Chapter 61 Life-or-Death Struggle
As darkness fell and the woman still hadn't returned, Mortilan noticed that the robotic cat left at home seemed to have a deep worry in its eyes, a look that shouldn't be seen in a robotic cat.
There's something wrong with it! There's something wrong with that woman too! This house even has a treasure that can soothe the riotous energy threads; it's all very suspicious.
But the most important thing right now is, why hasn't that woman come back yet, even though it's already dark?
Mortilan decided to go find her; he couldn't let his cook die like that.
When Zuo Shan was dragging three large sacks and walked to within 800 meters of the residential area, he was almost completely exhausted.
Sweat soaked her body, making her feel like she wasn't wearing any heat-insulating clothing at all. Xiao Bao wasn't much better off.
At first, it followed behind, trying to help her lighten her load by pushing the sack with its head, but it didn't work very well and only made her flustered.
Later, Zuo Shan had no choice but to steel herself and put a sturdy rattan on its shoulder and back, tying the other end to the mouth of the burlap sack, thus sharing one-third of its weight.
Today we caught a total of 18 adult bamboo rats and 42 cubs, with a total weight of over 200 jin (100 catties)!
Adding in the scavenging tools and other miscellaneous items, the total weight was a hefty 220 jin (approximately 110 catties).
The weight was manageable for a short distance, but the bamboo forest was more than three hours away from home, and dragging the heavy load made the journey even slower. The return trip took a full four hours.
Seeing that they were not far from home, Zuo Shan patted Xiao Bao's head: "Keep going! We'll be home soon!"
The two quickened their pace, eager to get back and take a shower.
Suddenly, Xiao Bao stopped in his tracks with a wary look on his face and made a warning sound.
Zuo Shan immediately realized something was wrong, and her first reaction was to remove the rattan canes around her and Xiao Bao's necks.
Whether we're fighting or fleeing, we can't carry any burdens.
Zuo Shan cherished the food in the bag, but she cared even more about her and Xiao Bao's lives.
"Hehe! I've finally waited for you! Do you know how long your Uncle Tong has been craning his neck to wait for you? You'd better make it up to me later!"
The voice was extremely lewd, but Zuo Shan recognized it immediately – it was Boss Tong!
She subconsciously touched the dagger at her waist, already preparing for the worst.
"What do you want to do?" Zuo Shan asked, feigning panic.
"What are you doing? Isn't it obvious? You went out alone this morning with your scavenging tools and spent so much time in the wild. I don't believe you came away empty-handed."
Since I'm just killing time anyway, I'll sit under that tree to cool off and wait for you to come back.
I didn't expect you to still be here even though it's already dark. I thought you had been eaten by some mutated beast and was just about to go back to sleep, but I finally got to see you.
"We're all smart people, you know what I want. Leave everything behind and I'll let you pass!" Boss Tong walked brazenly toward the sack behind her.
Wastelanders are most averse to being near other people's scavenging sacks, and the way he's doing this clearly shows that he's already treating the sack on the left as his private property.
However, just as he touched the sack opening, a dark figure pounced from behind. After all, Boss Tong had been a mercenary for several years, and his ability to deal with emergencies was not bad.
But when he felt the strong wind coming, he immediately turned his head to dodge. The next second, his shoulder was hit hard, making him wince in pain!
He flicked his wrist and unleashed three golden spikes, which pierced Xiao Bao's side.
Xiao Bao is still a cub and has little experience fighting enemies. The only enemy he has ever dealt with in his life is a bamboo rat.
Iron-eating beasts are the natural enemies of bamboo rats. The hierarchy is so strong that they have no intention of resisting Xiao Bao and can only run away. As a result, Xiao Bao has become accustomed to attacking and never thinks of defending after successfully attacking.
"Gurgle!" Xiao Bao cried out in pain. Zuo Shan's eyes reddened with heartache. He lunged at Tong Laoda and plunged the dagger into his waist.
