The detector also brought back its scan results.
Sang Luoluo looked around and spotted a giant caterpillar lying on a branch of an enormous eggplant tree.
Caterpillars were what she feared most. Their stings were impossible to guard against.
"There... there's a caterpillar..." Sang Luoluo said, pointing in one direction.
Beside her, Jian Cheng said excitedly, "Capture it alive! Mutant caterpillars are extremely valuable to our research. If we study their bristles and turn them into weapons, they'll be very powerful."
Chapter 42: Mutant eggplant grove: don't leave the grove
Half the Guard stayed behind to deal with the other mutant animals, while the remaining ten went after the mutant caterpillar.
Watching the guards approach, Sang Luoluo thought, Is that thing really so easy to catch?
The next moment, tranquilizer guns loaded with anesthetic aimed at the caterpillar and fired, every shot striking its body.
But the instant the caterpillar sensed something wrong, it retaliated, firing bristles from all over its body at the people attacking it. After shooting off its bristles, it thrashed a few times before the anesthetic knocked it out.
"Aaaah!!"
"My shoulder!"
"It hurts!"
Sang Luoluo also felt something fly into her left arm. Half her arm hurt like hell. She realized then that the caterpillar had attacked them. Even from so far away, she had been hit. Not only had the mutant caterpillar's attack range increased, but its toxin had grown stronger too.
Tears sprang to Sang Luoluo's eyes from the pain.
Jian Cheng came over and examined her. "It's nothing serious. It'll stop hurting in a few days."
Sang Luoluo: "..."
The dozen or so guards who had attacked the mutant caterpillar weren't so lucky. They had been closest and taken the most extensive attack. Its bristles had pierced their chests, stomachs, arms, thighs, and other places, injuring them in several spots all over their bodies. Even their protective suits had been punctured.
"Captain!! The mutant caterpillar's attacks have gotten stronger! Our protective suits have been pierced!" One of them was still fairly clearheaded and immediately realized how serious the situation was.
Hearing that, Jian Cheng thought, This is bad. "It's mutated again. Captain Yan, hurry and put the mutant caterpillar into a specially made container."
As soon as Yan Lang heard the commotion, he pulled two people over. Seeing his teammates sprawled across the ground, he cursed, "Useless trash," then tied up the mutant caterpillar with the two men.
He signaled for Sang Luoluo to put it away.
Holding her arm, Sang Luoluo walked over. Not daring to touch the caterpillar directly, she kept her gloves on as she stored it in the time-frozen section of her space.
Seeing that everyone was in poor shape, Jian Cheng suggested, "Captain Yan, let's find somewhere to rest and treat the men's injuries first. The mutant caterpillar's toxin is very potent. These injured men will probably need time to recover."
Remembering something crucial, he added, "Their protective suits are damaged and need repairs."
Yan Lang called someone over to treat their wounds, while the others still had to deal with the mutant flying insects attacking from nearby.
Sang Luoluo wasn't doing very well either. She felt that her left arm had become completely immobile, and the whole thing had swollen up.
Her entire arm had turned red.
She could only follow the others to get her wound treated.
They applied a cooling, anti-inflammatory ointment. Sang Luoluo didn't feel it helped much.
Even after applying it, her arm still burned.
By the time Yan Lang finished dealing with the mutant flying insects and mutant snakes there, two hours had passed. Sang Luoluo stored their bodies to make things easier for the laboratory's research later.
Yan Lang looked at his teammates. They had only been out for a day, and nearly half were already out of commission. With nowhere to vent his anger, he could only have everyone camp there and rest.
They cleared a patch of ground specifically to pitch tents and let everyone rest inside.
They sprayed insect repellent around the tents and set up an electrified fence. Any mutant animal or plant that approached would get shocked.
The mutant caterpillar's toxin was very potent. By evening, Sang Luoluo could hear the ten people howling not far away. Their flesh had all swollen up.
Lei Qi walked over and saw that Sang Luoluo's arm was only bright red, not nearly as swollen. "Doesn't it hurt?"
"Of course it hurts," Sang Luoluo said. "I can't even move my arm."
Jian Cheng brought more ointment and handed it to her. Looking at all the injured people, he said with some self-reproach, "It's all because I insisted on capturing that mutant caterpillar alive. I got everyone hurt."
Sang Luoluo applied another layer of ointment. It didn't feel as painful as it had at noon, and she wondered whether it really had something to do with her other evolved ability. Seeing how dejected Assistant Jian was, she comforted him. "Well... none of us expected it to turn out like this, did we? It's already happened. What matters now is treating everyone's injuries."
Hearing the dozen or so people across from her howl from time to time, Sang Luoluo had a bad feeling.
At midnight, three people began running fevers and became listless.
