At first, she could only land a few shots on the slowly moving targets, but gradually, she actually managed to hit almost half of them.
At the end of the afternoon's training, Coach Qingtian gave her a straightforward assessment. "You're too small and thin. Get more nutrition when you go home and build up your body. Keep training, and you'll see results over time."
Sang Luoluo nodded and dragged her exhausted body home.
She hadn't noticed while training all afternoon, but once she relaxed, she felt almost completely drained.
"I'm home~"
When she got home and opened the door, Sang Luoluo found that the place had changed dramatically. There were so many new things. Clothes were drying on the balcony, and a movable curtain had appeared between her tent and her brother's neighboring one.
The solar panels outside the balcony had been folded away. There was a new movable, retractable drying rack on the balcony, and a pretty table lamp beside the tents, giving off a warm yellow glow that felt very cozy.
The smell of food came wafting out of the kitchen amid bubbling sounds: chicken stewed with potatoes.
Sang Yunpu was tinkering with something. Seeing her return, he tidied up and set the round cleaning machine in his hands on the floor. It actually moved around and began cleaning the floor by itself.
Its casing looked a little old, but it had a nose, eyes, and even meme faces. Watching it move around the room cleaning, Sang Luoluo looked up and asked Sang Yunpu, "Brother, is this a robot vacuum?"
Sang Yunpu nodded. "Yes. I bought some parts at the secondhand market and assembled it. It's a little old, but it works just like a new one."
"Brother, you're amazing. Does it have a name?" Sang Luoluo asked.
Sang Yunpu paused. He hadn't considered that question. "No."
Sang Luoluo had just changed her shoes and was blocking its path when she heard it say in an extremely cute voice, "Please move aside. You're blocking my way."
Sang Luoluo quickly hopped out of the way.
Sang Yunpu tidied up and said quietly, "Let's eat."
"Oh. It smells so good. I can smell meat." Sang Luoluo sniffed.
Sang Yunpu served food for them both, along with the nutrient solution soup left over from lunch.
Remembering Coach Qingtian's advice that day to get more nutrition, Sang Luoluo looked down at the bowl of water mixed with nutrient solution, picked it up, and gulped it down without worrying about the taste.
She also polished off a bowl of chicken stewed with potatoes.
Seeing how hungry she was, Sang Yunpu couldn't help feeling sorry for her. "Was this afternoon's training really exhausting?"
Sang Luoluo nodded. "But I think it's really effective. The Guard's training facility has everything, and the simulated environments feel just like the real thing. Brother, I'm going again first thing tomorrow."
After eating, Sang Luoluo went to wash up. Before bed, she specifically left him a laser gun to protect himself while she was away.
Sang Yunpu liked the laser pistol very much and put it beside his bed.
Beep, beep, beep!
Her wristwatch sounded, forecasting rain during the night.
Utterly exhausted, Sang Luoluo crawled into her tent and fell asleep the moment her head hit the pillow. Before long, raindrops began pattering against the window.
Unable to sleep for a while, Sang Yunpu listened to the rain outside and touched the laser gun beside his pillow, feeling inexplicably at ease.
With the air conditioner running that night, the indoor temperature was particularly comfortable. Sang Luoluo had set a very early alarm and got up at daybreak. Seeing Sang Yunpu go into the kitchen with nutrient solution to prepare breakfast, she said, "Brother, I'll have nutrient solution this morning. I won't eat at home."
Sang Yunpu's hands paused as he opened the nutrient solution, and he poured a little less into the pot.
Sang Luoluo left with a pouch of nutrient solution between her teeth. Once outside, she put it into her space, took out some milk and eggs, and finished them before heading to the Guard's training facility.
A new day of training began.
Today was combat class. Inside the simulated environment, Sang Luoluo repeatedly practiced the moves Coach Qingtian had taught her against mutated animals.
Her physical data was also faithfully reflected in the simulation.
By the end of the morning, Sang Luoluo felt somewhat discouraged. Why were these moves so hard to put into practice?
Her eyes had clearly learned them, yet when she tried them herself, her movements were always wildly off and much slower. Besides, her strength was still too slow against mutated animals, and she couldn't gain any advantage at all in close combat.
All she could do was watch as the mutated animals either drove their claws through her body or bit through her neck with their gaping, bloody mouths.
When she went home at noon, Sang Luoluo had another meal of potatoes and nutrient solution. Sang Yunpu had already prepared the food and was waiting for her to return and eat. There was no helping it; even if the food tasted bad, she had to eat it.
After all, she currently had no excuse to go to the black market and bring some things back.
In the afternoon, she went to the training facility to practice shooting at moving targets. Gradually, she managed to hit a few. Though she was a little slow, at least she was improving.
Training was painful, but to survive outside the base, she would still work hard and persevere.
