The three Survivors who had been hunting her were eliminated one after another.
Yet Lena felt no joy whatsoever.
Against those three men...
She had at least believed she still had a chance to fight back.
But against a mysterious opponent who struck with such terrifying speed and precision...
In her current condition, she had no confidence at all.
Then she saw the three familiar figures emerge.
The overwhelming sense of helplessness and despair only grew stronger.
Ethan and Natasha were both fully armed.
Beside them stood the ferocious saber-toothed tiger.
Lena knew that even if she gave everything she had...
She still wouldn’t be able to defeat them.
Her will to fight crumbled.
Rather than making a final stand...
She found herself wondering whether it would be better to end her own life.
Just as that thought crossed her mind...
Ethan called out.
"Hey, Lena."
"It’s over."
"They’re all dead."
Hearing him call her by name, Lena’s eyes widened in shock.
Enduring the pain in her injured leg, she slowly stepped out from behind the abandoned car.
"...Do we know each other?"
"I’m Ethan."
"It’s you?!"
Her surprise deepened.
She had never imagined that the person buying purified soil from her would be this powerful.
She’d assumed Ethan was simply developing faster than everyone else.
Now she realized...
He wasn’t just ahead.
He completely outclassed her.
"But..."
"How did you know it was me?"
"I have my methods."
Ethan smiled.
Naturally, he had no intention of revealing the existence of the Leader System.
That was one of his greatest trump cards.
The fewer people who knew about it, the better.
"...Alright."
Although disappointed, Lena understood when to stop asking questions.
Everyone had secrets.
And in a world like this...
Some secrets were best buried forever.
After a brief silence, she asked,
"So..."
"What are you going to do with me?"
Ethan smiled.
"Interested in joining my team?"
"Sure."
"I’ll join."
Her immediate answer caught Ethan off guard.
"That was easier than I expected."
"Aren’t you worried I might have... improper intentions?"
Instead of becoming nervous, Lena actually relaxed.
"If you really wanted something like that..."
"Do you think I’d have any way to resist you?"
She glanced toward Natasha.
Whether it was beauty...
Figure...
Temperament...
Or combat ability...
Natasha surpassed her in every category.
More importantly...
The way Natasha looked at Ethan made their relationship obvious.
Although some men enjoyed building enormous harems...
With someone like Natasha already by his side...
Lena doubted Ethan would be particularly interested in her.
And even if he were...
What could she realistically do about it?
Today’s events had taught her one thing.
As time passed...
More and more Survivors would inevitably begin forming groups.
Even someone like Ethan, who possessed a saber-toothed tiger...
Wasn’t fighting alone.
Unless she somehow gained overwhelming personal strength...
A lone Survivor would eventually become easy prey for organized teams.
Joining Ethan now meant becoming one of the team’s earliest members.
As long as she could prove her worth...
He wouldn’t mistreat her.
Besides...
Compared to the three men who had been chasing her...
Ethan was far more handsome.
"Alright."
Ethan smiled.
"Do you have anything important back at your shelter?"
"Need to pack before we leave?"
"No."
"I always carry everything valuable with me."
"We can head straight to your place."
"Sounds good."
Noticing blood still flowing from her wounded leg, Ethan took out the remaining Healing Potion.
He poured her a small amount.
"Drink this."
"It’ll help your injury."
Like every Survivor, Lena could see the item’s description through the game interface.
She knew exactly how valuable a Healing Potion was.
Even if she hadn’t...
She wasn’t really in a position to refuse.
Taking the vial, she downed it in one gulp.
Almost as though she wanted to swallow all the frustration of being hunted.
The potion immediately took effect.
The wound on her leg visibly closed before their eyes.
It still hurt a little...
And her movements were somewhat affected...
But at least she no longer had to worry about infection.
At the same time, new information appeared before Ethan.
Lena Li
Class: Survivor
Status: Normal
Loyalty: 68
Endurance: 80
Strength: 80
Intelligence: 70
Agility: 70
Specialties:
Throwing Knives — A
Farming — B
Congratulations! You have successfully recruited a subordinate.
Reward:
Agility +5
A-Rank Throwing Knife Mastery
Note: Each subordinate can only provide recruitment rewards once. Rewards cannot be farmed repeatedly. The host suffers no penalty if a subordinate dies or becomes incapacitated.
Current Attributes
Endurance: 123
Strength: 124
Intelligence: 98
Agility: 119
Lena’s status panel surprised Ethan.
He had assumed she’d escaped the three men purely through luck.
Now it was obvious...
If one of them hadn’t possessed a gun...
She could have killed all three by herself.
The smell of blood from the corpses would soon attract monsters.
Even Brutus’s intimidating aura couldn’t stop every hungry creature from investigating.
After quickly looting the bodies...
The group immediately left the area.
The haul pleasantly surprised Ethan.
The handgun was actually the least valuable item they had.
Among the loot were:
Animal traps
Reinforced Fence Blueprint
Large Barbecue Grill Crystal
Complete cookware set
Full agricultural tool set
Handgun Crafting Blueprint (Common)
Many of these items could be put to use immediately.
Others would become valuable later as his shelter continued developing.
Altogether...
The loot from these three Survivors was better than everything Ethan had scavenged that entire day.
"No wonder America was always so fond of looting..."
"So this is why it feels so profitable..."
Just as Ethan muttered to himself...
A vast, ethereal voice echoed across the sky.
Because enough Survivors have encountered one another and created interesting interactions...
The Map System is now unlocked to facilitate visits between Survivors.
As the announcement ended...
Ethan noticed a new Map option had appeared within the game interface.
Opening it, he saw that only the region around him was illuminated.
Everything else remained hidden beneath a dense fog.
Much like the fog of war in strategy games.
Only by personally entering unexplored regions—or sending one of his subordinates there—
could the fog be dispelled.
Beside him, Lena also opened her map.
Compared with Ethan’s...
The area she had explored was much smaller.
"I’ll share my map with you," she offered.
The Map System included a sharing function.
Once shared...
The recipient could permanently uncover regions even without personally traveling there.
"Thanks."
Ethan accepted without hesitation.
Information was one of the most valuable resources in this world.
After syncing their maps...
Ethan quickly located Lena’s shelter.
He smiled.
"So we weren’t that far apart after all."
"Even if we hadn’t met today..."
"We probably would have run into each other eventually."
Lena smiled awkwardly.
"Actually..."
"I’d already seen you before."
She explained how she’d secretly observed Ethan during one of his earlier scavenging trips.
Ethan couldn’t help scratching his cheek.
If he hadn’t unintentionally frightened her away...
She wouldn’t have changed scavenging locations.
And perhaps...
She never would have encountered those three men.
Still...
The guilt faded almost as quickly as it appeared.
He’d simply been trying to survive himself.
Lena had simply been unlucky.
Besides...
He had saved her life today.
That probably balanced things out.
The group returned safely to Ethan’s shelter.
Lena was stunned by its size and level of development.
Ethan, however...
Frowned slightly.
With his enhanced senses...
He caught the unmistakable scent of human blood.
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