Bro, Want to Make a Deal?

Mu Yi was restless by nature, but the straps around him now held him so tightly that he couldn't move a single finger. It was maddening.

He frowned at Zhong Xuezhi. "Untie me!"

Zhong Xuezhi rose and slowly walked over to him before saying, "Sorry, but until we're sure you pose no threat, we can't untie you."

"If you're scared of threats, why bring me back tied up in the first place?" Mu Yi looked up and asked in all sincerity, "Something seriously wrong with you?"

Despite the blunt insult, Zhong Xuezhi merely smiled. "We didn't want anything nasty in Dread Gloom Forest tearing you apart."

"Heh." Mu Yi rolled his eyes. "Mind your own business."

Seeing that he wasn't someone who warmed up easily, Zhong Xuezhi rubbed his neck and decided to get straight to the point. He lowered his voice. "Bro, want to make a deal?"

Mu Yi leaned against the tree trunk and drawled, "I never make deals with people who look down on me."

Zhong Xuezhi paused briefly, then crouched in front of Mu Yi. "How about now?"

Mu Yi lifted his eyelids to glance at him. Still dissatisfied, he demanded, "You have to sit down."

Zhong Xuezhi sat on the ground as instructed and even bent forward a little. Only once they were completely at eye level did he ask again, "Like this?"

Mu Yi's eyes curved slightly. "It'll do."

Having met the preliminary conditions for the deal, Zhong Xuezhi considered his wording for a moment, then slowly explained what he had in mind.

"Here's the thing. We'd like you to come back to the research institute with us and let us replicate a small portion of your DNA to use as one of the research samples for developing the Improved Hallucinogen Antidote."

Mu Yi found that amusing. "Why should I cooperate with you?"

Zhong Xuezhi had known he wouldn't be willing, so he continued, "I guarantee that nothing involved in the research will cause your body any actual harm."

"And as for your conditions for agreeing to cooperate... name your price."

Humanity faced countless challenges to its survival, and they had to fight with everything they had for any opportunity that arose.

If the man before him wasn't an illusion-type Advanced Variant, then there was a strong chance he possessed a special constitution that resisted hallucinogenic substances.

Either way, Zhong Xuezhi wanted to discuss it with him.

But Mu Yi had no kindness to spare for the man who had tied him up. "I'm not cooperating. No conditions."

"..."

Zhong Xuezhi knew he was in the wrong and was already feeling guilty. Normally a smooth talker, he couldn't even muster the confidence to keep persuading him now.

He had tied the man up purely because his identity was far too suspicious to take lightly.

As for shamelessly trying to negotiate a deal-well, people could barely stay alive anymore. What use was saving face?

With that thought, he forced out another sentence. "It's all right. We can talk it over slowly. Take your time to think."

"I'm not fucking thinking about it!" Mu Yi's eyebrows shot up as his temper flared. "If you're blind, get treatment. Do I look like the kind of person who hands out mercy?"

Did he think I was some living saint?

Zhong Xuezhi quickly looked Mu Yi over twice. He really didn't.

He raised a hand soothingly. "All right, all right. We'll drop it. Don't get angry."

"Get lost!" Mu Yi didn't want to look at Zhong Xuezhi right now. The sight hurt his eyes.

Captain Zhong was surprisingly obedient. Told to get lost, he did just that, bracing his hands on his knees as he stood and headed toward the eastern side of the forest.

"Captain! Where are you going?" Qiu Cai craned his neck and called out.

Zhong Xuezhi waved casually. "To get us something to eat. No need to follow."

"Oh..."

After Zhong Xuezhi left, Mu Yi looked at the straps binding him.

He had originally planned to burn them off with a burst of electric flame, then make a clean getaway.

But on second thought, he suppressed the pheromones churning inside him for now. He shifted his back against the trunk a couple of times to find a more comfortable position, then sprawled lazily in the sun.

These people didn't seem like bad sorts. They were the perfect source of information about this unfamiliar world.

The current season and weather seemed to match those of his original world. It was spring, and the air was rather cool, making it just right for a little sunbathing.

