Chapter 7: Getting Rich by Scavenging

Five li was just enough distance for White Socks to complete a warm-up run. Over the past two days,Neo had used the Pearl of Life on it once a day, bringing White Socks’ condition to its peak—and even beyond. It ran swiftly and powerfully, leaping forward with such agility that evenNeo could clearly sense it.

The unfinished walls made of stones and large logs outlined a plot of land that made Ratno seem rather ambitious—it was being planned as a town. It wasn’t just the walls; the houses in the village were much neater than those in Croop, and the roads were straight and well-defined, showing signs of moving beyond the appearance of a simple village. But now, this process had come to an abrupt halt. AllNeo saw was desolation and ruin.

White Socks slowed down, cautiously carryingNeo toward the village center.

The snow and wind had only covered up some traces. On the walls, doors, and windows, there were signs of weapons—broken feather arrows, blood frozen by the cold…

Neo roughly estimated that the attackers must have been some human-beast tribe, in large numbers, and it had happened about a day ago. The battle had been fierce.

“It’s surprising that such a brutal battle could have taken place here.”

Neo pondered. A small village like Ratno, with fewer than a hundred adult men, how could it fight against a group of large, bloodthirsty aliens? Moreover, the condition of the houses along the streets showed that the battle had been intense—almost every house had seen fighting.

“It seems like the Cordims didn’t invade a grape-growing village but some kind of barracks!”

Howl…

A wild beast’s howl came from the village hall in the center of the village.

“We’ve been discovered. We need to act quickly,” saidNeo as he jumped off White Socks, tearing open the leather buckle of the saddle strap. White Socks wasn’t used to this kind of “restraint” during battles.

Bang! The already damaged door of the village hall finally gave way under a heavy blow, turning into flying debris. A werewolf rushed atNeo through the chaos, howling.

“Who would still get angry at a door during a battle?”Neo muttered as the werewolf charged at him, swinging claws that were even too large for an ordinary werewolf, attacking relentlessly.

In just a few moments,Neo realized the werewolf was clearly insane. Its movements were more like outbursts than attacks. Aside from its ferocity, its only weakness was its numerous flaws. In just 20 seconds, it gaveNeo at least nine chances to kill it.

White Socks, wagging its tail and staying at a distance, grumbled, “How come there are mentally ill werewolves too? What bad luck!”

“That means this guy must have had a very active mind usually, and he must have suffered a huge shock not long ago!” saidNeo as he dodged and parried. It wouldn’t be difficult for a skilled fighter to deal with a madman.

Neo originally planned to exhaust this guy completely before deciding what to do with him, but seeing how more exhausted and crazed he became, seemingly determined to drive himself mad permanently, he changed his approach. Seizing an opportunity, Neo pointed at the center of the werewolf’s forehead, and the Pearl of Life pierced in. It was the only solution he could think of; cold water would definitely not work on this guy now.

The calming properties of the natural healing power took effect. As the pathological excitement was suppressed, the intense energy generated from draining one’s life force turned into something fleeting. The werewolf became like a puppet with its power source cut off—weak and limp. His werewolf form dissipated, and his right paw, swung too forcefully, caused him to stumble and fall, turning him into a beautiful girl lying on the snow.

“Miss, you’re drooling, and besides, you’re naked!” Neo said, clearly taking pleasure in his revenge.

The female werewolf wiped the drool from her face, covering her chest with one hand and her private parts with the other. She tried to stand up but, feeling too embarrassed halfway there, squatted down and started crying.

“That’s boring!” Neo muttered darkly. Picking up his gray spear, he stepped over the female werewolf and headed toward the village hall.

Without a cloak or a word of comfort, perhaps because of Neo’s rudeness, the female werewolf felt helpless, or maybe she realized crying wouldn’t help. After a while, she stopped crying, wiped her tears, and looked around. Her gaze finally landed on White Socks, who was squatting not far away, watching her performance. White Socks snarled at her aggressively, “What are you staring at? Haven’t you seen a beauty before? What a fool!”

Meanwhile, Neo had already entered the village hall.

Ratno’s village hall was similar in structure to Cropp’s. Entering the small hall, turning left through the corridor, and then turning right at the end led to the inner hall. There were broken furniture, signs of slashing, and Neo also saw the corpse of a strong werewolf.

