Chapter 4: A Pact of Purified Water, Sister Ai Li's Deal

The icy silence congealed in the wasteland wind. Through the gap, Lin Mo faced off against those hawk-sharp eyes atop the ruin. Sweat mingled with blood slid down his temple, dropping onto the dust-covered carriage floor with a faint *plip*. Every second stretched out, brimming with unknown danger.

He could feel the scrutiny in the other's gaze—cold, precise, stripped of all emotion, as though weighing the worth of a piece of cargo. That chilled him far more than the pure killing intent of the wolf pack. Wasteland survival rule number one: trust is a luxury, and it usually comes with a lethal price tag.

He tightened his grip on the rusty blade, even though he knew the thing was probably meaningless in front of her. He had to break the deadlock!

"I… I mean no harm!" Lin Mo spoke again, his voice hoarse from tension and thirst. "You saved me. I owe you a life. Is there… anything I can do?" He tried to convey goodwill and a willingness to trade—the fragile bond the handbook said might exist between strangers on the wasteland.

The figure atop the ruin finally moved. She slowly lowered the hand crossbow but did not put it away, letting it hang at her side, ready to fire at any moment. Then, like an agile civet, she slid soundlessly down from the ruin several meters high, landing as light as a goose feather, kicking up not a speck of dust.

She began walking toward the carriage. Her pace was unhurried, but every step was remarkably steady, carrying a feline wariness and poise. The hem of her tattered cloak swept over the scorched earth, revealing mud-caked boots and the line of legs outlined by close-fitting trousers.

As the distance closed, Lin Mo could see more clearly. At the edge of the cloak's hood, a few strands of golden short hair, not fully tucked away, poked out, glaringly bright under the dim sky. The cloth mask over her face left only a pair of eyes exposed, but deep within those eyes, beyond the coldness, there seemed to hide a trace of inexpressible weariness and… a certain bone-deep wariness.

She stopped about five meters from the carriage. That distance—close enough to attack, far enough to retreat—showed her rich survival experience. Her gaze swept over the messy battle marks outside the carriage, especially the few wolf corpses, before finally fixing on Lin Mo's face, and through the gap, on the bloodstained bandages on his arm and chest.

"Water." A dry, hoarse voice, like sandpaper scraping, came from beneath the cloth mask. Brief, direct, no wasted words.

Lin Mo was taken aback. Water? She needed water?

He understood in an instant. On the wasteland, clean water was a harder currency than food! She had likely saved him because she had seen him climb into the carriage clutching a canteen! She was gambling—gambling that he might have water, or… a way to get clean water!

"I… I can get clean water!" Lin Mo said at once, his heart pounding. This was the only bargaining chip he had to offer right now! He pointed at the metal canteen in his arms. "I have a water purifier! Just finished! As long as there's dirty water, I can filter it!"

The cloaked woman's gaze sharpened instantly, fixing hard on the canteen. "Prove it." Her voice was still cold, but Lin Mo could sense a trace of barely concealed urgency in it.

Prove it? Lin Mo looked outside the carriage. The bloody smell of the wolf corpses had drawn the pack, but for now it had also driven off the smaller scavengers; the area was relatively safe. He needed a water source to test the purifier, and at the same time… he was so thirsty he was about to burst into flames!

"I need to go out and find some dirty water… surface water will do!" Lin Mo ventured. "Can you… keep me safe?" He pointed outside, his meaning clear: the wolf pack might not be far.

The cloaked woman was silent for a moment, tilting her head slightly as if listening to something. A few seconds later, she nodded. The crossbow lifted slightly, pointing at several directions outside the carriage, like the most loyal sentinel. "Quick." She uttered only one word.

Lin Mo drew a deep breath, carefully moving aside the topmost metal plate blocking the entrance, and clambered out through the gap with effort. Being exposed again in the open made him instinctively hunch his neck. He didn't dare look at the cloaked woman, afraid of causing a misunderstanding; his gaze swept quickly over the surroundings, searching for a possible puddle.

Soon, in a low-lying spot, he found a shallow mud pool. The water was murky, floating with oil and rotting debris, giving off a sickening stench. Classic irradiated sewage!

