Refuse and Get Lost

After eating his fill, Tao Qiu caught a few more animals and brought them back to the cave. Along the way, he carried off a patch of turf with some small fruit seedlings growing on it.

He planned to keep experimenting with his newly discovered ability. The prey was a food reserve, while the seedlings were for practicing his ability.

Eating fruit from plants he had made grow seemed to extend his lifespan. Since he was going to experiment anyway, why waste his energy on useless weeds? Food was king!

Back in the cave, Tao Qiu tossed the half-dead animals aside and resumed his human form. He sat cross-legged on the ground and placed the turf, still covered by a thick layer of mud, in front of him.

Tao Qiu found his human form more convenient for such delicate work. Besides, as long as he wanted to, he could retain some features of his bird form while human, such as growing wings from his back or turning his feet into claws.

He could also do what he was doing now: grow feathers on his body, making him look as though he were wearing clothes made of feathers. Although they only wrapped around his waist and hips, at least he wasn't naked.

But whether fortunately or unfortunately, it didn't work the other way around. In bird form, he couldn't retain any human features, and he didn't know why.

Tao Qiu tended to the turf, and soon he had no time to ponder those random questions.

Tao Qiu didn't know the names of these wild berries growing in the turf, and he hadn't seen them in his previous life. The plants grew no taller than his calves, were hardy, and grew over a wide area.

When ripe, the fruit looked like round blood pearls. Each plant could bear around a dozen berries.

Tao Qiu had eaten them before. They weren't poisonous, but they had lots of seeds and tasted so sour they were bitter.

Once he was ready, Tao Qiu repeated what he had done before and began making one of the wild fruit seedlings grow.

While Tao Qiu worked to test his ability, things were far from peaceful at the human base.

In a ward at the base hospital, Lou Yu lay unconscious on a bed in the inner room. His body had been cleaned, he had been dressed in a hospital gown, and his wounds had been medicated and bandaged again.

In the small sitting room outside, the members of the mercenary squad had gathered. Chen Lin, who had stayed at the base instead of accompanying Huo Lan and the other two on the rescue, placed an unlabeled spray bottle on the coffee table before them, his expression cold.

"I got this from the black market. It's colorless and odorless to humans, but mutated wild wolves are highly sensitive to the scent. Spraying it is basically the same as giving your coordinates to every mutated wild wolf within five kilometers."

Chen Lin's eyes darkened as he continued, "The vehicle the captain and the others took on patrol was covered in this stuff."

Chapter 5: Refuse and Get Lost

None of them were fools. Hearing Chen Lin's words, they understood the whole story behind the incident.

This incident was clearly no accident. They might as well have put the word "murder" on a flag and waved it around. It was aimed entirely at Lou Yu, and they wanted him dead.

After Chen Lin finished, John said, "Mutated wild wolves usually roam north of the safe zone. Someone must have deliberately lured them south. With this spray attracting them too, the patrol team couldn't possibly have escaped them."

Huo Lan said, "The powerful mutated monsters near the safe zone don't move easily, but once they do, countless people are bound to die or be injured. The captain is strong enough to handle the weaker mutated monsters. Whoever planned this conspiracy didn't dare provoke the high-level ones, and the low-level ones would have been useless, so they could only set their sights on the mutated wild wolves."

Liu Qi'an was furious. "Those bastards have gone mad. To deal with their fellow humans, they actually dared to deliberately draw mutated monsters over. If things had gotten out of hand, how many innocent people would have died?"

The safe zone was centered on the base, and the closer one got to its edges, the higher the danger.

Mutated monsters outside the safe zone rarely entered it, but accidents were unavoidable, which was why patrol teams existed.

The safe zone had been forged with the blood of the base's predecessors. It was effectively humanity's own territory and also served as a buffer against invading mutated monsters, making it immensely important to the base.

Mutated monsters had no humanity, and the logic behind their behavior was difficult to predict. They were extremely dangerous, and facing them could easily cost a person their life. So unless necessary, humans didn't even want to see them.

But to kill Lou Yu, a fellow human, those people had actually drawn in a pack of mutated wild wolves regardless of the cost.

Never mind that the mutated wild wolves' reckless crossing into another territory could have caused a mutated monster riot and threatened the base's safety. Even within the safe zone, the patrol team wasn't the only group of humans out and about.

The mutated wild wolves didn't know who Lou Yu was. They wanted to eat any human they came across. If those who had gone out had the misfortune to run into them, the consequences were easy to imagine.

Huo Lan sneered. "It's not as if you only just found out. Those people care only about power, not human lives. Otherwise, why would we leave a perfectly good place like Central Base and come here?"

At the mention of why they had come to Yong'an Base, they all fell silent, their eyes clouding over.

In the end, John changed the subject. He asked Chen Lin, "Did you get anything out of the patrol members who escaped?"

