Captain, What Did You Promise Him?

Mu Yi sat quietly for a rare moment, then suddenly remembered something and turned to ask Zhong Xuezhi, "You haven't forgotten what you promised me, have you?"

Before the two of them showed themselves, Zhong Xuezhi had said something about Mu Yi's situation being special and how it wasn't a good idea to reveal it to Team 403 just yet.

He had asked Mu Yi to hide his "talent" and maintain his identity as an ordinary person for the rest of the journey.

The condition was that, during Zhong Xuezhi's time-limited stint as his pet, he had to offer up not only his tail and ears but also obediently let Mu Yi pet his head.

Of course Zhong Xuezhi hadn't forgotten. He said quietly, "You don't need to remind me. I never go back on my promises."

"Captain, what did you promise him?"

The voice that suddenly came from behind startled Zhong Xuezhi.

He whipped around and swore through gritted teeth, "You damn fatty! Can't you make some noise before you speak?"

Qiu Cai spread his hands, looking utterly innocent. "I did! My footsteps were plenty loud."

"You two were so absorbed in whispering to each other that you completely shut out everything around you."

"Cut the crap." Feeling guilty, Zhong Xuezhi changed the subject. "If you've got something to say, say it. Otherwise, get lost."

After being snapped at twice in a row, Qiu Cai rubbed his head in bewilderment, unsure how he had managed to step on his captain's tail.

Still, he had something to report.

He crouched beside them and said softly, "Captain, have you noticed? That healer from Team 403 is looking stiffer and stiffer, like a block of wood."

Zhong Xuezhi spared a glance at the healer opposite them. The man was sitting ramrod straight, staring blankly at the strings of raindrops sliding from the grooves in the shelter's roof without blinking, doing a better job than an actual statue.

Zhong Xuezhi looked away. "Isn't he always like that? He zones out more often than he breathes."

Qiu Cai scratched his head and continued, "I just feel like he's even more lifeless when he zones out today. Watch him long enough and it gets creepy."

"Then stop looking." Zhong Xuezhi nudged him with his elbow and ordered, "If you've got time for that, use the Flame Gun to dry out the firewood. Wet wood messes with the heat and ruins the flavor."

Qiu Cai's eyes immediately widened. "Is that what my Little Flame is meant for!?"

Zhong Xuezhi patted his shoulder and went straight for the jugular with a smile. "Either let your Little Flame suffer a little, or take it outside the shelter later and watch us eat."

Qiu Cai pouted and reluctantly changed his tune. "A man's gotta eat. Little Flame will understand."

Zhong Xuezhi chuckled, then urged him on mercilessly. "Enough chatter. Get to work."

"Ah, life. Never quite in your own hands." After that final quip, Qiu Cai slowly got up and left.

Only after he was some distance away did Mu Yi remember to ask, "Does every hunting team have its own number?"

Zhong Xuezhi nodded. "That's right. They're assigned in the order the teams were formed."

"The team over there is Team 403. What about yours?"

Zhong Xuezhi suddenly coughed, pressed his lips together, and said, "Team 404."

Mu Yi froze for a few seconds when he heard that, then burst into merciless laughter. "Hahahahaha! Team 404?"

404 was an HTTP status code that meant either an error or an obstacle.

Zhong Xuezhi bumped him with his shoulder and complained, "Do you really have to laugh that loudly?"

"Hahaha..." Mu Yi covered his mouth, barely managing to stop laughing, then offered his assessment. "It's pretty good. At least it's memorable."

Zhong Xuezhi rolled his eyes, not bothering to respond to that "compliment."

He put the washed petals into a jar, added a ladle of boiling water, and left them to steep.

Then he picked up a handful of wild celery and began carefully trimming it. After barely a few stems, he suddenly activated his Identity Bracelet and scanned Team 403's healer.

Although he couldn't inspect the detailed figures, he could still see the safety data that allowed mutants to monitor one another.

For instance, whether the "mutation value" was marked as dangerous, or whether two extra readings that didn't belong to mutants had appeared: "feeding urge" and "infection level."

However, the scan results projected by his Identity Bracelet showed that all of Team 403's healer's basic safety readings were normal.

He closed the projection and went back to trimming the vegetables.

Mu Yi glanced over a few times and asked curiously, "What are healers usually for? Treating injuries?"

Zhong Xuezhi answered as he worked, "Although they're called healers, their healing isn't particularly effective."

"What really makes them useful is that they get two and a half times as much out of absorbing energy as other mutants, and their energy storage capacity is considerably higher too."

"So a healer's main responsibility is to ensure a steady supply of energy for the whole team during combat."

"Besides that, they also prepare various potions, give teammates buffs related to their talent skills, dispel certain debuffs, and so on."

"They can do all that?" Mu Yi's eyes brightened slightly. "Wouldn't having a healer make you invincible?"

Zhong Xuezhi shook his head. "Nothing can do everything. Most healers have low attack power, and their defenses aren't strong either."

"To the enemy, they're easy targets with a little extra health. Once they're singled out, they can barely keep themselves safe."

After hearing that, Mu Yi immediately lost interest. "Oh. That makes them kind of useless."

"You can't really say that." Zhong Xuezhi sighed softly, seeming a little wistful. "Whether they're useful mostly depends on the team's coordination."

"If the teammates work well together, having a healer is still pretty nice."

Mu Yi lifted his eyes and cut straight to the point. "Then why doesn't your team get one?"

Even a team as lousy as Team 403 had one. There was no reason Team 404 shouldn't.

The captain of Team 404 cleared his throat and admitted honestly, "Our team... consumes too much energy overall."

"Once the fighting gets frequent, healers struggle to keep up with the recharge cycle. Even high-level healers can't reliably meet our combat needs the whole time."

Mu Yi broke into a smile and summed it up bluntly. "A team of bottomless pits. Healers don't like waiting on you."

"Tsk." Zhong Xuezhi stubbornly tried to salvage their reputation. "That's not the only reason. It's also because healers don't get any sense of achievement on our team, so they leave in a huff."

Still smiling, Mu Yi pressed him. "How so?"

Zhong Xuezhi said, "For example, Beibei can handle all kinds of potions. They're every bit as effective as the ones healers make."

"And as for healing, Du Jing's plant-type talent has some healing properties too. The effects aren't remarkable, but it's quick and convenient, and it doesn't drain his mental energy the way it does for healers."

Mu Yi asked again, "What about buffs and debuffs?"

"We use Wanderer's protective barriers. They're pretty good at both physical defense and effect resistance. As long as they're renewed in time, we don't have to worry about getting hit with debuffs at all."

"As for buffs, Qiu Cai is all we need. That little fatty is practically a mascot with cheat codes. Even if he trips, he'll land on gold."

Mu Yi couldn't help nodding, then asked curiously, "And you? What role do you fill in this budget replacement package?"

"Me?" Zhong Xuezhi smiled. "I suppose you could call me an energy distributor. In my hands, one bar does more than two."

Mu Yi smacked his lips. Energy penny-pincher, more like...