Chapter 186: A Bold Request
After seeing them off, He Ping anxiously examined Tao An and asked, “Are you really okay? Any discomfort? I heard it’s extremely painful.”
“No,” Tao An replied, gently holding her hand as she checked him over. “It was very painful at first, but then he gave me a special kind of crystal core to absorb, and after that, there was no pain at all.”
“That amazing? Did you notice what kind of core it was?” He Ping asked.
Tao An shook his head. At the time, he’d been on the brink of collapse and hadn’t had the mind to think about it.
“If only we could get more of those,” He Ping sighed. But seeing that Tao An was fine now, she didn’t press.
“I’ll ask them tomorrow. If they have more, we’ll buy one for you to upgrade,” Tao An had been thinking about it ever since successfully making it through.
“Really? Is that okay?” Everyone wants to live safely—He Ping was no exception.
“We’ll try and see,” Tao An said.
*
The next morning, Lu Weiyi left the base early and returned to the camp area.
With this batch of jade in hand, the space expanded significantly again. There was still a bit of uneven area left. Lu Weiyi estimated that four or five more rounds like this might fully restore the space.
He wondered how big it would be once completely repaired.
Lu Weiyi and Dean were sitting at the tent entrance with Zhuang Ai Yi, enjoying the sun. Two cups of bubble tea sat on a foldable table—salvaged from who-knows-where during a pass by a milk tea shop, and kept in storage until now.
That morning, Brother Xi had made some boba and taro balls, mixing them with fruit to make a variety of milk teas as snacks.
In the past, a bunch of grown men wouldn’t touch this sweet stuff. Now they all sipped it with enjoyment.
Even while stationed at another base, everyone stayed close to ensure safety. Most of the group were either resting or idling nearby.
In such rare moments of peace, everyone was very relaxed.
A coffee machine buzzed on the table’s corner, and not long after, a cup of coffee flowed into the white porcelain mug. Lu Weiyi picked it up and handed it toward Zhuang Mingxu, who was sketching a spatial resource distribution map.
“You never get tired of redrawing that thing every time,” Lu Weiyi said lazily while sipping the chewy pearls.
“If I don’t keep track and you don’t care, half the stuff in that space will be forgotten in no time,” Zhuang Mingxu replied. He took a sip of bitter coffee, savoring the aftertaste while his hands kept working.
Lowering his voice, he asked, “Did you put that batch of mutated snakes we got last time into your space? If they’re still in the jade space, they’d probably be rotten by now.”
“They’re stored,” Lu Weiyi replied. “Should we trade those mutated rats for some other meat? Even if it’s cheaper.”
He had a bit of a psychological shadow about those pitch-black things and wasn’t keen on eating them.
“Up to you. See if the base has anything worth trading for,” Zhuang Mingxu said with a chuckle. “Now that we’ve got the jade, when are we leaving? I heard from someone that the people from Xiangning City’s base are only a few hundred kilometers from here.”
“We’ll check out the trading market this afternoon, see if there’s anything we need. If not, we’ll head out,” Lu Weiyi replied.
*
Close to noon, Yao Mei came over and said Tao An wanted to invite them to lunch to express his gratitude.
“He’s trying to gather intel,” Zhuang Mingxu said quietly.
“Then let Ning Yuan go. He can check if there’s anything useful at their market too,” Lu Weiyi said. He wasn’t interested in other people’s food—especially when he had everything he needed in his own space.
Brother Xi had said they’d be having hot and sour noodles for lunch. With the mildly cool weather around 10+ degrees Celsius, just thinking of that spicy, slurpy goodness made his mouth water. Who cared what someone else was cooking?
“Alright,” Ning Yuan said. He had been curious about what others served their guests. “Who’s coming with me? We can also take a look around their trading market afterward.”
“I-I’ll take Dean for a walk,” Antonio quickly said.
There were three spots—not too many, not too few. Just as they were about to head out, Ning Yuan noticed Yao Mei’s eyes repeatedly drifting toward Lu Weiyi. Judging by her expression, Lu Weiyi was clearly the one she was really targeting.
Ning Yuan found it amusing and said, “Let’s go. Our captain generally doesn’t attend social occasions.”
Yao Mei pressed her lips together and didn’t insist. Smiling sweetly, she changed the subject.
“Ning Yuan,” Zhuang Mingxu suddenly called out.
Ning Yuan turned and walked over. Zhuang Mingxu lowered his voice and said, “If they ask about the crystal core, just say we only had one. But you can sell them some information—tell them what kind of crystal core it was. You decide the price.”
Ning Yuan pointed at Zhuang Mingxu with a look that said “you’re evil,” then made an OK gesture and left.
Now that there was a relatively easy way to upgrade, Tao An didn’t doubt them when they claimed their whole team was made up of B-level ability users. Since he needed something from them, he had prepared well.
The table was filled with various stir-fried vegetables, but the dishes that really stood out were a lotus-leaf-wrapped chicken, and a dish of fish in pickled cabbage. Just the smell of them made Ning Yuan’s mouth water.
