Chapter 1041: Spoils of the Hunt

As the Devastation Rain began to fall in a steady drizzle again, the helicopter loaded with trophies shot out of the valley, blades spinning wildly. It climbed to 5,000 meters before banking northeast, bound for Hill Sixty.

With Devastation Element levels high during the rain, the wild animals of the Evolved Forest were especially restless. The growl of the helicopter flying low would be taken as a taunt. The beasts on the ground weren’t much trouble but, if provoked, raptors would throw themselves at the chopper with reckless fury.

That’s why the helicopter flew at its highest altitude—to keep noise down and avoid triggering the predators below.

On the flight back, Er Yong piloted again. Hu Zifeng and Jing Kuan handled the machine guns while Alpha and Xia Qing squeezed into the copilot’s seat, directing the team.

Thirty minutes later, they hovered over Hill Fifty-Nine. Satisfied that the clouds below weren’t about to unleash more rain, Xia Qing ordered Er Yong to land inside the domain—on the very peak where she’d dropped off Goofball before.

As soon as the cabin door swung open, Alpha leaped onto the helicopter’s roof and threw back his head in a long, mournful howl. Before long, Handsome Huge Wolf and Lame Wolf dashed over, leading seven more evolved wolves.

Xia Qing unloaded nine pieces of prey and handed them over to their wolf comrades. She dug out a packet of dried Green Lantern shoots from her pocket for Lame Wolf, then climbed back onboard to take off again.

She couldn’t hand out jerky this time—a certain blind tiger on Hill Thirty-Seven was getting all of it for recovery. Without at least some food, Lame Wolf would have refused to leave, so he made do with the bamboo shoots instead.

Er hadn’t come along—likely staying behind in the cave to care for the wolf pups born last spring, who were already half a year old. Xia Qing didn’t know how long they’d need Er to watch over them, but she did know that during this past month away, the fish in the pond had gone skinny from hunger.

After flying south for over thirty kilometers, the helicopter landed atop Hill Fifty-Two. Alpha howled from the roof again while Xia Qing and Hu Zifeng hustled to unload more prey. Jing Kuan and Er Yong kept watch for trouble.

Crippled Wolf arrived, leading eight wolves. Alpha gently bumped Xia Qing’s protective mask with his head, then clamped his jaws around a red deer and hurried toward Hill Fifty-Five.

Black Wolf and Lame Wolf each snatched up a kill, while the huge wolves either grabbed one or two before trailing after their king back to their core territory. Only Crippled Wolf stayed put, standing by the helicopter, eyeing the antelope and a few large bags inside as if lost in thought.

Pointing to the supplies, Xia Qing explained, “We teamed up with the Queen and caught twenty-two prey total. We took out seven blue-skinned bastards. All their supplies are ours. The antelope is something the Queen shared with me and there are nine more prey on Hill Sixty. Broken Back, you should get moving—rain’s about to start. If the prey gets soaked in Devastation Rain, it’ll taste awful.”

Crippled Wolf mulled it over for another moment, then finally picked up the antelope in front of him and ran to catch up with Alpha.

Now that clever beast was gone, Xia Qing breathed a sigh of relief and climbed back into the helicopter.

Jing Kuan tore his gaze away from the pack of charging evolved wolves and followed Xia Qing onto the helicopter, his mind numb and blank after everything they’d just been through.

Er Yong lifted them off again. Fifteen minutes later, they touched down safely on the helipad at Hill Forty-Nine.

Out the window, the Devastation Rain had picked up, now at a yellow alert level.

After checking in with Chen Cheng and confirming things were stable in the territory, Xia Qing decided to split the loot with Hu Zifeng’s squad before heading back. “This Scavenger Squad has seven people, so that’s seven backpacks, fourteen shoulder bags, and two duffel bags. Captain Hu, of the gear and bags looted from that Evolved fighter you three took out in the forest, you get sixty percent, and the rest is mine. Sound fair?”

Originally, Xia Qing had meant to split it fifty-fifty, but then Hu Zifeng’s squad helped clear the valley, burn the bodies, and haul the captured prey. Alpha hadn’t shared as much as a leg of lamb with them, so Xia Qing bumped up their share by another ten percent.

“That works for me.” Loot was always divided by who did what. Frankly, their contribution today was on the low side—so this split was about as fair as it got.

Once they settled the split, Xia Qing pulled out the loot scavenged from the Evolved fighter they’d shot—an item she’d wounded and Hu Zifeng’s squad finished off—and handed it to Hu Zifeng. “Captain, check if this is the set of protective gear, shoulder bag, and weapons stripped from him.”

After Hu Zifeng verified it, the four of them huddled up and started inventorying the loot.

Counting up rewards at the end of a mission was always a rush—like opening a blind box, but with the thrill of having risked your neck. It was every evolved fighter’s favorite moment.

But what made this haul even more special: these supplies came from a squad brave enough to work deep in the Evolved Forest during Devastation Rain. They carried way more gear than teams that only poked around the forest edge picking wild greens or hunting nearby, or those bandit squads who just carried weapons, a few rations, and nothing more.

First up, they checked the protective mask, suit, boots, and underclothes stripped from this Scavenger. After the Calamity Years, every surviving human had developed a sharp sense for danger. None of them put everything in a backpack or bag—those could get lost, so the truly priceless items were hidden next to the body.

They gave the bloody clothes a thorough spray with sanitizer from Zhang San, then started digging through each piece.

“Got something!”

Jing Kuan pried a Points Card from the sheath of one protective boot. “Didn’t expect a Scavenger to have a Points Card! Er Yong, quick, check the balance.”

Hu Zifeng speculated, “Huo guessed this squad robbed one of Hui One’s combat teams. This is probably their loot.”

By the rules of the Evolved Forest, it didn’t matter whose gear it had been before. Now they’d seized it, it was theirs. If the original owners really needed something, they could always negotiate with Xia Qing and her group, exchanging goods or points to get it back.

“Or maybe the Scavengers traded with Fire Phoenix for this,” Er Yong suggested, grabbing the card reader. He pressed the sanitized Points Card to the reader—beep.

“Looks like there’s still points on it—4,829!”

“Not bad at all,” Xia Qing remarked. Back when she worked in the Safe Zone, even her card had never seen so many points.

“Another one! They really knew how to hide things.” Jing Kuan found another Points Card in the lining of the other boot, sanitized it, and handed it to Er Yong. “This one’s an official Hui One card, must be stolen goods.”

Beep.

Er Yong let out a whistle. “Whoa—6,430 points!”

“There’s two premium nutrient shakes, six regular ones, and six pieces of jerky in the jacket pocket.” After disinfecting the food, Hu Zifeng set the haul next to the Points Cards.

“There’s another Points Card in the inner lining of the mask,” Xia Qing said, cleaning it before passing it along. “Looks like another card officially issued.”

Beep.

“Oh, jackpot—more points!” Er Yong’s face lit up.

“Damn!” Jing Kuan muttered, using his knife to slice open a belt made of animal hide. The moment he saw what was inside, he couldn’t help blurting out, “Sister Qing, is this… a Yi Stone?”