"This piece has good quality. Eating it will benefit you."
"No, I'd rather die!"
An Nuan detested An Tianxin. Even if An Tianxin were dead, An Nuan would never absorb her crystal. The thought of it being removed from her brain made An Nuan want to vomit.
"Then who is this for? You decide."
An Nuan's first choice was Luoluo. Her current abilities were quite good, with strong power and speed. It would be even better if she could advance to the third tier.
However, Luoluo wouldn't eat this crystal either.
Hai Changfeng and his brother would probably also find it repulsive. While An Nuan was contemplating who else to give it to, Xiao Yu quickly snatched the crystal from her hand.
It tilted its head up, opened its mouth, and swallowed the crystal. A faint pink halo emanated from its dark belly, and its tail wagged.
*Burp!*
Xiao Yu spat out a pink mushroom cloud, and the small wings beside its head flapped.
An Nuan: ...
"Alright, thinking from another perspective, it's quite suitable for you to eat it."
Xiao Yu happily wriggled its body and flew to the cat room to show off to the two big cats.
After everyone filed in, they poured the crystals they had obtained onto the coffee table, and An Nuan began distributing them.
Fu Yunting had a better understanding of the crystals' properties and, considering everyone's characteristics, assisted An Nuan in sharing them.
There was nothing suitable for An Nuan in this batch, so she didn't swallow any herself. She sat on the sofa, watching everyone absorb the crystals.
Although they hadn't broken through to the next tier yet, their abilities were clearly improving.
Within the 1-9 tiers, there were also 1-9 grades, with tiers being superior to grades.
In the early stages when leveling up was fast, there were direct breakthroughs.
As they progressed, leveling up became slower. Sometimes, even after consuming a large number of crystals, they could only advance one grade, not a whole tier.
Today, everyone generally advanced by two grades. Only Mi Shuangshuang reached the seventh grade of the second tier, just a little short of the third tier.
"What a pity. I feel like I'm just a tiny bit away from breaking through higher and becoming stronger!"
"Sister Luoluo is also close to breaking through to the third tier. If we collect more tomorrow, it should be enough."
"Younger brother is right, but... Fu Yunting, do you really not need it? You didn't eat any crystals today either."
Luoluo looked at Fu Yunting. He didn't seem to be a picky eater.
But he had given all the crystals to them today and hadn't eaten any himself. It couldn't be good for his body to suddenly stop after consuming a hundred crystals.
Fu Yunting shook his head, "Today's don't suit my taste. I'll see tomorrow."
Good heavens, he was a picky eater!
An Nuan shook her head and got up to cook.
Tonight, she wanted curry shrimp and braised pork. She simply stir-fried two dishes of vegetables and made scrambled eggs with tomatoes, then prepared a soup before they ate.
Although simpler than what they had eaten before, such a meal was considered a luxury in the apocalypse.
Seeing that the new companions were not doing too well, Ming Le brought the sisters over to help with the cooking, and the atmosphere became lively.
Luoluo blinked halfway through her meal.
"Xiao Nuan, the little yellow flowers said that the zombies in the vicinity have been mostly cleared. If they don't have crystals, do we need to search for zombies further away?"
"Indeed, there are no crystals, so it's not worth the effort."
After Fu Yunting provided the answer, everyone understood that they needed to expand outwards.
With two teams now, and having obtained so many supplies from An Dong, it was time to venture further.
After discussing among themselves, they couldn't decide. Thus, they drew lots to determine the teams.
The home guard team consisted of Luoluo, Shi Huai, and Lan Mi.
Team One comprised the Chen Wenjing siblings, Hai Changfeng, and Chang Kai Tong. They would lead the Ming Le group towards the south gate of the second ring road.
Team Two consisted of An Nuan, Fu Yunting, and Mi Shuangshuang, with Xiu Ao joining them for the hunt.
Luoluo and Chang Kai Tong were a little disheartened.
They hadn't been able to go on missions with An Nuan for the last two times, and they felt a bit lonely.
Only Mi Shuangshuang excitedly raised her little fist and shouted, "Great! I get to go out and fight again! Xiao Nuan, you have to let me be the vanguard!"
"If you're willing to charge ahead, I have no problem with that."
An Nuan wasn't particularly fond of fighting, and Mi Shuangshuang's eagerness to fight would help her share the burden.
Luoluo said, "Xiu Ao's team just arrived. We don't know their capabilities yet. It seems to take a long time for them to train. Are we sure about bringing them along?"
She meant well, as it was easy to get chaotic when there were many unfamiliar people.
Bringing a bunch of liabilities along would be slower than doing it themselves.
An Nuan had also considered this, so she wasn't in a hurry.
Considering that Xiu Ao's people had been confined for two to three weeks and had witnessed people being eaten to death, An Nuan was unsure if they would develop psychological trauma towards zombies.
Therefore, after they were in better condition, she would observe their actions before considering bringing them out.
"That's good. We'll reinforce the houses outside these few days. There should be something happening next."
"What kind of thing?"
Lan Mi and Mi Shuangshuang asked curiously.
Fu Yunting said, "An Nuan means that besides the strong winds, people will be approaching this area soon."
"Why? We haven't done anything. Why would they approach us?"
Fu Yunting's cold gaze swept past Shi Huai.
Shi Huai gave a foolish chuckle and sheepishly hid behind Hai Changfeng, avoiding Fu Yunting's cold stare.
Fu Yunting's style of doing things was like this. In the past, he was surrounded by the best of the best and never asked foolish questions.
Of course, those who asked them never reappeared in his presence, so he never had to explain much to inferior beings.
There were too many idiots here, which made him irritable.
Hai Changfeng quickly said, "Fu Shao means that when we were returning, many survivors on the road saw us with our large bags of goods and so many people and vehicles. They must have guessed that we have supplies, and some will be impatient and come over."
People's intuition is sharper than a dog's nose.
If they get a hint, they can "crawl" over through the air.
An Nuan nodded, "That's what I mean. We were too conspicuous when we returned today, and it's bound to attract attention. But there's no way around it when there are so many people."
"Our villa complex has several entrances. Younger brother, you will weld shut the other entrances tomorrow morning, leaving only the east gate that we frequently use. We'll also seal off the second phase of construction so no one can sneak in like rats."
Originally, Granny Fly and Zi Xing had entered through the north and south gates.
An Nuan did not want too many factors of instability.
Luoluo added, "I suggest setting up some traps after sealing the entrances, burying bombs. If anyone breaks in, we'll blow them up!"
"Okay, let's do that!"
"Let's hang some zombie corpses at the main entrance to deter others."
"That's a bit perverted! Why not throw Xiao Yu at the entrance? Shi Huai could also be a guard. Having a group of lions and tigers sit at the entrance every day would be quite terrifying!"
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A little spoiler: The male lead wants the female lead to recruit usable people so he can build his and her faction and team. The male lead also has a skyscraper and a tech team. To make it big and strong, the boss can then lie flat. Little subordinates work, and higher-ups earn by lying down. All workers understand this.