Chapter 46: Distributing the Spoils

Over fifty evolved bamboo rats—Beard Feng's squad finished the fight in less than ten minutes.

The whole time, Xia Qing only had to stand in the very center of the squad "guarding" the bamboo shoots in the bag. In reality, the squad was protecting both her and the shoots. This was different from the dangerous situations Xia Qing had run into on previous missions.

Squad members who leave the safe zone to carry out missions can generally be divided into three categories: main combat members, in-squad logistics members, and temporarily recruited external logistics personnel.

Xia Qing didn't belong to any squad and had always gone on missions as external logistics personnel.

When danger struck, both external logistics personnel and in-squad logistics members had to run as fast as they could to the well-armed main combat members to seek protection.

Main combat members were obligated to protect logistics members and external logistics personnel, but in uncontrollable danger, many squads' default practice was to use the external logistics personnel as bait and abandon them, covering the squad's retreat.

So Xia Qing would pick and choose carefully, doing her best to avoid teaming up with squads like that. She chose to go on missions with squads like Luo Pei's and Xu Juan's precisely because those squads treated their external members like people.

She didn't join a squad for three reasons. First, a squad was both a shield against danger and a shackle on freedom. Second, even within a squad, power-type evolvers weren't valued and didn't get many points allocated to them. Third, she was a three-system evolver, and if she went on missions with the same group of people for too long, her cover would be blown.

She was afraid of being taken away for research.

Xia Qing didn't have any grand, lofty goals. She didn't want to stand out and call the wind and rain; she just 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, let me clean up the battlefield?"

Beard Feng knew Xia Qing had often gone on missions with Brother Luo's squad before, and nodded. "Young Lady Xia, clean up the battlefield with Guan Tong; the rest of you keep watch."

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

Xia Qing knew this job all too well. She efficiently gathered up the evolved bamboo rats, bagged them, and handed them off to Guan Tong, who had taken out a small vacuum sealer, letting him seal them up for storage.

A green bamboo vine snake drawn by the smell of blood slid slowly down a bamboo stalk, trying to swallow the bamboo rat in front of Xia Qing. Xia Qing knocked the snake out with one slash of her cleaver, sealed it alone into a vacuum bag, and then heard movement three meters directly above her head. She didn't dodge, though, because Beard Feng was standing right beside her on watch.

Beard Feng raised a hand and caught the venomous snake that had lunged down to attack, passing it to Xia Qing. Xia Qing once again knocked it out with one slash, bagged it, and handed it to Guan Tong to seal.

Live ones were worth more than dead ones. Forget a nearly two-meter-long, arm-thick evolved snake—even the fiercest evolved animal would suffocate without air.

In less than five minutes, the battlefield was cleaned up. Power evolver Guan Tong held the big bag of bamboo rats and snakes in his hand, then hoisted the largest bag of bamboo shoots onto his back.

Xia Qing, also a power evolver, picked up another bamboo shoot bag over half a person's height and slung it on her back, then took two more bags in her hands and stood beside Guan Tong.

Beard Feng and the other four shouldered slightly smaller packs, flanked Xia Qing and Guan Tong—who were in charge of carrying—in the middle, and withdrew from the evolved forest the way they had come.

The trip took seven hours. No one took off their protective mask the entire time; when they got hungry, they bit down on the straw under their mouth inside the mask and sipped some nutrient solution. The nutrient solution tasted as bad as it possibly could, but it quickly replenished nutrition and was essential supplies for squads entering the evolved forest on missions.

After withdrawing from the evolved forest, Beard Feng took off his protective mask and discussed things with Xia Qing. "Young Lady Xia, the shoots you dug yourself are yours. The rest of the shoots, the snakes, and the bamboo rats—shall we divide them according to the safe zone rules?"

Xia Qing took off her mask and agreed. "Of course. Captain Hu, you don't have to be so polite—just call me Xia Qing."

