Once Wu Piwu understood the time and place of this dream world, he began to formulate some ideas.
First was the issue of money, a very practical concern; everything from food to basic needs required money.
A single coin could thwart even the greatest of heroes.
Furthermore, if he wanted to establish a shelter, purchasing a building with money was undoubtedly the fastest choice.
As for establishing a power or leaving a mark in history, those were not achievable in a short time.
Moreover, Wu Piwu harbored ambitions!
He wanted to establish a Second-Level Shelter in this world!
A First-Level Shelter could not carry anything back to the real world, except through the mainframe's lottery.
Even if there were treasures, they could not be taken away.
However, a Second-Level Shelter could interact with the dream world materially, and the chirping creature on his shoulder was clear evidence of that.
Setting aside the rewards of a Second-Level Shelter, the mere ability to interact materially was enough to entice him to take risks.
This meant he could continuously obtain food from this shelter, which was a lifesaver, preventing him from starving to death after just a few days without entering the dream world.
To establish a Second-Level Shelter, careful planning was necessary.
Fortunately...
Wu Piwu looked towards Yamada.
After being stared at for a few seconds, Yamada curiously asked, “Is there a problem? Or are we being targeted by some monsters?”
“No, I just think your hair looks quite nice in yellow,” Wu Piwu replied with a baffling comment.
Yamada was a mixed-blood; most newborns during the Third War were mixed-blood, while those from the Fourth War were distinctly white, yellow, or black.
The three of them easily passed through the city gate inspection.
In fact, when Yamada arrived at the gate, the inspecting soldiers did not dare to stop them, allowing them to swagger through the gate.
Thus, the three entered Xuanhua Prefecture City, but there was not much to see inside.
For them, it was just low earthen houses and brick houses.
Yamada and Xu Shilan looked at Wu Piwu, wanting to see how he would conjure up money.
Wu Piwu did not elaborate; he stood in the open space at the city gate for about a minute before leading the two into the narrow alleys of the buildings.
The two did not suspect anything and simply followed in his footsteps.
In this way, the three wound through the intricate alleys for a while.
Yamada could not help but say, “I say, you’re not lost, are you?”
Xu Shilan nodded, “We’ve been here three times; if you’re not lost, then you must be waiting for something.”
Wu Piwu merely smiled.
Before he could speak, about ten people surged out from various corners of the alley.
These ten or so people were dressed in a hodgepodge of clothing, resembling both beggars and refugees.
Most were dark and thin, and although each held “weapons” like pitchforks, hoes, and kitchen knives, to be honest, they posed no real threat.
Even though ten or so people surrounded them, it did not raise Yamada and Xu Shilan's vigilance.
They were engaged in conversation with Wu Piwu and intended to pass through the group.
The first “refugee” raised the bamboo pole in his hand and lunged at Yamada, but he did not aim for a fatal spot like the chest, head, throat, or abdomen; instead, he targeted Yamada's thigh.
Despite Yamada's fierce appearance, he was not a good-natured person.
Although the attack came suddenly, he reacted swiftly, kicking with one leg, not only breaking the bamboo pole but also sending the “refugee” flying at least four to five meters away.
The man had not even stopped rolling before blood began to spurt from his five orifices, clearly on the verge of death.
The surrounding ten or so people were taken aback, then began to curse and shout angrily.
However, the initial trend of the attack was interrupted, and a few even began to retreat cautiously.
“What a vicious method.”
“Foreign devils are truly cunning and treacherous!”
“And those two traitorous henchmen!”
“Kill them! Go on, kill them!”
The group of people clamored, but no one dared to be the first to attack, each waiting for someone else to make a move.
Just then, the sound of hand drums echoed, accompanied by several women dressed in red clothing, followed by two martial artists who were escorting a young master-like figure at the back.
Yamada smiled, but his smile held a bloodthirsty ferocity.
He looked at Wu Piwu and asked, “Should we leave a live one?”
Xu Shilan also spoke up, “Are there any suitable clinics or hospitals nearby? Organs are a valuable commodity in any era.”
This left Wu Piwu speechless.
It seemed the maintenance personnel were indeed talented, but why were the previous generations so normal?
At this moment, the women in red had already reached the group of refugees.
Upon seeing them, the refugees immediately became emboldened, moving to protect the women.
One woman approached the refugees, one hand on her wrist and the other raised, saying, “Meha meha, show your wrist, reveal your skills.”
This was directed at Wu Piwu, who was clearly recognized as the leader of the three.
Although they were surprised that a foreign devil could understand their language, given the situation and the death of a person, they had to clean up the scene.
This was obviously coded language, or perhaps bandit talk.
Wu Piwu did not understand, but the mainframe would translate any language from the world into something Wu Piwu could comprehend, just as it would translate the words of the maintenance personnel into a language understandable by sentient beings in that world.
Thus, what he heard was: “Brother stands on that hill, tell me your background, perhaps we have some connection.”
Wu Piwu replied, “No, it’s you who stopped us. Why does it sound like we were the ones looking for trouble?”
This statement left the ten or so refugees, the women in red, and the two martial artists, including the young master, stunned.