As people who had been there, they might know more details that could help them catch the mastermind.

Chen Lin shook his head. "I asked. Their stories all matched, and there was nothing unusual. There might also be spies those people deliberately planted among them. The strongest proof is the communicator that was working before they left the base but suddenly broke when they needed it. So even if they know something, they won't tell us."

Liu Qi'an cursed under his breath. "We can't count on any of them. Looks like we can only wait for the captain to wake up... If we'd been the ones to go on patrol with him, he wouldn't be like this."

Huo Lan sighed. "Who could have imagined they'd go to such lengths?"

Chen Lin said, "We've only been here half a year and don't have many connections. They're deeply entrenched, and stopping us from finding the culprit would be easy for them. Looks like we still need to find someone with connections."

Huo Lan thought for a moment and said, "Speaking of connections, who among the people we know has more than the head of Yong'an Base? If he's willing to step in, no monster or demon will have anywhere to hide."

Lou Quan, the head and supreme commander of Yong'an Base, was also related to Lou Yu.

John said, "We still have to wait for the captain to wake up. Otherwise, I'm afraid he won't even see us, much less help us out."

Liu Qi'an frowned, his tone a little sharp. "Why wouldn't he help us? The captain only went on patrol because he asked him to. Otherwise, patrols are the base army's business. What the hell do they have to do with us mercenaries?"

John looked at him. "But don't forget, the captain agreed to his request because we owe him a favor. We really aren't in a position to demand his help."

Liu Qi'an was still indignant, but he also knew John was telling the truth. All he could do was stew in silence, his face turning red.

The others didn't look much better. They hadn't expected that even after leaving Central Base, they still wouldn't be able to escape those plots and schemes.

When they first learned that the captain was bringing them to Yong'an Base, they had privately felt somewhat relieved. The base's head and the captain were cousins, after all, so they thought he would give them some help.

They hadn't expected Lou Quan to care only about his own interests, not family ties. He agreed to take them in, but on the condition that Lou Yu work for him.

Their squad operated in the base as mercenaries, but Lou Yu held a nominal position in the base's regular army. He had no fixed duties and generally did whatever Lou Quan asked of him.

For example, he helped train recruits, protected staff traveling outside, took dangerous missions ordinary mercenaries didn't dare accept, and went on routine patrols.

Liu Qi'an and the others resented it. After all, Lou Yu had once commanded an entire corps at Central Base, yet now he had been reduced to running errands and doing odd jobs for someone else.

Lou Yu himself, however, took it in stride. From the moment he decided to leave, he had been prepared to face any consequences.

He even comforted his teammates, saying he liked the peaceful life at Yong'an Base and that, for him, life here was far, far better than it had been at Central Base.

Thinking of what had happened back then, none of them could argue with Lou Yu.

They just hadn't expected their leisurely life at Yong'an Base to be disrupted so soon.

Liu Qi'an turned toward the inner room, his face full of worry. "When will the captain wake up?"

Huo Lan said, "The doctor said he was injured and had exhausted himself, so he needed rest. No one can say how long he'll remain unconscious."

John frowned. "The captain is the strongest of us overall. What kind of dangerous situation could have exhausted him so badly?"

Chen Lin said, "A life-or-death predicament, I suppose."

Night fell. A full moon hung high, and the stars twinkled.

In the upscale villa district of Yong'an Base, a computer, books, and office supplies sat on a mahogany desk, with Lou Quan seated behind it.

His features were overly sharp, giving him a somewhat harsh appearance. His thin lips were curled slightly in the faintest hint of a smile, and his gaze was lowered, but he was listening to the report from his subordinate standing opposite him.

The subordinate seemed not to notice his boss's distraction and continued solemnly, "After receiving word that Captain Lou had returned alive, those families all sent people to the hospital to find out how he was doing. But our people stopped them, and not a word got out."

Lou Quan gave a derisive laugh, looking relaxed. "Those people are probably frantic by now. Lou Yu's return alive proves their suspicions were right. They don't want to bear the consequences of letting the tiger return to the mountain, and they can't afford to, either."

The subordinate understood what Lou Quan meant. "The research institute is ready. As soon as Captain Lou wakes up, testing can begin at any time."

Lou Quan grunted in acknowledgment, his tone indifferent. "Tell the hospital they must keep this under wraps for me. Not a single word about Lou Yu is to get out. Those people dared to pull these tricks right under my nose. It seems they've been living too

easily

lately. They need to have the screws tightened."

The subordinate asked, "Should I teach them a lesson?"

Lou Quan shifted in his seat. "Every grievance has its source, and every debt its debtor. Revenge is Lou Yu's business. If I do it all for him, what will I have left to trade for his earnest cooperation with my experiments when he wakes up?"