Chapter Three: Monster Cards

After passing by, Lu Sheng acted swiftly and decisively; hesitation would only lead to defeat. If he missed this opportunity, who knew when he’d encounter another immobilized monster. He raised the machete high above his head and brought it down with all his strength, aiming for the neck of the razor-tusked boar.

Bang!

The blade struck the boar’s forehead, but only sank halfway in, causing the creature to howl in agony.

Wei Liang approached, amused. “Your strength isn’t quite there. Watch me.”

What? He’s trying to steal my kill—no way!

“Captain, this is my first success here—I want to do it myself!” Lu Sheng hurried to stop him, yanked the blade free, and hacked madly at the boar’s skull. Amid the shrieks, flesh and blood splattered.

Panting heavily, Lu Sheng looked down at the beast, now battered beyond recognition, blood pooled on the ground. Some had inevitably splashed onto him as well.

The razor-tusked boar was utterly dead. A gray aura rose from its body, entering Lu Sheng without anyone noticing.

[Razor-Tusked Boar Card +1]

A prompt appeared before him in virtual script, and he sensed a new card in his card space.

The card space appeared once a person awakened their life-bound card. It was a sanctuary for cards; any card could be stored within, with, for now, no limit to the number.

He focused his mind inside the card space. Two white cards greeted him:

[Razor-Tusked Boar]
Quality: White
Level: Tier One, Early Stage
Skill: Piglet Summon (Summon seven piglets to assist)

[Space-Time Ant]
Quality: White
Level: Tier One, Early Stage
Skill: Storage Space (1 cubic meter)

The Space-Time Ant card was covered in cracks, as if it might shatter at any moment, distressing to look at.

There was a distinction between life-bound and non-life-bound cards. Only leveling up a life-bound card would feed back into one’s own body, enhancing physical attributes.

"Very good, you’ve adapted quickly." Wei Liang was pleasantly surprised by Lu Sheng’s performance, though given the apocalypse, it was to be expected.

He asked Lu Sheng to dissect the boar’s corpse and clear out the innards. Lu Sheng struggled several times to suppress his nausea.

Once he’d cleaned out all the entrails by hand, Wei Liang produced a card and stored the corpse within. As he saw the card, inherited memories surfaced.

Storage Card: White quality, with ten cubic meters of space. A commonly used utility card, graded only by quality, not tier. White was ubiquitous; the higher the quality, the rarer it was. Green quality was out of reach for ordinary people.

Lu Sheng found opportunities to kill two more razor-tusked boars, both trapped by Wang Ziping’s spider webs. To his surprise, these two boar cards were blank, devoid of any skills, unlike his first, which had the piglet summon.

Could it be... the first was a female?

He had many ideas for the skill—for example, summoning piglets and then killing them himself to see if he could obtain their cards. Could this be exploited?

It wasn’t convenient to experiment now, so he suppressed his curiosity.

After the battle, the team withdrew in an orderly fashion. The entire area’s razor-tusked boars had been wiped out. This cleared instance would only exist for an hour before disappearing.

He could now use the boar cards to repair the Space-Time Ant, though one or two would likely have little effect; it wasn’t something to be rushed. If he could kill piglets and turn them into cards, repeating the process—self-sustaining production and consumption—then repairs would be no issue.

Back in the group, Wei Liang praised Lu Sheng’s performance without reservation.

But someone couldn’t stand it.

“Captain, you can’t praise him to the sky. What’s so great about killing a few immobilized wild boars?”

"Hong Shang, watch your words. You need to get along with your teammates."

"Captain, it’s been ten years since the apocalypse. Being too kind isn’t good—you’ll suffer for it."

Hong Shang spoke with the air of someone who’d seen it all.

Wei Liang turned to Lu Sheng. “Ignore him. He’s hardened by betrayal, but deep down he’s still good.”

Hong Shang scoffed. “Hmph, say what you like, I’m no good guy…”

Whether Wei Liang had hit a nerve or Hong Shang simply didn’t want to continue, he left.

“Lu Sheng, though vigilance and caution are necessary now, remember—people must retain their humanity. Without it, we’re nothing.”

Wei Liang seemed to have opened up, chatting with Lu Sheng all the way to their destination.

From Wei Liang’s stories, Lu Sheng learned of his past.

It was a tragic tale: Wei Liang hadn’t always been at Gale Gathering Point. He started in the Demon Wolf Gathering Point, working on the cleanup team.

He was only ten then, always bullied, forced to do the dirtiest, hardest jobs. The meat allocated by the settlement rarely reached him; he survived on scraps. This life lasted five years, until his hunger finally drove him to resist.

Years of malnutrition left him too weak to fight back. He was beaten mercilessly and expelled from the settlement.

Afterwards, he wandered, dazed and hopeless, expecting to die and be freed from suffering.

Fate was strange. On the verge of death, he stumbled upon Gale Gathering Point. In that moment, he saw hope and didn’t want to die after all.

Like Lu Sheng, he approached Gale Gathering Point and, by luck, joined the cleanup team.

He worked for a year, eventually outlasting the captain. His skill and experience earned him the new captaincy.

Today, seeing Lu Sheng’s arrival reminded him of his own past, stirring his emotions and prompting special care.

From this, Lu Sheng learned Wei Liang was only sixteen—same age as his current body.

But looking at Wei Liang’s weathered face, Lu Sheng could scarcely believe he was just sixteen.

They pressed on. Lu Sheng recalled joining at noon; now, dusk was approaching.

Along the way, they encountered scattered instances, but none handled by Team Seven, so Lu Sheng gained nothing.

Now they reached their destination—a small village. According to Wei Liang, it was called Oxhorn Village.

They’d investigated beforehand: goblins now occupied the village, numbering four to five hundred. If they exterminated them all, they could claim the houses and establish a new settlement.

Goblins: creatures about 1.4 meters tall, with green skin, potbellies, pointed ears, sharp teeth, greedy by nature.

Battle began as soon as they arrived. Gale Gathering Point was well prepared; with night falling and work ahead, they wouldn’t drag things out with these monsters.

The goblins weren’t particularly strong; even Wei Liang, who hadn’t awakened, could take a machete and hack a lone goblin to death.

Seeing this, Lu Sheng decided to find a goblin to practice on. A 1.4-meter-tall dwarf—surely he could handle it?

He charged forward, relying on his own size to launch a direct attack.

The goblin wielded a black, barbed club—looking nearly metallic.

Their weapons clashed, and Lu Sheng felt a surge of force driving him back.

That club wasn’t wood; it was like iron, so hard it sent his machete flying.

This sobered Lu Sheng. These were monsters, not mere dwarfs. Their physique couldn’t be judged by size alone.

His habitual thinking had misled him, equating strength with size.

Fortunately, goblins weren’t overwhelmingly powerful—he could still manage.