Chapter 6: Treatment and Gains

Pain!

Song Chai opened his eyes, and every inch of his body ached.

The last thing he remembered was reaching out to grab that scavenger—then everything went dark.

Now, he found himself in what appeared to be an abandoned room, the air thick with the scent of medicine.

His limbs were injured, unable to move, but someone had already bandaged his wounds.

It seemed the scavenger hadn't dared to kill him. Instead, they had only wounded his hands and feet to prevent him from chasing after them once he regained consciousness.

Then, a passing good Samaritan must have found him, brought him here, and provided some basic treatment.

Realizing this, Song Chai called out, "Brother, I'm Song Chai from the Rootless Gang on Yashi Street. You've probably heard of me. No matter who you are, as long as you get me back to Yashi Street safely, I'll give you whatever you want!"

It didn't matter who had saved him—first, he had to use his name to stabilize the situation, then offer them an enticing reward.

Once he was safely back with his gang members, if this person still dared to ask for payment… well, that would be quite bold of them.

Getting taken down by a scavenger was already humiliating enough.

"…Or you can go to the market and find He Xun. Just mention my name, and he'll make sure you get your due reward."

Hah! If anyone had to take the blame, let it be He Xun.

But it seemed his reputation in the Hub Station wasn't too bad after all. Someone had been willing to save him in hopes of a reward, and even that scavenger had feared retribution too much to finish him off.

Still, that was far too naïve.

He might have spared my life—but I won't spare his!

Getting humiliated like this, losing face in such a disgraceful manner—if I don't get revenge, how can I continue to hold my ground at the Hub Station?

What was that scavenger's name again? He Xun mentioned it…

Ah, that's right. Your name is Lu Meng, isn't it?

"Who said I saved you?"

Just as Song Chai was lost in his thoughts, a figure appeared before him—white-haired, masked, hands stained with blood, and holding a scalpel.

A full-blown psychopath doctor.

It was none other than Lu Meng.

He was honestly baffled—what was this guy even rambling about?

But on the bright side, he didn't need to interrogate him now. This "Song Chai" had already blurted out the names of the people coming after him.

The anticoagulant on those two crossbow bolts had only knocked out someone of Song Chai's caliber for a short while. But given the situation at the time, even if he was only disoriented for three seconds, that was more than enough time for Lu Meng to land a few extra strikes and extend his unconsciousness.

That gave him plenty of time to prepare.

Recognizing Lu Meng, Song Chai's face twisted in terror. He struggled with all his might, only to find himself bound to a table—like livestock waiting for slaughter.

"You—you—what are you trying to do?! I'm from Yashi Stree—AH!"

A blade sank into his stomach.

"Yeah, yeah, I know. You're Song Chai from Yashi Street." Lu Meng casually prodded the wound. "Relax… good, I avoided the vital organs."

[Combat Level: 1 → 2]

That's right—Lu Meng was grinding levels.

To raise his combat proficiency, he needed to inflict damage. The greater the difference in attributes between him and his opponent, the more proficiency he would gain.

Song Chai was at least 20 points stronger than him. How could Lu Meng possibly pass up such a perfect "training dummy"?

One stab.

Then another.

"AAAAAHHHH!"

Ignoring Song Chai's screams, Lu Meng skillfully controlled his knife, adjusting both angle and force.

This, too, was part of his combat practice. Besides, dead people didn't grant proficiency.

[Combat Level: 2 → 3]

[Combat Level: 3 → 4]

...

His combat level soared.

Thankfully, his mask concealed the smirk forming on his lips. Otherwise, anyone who saw him might have mistaken him for a demon.

Not that Song Chai would see him any differently.

"Urgh…"

Massive blood loss finally granted Song Chai the mercy of unconsciousness.

Seeing this, Lu Meng pulled out the bandages and medicine he had prepared in advance.

[Life Skill: Medicine 0 → 1 (Beginner)]

He hadn't forgotten that he still had to treat Huo Buyang's mother later. A little practice wouldn't hurt.

"Cough… Just kill me already!"

"Don't rush me. Can't you see I'm working on it?"

...

As dusk fell, Lu Meng strolled out of the room, relaxed.

...

[Name: Lu Beiyou (Lu Meng)]

[Race: Human (Son of the Wasteland)]

[Base Attributes: Strength 5, Speed 5, Toughness 5, Constitution 5, Perception 8…]

[Combat Level: 17 (Unranked)]

[Melee Skills: Machete 1 (Beginner)]

[Ranged Skills: Crossbow 2 (Beginner)]

[Life Skills: Medicine 5 (Beginner), Stealth 13 (Basic)…]

After a grinding session, Lu Meng's combat level had risen to 17.

Unfortunately, he still hadn't reached 20, the threshold needed to break into the "Martial Artist" tier like Song Chai.

