Chapter 1041: Tallying the Spoils

When the Calamity Rain began to drizzle down again, the helicopter loaded with spoils was carried by its high-speed spinning rotors out of the valley, climbing all the way to 5,000 meters before turning northeast, heading for Mountain Sixty.

During the Calamity Rain period, the Calamity element content in the atmosphere is at a high level, and the wild animals on the verge of losing control in the Evolution Forest are all unusually irritable. The noise from the helicopter flying at low altitude would be considered a provocation by the animals. Beasts on the ground are still manageable, but once a raptor is angered and loses control, it will attack the helicopter regardless of life or death.

Having the helicopter return at maximum altitude was to reduce noise and minimize stimulation to the birds and beasts.

On the way back, Eryong was still piloting the helicopter, Hu Zifeng and Jing Kuan served as machine gunners, and Head Wolf and Xia Qing squeezed into the co-pilot seat to direct.

Thirty minutes later, the helicopter arrived above Mountain Fifty-Nine. After confirming there was no rain in the cloud layer below, Xia Qing ordered Eryong to land within Zone Fifty-Nine, on the same mountain peak where the helicopter had landed when she dropped off Daigua.

After the cabin door opened, Head Wolf jumped onto the roof of the helicopter and raised his head to let out a long wolf howl. Before long, Handsome Giant Wolf and Broken-Leg Wolf arrived leading seven evolved wolves.

Xia Qing carried the nine prey items off the helicopter and handed them over to the wolf pack's companions. She gave the pack of dried green-light bamboo shoots in her pocket to Broken-Leg Wolf, then returned to the helicopter and took off again.

There was no way to give meat jerky, because all the meat jerky had been left by Xia Qing for the injured blind tiger on Mountain Thirty-Seven. Without giving some food, Broken-Leg Wolf refused to leave, so Xia Qing could only give bamboo shoots.

Wolf Lao Er didn't come along, probably staying in the cave to look after the wolf pups born this spring, already half a year old. Xia Qing had no idea how long the pack's pups would need Wolf Lao Er to watch them. She only knew that during the month-plus Wolf Lao Er had been away from the territory, the fish in the pond had all grown thin from hunger.

After the helicopter flew south for over thirty li, it landed on Mountain Fifty-Two. Head Wolf once again stood on the helicopter and howled. Xia Qing and Hu Zifeng swiftly unloaded the prey below, while Jing Kuan and Eryong stood guard.

Broken-Waist Wolf led eight wolves over. Head Wolf nudged Xia Qing's protective mask with his head, picked up a sambar deer in his mouth, and headed for Mountain Fifty-Five.

Black Wolf and Broken-Leg Girl each picked up a prey animal in their mouths. Some of the giant wolves carried one, some carried two, and followed their king back to the core territory. Only Broken-Waist Wolf didn't move, standing beside the helicopter, staring at the gazelle inside and several large bags, lost in thought.

Xia Qing pointed at the supplies and explained, "Our team and Her Majesty the Queen caught a total of twenty-two prey animals and killed seven blue-skinned bad guys. The blue-skinned bad guys' supplies belong to us, that gazelle was given to me by Her Majesty the Queen, and the other nine prey animals were placed—it's about to rain, and prey that gets soaked in Calamity Rain won't taste good."

Broken-Waist Wolf thought it over for a while longer, then finally picked up the gazelle in front of him and went after Head Wolf.

That clever fellow finally left. Xia Qing breathed a sigh of relief and returned to the helicopter.

Jing Kuan pulled his gaze back from the rapidly running evolved wolves and jumped onto the helicopter following Xia Qing. His brain had gone numb; he couldn't think about anything.

Eryong piloted the helicopter into the air again. Fifteen minutes later, it landed safely on the helipad of Mountain Forty-Nine.

The Calamity Rain gradually grew heavier again, at yellow level.

After contacting Chen Cheng and confirming the situation within the territory was under control, Xia Qing decided to distribute the supplies with Hu Zifeng's squad before returning to the territory. "This seven-person wanderer squad has a total of seven backpacks, fourteen satchels, and two luggage bags. Captain Hu, the six-tenths of supplies from the backpacks and satchels of that evolved one your three killed in the Evolution Forest go to you. The rest of the supplies go to me. Is that acceptable?"

Originally Xia Qing had only planned to give them half, but later Hu Zifeng's squad helped her clean up the valley, burn the corpses, and carry and bind the prey. Head Wolf didn't even give them a single lamb leg, so Xia Qing bumped their share up by another ten percent.

"Acceptable." Supplies were distributed according to mission contribution. Their mission contribution today was low, so this distribution was very fair.

After agreeing on the distribution method, Xia Qing took out the supplies of the wanderer she had wounded and Hu Zifeng's squad had killed, and handed them to Hu Zifeng. "Captain Hu, take a look. Are these the protective suit, satchel, and weapons stripped from him?"

After receiving Hu Zifeng's confirmation, the four of them gathered together and began tallying the supplies.

Tallying the haul after a mission is finished is as thrilling as opening a blind box—it's the favorite part for evolved ones who venture out on life-threatening missions.

Even rarer, what they had obtained this time was from a squad operating deep in the Evolution Forest during the Calamity Rain period. The supplies carried by such squads were far more than those of squads that only ventured a few kilometers out of the safe zone to dig up wild vegetables and look for prey nearby. They were also much richer than those robbery squads that, apart from weapons and essential food, carried nothing else.

The first things tallied were the protective mask, protective suit, boots, and underclothes stripped from this wanderer. Humans who survived the Calamity years all have an extremely strong sense of crisis. When going out on missions, no one puts all their supplies into backpacks and satchels, because those pieces of equipment could be lost. So the most important supplies are always carried on their person.

After spraying several times with the disinfectant Zhang San had given them, everyone began searching through these bloodstained garments.

"Found something!"

Jing Kuan pried out an points card from the boot shaft. "Didn't expect a wanderer to have an points card. Eryong, swipe it quick, see how many points are on it."

Hu Zifeng speculated, "Brother Huo said this wanderer squad robbed Huiyi's combat team. This is probably that squad's supplies."

According to the Evolution Forest supply distribution rules, regardless of who these supplies belonged to before, now that they had captured them, they were theirs. If the robbed supplies were very important to that squadron, they could negotiate with Xia Qing's group and exchange the items back with supplies of equal value or points.

"It could also be supplies the wanderer squad got from trading with Liehuo." Eryong fetched the card reader, pressed the disinfected points card against it, and it went "Beep."

"There really are points—4,829!"

"Not bad." Xia Qing gave an objective assessment. When she worked in the safe zone, her points card never had this many points.

"Another card. They really know how to hide." Jing Kuan found an points card in the insole's hidden layer of the other boot. After disinfecting and wiping it dry, he handed it to Eryong. "This one's an official points card issued by Huiyi. They definitely robbed it."

"Beep."

Eryong exclaimed, "Holy smokes, 6,430 points!"

"Two vials of premium nutrient solution, six vials of standard nutrient solution, and six pieces of meat jerky in the jacket pocket." Hu Zifeng disinfected the food he found and set it beside the points cards.

"There's an points card in the protective mask's hidden layer." Xia Qing disinfected and wiped the points card dry, then handed it to Eryong. "It's also an official card."

"Beep."

"Holy smokes! Points!" Eryong was overjoyed.

"Holy crap!" Jing Kuan used his dagger to cut open the beast-skin belt buckle the wanderer wore, and after taking out what was inside, couldn't help blurting out a curse. "Sister Qing, this is... a Yishi stone, right?!"