Chapter 53: Chapter 52: Battle and Decision
「June 13th, morning.」
Guan Tong was clearing the snow on the path with a folding shovel, while the little girl, Chen Na, stood not far ahead.
Over the past few days, she and her mother, Wang Yan, had gotten to know Guan Tong. Just yesterday, they had traded food; Wang Yan had exchanged a carton of milk for a bag of Guan Tong’s cookies.
"Brother Guan Tong, do you have to shovel snow every day?" Chen Na asked, squatting on the snowbank to the left of the path and looking down at the busy Guan Tong.
Nearly half a month had passed, and the snow piled on both sides of the path was now over half a person tall. When Guan Tong stood up straight in the path, the snowbanks on either side came up to his waist.
"Yes, I have to shovel every day," Guan Tong said. "If I just leave it, it’ll pile up so much that I won’t be able to get out of my camp."
"Ohh~"
"Nana." Wang Yan’s voice came from nearby. Chen Na called back in reply and ran over.
Not long after, Wang Yan walked over with a small shovel. "Guan," she said to Guan Tong, "let me help you shovel."
Guan Tong quickly replied, "That’s okay, Wang. I can manage on my own."
Wang Yan smiled. "It’s no problem. I’ve finished clearing the snow by my car, and I’m just idle otherwise. Really, Guan, don’t stand on ceremony."
A grateful smile appeared on Guan Tong’s face. "Alright then. Thanks, Wang."
With Wang Yan’s help, clearing the snow from the path went much faster.
After the two of them had been working for a while, Chen Na came over to help too. The three of them chatted as they worked.
"Guan, have you been online the last few days? A lot of cities have had their water cut off and electricity rationed. So many apartment buildings and malls have collapsed under the snow. I’ve seen tons of videos of the collapses. I can’t imagine how many people were killed. It’s absolutely terrifying."
"I haven’t really looked," Guan Tong said.
Ever since coming to Mingdao Mountain, he’d barely looked at his phone.
Partly to save power, and partly because he felt there wasn’t anything worth seeing.
Just like Wang said, the internet was filled with nothing but news about the disaster situations in various places.
Guan Tong had no desire to see any of it. Watching would only depress him, so it was better not to look at all.
Wang Yan said, "It sounds like even Yong’an got hit hard this time. And that’s the Capital, you know."
"The Capital has the largest population in the country, so I suppose the snowfall would be heaviest there," Guan Tong said.
"That makes sense. Still, I think we have to go to the Capital. No other place compares. Think about it—all the important people live there. When other rules come, it’s bound to be the safest place."
Wang Yan’s tone was resolute. Guan Tong heard this and asked, "So, from the sound of it, Wang, you’re planning to take Na to Yong’an later on?"
Wang Yan nodded. "I made up my mind before I even left my village. As soon as this snow disaster rule is over, I’m taking my daughter and driving my truck along the national highway to the Capital."
Guan Tong thought for a moment. "But I heard that the program for free housing applications in the Capital has been suspended. After this disaster, a lot of buildings will probably have collapsed, making the housing situation even more dire. Wang, aren’t you worried you and Na will have nowhere to live if you go?"
Wang Yan laughed. "Listen to you. It’s the Capital, a huge city! You think there won’t be a place for me and my girl? Worst case, we can just sleep in the truck. As long as we can get a foothold and I can get my daughter into a school in the Capital, I can rest easy."
"Mama!"
Just then, Chen Na, who was further up the path, suddenly cried out, drawing the attention of both Wang Yan and Guan Tong.
Wang Yan immediately ran over, scooping up her terrified daughter. "What’s wrong, Nana?!" she asked urgently.
"There’s... there’s something coming down the mountain!" Chen Na said, terrified. "It’s really, really fast!"
’What?’
Hearing this, Guan Tong scrambled out of the path and onto the snowbank. He stood up and scanned the slopes of Mingdao Mountain, but saw nothing.
He shouted, "Na, where’s the thing you saw?"
"I... I didn’t see it..."
Guan Tong froze. But Wang Yan spoke quickly, "Guan, my daughter can sense things moving nearby! If she says something’s there, it’s there!"
’Sense things moving nearby? Is that an ability from some kind of Psychic Power item?’
Just as Guan Tong was thinking this, he suddenly spotted a black shape hurtling down the mountain. He focused his gaze and instantly recognized it.
"It’s a wild boar!"
"Quick, Guan!" Wang Yan’s expression changed dramatically. She immediately hugged her daughter and ran toward her truck. "Get in the truck with us and hide!"
"Right!"
Guan Tong started to follow Wang Yan, but after just a few steps, he abruptly stopped and whipped his head around.
The wild boar, having descended the mountain, was charging straight for his camp!
’All my supplies are in the camp! If that boar ruins them, what am I going to do for the next two-plus weeks? Live off Wang Yan? Sleep in her truck? But what if she doesn’t have enough food for all of us?’
’No way!’
Guan Tong couldn’t bear the thought of the camp he’d spent half a month painstakingly building being destroyed by a wild boar. He gritted his teeth, spun around, and ran back toward it.
