“This...”
The group hadn't expected Li Ban to ask that.
Xie Xiaowu was the first to speak. Her tone was a bit more respectful than before, and her gaze kept flicking to Li Ban’s arm.
"Vice Captain, there really isn't a good way to defend against that black liquid. Wood, metal, flesh, and skin—it corrodes all of it. Stone corrodes a bit slower, but we can't exactly get close to the nest lugging rocks around."
Liu Yi nodded. "That's right, Vice Captain. We actually don't even need to attack the nest. It eats almost everything it drags back anyway."
It ate everything?
Li Ban raised the Iron-Eating Sword and inspected it. The blade was somewhat chipped, but that corrosion came from the black webs, which weren't nearly as terrifying as the black liquid.
But Li Ban had a feeling that the black webs and the black liquid were fundamentally the same thing.
They merely leaned toward different functions when they manifested.
After checking their haul—which was enough to complete the mission—Li Ban decided to head back to the camp.
"But why is the black rye able to grow inside it?"
On the way back, Li Ban was still thinking about the monster nest.
"It probably isn't growing inside," Zhu Yao said from her seat beside him. "The nest leaves some resources that people value just outside its mouth. That was how it used to lure in prey. It's just that everyone knows nothing is left inside now, so no one falls for it anymore."
Li Ban nodded. Suddenly, he remembered something else. "By the way, do you know what that fine fuzz near the nest is?"
Zhu Yao paused. "What fuzz?"
Li Ban briefly described its appearance.
Zhu Yao shook her head in confusion. "I've never seen anything like that. You saw this fine fuzz in the rooms near the nest?"
"Not just the nearby rooms. I actually saw the fuzz on the ceiling right above the nest, right next to the monsters that spray the webs."
Li Ban had only noticed it when he started tearing apart the web-spraying bodies for waste elements.
Because the fuzz was so fine and small, and lacked any aggressive behavior, it wasn't until the ceiling started peeling and dropping plaster that Li Ban realized it was covered in the same fuzz he'd seen next door.
The fine fuzz looked as harmless as moss on the ground.
But it covered far too large an area.
Even in a place crawling with monsters like this, there was barely a trace of it being damaged.
Li Ban was a little curious about why the fuzz grew there and what it did.
He just hadn't expected that Zhu Yao wouldn't have seen it either.
"That's normal." Zhu Yao's gaze shifted to the team members on the other Tricycles. "Monsters are always changing."
Li Ban also felt the fuzz was a monster.
It was just somewhat different from the others.
The previous monsters ate humans and other monsters alike, but this fuzz coexisted peacefully with the rest.
It didn't eat the other monsters, and they didn't seem interested in it either.
That made Li Ban slightly concerned.
But only "slightly."
After all, he wasn't planning to become a "monsterologist" at the Recycling Station.
The three Tricycles, fully loaded with goods of all sizes, returned to the camp.
The moment they passed through the camp gates, they saw a crowd gathered.
Li Ban let the team members return the vehicles while Zhu Yao volunteered to hand in the mission. Curious, he walked over to look at the old man wailing and slapping his thighs.
"The second time! The second time! I'm telling you, someone is targeting the garbage collector!"
Li Ban asked a bystander, "What happened?"
The bystander, who had probably explained it several times already, looked over impatiently. The moment he recognized Li Ban, his expression changed.
"Vice Captain Li!"
Although Li Ban had only been a Vice Captain for a couple of days, he was already famous in this relatively small camp.
He had arrived less than ten days ago and immediately became a Vice Captain.
Moreover, he was a Vice Captain exempt from daily camp defense duties, leading a squad of members "selected" by the other Vice Captains and heading out every single day.
The ordinary people in the camp didn't know Li Ban's true capabilities or background, so they treated him with an extra layer of caution.
The previously impatient man immediately explained, "Zhu Yao and Ed used to be the ones in charge of taking out the garbage. After they joined your team, Old Man Xue took over the job. Who could have guessed he'd go twice, and both times, his handcart would get robbed right after he finished dumping the trash?"
Li Ban raised an eyebrow. "People actually rob garbage carts? Twice?"
A wooden handcart had zero technical value.
Even if they had a specific need and were in a rush, robbing one cart should have been enough.
Old Man Xue just considered himself unlucky. Figuring the robber wouldn't strike again the next day, he took the task a second time.
Unexpectedly, at the exact same time and place the next day, he was robbed again!
Li Ban found it amusing, but he soon remembered that he, too, had been robbed once.
By one person using a bow and arrow, and another fighting in close combat.
Back then, Li Ban felt the close-combat attacker's silhouette resembled the Cat Girl. However, she ran too fast, and he hadn't discovered waste elements yet, so naturally, he hadn't expended spiritual rhinoceros to track her.
He hadn't expected a garbage cart robber to appear now.
Li Ban thought for a moment, walked forward, and crouched in front of Old Man Xue, who was still crying on the ground.
"Did you see what the person who robbed you looked like?"