After training that afternoon, Sang Luoluo went home. Sang Yunpu had made chicken soup this time. Thinking that she would only be here for these few days before leaving on a mission, with no telling when she would return, he had originally planned to save the meat for later. But seeing his sister come home from training tired and hungry, he couldn't bear to feed her so poorly. After some thought, he had made chicken soup for her.
The smell of chicken soup immediately whetted Sang Luoluo's appetite. Sang Yunpu's cooking was every bit as good as hers. Sang Luoluo enjoyed her meal, and Sang Yunpu was happy watching her.
No matter how much she ate, he didn't begrudge it.
Sang Luoluo wanted the refrigerator to be a little better stocked.
Before leaving the next day, she put a row of fresh eggs, a few bunches of greens, and a freshly slaughtered pig that hadn't yet been processed into the refrigerator.
Sang Yunpu wasn't surprised by the eggs and such. Buying them at the black market wasn't unusual.
But where had this pig come from?
Meeting Sang Yunpu's puzzled gaze, Sang Luoluo explained, "A secret mission. It's payment from the boss. I don't know how to butcher it either. Brother, take your time working on it at home. I'm off to train."
Looking at the enormous pig, which appeared to have died not long ago and had yet to be processed, Sang Yunpu could only feel that happiness had come too suddenly.
His sister was far too capable.
He had no time to celebrate just then and quickly took out a knife to butcher the pig.
The refrigerator was too small. Even after the whole pig was butchered, it wouldn't all fit.
With that in mind, he first dragged the pig up to drain its blood into a basin.
Then he went out in his electric wheelchair.
He had to buy some new things. There wasn't room for the pig, and he couldn't let it spoil.
With Sang Luoluo away and her storage space unavailable, it wouldn't keep long at home. At that moment, he suddenly realized just how important his sister's evolved spatial ability was. No wonder the big bosses behind those secret missions paid so generously.
Sang Luoluo began a hard day of training, struggling through push-ups and pull-ups.
By the time she returned at noon, both her arms were shaking.
She came home exhausted to find a plate of greens stir-fried with pork and a bowl of nutrient solution egg-drop soup on the table. Not bad.
Sang Yunpu was still processing the pig in the kitchen. By now, he had divided it into dozens of pieces and was packing them separately. There were also some new machines at home, which he had probably gone out to buy that morning.
"Brother, aren't you eating with me?"
Sang Yunpu was hard at work. He smiled and said, "You eat first. I need to finish processing this pork. It can't stay out too long."
He urged her, "Hurry up and eat. Rest for a while afterward before going to train this afternoon."
"Oh~" Sang Luoluo replied.
She ate in big mouthfuls and drank every last drop of soup in her bowl.
Once she was full, her blood sugar rose and she grew sleepy. She went to sleep for a while, faintly hearing Sang Yunpu working very quietly on the pork.
By the time Sang Luoluo returned that evening, Sang Yunpu had finally finished processing the whole pig. The refrigerator's freezer compartment held pieces of cut pork, sterilized and sealed so they would keep for a long time.
Sang Yunpu had made all the rest into jerky, drying it directly in a machine and sealing it in packages of roughly 100 grams each, about enough for one meal.
Sang Yunpu had even dried the pig's blood, cut it into tiny cubes, and sealed it in packages. He had also dried the large intestine and the other organs.
Watching from beside him, Sang Luoluo silently marveled. The house had already been cleaned until it was spotless.
"Brother, you're so capable."
Sang Luoluo meant it from the bottom of her heart.
Sang Yunpu chuckled softly. "How does this count as capable? You're the capable one in our family now. You earned all this food. I'm benefiting from your hard work. Oh, right, this pig was too big. I'm still a little worried about leaving it out like this, even dried, with the temperature so high. Tomorrow, I need to go out and order a larger refrigerator."
Sang Luoluo nodded. "Brother, you can decide."
She looked around their tiny sixteen-square-meter home. The room was still too small. Later, she would discuss moving to a bigger place with her brother; otherwise, there wasn't even room to move things around.
Three days passed in a flash.
Woken by her alarm, Sang Luoluo got up before dawn and took the boiled eggs and jerky Sang Yunpu had prepared for her. She had food, but since he had already prepared it, she put it into her space.
"Brother, take good care of yourself at home. I'm leaving."
Chapter 41: Capturing a caterpillar alive, wouldn't an intact plant be useful for your research...
Still worried, Sang Yunpu saw her to the door. After some thought, he reminded her, "While you're out there, remember to message me often to let me know you're safe."
"Got it." Worried that something unexpected might happen, Sang Luoluo said, "Brother, don't worry too much if you don't hear from me. If I'm somewhere with a weak signal, it's normal for messages not to go through. Take good care of yourself at home."