Chapter 51: Comparison Is the Thief of Joy

Late at night, Yi Zhe and Chen Yong called in another member of their mercenary team.

She was supposedly the team’s sniper.

Her marksmanship was excellent.

That sort of counted as having some micro-control skills.

But compared to a real mech pilot, she was still far off.

The three of them huddled in Yi Zhe’s field tent, discussing things late into the night.

The next morning, when Shi Yuebai got up, she discovered that Chen Yong and the mercenary named Huo Chenggui had both moved to her neighborhood.

Three high-quality, professional field tents were now set up just outside her yard.

The Shi family, the Guai Guai family, and the three field tents formed a “>” shaped layout.

The Guai Guai family was at the very tip of the formation.

Before dawn, Yi Zhe came to call for Shi Yuebai.

Shi Yuebai was about to lose her mind. With a sour face, she sat on a flatbed cart and asked Yi Zhe, who was outside the wall,

“Are we going scavenging again today?”

“We didn’t find any food yesterday, Yi Zhe-ge. Why don’t you just give up on us already?”

Yi Zhe couldn’t help but laugh. Seeing how grumpy Shi Yuebai looked, he teased her cheerfully,

“No way, there’s still hope for you guys.”

“Today you get a day off. I’m mainly here to help you mold stones and build up your wall.”

He pointed to Huo Chenggui, who was walking over behind him.

“He’ll help you mold the stones. For free.”

Then he patted his own chest. “Yi Zhe-ge and Uncle Chen Yong will help you build the wall.”

Shi Yuebai snorted and said nothing.

Free, huh? As if Shi Yuebai didn’t know what was really going on.

The excavator mech arm Yi Zhe rented was mainly for Huo Chenggui’s use.

To get used to the excavator arm, Huo Chenggui was practicing micro-control by molding stones, and as a side effect, helping Shi Yuebai build her yard wall.

She turned away, letting Yi Zhe mess around with the pile of stones.

If there were free laborers, Shi Yuebai would use them—no reason not to, since she didn’t have to pay a cent.

Seeing her with such an arrogant attitude, Huo Chenggui pushed up his glasses and frowned,

“Captain, she doesn’t seem too happy to see you.”

These days, Shi Yuebai was probably the only one who dared give mercenaries the cold shoulder.

Even the highest-ranking commanders in the big city would bow and scrape in front of mercenaries.

Since Yi Zhe had settled them in this big city, Huo Chenggui had never seen him care so much about a bunch of “dead weight.”

Shi Yuebai really shouldn’t be acting like this.

He was a little annoyed.

But Yi Zhe didn’t care. He replied casually,

“She’s giving me attitude, not you. What’s your problem?”

Huo Chenggui: “I—”

He smacked his own mouth. Fine, he was being nosy.

If the captain wanted to be the one sticking his warm face to a cold butt, who was he to comment?

Chen Yong, watching from the side, just laughed.

He’d been through all this before.

Seeing Huo Chenggui’s “disappointed in you” look, Chen Yong patted him on the shoulder in consolation.

Before dawn, Yi Zhe, Chen Yong, and Huo Chenggui got to work.

Three mercenaries: one building the wall, one mixing cement in Shi Yuebai’s yard.

Huo Chenggui, wearing the excavator mech arm, sat by a pile of rubble, molding stones.

He was a crack shot, always handling the team’s long-range attacks.

But molding stones with the excavator arm was a whole different story.

If his control was even a little off,

the stone would either be crushed to powder,

or left in a huge, useless chunk.

After an hour, Huo Chenggui’s arms were trembling and drenched in sweat.

“Damn, this is way too hard.”

That’s why it was so difficult for large mercenary teams to find a suitable mech pilot.

The wasteland had only existed for five years, but according to unofficial statistics, it took at least ten years to train a mech pilot.

All the existing pilots were “chosen ones” from before the apocalypse.

Some could use a mech to thread a needle—maybe they came from a family of embroiderers, able to stitch the Along the River During the Qingming Festival with thread a quarter the width of a hair.

Some could slaughter entire mutant beast packs with a mech—maybe before the apocalypse, they were top excavator or crane operators.

In short, finding the right person was all about luck.

Someone like Huo Chenggui just didn’t have the talent.

Yi Zhe paused in his wall-building, took a cigarette from his pocket, and lit up by the wall.

He saw Pang Ziyuan being carried over by a man, with Ah Hong following behind.

Yi Zhe held his cigarette between two long fingers, rubbing his brow with his thumb.

Amid the swirling smoke, his handsome face took on a hard edge, but he smiled at Pang Ziyuan:

“You’re here? Huo Chenggui, give the mech arm to the kid.”

Huo Chenggui froze, then jumped up, dropping all the irregular stones he’d been holding.

He hurriedly took off the excavator arm and bowed to Pang Ziyuan,

“Ziyuan-ge, it’s all yours!”

Chen Yong laughed and cursed, “Damn, Huo Chenggui, you’re shameless.”

Ah Hong and her husband were both startled.

The couple jumped back a step in unison.

The man carrying Pang Ziyuan was his father, Pang Zhenggong.

An honest, simple man, his face flushed red. Not knowing how he’d offended the mercenaries, he stammered,

“S-sorry, I-I’m just here to drop off Ziyuan and his mom.”

He’d gone scavenging with a few men from the team, checking out how other, bigger teams were surviving.

So he’d been away for several days.

He’d heard from someone in the team under the bridge that his son had nearly starved to death a few days ago.

Pang Zhenggong rushed home, only to find his wife and son alive and well.

When he asked, Ah Hong wouldn’t give details, only saying that the Shi family had helped and given them some food and water.

Today, Pang Zhenggong came to drop off Ah Hong and his son for work, mainly to thank the Shi family.

Shi Yuebai was willing to share food with his wife and son even though she herself was struggling.

Shi Yuebai was a good person.

But as soon as he arrived, he ran into the mercenaries.

Pang Zhenggong instinctively felt he must have done something wrong to offend them.

Huo Chenggui and Chen Yong smiled and waved it off, saying “No, no, it’s nothing,” as they helped Pang Ziyuan down from his father’s back.

Huo Chenggui eagerly helped Pang Ziyuan put on the excavator mech arm, eyes shining,

“Bro, can you show me how to mold a stone into a brick?”

Pang Ziyuan’s face flushed, but he carefully picked up a stone. Under everyone’s expectant gaze,

he molded it into shape in just a few moves.

Effortless. Not even a bit of strain.

And this was when he was weak all over, his arms little more than skin and bone.

He didn’t have a trace of muscle strength.

Huo Chenggui looked down, feeling utterly defeated.

Comparing yourself to others really is the quickest way to get frustrated.

The temperature was rising again."