Seeing Li Ban come over, Old Man Xue hurriedly wiped away his tears. "Vice Captain Li, you have to help me! I really can't afford to pay for a handcart!"
Li Ban dodged the old man's grasping hands. "Tell me what happened first. If there are no clues, I can't exactly scour the world looking for a wandering bandit."
"Right, right." Old Man Xue stood up, following Li Ban's lead. "I... I didn't get a clear look at the bandit. But they always strike when I'm heading back after dumping the garbage."
"They shove me from behind, poke the back of my head with something really sharp, and then press my face into the dirt, telling me they'll kill me if I get up."
"The first time, I waited until they were far away before looking up. The second time—"
"Old Man Xue," the spectator beside Li Ban scolded. "Cut the crap and give us the clues about the bandit!"
Old Man Xue needed Li Ban's help, but he wasn't afraid of the spectator. He glared at the man. "I was just getting to it before you interrupted me!"
However, afraid that Li Ban would lose his patience, he quickly turned back after snapping at the man. "Vice Captain Li, the second time, I secretly looked up early. The bandit seemed to be alone. She had her back to me and was very skinny, but she possessed beast blood—she had a pair of cat ears!"
Cat ears?
Li Ban... could hardly sit still anymore.
Although he knew that having cat ears didn't necessarily make someone the Cat Girl, and even if it was her, she wouldn't be the Cat Girl from his timeline.
He still wanted to take a look.
The Cat Girl is powerful, agile, and never yields. Since I plan to build a team to leave the camp, bringing her along would be highly beneficial...
Thinking this, Li Ban pressed a hand to Old Man Xue's shoulder. "Tomorrow morning, take the garbage collection task again."
Old Man Xue froze for a moment before realizing what he meant. "Alright! Okay! Vice Captain Li, you have to catch that bandit. I bet she's stolen a lot of things from the camp."
Li Ban didn't make any absolute promises. "Perhaps she won't come a third time. But we still have to try."
Old Man Xue was already overjoyed just seeing that Li Ban was willing to help him.
Under normal circumstances, no one in the camp would ever step up to avenge him.
People were doing well enough just surviving on their own.
Early the next morning, right at daybreak, Old Man Xue pulled the handcart, head lowered as he trudged toward the mud pit.
His handcart was loaded with five large sacks of garbage, more than what Zhu Yao used to take out in several trips combined.
He slung the cloth ropes tied to the cart's handles over his shoulders and wrapped cloth strips around his arms to increase friction against the old wood.
Old Man Xue's upper body bent low; the garbage cart loaded with five gunny sacks nearly crushed him into the dirt.
Compared to the two-person duo of Zhu Yao and Ed, taking on the garbage collection task alone was visibly much more strenuous for him.
But for tomorrow's—or perhaps the day after tomorrow's—wheat flatbread, even with his aging, decaying body, he had to work until he died.
Or until he turned into a monster.
In order to prevent that detestable thief from spotting anything amiss, Old Man Xue put on quite a performance as he pulled the cart.
The new Vice Captain was someone whose passion hadn't completely died out yet; he was willing to secretly follow behind him and help catch the thief.
He couldn't let the thief discover that in advance.
But wasn't this journey a little too quiet?
Initially, Old Man Xue had just been checking his left and right, but eventually, he couldn't help constantly glancing behind him.
They were already in an open plain. Within a hundred meters of the small path, there were no woods or hills capable of hiding a person.
Where did Vice Captain Li go?
Had he really followed him?
Could he be playing a trick on him?
Because he had woken up earlier than Zhu Yao and stolen their garbage collection task?
Could that cat-eared little thief have been sent by them?
Was he teaming up with the cat-eared thief to kill him?
Growing more panicked with every step, Old Man Xue forgot that the cat-eared thief could easily kill him all on her own.
Thinking this way, he didn't even dare pull the cart closer to the mud pit.
Watching the trembling Old Man Xue, Li Ban—who had been silently tailing him the entire time—was left speechless.
When the old man was walking alone, he had the guts to go to the mud pit a second time, yet now that someone was following him, he was too scared to even go halfway.
"Keep walking. Stop looking around."
Old Man Xue was startled by Li Ban's voice.
He quickly recovered and hurriedly lowered his head, continuing to walk.
As he walked, he thought, I don't see anyone! Could Vice Captain Li be... hiding in the gunny sacks?
At that thought, his fear immediately vanished, and he continued his dutiful performance.
But when he arrived at the mud pit and prepared to dump the garbage, he was dumbfounded again.
"This, this... The thief always waits until I finish dumping the trash to rob me, but do I have to dump Vice Captain Li in there now?"
While Old Man Xue was holding the gunny sack in a daze, unsure of what to do, Li Ban was long gone from behind him.
Since the thief appeared right after the trash was dumped, she must have been following him before the dumping even began.
Li Ban flew straight into the sky and surveyed the surroundings.
Soon enough, he spotted a pair of cat ears hidden within the small woods where he had once concealed himself.