Mission complete

Since they had already cleared out most of the zombies on the way there, the return trip went fairly smoothly.

Doggie and Big Meow raced ahead, clearing the way and killing zombies, while Little Crook followed behind to collect crystal cores. Bai Yaoyao cheered them on from the car, occasionally tossing them a large bone or some dried fish. Everyone played their part, working together seamlessly.

Once they returned to the Safe Zone, the follow-up work had nothing to do with the Dark Night Squad, so they left right away. It was still fairly early, and nobody felt particularly tired-except Doggie and Big Meow, who lay sprawled on the ground and refused to budge.

They were discussing whether to head out for another run when Meng Qilin arrived. Since he was in charge of overall coordination at the Safe Zone, he did not join the outside missions.

After hearing Wang Chengcheng's report, Meng Qilin had not stopped smiling. His judgment had been right all along. Of the eight rescue units, theirs had taken on the toughest assignment yet finished in the least time. They were even more efficient than the official ability user team!

That was why he had hurried over to the Dark Night Squad.

"Captain Bai, thank you all for your hard work today!" Meng Qilin said with a smile as soon as he saw Bai Yaoyao. His reaction did not surprise her in the slightest.

Earlier that day, she had heard the team leader named Wang Chengcheng complain that most ability user squads were unwilling to put their all into missions. They kept trying to exploit the Safe Zone's current manpower shortage to demand more supplies.

Once reinforcements arrived, many of those terms would no longer be negotiable. Naturally, he was delighted to find a team like the Dark Night Squad, which asked for no supplies and completed its missions efficiently.

Bai Yaoyao had her own considerations, too.

The Meng family held considerable sway in A City. Otherwise, no matter how capable Meng Qilin was, he could never have become the head of the base's supply exchange office. After all, plenty of people had both ability and connections. What good was ability alone? It would not even get you in line.

So it was well worth building goodwill while he was going through a difficult period. Besides, Meng Qilin was genuinely a decent person, and working with him in her previous life had been pleasant.

Bai Yaoyao smiled and said, "It was no trouble. We're getting paid, so it's only right that we do our jobs."

"Haha, if every ability user team were like Dark Night, my hair wouldn't have gone gray in just a few days.

Here, these are the crystal cores for today's mission." Meng Qilin handed Bai Yaoyao a large bag.

Bai Yaoyao's smile grew a little more sincere. Who didn't like getting paid? "Nice and straightforward. Thank you."

"Oh, there's one more thing I'd like to discuss with you.

H City's Strategic Material Reserve Depot is in a fairly remote location. For safety's sake, we'd like your Dark Night Squad to go with our official ability user team and bring back the supplies there."

Meng Qilin paused and studied Bai Yaoyao's expression, but unfortunately, he could read nothing from it.

She looked barely over twenty, and he could not understand why she was so... so composed. Whatever he said, she kept that faint smile, revealing neither her emotions nor which way she was leaning.

Bai Yaoyao was certainly interested in the place, but she did not rush to agree. "Could you tell us more?"

Meng Qilin nodded and said, "Since it's quite far away, you won't be able to return quickly. The round trip should take close to ten days. Captain Bai, if this mission succeeds, the reward will be twelve Level Three Crystal Cores, plus fifty Level Two Crystal Cores.

The depot also has abundant supplies. We're moving to City D soon and won't have time to make another trip, so if our people can't take everything, Captain Bai, you can take as much of what's left as you like."

Bai Yaoyao had already agreed in her heart, but she still needed to put on a little show.

Meng Qilin grew nervous as he watched Bai Yaoyao furrow her brows and turn around to discuss it with a teammate at length. The two even seemed to disagree. Hadn't Captain Bai always made the decisions herself before...?

Keeping up the act, Bai Yaoyao turned to Fat Brother and said, "What's for dinner?"

Fat Brother caught on immediately. He frowned too, considered it, and said, "Lobster?"

"Lobster again? Aren't you sick of it?"

Fat Brother shook his head. "Nope. It's my favorite!"

"But I want hot pot," Bai Yaoyao said.

"Then we'll have hot pot and lobster together!"

"Perfect!"

Bai Yaoyao looked up at Meng Qilin and said, "We'll take the mission, but you'll need to add another five Level Three Crystal Cores.

To be honest, my storage space is already full. It wasn't very big to begin with, and I've put several vehicles in it, so there's hardly any room left. Even if there are leftover supplies, they won't be much use to us."

Meng Qilin let out a deep breath. As long as she agreed, that was all that mattered. It was only a few more Level Three Crystal Cores, and he had the authority to approve that. He agreed immediately. "Of course! No problem."

Bai Yaoyao asked, "When do we leave? We'll need time to prepare."

"They still have missions to finish. If everything goes smoothly, you'll leave the day after tomorrow," Meng Qilin replied.

"Sure, no problem." Bai Yaoyao nodded.

"Then I won't disturb your rest any longer. Thank you all for your hard work today! I'll have someone send over some mutant tiger meat shortly. We just got it today," Meng Qilin said with a smile.

"All right. Thank you, Captain Meng."

Meng Qilin's words reminded Bai Yaoyao that perhaps she should hunt more mutant beasts and find a chef to cook the meat so she could stockpile it. Mutant beast meat was very beneficial to everyone in the early stages.

Chenxuan and the others were terrible cooks. They still had not finished the mutant dog they had hunted last time because it was simply impossible to stomach. In the hands of a good cook, however, mutant beast meat tasted quite good.

After Meng Qilin left, Fat Brother asked, "Yaoyao, are we still having hot pot? Someone's bringing tiger meat over soon. I've never tried it!"

"Of course we are. How much mutant tiger meat could they possibly send? It's so valuable that even a little taste would be generous. It won't be enough to feed us. If you want some, we'll go hunt our own tomorrow. The Zoo is bound to have some," Bai Yaoyao said.

"Haha, then I can still have my lobster."

"Yes, yes, yes!"

Dada Juan said, "Seriously, you two were discussing dinner just now? You looked so solemn that I thought you were actually discussing whether to take the mission."

"You're too innocent. One look at Fat Brother swallowing his drool should've told you they were definitely talking about food," Lulu said with a smile, pointing at Fat Brother.

"Hahaha, looks like my acting is still pretty crude." Fat Brother scratched his head sheepishly.

"You're improving!"

Bai Yaoyao checked the crystal cores Meng Qilin had just delivered, then took out the day's haul and Big Meow's stash as well. She counted them up. There were a number of level-zero and level-one crystal cores, but she did not waste time counting those. They were not much use, so she would keep them to exchange for higher-level crystal cores later.

There were 165 Level Two Crystal Cores and nine Level Three Crystal Cores.

That was far more than they would have earned going out on their own without taking a mission. Getting paid twice really was the way to go.

She divided them among everyone, and the mutant tiger meat from Meng Qilin arrived as well.

Hmm, this might be even better than getting paid.