Chương 32: New Neighbors

Reed, Susan, and Ray stopped almost at the same time. Just a short distance ahead, behind a low dune, a crowd of gray, stocky figures was slowly moving toward the convenience store. The Dustchucks at the front noticed them as well. Their steps stopped. One by one, the gray-furred creatures lifted their heads, their black eyes fixed warily on the three people who had suddenly appeared in their path. Reed instinctively tightened his grip on the hammer in his hand.

Susan stopped as well and pulled Ray half a step behind her. Ray had been worrying about Cass the whole way, but now her attention was completely on the Dustchucks in front of them. The Dustchucks stopped too. The ones at the front lowered their bodies slightly, while the ones behind them spread out a little, forming a loose cluster across the sand. Neither side moved. Reed held his hammer tighter. Susan kept Ray behind her. Across from them, dozens of black eyes watched without blinking.

For a moment, the road to the convenience store seemed to freeze. Back at the convenience store, Marlin was still securing his two-person tent when his hands suddenly stopped. He looked toward the distance, and Elias seemed to notice something as well. The old man stood up, his gaze turning in the same direction. Jack caught the change in both of them and asked, "What's wrong?"

"People are coming," Elias said with a frown.

"And mutant beasts." Jack's heart sank. Again? Before he could ask more, Marlin narrowed his eyes and stared into the distance for a moment. Then his expression shifted.

"It's Reed and the others," he said.

"And they've run into Dustchucks." By then, Elias had also made out the scene. The two sides were facing each other near the road, neither one moving forward. His expression tightened. Jack did not hesitate.

"I'll get the gun!" Before Jack could leave, Cass called out from the side.

"Wait." Jack turned back. Cass hesitated.

"Could they be the same group from last time?" Elias looked at him at once.

"The group you mentioned before?" Cass nodded.

"Maybe. They came here once." Jack frowned.

"Whether they are or not, we can't just leave them like that." He went back into the store, grabbed the gun, and headed toward Reed and the others. Marlin was left standing there, completely confused.

"Wait. What group from last time? Dustchucks have been here before?" Cass glanced at him, with a hint of pride in his voice.

"Last time, Jack worked with them to drive off a group of Red Sand Badgers. They even injured one." Marlin stared at him.

"Worked with them? Jack and the Dustchucks?" Cass nodded. This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

"Yeah. The three of us saw it with our own eyes." Marlin opened his mouth, then closed it again. He had thought today could not get any stranger. Apparently, it could. By the time Jack reached Reed and the others, gun in hand, neither side had moved. Reed held his hammer across his body, his face tight. Susan kept Ray behind her, her attention fixed on the Dustchucks. Across from them, the Dustchucks at the front had lowered their bodies, tense and ready, while the rest of the group stayed spread out behind them.

Before Jack could say anything, two voices rang out almost at the same time.

"Jack!"

"Squeak squeak!" One came from Reed. The other came from the leading Dustchuck. Jack relaxed at once. It really was them. He raised a hand toward Reed.

"It's fine. Don't attack. They're old friends." Reed froze.

"Old friends? That group from last time?" Jack nodded, then turned toward the Dustchucks. He lowered his voice and gestured between himself, Reed's group, and the Dustchucks.

"It's fine. They're with me. Friends. Understand? Friends." The Dustchucks obviously could not understand every word, but they recognized Jack. The one at the front cautiously stepped forward, stopped, then looked between Jack and Reed's group. Jack pointed at himself, then at Reed, Susan, and Ray.

"Me. Friend. Them too." Then he pointed at the Dustchucks.

"You too. Friends." The leading Dustchuck stared at him for a moment before its body slowly relaxed. Susan watched Jack gesture at the Dustchucks, not quite sure what to make of the scene. Ray had forgotten to be nervous. She stared wide-eyed as Jack pointed at himself, then at Reed's group, then at the Dustchucks, seriously trying to explain the word "friend" to a group of mutant beasts. Reed lowered his voice and explained, "They're the ones we saw last time.

