Shouldn't Have Put on Airs (First Update)

Through the Freshness Storage Bag, Song Mingqian poked at Blood Kirin's stalk with a finger. A bit of scarlet juice slowly seeped out of it.

"Ahhh! It really is red juice! No wonder it's called Blood Kirin!" Song Mingqian shrieked in exaggerated surprise.

Who would have thought that beneath its bluish-green exterior, the juice inside would be as red as blood?

Li Fu slapped his hand away and glared at him. "Don't be so damn handsy! Are you paying for it if you break it?"

Song Mingqian: "..."

He couldn't afford it. Absolutely couldn't afford it!

"Fu Ye, what do you think the rewards for this mission will be? They should be much better than that D-Rank mission we had before, right?!"

"Dream on!—Hehe, but my dreams are even bigger than yours!"

As they laughed and chatted, Xia Chujian noticed the time and gently lifted the lid of the steamer.

The distinctive aroma of Unicorn Cattle Meat, mixed with the delicate fragrance of Special Supply Plain Girl Flour, instantly conquered everyone's taste buds.

Li Fu was the first to rush into the kitchen. "Come on, come on! I heard Xiaochu made meat buns!"

Then he was shocked by the enormous meat buns.

The steamed buns, each weighing half a jin, were plump and white as they piled up inside the silver-black steamer. The visual impact was incredible.

Song Mingqian's eyes turned red with impatience. He shoved Li Fu aside, grabbed the one on top, and bit into it directly despite the heat.

"Ahhh! So good!"

He felt utterly at a loss for words, repeating nothing but "so good" over and over.

Li Fu and Ping Qiong did not even have time to speak. They simply lowered their heads and ate with all their might.

Xia Chujian also scooped each of them a large bowl of rice porridge.

Smiling, she said, "Tantai Royal Field Rice, specially supplied to the Imperial Family. You had it last time."

Never mind the others—even Xia Chujian herself found it especially delicious.

Rice was the ultimate test of food ingredient quality.

Because the best way to eat it was plain.

And for something plain to taste good, the ingredients had to be of the highest quality.

She ate only half a beef bun, but drank several bowls of rice porridge.

She gave the other half of the beef bun to Small Dog.

San Zong and the Griffon Sea Eagle outside the Flying Vehicle both got large meat buns.

Xia Chujian did not actually know whether an exotic beast like the Griffon Sea Eagle could eat meat buns, but following the principle of might as well try it, she gave it one anyway.

The Griffon Sea Eagle swallowed an entire bun in one bite.

Before it had even finished eating, it became excited and chased after the Flying Vehicle to the cabin door, repeatedly smashing the door with its huge head as it demanded another meat bun.

Xia Chujian had no choice but to give it another one.

San Zong ate much more slowly, chewing every bite carefully as though afraid there would be nothing left for the next bite.

Even though everyone ate their fill, Xia Chujian's meat buns were simply too large. After breakfast, more than a dozen were still left.

Xia Chujian packed two into an insulated lunchbox, filled another bowl with porridge, added two egg pancakes, and asked Li Fu to deliver them to Ye Shijie.

Li Fu and Song Mingqian exchanged a glance. Smiling, Li Fu said, "Chujian, come back with us. Ye Dui is all bark and no bite. He only said that yesterday because he was worried about you. He didn't mean it."

Xia Chujian had already forgiven Ye Shijie, and she was worried about his injuries as well. She said, "I understand. How about this? You can bring Ye Dui his food and tell him we'll return to Mulan City today, okay?"

"Sure! No problem! Leave it to me!" Li Fu thumped his chest so hard it cracked.

Xia Chujian added, "I want to fly this Flying Vehicle and follow behind yours. Is that okay?"

She looked hopefully at Li Fu, Song Mingqian, and Ping Qiong, nearly putting her hands together in a pleading gesture.

Li Fu did not dare make the decision himself this time. Rubbing the back of his head, he said, "...I'll ask for you. It should be fine..."

Li Fu and Song Mingqian returned together to that Small Wooden House.

Ye Shijie really was running a fever, but after taking fever medicine that morning, he was already much better.

His main problem was that his Mental Strength rank had dropped, causing his immune system to weaken severely as well.

Otherwise, how could a D-Rank Mental Strength Gene Evolver suffer from the kind of fever and illness that only ordinary humans got?

The fever medicine their squad carried had originally been prepared for Xia Chujian, the only ordinary person among them.

Unexpectedly, Xia Chujian had never used it even once. Instead, it was their captain, Ye Shijie, who had needed it.

The moment Li Fu and Song Mingqian came in, they divided the work.

Li Fu went to heat up the meat buns and egg pancakes.

Song Mingqian went to heat the porridge.

Once the fragrance spread through the room, Ye Shijie sat up in bed as well.

This time, he did not refuse again. Without saying a word, he accepted the meat bun and egg pancake from Li Fu and began eating in huge bites.

Song Mingqian served the heated rice porridge as a side dish.

After Ye Shijie finished one large meat bun, he broke into another sweat and felt much better. Only then did he ask Li Fu, "Where's Chujian? Why didn't she come back with you?"

By asking that, he was showing that he was no longer angry and had forgiven her.

Taking advantage of Ye Shijie's good mood after eating and drinking his fill, Li Fu hurriedly brought up Xia Chujian's request.

Ye Shijie thought for a moment, then looked at the Blood Kirin Li Fu handed over and nodded. "Fine. She can fly that Flying Vehicle. It's Spoils of War we captured anyway. If you all agree, we'll count it as squad property instead of turning it in, and let Chujian use it."

What he really meant was that they would simply give this captured Civilian Flying Vehicle to Xia Chujian.