When Tao An saw Lu Weiyi wasn’t among the guests, he only raised an eyebrow. In return for the feast, Ning Yuan offered an excuse. “Our captain has a child to care for. He never shows up for social events. We hope you understand.”
“Of course. This is just our small gesture of thanks. Anyone from your team is fine,” He Ping said as she invited the three to the table. “Your captain looks so young, though—it’s hard to believe he already has a child that age.”
“He loves kids—what can you do?” Ning Yuan said politely, then pointed at the fish. “We haven’t seen fish since the apocalypse. I can’t believe you guys still have some.”
“It’s just luck. There’s a pond nearby, and there are quite a few mutant fish in it. They actually taste pretty good. Go ahead and try,” Tao An replied, pouring each of them a drink.
“He’s underage,” Antonio quickly pushed away the drink in front of Dean.
He Ping immediately brought over a bottle of juice.
“Well, I won’t hold back then. I’ve almost forgotten what fish tastes like,” Ning Yuan said, then turned his head just in time to see Antonio already helping himself to a bite and removing the bones before placing the piece into Dean’s plate.
With his fluffy golden hair, Dean had never really suffered even after the apocalypse. Thanks to Brother Xi, he was fed and pampered every day. He had grown taller and more handsome, and now he was smiling adorably at He Ping, his cheeks puffed with food.
After a few rounds of drinks, and once everyone had eaten their fill, Tao An finally brought up the real reason for the invitation: he wanted to buy another crystal core.
Thanks to Zhuang Mingxu’s earlier instructions, Ning Yuan didn’t act surprised at all and simply said, “We only had that one left.”
Even though Tao An and He Ping had mentally prepared for this, they couldn’t help but feel disappointed. Watching their expressions, Ning Yuan added after a moment, “But I can tell you what kind of core it was. That way, you’ll know what to look for in the future.”
Both Tao An and He Ping looked at him, only to see Ning Yuan act as if nothing happened. He turned to Dean and asked, “Dean, how’s the mutant fish taste?”
“Awesome,” Dean gave a thumbs-up and said in broken Mandarin, “But—can’t eat too much.”
“If you like it, eat as much as you want,” He Ping said, smiling.
Dean shook his head. “I don’t have powers. Can’t eat too much mutant meat,” he shrugged, then his eyes sparkled as he looked at He Ping. “Can I… take some? Let my friends… try?”
“Of course. I’ll have someone send over a few mutant fish for you all to enjoy,” Tao An replied, smiling as he poured Ning Yuan another drink. “So about that…”
“Thanks so much, Brother Tao!” Ning Yuan cut him off before he could finish, then added, “To be honest, on our way north, we were hoping to restock some supplies at the base. Do you know anyone who deals in bulk goods?”
“What kind of supplies are you looking for?” He Ping asked.
“Crop seeds, medicine, oils, sauces, spices—and especially meat. With all those big guys in our team, we can’t live without meat.” Ning Yuan made a helpless face and patted his chest. “Price isn’t an issue. We’ll take whatever you’ve got.”
He’d only half-shared the information but was already talking about stockpiling supplies. Was he buying this stuff? This was clearly just asking for it all to be given to them…
And saying they’d “take whatever you’ve got”?
Talk about asking for the moon!
Tao An was starting to regret inviting these people over. But seeing He Ping’s face across the table, he swallowed his anger and forced a smile. “Sure, sure.”
By the end of the meal, Ning Yuan had fully channeled his inner swindler. Tao An was fuming inside, but had no choice but to play along.
That afternoon, under the pretense of selecting supplies, Ning Yuan cleaned out half of Tao An’s pond’s mutant fish. Then he swept through the market and bought up all the available mutant meat and regular meat. If something wasn’t readily for sale, he’d ask Tao An directly.
By evening, Tao An’s face could no longer be described as merely “unpleasant.” Even Antonio felt that if this continued, Tao An might actually kill someone. Finally, Ning Yuan mercifully said, “That should about do it.”
“Brother Tao, could you send someone to help us transport everything? We’ll head over to collect the crystal core. Our captain is a very trustworthy man—he never owes anyone anything, so you don’t need to worry,” Ning Yuan rambled on, never stopping for breath. Antonio and Dean were basically just tag-alongs at that point, though Antonio figured he might be serving as a bodyguard too.
Apart from the mutant fish—packed in a shipping container under the excuse that they wouldn’t stay fresh if they died—the rest of the supplies filled four large trucks.
There were ostrich-sized mutant chickens and ducks—each over a hundred pounds—with five in total. There was also half a mutant cow, weighing at least 700 pounds, and a freezer full of regular pork that filled an entire truck.
A whole truck was also filled with oils, sauces, and various flavored fermented soy products and pickled vegetables. These weren’t all from Tao An’s own stores—some were acquired from other teams, but the tab was still picked up by Tao An.
The next truck was loaded with medicine—an entire compartment packed with various kinds. The final truck carried seeds, including the specifically requested potatoes and sweet potatoes. They had practically scoured several teams to gather half a truckload.
