Survival: Ocean (Playwright) Chapter One Hundred: Traveling Together for a Time

“Hello.”

“Hello.”

The two men exchanged greetings, and it seemed as though a basis for cooperation had been established. Yet both kept their hands not far from their weapons, clearly still on guard.

At a first meeting, with no idea of the other’s temper or abilities, throwing caution to the wind was every bit as foolish as rushing into battle.

Of course, neither of them had any intention of starting a fight.

“Zhang Dingyang.” The man across from him was a little dark, though still within normal bounds, the kind of tan that came from spending a lot of time in the sun. He was not especially tall, but his muscles were plainly defined.

Lean and powerful. That was the phrase for him.

That matched the name Wu Hui’s glasses had seen, so it seemed sincere enough. “Wu Hui.”

“You’ve got companions too, right?” Zhang Dingyang glanced at the items on Wu Hui’s raft. “They’ve already gone onto the island? If so, could they help keep an eye on my raft later? I can give you part of what I find as payment. If things work out, we can even cooperate long-term.”

Bold, yet attentive to detail. Wu Hui’s first impression of him was good. He nodded and also glanced at the items on Zhang Dingyang’s raft. “Do you need meat? I can trade you something suitable.”

Zhang Dingyang looked at the deer meat that Wu Hui had not yet finished processing. “A little, then. About two kilograms. I can exchange it for... a bottle of pepper.”

If this were still human society, a bottle of pepper and two kilograms of deer meat would not be remotely comparable. But now spices were in desperately short supply. Wu Hui could manage fine salt at best, but there was no way he could produce pepper.

After the greetings came the trade.

And so the shape of cooperation began to take form. Zhang Dingyang did not rush off to explore. Instead, he stayed behind with Wu Hui and waited for Wang Xiaodie to return.

If they met Wang Xiaodie later on the island and ended up fighting, that would be hard to explain. Better for everyone to meet and get acquainted first.

Besides, this way they could also share the scout’s information.

Around dusk, Wang Xiaodie came running back. She was very sensitive to mealtimes, and she had timed it perfectly.

“You sent such a pretty girl off alone to scout?” Zhang Dingyang gave Wu Hui a thumbs-up. “A model for us all.”

Completely unmoved by beauty, a true man.

Wu Hui said nothing, only gave both sides a brief introduction. Each settled down on his own vessel, and after dinner they began to rest.

Zhang Dingyang’s boat was clearly a speedboat imprint, along with a Sail of the Sea. Only such a combination could make it so that, even with one person resting, it moved only a little slower than Wu Hui and Wang Xiaodie.

The man ate roasted meat and fruit, yet somehow managed to give off a rugged air while doing so. Even the way he drank water looked like drinking liquor.

Hm. There was a sealed jar behind him. Was he making wine?

Wu Hui, who had an alcoholic older sister at home, was left speechless.

Zhang Dingyang clearly seemed like a pretty reliable guy... But come to think of it, was liquor made like that actually reliable? Could the fermenting culture be poisonous?

Still, that had nothing to do with him, so Wu Hui did not say much. He merely noticed the war token at Zhang Dingyang’s waist, marked with the character for Zhang.

It was much the same as Wu Hui’s own token, which bore the character for Sun. But this one appeared to be active. Unlike Wu Hui, who did not even know who the owner of his token was.

Throughout history, there had certainly been quite a few famous generals with the surname Sun. But if merely unsealing it required the two highest-tier gamer-style checks, then the only ones fit for it were Sun Wu and Sun Bin.

Of course, Sun Wu might have been even harder to obtain. And word was that one had already been taken by the Inquisition’s Grand Judge.

So it was probably Sun Bin after all.

The man who used deception and horse-race tactics to outmaneuver his opponent, was crippled by his own fellow disciple, and yet still managed to strike back and win in the end. He was unquestionably a first-rate military strategist.

Seeing the other man’s token suddenly made Wu Hui think of many things.

The night passed quickly. Zhang Dingyang slept peacefully nearby, while Wu Hui and Wang Xiaodie still took turns keeping watch.

Wang Xiaodie suddenly felt that having two beds was rather wasteful.

Though the “bed” was nothing more than straw wrapped in a layer of ragged cloth, with deer hide as a blanket, in the wild it was truly difficult to find anything more comfortable.

Across from her, Zhang Dingyang was lying on an even shabbier little bed made of bamboo and wooden planks. A bit of straw had been stuffed onto it, and the blanket seemed to be some torn bedsheet picked up from who knew where.

At once, Wang Xiaodie felt a great surge of superiority. After all, things like this really did depend on comparison. But keeping watch was still miserable.

As a slave, she could not refuse her master’s orders. Rather than keeping watch, Wang Xiaodie would have preferred to warm his bed. Unfortunately, Wu Hui had no intention of giving her that chance, so she could only endure obediently.

The sound of waves and the cries of seagulls rose now and then.

From the mountain on the nearby island, wolves howled as well.

The next day, Wang Xiaodie stayed behind to watch the boats, while Wu Hui and Zhang Dingyang went ashore.

For the moment, both sides intended to cooperate: capture a few imprint beasts alive and have Wang Xiaodie help them sign slave contracts.

The plan was to get three, one each.

“Hmm...” Wu Hui began to think about what kind he needed. He already had a parrot, a dire wolf, and a squid—air, land, and sea were all covered. But the key was that he still needed something he could summon immediately to take damage for him.

If he could contract the giant hermit crab he had encountered last time, that would be ideal. But that thing was far too hard to beat; killing it was difficult enough, let alone capturing it alive.

So, in the end, he would just capture whatever seemed suitable.

Both of their targets were definitely boss-level creatures. Ordinary mobs were easy to catch, but far too low in value. At the very least, they needed to find an elite.

Besides, defeating a boss usually yielded some spoils in itself—an imprint, a potion formula, or something like the tree hollow Wu Hui had run into before. So even if they could not capture it alive, they would certainly need to kill it.

Zhang Dingyang turned to glance at Wu Hui.

He had confidence in his own combat power, but taking on a boss alone still carried no small amount of risk.

As for Wu Hui, he seemed like a very calm person. He was carrying a blade and a spear, and though it was hard to tell how much damage they could do, they did not seem to require bullets. As for the dire wolf, just from its bearing it was at least comparable to a level-two player.

And considering that he had been able to reach here even earlier than Zhang Dingyang, Zhang Dingyang felt that he really was dependable.

The two of them chose a gray bear that had taken up residence in the jungle and prepared to strike.

Zhang Dingyang activated his war token, let out a thunderous shout, and charged forward with a somewhat crude, primitive spear. Red light flared from the token, wrapping around his body and weapon.

Wu Hui used the Jungle and Carapace imprints on the dire wolf, fired as he advanced, and ordered it to pounce.

The gray bear had been sleeping soundly, only to be struck by two humans who had gone looking for trouble. Spear and wolf claws together brought it crashing to the ground.

The bear, awakened from its nap and annoyed beyond measure, reacted no slower. With a roar, it tried to press them beneath its body. But then Zhang Dingyang’s right hand ignited with fire, and he slammed a punch into the bear’s head.

Amid the roars of bear and man, Wu Hui’s bullet struck the gray bear’s right leg.

P.S. The second update of the day, and somehow we have already reached chapter one hundred. Please vote and bookmark~ Hmm, maybe premium release will be around chapters one hundred and fifty to one hundred and seventy?