Excuse me, what are you doing?

Seeing the two standing frozen in place, Xie Lin waggled his fingers again.

"Well? Isn't it a great deal? Cooked, delicious-smelling meat..."

Xie Lin tore off a piece and chewed away, looking at the man and woman with clear eyes.

The woman blew up on the spot.

"Isn't this taking advantage of us? Aren't we teammates?"

The corner of Xie Lin's mouth twitched.

"That's no fun. Fine, no hard feelings if we can't make a deal. I'll let you stand nearby and enjoy the smell!"

With that, he ignored them and continued grilling the remaining snake meat.

Raw meat was inconvenient to carry. If he cooked it all now, they wouldn't need to light another fire when they camped that night and could eat it straight away.

The man grabbed the woman and hastily offered an apologetic smile.

"I'll buy it, but I don't have any money on me, and they confiscated our phones."

Xie Lin's eyes lit up.

"That's fine. You can write an IOU and pay me when we get out!"

"Aren't you afraid I'll refuse to pay?"

Lu Ye snorted.

"Try it, and I'll break your legs!"

The pressure of a Top Alpha radiated from him. The man's legs went weak, and he nearly dropped to his knees.

He wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and immediately nodded with a smile.

"Don't worry. I might only be a no-name celebrity, but I can still afford that much."

Xie Lin glanced at him, pulled the boning knife from Lu Ye's waist, and slowly approached him.

The man dropped onto his backside in fright, his legs kicking frantically.

"Y-you... what are you doing? Murder is illegal! The staff are watching!"

"Heh heh heh..."

"Aaaaaah!!! Huh?"

With a ripping sound, the man's piercing screams abruptly stopped.

Xie Lin cut a piece of fabric from his T-shirt and spread it on the ground.

"Go on, write it. The IOU!"

The man let out a long breath.

Couldn't you have said something first? You scared me to death!

"...I don't have a pen... ah!"

Xie Lin grabbed his finger and nicked it with the knife.

"Now you do. Hurry up and write. If it clots, you'll need another cut!"

The man's mouth puckered, and he looked ready to cry.

[Hahahaha, that's our Tao Miaomiao! Anyone can suffer as long as it isn't him!]

[Is Xie Lin sick in the head? Fifty thousand? Why doesn't he just rob them?]

[Uh, isn't that exactly what he's doing?]

[It's not robbery. Both sides agreed willingly!]

[...I'm not seeing it...]

[They can't find supplies and don't want to quit. They're lucky anyone's willing to give them something to eat.]

Once the bloody IOU was finished, Xie Lin held it to his lips and blew on it, then folded it up and tucked it into his backpack.

Next, he took a piece of snake meat from his backpack, deftly skewered it, and put it over the fire.

"Just a moment, sir. I'll grill you a fresh piece. It'll be ready in no time. How would you like it done?"

The man looked miserable.

"You can't eat this stuff raw, can you?"

"Whatever suits your taste. I'm fine either way!"

"Well done!"

"You got it. Just watch!"

Humming a tune, Xie Lin pulled a bottle of water from his bag and tossed it over.

"Have a drink while you wait!"

The man caught it, twisted off the cap, and gulped down half the bottle before handing the rest to the woman.

The woman's eyes were full of gratitude.

Before long, the meat was ready.

Xie Lin thoughtfully placed the meat on a leaf and handed it over with both hands, a radiant smile on his face.

"Careful, it's hot. Enjoy your meal!"

Wu Xinyou turned her head away and covered her mouth, laughing uncontrollably.

The two quickly divided the meat and polished it off, finally getting something into their stomachs.

He smiled at Xie Lin.

"My name's Song Yunshen, and she's Mi Ziqi. Fate brought us together, so why don't we be friends?"

Xie Lin said nothing.

The group stamped out the fire, packed up the grilled meat, shouldered their backpacks, and continued into the woods.

Song Yunshen gave an awkward smile.

Mi Ziqi curled her lip.

"It really was a one-off deal!"

"Forget it. We've eaten and gotten our strength back. Let's go find supplies!"

"Okay!"

Listening to the conversation behind them, Wu Xinyou glanced at Xie Lin.

