Chapter 46: Distributing the Spoils of War

Chapter 46: Distributing the Spoils

With over fifty evolved bamboo rats, Hu Zifeng's squad finished the battle in less than ten minutes.

Throughout the entire process, Xia Qing was only responsible for standing in the very center of the formation to "protect" the bamboo shoots in the bags. In reality, the squad was protecting both her and the shoots. This was different from the dangerous situations Xia Qing had encountered when performing missions previously.

Team members venturing out of the Safe Zone to perform missions can generally be divided into three categories: core combat members, internal logistics members, and temporarily recruited external logistics personnel.

Xia Qing did not belong to any specific team; she always performed missions as an external logistics worker.

When danger arises, external logistics personnel and internal logistics members must both rush to the side of the combat members—who are fully equipped with weaponry—to seek protection.

Combat members have an obligation to protect logistics and external logistics personnel, but in the face of uncontrollable danger, the default practice for many teams is to abandon external logistics personnel as bait to cover the team's retreat.

Therefore, Xia Qing was very selective, doing her best to avoid teaming up with such squads. She chose to work with Luo Pei's squad and Xu Juan's squad because these teams treated external members like human beings.

There were three reasons she didn't join a team: first, a team was both a shield against danger and a shackle to one's freedom; second, even within a team, strength-type evolvers were not highly valued and were allocated few points; and third, as a triple-attribute evolver, her true identity would be impossible to hide if she worked with the same group of people long-term.

She was afraid of being captured for research.

Xia Qing had no lofty ambitions; she didn't want to rise to power or command the wind and rain; she only wanted to live a stable life.

Now that the combat mission was over, it was her turn to step up. Xia Qing volunteered, "Captain Hu, shall I clean up the battlefield?"

Hu Zifeng knew that Xia Qing often worked with Brother Luo's squad, so he nodded. "Miss Xia, clean the battlefield with Guan Tong. The rest of you are responsible for security."

Guan Tong quickly pulled a stack of vacuum-sealed bags and disposable plastic gloves from his protective vest pocket and handed them to Xia Qing. "Miss Xia, let's get all the bamboo rats bagged and sealed as quickly as possible. Watch out for venomous snake attacks."

Xia Qing was all too familiar with this work. She efficiently gathered the evolved bamboo rats, placed them in bags, and handed them to Guan Tong, who had taken out a small vacuum sealer, to have them sealed for preservation.

A Green Pit Viper, attracted by the scent of blood, slowly slid down a bamboo stalk, intending to swallow the bamboo rat in front of Xia Qing. With a single strike of her blade, Xia Qing knocked the snake unconscious. After placing it in a separate vacuum bag, she heard movement three meters above her head. However, she did not dodge, because Hu Zifeng was standing right beside her on guard.

Hu Zifeng reached up, caught the venomous snake as it lunged down to attack, and handed it to Xia Qing. Xia Qing struck it unconscious with another blow, bagged it, and handed it to Guan Tong for sealing.

The living are worth more than the dead. Never mind just a single evolved snake nearly two meters long and as thick as an arm; even the most powerful evolved animals would suffocate if deprived of air.

After cleaning up the battlefield in less than five minutes, Guan Tong, a strength-type evolver, carried the large bag containing the bamboo rats and the snake in one hand and hoisted the largest bag of bamboo shoots onto his back.

As a fellow strength-type evolver, Xia Qing hoisted another bag of bamboo shoots—half a person tall—onto her back, and carried two more bags in her hands, standing beside Guan Tong.

The four members of Hu Zifeng's squad put on slightly smaller backpacks, protected Xia Qing and Guan Tong, who were responsible for transport, in the middle, and retreated from the Evolved Forest along the original route.

This trip took seven hours. No one had removed their protective masks; when hungry, they would bite into the straws located below the mouth inside the masks to drink some nutrient solution. The taste of the nutrient solution was as bad as it could possibly be, but it provided rapid nutritional replenishment and was an essential supply for teams entering the Evolved Forest for missions.

After exiting the Evolved Forest, Hu Zifeng took off his protective mask and consulted with Xia Qing. "The bamboo shoots you dug yourself belong to you. The remaining shoots, snakes, and bamboo rats will be distributed according to the Safe Zone rules?"

Xia Qing removed her mask and agreed. "Of course. There's no need to be so polite, Captain Hu. Just call me Xia Qing."

