As Jason Carter walked along the small road through the market town, the towering fortress walls loomed not far away, so high that looking up made it seem as if the sky had no end, filling him with a sense of oppression.

There weren’t many stone or brick buildings in the market town; most of the dwellings were more like shacks.

Originally quite relaxed, Jason Carter suddenly became alert upon entering the town. He even drew a bone knife from his waist. The atmosphere on the street grew tense, as if something dangerous was lurking inside those shacks. But as soon as Jason Carter drew his bone knife, those restless people quieted down again.

The first thing Jason Carter learned living here was to trust no one... except Brian Cooper.

Whispers came from a shack by the roadside: “Jason Carter actually caught prey again.”

“That’s not much of a catch, just a sparrow.”

“This isn’t the same as the sparrows in those old textbooks. I’d guess that before the Cataclysm, even eagles were only about this big?”

“Don’t mess with him,” a voice ended the round of whispers, as if someone knew about Jason Carter’s past.

Jason Carter lifted the curtain to his own home, and the warmth inside seemed to make his body less stiff.

Brian Cooper, who was sitting inside the shack doing homework, looked up and saw Jason Carter had returned, his face lighting up with surprise: “Did you catch a sparrow?”

“Why aren’t you using the kerosene lamp?” Jason Carter asked with a frown.

Brian Cooper wasn’t usually so well-behaved—at least not in front of anyone but Jason Carter—but when facing this “older brother,” he always became unexpectedly obedient. “I wanted to save some kerosene for the family.”

“What if you end up nearsighted?” Jason Carter put down the sparrow.

Brian Cooper’s eyes lit up as he said, “The teacher at the school said that before the Cataclysm, there were things called glasses. He also said they still exist now, but only inside the refuge fortresses. With those, even if you’re nearsighted, it’s no big deal.”

Jason Carter scoffed at this: “I’ve seen people wear what you’re talking about, but out here in the wilderness, trusting your vision to something that could fall off at any moment is as good as asking to die. Don’t listen to your teacher’s nonsense. Not everything he says is right.”

“Oh...” Brian Cooper nodded. “Then why do you still send me to school?”

Jason Carter was momentarily at a loss for words. “Why do you have so many questions?”

“When can I go hunting with you?” Brian Cooper pressed.

“You’re only fourteen, what do you need to learn hunting for? If you do well in school, you won’t need to hunt,” Jason Carter said. “Learn how to do accounting, learn some physics and chemistry—won’t that be better than hunting?”

“You’re only seventeen,” Brian Cooper retorted, unconvinced.

In this era, even the most savage people understood the importance of knowledge.

That was also why teachers could survive in the market town. No matter what trouble broke out, the teacher was always the safest person—no one would ever target the teacher.

However, tuition was expensive. Otherwise, Jason Carter would have wanted to attend himself.

As Jason Carter set up the iron pot, he skillfully began to clean the sparrow. “What did the teacher talk about today? You can only have some of the sparrow’s organs to eat—the rest has to be sold tomorrow.”

“You’re hurt?” Brian Cooper frowned when he saw the wound on Jason Carter’s palm, which had been pecked by the sparrow and was still bleeding.

The big iron pot was propped up on sticks, and the fire pit in the shack cast flickering shadows across Jason Carter’s face. “Just a small wound.”

The room fell silent. After a while, Jason Carter fished the sparrow’s organs out of the pot and handed them to Brian Cooper. “Eat.”

Suddenly, Brian Cooper’s eyes turned red. “I don’t want it, you eat it. You need to recover.”

“I’ll just have some soup,” Jason Carter said. “I still have some black bread.”

“I don’t want it. This isn’t a small wound at all. Just a few days ago, I saw someone in town die from an infection after a tiny cut. We don’t have any medicine here,” Brian Cooper said stubbornly, tears almost falling.

Smack.

Jason Carter suddenly slapped Brian Cooper across the face and said, “Remember, as long as we’re alive in this world, we can’t cry. This world doesn’t believe in tears.”

Jason Carter continued, “Look at the people around us. If you don’t eat your fill and someone breaks in at night and stabs me to death, what then? I send you to school because I don’t want you to end up like me, forced to hunt for a living. You have special abilities—if you study hard, you won’t have to work from dawn to dusk in the wilderness like I do. I send you to school because I don’t want you to become as savage as they are!”

Suddenly, Brian Cooper took the sparrow’s organs from Jason Carter and devoured them ravenously. In the end, his tears didn’t fall—he had to learn to be as strong as Jason Carter.

“Ahem, when you’re done eating, bring me a clean cloth to bandage my wound,” Jason Carter said.

“Okay,” Brian Cooper replied.

“You’re so clever and mischievous outside, but at home you act like a little pushover,” Jason Carter sighed. “Did anything happen in town today?”

“Oh, right,” Brian Cooper said as he looked for a clean cloth. “A team came out from the refuge fortress. They said they’re looking for a guide who can lead them to Refuge No. 112—they want to go straight through the border mountains.”