Lin Mo fought down his nausea, wrapped his hand in a rag, carefully avoided the obvious floating matter, and scooped up half a canteen of murky sewage. The canteen was heavy and cold to handle.

He hugged the canteen and glanced warily at the cloaked woman. She still stood where she was, the crossbow steadily aimed outward, seemingly far more interested in that pot of sewage than in him.

Back inside the relatively "safe" carriage, Lin Mo immediately got to work. He inserted the intake tube into the mouth of the sewage canteen, and aimed the outlet at another broken bowl he had scavenged. His heart pounded wildly with tension and anticipation. This crude device was his key to survival—and the bargaining chip for this trade!

He held his breath and began slowly pouring the sewage. The murky liquid flowed through the plastic tube into the filter layer packed with activated charcoal and rags… time seemed to stretch. One second… two seconds…

At last, one drop, two drops… clear, transparent water beads slowly dripped from the outlet into the battered bowl below! Those droplets were as pure as crystal, refracting a faint but hope-filled light inside the dim carriage!

It worked! The basic water purifier really was effective!

Lin Mo nearly cheered out loud! He forced down his excitement and kept pouring. When a small half-bowl of clear water pooled at the bottom, that pure color, amid the surrounding filth, looked so sacred and precious.

He picked up the bowl and carefully passed it out through the gap, his hand trembling slightly with excitement. "Here… clean water."

The cloaked woman's pupils contracted sharply the instant her gaze touched that bowl of clear water! Even through the cloth mask, Lin Mo could sense the sudden quickening of her breath. She didn't reach for it at once, but used the tip of the crossbow to approach the bowl's edge extremely cautiously, as if confirming something. A few seconds later, she shot out her hand and snatched the bowl in one swift motion, so fast it left an afterimage.

She quickly retreated a few steps, turned her back to Lin Mo, and lifted one corner of her face cloth, revealing a hard-lined jaw and cracked lips. She brought the bowl to her lips—not gulping, but sipping in tiny, extremely restrained mouthfuls; with each swallow, her throat bobbed clearly, as though savoring nectar. The bowl was soon emptied.

She set the bowl down and pulled her face cloth back into place. When she turned around again, Lin Mo noticed that, although her eyes were still cold and sharp, the trace of irritation from thirst deep in them seemed to have faded somewhat.

"Sister Ai Li." She spoke suddenly, her voice still hoarse, but with a few less prickly edges of wariness. "My name."

Sister Ai Li! Lin Mo's heart stirred—the first female lead's name had finally appeared! He hastened to say, "Lin Mo! Thank you for the water, Lin Mo."

Sister Ai Li did not respond to his thanks; her gaze fell once more on the canteen and water purifier in his arms. "Deal." She was concise. "I provide protection, you provide purified water. Until… we find a more stable water source or safe point. Food, your own problem."

This was a proposal for an alliance! Though the terms were harsh, in this perilous wasteland, a powerful companion who knew the terrain was beyond price! Especially given the combat ability and vigilance she had shown.

"Deal!" Lin Mo nodded without hesitation. This was his best option right now. "But… I need time to recover, my wounds…" He pointed at his blood-soaked bandages.

Sister Ai Li's gaze swept over his wounds, her expression unruffled. "Clean them properly. Infection, dead." She finished coldly, picked up the crossbow again, sat down with her back against a piece of wreckage, facing outward, and entered a state of alert. Clearly, she had tacitly accepted this temporary foothold.

The immediate crisis lifted, the taut nerves relaxed, and the pain of his wounds and the exhaustion of his body swept over Lin Mo like a tide. He leaned against the carriage wall, looked at Sister Ai Li's silent, vigilant back outside, then looked down at the water purifier in his arms that could make the water of life, his heart a tangle of feelings. The wasteland's first ally, sealed in the most pragmatic way. But how long could this fragile alliance last?

He took out the wolf meat he had cut earlier, looked at the dark-red, coarsely grained chunk of flesh, then looked at the sewage residue in the water purifier. A thought suddenly struck him: could this water purifier… filter out the radiation toxins in the meat? If it could…