With a forceful pull, the dagger became stuck between the muscles and couldn't be pulled out for a moment.
Zuo Shan realized something was wrong, abandoned the dagger, and did a side roll to dodge the punch that followed.
She then pulled a testing knife from the sack, turned it around, and opened it towards the lunging Tong Laoda, intending to cut off his other arm.
The large scissors gleamed coldly in the night. Boss Tong quickly stopped and took a few steps back to distance himself from her.
Zuo Shan dared not give chase. This Boss Tong was different from the three thugs, Qiangzi and his gang; he knew tactics.
She could only stand in his way, holding the testing knife, and ask in between, "Xiao Bao, how are you?"
Xiao Bao cried out, feeling both pained and aggrieved, while Zuo Shan was both afraid and angry.
But she also understood that Boss Tong was a vicious wolf, and if she showed any fear and turned to run away, he would pounce on her from behind and tear her to pieces.
Therefore, she cannot back down.
"You bitch, you think you can fight against me, a gene warrior, with just a mutated beast cub? Today I'm going to chop you into pieces and make sure you and your cub never see the sun tomorrow!" Boss Tong roared viciously.
That damned cub's palm strike was incredibly powerful. If he hadn't accidentally obtained a muscle-enhancing gene serum a couple of years ago, his shoulder would probably have been shattered.
This woman was even more ruthless; she stabbed him directly with a dagger, almost stabbing him in the lower back!
He was in so much pain that he was panting heavily. He planned to catch his breath and then kill the filthy woman and the mutated beast cub she raised in one go.
That cub was a huge lump of flesh, enough for him to have a hearty meal.
Tong Laoda possesses metal-based superpowers. He reached out, grasped the dagger, and easily pulled it out using his superpower.
Under the moonlight, he brandished the dagger at Zuo Shan: "Heh! It's a fine knife, but unfortunately, it can't even kill a rabbit in your hands. Now it's my turn."
Zuo Shan didn't know martial arts, and seeing that Boss Tong had launched three metal spikes, she could only hold up her testing knife and passively block them.
However, Boss Tong suddenly turned the metal spike around and stabbed it towards Xiao Bao.
"Xiao Bao, run!" Zuo Shan shouted in alarm. Xiao Bao rolled on the spot and barely dodged the attack of the three metal spikes.
But Zuo Shan knew that if it happened twice more, Xiao Bao would definitely not be able to dodge it.
"Xiao Bao, climb the tree!" Zuo Shan shouted. Xiao Bao understood what she meant, and leaped up to climb a tree next to him.
Zuo Shan noticed that Boss Tong's metal spikes didn't seem to have a very long range. When Xiao Bao climbed to a height of over ten meters, he gave up on dealing with them and turned to stab her instead.
The metal spikes appeared and disappeared unpredictably. Her left fan blocked two of them, but not the third, which pierced her calf.
Seeing that her movements had become sluggish, Boss Tong was no longer in a hurry. He played the role of a cat playing with a mouse, directing his metal spikes to circle around her, sometimes close and sometimes far.
A metal spike flew past her neck almost grazing it. Zuo Shan was so frightened that she broke out in a cold sweat. Just as she was about to make a desperate gamble and fight him to the death, Xiao Bao suddenly leaped down from the tree and pounced on her fiercely.
However, Tong Laoda was on guard. Upon hearing the sound of the wind, he immediately dodged. Xiao Bao's long-prepared paw only grazed his calf. Because of its injury, it lost its balance and fell to the ground.
"Hey! I've got you this time!" Boss Tong raised the dagger in his hand and stabbed it fiercely towards Xiao Bao's carotid artery.
"Xiao Bao!" Zuo Shan cried out shrilly, rushing towards his back without regard for anything else. However, in order to avoid his attack, the two of them were a bit far apart. Even though she had used her fastest speed, the cutting blade was still more than a meter away from him.
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