When Shi Lei awoke from his deep slumber, the first thing he saw was Ling Feng, sitting cross-legged in the center of the shelter.
Something was different.
Shi Lei rubbed his sleepy eyes and studied his friend carefully. It was still the same Ling Feng, but the aura around him had undergone an indescribable transformation. If the previous Ling Feng was a sharp dagger hidden in its sheath, the current one was like a piece of calm, silent obsidian that could reflect the stars—profound, and containing a daunting, restrained power.
What surprised Shi Lei the most were the three crates of energy lattices they had brought back. The lid of one crate was open, and half of the lattices inside had dimmed, as if most of their energy had been drained.
"Feng... you didn't sleep all night?" Shi Lei asked with concern, assuming Ling Feng had been up all night studying some new device due to nervousness.
Ling Feng slowly opened his eyes.
In their depths, a sprinkle of starlight seemed to flash and then disappear.
"I slept," Ling Feng's voice held an unprecedented steadiness and confidence. "And I've never felt better."
He didn't explain the esoteric "Stellar Transformation" technique in detail, but rather summarized it in a way Shi Lei could understand.
"I told you before that I found some ancient records. I've now discovered they're more than just records; they're more like an... inheritance." Ling Feng looked at his own palm. "It taught me a new, more efficient way to use my spiritual energy. It allows me to get stronger, much faster."
To prove his point, Ling Feng's gaze shifted to a giant wrench in the corner, one made from a caterpillar track plate that weighed dozens of kilograms, which Shi Lei kept as a backup weapon.
He reached out his hand and made a grasping motion.
Before Shi Lei's once-again-widened eyes, the heavy wrench, which he himself could barely wield with two hands, hummed softly. Trembling, it floated up from the ground, inch by inch!
Although it still looked strenuous, compared to barely being able to lift a single nut before, the improvement was simply worlds apart!
"Holy... crap..." Shi Lei's mouth was open wide enough to fit a fist.
"This is just the beginning." Ling Feng dispersed his telekinetic power, and the wrench fell back to the ground with a clang. He looked at Shi Lei, his expression becoming incredibly serious. "But my strength alone is far from enough. I need time to get used to this power, and I need more energy lattices to cultivate. And while I'm training, I need a pair of eyes to see the outside world for me, and a pair of ears to filter out all the noise."
Shi Lei immediately understood what Ling Feng meant.
His brain, which had been a bit sluggish from the shock, began to spin rapidly.
"I get it!" He slapped his chest. "You're the 'Whetstone,' responsible for sharpening our blade! And I'm the 'Wind-Listener,' responsible for gathering all the intel from outside!"
This division of labor filled him with an unprecedented sense of excitement and mission. He was no longer a burden who could only cheer from the sidelines, but an indispensable part of this war!
The two decided on a new battle plan.
The next two days would be their accumulation period. Ling Feng would stay in this absolutely safe shelter, using the energy lattices to cultivate "Stellar Transformation" with all his might, turning his newly acquired knowledge into real power.
Shi Lei, on the other hand, would be responsible for all their logistics and, most importantly, intelligence gathering.
That afternoon, Shi Lei went out for his first reconnaissance mission.
He changed into a set of the most inconspicuous, tattered clothes worn by scavengers, smeared some grease on his face, and blended into the crowd like a drop of water into a gutter, completely unnoticeable.
When he returned that evening, the news he brought back made the air in the shelter heavy.
"The situation is even worse than we thought." Shi Lei's face was grim. "Buck has gone completely crazy. He raised the bounty to fifty thousand. Every notorious desperado in the Rust Belt is seeing red. The Iron Fist Gang's men are like mad dogs, searching door-to-door. The slightest resistance is met with a brutal beating. Everyone out there is living in fear."
Ling Feng listened quietly, saying nothing.
"And..." Shi Lei's voice dropped even lower. "To make an example of someone, and to force us out of hiding, Buck has announced that at noon tomorrow, in the central scrap iron square of the Rust Belt, he will publicly 'execute' a group of people who 'don't follow the rules.'"
"Execute who?" Ling Feng's gaze turned cold.
"It's Auntie Wang and her family." Shi Lei's fists clenched so tightly they cracked. "The same Auntie Wang who sold us the synthetic meat patties at the Ash Market! Her husband died of illness a few years ago, and she's been raising two kids on her own by running a small business. The Iron Fist Gang accused her of being our accomplice and arrested her and her two children, who are not even ten years old!"
A deathly silence fell over the shelter.
Ling Feng closed his eyes.
In his mind, he saw the image of the simple woman at the Ash Market who had secretly given him an extra meat patty.
He saw the faces of her two children, thin but sensible.
He had thought this was a war between him and the Iron Fist Gang.
But Buck, with the most despicable and shameless means, had dragged innocent, ordinary people into this bloody game.
After a long time, Ling Feng opened his eyes again.
All emotion had vanished from them, leaving only a chilling killing intent, as cold as ancient, black ice.
He looked at Shi Lei and said slowly, word by word:
"Tell me the time and place."
"Tomorrow's execution,"
"We will be there to observe."