“Tch, do you really think not being able to enter the Exchange will starve me to death? Bunch of trash!”

“Let me tell you, that guy was so sleazy and greasy. So what if he had superpowers? I still beat him to a pulp, tch~”

“It was really like, just when you think you've reached the end of the road, the willows are dark, the flowers are bright, and someone brings you a gift! Today, I'm going to give them a good beating!”

“Yeah!!”

Lu Xiaoyao was squatting on a small stool in the courtyard, telling the group of bright-eyed, admiring children about her “glorious deeds” of the past few days, causing them to exclaim in amazement, which greatly inflated Lu Xiaoyao’s vanity!

I’m so proud~.jpg

Lou Jia, who was sitting quietly on a stool not far away, weaving a bamboo basket, would occasionally look up and focus his gaze on Lu Xiaoyao.

Seeing the children surrounding her, Lou Jia's originally gloomy face softened, and then he pursed his lips and continued to work with his head down.

He wouldn't spoil the fun since Lu Xiaoyao was so popular with the kids.

Who knows who it was a few days ago that caused a scene at the Exchange with Bai Xiao and was arrested by the patrol division of the management base and locked up for half a day.

In the end, it was Mu Chen and Ming Mei who went to bail them out.

Because it caused a big commotion, everyone in Mu Chen and Lu Gui’s teams was blacklisted from the Exchange and couldn’t enter to buy food and daily necessities for a while.

Speaking of which, Ming Mei and Mu Chen thought they could control the situation in time while standing in the crowd.

But no one expected Lu Xiaoyao to act so quickly.

With a single punch, enhanced with her superpower, Lu Xiaoyao sent the opponent flying more than ten meters, creating a dent in the Exchange's simple wall.

Bai Xiao used her wind-based superpower to blow away the two burly men behind the old lady before they could even react.

And the remaining old lady didn't need them to do anything; she was so frightened that she fainted.

Thus, the only two people who took action among the three present were arrested.

According to Wang Wenfei herself, she originally wanted to beat the old lady _(:з」∠)_

It was at this moment that Ming Mei, who had arranged with Lou Jia to pick up vegetables, arrived at the door and heard Lu Xiaoyao, who had come over earlier to visit, boasting about her previous "glorious achievements" in the courtyard.

After listening for a while, the corners of Ming Mei's eyes and mouth couldn't help but twitch.

“But brother said we can’t just hit people, or we have to pay money~”

Out of the mouths of babes.

Just as Lu Xiaoyao was embellishing how she had beaten the other person (actually just one punch), the four or five-year-old girl sitting in front of Lu Xiaoyao asked innocently, "Sister, did you pay the money?"

Lu Xiaoyao: "..."

Could you not ask about this at this moment?

“Pfft~”

This time, Ming Mei couldn't help but laugh. Her laughter made others notice her arrival, making Lu Xiaoyao's face flush with shame.

But Lu Xiaoyao thought about it and let it go.

Hey!

She was embarrassed in front of Lou Jia, but there was no reason to be embarrassed in front of her good friend!

Lou Jia nodded slightly to Ming Mei when he saw her, said "Wait a moment," and finished the last step of weaving the bamboo basket. He grabbed a handful of seeds from a small bowl and placed them at the bottom of the basket. Soon, green vegetables were lying at the bottom of the basket.

Ming Mei stepped forward to take the bamboo basket and then stuffed three jinghe (energy crystals) into his hand: “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.” Lou Jia put the jinghe into his pocket and couldn’t help but ask, “When are you going to make your move?”

“Ah, aren’t you not participating?”

“Not participating doesn’t mean I don’t care.”

Because Lou Jia was taking care of several children, he had always been neutral and didn’t get involved in their games with the higher-ups.

In addition, his superpower was special, and he was considered obedient, so the higher-ups didn’t make things too difficult for him.

But he never thought that even Lou Jia now had complaints about them.

“They’re annoying,” Lou Jia said with impatience between his brows. “They won’t let me earn extra money.”

Ming Mei: "..."

This reason sounded familiar.

“I have to hasten the growth of ten mu of vegetables and grains for them every day. They even deduct the energy crystals for hastening the growth. I spent half a month hastening the ripening of one batch of grain, and vegetables are a little shorter, but that still takes ten days. The hardship fee is only three jinghe a day, and they warn me not to think crookedly… Don’t my family need to eat?”

Ming Mei, who had just spent three jinghe to buy a basket of vegetables: "..."

“They’re too black-hearted.”

Ming Mei took a deep breath before saying this.

She swallowed the second half of the sentence, “Then you’re still embarrassed to charge me three jinghe; you’re pretty black-hearted too,” she managed to swallow it back down.

Thinking about how she used to get ten boxed lunches for two jinghe and now she gets one serving for two jinghe, she was embarrassed to call him black-hearted.

“Isn’t that right?”

Not sensing Ming Mei’s complicated mood, Lou Jia continued, “It’s okay if they give me less of a hardship fee, but if the supply of energy crystals for hastening the growth of those vegetables and grains was sufficient, the base wouldn’t be in a state of high-priced, limited purchase of grain. Now it’s good, I earn less and spend more. Who’s happy about that?”

“That’s right.”

“So, you can make your move sooner.”

“Got it, got it.”

Ming Mei only talked about this after buying the vegetables. As soon as she got back, she heard Mu Chen say that something had come up.

After lunch, Mu Chen and the other powered individuals held a meeting in the main room.

This time, they were talking about the sudden mandatory conscription of various powered individual teams to go out of the city to do tasks.

“What are we going out to do?”

“The higher-ups said that this year, first there was the outbreak of zombies, and then the extreme heat in the summer, so it’s likely that this winter will also be extremely cold. In this way, we may not be able to go out to do tasks and search for supplies in the winter, and then the base will face a shortage of food again.”

“The food situation isn’t very good now, either.”

Lu Xiaoyao and the others muttered. No one else objected. As she said, the price of food in the base had always been high.

“So this time, we have to go to the granaries that they’ve confirmed have food and transport it back?”

Bai Xiao roughly understood what was happening.

“That’s right.”

“Then why didn’t they say anything about these granaries before, and only say it now?” Zhen Po looked at Mu Chen and asked, “Is there a problem with this?”

Mu Chen nodded. “According to informants, it’s true that the granary we’ve been assigned to has food, but the zombies there are also very powerful.”

“Using the zombies to kill us?” Everyone gasped.

“What are they doing? If we’re gone, will they be better off? If that zombie is really that powerful and runs over here, does the base have a way to deal with it? Isn’t this cutting off your nose to spite your face?”

Zhen Hu frowned. What were these people even thinking?

“So, are we really going?”

“Of course~” Mu Chen was very calm. “If we don’t go, how can we have a reason to come back and cause trouble?”

“Do you already have a plan to guarantee our safety?” Ming Mei frowned and looked at Mu Chen. Mu Chen nodded, but he gave them a heads-up in advance: “Although we can guarantee a safe retreat from the granary this time, we may have to coordinate with other teams to intercept and kill those upper-level lackeys on the way back.”

“Can I ask if there are players among this group of lackeys?”

Wang Wenfei raised her hand and asked cautiously. Mu Chen looked at her, and although he didn’t answer, his gaze already conveyed the meaning…