"Why didn't you agree?"

"If we become friends, how am I supposed to charge them next time?"

"..."

[You know what? He has a point!]

[Aaaaaah, I need to learn from Tao Miaomiao. Never make friends with clients!]

The five walked for another two hours or so before several voices suddenly drifted from the woods nearby.

Lu Ye raised a hand, signaling everyone to stop, then darted into the woods.

"Let's rest for a bit."

Yu Zhiwei had the least stamina of the group, but she had gritted her teeth and stayed quiet the whole time, afraid of holding everyone back.

Wu Xinyou's performance, on the other hand, was unexpected. Only the tip of her nose was faintly beaded with sweat.

Xie Lin took a cupcake from his bag and handed it to Yu Zhiwei.

"Here, get some energy back."

"No, no. We only have a few. Save them for a critical moment at the end."

Xie Lin smiled, his eyes curving.

"Until we reach the finish line, every moment is a critical moment. Eat!"

Yu Zhiwei's lips parted, and her eyes reddened slightly.

"I'm sorry. I'm holding you all back. Maybe..."

"Stop. Don't even think that. We're teammates. Everyone matters. What if we lose because we're one person short without you?"

As he spoke, he took a can of Red Bull from his bag.

"We don't have much of this. Let's share a can."

A few minutes later, Lu Ye returned and drained the remaining Red Bull.

"A few of our teammates up ahead have been surrounded by the Red Team..."

He paused.

"Xiao Lie's there!"

Xie Lin's eyes lit up.

"Can we take him out?"

"It'll be tough. There are five of them too, and besides him, there's another S-rank."

Their expressions changed at once.

"Another S-rank?"

"Yeah, but probably an S-minus. Not much stronger than an A-rank."

Xie Lin frowned.

Wu Xinyou spoke slowly.

"We can try. Even if we can't take out Xiao Lie, getting a few Red Team members would be good."

Xie Lin made a fist and smacked it into his other palm.

"That's what I was thinking."

With that, he turned to Yu Zhiwei.

She immediately raised her hand, her eyes bright as stars.

"Don't worry. I'll wait for you in a tree."

"And the backpacks. Keep an eye on them."

"Leave it to me. Even if I die, I'll protect our supplies!"

Xie Lin didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

"If you die, we'll lose the backpacks. Blow your whistle if anything happens!"

Yu Zhiwei nimbly climbed a tree and made an okay sign.

The others stashed their backpacks up there too, then spread out to flank the group ahead.

[Waaah, what an amazing team. Everyone has their own use.]

[Tao Miaomiao really is impressive. He can see everyone's strengths.]

[Thank you, Tao Miaomiao, for including our Weiwei!]

[Xie Lin: No problem~]

Xie Lin zigzagged his way forward and poked his head out of the bushes, then immediately frowned.

Among the surrounded Blue Team members, besides Song Yunshen, whom they had met earlier, was He Jianing.

There were two others as well. Both looked somewhat familiar, like a pair of major internet celebrities.

[Man, the Blue Team really is at a disadvantage. They barely have any Alphas. Almost everyone else is an Omega.]

[Yeah, and they're all so delicate. Imagine how strong they'd be if they were all like Tao Miaomiao!]

[I still think Tao Miaomiao's original strategy was right. You have to outsmart these Red Team people.]

Drones circled overhead.

Both directors sat in the command center, staring gravely at the big screen.

"Xiao Lie isn't easy to deal with."

"Our Lu Ye and Xie Lin are no pushovers either!"

"Hmm, I'm a little puzzled. Is that Omega really that good?"

"Who knows? In any case, beating up an A-rank Alpha is child's play for him!"

In the forest on-screen, Song Yunshen clutched a backpack, his face set as though prepared to die.

"Even if I die, I won't give you this backpack!"

An Alpha opposite him rolled his eyes skyward and tilted his head to the side.

"Who's going? I'd feel a little embarrassed taking on a Beta like this."

One of them stepped forward with a vicious grin.

"What's the big deal? It's just a game..."

Just then, a timid voice sounded from behind a tree.

"Excuse me, what are you doing?"