Chapter 15: Rough Hands

Another world.

Inside the temporary camp.

Fang Xing turned on a smart computer he bought from a secondhand market.

“Begin data transmission!”

His fingers flew across the keyboard, and scene after scene appeared.

These included vast amounts of video footage captured by simulated bird-type drones, as well as recordings from beetle surveillance devices.

“Hmm, definitely an ancient agricultural society… farming techniques are extremely primitive.”

The most frequent footage showed farming.

Watching one after another ragged “peasant” sweat profusely with face to the soil and back to the sky, Fang Xing fell silent.

Because these “peasants” were at least first- or second-rank martial artists, and even occasional Pure Jade Realm cultivators appeared!

Fortunately, the local Pure Jade Realm martial artists were generally careless—or had never seen simulated surveillance equipment—so they noticed no flaws.

Most of these martial artist-peasants worked in silence, their faces numb, devoid of vitality.

Only rarely did they exchange a few words.

After many days of collection, data on lip movements and pronunciation was now complete.

Fang Xing’s task was to let the smart brain perform the final integration, then learn this new language!

“Too bad there’s no learning device, but I don’t need much time to master this language…”

After all, he was an outstanding student of exam-oriented education, and Fang Xing had considerable confidence in this regard.

Martial cultivation is essentially a form of evolution—memory capacity and mental agility both increase dramatically with each realm advancement!

“So martial artists here can only farm or collect manure, or else brave the wilderness?”

Watching the secondhand laptop organize and analyze data, Fang Xing began scanning the surveillance footage, trying to understand this world’s martial artist ecology.

He had seen martial artists farming, hauling manure carts, and venturing out—most lived in dire poverty, with only Pure Jade Realm martial artists enjoying slightly better lives.

“Beyond that, there are people of higher status…”

Fang Xing opened a surveillance clip, filmed from extreme distance: a slightly chubby middle-aged man in silk robes, dressed like a squire, was going door to door collecting supplies—including rice, ore, herbs, and even the sand crystals he himself possessed…

In the end, several large carts were filled to capacity and taken away, escorted by Pure Jade Realm martial artists who clearly held lower status before this squire, showing great deference, even reverence.

This was not merely a matter of social rank—it likely stemmed from power.

This short, stout squire appeared capable of killing several Pure Jade Realm martial artists!

“Talisman…”

Fang Xing recalled the talisman used by the leader of the four-man exploration team, and the image of the Golden Bell Shield—he made a quiet judgment.

“For now, the priority is to learn the local language, then change clothes and attempt contact…”

..￠o

He glanced at the secondhand computer screen and saw the translation progress for “Alien Language” was still under 10%.

“Still time—huh?”

At that moment, Fang Xing ordered the initial patrol drone to transmit another image.

In the footage, a woman in tattered clothes, covered in bloodied wounds, was fleeing desperately.

Judging by her direction, she would reach the temporary camp in just a few minutes.

“Huh? Another victim of that boar?”

Fang Xing frowned.

The nearby beast was astonishingly powerful.

Aside from the Pure Jade Realm leader of the earlier four-man team who barely escaped using a talisman, every other herb collector who encountered it died without fail—literally a herb collector killer.

Even the corpses of those collectors ended up inside the boar’s belly, leaving no remains.

This woman, without even looking, was clearly another herb collector, driven to desperation by that boar.

“But why did she run straight to me?”

Fang Xing felt a headache coming on.

“From her speed and build, she’s below third rank—probably second rank. She likely has no dangerous items; otherwise, even one talisman would’ve saved her from being driven this far.”

He sighed, activated his protective suit to cover his entire body—including eyes, ears, mouth, and nose—and picked up the electric baton: “I’ll go take a look…”

…

Whoosh!

A shadow darted past a thicket of thorny bushes as Xue Yuling used her movement technique.

She was tall and slender, with pale skin and long legs that had once made even Immortal Masters linger in admiration.

Had it not been for hardship, she would never have ventured out alone to collect herbs.

“Damn it, I was tricked!”

“The price for Qinglin Workshop’s ‘Zhu Long Grass’ went up—of course collecting became more dangerous… Those above won’t leave us even the tiniest opening.”

Xue Yuling gritted her teeth.

Competition in the market was fierce; rumors said some female Immortal Masters specialized in seduction techniques and had come down to snatch the bread from others’ mouths.

Though the half-door trade could keep her from starving, it barely sufficed.

Buying spiritual rice or pills to enhance her martial arts was pure fantasy.

