I Built a Home on the Back of the Black Tortoise

Chapter 1: A post-apocalypse World.

“I really didn’t expect that I would actually cross over to a post-apocalypse world. Is this another chance from God?”

Mu Liang still couldn’t figure out how such a bizarre thing as crossing over actually happened to him.

It had been five days since he crossed over. Apart from recuperating, this time was enough for him to collect some basic information.

This world was much bigger than Earth, but it had already been abandoned and destroyed, and the civilization was almost extinct.

The land could not grow food and the thousands of miles of land was desolate.

There was very little rain, but that rain was acid rain.

The sky was often covered with dust, and the sun could only shine on the earth occasionally.

“Based on the current recovery rate, it’ll take another day or two for me to recover.”

Mu Liang moved his arm and found that the soreness had disappeared.

He was finally able to use his strength after five days of recuperation.

Mu Liang opened the door of the wooden shelter and looked at the situation outside.

This desolate land didn’t even have the slightest greenery.

“This Apocalypse world can be considered a parallel Earth and now I’ve come here.”

Mu Liang was an orphan on Earth. He joined the army halfway through his study because he didn’t have enough money to pay the tuition fees of his college.

After spending five years in special forces, he had no choice but to retire from the army because of his wounds.

He wanted to use the things he learned in the army to become a short video creator.

He was going to shoot some videos about survival in the wilderness.

Who would have thought that Mu Liang was unlucky enough to encounter an earth crack that was caused by an earthquake?

He thought he would just die like this.

But in the blink of an eye, Mu Liang woke up and found that he was lying in a post-Apocalypse world. His whole body was sore, and he was unable to move.

Fortunately, a girl disguised as a boy rescued him before he could die. She secretly dragged him back to the camp and hid him.

Mu Liang sighed helplessly, “Perhaps it’s time for me to start living in the wilderness.”

As a stowaway, he would have to leave immediately if he was spotted by the people in the camp.

According to Mino’s words, if a stowaway was caught, in the worst-case scenario, they would be beaten to death. Otherwise, they would be forced to work till death.

This was not the result that Mu Liang wanted.

Mino was the girl who had disguised herself as a boy and saved Mu Liang when she happened upon him and hid him in her home so that he could recuperate.

“Click~~”

There was a very slight cracking sound of a small wooden stick.

Mu Liang immediately collected his thoughts and cautiously opened a gap between the wooden shelter to look outside.

A thin and dirty figure was walking towards the wooden shelter.

Mu Liang’s tight body relaxed. This sneaky figure was Mino.

Click……

The leaking door of the wooden shelter was carefully pushed open.

In the next second, the wooden door was closed instantly.

“Ah…… Why are you hiding by the door without saying a word?”

Mino, who had just closed the door, turned around and saw Mu Liang right in front of her, and her heart skipped a beat.

“How was the harvest this time?”

Mu Liang took a step back and sat down while leaning on the doorway.

“Mu Liang, you’re really amazing. The trap you taught me to make is very useful.”

Mino was very excited when she talked about this.

Then she said, “The little lizards I caught today are several times more than the ones I caught before.”

“How many?” Mu Liang asked with a chuckle.

During these five days that he spent with her, he didn’t expose Mino’s identity as a girl pretending to be a boy.

“Hehe…… It will definitely scare you.”

Mino smiled playfully and pulled out a cloth bag. Then she took out a little brown lizard of the size of two fingers.

Immediately afterward, she took out seven more little lizards and neatly placed them in front of Mu Liang.

“How many traps did you make today?” Mu Liang glanced at the wounds on the girl’s finger.

“There wasn’t enough time, so I only made twenty-two traps today.”

Mino was a little unwilling. She pouted and said, “Tomorrow, I’ll definitely be able to create more than thirty traps.”

“Don’t set up too many traps and be careful of being found out by others.” Mu Liang calmly reminded him.

“Yes.”

Suddenly, Mino realized something.

She bit her lower lip and anxiously said, “But if we can’t lay more traps, how will we pay your tax? We only have three days to pay the tax”

“How much am I missing?” Mu Liang frowned slightly.

In these five days, he had also learned about the rules of the camp. If he wanted to live in the camp, he had to pay taxes, which was food.

“Counting these small lizards that I have captured, we are still missing about thirty small lizards.”