Yan Lang grew a little panicked. The truck was parked outside, so he could only ask the base to send a helicopter to take them to the hospital. He immediately reported the seriousness of the situation to the base.
Jian Cheng also hurried to write up a work log detailing the mutant caterpillar's attack methods and the casualties it had caused.
At half past two in the morning, the roar of a helicopter sounded above the eggplant grove. It gradually found a place to land, and Yan Lang had those ten people board and return to the base. As for Sang Luoluo, her arm wasn't swollen and she seemed quite energetic. She was the key to this mission, so he still didn't let her go back.
Of the original thirty-two people, only twenty-two remained.
Sang Luoluo slept quite soundly that night. When she woke the next morning, she discovered that her arm had recovered.
She didn't give it much thought.
The eggplant grove was vast. As they walked, ripe eggplants could fall at any moment, hitting the ground and becoming heaps of stinking, rotten eggplant.
As luck would have it, they encountered exactly that. Mutant flying insects caught the scent and immediately flew over. The moment they saw people, they attacked with sharp claws, and S16 Squad began another round of fierce fighting.
Holding her laser gun, Sang Luoluo aimed at the mutant flying insects. By taking aim before firing, she managed to kill a few.
After a fierce battle, they wiped out that wave of flying insects and continued onward.
"Beep, beep, beep! Radiation level: 89. High radiation. Consumption not recommended!"
"Beep, beep, beep! Radiation level: 115. High radiation. Consumption not recommended!"
"Beep, beep, beep! Radiation level: 104. High radiation. Consumption not recommended!"
"Beep, beep, beep! Radiation level: 31. Moderate radiation. Consumption recommended!"
There really were edible mutant eggplants.
It was just that each eggplant was as big as a sandbag. Yan Lang and the others walked ahead, their wristwatches constantly sounding out detection results. Along the way, they managed to collect eleven edible giant mutant eggplants.
Even Lei Qi found one.
Sang Luoluo and Jian Cheng walked at the very back and found nothing. Sang Luoluo kept watching for Crystal Cores nearby, but even after walking for a long time, there was no sign of any.
Yan Lang looked at his teammates, each shouldering a giant eggplant. This wouldn't do. How were they supposed to fight?
He stopped. They had a space-type Evolved Human right there.
"Sang Luoluo, could you help store the food my team collected?" Yan Lang's attitude was reasonably polite. He didn't want to offend anyone from the laboratory either.
Sang Luoluo could see that carrying the eggplants really was difficult for them. Of course, her space was limited, and she couldn't store them for free, so she said, "Sure, but I want twenty percent as payment when we get back to the supply exchange."
Yan Lang gritted his teeth and earnestly tried to reason with her. "Twenty percent? You've got some nerve asking for that. My men worked hard to find this food, and you're charging twenty percent just to carry it? That's far too greedy. Don't forget, you two still need our S16 Squad to protect you along the way."
Sang Luoluo replied with a faint smile, "Protecting us is your mission in the first place. What you just asked for is a separate transaction, isn't it? I charge a service fee for the odd jobs I usually do too. Besides, my space is limited. The experimental materials already take up part of it, and the remaining space has a clearly stated price. Take it or leave it. I won't force you. Twenty percent isn't much. Even if I asked for fifty percent, there wouldn't be anything you could do, would there? Captain Yan, I've already given you a discount because we're on this mission together."
Yan Lang looked at his men struggling under their loads. They might find other food later too.
Somewhat reluctantly, he said, "Fine."
At Yan Lang's order, the men put all the mutant eggplants they had found in front of Sang Luoluo. She took out a marker and wrote their names on the eggplant stems in front of them, so no one would mistake theirs when they returned.
Then she stored them all in the time-frozen section of her space.
The dozen or so eggplants had formed a small mountain, yet vanished in the blink of an eye. They couldn't help envying Sang Luoluo's evolved ability.
Compared with not being able to bring this food back at all, a twenty percent service fee is actually pretty good, the other teammates thought.
"There's a Crystal Core here!!" Li Zhang, one of the strength-type evolved people, discovered a Crystal Core. It was only the size of a grain of rice, but he was already thrilled.
The moment his Crystal Core detector sounded, he thought he had misheard. He dug down to check, and there really was one.
With luck, a tiny Crystal Core like this could be worth three months of his salary.
Some of the others grew envious and suggested, "Captain, how about we split up and look? If there's one, there'll be another. We can't let this trip be for nothing."
Yan Lang hesitated for a moment. "All right. Don't go too far, and don't leave the eggplant grove. Call for help immediately if you're in danger."
Even Jian Cheng beside her was tempted and began searching nearby.
He also reminded Sang Luoluo, "Don't go too far."