438 Dog eat dog world

Zi Han was never one to make it difficult for a group of children. In fact, he could sympathise with them. The girl was barely out of her teens and the young boy couldn’t be older than fifteen.

From the looks of it, they were either abandoned children or orphans. The two of them were just trying to survive and in a desolate place like this, it seemed to make sense that they would rob him.

“What do you want to know?” asked the little girl but she didn’t put down the laser gun. Her gaze kept glancing between the man’s face and that pear.

Zi Han raised his hand and pointed at the laser gun with a slight quirk on his lips. “Put that down first,” he said and Nayeli looked at him with slight hesitation.

She glanced at her brother and seeing his bright eyes she reluctantly put it down but she didn’t relax her vigilance. She still had another one holstered at her back though it was more like a homemade old fashion pistol that could jam or misfire and hurt her.

Zi Han was curious to take that thing apart but he realised they still didn’t trust him and who would in a place like this? He thought he could take a look at it later when they weren’t as guarded against him.

Zi Han took out a second pear while asking, “Where are we?”

historical

Nayeli knew then for certain this person wasn’t from around here. Who wouldn’t recognise the skull desert, a place where people would wander off to when they wanted to die? If the sun didn’t kill you then your thirst would.

“We are in skull desert,” replied the boy inching closer his eyes wide open.

.....

Zi Han didn’t let him suffer anymore. He gave the young man the pear before turning to the sister. “I want to go to these coordinates,” he said writing it down on the dust-filled table. He couldn’t rely on Igneous in this place. It seemed something was interfering with it. Besides it hadn’t mapped out the terrain of this planet thus he could only depend on the locals which would be faster or rely on his mapping skills which would take him longer.

“Mmmm... wow... mm thank you... sister, you should try it,” said Nathan while gnawing on that pear with a blissful expression on his face.

Nayeli looked at her greedy brother with a look of disappointment but in truth, her mouth was also watering. She couldn’t care less if it was poisoned because at least she would die happy. She looked at the coordinates and said, “That’s Kengston city. It is a week trip to get there tracking through the desert,” she said and Zi Han threw her the pear.

She caught it and glared at him for a second before picking up the laser gun again. “If we die then I will take you with us,” she said but Zi Han ignored her. They would probably reach there in a flash if he used Igneous but his mecha would attract unwanted attention which was something he didn’t want. He didn’t know what sort of situation Yi Chen was in and didn’t want to further complicate matters.

He stood up and walked toward the broken down hovercraft the girl was trying to fix. At a glance, he could tell what was wrong with it but the girl suddenly became anxious. She put away her savouring expression and waved the laser gun around telling him to move away.

“Get away from it,” she said in a raspy voice like her vocal cords were broken.

Zi Han raised his hands and took a step back but he suddenly smiled slyly and grabbed the laser gun from her at light speed. By the time she realised what had happened Zi Han had already placed it furthest from her.

“You... give it back,” she said but Zi Han lowered his head and began to tamper with the engine. It was an old piece of junk but Zi Han could still patch it up so it could run. Zi Han picked up the old-fashioned tools and his brow arched. This place was indeed behind technology-wise.

While he was studying the rusty wrench and pliers Nayeli walked over to her brother and sat next to him. While the man was distracted she signed something to him in sign language. In a world as terrifying as this, this skill was very valuable.

Their mother couldn’t speak thus she taught them sign language. Now they were using it secretly to converse.

“How about we exchange him with the ravagers and get our mother back,” signed Nayeli discreetly and Nathan gasped seeming shocked.

“Don’t gasp like that. He will see,” she said before glancing at the man but when she saw he was scrutinising the engine she relaxed.

“But he seems nice,” signed Nathan his expression back to normal. Well, as normal as it can get.

“Are you kidding me? This is a dog eat dog world. If we don’t get our mother back we won’t survive for long. We already offended the ravagers by running away instead of playing bait for that serpent hybrid. What do you think they will do to our mother if we don’t save her?” she signed and Nathan reluctantly nodded his head.

Their father was a hunter. He hunted large monsters like the serpent with the head of a wolf. This brought a lot of money into their house because he could sell the beast for not only meat but other by-products as well. Their father died on one of their expeditions. Now they only had their mother who was taken by ravagers and they were used as bait to lure the beast lurking in the desert. When they were tied up ready to be eaten by the beast it suddenly change course and seeked out the ravagers.

Thinking the ravagers must be dead already they untied themselves and ran towards the station the ravagers left their hovercraft. They wanted to fly away but the thing wouldn’t start thus she was trying to fix it. The reason why they pulled Zi Han into the station in the first place was to prevent him from attracting attention just in case the ravagers were still alive. Robbing him was just a secondary action.

They didn’t know how they were going to save their mother but now that they had found him Nayeli strongly believed they could get their mother back.