Chapter 79: Chapter 77: Yellow Hound on the Left, Holding... a Drone on the Right, The Mountain Sweep Begins

The next day, Jiang Jianguo came to Li Xiang’s house to practice flying the drone, a skill Li Xiang excelled at.

In his previous life, he was a special forces soldier at the base—a company commander, no less—and had experience with things like drones and robotic dogs. However, during the Apocalypse, electricity was scarce. Furthermore, the combat strength of drones and robotic dogs was weak compared to Demon Beasts. They could only be used for reconnaissance or suicide attacks, so they weren’t deployed on a large scale.

Of course, the main reason was that during the Apocalypse, humanity had moved underground, which limited production capacity.

Modern industrial manufacturing relies on global trade. Even for a manufacturing powerhouse like China, when the Apocalypse arrived and cut off all trade routes, many industries simply couldn’t function.

The former world leader, the Beautiful Country, was primarily finance-based, with its domestic manufacturing sector mostly hollowed out. Being "isolated overseas" only made its situation more tragic.

And let’s not even talk about other countries. Even before the Apocalypse, many nations couldn’t even produce something as simple as the plastic sheeting used in agriculture.

Jiang Jianguo had actually operated drones before, but not one as sophisticated as this. He was used to the agricultural kind.

Nowadays, few young people in the countryside still farm; most have left to find work elsewhere. As a result, large-scale farming operations like professional cooperatives have emerged. Some of them bought drones for tasks like spreading fertilizer, spraying pesticides, and sowing seeds.

When Jiang Jianguo had free time, he would do odd jobs for those professional cooperatives. Otherwise, it was really hard to make any money in the village.

He also had a blacksmith shop where he occasionally repaired kitchen knives, sickles, and hoes for the villagers to supplement his income. He’d also bought a tractor and would charge people to help them plow their fields or haul things.

Even though he only had one daughter, the costs for her education, food, clothing, and other expenses were still quite high. In a little over a year, she would be starting college, which would be another massive expense.

If she did well on her exams, it would be manageable. Prestigious schools, like the Project 985 universities, have relatively low tuition and offer scholarships. But if she didn’t do well and ended up at a private university, the tuition could be twenty to thirty thousand a year, maybe even fifty to sixty thousand. How could a family like his possibly afford that?

So, Jiang Jianguo was under a great deal of pressure and sometimes couldn’t sleep at night.

He’d once considered going to a more prosperous area to find work, but he couldn’t bear to leave his wife and daughter. They were both as pretty as flowers, so he had never left. Now that he was older, it was even less likely he would.

When the bounty was posted this time, Li Xiang invited him to join, and he was very interested. That’s why he was so diligent about learning to fly the drone.

The drone circled high in the sky, offering a breathtaking bird’s-eye view. The scenery was so beautiful, a completely different perspective than usual. Li Xiang edited together a video of the snow-covered mountain village from above, set it to the ethereal and melodious BGM of "Spring Courtyard Snow" sung by Jiang Cai’Er, and posted it to his social media account.

As soon as it was posted, many of his followers liked it.

Since it was a lightweight drone with a flight ceiling under 120 meters, and there were no airports or military installations nearby, there was no need to file a flight plan.

Besides, he had already included the drone’s information when he submitted his Bounty Hunter registration. Once that was approved, it would be as good as having it officially registered anyway.

Li Xiang and Jiang Jianguo also tested the drone’s flight range. The shop owner had said it used enhanced RF communication and could reach a distance of ten kilometers.

They gave it a try, and sure enough, it flew all the way to Lei Family Gully, eight kilometers away, and still had a signal.

Then, Jiang Jianguo suddenly got excited and shouted to Li Xiang, "Quick, come look! Wild boars are invading Lei Family Gully! They’ve already started trying to catch them!"

Li Xiang ran over to look. Sure enough, the camera showed about seven or eight wild boars wreaking havoc in one of Lei Family Gully’s vegetable patches. They were rooting up cabbages, making a complete mess of the place. Then, the "professional boar-catching team" from Lei Family Gully closed in, armed with iron nets, clubs, spears, steel pitchforks, machetes, and butcher knives...

Their team had a good number of young people, four or five of them, making their group look much more formidable than Li Xiang’s.

"See that guy built like Yao Ming? That’s Lei Laohu’s oldest son, Lei Jiaming. He has a sister named Lei Xiaohui. Your Ninth Uncle mentioned setting you two up last time. He said you could meet her when she comes home for the New Year." Jiang Jianguo pointed at a burly man on the screen, his tone full of amusement.

He’d met Lei Xiaohui before. The Lei Family, the Jiang Family, and the Li Family were all distantly related, but the ties had faded over several generations. Still, they would chat warmly whenever they ran into each other.

’He knew Li Xiang definitely wouldn’t be interested in Lei Xiaohui. Just based on looks alone, they’re not a match at all.’

Lei Jiaming spotted the drone and glanced up in its direction, but didn’t pay it much mind. He probably figured it belonged to a hunting party from a nearby village.

Li Xiang took a closer look at the big guy’s build and features and suddenly shivered. ’Holy crap, the guy looks like Zhong Kui. How good-looking can his sister be?’ He shook his head violently. ’Better not.’

Jiang Jianguo just laughed.

In truth, Li Xiang wasn’t lacking in looks or education. In his previous life, he was even an Extraordinary Being. If not for his own high standards, he’d had plenty of chances to stop being single in both this life and the last.

For instance, his former colleague Chen Huanhuan once invited him over to fix her computer. A single man and a single woman, alone in her rented apartment for a whole day, and... nothing happened.

In his previous life, as the commander of the Vanguard Company and a Tier Five Transcendent, he was a lofty figure in the eyes of ordinary people. Plenty of celebrities had thrown themselves at him, seeking his protection, but he had remained a perfect gentleman, preserving his "body of pure yang."