Chapter 1473: The Only Competitor—Tang Huai

After hanging up the phone, Xia Qing sped up her pace with Zhu Li in tow.

That eavesdropper surnamed Duan had bolted the moment he heard the news—totally unreliable. Zhu Li jogged alongside Xia Qing and suggested, "Sister Qing, how about I turn on the recording function to inventory the supplies, and you take a few people to Mountain No. 51?"

Xia Qing couldn't run as fast as the Broken-Waist Wolf, nor did she possess its outstanding evolved sense of smell. Going over wouldn't just be useless—it would only earn the wolf's scorn. "I don't need to keep an eye on that side. Based on mission contribution, you take 15% of this mission's supplies, and the rest is mine?"

Although Zhu Li hadn't managed to shoot the target, she had risked approaching the intruder squad, used her hearing ability and eavesdropping equipment to obtain crucial intel, and—following the battle plan—risked being the first to open fire, drawing the gunner's attention and giving Xia Qing the chance to take him out with a single shot. When Xia Qing went after the last intruder, Zhu Li had also taken on the task of clearing the battlefield.

All of these were Zhu Li's contributions to completing the mission.

Zhu Li had an opinion. "Sister Qing, just give me 5%. My main purpose today was to help you and gain experience. You don't need to give me a share of the supplies from Mountain No. 51—otherwise I won't feel right teaming up with you in the future."

If there really were supplies on Mountain No. 51, they should count as the mission's harvest. As a member of the mission squad, Zhu Li had the right to a share, but she was self-aware enough to give it up on her own.

"Fine, then take 10% of the supplies from those four people." Xia Qing made the call, and once they entered the cave she began teaching Zhu Li how to safely inventory supplies. "When taking inventory, watch out for two kinds of dangerous supplies: one type is self-destructing, the other is eavesdropping and tracking…"

While explaining, Xia Qing quickly inventoried the weapons and equipment carried by the four intruders and estimated their value at market price. "One shoulder-fired grenade launcher at 60% condition, depreciated value 130,000; one medium-caliber sniper rifle at 40% condition, depreciated value 80,000; one large-caliber sniper rifle at 70% condition, depreciated value 140,000; one assault rifle at 50% condition, depreciated value 30,000; four ordinary pistols, depreciated value 70,000; six points cards…"

Xia Qing pulled out a card reader and handed it along with the points cards to Zhu Li, who was keeping the record. "Swipe them and see how many points."

"Got it." Zhu Li briskly swiped the cards and recorded the amounts. After Xia Qing finished reporting the value of the food, backpacks, potions, protective suits, and communication gear, Zhu Li quickly calculated the total. "510,000 credits and 20 points!"

Jackpot, jackpot, ahhhh!!! Coming into so many supplies all at once, Zhu Li simply couldn't hold back her excitement and screamed silently inside.

Xia Qing nodded. "Now let's deduct this mission's expenses. Nine sniper rounds, 2,970 points; one ordinary bullet, 6 points; one high-explosive grenade, 4,000 points…"

Hearing how expensive the high-explosive grenade Tang Heng had lent her was, Zhu Li—pressing the number keys—truly wanted to slap her own left hand a few times. "Subtracting the mission expenses, our haul this time is points."

Xia Qing nodded. "Good, you should get points. Apart from the grenade launcher and the large-caliber sniper rifle, which supplies do you want?"

Zhu Li hadn't expected the supplies to be divided on the spot. She carefully discussed it with Xia Qing. "Sister Qing, can I think about it before deciding?"

"Sure, then the stuff stays with me for now. Think it over the next couple of days and let me know." After finishing the inventory, the two first transported the supplies and bodies back to the parking lot. Then Zhu Li contacted the inspection team and the supply guards, while Xia Qing returned to the hidden valley to pick up Ye Yang and the other two, and they all headed back to the Northern Zone One territory together.

After handing the bodies over to the inspection team, Zhu Li gave them a detailed account of what had happened. Xia Qing went to Territory Seven to deliver crabs and river snails to her idol.

When Zhu Li came out of the inspection team's office, she found Xia Qing's car was no longer outside the south gate of Territory Seven. After returning to her own territory, she patrolled a full circuit carrying the smell of blood, then went back to her room, took off her protective suit, and began wiping and disinfecting it. All the while, her mind kept replaying the scenes from today's mission, and she was still in a state of excitement.

Before Zhu Li had even finished wiping down her protective suit, she heard the familiar roar from the west. She immediately ran to the window and saw Xia Qing, carrying weapons and a backpack, riding a personal flight device toward the Mountain No. 51 area—presumably that surnamed-Duan guy had found the supplies.

Watching Xia Qing, with a sniper rifle and black blade on her back, head off alone to Mountain No. 51 to retrieve what belonged to her, Zhu Li finally calmed down.

If Xia Qing hadn't brought her along on today's hunt, forget earning 50,000 points—she would have lost all five of her lives at the foot of Mountain No. 50.

No, that's not right—she wouldn't have died. Because she was a young, fairly good-looking female evolver with no bounty on her head. Her corpse wasn't worth much, so those four bounty hunters would have captured her and sold her for a good price…

Zhu Li shivered. Watching Xia Qing fly farther and farther away, a strong sense of urgency rose in her heart. She had to get stronger fast, or it would be very hard to grab the chance to team up with Xia Qing on missions in the future.

Zhu Li knew that no matter how hard she trained, she could never reach the combat level of Huo Zhun and the others, but the competitor she measured herself against wasn't the top combat power of the territory alliance—it was the other hearing evolvers.

Within this territory, apart from the Azure Dragon team members and the veterans from Center Nine, only she, Tang Huai, and the veteran Hu Ningsheng from Territory Fifteen possessed hearing-evolution abilities. The Level-Three hearing evolver Hu Ningsheng was deaf in his left ear, so his hearing-evolution ability was impaired. Although his overall combat power was higher than hers, he wasn't her competitor.

Zhu Li tightened her grip on the disinfecting cloth and quickly analyzed the gap between herself and her sole competitor—Tang Huai.

First, both she and Tang Huai were core members of the territory alliance, and both wanted to go on missions with Sister Qing. Second, Tang Huai was 31 years old with a hearing-evolution level of five-and-a-half, while she was 23 at four-and-a-half—her potential for ability improvement was higher. Third, Tang Huai was an intermediate sniper, while she could only use a pistol with an effective range of just 50 meters. Fourth, Tang Huai always tripped because she couldn't concentrate, while Zhu Li had good balance and didn't fall. Fifth, Tang Huai's family wasn't short on points, while she was very short on points…

After finishing her analysis, Zhu Li knew which kind of share-supply she should ask for this time. Her heart settled, and she lowered her head to focus on wiping down the protective suit.

In the neighboring Territory Seven, the territory lord Zhang San quietly watched Xia Qing flying farther and farther away outside the window, along with the gathering, surging clouds in the sky.

Five minutes later, Xia Qing landed at the coordinates the Broken-Waist Wolf had sent her. The wolf, hidden in the shrubs, immediately appeared and signaled for Xia Qing to follow it.

Xia Qing put away her personal flight device and followed behind the Broken-Waist Wolf, babbling away. "Handsome Wolf-Bro found the place where the supplies were hidden so fast—truly worthy of standing at the top of the Jin Zita, the Queen my lord's most trusted and favorite evolved wolf!"

The Broken-Waist Wolf running ahead couldn't help but grin, revealing its little pointed fangs.