Chapter 82
"So the key is the Human Evolution Liquid?"
David was baffled, but the other players looked intrigued. In a calamity world, everything was a resource—even if the people were a bit mad, who was to say no spark of humanity could rise unstained from the mire? Especially when the technology was called evolution.
Of course, Evolution Points were the exception—no one had ever seen one, and no one dared touch them.
"We're staying." Since Lin Tu had been so open, Guan Suiyue nodded too. "If we're going to earn military merit, it's easier if we all live together."
Guan Suixing shot Bu Daixi a dark look, her finger twitching.
"Ah!" Bu Daixi wailed, darting to Lin Tu's side. "Sis! I'm scared!"
Lin Tu followed her gaze and fell silent.
In the end, it was Guan Suiyue who spoke up. "Guan Suixing! Are you a child? Picking on a little kid like that."
"I didn't do anything!" Guan Suixing fished a lollipop from her pocket and tossed it to Bu Daixi. She'd actually meant to smile and coax the girl, get her to say she was the prettiest—who knew her getup would scare the girl? "This is my style! My personality!" Guan Suixing insisted. "My fault, huh!"
Bu Daixi picked up the lollipop and guiltily tugged at Lin Tu's sleeve. "Sis, she really didn't bully me—she's just scary-looking. Give this back to her, okay? She might be a bit off up here, and it's not easy for her to get candy anyway." Bu Daixi tapped her little head.
Guan Suixing's face turned black with fury.
The others burst into laughter, and the racket nearly lifted the roof.
The Government Army openly breaking into the prison in broad daylight was a slap in the face to the Rebel Army—war was imminent. The players hurried home to pack and move; within half a day, Lin Tu's shelter occupancy swelled from seven to thirteen, and the health value climbed to 64%. Most of the drag came from the locals, but there was nothing to be done about that.
Yi Ying kept her promise and indeed made a feast.
Geographically, Yi Ying hailed from Inner Mongolia, where they knew their horsemeat, but today she didn't use the smoked horse leg she had. She took out two jars of homemade sour cabbage and beef canned food and set them aside, then mixed a basin of dough with a little sugar and yeast. After it proofed, she rolled it out, cut pieces, dusted them with flour, and rolled each one into a wrapper—thick in the center, thin at the edges. She stuffed the sour cabbage and beef inside, pleated the edges, sealed them, and shaped them into big, plump, white buns. After another short rest, she boiled water and steamed them.
"Just like us northerners!" The tasters lined up from the kitchen door all the way to the front entrance. Luo Yongzhi raised a thumb and wolfed down one in a single bite.
The beef wasn't lean—it was marbled, and the fat's juices soaked into the bun wrapper, making it slightly rich. But the tart crispness of the cabbage and its fresh juice kept the bun from ever feeling greasy.
Abel, who had already been blown away by Lin Tu's spiced stew tutorials (hotpot, golden soup), was now stunned by this pastry masterpiece. He looked like he'd seen a whole new world—he simply couldn't fathom how such a great culinary art could exist on earth.
A few children sat off to the side, nibbling slowly, surrounded by the sweet scent of beef and starch. They looked as happy as if it were New Year, smiles of pure joy on their faces.
Lin Tu brought two buns upstairs for Yuan Que, but unfortunately, he'd had a relapse while she was away and wasn't in good shape. She had to promise to make him some herself next time, then went downstairs to eat contentedly.
The other players ate plenty too. While the locals were still being shy about it, the players had already polished off several steaming trays. Seeing the sour cabbage beef running low, they contributed new fillings to get more: canned corn, canned luncheon meat, cured pork, a slab of salted duck eggs, regular eggs, wood ear mushrooms, carrots, vermicelli...
Yi Ying put her dexterous skills to full use, determined to fill every stomach in the room.
She went on to make custard buns, potato-and-cured-pork buns, minced-pork-and-corn buns, fresh three-shred veggie buns, and a three-shred version with egg mixed in.
The scent of steamed buns filled the house, and the bright smiles on everyone's faces hung like a hazy veil, momentarily blurring the boundless disaster. But time was short, all the same—the effect of that veil was fleeting at best. By the time everyone snapped back to reality, that joy was already beyond their grasp.
The Government Army and the Rebel Army had officially gone to war.
Countless people were conscripted to the battlefield, and Lin Tu was among them. She had joined the army early in the game, so she adapted fairly quickly. With her enhanced physique and dead-accurate marksmanship, she quickly became a rising star in the Rebel Army. What's more, her six "soldiers" could each hold their own against ten men, and her squad's military merit accumulation was practically cheating. They soon caught the high command's attention, and several operations were assigned specifically to her.
