NOVEL NEXT WORLD Chapter 9 - I Don’t Even Know What It Feels Like to Be Full
Chapter 009: I Don’t Even Know What It Feels Like to Be Full
As evening fell, Mu Liang and Mino returned to their wooden shelter in the camp.
“Today was such a good haul!”
Mino crouched by the fire pit, happily sorting through their catch—small lizards.
They had caught forty-five in total.
Surprisingly, twenty-three of them were caught by the Three-Colored Lizard. The rest were captured by the two of them.
Aside from the lizards, they had also caught three palm-sized rats.
Mu Liang sharpened his combat knife and casually asked, “Do you always eat lizards?”
“Yep. If I’m lucky, I might get some rabbit meat once in a while.”
Mino didn’t even look up as she spoke, still focused on their haul.
Today was an exceptionally good day. Normally, she would only manage to catch two or three lizards at best.
Mu Liang’s sharpening motion paused for a moment. “Do you ever eat enough to feel full?”
Mino tilted her head in thought, then furrowed her brows in confusion. “I don’t even know what ‘full’ feels like.”
She had never been full before.
So how would she know what it felt like?
“…”
Mu Liang fell silent.
Hearing such a heart-wrenching response from the girl, then seeing her genuinely puzzled expression made him unexpectedly frustrated.
Without a word, he tossed aside the sharpening stone.
“What’s wrong?”
Mino blinked her big blue eyes, confused.
“Nothing. I’m going to walk around the camp.”
Mu Liang slid his knife back into its sheath.
He needed to gather intel on the camp’s situation and spread word about the upcoming bandit attack.
…And clear his mind.
“Be careful.”
Mino reminded him as she stayed behind to process the lizards—drying them into jerky for long-term storage.
“Got it.”
Mu Liang grabbed his backpack and slipped into the shadows between the wooden shelters.
By now, the sky had turned completely dark.
Without moonlight, the pitch-black environment was perfect for him to move unseen.
The aroma of roasted meat drifted through the air. Faint firelight flickered from cracks in some of the shelters.
But for the most part, the camp was eerily quiet.
In some huts, he could hear the soft breathing of people already asleep.
When food was scarce, people moved less and slept more to conserve energy.
From Mino, Mu Liang had learned that the camp had a hunting team responsible for catching wild game like rabbits, dryland turtles, and wild dogs.
The food they brought back was only distributed to those who worked for the camp leader.
As for the others?
The leader didn’t care.
Living in the camp required paying taxes—a trade for protection from the leader and his hunting team.
Living alone in the wilderness was far too dangerous.
Wolves could tear you apart, or worse, you could encounter mutant beasts.
But in Mu Liang’s opinion, the real reason people willingly paid taxes was because the leader controlled the water supply.
Only those who paid could receive a rationed amount—just enough to keep them from dying of thirst.
And one of Mu Liang’s reasons for sneaking out tonight was to stock up on extra water before leaving in two days.
The camp wasn’t very big, but it was divided into two sections:
The inner sectionwas surrounded by a wooden and stone fence—this was where the leader and the hunters lived.
The outer sectionwas where people like Mino, the taxpayers, resided.
The two-meter-high fence was no obstacle for Mu Liang.
He effortlessly climbed over it, slipping past the patrolling guards unnoticed.
As soon as he entered the inner camp, the rich scent of roasted meat filled his nose.
Campfires blazed brightly, providing ample warmth.
Mu Liang passed by some wooden houses where he heard sounds best left unmentioned.
“Tch. In conditions like these, they’re not even worried about getting sick?”
He rolled his eyes and plugged the hole in the wall he had peeked through.
The leader’s house stood at the very center of the camp.
Mu Liang circled around it once and was genuinely surprised—
The house was massive, over four hundred square meters—about the size of a basketball court.
“How extravagant.”
Mu Liang smirked, finally understanding what kind of ‘work’ the people here did for their leader.
Choosing a secluded corner, he scaled the wall and slipped inside.
His landing was silent, and thanks to the fire burning in the room, it wasn’t too dark.
“This must be one of the side rooms.”
He listened carefully to the muffled voices deeper inside the house, determining their locations.
After observing for a while, he noticed seven or eight servant girls.
He discreetly followed one carrying a clay pot, watching as she entered a guarded room.
Mu Liang stayed hidden in the shadows, activating Mimetic Camouflage—at just a few meters away, he was practically invisible.
The guarded room had no windows. The only way in was the door.
Soon, the servant girl emerged, dodging the guard’s wandering hands as she scolded him playfully and walked away.
Mu Liang memorized the location of the water storage room.
He then tailed the servant girl to a brightly lit hall, where four men were having dinner.
She set the clay pot on the table but didn’t pour water right away.
Instead, she grabbed a rabbit, slit its throat, and let the blood drip into the pot.
Mu Liang immediately lost interest in that water.
Just as he was about to leave to search other rooms, the conversation in the hall caught his attention.
“You may leave.”
The middle-aged man at the head of the table waved the servant girl away.
He then scooped up a bowl of blood-water and drank it down.
As the servant girl left, the other three men began speaking.
“Leader, are we really leaving this place?”
“If we ration the water and stop wasting it on crops, we can last a few more months.”
“Watering crops is a waste anyway.”
It turned out the vegetables were only for the leader’s personal consumption.
The others barely got any, so naturally, they weren’t happy about it.
“Bang!”
The leader slammed the table, his voice cold. “Stay here and wait to die, then?”
He poured another bowl of blood-water, chugged it down, then said grimly, “The underground well has only ten days of water left.
If we don’t leave by then, everyone will die of thirst.”
“But finding a new water source is too difficult,” one man muttered.
“We could move to Moonlake Tribe. They’d probably take us in.”
Another nodded in agreement, “Yeah, we could join their hunting team.”
But the leader’s face darkened, and he refused outright.
“No. That’s not an option.”
If he joined another tribe, he wouldn’t even be a low-ranked leader.
Having tasted power, there was no way he would become someone else’s subordinate.
“Then where do we go?”
“I refuse to die of thirst.”
“If we don’t find water, I’ll take my family and leave for Moonlake Tribe.”
The three men grumbled their dissatisfaction.
“I’ve already sent people to search for water. If they find nothing in five days, then we’ll go to Moonlake Tribe.”
As he spoke, a flicker of murderous intent flashed in the leader’s eyes.
“Fine. We’ll wait five more days.”
The three men finished their meal and left.
Mu Liang remained hidden in the shadows, coldly watching the entire exchange.
He hadn’t expected this—
The camp was already on the verge of running out of water.
And apparently, they were even growing vegetables—something he hadn’t expected at all.