Chapter 1042: The Hidden Stones and Unexpected Gains

At the mention of “Yi Stone,” both Hu Zifeng and Er Yong’s eyes lit up, while Xia Qing remained completely calm.

She was hidden at the sniper spot and, the moment she spotted the scavenger leaning at the cave entrance whittling a stick, she guessed he might be carrying a Yi Stone.

During Devastation Rain, the Devastation Element in the atmosphere goes off the charts. The fact that this scavenger dared to take off his protective mask and breathe freely meant he definitely had something that could block the Devastation Element.

And that something was most likely a Yi Stone.

Yi Stones only appeared after Blue Star’s massive biological evolution, a rare mineral whose formation conditions are as mysterious as those of Pure Spring Water—no one’s ever figured out how they come to be.

So, you can’t rely on technology to find Yi Stones in the Evolved Forest. Finding one is pure luck. Scavengers living out there have a higher chance of stumbling upon these stones than human task forces coming in on missions.

Xia Qing accepted the stone, about the size of a broad bean and inlaid in a buckle by the scavenger. She noticed its black and white spiral stripes and couldn’t hide her surprise. “Judging by these stripes, this Yi Stone is even higher grade than the mid-tier one Captain Yang traded to me. Step back a meter and a half, all of you. Check your Air Toxin Detectors for Devastation Element readings.”

Given the size of this stone, if it can block Devastation Element for a radius of 1.5 meters, that’s considered mid-tier. Anything above that counts as a higher grade.

Back in March, Azure Dragon Squad’s main force upgraded their gear. Hu Zifeng’s Squad now wears Air Toxin Detectors that measure the Devastation Element content in the air around them.

To avoid interference, Xia Qing tucked her own Yi Stone—hers with a one-meter protection radius—into a protective shell.

Hu Zifeng, now out of range, checked his detector. “Devastation Element at less than 0.5. It works!”

Er Yong took another step back. “Still works at two meters!”

Jing Kuan retreated even further. “Two and a half meters. Devastation Element reads eighteen per mille. Sister Qing, what grade is this exactly?”

“No wonder the patterns are so even and beautiful!” Xia Qing’s eyes sparkled. “It’s definitely above mid-tier, almost hitting high-grade!”

Jing Kuan and Er Yong both grinned so wide it was hard to tell if it was excitement or nerves. Even the usually composed Hu Zifeng got eager. “Sister Qing, do you have a spare Yi Stone Protector? Let’s keep this one safe.”

After all, this is high-value, rare material. It needs proper storage.

Xia Qing, who’d just passed out four smaller pieces of Yi Stone earlier that afternoon, took out an empty protective shell. She stashed this prize inside and set it down next to her nutrient shakes.

Then, all four of them couldn’t help but turn their eyes toward the scavenger’s two shoulder bags.

Hu Zifeng swallowed nervously, barely able to hide his excitement. “Sister Qing, let’s open them up and see what’s inside.”

“Alright.” Xia Qing reminded her three Mission Team members, “Last time when I sent the two scavenger corpses to Territory Seven, each had their own bag. One bag had poison and painkillers they’d made, the other had antidotes, food and water. Third Brother said, if there’s poison inside one of those bamboo tubes, don’t open it without proper precautions.”

“Got it,” the other three from Hu Zifeng’s Squad nodded without hesitation.

Xia Qing disinfected the bags, then opened the first one. Inside, she found eight small bamboo canisters, all wrapped tightly in animal hide. Each was marked with a number in black charcoal at the top—these must be the poison tubes Zhang San had described.

Other than those eight canisters, there was nothing else of note in the first bag.

The four of them went for the second bag. This one held a small bottle of water, four sticks of basic nutrient shake, three pieces of jerky, four finger-length dried roots, a ration bar issued by Hui One Officials, a points card loaded with 2540 credits, twenty bullets and a compact emergency medicine packet.

At the very bottom, tucked in a secret pocket, they found another full-sized, unbroken Yi Stone—about as large as a pigeon egg!

This time, even Xia Qing couldn’t suppress the excitement on her face.

She’d thought each scavenger only carried a small Yi Stone. It turned out they were far wealthier than she imagined.

She’d always figured, same as herself, each scavenger carried just a piece of Yi Stone to block the Devastation Element. Maybe a squad leader would keep an extra, so with seven people they’d barely scrape together a single full stone. Add in weapons and points cards she’d seized, and her haul should equal what Alpha got from the game. That’s why Xia Qing never questioned Alpha’s rule of giving her just one share of the loot.

Now, the very first scavenger already had a full Yi Stone—possibly of higher grade. Xia Qing’s share of the spoils this round might end up outweighing Alpha’s.

When tallying the loot, it’s one thing if the total is just a bit over. But if it’s way off, Xia Qing figures she’ll check in with Alpha and let it decide how to split the extra.

But from what she knew of Alpha, it probably wouldn’t bother over a handful of extra stones.

As for Crippled Wolf, it’d had its eyes set on the antelope and those bags of squirming insects in the cargo hold anyway.

With Xia Qing planting Yi Stones all over the Greenhouse, even she couldn’t hide her glee—let alone Hu Zifeng’s Squad, whose members had never even seen a Yi Stone outside of rumors. The smiles on their faces nearly reached their ears.

At last, Xia Qing pulled out two backpacks. “There were four of these in the cave. The two near the entrance belonged to the scavenger who spread insects into the Valley—I actually saw him take things out of one. The other two are from the two bodies you brought back. Which one should we check first?”

Both backpacks were hand-sewn from animal hide, identical in size, shape and style.

If a backpack wasn’t carried on someone’s person, odds were slim it’d contain anything valuable. So Hu Zifeng just pointed to one at random. “Let’s go with this one.”

“Alright.”

After Er Yong disinfected the bag, Xia Qing undid the bone button on the flap, lifted it, untied the tight laces, then rummaged through the contents.

A protective suit, a pair of boots, some spare clothes, climbing rope, a ration bar, jerky, dried veggies, four cans of Yellow Lantern Fish issued by the military, two more ration packets, a mystery bundle of tree roots, and a sewing kit…

All of them—even snapping open the bag’s bone buttons—double-checked every corner. The most valuable find was a points card worth 2,300 credits hidden in the boot shaft.

That mysterious bundle of roots, though, would need an expert’s appraisal before they knew how useful it really was.

Lastly, they opened a suitcase and found camping gear like a tent and rope—nothing much of value.

After sorting all the loot from each scavenger, Xia Qing asked, “The roots in the bag and shoulder pouch look like they’re from the same plant. Likely some wild food they gathered out in the Evolved Forest. Captain Hu, do you and your team want anything in particular?”

Hu Zifeng had already decided. “We’d like the Yi Stones and the bag of poison. Can we split the Yi Stones up?”

High-grade Yi Stones are exceptionally rare and valuable. On a personal level, Hu Zifeng wouldn’t usually try to split one up. But as a squad captain in the Azure Dragon Squad, he had to put the team first.

Azure Dragon Squad is Hui Three’s first battle squad, with a duty to defend Hui Three Base and handle even tougher tasks in the future—maybe even fight scavengers venturing deeper in the Evolved Forest. To guard their territory and counter future threats, their squad needed to know how these scavengers worked. That’s why Hu Zifeng needed the bag of poison.