Chapter 204: After the Third War

The three of them didn't understand a word of what Wu Pifu was saying, but they didn't care either; they seemed to have written him off as a lunatic.

Just then, the driver who had been repairing the pickup truck came running over. He was a burly, middle-aged man with a thick beard. He shouted urgently, "Bad news! A giant object is closing in on us!! Run, run for it!!"

All three of them were terrified, and their faces immediately filled with despair.

This was a desert Gobi, and outside, the place was being swept by storms. Where could they run to? And how far could they possibly get?

Before the bearded middle-aged man could even finish shouting, the three of them felt the ground tremble. Then, a massive great white shark head lunged out from beneath the sand, letting out a silent roar at the battered pickup truck and everyone there.

"How marvelous. Why would a shark's head be combined with a submarine? And isn't this submarine a bit too small? I even saw it eating; where did that flesh and blood go? Could it be that the submarine has a stomach or something inside?" Wu Pifu looked at the shark-submarine before him and exclaimed to the four people who were frozen in fear.

The four of them looked at him as if he were a madman. The two young men roared in unison, "Is now really the time for this!?"

Wu Pifu spread his hands and retorted, "What else should I say? 'Oh, your flesh is so attractive to it,' 'Oh, you can't run away on your legs,' 'Oh, this truck really broke down at the worst possible time'?"

The four of them glared at Wu Pifu.

Just then, the shark-submarine suddenly leaped into the air, jumping four or five meters high before crashing down, biting directly toward Wu Pifu.

The four of them were stunned.

"Son of a bitch!"

"You think I'm easy to bully, huh!?"

At that moment, a roar erupted from the mouth of the giant shark head. The four of them heard a loud 'Bang!' as half of the shark's head exploded. Wu Pifu hammered out with one hand, smashing the rotting shark maw wide open and sending the head flying. He then landed and stomped his foot.

The ground, which should have been loose sand, rippled with a shockwave under Wu Pifu's foot as if he had stepped on concrete. He then leaped ten meters into the air and kicked the flying shark head with such force that he blew it to pieces.

The shark's lower half—the submarine—began to twitch and bleed, leaking a red fluid mixed with black machine oil. Still not satisfied, Wu Pifu landed and kicked the submarine's hull, bending it until it folded, causing a mess of mechanical parts and remains of flesh to spill out.

"Not so tough now, are you!? Come on, let's have some fun!"

Wu Pifu cursed, slapping the submarine's hull with a series of 'Bang, bang, bang!' sounds. In truth, he had been complaining about others, but who knew the shark-submarine's target would actually be him?

This was truly embarrassing.

The four of them were completely dumbfounded, their eyes nearly popping out of their sockets.

After a long while, the middle-aged driver said in disbelief, "It's actually true... Super Soldiers really exist. I thought it was just a joke..."

Wu Pifu walked toward the four of them. They were all trembling, but Wu Pifu didn't get too close, saying from a distance, "Don't be afraid, I'm fine."

No, what do you mean by 'no weapons'...?

The four of them didn't dare to speak, but Wu Pifu didn't approach quickly, walking slowly instead. Their emotions stabilized slightly, and they realized Wu Pifu had no ill intent toward them; otherwise, he could have flattened them into meat patties with a single palm.

When Wu Pifu got closer, one of the young men immediately asked, "Brother, how did you do that? You punched through a shark-submarine with your bare hands!?"

Wu Pifu thought for a moment and said, "Eat and sleep on time, keep a regular schedule, and practice Wu Gong and cultivation diligently."

Miss Li immediately waved her hand and said, "Forget that useless talk. Friend, shouldn't you hurry up and pick up those shark teeth? We can use this truck to help you carry them to town, but can we take one-tenth of the bounty as our share?"

Wu Pifu was stunned for a moment. Miss Li thought she had asked for too much and immediately said, "One-twentieth... one-fiftieth! We need fuel to drive this truck, you know!!"

Wu Pifu waved his hand and said, "No, I mean, I heard you talking about bounties of so many tons... what kind of currency is a 'ton'? Why is currency described in tons?"

The four of them looked at each other, filled with confusion. A few seconds later, the middle-aged driver suddenly exclaimed, "Are you a Pre-War Sleeper?"

Wu Pifu was taken aback. He immediately realized that he was indeed a person from the 21st century who had been frozen. By that logic, he could certainly be considered a Pre-War Sleeper, even if not the kind this world referred to, but it was close enough.

