Night, Shuofang City, a small dining room.
The afterimages of chopsticks flashed across the table, as dish after dish of vegetables was placed into each person's bowl.
Without saying a word, everyone quietly enjoyed the meal!
Shen Heng glanced up and looked around, not surprised at all.
Just like he told the doctor during the psychological evaluation, the food in the Erosion Zone was actually not bad, and could even be described as luxurious!
After all, the Calamity Beast, which costs an unknown amount per kilogram outside, is supplied in unlimited quantities here.
But that's all there is to it!
Calamity Beast is now unlimited, but vegetables are only available in limited quantities every few days, and only a fixed variety of vegetables are supplied!
There are many limiting factors here:
There are several reasons for this: there are too many people, and Shuofang City is too far from the base, making it difficult to meet the demand; the temperature in the Plateau Erosion Zone is too low, making hydroponics slow, and the soil is completely unsuitable for planting; there are also Calamity Beast scattered throughout the Erosion Zone, so supply teams cannot always deliver supplies.
All of these factors have led to an extreme scarcity of vegetables here!
The soldiers even bought and sold things in secret!
It is known that in Shuofang City, approximately 8 catties of edible vegetables can be exchanged for one Tier 1 Origin Crystal.
Vegetables that are not available in Shuofang City or are hard to find will be even more expensive, with the highest price reaching three catties for one Tier 1 Origin Crystal!
First Tier Origin Crystal!
When the news of the Ruins Realm was first announced a few years ago, it was speculated to be worth 300,000 yuan per piece. Although the price has dropped now due to increased supply, it is still worth 70,000 to 80,000 yuan per piece!
Seventy or eighty thousand, exchanged for a few kilograms of vegetables...
Shen Heng picked up a piece of scrambled eggs with tomatoes and put it in his mouth; the sweet and sour taste quickly spread throughout his mouth.
"This one bite must cost several thousand!" Shen Heng thought to himself.
While it's true that scarcity increases value, this is still a bit outrageous.
Fortunately, the exchange rate is slowly decreasing over time!
After all, more and more newly recruited soldiers, reminded by those who were injured and unable to fight, started stuffing soil into their backpacks and coming over to help others grow vegetables in the dormitory!
However, those who earned even more were the warriors who awakened their abilities, and whose abilities could create water!
After all, deep within the Erosion Zone, water is rationed every day!
Shen Heng ate while silently pondering.
Although the plateau is generally barren, these conditions are a bit too harsh; other Erosion Zone are not all like this!
Suddenly, a commotion arose.
"Hey, Fatty, save some of that spinach for me!"
"Huh? Didn't you just eat a lot?"
"There's plenty! I only picked up the spinach five times!"
"Five times? That's not many?! I only squeezed twice, including this one, that's only three!"
"Don't talk nonsense, everyone's speed is about the same. You only picked at the spinach a few times, so you must have eaten more of other things! Besides, I like spinach, otherwise why do you think I picked at it so many times and even asked you to stop!"
"Oh! So this is how you beg people?"
"Or else you would..."
"Hmm?" The chopsticks resting on the plate rotated slightly, causing the spinach between them to swirl.
"Lord Lü Wenrui, could you please let me have the rest of the spinach?"
"Hehe!" Lü Wenrui smiled with satisfaction and put half of the spinach back into his bowl.
Zhou Xuan quickly picked up the remaining spinach and put it in his own bowl, then glanced at Lü Wenrui with disdain.
"Hmph, you fatso, you better not let me see what you like to eat in the future, or you'll be sorry!"
"You're overthinking it. There's nothing I don't like to eat!" Lü Wenrui grinned.
Zhou Xuan's lips twitched slightly.
That fat guy is so annoying! I wish it was some other city that we merged instead of the base!
No, that's not right, it can't be Wang Hu's Chongshan City either, or I'll be in big trouble!
Seriously, it's just that he's short, why hold a grudge like that!
Zhou Xuan pursed his lips, his gaze swept across the room, and suddenly stopped on Shen Heng.
"By the way, Captain, are there any changes this time you go back?"
Upon hearing this, everyone paused slightly and looked over.
Shen Heng glanced at everyone and calmly said, "Nothing has changed, everything remains the same!"
"Well, I knew it. Right now, we can't do anything to the Calamity Beast, and the Calamity Beast can't do anything to us either. What else can we do?" Lü Wenrui said.
The others remained silent, but they conveyed the same meaning.
There's definitely a stalemate right now!
However, the original strategy was precisely designed to achieve the current situation.
After all, given the significant disparity in strength between the two sides, achieving this much has already exceeded expectations!
Shen Heng nodded, offering no rebuttal.
He glanced at Han Ling sitting beside him and asked, "Has anything happened these past two days?"
"There's nothing special about it. After all, you only returned after we raided the Anchor Point. Even if the Calamity Beast wanted to do something, it wouldn't have the ability to do so at this time," Han Ling said, swallowing the food in her mouth.
Shen Heng nodded, not surprised at all.
"Oh right, Liang Yanhao also led his team out!" Han Ling suddenly said.
"Huh? He went out too?" Shen Heng asked, slightly surprised.
"Yes, they've been preparing, and after receiving your signal, they went out. They said that since you're back, they don't need to stay here anymore and wanted to go forward to scout out and see if they could detect any movements of the Calamity Beast!" Han Ling nodded in confirmation.
Shen Heng frowned slightly, pondered for a moment, and then slowly nodded.
"Besides them, how many other teams applied to go abroad?"
Han Ling said, "Besides them, 42 other teams applied to go, including Chen Hua's team, Xu Yu's team..."
Shen Heng listened, nodding slightly from time to time.
There are probably five types of tasks for the warriors inside the city.
First, clear the surrounding area of the city of Calamity Beast to ensure its safety;
Secondly, they went out to hunt Calamity Beast to ensure a stable food supply within the city;
Third, small teams were dispatched to be stationed near several other Anchor Point closer to Shuofang City, and then returned regularly to report back, to ensure that the Calamity Beast had not attempted to re-establish Anchor Point in those areas;
Fourth, find an opportunity to destroy the two nearest Anchor Point, preventing the Calamity Beast from establishing stable Anchor Point in these two locations.
Fifthly, as Han Ling just mentioned, I'm requesting to go out and fight the Calamity Beast!
However, unlike the first four, the fifth one was applied for by the soldier himself, rather than being assigned by his superiors.
A moment later, after he finished speaking, Shen Heng nodded slightly.
There was no response, nor was a response necessary. After all, there was nothing special about it; apart from Liang Yanhao leaving directly, everything else was just normal business.
"Oh, right, there's something else I need to tell you!" Han Ling said.
Shen Heng turned his gaze over again.
Han Ling didn't speak, but instead turned her gaze to Qin Yu.
Seeing the two people looking at her, Qin Yu paused for a moment, then said:
"Captain, I've developed a new Inscription."