Approaching, Neo sniffed and said in a low voice, “Bloodline…”

Looking at the emblem on the werewolf’s armor on the left chest, it had been hastily removed, but the mark remained. “West Wind…”

With these two clues, the situation became clear. Neo turned around and went outside. The female werewolf was picking up broken clothes from the ground to cover herself. Seeing Neo, she shrank back, her eyes filled with fear.

“You shouldn’t show your fangs. At least you should learn to control your anger!” Neo said, his tone tinged with contempt.

Humans say, “Hey, be brave!” Wolves say, “Show your fangs.”

In the jungle, showing weakness only makes hesitant opponents pounce immediately. In human society, a woman’s like this often awakens men’s animal instincts, especially in this remote place far from the law.

From her reaction, it seemed the female werewolf understood Neo’s meaning, but not everything.

Neo didn’t bother arguing with this brainless woman with big breasts. He simply asked, “Why did I spare the two of you?”

The female werewolf shook her head. “I don’t know. After fighting, they muttered something and suddenly retreated.”

“What are ‘they’?”

“Humans and beasts.”

Neo said sternly, “You’re lying! With their human-beast hybrid size, they can’t move around in a human residence at all—there’s no way they could leave so many traces of battle.”
“I—I didn’t!” The female werewolf, though fearful, argued, “They can transform into human form!”
Neo remained silent, merely staring at her with a cold gaze.
The female werewolf grew even more afraid. Her frantic attempts to cover her body with her clothes showed that she clearly thought Neo had ulterior motives. But the pieces of cloth barely covered her chest while exposing her legs, and given her striking figure, her movements only served to arouse male desire.
In reality, Neo was merely assessing the credibility of her words. He chose to believe her, as her explanation sounded highly implausible.
Shh!
Neo whistled, calling over White Socks to inform the team members while he continued his investigation.
Although the dead werewolf didn’t wear any battle insignia or rank, the quality of his armor indicated a high status. Why would a West Wind Fury unit come here at such a time? Neo didn’t need to force information from the female werewolf—he just had to remember the scent of the dead werewolf officer.
Walking around, stopping to sniff carefully, even lifting some snow… Such actions were typical of those lacking logical thinking. Neo, on the other hand, explored each room in the village, trying to figure out where the dead werewolf officer had spent the most time after arriving in Ratno.
Ratno wasn’t a large place, so the suitable location was quickly found—the most prominent villa in the village.
With the main target identified, the next step was to examine the details. Inside the house, scents remained much better preserved than outside in the raging snowstorm. Of course, the werewolves’ highly developed sweat glands and strong body odors also played a key role in enabling such efficient searching.
A private wine cellar, just like Old McKenn’s vegetable cellar in Tures—stacked on top of each other! A basement beneath the cellar.
Pressing a mechanism, Neo pushed open a secret door concealed by a wine rack against the wall. He thought to himself, “Traces, clues! This is why one must maintain personal hygiene and avoid using overly fragrant foods…”
It was a room of over ten square meters, with some aged documents, paintings, and corals on old wooden shelves. On the floor lay bulky gold- and silver-inlaid items, as well as armor that seemed to be worth only a few coins. These trinkets could only fool those ignorant thieves who would steal from others for a few silver coins.
“The problem is, if it’s just these trivial things, it’s not worth the elaborate traps set at the entrance!” Neo believed there was more to this secret room.
And he was right.
An even smaller secret room, with only a small wooden shelf and two seemingly sturdy wooden chests.

The shelves were filled with delicate small boxes—square, flat, rectangular, or cylindrical. Their common feature was that they were made of sealing wood and wax. As the name implies, the greatest advantage of materials used for sealing wood and wax is their excellent sealing performance. The items they contained were usually energetic items, commonly known as magical items, though this term isn’t entirely accurate from an academic perspective.

Compared to the mystery of the items on the shelves, the contents of the two boxes were much more straightforward and less exotic. Filled with red velvet lining, they held gold coins, gems, and some pure gold objects—wine cups, dining knives, and even scepters and crowns… The gold coins didn’t belong to a single dynasty, and the styles of the utensils varied significantly. This was wealth that didn’t want to be exposed, and it was very likely acquired through improper means.

Nio tried to move the boxes—they were extremely heavy, and he could barely lift them even with all his strength. Once the boxes were moved, the marks became clear: they were new. These two boxes were the reason West Wind Berserker came here—not to take anything away, but to deliver it.