The problem? His training dummy was too fragile—it just couldn't hold up.

After raising his medical skill to level 5, he had no more usable material to continue.

As for his unexpected gain of Machete Level 1—well, after hacking away so many times, he was bound to pick up a few tricks.

"No secret techniques—just pure muscle memory."

[Machete] skills covered movements, techniques, and combos. The higher the level, the more fluid and precise the attacks became—just like the choreographed duels in action movies.

On the other hand, [Combat] was a more abstract concept, representing real battle experience and the ability to overpower an opponent in a single move.

Sparring partners could help, but until you've spilled blood, it's not true combat. That's why improving [Combat] required actual fights—causing damage.

Of course, just mindlessly flailing like a street thug wasn't enough. A real expert could dismantle a reckless brawler in seconds.

When two opponents had similar combat experience, the one with better technique would gain the upper hand.

Skill proficiency also played a huge role in maximizing damage output.

That's why, in Lu Meng's eyes, both Combat Level and Combat Skills were essential—he had to grind them both.

Right now, he was still classified as "Unranked", but among other unranked fighters, there was still a gap in skill levels.

Previously, when he encountered hostile scavengers, he had mostly relied on evasion.

But now?

Compared to the average resident of the Hub Station, he had officially become a menace.

An unranked expert. You could say he was a second-rate expert...

The medical module had consumed quite a bit, and there were only a few anticoagulants left for poisoning. Most of the supplies had been used on hemostatic agents and other wound medicines to treat Song Chai.

Disinfectants and anesthetics, on the other hand, hadn't been wasted, as they weren't needed earlier.

Fortunately, after Lu Meng's medical skill reached Level 5, he could reduce the consumption of medical supplies during surgery. From now on, he could at least be considered a barefoot doctor.

Lu Meng rummaged through Song Chai's pockets but only found a dozen or so Kai Coins. He was speechless—this guy looked like someone of status, yet he was poorer than a scavenger like him.

All that muscle for nothing. If he had just gone to mine ores properly, he wouldn't have ended up in this state.

Lu Meng stripped off the leather jacket, which still offered some defense, and put it on himself.

As for the rest, he had no interest in wearing another man's undergarments.

There was also a weapon left behind.

[Ring-Handled Straight Blade: A relatively light short saber capable of slashing and thrusting, just right for wearing at the waist.]

- Grade: Modified Old Blade (White)

- Value: 2,300 Kai Coins

White was the second-lowest grade of equipment. The worst was gray, which included things like "rusty iron rods" and "rusty blades" used by ordinary vagrants.

For reference, Lu Meng's crossbow was also gray-grade. That meant this blade was now his highest-level piece of equipment.

Of course, his biggest gain from this encounter was the attributes he had extracted from Song Chai.

Lu Meng swung the ring-handled straight blade a few times. It felt decent in his grip.

"Guess I'll go with the saber combat style from now on."

The first melee skill he'd developed after reincarnation was saber fighting—must be fate.

Plus, the saber category had decent weapon stats and combat skills.

His body was stained with a lot of blood—he needed to find a chance to clean up.

Lu Meng tossed his old tattered clothes into the house behind him, threw on the leather jacket, and left with the saber in hand.

During the process of dealing with Song Chai, the guy thought he was being tortured for information. He ended up spilling everything—plans, targets, even ratting out all his buddies, tears and snot running down his face.

He Xun from the market district…

Lu Meng didn't bother covering his tracks. Even if Song Chai simply disappeared, He Xun would easily suspect him anyway.

Since someone had already decided to come after him, he had no problem adding more fuel to the fire.

Besides, with such a perfect starting scenario, what kind of player would be afraid of triggering the main storyline?

…

By the time Lu Meng arrived at Huo Buyang's "home," night had already fallen.

Not wanting to disturb their rest—and with nowhere else to go—he decided to wait outside the shack for a while.

Which led to the scene at the beginning.

Afterward, Lu Meng reflected on himself—yeah, he really didn't look like a good person.

Huo Buyang's home had no lighting, so even after he agreed, Lu Meng still had to wait until dawn to perform surgery on his mother.

However, after administering some antibacterial and anti-inflammatory medicine, her condition had already improved.

Seeing his mother sleeping peacefully, no longer in pain, Huo Buyang was overwhelmed with emotion.

His doubts about Lu Meng disappeared.

They were replaced with immeasurable gratitude.

"Lu Meng… Brother Lu, I really don't know how to thank you…"

The young man's voice trembled with emotion, but this time, it wasn't out of sorrow.

He lifted a small cup of water with shaking hands and offered it to Lu Meng.

"Please, drink this first…"

This small amount of water had been saved for survival, but now that Lu Meng had saved his mother's life, Huo Buyang couldn't bear to be stingy.

He didn't expect a mere cup of water to repay the debt, but he truly didn't know what else he could do.