MICW: Chapter 21

~Becoming Captain's Favorite(2)~

“Liu Dage, from now on this boy… ah yes, what’s your name again?” suddenly, the lady remembered that she had yet to ask this boy his name. 

“My self Cao Zhenyang, miss captain.” Zhenyang wore a smile while bending a little to introduce himself. 

“Yes, prepare a separate tent for this Cao Zhenyang. Also, prepare a sumptuous meal with the flesh of a Rank 1 beast… mmmm… prepare a lot of meat. Also, bring a jug of Cloudwind Wine, send them all to my tent. Tonight, I will accompany this Zhenyang to a feast for the whole night, hahaha!!” the woman ordered calmly before laughing out loud. For some reason, she found what she said really funny. 

“Alright, then what do I say to Xiao Er?” the burly man asked. Although he can make his own judgment on this matter as there could no way their captain could bother with this kind of low rung people, he still wanted to ask. This case was a little special. 

“Xiao Er, eh… hmm… he had done really good merit by bringing Zhenyang to me. If not, we would have missed talent like him to that sadistic mistress of Lu clan. Dage, go and make a judgment of your own. Reward that man something that he would really like, I am pretty sure a promotion would do his ego good.” The lady ordered calmly before signaling him to leave them alone by shaking her hand in the air. 

With a nod, the burly man, Liu Dage, left the room, but not before giving one last glance at Zhenyang. This look didn’t contain any malice, only a shred of inquiry. He was really curious, exactly what this boy had that made his demon-like captain to treasure him so much, to the point of accompanying him for a whole night in a celebratory mood. Having served under her for so many years, he could tell clearly when she was happy and when she wasn’t. The current her was beyond happy, even more so that when she discovered the Bloodsucking Comb in that ruined temple. 

“Zhenyang, come here and sit with me.” She smiled and patted the chair adjacent to her, beckoning him to take it. Nodding his head, while being cautious, he sat down on it at a very awkward angle. Of course, the lady noticed it but didn’t say anything, giving Zhenyang the time to get used to her presence. 

“We found you unconscious on the road, care to tell me what are you doing there? If you must know, that road’s destination is to a sect, what were you doing there?” though she asked calmly, her sharp eyes still remained on Zhenyang’s visage. Having known for some time that this question would eventually come, Zhenyang was also read with an answer. 

“Initially, I wanted to come here to join a Wasteland Bandits’ group. But, even after I searched for quite a few days, I still couldn’t find them. I was gradually running out of water and food. So I decided to go into the sect and refill my supply. Even before I could reach there, my water and food ran out, and I eventually fell down on the road, unconscious due to dehydration and hunger.” As he said these, Zhenyang’s face morphed into a look of absolute horror, “I thought I was going to die out there… thank god you guys took me in…” 

“Hahaha! Kid, you are really funny.” The woman laughed out loud once again, slapping her thighs as she did so, then, giving a look to Zhenyang’s face, she continued, “the only reason you are thanking god because you are getting to join us. If you are still inside that cage and later sold to that Bitch Feng, I am pretty sure you would be cursing us a storm… hahaha!!” 

‘I am still cursing at you, though, and also my shitty luck. If not for me being weak as hell, and still completely unknown about the world, I would have run away the moment I woke up, you know…’ these are his inner thoughts, though, on the outside, he only showed a smiling face. He wanted to show that he was really feeling gratitude for them saving him. 

‘anyway, now that I have joined this bandit group. By job is halfway done. Now I have to learn everything I can about this world, slowly and surely fill my inner data bank. Later, when I get a chance, I will hightail it out of here to a faraway place where these guys couldn’t reach me… that’s the plan for now…’ thought Zhenyang with a frown. His primary reason to join bandits was to avoid getting a prisoner treatment, and after finding out that they were going to be sex slaves, he had no other way aside from joining these guys to protect himself. 

‘I knew what I did was less than noble, and that these bandits are horrible… but, What I did was for my own sake. I wanted to protect myself, what’s wrong in that? If a lotus flower can remain unchanged in a pool of muddy water, why can I not remain the same in this group of crooks?’ it's not like Zhenyang didn’t have any misgiving about joining these people. He indeed had a bellyful of them. 

Back on earth, he used to be a small, fast food shop owner. His mother and father were absent, and he had to grow up in orphanages. Had it not for money constraints, he would not have dropped from the university. Having faced this many hardships, he could have easily turned for the worse, joining those underground gangs… not only there was easy money in that profession, he also been able to make connection with many powerful people.

But, he never stepped foot on that road, filled with riches only to end up in hell. He believed in hard work. He believed that the money earned from your own hard work, no matter how small it is, was still better than millions earned from the wrong way. 

Anyway, although he was reluctant in his heart, there’s nothing he can do in this situation, its either join them or become a slave and die to some noble’s filthy tastes. Life wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows, he had learned this important lesson when he ran away from his second orphanage.

“Do you know any martial arts? How to read and write?” the lady asked. She wanted to know everything about this new gem she found. She had some high-end plans for him, for that she had nurtured him step by step. In her eyes, although this boy was a diamond, he is still rough around the edges. He needs rigorous polishing before he can shine brightly. She had plans to do exactly that. She wanted to polish the rough diamond until it shines the brightest. 

“I had no time to read. I was busy terrorizing my village. And sorry, miss captain, there’s no one in the village who could teach me any martial arts, so I only fight with my fist and legs…” as Zhenyang said these, he adopted a look of sadness, making it seem like there was a knot in his heart regarding this matter. 

“I see, as expected.” She said with a frown, but shook his head, “I will assign someone to teach you basics of martial arts tomorrow. For now, let me teach you how to read and write. Even though we are bandits, we should still not forget to educate ourselves.” The lady announced before standing up and go into the room beyond the screen. 

‘Educated bandits, huh. My horizons were broadened once again. at this rate, I might really find a flying pig eventually.’ Zhenyang thought this after hearing about education from a bandit no less. After all, education and bandits were polar opposites in the profession.