Nio closed the secret room again. Before that, he took some fine powder resembling dust from a small leather pouch tied to his belt and scattered it around.

After leaving the villa, Nio returned to the village hall and searched through the registration records. Eventually, he found what he was looking for in a blood-stained book—the owner of the villa was named Marsa Olivier.

He closed the book and tossed it aside. “Olivier, Viscount Edrith—an important member of the Olivier family.”

The female werewolf returned to stand by the corpse of the dead werewolf. Nio ignored her and left. In fact, Nio had considered killing her to silence her, so that the blame for the treasure could be conveniently shifted onto the barbarian aliens. But he realized he couldn’t be that cold-hearted, so he came up with a good excuse: she might not know about the treasure, and even if she did, she might not be the only one who was aware. The idea that killing her would allow everything to go unnoticed was just his assumption.

Barrett arrived with his team members. Everyone was shocked to varying degrees by the devastation in Ratno Village. Boglem even said sarcastically, “Some warriors must have mistaken Ratno for Sols and tried to defend it!” Clearly, he also realized that such extensive battle damage couldn’t have been left by the villagers fighting against the aliens.

Barrett looked grave, clearly realizing that there were now more formidable enemies in this land. For the newly formed Swift Team, the crisis had far exceeded acceptable limits.

Mach, on the other hand, paid close attention to the broken feather arrows and the traces left by weapons, looking somewhat peculiar. Nio noticed this and thought he might know something others didn’t. He decided to talk to him when he had time.

Lifting his face mask, Nio tapped the edge of the sled with his gray spear to draw the team’s attention, then said loudly, “Yesterday we stayed in the castle; today we stay in a villa.” He pointed at Olivier’s villa with his gray spear. “See? That’s it.”

Positive and uplifting topics lifted the team’s spirits significantly. Neo was right—castles and villas, places where staying too long usually drew hostile glances from local dogs, could now be inhabited openly, with complete freedom to do as one wished. That sense of lawlessness was quite novel.
“Hagen, take Edward and Tony to cook; Boglem, lead four people to tidy up the villa according to last night’s standards; Barret, take two people to collect items from each household—clothes, food ingredients, ironware, even broken wheels. Gather everything, whether useful or not, and pile it in the open space in front of the village hall. Remember to sort them. Mah, you continue to take care of our four horses. Everyone, look for blank notebooks and pens—our butler, Chebman, still doesn’t have any account books. Dick and Witz, come with me; we have endless blacksmithing work to do. Alright, let’s get to work!”
After assigning tasks, the team dispersed, while Neo ordered White Socks to patrol the village. With such a companion, he felt confident about security.
Ratno’s blacksmith shop was clearly more advanced than Cropp’s, and the aliens hadn’t looted any ironware when they left. While happy, Neo grew more concerned about the human-beast group that had invaded Ratno.
Worries could also turn into motivation. It wasn’t long before Ratno’s small furnaces and tools were put to use. This time, the focus was on crafting armor, mainly shields, as well as spare parts for vehicles—not only to replace damaged ones but also to quickly produce a third or fourth sled when needed. Neo guessed that with Barret’s efforts to gather supplies from Ratno, they would have more than enough.
“Captain, we also found some valuable items,” Barret said, showing Neo a small pile of goods after the search.
Scattered coins, gold and silver jewelry, and so-called heirlooms from years past—just by looking at these, it was clear the Ratno villagers weren’t prepared to face the aliens. Neo roughly concluded that they had underestimated the aliens’ combat strength while overestimating the prowess of the West Wind Warriors.
“Those are two great items!” Hagen, who had come to join in, pointed at two large metal barrels.
Neo nodded. These metal barrels were made using steam-driven rollers and coilers, resulting in smooth, even surfaces. A single large sheet was used to form the barrel body, giving it an attractive appearance and sufficient strength. Most importantly, they could hold a lot—enough for the meals of a team of over 20 people like the Gale Squad, with one barrel for soup and half a barrel for rice or flour. They were also convenient for boiling materials like “rubber” raw materials. During his militia training, Neo had seen the military use similar barrels, so he roughly guessed that these must belong to the defeated West Wind Warrior unit.
“Judging from these two barrels, this werewolf group probably isn’t very large. Are there any others?” With this question in mind, Neo began to examine the other collected items.

