At this hour, the sun blazed mercilessly. Not a single breath of wind disturbed the smothering heat, and sweat poured off you in sheets, even before you stepped outside.

The members of the caravan each let out a long, hard-won sigh of relief.

The sudden sandstorm had finally spent itself. Had it lasted just a few days more, they would have been out of bullets and bread alike.

Leaving the small tribe behind, the group pressed onward, heading toward the oasis.

Attila proved himself once again as an experienced and skillful caravan leader. Less than half a day later, he led the way to a cluster of cacti, tall and thick in the waste.

"Ye Shu Ala, would you like to take some? There are plenty more cacti here."

Attila held Ye Shu in high regard, all the more so after learning this woman might well be the divine envoy of ancient legends—and that she could conjure ice by the handful. His face warmed further each time he looked at her.

"No need, help yourselves."

Such cactus tubers were plentiful in the space Ye Shu kept at hand.

After all, in the desert, food and water were worth more than gold itself. As players, they only needed to last twenty days here on Planet R, eating enough to get by—there was no reason to hoard more than needed.

She declined to take any.

But Su Bai was different; she couldn't keep relying entirely on her companion's generosity. She'd already shared enough of Ye Shu's food to feel guilty... Now, with supplies aplenty, she made sure to take her cut.

Su Bai and the caravan gathered small portions of cactus fruit and roots each, before setting off again across the wasteland.

Endless golden sand.

The unbroken stretch of dunes blurred Su Bai's vision.

Ever since she had fallen in with Shu Shu, her quality of life had risen dramatically. Chewing on ice atop a camel, she drew more than a few envious glances from the caravan.

Ye Shu appeared oblivious to their stares, quietly conjuring a hunk of ice to cradle against her chest, chasing the heat from her core.

……

They marched on under the desert sun for two days.

All around, it was nothing but endless sand and ruined stone—proof that, before Planet R became a wasteland, it was a thriving city. Ye Shu even noticed a few slabs of stone etched with ancient script against the earth.

In the great yellow expanse, a streak of pale green stood out, drawing every eye.

Attila finally allowed himself to breathe. They had arrived near the closest oasis at last.

Despite their calm posture atop their camels, a flicker of joy sparkled deep in the eyes of each caravan member.

"Ye Shu Ala, this is the nearest small oasis—we call it Qiangwu. We can trade for grain and water here, and there's fruit, even dried meat."

Attila introduced the place warmly to Ye Shu.

Thanks to the girl before them, their water supply was far better than on any previous journey. This trade would be easy, for once.

Qiangwu.

Ye Shu nodded her assent.

They rode their camels slowly into the city of Qiangwu.

It was not as she had pictured. The buildings were not of brick and stone, but made with the same earthen craft as the tribes—though the oasis' architecture was far more intricate.

Many camels were kept by locals, and broad streets were busy with their lumbering forms.

Qiangwu was an easy city to map: a crisscrossing grid, shops and homes mixed in patchwork. The mud buildings rose no higher than two stories. The city claimed perhaps a thousand families, and the bustling streets bore evidence of small markets everywhere.

The people, men and women, old and young alike, all bundled in white cloth save for their eyes, wore thick-soled shoes, and their exposed skin was darkened from years beneath the sun. Amid such company, Ye Shu and Su Bai seemed almost ghostly white, especially with Ye Shu’s floral tunic—enough to draw lingering looks from the local women.

It was evening now.

Night market hour in the little city.

Fruit, dried meats, and—most precious of all in these sands—water, could be restocked here. Qiangwu's currency was golden beans, though water itself would suffice in a pinch.

But, Attila had explained, few were foolish enough to trade water directly.

“Ye Shu Ala, you’d best not reveal you can make ice... that could prove extremely dangerous.”

To the caravan, Ye Shu was a guest of honor. They might have been tempted, but they knew better. After all, hardly a day past, a swarm of scorpions had ambushed them outside the tribe, only for this gentle-seeming woman to dispatch them all without effort.

"I understand."

Ye Shu thanked the caravan, then led Su Bai through the avenues.

Attila and his crew had business to conduct before leaving this settlement. Travelers together, but strangers at the parting of paths. As for Ye Shu’s reward for guiding them, she’d already received it at the gate.

Setting up shop was simple—drape a cloth or board outside your mud house, and you were in business. Ye Shu’s first priority was to find a place to stay. Su Bai followed behind her quietly, one hand on the camel’s lead rope.

Two women alone, traveling through the wastes.

It wasn’t long before someone blocked their way.

"Ala, leave the camel. I’ll let you walk away."

The lead Qiangwu man planted himself in Ye Shu’s path, eyes peering greedily from beneath his white wrappings. Only the crowd kept him from seizing what he wanted outright.

The residents of Qiangwu barely batted an eye.

This was the desert—a mix of all sorts, a gathering place for vice. Strength ruled here: whoever had the hardest fists was lord, and their word was law. No one survived here by being overly kind.

"Say that again."

Su Bai clenched her fists, her voice steely.

Did they take her for some weak, easy mark?

"I've changed my mind—the camel, and the two of you, we’ll take you with it!…"

The lead muscleman squinted at their odd outfits, and his companions leered. Before he finished, a chunk of cactus flew in his face, sending him reeling, and a storm of fists came down in reply.

"You want it? Want, want, want… want nothing but a beating!"

"Even my grandmother is a better bandit than you lot—you tired of living or just plain stupid?"

Su Bai landed each blow where it would hurt most. In less than fifteen minutes, the men were battered, faces bloodied and broken.

Ye Shu stood aside, her expression as gentle as ever, but her words would chill the marrow of any who heard them.

"Xiao Bai, the third one on the left—he’s got murder on his mind."

"Attila said, in Qiangwu, you can leave a man barely breathing and not break the law. So leave him a breath, no more."

Emboldened by Ye Shu’s support, Su Bai’s attacks grew fiercer, each strike thrown without mercy or hesitation.

The thugs had no chance to fight back. Chins dislocated, tendons slashed, not a whimper escaped before all was silence on the burning sand.

The muscleman collapsed, terror stark upon his features as if he'd seen a ghost. He trembled, mumbling through swollen lips, "Don’t kill me… please… never again… I swear…"

He slumped into unconsciousness before another word could pass.

"Tsk, tui—"

"That’s it? You call yourselves bandits? Consider this a lesson from your big sister."

Su Bai, triumphant as a rooster in dawn light, raised her head and chest, picked up the fallen camel lead, and marched ahead.

The crowd parted in silence, a path opening before them.

Ye Shu chose a mud house at random to stay in. Its owner was an old man with a body bent by years, his wrinkled face furrowed deep as an ancient ravine.

"Boss, a room please."

He stared in surprise for a second, then quickly recovered, asking, "One room, or two?"