The young master then laughed heartily, “I misjudged you; you’re actually a good family child. Li Shu, Yang Shu, go ahead, don’t kill the foreign devil, uh, and don’t kill that woman either.”
The two martial artists nodded and strode towards Wu Piwu and the others.
At the same time, several women in red began to take out talisman paper, igniting it with a flick of their hands, and started chanting incantations while dancing.
The three immediately went on guard, but their target of vigilance was those women in red.
As the women in red chanted and burned the paper, the refugees became fervent, shouting about divine powers protecting them, invulnerable to blades and guns, and charged towards the three.
Yamada kicked out again, and the first person holding a pitchfork was sent flying four to five meters away, crashing to the ground and beginning to spurt blood.
A Second-Level physical body was akin to someone who could fight like Tyson, run like Bolt, and had the endurance of an Ironman.
Moreover, Yamada was tall and strong, with a physical strength at least three to four times that of these refugees.
The force of his kick was like a car colliding head-on, and unless one wore armor, wielding cold weapons would only lead to being slaughtered.
“... Nothing special, huh?” Yamada looked at Wu Piwu.
Wu Piwu, however, raised his head and glanced three to four meters above the heads of the women in red, then shook his head and strode towards the frontline.
Unlike what ordinary people would see, as the women in red chanted and burned the paper, Wu Piwu noticed a vague human-shaped outline appearing above their heads, but it was not clear, as if some force or reality was forcibly dispersing this figure.
Seeing this, Wu Piwu immediately breathed a sigh of relief.
After all, this was a world with a baseline reality of 0.9, and it was unlikely to have significant deviations.
Even if there were true anomalies, it wouldn’t be to the extent that a few passersby could wield such powers; that would require a world below a baseline reality of 0.5.
With this in mind, Wu Piwu did not hesitate and strode towards the two martial artists, simultaneously telling Yamada, “Whoever hits you, you hit back.”
Yamada was slightly taken aback but understood Wu Piwu's meaning; he would retaliate against whoever attacked him, and if someone used lethal force against him, he would show no mercy in return.
At this moment, the two martial artists had already closed in to within three meters of Wu Piwu.
The two clearly had a set of combined attack techniques, and they were similar in height and appearance.
They were either brothers or close disciples, as practicing combined techniques in national martial arts required a high level of tacit understanding.
However, Wu Piwu was unafraid.
He reached out first, and as he did so, his hand slowly transformed into a claw shape.
This immediately made the two martial artists' expressions grow serious.
But at that moment, Yamada had already charged in like a tiger among sheep, causing the ten or so villagers to cry out and flee, even dragging the women in red back as they retreated.
The two martial artists could no longer care about anything else; one used a claw like a tiger, and the other used a peck like a crane, attacking Wu Piwu from left and right, embodying the tiger and crane.
As the two charged in, Wu Piwu's eyes widened.
He had entered the blood and qi transport of the Tiger Demon Technique.
This fierce glare made the two martial artists momentarily hesitate, as if they were not pouncing on a person but a real吊睛白额虎, with a gust of bloody wind rushing towards them.
This slight pause, unnoticed by ordinary people, allowed Wu Piwu to surge forward in an instant.
One claw met one claw, and the two claws clashed, but the next second, the martial artist with the tiger claw let out a miserable howl and retreated.
His fingertips were bleeding, and his fingers were broken and twisted into a mess; merely touching Wu Piwu had rendered his tiger claw useless.
“Master! It’s a master!” the tiger-claw martial artist cried out in agony.
At this moment, the crane-form martial artist could not stop his momentum.
His peck was aimed at Wu Piwu's side waist.
The instant he heard the shout, he felt a chill run through him and immediately attempted to retreat.
But how could Wu Piwu allow him to escape? Even as he turned sideways, it was as if he had eyes in the back of his head; his other hand rose in a palm strike, as if to slice down, directly targeting the crane-form martial artist's pecking forearm.
With a crisp sound, the crane-form martial artist also let out a miserable howl as he stumbled back, his arm hanging limply, clearly broken.
This exchange was a flash of lightning; in less than a second, the outcome was decided.
The two martial artists had their arms and hands rendered useless, losing all combat capability, while the ten or so villagers were beaten by Yamada into a state of despair, leaving the women in red dumbfounded.
At this moment, Wu Piwu directly looked at the young master, stepping forcefully forward until he was right in front of the still-shocked young master.
The young master trembled all over.
He had certainly heard the martial artists shout “master.” His father was a national martial arts master, and he naturally knew that such a person could easily kill you with a light touch, so he immediately shouted, “My father is the leader of the Yanshan Hawk, Xu Zhenshan! You cannot kill me!!”
Hawk was also coded language, referring to horse bandits or mountain bandits, in modern terms, it meant kidnappers.
Wu Piwu did not kill him but placed a hand on his shoulder.
The young master nearly collapsed to the ground, and Wu Piwu cheerfully said, “Alright, I know you’re the son of a kidnapper, so now…”
“You’ve been kidnapped.”
(End of Chapter)