa Three.”

Such complicated family ties! Xiao Nan looked at the rugged face opposite him—if Zhang Shu wasn’t thirty, he was at least twenty-eight or twenty-nine. Having to call a young girl ‘Aunt’ must be awkward for him too. Xiao Nan found it amusing. “So he’s going out of the city with me?”

“No, I’m taking you out,” Zhang Shu corrected, taking on a grave, experienced air. “Aunt tells me it’s your first time in the wild. You can’t be careless. Safety first—avoid when you can, run when you must.”

He made it sound like going to war. Clearly, Zhang Xiaorou had filled him in on the situation. Zhang Shu, acting the old hand, made sure to appear reliable, as if afraid Xiao Nan would act recklessly.

Before Xiao Nan could respond, Zhang Shu beamed at Zhang Xiaorou and vowed, “Don’t worry, leave this to me. I guarantee not a hair on Uncle’s head will be harmed.”

Xiao Nan nearly choked on his own saliva—Uncle? Zhang Xiaorou flushed scarlet. “Zhang Wood, stop talking nonsense! If my father hears you spouting such drivel, you’ll be sorry.”

Though her words were stern, her voice grew softer. Zhang Shu just laughed. “Fine, I won’t say it. As long as we know, that’s enough.”

From this, Xiao Nan got a sense of Zhang Shu’s personality—a comic, easy to get along with. After some thought, he didn’t refuse. After all, Zhang Xiaorou meant well, and there was no harm in traveling with company.

Once the arrangements were made, Zhang Shu’s smile faded, and he spoke in a low voice. “Aunt, you’d best not wander around these days. Stay at home or at school. I heard there was a bear barbarian attack yesterday—many people were killed. If it hadn’t been for a powerful high school student passing by Yuanchiang First High, things would have been much worse. And last night, at the Night Bloom bar on Riverside Road, Wu Gang and more than thirty of his men were wiped out. A fox barbarian appeared at the scene. These cursed barbarians are getting bolder…”