Hu Zifeng also had a straightforward temperament. "Fine. We'll take the supplies back first to test and clean them, then I'll send your share over. How many cans of food do you want to exchange for?"

"Is one okay?" Canned food was a highly sought-after resource. Xia Qing didn't know how many they had brought out of the Safe Zone, so she didn't ask for much. Furthermore, the evolved perilla in her field could yield at most two pounds.

After watching Hu Zifeng's squad enter Buffer Zone No. 1, Xia Qing returned to her territory with her bag of bamboo shoots. The team members guarding the four corners of the territory retreated to Territory No. 1. Boss Sheep rushed to Xia Qing's side, lifting its head and opening its watery sheep eyes, greeting her in a high-pitched, "cute" voice, "Baa."

Having had a bountiful harvest, Xia Qing took off her sweat-wicking headgear, shook her damp short hair, and greeted him with a smile, "Boss, I've returned safely with the bamboo shoots!"

Unfortunately, she hadn't found any evolved giant pandas.

Seeing that Xia Qing wasn't giving him food, the acting-spoiled Boss Sheep squinted, gestured with its spiral horns, and began pawing the ground.

Xia Qing didn't have the energy to fight with him right now. She swung the bag on her back. "Go, I'll feed you when we get home."

After Xia Qing left with the sheep, Zhou Xun quietly retreated a distance and quickly returned to the village in Territory No. 2. "Boss, Xia Qing and Hu Zifeng's group are all back, and they even brought back edible bamboo shoots!"

Tang Huai, who had been digging for insects all day, remained silent. Tang Heng analyzed, "They were gone for seven hours. The bamboo forest is at least fifteen li from here."

To go fifteen li deep to find bamboo, they had to be a well-equipped team of evolvers. There were only two evolvers in Territory No. 2, Tang Huai and Zhou Xun, and neither was a combat-oriented type. Zhou Xun, unwilling to give up, leaned toward Tang Huai and pleaded, "Boss, let's use our supplies to exchange some bamboo shoots with Territory No. 1 or No. 3 to eat, okay?"

When Xia Qing arrived home, she took out a bamboo shoot weighing three or four pounds, sliced off a thin piece, and put it in Boss Sheep's food bowl. By the time she emerged from a combat shower, she found Boss Sheep standing at the door, staring at her with its large, doll-like eyes.

"Baa—"

The fellow was even using a high-pitched voice just to get food. Having just finished her shower, Xia Qing felt a chill and walked straight past Boss Sheep. "No, these bamboo shoots weren't easy to get. We have to eat them sparingly."

"Baa!" Realizing he wasn't getting any, Boss Sheep began pawing the ground, demanding a violent resolution.

Xia Qing didn't want to fight, so she decisively stuffed the remaining bamboo shoots into the tin cabinet in the kitchen and locked it.

Boss Sheep stopped making a scene, because it understood that the things in that cabinet would belong to it sooner or later.

Xia Qing first went to the high-slope planting area to harvest a bundle of evolved perilla, then returned to wash rice for steaming. Once Hu Zifeng delivered her share of the supplies and the canned food, she could enjoy a fragrant meal of steamed rice with bamboo shoot and meat stir-fry tonight.

Half an hour later, Xia Qing received one yellow-light bamboo rat, four red-light bamboo rats, twenty pounds of green-light bamboo shoots, and exchanged them for one can of meat.

Hu Zifeng explained to Xia Qing, "Out of the fifty bamboo rats, there were eight yellow-light ones. There were a total of 136 pounds of green-light bamboo shoots and 53 pounds of red-light snakes. I kept the snakes, so I'm compensating you with four pounds of green-light bamboo shoots."

Xia Qing thanked him and took the supplies back to her territory. In this team-up, she was only responsible for guiding the way, cleaning the battlefield, and transporting supplies, yet the share Hu Zifeng gave her already exceeded the base's distribution standards. Xia Qing understood clearly that the extra four pounds of green-light bamboo shoots were a gift from Hu Zifeng.

The purpose was to thank her for allowing Luo Pei to receive treatment within Territory No. 3.

Although these supplies were all packed in vacuum bags, meat could not be stored for more than three days.

Xia Qing checked the time and stood directly on the isolation belt, waiting for the inspection patrol to pass by.