Mino lowered her head in defeat.

In the beginning, the girl was very very vigilant. Mu Liang had used his survival equipment in exchange for her to keep him a secret.

It wasn’t until last night that Mu Liang taught her how to set up a stone trap, which gave Mino a sense of dependence on him.

It also allowed the young girl to enjoy the warmth of being taken care of after such a long time.

Mu Liang asked indifferently: “Have you paid your share of the tax?”

If he really had to pay taxes, it wouldn’t be difficult for him. As long as his body recovered, it wouldn’t be difficult for him to catch a little lizard.

Mino was not very excited. She whispered, “I’ve turned in thirty-five little lizards before, and now I’m just short of five little lizards.”

“Don’t worry, I will leave if my tax is not enough.” Mu Liang calmly said.

“Huh? You want to leave?”

Suddenly, Mino raised her head and looked at Mu Liang in astonishment. However, she did not know how to persuade him to stay.

“Yeah, I’ve almost recovered.” Mu Liang clenched his fist.

“Don’t we still have three days left? I will definitely be able to gather your share of the tax.” Mino said in a panic.

Without waiting for Mu Liang to reply, she quickly overturned the pile of rubble in the corner of the wooden shelter and pulled out a wooden box.

“I still have some small lizards in stock, and I can pay your taxes if I collect a few more small lizards.”

Mino opened the wooden box and pulled out eight small sun-dried lizards from it.

“Put them away. They are your reserve food.” Mu Liang’s eyes narrowed slightly, and he was a little touched.

He reminded her in a low voice, “Don’t forget, I’m an adult. The taxes I have to pay are different from yours.”

“I……” Mino’s voice trembled unwillingly. “There must be another way.”

How could the girl forget that the taxes of adults were different? She just wanted to make him stay. Then she would secretly set up some stone traps to gather fifty small lizards.

“Have you forgotten what you said on the first day we met?”

Mu Liang slightly raised his head and calmly looked at the young girl.

On the first day when Mino saved him, she had thought that Mu Liang was dead, so she searched his body for his things.

Who would have thought that Mu Liang would suddenly make a sound that scared Mino?

Then, she was fooled by Mu Liang’s words because she was too young.

He used his military knife and water in exchange for the girl’s help.

On that day Mino had said: It’s just a deal. You’ll immediately leave when you’ve recovered.

“I ……” Mino blushed and panicked, trying to say something, but she did not know how to argue.

She turned around without saying a word and pulled out a camouflage backpack from under the wooden bed.

The young girl carried that backpack in a panic and gently placed it in front of Mu Liang.

“I didn’t touch anything. Everything is still inside.”

Mino pursed her lips and timidly pleaded, “I’ll return it to you, don’t leave, ok?”

“Why do I have to stay?”

Mu Liang didn’t look at the backpack. Instead, he asked her: “We have only known each other for five days. Aren’t you afraid that I am a bad guy?”

He reminded the young girl that he didn’t want anything back. He just wanted to know why she had suddenly changed so much.

“I, I…… don’t know.” Mino lowered her head and grabbed the edge of her clothes with her small hands.

She didn’t know why she was trying to stop him. She just felt very uncomfortable when she heard that Mu Liang was leaving.

She had felt the same feeling when her sister had to leave four years ago in order to pay her taxes.

This ignorant young girl wanted to grab hold of him because of a trace of feeling that had appeared.

Mino was too young to have a choice before, but now she didn’t want to experience the same loneliness and helplessness once that she had felt when her sister left.

“Wait, I have one more thing, which should be enough to pay taxes.”

Mino bit her lower lip, and a light flashed in her mind.

Remembering something important, the young girl looked through the wooden shelter, and finally, she crawled under the wooden bed.

“I found it and it’s still alive.”

After a while, the young girl let out a joyous cheer.

“What is it?” Mu Liang poked his head out and asked.

Mino climbed out of the wooden bed and brought a palm-sized tortoise to Mu Liang.

“Tortoise?” Mu Liang was surprised. He took the tortoise that looked like a land tortoise from her.

At that moment, a voice came to his mind.

“Ding! Tame able creature detected, binding the God-level Taming System……”

// TL note: Black Tortoise(玄武 xuan wu) is a kind of mythological animals in ancient china. It’s the combination of Tortoise and snake and has the implied meaning of guardian and protection.