Chapter 223 Encircling the wolves!

The quest rewards given by the palace had always been extraordinary. The first quest reward he received was the black saber, while the second one was Explosive Poker. By now, Ren Xiaosu’s grat.i.tude tokens had slowly increased to 460 coins. However, he had exchanged some of them for Explosive Poker cards in between, although n.o.body knew how many of those handy explosives he now carried.

And now that the palace issued yet another quest to him, the quest reward did not seem related to any type of lethal weapon. It was just some small “seeds.” However, Ren Xiaosu placed a great deal of importance to it.

These “seeds” represented a dream, and Ren Xiaosu could only hope that it would live up to the rewards the side quest gave.

If these seeds turned out to be something magical, Ren Xiaosu could find a plot of land and become self-sufficient!

The only problem was that it might not be so easy to ensure that there would be no deaths in the wolf pack over the next seven days.

It looked like Ren Xiaosu would have to pay extra attention to the Li Consortium’s nanosoldiers. If he couldn’t complete this quest, what should he do if the palace decided not to issue another seeds-related side quest to him?

While everyone was processing the cured meat, Hu Shuo was practicing tai chi off to the side. Ren Xiaosu suddenly thought of something, so he asked, “Are you practicing tai chi as a form of cultivation?”

“Cultivation?” Hu Shuo looked at Ren Xiaosu and said with a laugh, “I’m only doing it as a form of exercise and discipline, so don’t be overthinking things.”

Ren Xiaosu really wanted to know what powers Hu Shuo had. In fact, Hu Shuo didn’t dodge any questions, but the one who witnessed Hu Shuo fight was Chen Wudi. This rendered Ren Xiaosu speechless.

When Li Qingzheng mentioned he had been learning boxing styles since he was a child, Ren Xiaosu brushed it off like it was some kind of superst.i.tion. But seeing Hu Shuo practice tai chi every day with so much vigor, Ren Xiaosu could not help but think that Li Qingzheng also knew a powerful boxing style.

Right at this moment, over a dozen off-road vehicles suddenly roared up from the foot of the mountain. When everyone here saw the off-road vehicles, they immediately stopped working

“Put everything away,” Li Qingzheng instructed quietly.

The cured meat they were making was definitely not going to be considered official business around here. After all, their primary duty was to keep a lookout for enemies. If those people were here for an inspection, they would definitely fail them.

However, Ren Xiaosu already knew they couldn’t be the inspection personnel.

The dozen off-road vehicles arrived in such a hurry with an overbearing manner.

It looked like it was going to get really busy at this outpost.

Everyone had thought they wouldn’t have much contact with people after getting posted to this faraway outpost. But in the end, all these different people came here every few days.

What was going on here?

Ren Xiaosu quietly observed the situation. He realized Hu Shuo had gone into a house at some point. It was as though he didn’t want to come face to face with these people.

When the off-road vehicles came to a stop at the entrance of the outpost, four people stepped out from each of them. They were all dressed in combat uniforms and held the rank of officer.

On this topic, Ren Xiaosu and the others were soldiers as well, but they were all irregularly dressed with only a few of them in their military uniforms. On the other hand, the soldiers who had just arrived were all smartly dressed, resulting in a stark contrast between the two sides.

From appearances alone, Ren Xiaosu and the others looked more like they were on chow duty. All they were lacking were some ap.r.o.ns.

But what surprised Ren Xiaosu and the others was that there was actually someone they knew among these officers!

To be precise, it was someone the refugees knew. Back when these randomly a.s.sembled soldiers were undergoing their physicals, one of them in the group managed to pa.s.s the synchronization test!

But now, that person had moved on up to become a proper officer of the Li Consortium. Ren Xiaosu vaguely remembered that this refugee who had been elevated in status was called Lin Qi.

When Lin Qi got out of the vehicle, he was taken aback when he saw Ren Xiaosu and the other refugees. But right after, he laughed. “Oh, I didn’t expect to see these familiar faces.”

Ren Xiaosu and the others did not say anything. Lin Qi’s dignified look today would not give away the awful state he was in while fleeing from Stronghold 109. His polished combat boots fit him very well, as did his uniform.

Someone behind Lin Qi asked, “You actually know these people?”

Lin Qi hesitated for a moment before saying, “We came together to Stronghold 108 from Stronghold 109. Now that I’ve met them again at this remote outpost, I’ll definitely need to take care of these little brothers of mine.”

Coming from Lin Qi’s mouth, Ren Xiaosu and the others had suddenly become his little brothers.

Lin Qi was feeling a great sense of superiority. During their escape, Ren Xiaosu’s group had it so easy the entire journey. But look at how the tables had turned. Ren Xiaosu could only remain as a refugee while he had become an officer of the Li Consortium. He was even a first lieutenant!

The gulf that was the stronghold separated Lin Qi from Ren Xiaosu at this moment. Their statuses were as different as that of the heavens and the Earth.

Ren Xiaosu’s group did not really find Lin Qi to be that great. In the past, Ren Xiaosu might be envious of the stronghold residents. But now, he wasn’t the least bit envious at all.

But the other refugees who used to walk alongside Lin Qi were feeling somewhat embarra.s.sed. When they saw Lin Qi in his uniform, they did not even dare to come forward to speak with him.

Lin Qi was getting conceited. He laughed and said, “How are you doing here at the outpost? It must be really difficult, right? If I had known that all of you were here, I would have brought over the pound of pork allocated to me by the troops so that you can have a taste of some meat. After all, it’s not easy for you all to get any meat in a place like this, unlike me who gets to have it every day.”

If he had mentioned anything else but this, it would have been fine. But when it came to the topic of having meat to eat, Ren Xiaosu and the others started looking a little funny. Honestly speaking, they would prefer having more vegetables in their diets right now. Having too much meat really did not help with their digestion.

But Ren Xiaosu felt that if Lin Qi were really willing to share some meat with them, it would mean he was still kind at heart even though he was a little showy. They would just treat it as someone giving them compensation so they could look good, something that wouldn’t hurt them at all.

But Lin Qi’s tone took a turn at this moment. “Forget it, it wouldn’t be good if I brought meat for you refugees. If I let you have a taste of meat, I’d be bringing harm to you if you don’t have the appet.i.te for anything else in the future.”

Ren Xiaosu nearly burst out laughing. Beside him, Li Qingzheng stood up and laughed along humbly. “Dear sirs, to what do we owe your distinguished visitation?”

Lin Qi’s expression turned a little dark when his words were cut off by Li Qingzheng who changed the topic. However, he still answered very quickly, “We’re here to offer fire support to our comrades to rein in the threat of the wolves in these mountains. But this area is not going to be the main battlefield. That will be the next outpost where even more troops are currently waiting.”

Ren Xiaosu was startled. Surely there was a problem with the intel the Li Consortium received, right? But he soon understood. The previous wolf attack had taken place in the vicinity of the next outpost, which was why the Li Consortium’s troops thought the wolves’ area of activity was closer to the mountain range over there.

It was no wonder more than 40 nanosoldiers had gathered here. Based on his fight with the nanosoldiers, and a.s.suming these nanosoldiers here were at the same level as those he had faced, he felt they wouldn’t amount to any threat to the wolf pack.

However, he could not dismiss these nanosoldiers either, because he had recently realized the nanomachines might still have a lot of functions he hadn’t discovered yet. He was using it purely as external armor right now.

This was the perfect opportunity for him to observe how these nanosoldiers did battle.