Neither Li Fu nor Ye Shijie had any objections.

They were both Gene Evolvers, with plenty of ways to make money. They could afford to buy a Civilian Flying Vehicle.

But Xia Chujian was different.

She was an ordinary person. They said her gene rank had been tested at the Association, and she belonged to the kind of people whose genes were completely incapable of evolution.

She had very few ways to earn money.

"Fine, we'll do as Ye Dui says. I'll talk to Cai Jie." Song Mingqian immediately agreed.

After that, the two began packing up and preparing to leave.

Ye Shijie started on his second meat bun. After finishing it, he even took a nap. When he woke up, he discovered that he actually felt much better.

His Mental Strength, which had fallen to E-Rank, had returned to D-Rank! It was no longer at his former mid-stage level, but at the initial stage instead.

Still, that was far better than dropping to E-Rank! How had this happened? Ye Shijie was thrilled. Thinking carefully over everything that had happened from last night until that morning, the only difference seemed to be the two large meat buns he had eaten that morning!

Suppressing his shock, he could not help asking Li Fu, "What kind of meat was in those meat buns today? Wild Rhinoceros Pig Meat?"

But he did not know that Wild Rhinoceros Pig Meat could heal Mental Strength.

Song Mingqian told Ye Shijie, "I heard it was Unicorn Cattle Meat, from that assassin's catch. The silky scrambled egg beef fried rice yesterday was Unicorn Cattle too."

Ye Shijie's mouth twitched at once. At that moment, he hated himself beyond measure. Why had he put on airs and refused to eat that bowl of silky scrambled egg beef fried rice yesterday? He only knew that Unicorn Cattle were also a specialty of the Exotic Beast Forest, but they were not nearly as famous as Black Truffle Wild Rhino Pigs, and restaurants outside basically did not serve this kind of beef.

But then he remembered that the assassin was a powerful Gene Evolver with Rank B Peak Mental Strength! Ye Shijie felt as if he had suddenly understood everything.

That assassin must have known that Unicorn Cattle could repair Mental Strength, which was why he specifically hunted them, right? Ye Shijie asked Calm and Collected, "Is there any left? I think that beef tastes very good."

"Yes. There seems to be half a canister in that Flying Vehicle." Li Fu said casually, "That assassin's Flying Vehicle is a Civilian Flying Vehicle. It has not only a Storage Room, but also a kitchen and a bathroom. Shall we fly over to Chujian's place?"

Ye Shijie wanted to confirm whether it was the Unicorn Cattle Meat that had restored his Mental Strength. Unable to suppress his excitement, he nodded. "Is everything packed? If it is, then let's go."

Everything in that Small Wooden House had already been packed away by Li Fu and Song Mingqian.

There was still quite a lot of Black Truffle Wild Rhino Pig Meat left from the two they had hunted when they first arrived, frozen solid outdoors.

Unfortunately, their Flying Vehicle was a Combat Aircraft, and its refrigerator was pitifully small. There was no way to fit it all inside.

Song Mingqian said, "No need to worry. Bring it to Chujian's place. Her Civilian Flying Vehicle has a Storage Room that can regulate temperature."

Song Mingqian loaded all the frozen Wild Rhinoceros Pig Meat into the Flying Vehicle, while Li Fu carried Ye Shijie onto it.

Li Fu took care of Ye Shijie in the back row while Song Mingqian piloted the Flying Vehicle.

Before long, he parked the Flying Vehicle not far from Xia Chujian's Civilian Flying Vehicle.

Once they were close enough, their Smart Bracelets could communicate.

Song Mingqian first sent Ping Qiong a message, telling her they had decided to give the Civilian Flying Vehicle to Xia Chujian and asking for her opinion.

Ping Qiong was also a Gene Evolver. Her family belonged to Mulan City's middle class, so she did not care about a Civilian Flying Vehicle like this and immediately agreed.

She even told Xia Chujian directly, "Xiaochu, Ye Dui agreed to give you this captured Civilian Flying Vehicle. Our squad won't turn it in as Spoils of War."

Xia Chujian was very pleasantly surprised. Although she had wanted to borrow the Civilian Flying Vehicle temporarily, she had never considered taking complete possession of it.

Embarrassed, she said, "...How about I just borrow it instead..."

"Don't... If we're giving it to you, take it. Why be so polite with us?" Ping Qiong gave her an affectionate glare. "Besides, you saved everyone this time and found Blood Kirin. Who knows how many good things the Association will reward us with when we return!"

Xia Chujian smiled and stopped insisting. "Thank you, Cai Jie. Please thank Ye Dui, Fu Ye, and Song Ge for me too."

"It's nothing, it's nothing! I'll Send Message to them." Ping Qiong said carelessly as she sent a text message to Song Mingqian's Smart Bracelet.

Song Mingqian replied, "I'll come over right away and help Chujian clean up that Flying Vehicle."

"...It's very clean. You don't need to clean it." Ping Qiong did not understand what he meant.

Song Mingqian did not Reply further and came over directly.

"Xiaochu, congratulations on getting your own Flying Vehicle." Song Mingqian smiled and cupped his hands toward her.

Xia Chujian nodded. "Thank you, everyone. Once my Aunt gets better, I'll have her treat everyone to a meal and cook for you all."

Song Mingqian swallowed hard and said eagerly, "Then I'll show you what I can do first! Xiaochu, this Flying Vehicle's system still needs to be modified. Otherwise, the moment it leaves this place, it might be discovered and locked onto."

Xia Chujian: "..."

Right. She had forgotten about that.

Second Update at one in the afternoon. I need to save up some chapters before I can update two at once.