Chapter 263: Deeply Hidden
Everyone was armed with a Metal Knife. Su Xiyue and Zhu Nanxing, the two children, had each been equipped with a small knife about thirty centimeters long several days prior.
The group passed through the barricade of cars and quickly arrived in front of a house.
The sign read "Pu’an Cotton Processing." Stepping inside, they found themselves in a main hall of a dozen or so square meters.
A cotton bow, a bamboo rake, a grindstone, and other cotton-fluffing tools were neatly arranged in a corner. On two rows of shelves hanging on the wall, more than a dozen cotton comforters sat in transparent plastic bags, stacked and untouched.
"Whoa, these comforters are so thick." Song Youxuan stepped forward and felt one. "With quality this good, why didn’t anyone take them?"
"The mission is to collect cotton, not cotton comforters," Xie Ning said, coughing lightly.
’In weather over sixty degrees, just looking at cotton comforters makes you feel hot. Who would haul a comforter back to the base, especially when there’s no reward for it...’
Su Xiyue ran to the main entrance and peered out.
Zhu Nanxing quickly ran to the back door for a look. "They all went to the yard out back."
"No cameras in the room," Cres stated flatly. "It’s safe."
Without another word, Xie Ning swiftly tossed all the comforters from the shelves into her villa’s living room.
The squad members were now perfectly in sync.
Xie Ning would never expose her Space Ability to outsiders.
That was why she was always exceptionally cautious when storing and retrieving items.
Song Youxuan was delighted. "This stuff is such good quality. The people who passed on it before were real idiots."
Xie Ning deeply agreed.
She had lived through a harsh, freezing winter and knew just how cold the apocalypse could truly get.
’Don’t be fooled by the deadly sixty-plus-degree heat now; there’s no guarantee the temperature won’t drop later.’
’Once the temperature plummets, without any means of warmth, huge swathes of people will freeze to death.’
’The leaders at the base must have had the foresight to plan for this, which is why they issued missions to collect things like cotton.’
’It’s just that, with the weather so scorching hot, pointlessly carrying around an eight-pound cotton comforter...’
’Ugh, it’s truly unimaginable!’
’You’d probably get called a dumbass...’
"Someone’s coming from the back." Cres raised an eyebrow.
Su Xiyue and Zhu Nanxing, the two children, nimbly darted to the adults’ side.
The group of seven looked warily toward the back entrance.
They saw a dark-skinned, gaunt man enter the main hall, carrying a large burlap sack.
Both sides were startled to see each other.
"Uncle Hao?" Song Youxuan nodded at him.
It was indeed Uncle Hao, Chen Juan’s husband.
Several more people emerged from behind Uncle Hao—it was Uncle Ge Liang, Ge Yan, Xu Bailiang, and Zhong Shichong of the Fierce Tiger Squad.
Finally, Li Dawei and Li Xiang came over, cursing and grumbling. "There’s nothing left! We searched all this time and only found about ten pounds of cotton. How are we supposed to complete the delivery with this little?"
"Hey, hurry over! I see Xie Ning." The man who spoke looked somewhat familiar to Xie Ning.
She thought he was one of the young masters surnamed Wang from Zhong Shichong’s original team. He used to be a dandy with slick hair and a powdered face, but now he looked like a filthy beggar with greasy hair and a grimy face.
"Xie Ning!" Li Dawei and Li Xiang ran over, but facing Captain Xie’s mercilessly cold expression, their own anger flared.
"Xie Ning," Li Xiang fumed, stamping her feet. "How dare you show your face in front of us!"
"Where are our supplies?"
Xie Ning scanned the Li siblings, giving them a look one reserves for fools.
"Uncle Ge Liang, what are they talking about?" Song Youxuan asked with a bewildered expression.
Uncle Ge Liang hurried forward with a chuckle. "Pay them no mind. They’re nuts."
"What do you mean, ’nuts’? Uncle Ge Liang, whose side are you on? Why are you helping these shameless bastards?" Li Xiang yelled. "Xie Ning, pay up! We want Contribution Points. If you don’t have any, food will do!"
Xie Ning silently glanced at Li Xiang, then suddenly charged forward without a word, grabbed a completely baffled Li Dawei, and knocked him to the ground with two punches.
Li Dawei: ???
’It was always my sister yelling at Xie Ning. Does she have bad eyes or something? Did she hit the wrong person?’
The main hall, a little over a hundred square feet, filled with the wretched howls of the Li siblings.
The onlookers’ lips twitched, finding the scene inexplicably comical.
’So, this is how Captain Xie greets the Li siblings after a brief separation?’
"Stop, please stop hitting him." Xu Bailiang stepped forward, not knowing whether to laugh or cry. "Captain, there’s no concrete evidence in this matter. We can’t just insist that Miss Xie Ning’s teammate took the items."
"What items?" Song Youxuan asked. "Uncle Ge Liang, you tell us. What’s going on?"
"Sigh. It was that day you all left the small building by the highway entrance first. Afterward, Chen Man’er and Wu Qiuyun said a whole row of supplies was missing and claimed that the Space Ability master on your team had secretly taken it!"
"That’s bullshit. We didn’t touch a thing when we left," Song Youxuan sneered. "Li Dawei, did either of your eyes actually see us steal anything?"
"Aunt, don’t waste your breath on idiots." Xie Ning’s fist landed on Li Dawei’s head as she asked, "Did my teammate take it?"
"No, they didn’t! They didn’t take it!" Li Xiang cried. "Stop hitting my brother! What kind of woman are you? You can’t just go around hitting a man on the head!"
Xie Ning turned and raised her fist.
Li Xiang immediately cowered into Xu Bailiang’s arms, wailing, "You—you hit him! Just hit him instead!"
Everyone: ...
Li Dawei: ’What a great sister!’
Xie Ning unclenched her fist and glanced at Li Dawei. "Cres, tell them."
Absolutely nothing, not a single detail, could escape the Spirit Capture of a Spiritual Ability User.
The little blond boy lifted his chin, an arrogant look on his face. "Idiots. You still don’t know? Besides her, there’s another Space Ability User on your team. A Second Order one, no less—a higher Rank than her."
"What?" Ge Yan’s eyes widened. "You’re saying we have a Second Order Space Ability User on our team?"
"Who?" Everyone on Li Dawei’s team was shocked. "How do you know?"
Cres shot them a glance. "Believe it or not, I couldn’t care less. It’s that Jin Mingzhu. Second Order, Space System."
His superpower allowed him to perceive the superpowers and Levels of others. As long as their superpower level wasn’t higher than his, he could see everything clearly.
It was impossible for Jin Mingzhu to put on an act in front of him and Xie Ning.
"Have you really never noticed things quietly going missing from the team before?" Cres gazed at them with pity, as if looking at a bunch of morons.
Housekeeper Youen stepped forward with a smile, then suddenly snatched the large burlap sack from Uncle Hao’s hands. After testing its weight, he declared, "This is nowhere near enough."
"What are you doing?!" Li Dawei and his group were collectively shocked by the blatant robbery committed by Xie Ning’s teammate.
"It’s payment, get it?" Cres said, crossing his arms and eyeing them. "Did you think I’d identify a Space Ability User for you for free?"
"And you’re going to haggle over a small fee like this?"
Li Dawei gritted his teeth. "I’m going to kill that Jin Mingzhu! Let’s go!!"
"So classless," Cres snorted.
"Always jumping to fighting and killing."
"Aah, help! The mutant cat is eating someone!"
A man covered in blood suddenly burst out of the small courtyard.