Chapter 130: Look, a Flying Chicken

She knew Wu Bing wanted to see her, but that did not stop her from taking a look at Xie Congzhou first.

There were other patients in the medical ward besides Xie Congzhou. His room was tucked away in a relatively secluded corner. When Jiang Huan approached, the doctor had just finished dressing his wounds and was discussing Xie Congzhou’s good fortune with his colleagues.

They said that he had only sprained and strained the muscles in his palm, and had not been contaminated by radiation.

Jiang Huan still could not fully relax. As she came closer, Xie Congzhou seemed to sense her presence. He opened his eyes and blinked several times.

When he saw Jiang Huan, he still had enough energy to say that he was hungry.

The doctors exchanged knowing smiles. On this island, there were few people who did not know that Jiang Huan and Xie Congzhou were “a couple.”

They considerately made room for the two of them to talk. Jiang Huan drew the curtain, because she understood what Xie Congzhou meant.

He needed energy.

Jiang Huan took out protein bars and nutritional supplements, even pulling out a large ginseng root for him to absorb.

Xie Congzhou’s complexion visibly improved. He was soon able to sit up and could actually get out of bed, but Jiang Huan pressed him back down and told him to rest a little longer.

“Wu Bing still has something to discuss with me. I only came to see you first. You rest for now. I’ll come back later. When I do, whatever you want to eat, I’ll get it for you.”

With that, she went to find Wu Bing.

Two doctors came to examine the other patients. Seeing the color return to Xie Congzhou’s face, one of them teased, “The power of love really is extraordinary.”

Xie Congzhou felt that even if he tried to explain, he had no idea what excuse he could use to conceal how different he was from everyone else. So he simply let the misunderstanding stand.

And so, another rumor was added to the tale that the two of them were dating.

As for Xie Congzhou—love could stop pain.

But that was a matter for later. For now, Jiang Huan was standing before Wu Bing, who was looking her over again and again.

Jiang Huan let her look. After the silence had lasted for about three minutes, Wu Bing finally spoke.

“Actually, I was the one who asked Xiaoming to send you here.”

She picked up the documents on the desk and flipped through them.

“Your background is different from everyone else’s. You have the ability to lead an entire settlement of survivors and keep them living together harmoniously. You have only one biological sibling, a younger brother with autism. That shows you have always had to rely on yourself.

“You were able to lead such a settlement without a single bloody incident. Although you acted like a troublemaker during training, not one person stood against you in that so-called troublemaking campaign. Those things alone were enough for me to bring you here. But…”

She paused before continuing.

“I genuinely think highly of you. But I always feel that you are hiding many secrets.”

Jiang Huan had been mentally prepared for this. When Wu Bing said it, her expression did not change. Instead, she immediately exposed the most suspicious thing about herself.

“Carrying an extra weapon is a rule I must follow to survive the apocalypse. As for anything else, I don’t know what I could possibly have that would count as a secret.”

Wu Bing smiled.

“You’re very calm, and you seem honest as well. I still don’t know what secrets lie behind you, but there’s plenty of time for that. I’m very glad you’ve joined the elite team and become one of us. We all recognize your performance. From now on, be prepared to leave on a mission at any time. When the front line needs us, no one will ask whether we’re awake or what we’re doing. Jiang Huan, can you remember that?”

“Yes!”

Jiang Huan answered crisply, and Wu Bing dismissed her.

After Jiang Huan left, Wu Bing did not arrange for anyone to watch her. She merely added a note to the plan, applying to the armory for one additional weapon per person—one suitable for underwater combat.

When Jiang Huan returned to the medical ward, Xie Congzhou had already stood up and was walking around by himself. Feeling that there was nothing seriously wrong with him, he applied to leave.

After the doctor signed off on it, he left with Jiang Huan. Since it was still light outside, they abandoned their plan to cook something special and obediently went to the cafeteria instead.

To their surprise, the cafeteria was serving a generous amount of milk that day, in new packaging.

Xie Congzhou reached it a step ahead of Jiang Huan and took a drink.

Then, without changing expression, he swallowed it and calmly took Jiang Huan’s carton as well.

Jiang Huan was puzzled.

“What’s wrong? Do you like this milk that much, or is there something wrong with it?”

Xie Congzhou lowered his voice and said three words.

Those three words alone made Jiang Huan feel so sick that the entire meal tasted like wax.

After returning, Jiang Huan looked at the dozens of cases of milk she had stored. Only then did she feel reassured. Fortunately, she still had plenty of normal milk—more than enough to drink while she was here.

Jiang Huan wanted to clear her mind. Nowhere else seemed suitable, so she went to the forest she had not visited in a long time.

She had previously released some livestock there, built shelters for them, and planted pasture, but had not paid much attention afterward. When she approached, she heard a sharp crack beneath her feet and crushed three eggs.

The eggs were hidden beneath tall weeds. Jiang Huan crouched down, and wherever she looked, the ground was covered with them.

Jiang Huan was speechless.

What was more, rabbits kept emerging from numerous burrows. They were fat and robust, and not afraid of people in the slightest.

Chickens and ducks appeared and disappeared among the trees. Some could even fly two meters high; calling them flying chickens would not have been an exaggeration.

If this had not been Jiang Huan’s own personal space, she would have suspected that she had somehow wandered into a primeval forest.

She rolled up her sleeves. It seemed she had found a way to vent her irritation. Taking out the baskets and hampers she had stored away, she began collecting eggs.

Five, ten, twenty, a hundred.

She stopped after filling a small basket with a hundred eggs. Soon, many small baskets covered the ground. She moved them over to the supplies and began preparing the eggs.

There were simple fried eggs, fried eggs with intact yolks, boiled eggs, eggs braised together with meat in equal proportion, and even a whole rice cooker of tea eggs.

By the time she had turned several hundred eggs into ready-to-eat food, Jiang Huan was utterly exhausted. She drank some functional beverage, rested for a while, and checked the time. It was time to sleep, so she soon sank into a deep slumber.

Whether it was deliberate or not, Jiang Huan was woken by Xiaoming early the next morning. She was going on a mission with two veteran team members. Once she was deemed fit to operate alone or with one partner, she would be granted relatively unrestricted access to the sea.

Jiang Huan recognized one of them as the man from yesterday’s combat circle, Lin Shengbing. The other was unfamiliar and introduced himself simply as Heizi.

They were not going far that day. Their mission was to capture a mutated squid-like sea beast near the island. Each one was usually about two meters long.

“The laboratory needs them,” Heizi said with a grin. “Each one is worth five exchange points. You can trade them for food and drinks for your family, or enjoy the rewards yourself.”

He added that he had not smoked for two weeks. This time, he intended to work hard and exchange for at least one pack so he could smoke slowly.

Jiang Huan understood that the points were essentially the same as the base’s contribution points.

Once they entered the water, Jiang Huan worked fairly well with the two men. Since they were catching the creatures for a specific purpose, they knew that the most troublesome part was the ink. If it splashed onto the area around their goggles, it would obstruct their vision and create blind spots.

That was why they had all brought a special cleaning cloth. A single wipe across the goggles diluted the ink to a pale color, and the seawater would wash it away without affecting their sight.

They generally returned in a small boat after catching five. They would deliver the creatures to the storage room, register them, and then go back into the water.

By the time they came ashore, ravenous with hunger, Jiang Huan felt as though every inch of her body reeked of squid ink.

No wonder the frontline soldiers had seemed to carry an inescapable stench from the very first day she met Xiaoming and the others. This was probably what came of doing the same work, day after day.