Naming Technique of the Night

Chapter 108: 108, Midlife Health Care

Servants are not slaves, just products of capital exploitation.

Some families are so poor that they can’t make ends meet, so they “sell” their children over 14 years old to companies.

The companies pay them a sum of money and then sign an 80-year labor contract with the children, agreeing to provide them with wages, food and lodging, and entrusted training among other benefits.

During these 80 years, the children are obligated to serve the company as the party of the second part.

If they want to terminate the contract within this period, they must pay a huge sum in damages to the company.

A sum they simply cannot afford to pay.

Eighty years is the maximum contractual period mandated by the Inner World labor laws, while fourteen is the minimum age for signing a labor contract.

If a servant starts serving at the age of 14 and doesn’t die by 94, they gain their freedom.

But in fact, it’s rare for servants to live to 94.

Hence, over time, the term “servant” was born.

It’s not that humanity in the Inner World has regressed to the era of slavery; it’s that when the law no longer protects the vulnerable, you realize just how powerful capital is.

There are actually quite a lot of these servants, mostly people who are desperate and sell themselves into wealthy households.

So, when the old man, Qin Cheng, saw the young man’s demeanor, he thought of the status of a servant.

At this time, after the middle-aged man had finished his rice porridge, the young man tidily cleared away the utensils and pitched a tent for the middle-aged man.

The leisurely middle-aged man crawled into his tent to sleep, while the young man just found a wind-sheltering rock to lean against and closed his eyes to rest.

In that gigantic backpack, there seemed to be only sundries needed by the middle-aged man and nothing for the youth—not even a single-person tent; there was only one…

From time to time, the young man would open his eyes, add some wood to the fire to keep the area around the tent well-lit.

Truth be told, even the Hunters by the campfire felt that the young man’s situation was quite wretched.

The middle-aged man seemed to not even regard the young man as human.

The wind picked up at midnight, bringing a chill that seemed to wick away the warmth from the campfire.

Qin Cheng glanced at his eldest son, Qin Tong, “Don’t mess with these two. Anyone who dares venture into the wilderness is no fool. That middle-aged man at a glance looks wealthy, and he might have completed a full sequence of Genetic Potions to reach B-Class.”

Qin Tong nodded, “Don’t worry, Dad, I’m not stupid.”

At this time, the middle-aged woman beside Qin Cheng said, “That young man doesn’t look like he has been injected with Genetic Potions, nor does he have mechanical limbs. A servant of someone important wouldn’t be this weak; maybe that middle-aged man is just C-Class.”

Qin Cheng shook his head, “Don’t underestimate him. Even if he’s C-Class, he’s not someone we can afford to provoke.”

The old man then rolled himself a cigarette, reflected silently for a long while, and then said to Qin Tong, “Go get a blanket from the car for that young man. We can’t reach the big shots, can’t fawn over them, but we can make connections with servants. Sometimes a servant becomes the boss’s confidant, and a little something falling through their fingers is enough for us to live on for two or three years. Plus, he has access to the big shots, and our business is essentially capturing pets for them.”

“Mhm,” Qin Tong nodded, standing up.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

But before he could fully rise, the young girl beside him grabbed him, saying, “Brother, I’ll go get it.”

With that, the young girl ran off towards the pickup truck, and Qin Tong sighed behind her.

A girl who’d grown up in the wilderness was uncontrollable by parents and older brothers, wild in nature.

The young girl approached the young man cautiously and with some curiosity, holding a blanket in her arms.

But just as she came within two meters of the young man, he suddenly exploded into action, causing leaves on the ground to be whipped up by the wind.

The boy produced a dagger from somewhere, only stopping it from slicing the girl’s neck at the last moment.

His movements were crisp and clean, not at all the harmless demeanor he had shown before.

With a whoosh, over ten people from the neighboring camp stood up, as if ready to rush over to rescue.

Meanwhile, the girl took a close look at the boy without a hint of fear, “I came to bring you a blanket, afraid you might catch a cold.”

The boy looked at her calmly and replied, “Thank you, but I don’t need it.”

Throughout this, the girl showed no intention of resisting, just gazing directly at him.

“The weather is quite chilly now, you’ll get sick if you sit outside all night,” the girl persisted.

“Hmm, thanks for your kindness, but it’s not necessary,” the boy settled back against the rock.

“Well then, just so you remember, my name is Qin Yiyi,” the girl said, taking the blanket back to her own camp.

Qin Tong frowned and said, “Do you realize that was very dangerous just now?”

“Not really,” the girl turned to look at her brother, “He didn’t have any intent to kill.”

Besides, she had seen his profile clearly when the boy sat down just now.

He was indeed very good-looking.

“What do you know about murderous intent, girl,” said the old man Qin Cheng, pondering for a moment before speaking, “It seems he doesn’t want to deal with us, so let’s not bother. I’ve decided, starting from tomorrow, we’ll head to ‘that place’ and search for traces of prey at the edge.”

With that, he pulled a black box from beside him and opened it; four drones inside quietly flew up into the sky, spreading out towards the perimeter of the camp.

Once they reached their designated areas, each drone cast a soft white light below, illuminating the vicinity.

Red beams stretched between the drones, ready to automatically defend and raise an alarm should any unknown creatures enter the area.

Hunters must have ways to protect themselves while making a living in the wilderness.

…

At dawn the next day, Uncle Li Dong emerged from his tent, fresh and alert, and said with a smile to Qing Chen, who was sleeping against a rock, “How’s your foot injury? Any better?”

“Much better,” Qing Chen nodded, “Though the wound keeps reopening from the long trek, the ointment is miraculous, and the injury is healing. I estimate… it’ll be fully healed in two more days.”

“Since the injury is healing,” Uncle Li Dong said with a smile, “let’s start preparing breakfast!”

He glanced at the neighboring camp, where porridge was already being cooked and someone was chopping cured meat into a pot.

Qing Chen looked up at Uncle Li Dong and said, “Although the teacher planned to put me through hardships, it’s a bit too much to only pack your personal belongings in the backpack. Also, why did you even bring something like a stool? Can’t we just sit on a rock?”

“Oh, sitting on rocks can be quite chilly,” explained Uncle Li Dong, “Moreover, it was because Ye Wan weighed the backpack and said it wasn’t even 60 pounds that I had him stuff the stool in there. Practice must look like practice. You haven’t trained for long and are already out with me on a journey, we can’t neglect training on the road. With the help of the Breathing Technique, trekking with a heavy load will allow you to grow at an astonishing rate. By my calculations, your physical fitness should be just about adequate by the time we reach Taboo Land 002.”

“But you could’ve thrown away the raisins, red dates, goji berries, and packed some supplies for me instead,” Qing Chen grumbled a little.

“I’m not exactly young,” Uncle Li Dong said earnestly, “The teacher needs to maintain his health.”

Qing Chen took out a thick paper book from the backpack and said with a pained expression, “So, did you also have Ye Wan stuff a health knowledge manual in there? It must have been quite hard to find a paper book these days!”

…

Thanks to Windprint King and H丶Design for becoming new allies of this book, thank you, bosses. The bosses are grand, may they make a fortune!