Lord of the Myriad Worlds

Chapter 51: Choices

Excellent!

So gold coins are the standard world resource, and one coin equals one unit. That’s fantastic intelligence. No wonder Penny insisted on developing handicraft production and external trade; indeed, only trade can bring in gold coins.

Li Wei suppressed the elation in his heart and hurriedly dragged a crude wooden bed from the cave into the pit to rescue Penny. Although her leg was injured and she likely had a concussion from being hit, Penny, armed with a crossbow, was still a solid combatant.

As for poor Mixi, she could only sleep forever here. All of her personal belongings now belonged to Li Wei.

"George, I was wrong. You were right. We thought about this too simplistically. Thank goodness for you…"

Penny’s hair and face were smeared with blood, a sorry sight.

"Stop with that. How can I help you? I mean your leg, does it need immobilizing?" Li Wei asked. He knew that a fracture needed a splint or cast, but he really had no idea how to make one.

"Not necessary for now, George. I think I just sprained my ankle."

Penny wasn’t sure herself, but one of her right feet was indeed horribly swollen.

Li Wei had no better option, so he carried Penny into the cave, handed her the loaded crossbow, just in case.He took Penny’s iron spear and bow and arrows, climbed down the stone cliff and went to patrol a bit. He wasn’t entirely at ease.

By the time he reached the place, the man struck by the bolt was already thoroughly dead. The other directions were quiet. It seemed those two bandits had indeed fled.

After thinking it over, Li Wei didn’t investigate farther. Better to be cautious.

Seeing evening approaching, he didn’t dare loiter outside and quickly returned to the cliff. He still felt uneasy. Although the odds of the two escaped bandits attacking again under cover of night were slim, what if there were other bandits nearby? Tomorrow he’d have to find a way to make a stretcher or sled; even if he had to drag her, he had to get Penny out.

Outside the cave entrance, Li Wei called once. Only after receiving Penny’s reply did he go in; he didn’t want to get shot through the guts.

"George, you sleep first. Wake me if I can’t hold on. Tonight we’ll take turns keeping watch."

Penny was obviously worried about the escaped bandits.

Li Wei didn’t refuse. To be honest, by then he was both exhausted and hungry. He gave some food and clean water to Penny, ate a bit himself, and, unable to search the cave any further for the moment, fell into a deep sleep on a wooden bed.

When Penny woke him again, night had already settled in, the stars scattered across the sky.

After a brief handoff with Penny, Li Wei moved the wooden beds to the cave entrance to serve as a barrier. He had been too tired earlier and had neglected this—such a mistake could be fatal.

But that night was surprisingly quiet; the escaped bandits didn’t return and nothing else happened.

At dawn, Li Wei had Penny keep watch while he slept two or three more hours, only then feeling his energy and stamina fully restored.

Then he finally had time to scavenge the bandits’ supplies.

As expected, on the racks were four sacks of wheat, half a sack of flour, and to his great delight, a small sack of salt weighing about five jin, a basket of fresh apples, five foul-smelling smoked fish, and a small jar of rendered animal grease.

"These must be things the bandits looted from who knows where. Eight bandits are already quite strong; it’s hard to imagine you defeating them, George."

Penny remarked with admiration.

"Actually, it was thanks to the steel arrowheads and the recurve bow you made for me, otherwise we wouldn’t have had those results."

"By the way, what exactly happened? Didn’t you say you recognized that Anderson?" Li Wei asked again. He felt this matter should have had about an eighty percent chance of going smoothly.

"I don’t know. Mixi and I did call out Anderson’s name when we got close and explained our purpose, but everything above was completely quiet, no response at all. We wanted to go up to check and then fell into the trap."

Penny spoke gloomily. This blow hit her hard; she even half-wondered if she had used up all her luck when prospecting the iron deposit.

Something that seemed nine times out of ten certain, how could it have been messed up?

Now everything was ruined: trade routes couldn’t be established, Mixi was dead, and Penny’s family status had plummeted.

From now on, Family Head duties would likely be monopolized by this George.

She was so unwilling to accept that!

Little did she know, Li Wei was regretful too. If the plan had succeeded, it would have greatly aided the family’s development.

Now, although they got a bit of salt, a main pillar of the family’s economy had clearly been crippled.

So what if he became Family Head? He still couldn’t develop the family’s economy!

"Sis, what are you planning to do next?"

Li Wei asked at that moment. This month was not over yet, and Penny was still nominally the Family Head. Besides, Penny would remain one of the most important family members. He didn’t want to take advantage of the situation to make things difficult or mock her.

Without Penny, there would be no recurve bow, no steel weapons or tools.

Even if she was unlucky this time, her contributions to the family couldn’t be denied.

"I just want to go home, George. We can’t stay here long. Who knows if those bandits have backup elsewhere?"

"Okay! Then we’ll head back today."

Li Wei didn’t say more. Looking at Penny who couldn’t move and then at the four sacks of wheat, half a sack of flour, and the small bag of salt, the total weight already exceeded four hundred jin. Penny herself weighed about one hundred jin.

Could he possibly carry it all back alone?

So some sacrifices had to be made.

No, the four sacks of wheat and the flour had to be abandoned. He needed to make a stretcher to drag Penny, so he could only take the small sack of salt.

Wasn’t that a waste?

No wonder when he first found the food he hadn’t received any experience gains; clearly, only supplies taken home counted.

"Sis, don’t you have any other ideas? It feels such a pity to just abandon this food." Li Wei asked. Penny, after all, was a craftsman; she should be better at this sort of thing than he was.

Penny glanced over and then shook her head, saying nothing. Obviously, this had exceeded her capability. A large part of the return route was steep mountain path. Trying to carry an injured person plus supplies with just one person and no cart was unrealistic.

It seemed they had no choice but to make certain sacrifices.

Li Wei sighed, dismantled some planks from the wooden beds, awkwardly tied them together with rope, and hammered out some iron nails, clanging and clattering as he worked to fashion a makeshift stretcher. He had to put Penny on it and drag her, but it would be exhausting; the friction between wood and ground would not be trivial.

"It might be easier to just carry her…"

Li Wei muttered to himself. After all that fuss, maybe he truly lacked the craftsman’s talent and had only made things messier.

Penny lay on a bed watching Li Wei buzz about like a headless fly and couldn’t help saying, "George, maybe there’s another option. If we stay a few more days, if my ankle is only sprained it will recover quickly. Even if it’s fractured, a few days could help it recover some. Then at least we could carry more supplies back."

"Of course, that also carries risks."