He wasn't the only one. Zhong Xuezhi's four teammates were also basking in the sunshine, enjoying their rare moment of leisure.

"Sweetheart, thanks for all your hard work on this trip." Qiu Cai cradled his beloved Mimetic Submachine Gun and talked to himself.

"Just hang in there a little longer, okay? We'll be back in Crystal City soon. Then the two of us can take some time off."

"Mwah, mwah, mwah, mwah~~"

"Bleurgh...!" Sprawled nearby, Wenren Jin made no attempt to hide his dry heaving. Then he rolled over and kept sunbathing.

A moment later, Wenren Jin narrowed his pale purple eyes and drawled, "Ah... I'm so bored. I really want someone to beat me up."

An Beize paused at those words, turned to glance at him, then silently turned back and continued playing with the difficult Rubik's Cube in his hands.

For some reason, though, whenever he reached the point where just one final turn would solve it, he quickly scrambled the cube again and started over.

The repeated process nearly triggered Du Jing's compulsive tendencies. He hurriedly scooted away and sat somewhere farther from him.

Once he sat down again, however, Du Jing sank back into misery. Every spring, his hair tended to grow wildly-and bloom.

As a burly, imposing man, he naturally couldn't stand having a head full of flowers. Every time one bloomed, he plucked it out.

In the end, he gritted his teeth and braided his hair into a single tight plait, hoping to reduce the area available for flowers to bloom.

Having silently observed all four of them, Mu Yi was speechless. "..."

Right. Not a single normal person on the team.

He had barely finished that thought when Zhong Xuezhi returned, carrying a bulging black bag.

"Captain!"

The moment they spotted Zhong Xuezhi, all four sprang up and rushed around him like children greeting their dad.

"Captain, what did you bring back?"

Zhong Xuezhi shook the bag in his hand and smiled. "Something good."

As he spoke, he sat down beside Mu Yi and spread the bag open on the ground.

Once Mu Yi saw what was inside, his eyebrows rose high.

The other four, meanwhile, all leaped several meters backward. "Holy shit!"

In the middle of the unfolded cloth lay a pile of pale, plump grubs, each as big as an adult's fist.

They seemed to have been washed, their bodies glistening wet, but they were still lively. At the sight of daylight, they began rolling, writhing, and crawling over the cloth in a panic.

"Fuck..." Wenren Jin hugged himself with both arms, his expression indescribable. "Captain, aren't those Carnivorous Moth Larvae?"

Zhong Xuezhi nodded. "Yep."

Rubbing the goosebumps on his arms, Qiu Cai added, "Are you that eager to poison us?"

They ate bugs often enough, but what normal person would want to try Carnivorous Moth Larvae?

"You don't know a good thing when you see it." The not-so-normal Zhong Xuezhi rolled his eyes at them, then tipped his chin toward An Beize. "Encyclopedia, put some useful information into those two barren little brains."

An Beize cleared his throat and explained, "Carnivorous Moth Larvae are indeed safe to eat. They're said to taste excellent and contain abundant novel high-quality proteins, making them highly beneficial to the human body."

"Uh... but I think my diet's pretty balanced already, so I'll pass on the extra nutrition. Haha..."

Du Jing immediately chimed in, "I just remembered I've still got a bunch of Nutrient Supplements in my bag. They're about to expire. I'll go use them up."

As soon as Du Jing turned away, Qiu Cai hurried after him. "My good brother, I'll help you use them up!"

Wenren Jin followed close behind. "Me too!"

His teammates scattered in an instant. Having failed yet again to sell them on his recommendation, Zhong Xuezhi shrugged, feeling a little forlorn.

Suddenly, Mu Yi called from beside him, "Hey."

Zhong Xuezhi turned his head and met his eyes for a few seconds, then said with some hesitation, "You..."

Mu Yi said, "I'll eat them."

He hadn't had so much as a drop of water since last night. With such fine protein right in front of him, why let it go to waste?

[Zhong Xuezhi: One look in his eyes confirmed it-this was someone I could share a meal with.]

[Addendum: Darlings, put your brainstorming on hold for a moment. It's just a little cooperation with research sampling, not some horrifying experiment. No conspiracy theories, okay~]