9 Triple Kill; Searching for Water Source

"Our luck is pretty good. We did not find any prey, but we found three people…"

"Hehe, aren't these three our prey?"

"Yep, that's right…"

Their thirst for blood was evident as they approached with fierce expressions. 

"Jiang Cheng…" Tong Xiaorou's voice trembled with worry. 

"I've got this, don't worry," Jiang Cheng assured her as he put Yaya down and held his sword. He knew words wouldn't work and it was useless to keep running. It just so happened that after becoming an Evolver, he had not really fought someone. It was time for action. 

"This guy seems tough. Should we really attack?" one of them hesitated. 

"He's on his own. We can take him down together and satisfy our hunger, then we can have some fun with the girls," the leader sneered. 

Immediately, the two people behind him became spirited, taking more resolute steps.

The two parties didn't exchange any words. As they reached ten meters apart, they both sprinted towards each other. Jiang Cheng swiftly tapped his foot and dashed toward the lead man, brandishing his sword.

The man reacted quickly and swung his steel knife.

With a clang, the man's steel knife was sent flying.

Jiang Cheng kicked the man away. With another swift slash, he broke the wooden spears of the other two attackers. One of them gasped in shock, "You…"

THUD!

With a flash of the blade, the man's head flew out.

The other attacker, shocked at what he had just witnessed, impulsively lunged at Jiang Cheng, attempting to bite his opponent. However, a swift blade cut ended the threat, separating the man's head from his body. At the same time, he quickly avoided the blood that was spurting out.

At this moment, the leader who was kicked away had just landed on the ground.

"You're an Evolver?!" The face of the leader who had been kicked away earlier changed drastically. "Please spare my life..." he exclaimed, scrambling to his feet to flee.

Jiang Cheng gave chase, quickly catching up, cutting off the man's neck with a ruthless blow. The man fell forward, twitching a few times before laying still.

Looking at the three corpses spurting blood, although his expression did not change, his hands were trembling slightly. "D*mn, it's so exciting!"

Taking a deep breath to steady his nerves, he looked at Tong Xiaorou and Yaya. "Search their bodies and see if there's anything useful."

Not far away, Tong Xiaorou and Yaya were both looking at him in shock. While they knew that Evolvers were already powerful, witnessing him easily take down three men was impressive beyond belief. They knew that it was not something an ordinary person could accomplish.

Yaya exclaimed in amazement, "Wow, brother-in-law is amazing!" Despite being only six years old, she was already used to the brutal reality of life and death. Her adaptability outmatched even Jiang Cheng's.

Jiang Cheng felt his heart tremble, having just killed three people at once with clarity of mind. This was different from the last time he killed someone in a groggy state. Even though Jiang Cheng had inherited most of the memories of the previous owner of his body, memories were not his firsthand experiences. He now had to live with the knowledge that he had ended the lives of three living beings and seen their blood spurt out. The impact hit him hard.

But he forced himself to suppress any emotions and adapt to this ruthless world as soon as possible.

Tong Xiaorou and Yaya checked the bodies without any fear of the dead.

Jiang Cheng raised his Tang Dynasty Sword to examine it. He was glad to see that the blade wasn't damaged.

Jiang Cheng observed that the power of [Density +2] was quite potent and could withstand even the impact of a steel knife. Nevertheless, he couldn't risk too many collisions, or the sword would break down eventually.

"Oh right, that steel knife…" He glanced around and quickly spotted the steel knife he had flung away. He walked to the side of the steel knife but did not pick it up. Instead, he placed his Tang Dynasty Sword on the blade of the steel knife. With a thought, he activated his fusing skill, keeping the Tang Dynasty Sword as the main body.

In the next moment, the two blades emitted a faint white light at the same time.

The Tang Dynasty Sword felt slightly hot.

In a split second, both sword blades emitted a faint white light, and the Tang Dynasty Sword felt slightly heated. The steel knife on the ground decayed slowly like it had deteriorated for ages.

[Tenacity +1]

Jiang Cheng was delighted and looked at Tang Dynasty Sword's attributes.

[Tang Dynasty Sword (White): Density +2, Tenacity +1]

"Not bad! I've succeeded in one try!" Jiang Cheng nodded in satisfaction and stroked the Tang Dynasty Sword.