This time, Lin Tu received a mission: attack a Government Army supply convoy, shoot the civilians receiving supplies, and loot the goods.
After receiving the order, Lin Tu and the others decided not to carry it out.
First, they'd already earned enough merit—the seven of them together had enough to exchange for the Human Evolution Liquid. Second, they never took missions to kill ordinary people. Third, the Government Army's supply convoy was heading to the middle zone to distribute supplies to civilians.
The middle zone was the so-called civilian district, south of Polly River—the buffer area between the Government Army and Rebel Army lines. Both sides had people there, but since the Government Army enforced stricter rules and most of their regular officers stayed inside their barracks, the zone was mostly controlled by rebel sympathizers.
Whether the Government Army was trying to win hearts and minds or had other motives, in Lin Tu's view, handing out supplies was a good deed. She wasn't so heartless that she'd play the villain for a bit of military merit.
The civilian district.
Hearing the news, Little Luo Te ran home in excitement. His illness had thankfully been cured by timely medication, but their house had been blown up, and both he and his father had fallen far from their former lives. Especially during wartime, sometimes the father and son couldn't even scrape together one meal out of two.
"I heard there'll be huge, huge loaves of fragrant bread! And candy! And oil! And if you're lucky enough to catch an officer's eye, you might even get a big apple!" Little Luo Te's cheeks flushed as he spoke, his heart already flying to Polly Plaza.
Luo Te frowned. In his memory, the Government Army was never anything good. But when hunger seizes a man's heart, he'll grasp at any hope. Luo Te chose to believe that maybe, just maybe, they'd suddenly grown a conscience.
The supplies were scheduled for distribution at noon. The next morning, before dawn had even broken, Luo Te and his son were already at Polly Plaza with sacks on their backs. They were joined by thousands of others—refugees who never left their homes under normal circumstances, now crammed into this small square.
Most were filthy and gaunt; not a few bore broken faces or limbs. Some couldn't afford clothes and wrapped themselves in blankets. Others held their children high overhead, begging people to let them squeeze in a little further. Those children were often so thin they were little more than skulls atop spindly frames.
"Dad, with this many people, will the Government Army have enough supplies?" Little Luo Te asked, a hint of worry creeping into his voice.
Lurking in the shadows nearby, Lin Tu and the others shared the same worry.
They had decided not to do the mission, but they still had to play the part, so they'd taken up position early.
The players had survived no small number of calamities. They'd seen countless tragedies and corpses. But death and living were two different things. Death could be seen as the end of life's journey, something a player might grow numb to. But for those desperate to live, the players could only feel for them.
"I don't think it'll be enough," Guan Suixing remarked from the side.
They'd already gone down by the river to check the truck. Big as it was, for the crowd before them, there was no way it carried enough.
"They're here! They're here!" A shout suddenly rose in the distance.
The refugees turned their heads in delight and watched the truck crawl in at a glacial pace.
They all knew they should clear the way, but they also knew supplies might run out, and no one wanted to be shoved to the back. So they surged toward it in a frenzy, forcing a few Government soldiers at the front to impatiently clear a path with their rifles.
Finally, the truck reached the center of the plaza.
"Food! Food! Food!" The crowd began to cheer.
"What a bunch of idiots," the Government soldier standing atop the truck sneered, kicking the compartment below. The men underneath immediately unlocked it.
To everyone's disappointment, the compartment wasn't full of supplies—just a jumble of food, with a squad of Government soldiers standing among it.
"Grab what you can, I guess," Luo Te muttered, a faint unease stirring in his chest.
"Go on, grab! Grab!" A Government soldier inside the compartment tore open a sack, scooped up a handful of bread loaves, and flung them into the crowd like scraps to dogs. The refugees couldn't care less about the contempt—they swarmed forward, diving for the bread.
One loaf hit the ground and got stepped on. Someone immediately dropped to all fours, wolfing the dirtied bread down without a second thought.
"Not enough?" The soldier opened another bag—this time, rice. He slit the sack with his knife, held it high, and scattered it carelessly into the air. The white grains drifted down like winter snow, settling on the refugees and making them feel even colder.
"Don't waste it like that!" someone shouted.
But this only gave more people a chance—even one grain of rice counted as food. Thousands surged forward, crouching and crawling to scramble for the scraps.
"Alright, we can begin now." The soldier on top of the truck slapped the compartment.
Lin Tu shot to her feet as the Government soldiers raised their rifles in unison, aiming at the civilians.
In a burst of explosion-like gunfire, Lin Tu heard despairing screams echoing beneath the sky. These defenseless civilians never had a chance to flee; they fell in droves, dying in that cramped plaza.
"Dad!" Little Luo Te cried out, seeing his father hunched over ahead, utterly unaware. He screamed and lunged toward him.