The group that helped Jack drive off the Red Sand Badgers." It took Jack several more tries before both sides finally eased up. Only then did he let out a breath and lead Reed, Susan, and Ray toward the convenience store. After a few steps, however, Jack noticed the Dustchucks were following them. At first, he thought they were here for food and water again. He was already thinking about what to bring out for them later.

But when they reached the area near the convenience store, the leading Dustchuck suddenly called out. The entire group stopped. Then, almost at once, the Dustchucks lowered their heads and began digging into the ground with their claws. Jack stood there, watching them work with practiced ease. For a moment, he did not know what to say. Reed stared at the busy Dustchucks as well. Ray asked quietly, "What are they doing?" Jack hesitated.

"They're not… planning to settle here, are they?" Reed looked at the burrows already beginning to take shape.

"It looks like they are." Susan's expression turned complicated. Mutant beasts and humans becoming neighbors. No matter how she thought about it, that was not something anyone would have expected. When they returned to the convenience store, Ray went straight to Cass.

"Cass!" Cass looked up in surprise.

"Why are you here?" Ray glared at him.

"You got hurt. Am I not allowed to come?" She crouched down at once, reaching for the bandage on his leg. Susan came over as well, but Elias stopped Ray first.

"Let Susan look." Ray reluctantly moved aside. While Susan checked Cass's wound, Elias gave her a quick rundown of what had happened. Jack pointed toward the Dustchucks still digging in the distance.

"Oh, right. That group is the same one that came here before. I think they're planning to settle nearby." Marlin immediately looked over.

"Settle nearby?" Reed nodded.

"They've already started digging." Everyone turned toward the gray figures in the distance. The Dustchucks worked quickly. Some dug while others cleared loose sand away, and their movements were so practiced that it almost looked as if they had chosen the spot long before arriving. Jack watched for a while, then decided to leave them alone. As long as they did not cause trouble, they could stay. Right now, dinner mattered more. He glanced at the sky.

"I'm going to take a shower first. Then I'll make dinner." With that, he went back into the convenience store. The moment he stepped inside, he called out in his mind, "LOSS, why didn't you give me a warning just now?" The system's voice soon sounded.

"Human, after evaluating the receiving party's retention of previous alerts, the efficiency with which those alerts were used, the accuracy of repeated-event recognition, and the continuity of the relevant judgment chain, this system has determined that the current receiving party still shows a clear lack of effective alert utilization when similar events occur for a third time." Jack stopped in his tracks.

"What?" The system continued.

"This system's nearby-lifeform approach warning mechanism is not designed for unlimited repeated notifications. When the target, movement direction, approach pattern, and threat parameters show no substantial increase, the relevant warning will, after a limited number of alerts, enter the default retained-information state."

"If the target's later approach does not create a destructive outcome beyond existing records, it will be classified as a low-risk repeated-approach sample. If the target had already displayed clear hostility during a previous approach, and the human still failed to respond effectively after receiving the warning, then increasing the number of warnings would have almost no positive effect on the final survival outcome." Jack's expression went blank for a second. Then it turned ugly.

"Say that in normal words." The system said, "Human, this system suspects your memory lasts about as long as a goldfish's." It paused, then added, "The warning rules were explained to you before." Jack: "…" Right. He should not have asked. The moment he asked, he had practically handed the system another chance to mock him. Jack chose to pretend he had not heard anything. He went upstairs, took another shower, changed into clean clothes, and went straight to the kitchen to prepare dinner.

There would be a lot of people eating tonight. Elias, Cass, Marlin, Reed, Susan, Ray, plus Jack himself. A small portion definitely would not be enough. At the very least, he would need to make a full pot of something. Jack had only just entered the kitchen when the system's voice sounded again.

"Significant improvement detected in the local environment surrounding the convenience store."

"Task completed: improve the environment around the convenience store."