After merging with the steel knife, the weight of the Tang Dynasty Sword increased once again, making it about six pounds, which was roughly three kilograms. With Jiang Cheng's current strength, this straight sword wasn't considered heavy and was very handy.

"When the tenacity is increased, it becomes tougher to curl and break. It's more resistant to a blow."

Jiang Cheng shook off some of the blood that was still sticking to the blade and turned to face Tong Xiaorou and Yaya. "How's it going?"

Tong Xiaorou hobbled over with a grim expression, holding a piece of rotten meat in her hand. "This is all I could find…"

Jiang Cheng frowned slightly as he wondered, 'What kind of meat was this?'

"Throw it away." He said without hesitation. He did not dare to eat this kind of meat. Who knew what it was.

"Okay." Although Tong Xiaorou was a little reluctant, she knew that it might be human flesh. At the moment, she could not see it as food.

"It's okay if you didn't find anything," Jiang Cheng comforted Tong Xiaorou, then looked at the clothes on that dead leading guy and then at his own tattered outfit.

After hesitating for a moment, he braced himself and walked over. He quickly stripped the dead body and changed into the outfit. 

Now he was completely certain that this world was not an ancient one. After all, the clothes were more modern-looking, with a clear distinction between shirts and pants, without any of the bulky feeling of traditional clothes.

"Let's keep walking," he said as he picked up Yaya and continued leading the way. 

The place was already deep in the primeval forest. Although there were traces of people and refugees walking through it, it wasn't easy to walk.

Even in this primitive forest, there were withered trees and vines everywhere. Only some places with grass had traces of being dug up.

Jiang Cheng frowned secretly. He could not understand what was going on that could cause the ancient trees in the primeval forest to wither. 'Could it be that even the underground river has dried up?' Is that possible?' He had no idea.

Logically speaking, there should be many ferocious beasts in a primitive forest in a world with extraordinary powers. However, he did not encounter any ferocious beasts along the way. He did not even see any herbivore beasts. It was unknown if they had been hunted down by the refugees or if they had all migrated.

There were even very few insects. Occasionally, he saw the limbs of insect corpses on the ground. They were parts that could not be eaten. Jiang Cheng could not help but wonder if those insects had died of thirst or was eaten by the refugees. The reason he suspected that insects would die of thirst was because he had not seen any dewdrops since early morning. The air was very dry.

The sun had already risen, rising higher and higher, gradually turning into a scorching sun. Even at the bottom of the forest, Jiang Cheng could still feel the heat in the air.

In order to avoid the loss of water, Jiang Cheng tried his best to go to places where the sunlight could not reach. He also tried to find a water source by heading towards low-lying areas.

Unfortunately, he didn't find anything in the afternoon.

Seeing that Tong Xiaorou's lips were cracked, and her footsteps were unsteady, and Yaya in his arms was about to faint from thirst and get a heatstroke, Jiang Cheng took out the half-filled bag of water and said, "Let's rest for a bit. Take a sip of water, but make sure it's not too much."

Tong Xiaorou and Yaya's eyes lit up as they looked at the water bag with longing.

Jiang Cheng took a small sip of the water and moistened his mouth before swallowing. It had a hint of woodsy flavor, which indicated that the water was indeed stored by some kind of tree.

Moreover, because it had been stored in his Item Box, the water was still at the same temperature as at night. Now that he drank it, it was extremely refreshing and had a very good cooling effect on his body.

After making sure that there was no problem, he gave Yaya a small sip, and finally gave Tong Xiaorou a sip. It was only a small sip, and it was enough to keep them alive first.

"It's a tough time for everyone right now. But let's just endure it for a bit longer," Jiang Cheng said as he put away the water bag. Despite still being extremely thirsty, Tong Xiaorou and Yaya managed to hold back their thirst. They were used to this kind of situation anyway, and it was definitely an improvement now that Jiang Cheng was treating them with a bit more kindness.

Jiang Cheng looked up at the blazing sun through the tree branches, furrowing his brow in concern. After a moment, he took out his Tang Dynasty Sword to clear away the layer of rotten leaves covering the ground and found that the ground below the rotten leaf layer was cracked and dry.

The layer of decaying leaves had dried up completely, there wasn't even a hint of moisture. If a fire started here, it could spread through the whole forest

"Is there really no underground water?" He did not believe it. He placed Yaya on the ground and crouched down, using his gathering skill to see if he could dig a deep hole to find water.