7: Flowing years

"Ah, hey, brother, don't misunderstand, we're compatriots! I'm here to save you!" Li Xiao, hearing a voice that sounded like a young man, quickly explained.

Hearing his words, a man with short, choppy hair, a pale complexion, and a stern face emerged from the darkness.

He was wearing a full set of black combat fatigues, holding a Type 05 automatic pistol in both hands, his eyes bloodshot. It seemed he had been prepared to die just moments ago.

"Sorry, I was a bit nervous just now, I thought it was some other local force..."

The man gently wiped the sweat from his forehead. In such a close call, where death could strike at any moment, no one could remain calm.

Li Xiao waved his hand, "Let's not talk so much for now. Let's deal with them, then we can chat!"

With that, Li Xiao ran out again. The Imperial patrol team opposite had no intention of letting them go, still using vehicles and street-side shops as cover, constantly suppressing their firing line.

At this point, Li Xiao, without thinking, immediately added the two hundred health points he had just acquired to Di Yun, then told him, "Di Yun, directly assault them!"

"Yes!"

A staggering sixteen hundred health points gave Di Yun immense courage.

He took a deep breath and quickly darted out from behind cover. Ye Ming, seeing this, stood up and fired across the road to suppress the enemy's firepower, providing cover for Di Yun.

Visibility wasn't great at night. It wasn't until Di Yun had rushed across the road that the four Imperial Soldiers noticed him, and, startled, quickly swung their guns to concentrate fire.

Di Yun, without any cover, immediately took several shots, his health dropping to eleven hundred points. However, by this time, he had successfully closed in on the enemy's cover.

A roll allowed him to evade three firing lines from inside the shop. Di Yun darted behind a wrecked car, and as he looked up, he came face to face with an Imperial Soldier.

The enemy unhesitatingly raised his gun to spray, but Di Yun was a step faster. Two rifle rounds consecutively hit the enemy's face, taking him out.

With one frontal threat gone, Di Yun grew bolder. He leaned against the street, and the Imperial Soldiers scattered in several shops lost their line of sight.

He casually picked a shop and rushed in. The Imperial Soldier guarding inside immediately opened fire, three bullets hitting Di Yun's chest and costing him over one hundred eighty more health points.

But that was all. Di Yun had now abandoned his rifle and was using a more flexible pistol. He even had time to aim for the soldier's head.

Bang bang!!

Two headshots finished off that soldier. At the same time, Ye Ming had also run across the road, eliminating another soldier in a trade of blows.

Just as the two were about to team up to take down the last enemy, Li Xiao saw that Imperial Soldier emerge from the shop with a rocket launcher, aiming it at Di Yun and Ye Ming's shop.

"Holy crap! Di Yun, Ye Ming, watch out!"

Li Xiao shouted, raising his gun and firing, trying to interrupt the enemy.

But his marksmanship was truly terrible, missing with two consecutive shots.

However, just then, a gun fired beside him. The person from before had fired a single shot, and the bullet accurately hit the last Imperial Soldier's head. Immediately following, with a whoosh, the rocket left the launcher and flew out.

Boom!

A shower of sparks and smoke. That shot caused the Imperial Soldier's dying attack to go awry. The rocket flew upwards, hitting the shop sign, and Di Yun and Ye Ming, who had not yet come out, were spared.

Phew... Li Xiao let out a heavy sigh. He had almost lost his two subordinates.

"That was really f*cking intense!"

After the battle, Di Yun and Ye Ming's health began to recover at a very slow rate. At this moment, the young man also walked over.

"Brother, thank you for saving my life!"

Li Xiao looked at the guy in front of him. There was no great 'survived a disaster' expression on his face, but his grateful gaze was quite sincere.

"Hey, it's nothing. When you're out and about, you do what you can to help. Today I save others, hoping that someday someone will lend me a hand too."

The young man nodded, "Brother, my name is Liu Nian. If you don't mind, let's add each other as friends. I don't have anything valuable to thank you with right now, but I'll definitely make it up to you when I get the chance!"

This world seemed like a game, but death was everywhere. Everyone had to consider every step carefully, so Li Xiao had indeed saved Liu Nian's life today.

Li Xiao waved his hand, unconcerned, "We're all poor. I didn't save you for anything. I see both your soldiers have fallen, so you should find a place to lay low until the conscription order refreshes tomorrow before coming out again."

"That's the only way now." Liu Nian smiled bitterly, but then he seemed to remember something, "Oh right, I have twenty points of fuel that I got this afternoon. Take it."

Liu Nian finished speaking, then pulled two fuel barrels from his backpack and continued, "You must take this, no matter what."

"This..."

To be honest, Li Xiao was tempted. Twenty points of fuel could save him four hours of collection time. He thought to himself, he wasn't a saint, why refuse a good thing?

"Honestly, if you offered something else, I might be too embarrassed to take it, but if you offer resources, I really can't refuse."

"Haha! Brother, you truly are straightforward! Taking this small token makes me feel much more at ease. I've never liked owing favors, so I've decided you're my friend!"

After adding Liu Nian as a friend, Li Xiao began to clear the battlefield.

Originally, he only intended to take the weapons and equipment from the six people he had killed. He didn't want the two killed by Liu Nian's explosion, but Liu Nian insisted repeatedly, so Li Xiao reluctantly accepted.

In the end, he collected a total of 42 Star Coins from this patrol team. Combined with the Star Coins he got from the major earlier, he now had 65.

He transferred all the Star Coins to one card and discarded the extra cards.

Then there were eight AK112 assault rifles, one M3E recoilless rocket launcher, and over four hundred rifle rounds.

Li Xiao certainly couldn't use so many guns, so he directly put them on the trading center.

"It's just a pity the rocket launcher has no ammunition, otherwise it would definitely sell for a good price."

Liu Nian put away the weapons and ammunition of his fallen subordinates and walked over, saying seriously, "I observed for several hours before. There are no other Imperial strongholds around this town, only some small Imperial units pass through frequently. I think it can be a long-term resource point. How about we coexist peacefully and utilize it together?"

"Of course, I have no objection." Li Xiao nodded. "Anyway, I can't use it all by myself."

Resource points are not infinitely collectible; each has a fixed amount that refreshes randomly within the resource area at midnight every day.

Wu Feng Town has two hundred points of steel, one hundred points of fuel, and fifty points of rare ore daily, which is enough for both of them to share.

"Alright, I'll withdraw for now. Let's chat when we have time!" With that, Liu Nian turned and disappeared into the darkness.