A Prosperous Household

Tu Ran turned around and saw Ding Naiqing, the college student.

"Want to team up?" Ding Naiqing asked, his eyes curving into crescents.

No way.

Tu Ran shook her head.

She wanted to partner with the pro.

This Ding Naiqing looked like nothing more than a harmless, low-combat little puppy. A puppy whose fangs hadn't even grown in yet, paired with a clueless newbie—if the two of them teamed up, they'd be nothing but dogs chasing aliens, never coming back.

Ding Naiqing blinked innocently, puzzled. "Then who are you going to team up with, if not me?"

"I'm obviously going with—"

Tu Ran spotted a man already standing beside Yao Bei, the two of them talking and seemingly having agreed to partner up.

Tu Ran: "..."

Her pro had been snatched up halfway.

Damn it. No pro to carry her now.

She glanced at the others—everyone had already paired off.

Except for Ding Naiqing, she had no other choice.

Tu Ran looked at Ding Naiqing, who was still holding her arm.

"Let go." Tu Ran's face was expressionless.

"Alright." Ding Naiqing released Tu Ran's arm, smiling and showing two small canine teeth.

Tu Ran felt stifled. That utterly harmless look.

She could already imagine the two of them fleeing in panic from an alien creature.

"Sister Tu Ran, they're about to head out. We should get going too," Ding Naiqing said.

Tu Ran took a deep breath, calming herself. Forget it. What was done was done. She could only hope that the alien at the site they were investigating had already left.

"Fine. But which place are we going to?"

Ding Naiqing looked at the map projected from his communicator and scratched his head. "They've already picked theirs. Only one spot is left now."

Did these people have to be so quick? They could at least leave someone a moment to breathe.

Tu Ran resignedly opened the map. The last remaining spot was a county called Fengli County.

The deceased was a farm owner.

Taking ten guards, Tu Ran and Ding Naiqing boarded a helicopter and headed straight for Fengli County.

On the helicopter, Tu Ran learned that the farm owner had been found dead in the stables the previous evening, his body buried under a pile of feed. If not for the worker whose daily duty was to feed the horses, the body might not have been discovered so soon.

Half an hour after takeoff, the helicopter landed.

On the vast, boundless grassland, anywhere could serve as a landing zone.

The farm owner's death had left his wife heartbroken. She was said to have fallen ill and didn't show her face.

The groom who had first discovered the body received Tu Ran and the others.

He was a Black man who spoke fluent English.

Because the helmet had a translation device, Tu Ran could easily understand what he said.

The man led them toward the scene of the incident while recounting what had happened: "Yesterday was Mrs. Aula's birthday. Mr. Igan went to town early in the morning. He had ordered a whole yellowfin tuna and a tropical fruit basket from the Nature's Source website a month ago, as a birthday gift for Mrs. Aula."

Tu Ran couldn't stay calm upon hearing about the whole yellowfin tuna and the tropical fruit basket. In this world, ordinary people could only afford the tasteless synthetic food sold in markets or various fruit-flavored nutrient drinks. Many people went their whole lives without ever tasting real fruit.

The fried chicken Xi Chunzhi had given her yesterday was something Xi Chunzhi had earned through significant contributions to the Federation.

This farm owner! Could actually! Afford! An entire tuna and a tropical fruit basket!