Sure enough, Zhao Jiayan said, "Probably around four or five in the morning."
Jiang Yiyi rubbed her eyes and said, "Sister Jiayan said you're injured and should sleep a bit longer."
Yang Yuan glanced gratefully at Zhao Jiayan and smiled, "I've slept enough. You guys go ahead and rest. Leave the next shift to me."
"Alright, I'm really tired too."
Zhao Jiayan didn't stand on ceremony. She pushed the supplies over to Yang Yuan, then lay down with Jiang Yiyi on the dried leaves prepared beforehand and soon fell asleep.
Yang Yuan stood up to stretch his limbs, finding almost no discomfort left.
He checked the wound on his waist and found it had already scabbed over, with an unexpectedly fast recovery rate.
"Not bad, it won't hinder us even if we continue on our way."
He breathed a sigh of relief; the toughest phase of his transmigration had passed.
The direction of the temporary camp was still ablaze with dense campfires, with watchers around almost every fire.
Further away, pairs of military patrols walked back and forth expressionlessly, always steadfast in their duty.
Seeing nothing was amiss, Yang Yuan sat back down, staying vigilant while picking up a short knife and some wood, preparing to continue crafting crossbows.
This time, however, he made four sets of every part in one go, using common deadwood.
Since he was only after quantity rather than quality, he hadn't crafted them very well. It took just over an hour for all the parts to be completed.
By then, dawn had begun to break.
In the distance, people were starting to move around.
Yang Yuan glanced at the sleeping Zhao Jiayan and Jiang Yiyi, then picked up the parts and began assembling.
Quickly, the first crossbow was assembled, gaining him another point of personal experience.
[LV.1: 0/1 (effective range four meters...)]
Just one experience point to level up?
Clearly, the quality of this crossbow was so poor it couldn't even be looked at directly.
Yang Yuan chuckled, casually discarded it since he hadn't intended to upgrade it, and was just using it to gain experience through quantity.
He then assembled the remaining parts, which took only about ten minutes total.
Once the remaining three crossbows were also completed, his personal experience filled up again.
[LV.3: 4/4 (can upgrade)]
With a glance, he chose to upgrade.
A slight warmth coursed through his body as his constitution and strength seemed to improve, yet it also felt like nothing changed.
However, his stamina had certainly gotten better, leaving him feeling refreshed.
[LV.4: 0/8]
I'm a Level 4 Awakened now.
Yang Yuan thought happily, "But with this ability, my physical body hardly has any combat power. I'll need to think of a way to make some protective armor or perhaps... an exoskeleton?"
Speaking of which, can an exoskeleton I assemble myself be upgraded?
Suddenly, Jiang Yiyi, who was being held by Zhao Jiayan across the campfire, abruptly sat up.
Zhao Jiayan was startled awake, hurriedly comforting her, "Had a nightmare?"
Yang Yuan looked over with concern.
However, Jiang Yiyi stood up with a tense expression, pointing in one direction with a look of terror, "There's something over there, big brother, shoot quickly..."
Yang Yuan's expression changed, not daring to hesitate, pulling out his pistol and firing in that direction.
"Misunderstanding..." a sudden shout emerged.
"Bang!"
But it was too late. The moment the gunshot sounded, a figure materialized three meters away, a fist-sized bloody hole bursting open in his chest.
A young man was seen flying backward, hitting the ground dead.
"What's going on?" Military personnel patrolling in the distance rushed over quickly, covering the hundred-meter distance in under three seconds.
The entire temporary camp was awakened by the gunshot, with everyone drawing their weapons and looking over vigilantly.
"Was that a person?" Zhao Jiayan was shocked.
Yang Yuan's face also darkened. That person had managed to silently get within three meters of them, clearly harboring ill intent.
"What's going on!?"
Several patrolling soldiers arrived, demanding sharply.
One of the soldiers, a superpower user, quickly walked over to the deceased, examining the body.