So she had no choice but to come—and who could have imagined she’d encounter a boar beast that had just ascended a minor rank? Her entire team was wiped out, and now she was reduced to this pitiful state.

‘Almost there… Just a little farther, and there’s a river—I can jump in and escape!’

Xue Yuling wasn’t certain whether the boar beast still pursued her, but having endured hardship since childhood, she always assumed the worst-case scenario.

The rivers of the Wilds were extremely dangerous—but they could wash away her scent, making them her only possible lifeline!

Suddenly!

She saw movement ahead in the grass—a silver-white humanoid monster leapt out!

“What the hell is that?”

Xue Yuling cried out sharply, but her ruthless nature, forged in the underworld, left no hesitation—she flicked her wrist, and three dark projectiles shot forth like flying stars, striking Fang Xing squarely on the chest.

“Poisoned darts?”

Fang Xing froze, then saw three throwing stars fall to the ground, their sharp edges glowing blue—clearly coated in deadly poison.

Fortunately, his nanotech suit was unbroken, absorbing much of the impact; he only felt a dull pressure on his chest.

“You dared strike first? In any world, this qualifies as self-defense!”

Fang Xing roared and brought down his electric baton.

“What strange noise?”

Xue Yuling didn’t understand Fang Xing’s language, but that didn’t stop her from drawing an iron judge’s pen, blocking the baton with exquisite precision.

The pen tip trembled slightly, targeting several major acupoints on Fang Xing’s body—clearly concealing devastating counterattacks.

This “Storm Pen” technique, if applied in the mortal martial world, would be considered a supreme masterpiece!

Ding!

Feeling the force transmitted through the judge’s pen, Xue Yuling relaxed: “This monster’s strength is weak…”

But the next instant, she was horrified to see sparks of electricity flash along the black rod in his hand!

A terrifying current surged through her, hurling her backward, and she collapsed on the ground, convulsing.

“Blood-refined artifact? You have a blood-refined artifact?!”

Xue Yuling stared at the approaching humanoid monster, confirmed it was human, and cried out: “Great sir, spare me!”

Combined with her delicate features, she looked truly pitiable.

“What are you saying? I don’t understand!”

From her few words, Fang Xing guessed mostly the word “you,” but understood she was begging for mercy.

Too bad…

“The prettier the woman, the more trouble—so die!”

Fang Xing jabbed with his baton.

Sizzle!

A stream of silver-white electricity shot from the baton’s tip, striking Xue Yuling’s forehead precisely.

“This company lied—claimed it could knock out an elephant. This woman’s still talking… Better zap her a few more times, just in case.”

Fang Xing poked her with the baton, confirmed she was dead, then slipped on rubber gloves and approached to search the body.

She didn’t know—he had the drone’s heavenly eye, and thus knew the beast had long since abandoned pursuit.

Her so-called “escape route” was, in fact, a dead end.

Who knew—if she came back to life—would she be so furious she’d die again?

“Wait… Is this my first kill? Should I throw up?”

Fang Xing realized belatedly, took deep breaths, and calmed himself.

￠o

Fine…

Perhaps the absurdity of his transmigration, combined with the memories of his predecessor’s suffering as a bio-engineered being…

In short, he found his emotions weren’t anxious or fearful at all…

After several deep breaths, only calm remained—calmly, he began searching the body.

“Good figure…”

"Loot... a pair of judgment brushes, one money pouch, three jade bottles... Huh? There's also a book?"

Fang Xing picked up a book in his hand.

The paper was ordinary, bound with thread, the pages yellowed and marked with insect damage and stains.

On the cover, four alien script characters were written in bold, flowing strokes—Fang Xing didn’t recognize a single one.

"A valuable find..."

Yet he didn’t disdain it: "This is excellent research data—take it to the AI for analysis; it’ll greatly accelerate decryption progress!"

As for the money pouch?

Inside, he found only three grains of sand, identical to the ones he’d obtained before.

"Looks... somewhat like a medium of exchange? So I now have seven coins in total?"

Fang Xing rubbed his chin and turned his gaze to the jade bottles.

Two of the bottles had been opened; he dared not risk smelling them, let alone swallowing anything—he planned to test them first with poison-detection strips and white mice.

The last bottle still had its wax seal intact, unopened and undamaged.

On its body were carved three alien script characters—he still couldn’t read them.

'What’s the probability this sealed bottle contains poison?'

'As a trap? Would humans in this world really eat loot taken directly from enemies?'