He nodded in agreement. The four of them had complex expressions, but they lowered their guard. Miss Li immediately called out, "Don't talk about that now. Wang Wang, Tizi, let's go, come with me to move those teeth back!"

The names of these two young men were so casual that Wu Pifu immediately thought of Amida. No... Wang Wang and Tizi? Should he call them 'Big Brother'?

The middle-aged driver watched Miss Li run toward the shark-submarine with the two young men. He walked to Wu Pifu's side, pulled out two hand-rolled cigarettes with a pained expression, handed one to Wu Pifu, and lit his own. "I'm called Big Brother. What's your name, brother?"

Wu Pifu took the cigarette, rubbed it hard between two fingers, and it lit up instantly. He took a puff, but upon hearing the middle-aged driver's words, he spat out a mouthful of smoke mixed with saliva.

Big Brother patted Wu Pifu's back knowingly and said, "It's strong, take it slow."

Wu Pifu coughed twice, circulated his Qi and blood, and stood up straight. "No, this has nothing to do with strength, okay? You... forget it, pretend I didn't say anything. So, you still haven't answered me: what kind of currency is a 'ton'?"

Big Brother took a drag of his cigarette and said, "Pure fresh water. All bounties and all currency equivalent units are based on pure water. This shark-submarine is the biggest menace in this area. The Mercenary Society has tried to eliminate it many times, but it can dive into the sand and hide, making it impossible to find. That's why its bounty is so high—eight thousand tons of pure fresh water."

Wu Pifu was stunned, then smoked in silence.

The situation in this Dream World was even worse than he had imagined.

So-called equivalent exchange items are either rare and precious things, like gold, or human necessities, like food and cloth, or energy from a technological civilization, like oil, which can also be considered a semi-equivalent exchange item.

Yet the equivalent exchange item in this world was pure fresh water...

"Is there no ocean left in this world?" Wu Pifu asked in a deep voice.

Big Brother shook his head. "No, there is still an ocean, otherwise we would have died long ago, and the Earth would be a barren planet. But the terrifying biochemical beasts in the ocean are too numerous and too fearsome; it's beyond what any land-dwelling life could imagine... Let's put it this way: can you imagine a 1,500-meter-long blue whale super-battleship? That's considered a medium-level threat among ocean giants. That's why there's no way to establish strongholds or cities along the coast, and naturally, no way to purify seawater." Wu Pifu asked doubtfully, "What about rivers and such? What about rain?"

Big Brother smiled bitterly. "Gone. All recyclable fresh water on land is gone. Since the mid-Third World War, when the biochemical beast tide began to appear, the entire Earth's environment underwent a drastic change. All lakes and rivers dried up, and except for very rare cases, there hasn't been rain anywhere I know of. Now, all fresh water comes from groundwater."

Just then, Miss Li and the others dragged a massive frame of shark teeth with iron chains. It was about two meters long and shimmered with a metallic luster.

Miss Li heard this and said, "And water now isn't like it was before the war. Besides being for human consumption and growing food, it's also the energy source for all vehicles."

Wu Pifu asked inexplicably, "What do you mean? Are all vehicles now burning boilers? Steampunk?"

Big Brother shook his head with a bitter smile. He beckoned Wu Pifu over to the front of the pickup truck and flipped open the hood. Wu Pifu saw a giant engine still emitting smoke. The key was that this engine looked truly horrifying, as it was a combination of two-thirds machine and one-third flesh, with blood vessels and muscles covering its surface!

Big Brother pointed at the engine. "This is already a second-generation fresh water-powered engine. Towns sell them for one hundred tons of fresh water, or ten tons of food, or equivalent biochemical beast bodies and parts. It's not expensive, but not cheap either. This engine is the most valuable thing on my truck."

By now, Miss Li and the others had placed the teeth on a flatbed cart. Big Brother began to inspect the pickup truck and took out a bucket of fresh water to pour into the engine. Wu Pifu sat on the rear flatbed.

"Let's split the bounty fifty-fifty," Wu Pifu said to Miss Li.

Miss Li, Wang Wang, and Tizi were all stunned. They couldn't believe what they were hearing. But Miss Li didn't offer any polite refusal; she immediately said to Wu Pifu, "Alright, I accept your favor. I really need the money urgently. Four thousand tons is enough to buy a whole batch of antibiotics... I'll take you to my place later. If you want, I can let you sleep with me anytime."

Wu Pifu was just smoking the butt of his cigarette and choked again, starting to cough.