Zhao Jiayan and Jiang Yiyi grew tense.
Yang Yuan replied coldly, his expression unchanged, "That person is a Superpower User. He can turn invisible and was trying to ambush us."
The soldier examining the corpse nodded towards his comrades, "Indeed, he's a Superpower User."
"Then there's no problem. It's better for those who break the rules to die."
"You killed him. Dig a hole and bury him yourselves."
The patrolling soldiers, seeing the situation, acted as if nothing happened, ignoring the corpse and turning away.
They had seen this too many times to manage it all.
In these conditions, it was already a great deal for them to offer what protection they could, even sending patrols at night to maintain order.
Before leaving, however, the soldiers looked deeply at Yang Yuan.
An Invisibility Superpower User was rare. For Yang Yuan to detect one in advance, they believed he had some special sensory ability.
Additionally, the soldier checking the body gave Yang Yuan's pistol a thoughtful look, harboring some suspicions.
But he didn't dwell on it. He supposed Yang Yuan had a peculiar superpower that possibly augmented firearm power.
Such superpowers aren't uncommon. There was someone like that in their unit.
Seeing that the military indeed didn't care about people who initiated trouble and got themselves killed, Yang Yuan breathed a sigh of relief, softly saying, "Yiyi, keep watching around. I'm going to check it out."
"Okay." Jiang Yiyi, her face tense, continued to scan the surroundings.
Zhao Jiayan also breathed a sigh of relief, adding more wood to the dying campfire.
Yang Yuan walked to the corpse, finding a sharp short knife that had fallen nearby, feeling a sudden chill.
This person clearly had ill intentions. If it wasn't for Jiang Yiyi's unique superpower, he, as a Transmigrator, might have found himself transmigrating once again right after arriving.
He crouched down, searched the body, quickly finding a pistol and a box of bullets.
Besides that, there was nothing of value.
"Luckily, this guy didn't shoot."
The intruder likely feared attracting the military patrols. Additionally, he probably hadn't encountered someone with Jiang Yiyi's superpower before, leading to his fatal mistake this time.
Yang Yuan's heart suddenly raced as he realized belatedly that he had killed someone, yet it felt no different than killing a wolf—both acts of taking life...
His adaptability was indeed strong.
Yet those who kill are often killed in turn, so he also needed to be prepared for the possibility of being murdered—
"It looks like acquiring some defensive armor or even an exoskeleton has to become a priority!"
Yang Yuan thought, setting aside the pistol and ammo, then began digging a grave where he stood.
It took over an hour to dig a hole deep enough in the sun-baked hard ground to bury the body.
Once the body was buried, daylight had fully broken.
Returning with his spoils to the campfire, Zhao Jiayan, as she added wood to the fire, suddenly whispered, "Look over at the military camp."
Curious, Yang Yuan looked over and couldn't help but be shocked.
What had been a tented temporary camp last night was now encircled by a three-meter-high wall, turrets constructed on top.
The speed of construction—
"Earth Superpower User?" he asked.
"Not sure, but likely. My guess last night was accurate: the military plans to stay here, maybe even build a safe zone," Zhao Jiayan said with some joy. "That means the underground river beneath us has sufficient water resources, and we don't need to move on anymore."
Yang Yuan nodded happily, better to settle down, even if just for a while.
As long as his level increased, he wouldn't fear future evacuations.
Jiang Yiyi had clearly known already and wasn't surprised, but was very happy to not have to keep traveling.
Zhao Jiayan pointed at the other refugees, "Some smart people are already searching for a place to settle nearby. We should find a good spot too."
Yang Yuan thought for a moment and said, "No hurry, first join me to the military camp."
"Is something up?" Zhao Jiayan asked while quickly packing.
Yang Yuan handed Zhao Jiayan the pistol he had just obtained and half of the bullets, "I want to trade for something, though I'm not sure if the military has it."