75: Nothing good ever comes from meeting you.
Despite saying that, Sun Chao and his companion didn't continue complaining; they were more worried about their luggage.
They didn't have Storage Space, only backpacks, and the Ear Rat Materials they had collected over the past few days were there.
If they didn't go back and it got stolen, they would be devastated.
Su Chen understood: "You can go pack your things first. It's quite dangerous here, so how about you stay with us tonight?
We're having barbecue tonight, and there's plenty to share with you."
"Barbecue!"
"Yeah, barbecue." Yang Junlong took out an RV from his Storage Space: "Air-conditioned room, barbecue, and beer."
"Big shot!"
Sun Chao and the others looked at the RV with envy. Setting aside how much the Storage Space cost, this RV alone couldn't be bought for less than 10 million!
'Ding, gained Lin Feitong's favorability, lottery ticket +5.'
'Ding, gained Sun Chao's favorability, lottery ticket +5.'
'Ding, gained...'
"Then thank you, we'll come over as soon as we've packed our things."
"Alright, we'll wait for you."
Su Chen was naturally willing; after all, he loved making friends the most. Each of them was not formal at all, giving him another 20 lottery tickets.
Well, consider it payment for the barbecue.
My mindset isn't right, is it?
Actually, I'm not doing this for the lottery tickets, but simply because I want to... find joy in helping others.
Life isn't easy for anyone; if I can help, I should.
...
"Alright, let's collect the Materials from this mutated beast."
"Su Chen, look, this mutated beast's body is slowly disappearing."
Disappearing?
Su Chen was startled and went over to check.
Just as Xia Weiyu said, the Ear Rat's body was indeed disappearing at a rate visible to the naked eye. To be sure, Su Chen cut off a piece of its limb.
The severed part also turned into black ash and vanished on its own.
"What kind of beast is this that vanishes when it dies? How are we supposed to collect Materials?"
"Don't touch it."
Seeing this, Su Chen frowned slightly. This was a test rat, which explained why it had been so frenzied earlier.
He had seen this situation many times in his past life; it was very troublesome.
"You guys go back and wash up."
After saying that, Su Chen went to find Zhang Yuqiang, who was bandaging his wounds by a tree.
The man must have come here for a mission. For his own safety, Su Chen needed to ask more questions.
Otherwise, if he continued his mission blindly and got caught up in more trouble, it would be a disaster.
"Long time no see. Are you two here on a mission?"
Zhang Yuqiang thought for a moment before replying:
"Yes, we are still investigating the life-burning potion matter.
We received word that Heavenly Fiend people were here, so we came.
However, we didn't expect them to have a Perception-type Ability User among them. Our movements were exposed, which led to the conflict.
The situation was chaotic. To cover their retreat, the Heavenly Fiend Cult forced a life-burning potion down the throat of the Ear Rat they were testing.
That was the one you just dealt with. Things were a mess, and our team was scattered.
We were hunted down to this spot by one of them, and we haven't been able to contact our other teammates yet."
"Can that potion be given to mutated beasts too? What rank was that Ear Rat before?"
"I can only tell you this much about the general situation. The follow-up details are classified, I hope you understand."
Zhang Yuqiang didn't explain much about the Ear Rat's body suddenly disappearing, but Su Chen had already guessed the gist of it.
It was likely an improved version of the life-burning potion that consumed the beast's limbs after exhausting its lifespan.
The body vanished because of the drug's effects.
In his past life, he hated encountering these experimental beasts the most because there was no reward after killing them.
Since the body vanished, no Materials could be obtained.
"It's fine."
Su Chen waved it off: " I was just asking casually. After all, we're just here for a d-rank mission. I'm asking for the sake of safety."
A d-rank mission?
Zhang Yuqiang really couldn't understand. With Su Chen's current strength, he could handle a-rank missions. Why was he here grinding d-rank missions?
Once his wounds were bandaged, Zhang Yuqiang stood up and bowed to Su Chen again.
'Ding, gained Zhang Yuqiang's favorability, lottery ticket +0.05.'
"Thank you again for saving us. I owe you another life.
If you ever need anything, just call me directly."
"Are there many people from the Heavenly Fiend Cult? According to what you're saying, is it possible to run into them anywhere right now?"
"They're just a bunch of rats. Once their location is exposed, they'll definitely hide.
Moreover, we've already contacted the Ability Association. People will be coming to clear them out soon.
If you want to leave, it's best to wait a few days."
"Why?"
"The Heavenly Fiend Cult is probably trying everything to escape. There are only a few paths out of the mountain. If you leave now, you might run into them and potentially be taken hostage.
In my opinion, it's safer to continue your mission in the mountains or head toward the outer Garrison Area. Of course, this is just my personal analysis.
It's up to you whether you listen or not."
Zhang Yuqiang still had a mission to attend to. Once his wounds were wrapped, he stood up to depart with his companion.
"Won't you stay a while longer? You could leave at dawn."
"No, we have a mission and must return to report."
"Goodbye."
...
Should they leave? Going down the mountain required taking a specialized bus, which would be a sitting duck.
Leaving now would indeed make it easy to run into the Heavenly Fiend Cult.
If they happened to be being chased, Su Chen's group might be taken as hostages. It was too risky.
Go stay in the Garrison Area?
If the Heavenly Fiend Cult wanted to escape from here, they would definitely pass through there. It would become a battlefield then, which felt even more dangerous.
There were plenty of people doing missions in these mountains. To avoid exposing their movements, the cultists would likely slip away quietly if they encountered him here.
Of course, there were other reasons to stay: the mission wasn't finished, and if Zhang Yuqiang's Second-Grade strength was enough to suppress the Heavenly Fiend Cult, then they couldn't be that strong.
Otherwise, they wouldn't have needed to make the mutated beast go berserk to cover their retreat.
If they were truly terrifyingly strong, Zhang Yuqiang and his partner would be dead by now.
Since they weren't that strong, he didn't need to fear them even if he encountered them.
After weighing the pros and cons, Su Chen felt that staying put and continuing the mission had a higher safety margin.
Otherwise, running around aimlessly at this time would only increase the chance of something going wrong.
...
On the other side, Sun Chao and his group finished packing their luggage and returned.
They were mainly interested in the RV.
Looking at the RV before them, they were ecstatic. This person was truly wealthy to be able to bring an RV into the mountains.
Indeed, Senior didn't lie to me; money is omnipotent.
They could finally have a good meal, and maybe even a hot shower.
As the saying goes, what the eye doesn't see, the heart doesn't grieve over. But now that they had seen it, they naturally wanted to stay for a night.
Even if they couldn't stay the night, just sitting inside to warm up and eating some barbecue would be nice.
Besides, Su Chen had already promised them.
Seeing the four people return, Su Chen personally came to the door to welcome them.
"Quick, quick, come in. Have some meat and a bowl of soup to warm up."
"Thank you, Su Chen."
'Ding, gained Sun Chao's favorability, lottery ticket +5.'
"Sorry for the intrusion."
After the System announcement, the System fell silent, which meant the other three weren't sincerely thanking him.
Forget it, whatever. It's just 15 lottery tickets; I, Su Chen, don't care.
Bang!
The door slammed shut, leaving Wu Zhihao and the other two standing outside the vehicle, staring at each other in confusion.
What's going on? Why were we kicked out for no reason?