Chapter 56: 56, New skill

Ren Xiaosu flung his hand away, tossing all the remaining rat meat into the distance, as though he had never intended to share it with anyone, nor even felt the slightest regret at discarding it.

Liu Buxin said, "Even if you don’t give it to others, will you not eat tomorrow?"

Yet Ren Xiaosu thought differently—he would rather seek food again tomorrow, even if it meant starving, than keep that heavy, bloody stench lingering by his side.

At this moment, Yang Xiaojin sat quietly staring at the roasted rat meat, her fingers clutching a small salt shaker, her gaze so serene that one could never imagine she was a firearms master who would draw a gun at the slightest provocation.

Ah, Ren Xiaosu suddenly remembered—when he had completed the mission to refuse the journey with Jingsan, the palace had rewarded him a basic-level learning chart, which he had never used until now.

There were no worthy subjects to learn from in the settlement, but now, wasn’t a suitable target right before him?

Though it was only a basic chart, it could no longer enhance his firearms skills, but surely someone like Yang Xiaojin must possess other extraordinary abilities?

The basic chart didn’t seem particularly difficult to obtain, and Ren Xiaosu felt he could learn more life-preserving skills from her.

In his mind, Ren Xiaosu suddenly asked, "Can you list all of Yang Xiaojin’s skills?"

He wanted to see if she possessed any invaluable skills before making his final decision.

"No permission to display," the palace replied coldly.

"Huh, haven’t I already learned her skills?" Ren Xiaosu inquired curiously.

"No permission to display," the palace answered again, its tone as rigid as ever.

After pondering, Ren Xiaosu tried a different approach: "Then what level is her martial arts skill?"

"Advanced," the palace responded.

Ren Xiaosu understood—the palace could only answer specific questions about a single skill, such as whether she had martial arts or medical skills, but if he asked it to list all her skills at once, it would ignore him. This thing relied entirely on guesswork.

"Then what level is my martial arts skill?" Ren Xiaosu pressed.

"Intermediate," the palace replied.

His martial arts skill was merely the crude experience gained from years of fighting and struggling with others, never systematically organized into theory. What he knew best was where to strike to kill, but compared to Yang Xiaojin, his knowledge lacked "scientific" precision and "concrete" structure, relying purely on intuition.

Thus, hers was advanced, while his was intermediate.

However, in a real fight, physical fitness mattered more—if Yang Xiaojin’s strength and agility were inferior to his, or significantly so, even her advanced martial arts would be useless.

Ren Xiaosu observed Yang Xiaojin, noting that she didn’t seem particularly strong, so her strength probably wasn’t as great as his.

Advanced martial arts—this intrigued Ren Xiaosu deeply, for he understood its significance.

Once mastered, it would not only give him more confidence when facing humans but also allow him to use a master-level learning chart in the future if he encountered someone with master-level martial arts, as mastering an advanced skill was the key to unlocking such charts.

Without this key, even if others possessed master-level skills, he couldn’t learn them.

"Use the learning chart!" Ren Xiaosu mentally commanded the palace, then waited in silence, praying fervently that it would be advanced martial arts, advanced martial arts!

The next moment, the palace said, "Randomly selected opponent’s advanced skill: jump rope. Do you wish to learn?"

Ren Xiaosu: "???"

Stunned, Ren Xiaosu looked at Yang Xiaojin, never expecting that this elegant, perfect firearms master would possess such a legendary skill…

What the hell, jump rope? How could such a skill be selected?

Yang Xiaojin seemed to sense Ren Xiaosu’s gaze and calmly turned to look at him. "When will the meat be cooked?"

At that moment, Ren Xiaosu felt utterly defeated. Cooking a damn dog egg—could this learning chart even be trusted? The previous deception and boasting were bad enough, but now even jump rope had emerged, and what’s more, this skill even had levels!

How does one perform high-level jump rope? Does one flip backward while jumping?

Ren Xiaosu said with a darkened face, "Food in the wilderness must be cooked longer, and water must be boiled for over ten minutes before drinking."

At this point, Ren Xiaosu noticed Yang Xiaojin lifting her wrist to reveal a watch on her wrist. He had seen watches before, but he also knew that in the refuge, only important figures could possess such items.

Ren Xiaosu asked, "Aren’t you afraid of getting sick from eating wilderness food?"

Yang Xiaojin replied calmly, "One must live to have the chance to fall ill."

With that, she sprinkled salt from the small bottle onto the rat meat, while Liu Bu and the others had already been drooling.

During their earlier discussions, no one had felt particularly hungry, but now the aroma wafted toward them in waves, and Liu Bu and the others felt as though their stomachs had been sucked dry, hollowed out.

"Didn’t anyone bring any food?" Xu Xianshu asked.

"No," everyone shook their heads in unison.

Ren Xiaosu chuckled to himself—he had clearly seen someone concealing food earlier, but now those who had brought supplies had all tacitly denied it.

It seemed everyone understood that the food they carried could save lives.

How could something that could save lives be shared with others?

Moreover, Ren Xiaosu suddenly noticed that many of the private soldiers’ guns had vanished, as if these life-saving individuals had discarded them in the chaos just to run faster.

How foolish.

The star from the refuge, Luo Xinyu, grew displeased. "How will we survive without food? Why didn’t you bring any?"

A private soldier sneered, "You didn’t either."

At that moment, Luo Xinyu unconsciously stepped back, for she noticed a vague, inexplicable malice in the eyes of some men beside her.

She was a star in the refuge, with a delicate and beautiful appearance and an excellent figure. In the refuge, during summer, she loved wearing short skirts, exposing her straight, slender legs to the air.

Those in the refuge could only gaze from afar, and even then, only gaze, for there was still civilization there.

But now she was in the wilderness, and many in the group had fallen into a strange despair—they didn’t know if they would live to leave.

Under such circumstances, the evil within their hearts began to grow.

There was no civilization here, no laws, no morality… and perhaps no one would ever know what happened here.

Unconsciously, Luo Xinyu moved toward Ren Xiaosu, and even she hadn’t realized that when fear arose in her heart, her first instinct was to trust the "refugee" who looked most like a beast rather than her own companions.

…

Thanks to Zhouhei Intelligent Team’s disappearance and Lu Lu becoming the new leader of this book, two black fans actually allied!