Beard Feng was an efficient sort too. "Alright. Then let's bring the supplies back for testing and cleaning first, and I'll deliver your share to you. How many cans would you like to trade for?"

"Would one be okay?" Canned goods were looted supplies. Xia Qing didn't know how many they'd brought out of the safe zone, so she didn't ask for more—especially since the evolved perilla in her field could yield at most about two jin when cut.

After watching Beard Feng's squad enter the Number One buffer forest, Xia Qing took her shoot bag and returned to her territory. The squad members guarding the four corners of the territory withdrew to Territory One. Ram Boss charged up to Xia Qing, raised his head with his watery sheep eyes, and greeted her in a pinched little voice, "Meh."

Xia Qing, her harvest full, took off her sweat-wicking hood, shook out her sweat-damp short hair, and greeted him with a smile. "Boss, I brought the bamboo shoots back safe and sound!"

Too bad, no evolved giant panda was spotted.

The spoiled Ram Boss noticed Xia Qing wasn't giving him food, narrowed his eyes, gestured at his spiral horns, and pawed the ground.

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

After Xia Qing left with the ram, Zhou Xun quietly retreated a short distance, hurried back to the village in Territory Two, and reported, "Boss, Xia Qing and Beard Feng's group all came back, and they brought back edible bamboo shoots!"

Tang Huai, who had been digging for bugs all day, said nothing. Tang Heng analyzed, "They were gone seven hours before coming back. The bamboo forest is at least fifteen li from here."

Going fifteen li deep to find bamboo had to be a well-equipped evolver squad. Territory Two only had two evolvers, Tang Huai and Zhou Xun, and neither was a combat-oriented evolution type. Zhou Xun refused to give up, sidled up to Tang Huai, and pleaded, "Boss, let's trade supplies with Territory One or Territory Three for some bamboo shoots to eat, huh?"

When Xia Qing got home, she took out a bamboo shoot of three or four jin, sliced off a thin piece, and put it in Ram Boss's food bowl. By the time she came out after a quick post-combat shower, she found Ram Boss standing at the door, staring at her with his big Bambi eyes.

"Meh—"

This guy would even put on a pinched voice for food. Xia Qing, fresh out of the shower, got chills hearing it and simply walked past Ram Boss. "No way. These bamboo shoots weren't easy to come by. We have to ration them."

"Meh!" Ram Boss, finding he wasn't getting fed, started pawing the ground, ready to settle it by force.

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

Ram Boss stopped making a fuss, because he understood that whatever was in that cabinet would eventually be his share too.

Xia Qing first went to the Gao Po planting area to cut a bundle of evolved perilla, then came back to rinse the rice and steam it. Once Beard Feng delivered her share of supplies and the canned goods, she could eat fragrant rice with stir-fried bamboo shoots and meat tonight.

A little over half an hour later, Xia Qing received one yellow-grade bamboo rat, four red-grade bamboo rats, twenty jin of green-grade bamboo shoots, and traded for one meat can.

Beard Feng explained to Xia Qing, "Out of the fifty bamboo rats, there were eight yellow-grade ones in total; green-grade bamboo shoots came to one hundred and thirty-six jin; red-grade snakes, fifty-three jin. I kept the snakes, so I'll compensate your share with four jin of green-grade bamboo shoots."

Xia Qing thanked him, took the supplies, and returned to her territory. On this team-up, she had only been responsible for leading the way, cleaning the battlefield, and carrying supplies. The share Beard Feng gave her already exceeded the base's distribution standard. Xia Qing understood perfectly well that the extra four jin of green-grade bamboo shoots she received was Beard Feng giving her a break.

The purpose was to thank her for allowing Luo Pei to receive treatment within Territory Three.

Although all these supplies were packed in vacuum-sealed bags, the meat wouldn't keep for more than three days either.

Xia Qing glanced at the time, then stood right on the isolation strip and waited for the inspection team to pass by on patrol.