The large cart used by the werewolf team (which was destroyed) was found, along with several bags of soybeans and oats clearly intended for the army—food for their warhorses. Apparently, some of those warhorses were unlucky; first used as pack animals, they were then seized to be slaughtered. Neo never saw any evidence of a third party, as he had expected. Along with plenty of sheets, blankets, and items like knives, forks, and small metal basins—things the migrating group needed more of—there was also iron, which could be melted down into ingots, thus completing the smelting process. Both Neo’s group and Macken and Woodrow from the migrating group could craft the necessary tools in their spare time while camping.

“Captain, our sleds probably can’t carry all these items,” said Neo, who had sorted the items according to his instructions.

“That’s why I plan to add two more sled carts.”

Cheebman, who was in charge of inventory, said, “Great! We can use them to exchange for what we need, or even sell them!”

“…” Dick had nothing more to say. In his mind, he could already imagine the sleds being pulled by the team members, struggling forward.

As if reading Dick’s thoughts, Neo smiled, “It’s not as terrifying as you think.”

Dick scratched his head and said, “If anyone has to go, they have to.”

Neo nodded. “That’s true, but we’ve got those persistent followers behind us. If my plan doesn’t work, we’d rather give up some things to ensure we keep moving fast.”

“Captain, are we really being pursued by the Blue Ghosts?” Cheebman asked anxiously.

“If Bichir and the others are lucky, they’ll arrive here around midnight. They’ll bring news…” Neo said, glancing westward. The night wind was already howling; it would be a stormy night. Even if Bichir and the others managed to evade the Blue Ghosts, making their way east here would be a daunting task. 30 kilometers, with tattered clothes and poor physical condition—Neo was very worried about them.

Another cheer from Hagen interrupted Neo’s thoughts. Looking up, he saw that Hagen had found plenty of salt and useful spices among the piles of items. The team already had little salt and even less useful spice, so this solved their immediate problem.

Yet Neo grew increasingly intrigued by this human-animal team that had captured Ratno. No iron, no salt, no cotton or furs, no oats or beans—just meat. What kind of human-animal team was this?

By ordinary standards, the fewer needs one had, the more self-sufficient they were. Neo had decided he needed to talk not only to Mah but also to that female werewolf.

She appeared whenever he thought of her. Perhaps the female werewolf had finally realized that staying by a dead man was no solution. She stepped out of the village hall and approached hesitantly. “Um… I… would like to ask for your advice…”

By now, Neo had taken off his armor and was wearing a hooded coat made of human-animal fur. Since the fur hadn’t been dyed, it appeared gray and monotonous, giving him no semblance of a leader at all.

The leather for this coat was tanned by the people of Mathuya following the standards for fox and mink skins. Back when Neo, together with Valentina, ambushed that 11-member Red Ghost Scout Team, he exchanged 10 skins for 20 corpses. This was the extra one, along with the deer skin captured earlier by the white socks, both of which were handed over to the Mathuya militia for processing. When the Swift Wind Squad gathered, they were packed up and sent to Neo. Now, it had become a useful item—quite good at keeping warm.

But seeing the woman werewolf’s skin turn severely blue from the cold, Neo had to consider letting her use the coat, even if only temporarily. Unfastening his belt, he said, “I’m Neo, the leader of this group. What’s your name?”

Neo’s actions were misinterpreted by the woman werewolf. She stepped back, panicked, and asked, “W-what are you doing?”

“I’m afraid you’ll freeze to death!” Neo said, taking off his coat and throwing it at her. “Remember, don’t get it dirty, and definitely don’t damage it!”

“…” Though Neo’s words seemed weak, the woman werewolf still shamelessly put on the coat still warm from Neo’s body. Warmth spread throughout her body, and she couldn’t help but moan in comfort.

Not far away, Dick raised an eyebrow and whispered to Chebman, “Little cat…”

“Hm?” Chebman, who was thinking about how to maximize the value of the items collected that day, gave Dick a puzzled look, ruining Dick’s mood. “Ah, it’s fine. Keep counting, go on…”

“My name is Gladys Klingental. I hope to get your help.” With clothes on, her dignity and grace seemed to return as well. As she gave her name, she carried an instinctive sense of pride.

“Shh…” Neo whistled while crossing his arms. He thought to himself, “Maybe killing this bitch earlier was really a good choice…”