By now, Wang Yan had gotten into the truck with her daughter, Chen Na. When she saw Guan Tong running toward the boar, she paled with fright, thinking it was too dangerous. "Guan! Guan!" she screamed.
Guan Tong heard her shouts, but his mind was made up.
’Besides, it’s not like I’m completely helpless against one wild boar. If I can make good use of the path I’ve cleared, and with Shadow’s help... I can win!’
Guan Tong ran along the top of the snowbank and back to his camp. Sure enough, the wild boar was there, rooting through his food-filled backpack with a series of grunts and squeals.
"You animal!"
Guan Tong’s low growl immediately caught the boar’s attention.
It turned its head, its beady little eyes darting about, but it didn’t seem to spot Guan Tong on the snowbank above.
The snowbanks on either side of the path were over a meter high. And while a wild boar is tough, thick-skinned, and ferocious, its greatest weakness is that it’s short and has stubby legs.
’If I can just use the height difference to trap this beast in the path...’
Guan Tong waved his hand, and the Wordless Book instantly appeared.
"Shadow, come out!"
The pages of the book fluttered, and Shadow emerged from them in an incorporeal form. It ’swam’ down into the path, and as it circled to the wild boar’s side, it suddenly solidified!
"SNORT!"
Seeing the solidified Shadow appear beside it, the wild boar immediately lowered its head and rammed viciously into Shadow’s leg.
If Guan Tong had been standing there, that single blow might have broken a bone. But this was Shadow—it felt no pain, its injuries could be healed instantly by consuming Psychic Power, and its stamina was infinite!
’Go!’
At Guan Tong’s command, Shadow spread its arms and lunged at the boar. It locked its arms brutally around the animal’s thick neck, then used its strength to flip it onto its side, refusing to let go.
The wild boar’s four legs kicked wildly as it grunted and squealed, trying to struggle free.
But Shadow had infinite stamina for as long as it was manifested. Even if its raw strength was less than the boar’s, that limitless energy was enough to restrain the beast for a short while in the narrow path.
Guan Tong’s Psychic Power was draining rapidly. He knew he had to finish off the boar before it was all gone. Otherwise, without Shadow’s assistance, fighting the boar alone would be incredibly dangerous.
He didn’t dare waste a second. He immediately jumped down into the path and smacked the boar’s head a few times with his folding shovel. But the animal’s hide was thick and tough; a few hits from the shovel left it still thrashing about, full of fight.
’It’s no use. This shovel isn’t hard enough.’
Guan Tong made a split-second decision. He turned and rushed into his camp, grabbing the pair of heavy bolt cutters he’d taken from the supply point.
This thing was much heavier and harder than the folding shovel.
Guan Tong gripped it with both hands and brought it down hard on the boar’s head!
SQUELCH!
The blow drew blood from the boar’s head.
"SQUEAL!!!"
The injury and the sight of its own blood seemed to enrage the boar, and it began to struggle even more violently. Shadow had its arms wrapped around the boar’s neck and its legs locked around the animal’s hindquarters, but it was quickly losing its grip.
Guan Tong knew that with these animals, the more you hurt them, the crazier they get. He had to end this, fast!
CRACK! THUD! SPLAT!
Swinging the heavy bolt cutters with both hands, Guan Tong put all his strength into every blow!
After eight or nine consecutive blows, the boar’s head was a mess of split skin and mangled flesh. Its struggles subsided dramatically, and its hind legs twitched and then went rigid. It was clearly finished.
But Guan Tong didn’t dare let his guard down. Just to be safe, he struck it another dozen times, only stopping when his arms gave out. He dropped the bolt cutters and collapsed onto the ground, gasping for breath.
"Hah... huff... huff..."
Shadow had already dissipated. All that remained in the path was Guan Tong, slumped on the ground, and the motionless wild boar, its head a bloody, mangled ruin.
Even though the boar was dead beyond any doubt, Guan Tong’s expression held no joy.
’A single wild boar forced me to exhaust my Psychic Power and rely on the terrain just to win. What would I do if two showed up at once? Or if I ran into an even stronger beast...?’
It was a question people in modern cities almost never had to consider. Normally, people only thought about what to eat, what to do for fun, or how their jobs and relationships were going. What kind of sane person needed to figure out how to fight a wild animal?
But this was the era of the Apocalypse Rules.
Who knew if some future rule would force people to leave the cities and live in the remote mountains and forests just to survive?
Problems that never needed a second thought before now had to be considered for the sake of survival.
’A weapon. I need a weapon I can grab and use at a moment’s notice. And a melee weapon isn’t going to cut it.’
’Relying on Shadow alone isn’t enough sometimes,’ Guan Tong thought.
’Imagine if I had a gun. Wouldn’t dealing with boars, other beasts, or even enemies be a whole lot easier?’
Guan Tong looked at the boar’s carcass and made a decision.
’In a few days, after I finish the Coinage, I’m not going to write ’Sublimation Coin’ on the second page of the Wordless Book anymore... I’m going to try writing... ’Shotgun’.’
