Retired for A Hundred Years: Re-Employment for the Apocalypse Bigshot!-Chapter 501 - 496: Crossing the Desert

Ji Ning’s fists clenched tightly.

A group of people stopped to watch the followers of the Eternal Life Sect, naturally drawing the attention of other villagers.

There were also villagers who hadn’t come yet, leading a frail girl over to cautiously inquire, "Sir, do you want a girl? She’s very clean, only costs five loaves of bread..."

Ye Xingyan was about to refuse when he saw Ji Ning asking the frail girl, "What is he to you?"

The girl looked numb, with no light in her eyes, and the man quickly said, "She is my daughter. If you like her, you can take her for just five loaves of bread."

"I’m asking her, not you," Ji Ning said, his tone hardening a bit.

The man, fearing Ji Ning wouldn’t buy, kicked the girl hard, "The man is asking you a question! Are you mute? Speak quickly..."

The girl, hurt by the kick, timidly replied, "He is my dad."

"Do you hate him?" Ji Ning asked again.

Both father and daughter froze for a moment, the girl carefully glanced at the man and shook her head.

"Why not? He’s about to sell you for food."

The girl whispered, "If he trades for food, my mom will have the strength to give birth to my brother."

The man’s eyes showed some emotion, but he still hardened his heart and said, "Sir, if you need a servant, just take her. She’s very strong and can do a lot of work. You just need to give me five... four loaves of bread..."

Ji Ning smiled, "I’ll give you a month’s worth of food, but keep this girl for me. I’ll come to get her in a month."

The man looked overjoyed and was about to have his daughter kneel and kowtow in gratitude.

But Ji Ning stopped the father and daughter, gesturing for Ye Xingyan to give them food.

They needed to pass through a slum and a desert, carrying a lot of dry food with Ji Ning and a Space Superpower User, they were not short on supplies.

Lao Qi tossed his bag to the man.

This time, neither the father nor the daughter expressed gratitude, clutching the bag and running away directly. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

Lao Qi was quite upset.

Ji Ning glanced at him, "They’re smart people."

Lao Qi was puzzled, but Ji Ning had already told Ye Xingyan, "Let’s go, we have a tough battle to fight tonight."

Ye Xingyan had no objections and used two packets of food to trade for two skinny camels and some basic tools needed to enter the desert.

This sort of unprofitable trade confused the Twelve Guards.

They didn’t need the camels to carry things, nor did they need the outdated tools.

Their stamina was better than that of the camels.

Ye Xingyan explained, "To ease some pressure off that father and daughter."

Since everyone lived in the same village, and that father and daughter had received a large bag of food, it was inevitable that they would be envied by fellow villages, leading to potential deadly conflicts.

...

After passing through the village, they walked another kilometer to enter the vast desert.

Locals referred to this as the Land of Death, a place even natives dared not venture deep into lightly.

Not to mention they planned to traverse the Land of Death, taking the shortest route to reach the northern region of the West Continent.

"According to the satellite map, we need to keep heading north, passing through Black Magnet Mountain, Uninhabited Valley, and an oasis called Moon Lake, to reach Wumanda Town in the north. That town is quite close to the major family locations in the West Continent..."

The Captain of the Twelve Guards, after looking at the map on a tablet, told the group.

Ji Ning glanced at the sunny sky and frankly said, "If you can avoid using your electronic map, don’t. The Smart Brain may breach Beizhou’s satellites."

"Really?" The captain’s expression tensed as he looked at Ye Xingyan.

He seemed to have thought of this as well, nodding slightly, "Turn it off first."

The captain immediately shut the satellite map off, handing the tablet to Shi Er for storage in space.

Anything placed in space cannot be detected by any electronic system.

"Rest here, we’ll travel again at night."

...

The starry sky of the desert, far removed from the city’s gray filter, was like the clean water of a washed sea, revealing the stunning starry sea it was meant to be.

The group gazed up at the starry sky, walking tirelessly, unaware of the passage of time.

Immersed in the dreamlike world woven by the myriad stars.

Until the silence was shattered by a sharp blade, leaving beauty frozen a second before.

Lao Ba swiftly turned around, deploying a sand shield, precisely blocking all the hidden weapons.

Then they saw a dozen assassins in black tight clothes and masks appear behind them.

The Captain of the Twelve Guards simply made a "kill" gesture.

Lao Qi turned into a blur, quickly reaping the lives of the group of assassins.

The battle was over in just 2 minutes.

Ji Ning watched coldly the entire time, these assassins were those who had been hiding in the slums spying on them during the day.

They were either members of the Eternal Life Sect or assassins trained by the Ji Family Army’s Assassin Camp.

"Shi Yi, get me some water to clean the knife." Lao Qi, having finished the fight, said in a sycophantic tone to one of the female superpower users.

Shi Yi wanted to roll her eyes, saying coldly, "Where would there be water in the desert?"

Though she had Water Ability, she was naturally restrained in desert areas due to the dryness and heat, with no water for her to control. The water ability stored in her body was reserved for emergencies when everyone was out of water.

Lao Qi looked at his knife with disdain, finally squatting on the ground to wash his knife with sand.

To his surprise, it turned out quite clean...

"Lao Qi, hurry up. The night is when the desert snakes come out, and the strong scent of blood here will attract those bloodthirsty creatures."

The captain shouted, urging everyone to leave quickly.

Not long after they left, a figure suddenly emerged from behind a sand dune.

His face showed fear as he crawled back, drenched in sweat.

Even after running home, he was still shaking, his legs trembling uncontrollably.

"Dad?"

In the shabby house, a little girl was startled by the man who suddenly burst into the house. She hurried to her feet and lit a dim oil lamp.

She saw a frail man collapsing onto the floor, looking ahead with a terrified expression, his whole body shivering, unable to speak.

The little girl got out of bed and brought the oil lamp to the man’s side, hoping to use its light to drive away the fear in his heart.

"Dad? What’s wrong? Weren’t you out working?"

The man was a guide in this part of the desert, the only one who’d survived a black storm and returned alive, making him a legendary figure.

The family was slightly better off than other villagers, but only marginally.

Especially recently, few outsiders had come to request desert guidance, leaving the household struggling to put food on the table.

With his wife pregnant, he resorted to selling his daughter for food for his wife and himself.

Unexpectedly, this first time selling his child, he encountered kind-hearted buyers, who not only gave him over a month’s supply of food but also allowed the daughter to stay a month longer at home.

But not long after they left, another group offered him a generous reward to guide them in chasing that group.

These masked men were clearly dangerous; he wanted to refuse, but they threatened his wife’s and daughter’s lives, forcing him to take them into the desert.

Later, he witnessed those people getting killed within moments, scaring him so much he covered his mouth tightly, hiding behind a dune until they left before daring to run home frantically.

The kind-hearted people he met during the day killed without hesitation.

"We’re moving... moving immediately..."

"But Dad, they’ll come back in a month."

"Then you... stay, I and your mom will leave with your brother."

The light in the girl’s eyes completely vanished.

During the day, that man asked her if she hated her dad.

She lied.

She did hate him.

From the moment he decided to sell her...