On the contrary, Miss Li, Wang Wang, and Tizi thought this was perfectly normal. Seeing Wu Pifu choke even on a hand-rolled cigarette, they looked at him with a bit of disdain.

!

Even though they had seen Wu Pifu crush the shark-submarine with a few punches, they still felt he was weak—just a well-bred person from before the war who choked on a cigarette.

Wu Pifu soothed Daphne, who was pecking at his pocket, and flicked her forehead as she sat beside him, attracting the gazes of Miss Li and the others while she giggled. He then said to the three of them, "Let me introduce myself: Wu Pifu, a Pre-War Sleeper."

Miss Li generously reached out and shook Wu Pifu's hand. "Li Muxia. Beside me are Wang Wang and Tizi, and the one driving is Big Brother. We are C-rank mercenaries, and our stronghold is in Quicksand Town... You can ask whatever you want; we'll tell you everything we know."

Wang Wang smiled and said, "Four thousand tons—that's enough to risk one's life for."

Tizi nodded earnestly.

Only Wu Pifu felt a sense of sorrow in his heart.

Four thousand tons of fresh water sounded like a lot, but in the 21st century, it would only be worth about ten thousand yuan. And this ten thousand yuan was enough to make four people risk their lives...

Wu Pifu paused for a few seconds, dispelling the sorrow, and asked, "Tell me about the war. Tell me everything you know; I don't mind."

Li Muxia seemed to be the leader of the four, and her mind was sharp. Just from her name, one could tell she was very different from the other three. She began to tell Wu Pifu about the past of this world.

The Third World War broke out.

How exactly it started, Li Muxia didn't know herself. That was a hundred years ago. At that time, let alone her, even her grandfather probably hadn't been born yet.

In any case, after the Third War broke out, the whole world began to fight. At first, everyone was quite conservative, and many super-weapons weren't used. But as the war intensified, these scruples gradually disappeared.

The strongest country at the time, to avoid a nuclear apocalypse, gathered the nation's scientific power to develop a 'Global Decay Device' that neutralized nuclear weapons worldwide, including its own. Through this device, all radioactive materials on the surface and within a thousand meters underground were decayed and decomposed. Even if there were radioactive minerals deeper than a thousand meters, that country—and the rest of the world—could no longer possess nuclear weapons for a long time.

They thought that with the ban on nuclear weapons, the war would never turn into an apocalyptic one, but...

"Biochemical beasts appeared."

Li Muxia said calmly, "That was eighty years ago. As for whether it was the first biochemical beast, I don't know. In any case, the initial biochemical beasts appeared. Every country thought they were secret weapons developed by enemies, so they all researched and fought over the remains, blood, and parts of the beasts. Then they quickly discovered that these beasts were not the product of any country; their origin was mysterious, and they were highly infectious."

"Their blood, their parts, even the air they breathed was infectious. All life infected by them—except humans—animals, plants, fungi, etc., would begin to fuse with the inorganic matter around their bodies, eventually turning into killing machines and various grotesque things. By the time the countries realized this, it was already too late to stop the arrival of the biochemical beast tide."

"I saw a video of the first time the biochemical beast tide swept the world, filmed in a city called Sydney. Rats on the ground sprouted weapon frames from their backs and fired bullets to kill any humans in sight. Cockroaches on the ground fired lasers from their eyes to pierce walls. Birds in the sky, fish in the sea, even crabs—all turned into combinations of machinery and flesh."

Wu Pifu listened silently, feeling more and more strange...

Because this combination of organic and inorganic matter sounded exactly like the one who dropped the Titan Heart fragment he had—that giant.

"But we humans still have hope," Li Muxia said.

Wu Pifu looked at her doubtfully. Before Li Muxia could speak, Tizi and Wang Wang said excitedly, "War-machines!"

Li Muxia affirmed, "Yes, War-machines!"

"After the biochemical beast tide swept through, human casualties were heavy. Almost all original cities, countries, and tribes were scattered and collapsed. That was sixty years ago, twenty years after the biochemical beast tide began to rage, when the first Super War-machine was discovered! It was a tank infected by the biochemical beast virus—or perhaps radiation, whatever it was—that possessed combat power far exceeding most biochemical beasts!!"

Big Brother also shouted from the cockpit, "This fresh water-powered engine is also manufactured by simulating the engine of a Super War-machine, but it requires biochemical beast materials and parts, and it's far less powerful than a Super War-machine."

Wu Pifu nodded silently, then suddenly asked, "If a Super War-machine refers to a super-evolved tank or something, then..."

"What is a Super Soldier?"

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 205 =====