Chapter 74

Lu Shiyu looked at Lina in confusion. Lina was very aware of her situation and turned her head away guiltily.

"Is it that serious?"

"Don't you know?" Yan Ning raised his eyebrows and asked, "What do these mercenaries usually do?"

Lu Shiyu recalled carefully. She usually worked diligently in her own small restaurant. She knew little about the black market and had never participated in the black industry chain. This was her first time to come into contact with mercenaries. As for their daily work content... she really had no idea.

Seeing her bewildered face, Yan Ning explained to her:

"There are some shady transactions within the base, including mercenaries. Some high-ranking officials need things outside the base, such as rare animal bones or precious furs. These things cannot be brought into the base through formal channels. Coincidentally, the base has a policy of transferring a small number of quotas out of the base. Those quotas were originally reserved for experimental personnel to go out for field research, but through some behind-the-scenes operations, those quotas were secretly transferred and fell into the hands of powerful people."

"Those people would hire individuals with powerful superpowers, grant them positions so they could enter and exit the base legally, and bring back what they wanted in exchange for a hefty reward. Even though the risks were immense, some fearless individuals would still accept the missions driven by the high commissions and the potential for profit. Thus, the mercenary industry, once only active in the dark world, was revived in this disaster-ridden world."

Lu Shiyu was stunned and asked, "Then what? What does this have to do with the exploration team? These crimes shouldn't be punishable by death, right?"

"Of course not. At most, he'll be locked up in prison until he dies of old age," Yan Ning said, glancing at Lina, who didn't dare to look up. "Because this is just the mercenary's business on the surface. The real secret to making big money lies deeper."

Yan Ning took a deep breath and began to talk about the darker side of mercenaries.

"Sometimes, exploration teams would go to dangerous places and bring back valuable research materials, which could be plants, animals, or minerals. By the time they'd finished collecting, they were often covered in wounds."

"Healing abilities have always been a scarce commodity. Most exploration teams don't have healers, so when they return, they are at their weakest."

Hearing this, Lu Shiyu suddenly thought of something bad and turned to look at Lina, but Lina still kept her head down and said nothing.

"Sometimes they receive commissions from their employers, and sometimes they're simply driven by greed. They'll rob and kill exploration teams carrying precious materials, then take those materials back to the base and sell them on the black market. They might earn more from a single operation than they would from a year's worth of missions. Furthermore, since the mortality rate of the exploration teams themselves is low, and the area outside the base is deserted, killing and disposing of the bodies will basically go undetected. The risk is low, the reward is high, and the profits are immeasurable."

"So, some powerful mercenary teams will ambush returning exploration teams. People die for money, and birds die for food. Although not every exploration team brings back precious materials, if they succeed in finding the right one, it will be a windfall. This directly increases the mortality rate of the exploration teams by several points."

Lu Shiyu found it a little hard to believe. Perhaps it was because Lina looked too much like an ordinary girl, and it was hard for her to equate Lina with a vicious desperado. But judging from Lina's reaction, the mercenary team she was in must have done this kind of thing a lot.

"The sudden rise in the death rate caught the attention of the base. After investigation, they discovered that such a group of people dared to engage in such activities. Although the base sent personnel to eliminate the mercenaries squatting outside the base, for some reason, the base did not also eradicate the mercenaries inside the base. The matter was left unresolved in such a ridiculous manner."

"However, the other exploration teams had no intention of letting the mercenaries go. From then on, the exploration teams tacitly followed an unwritten rule."

"If you encounter mercenaries, just kill them."

Lu Shiyu swallowed and said, "Then, what if we accidentally kill a mercenary who didn't do those things?"

"No big deal," Yan Ning replied calmly, "When the mercenaries killed the exploration team, didn't they show any mercy? Besides, they were exploiting loopholes by leaving the base. Even if they were killed, no one would dare to report it to the police. After that, the relationship between the mercenaries and the exploration team became worse and worse. The people in the exploration team simply decided to kill the wrong ones rather than let them go."

Yan Ning glanced at Lina and said, "If your family and friends were killed by them, you would give up worrying about whether they did those things or not."

As soon as Yan Ning finished speaking, before Lu Shiyu could say anything, Lina suddenly got up from the ground and ran out, trying to escape when the two were not prepared.

The next second, an arrow pierced Lina's calf.

"ah!"

Lina fell to the ground, holding her legs and wailing in pain.

Chen Yunliang calmly put down his crossbow and glared at Lina coldly.

"Who told you to leave?"

Lu Shiyu looked at Chen Yunliang with a complicated expression, then looked at Lina who was lying on the ground wailing in pain. He sighed helplessly, walked up and squatted beside Lina.

"Are your abilities still usable?"

Lina's face was covered with tears of pain and she shook her head vigorously. Her supernatural powers had been forcibly drained many times, and it would take longer than usual to recover.

"Then bear with it, I don't have any anesthetic."

Just as Lina was about to say something, Lu Shiyu had already broken the arrow with swift movements and pulled it out of Lina's calf.

Lina was in so much pain that she was unable to stop herself and fell to the ground. Lu Shiyu took advantage of her moment to stop the bleeding and bandaged the wound skillfully.

"Alright, wait until your powers recover and then treat yourself. Chen Yunliang probably won't treat you," Lu Shiyu couldn't help but persuade him, "Although I can't guarantee that our captain won't do anything to you, you'd better not keep thinking about escaping, otherwise you will suffer more."

Lu Shiyu faintly heard Lina's lips trembling and she whispered something.

Lu Shiyu moved closer and asked her what she wanted to say.

"I... there's anesthetic in my suitcase... wuwuwuwuwu, it hurts..."

Lu Shiyu looked at the medical box beside him. After opening it, he saw the various medicines tightly arranged inside, as well as the anesthetics prominently listed, and was silent for two seconds.

"Speak earlier next time."

"Did you give me a chance to speak?"

Lina was so excited that she pulled the wound and cried out in pain.

Lu Shiyu found a sturdy wooden stick for her to use as a crutch.

Yan Ning asked Chen Yunliang: "What are you going to do next?"

After a moment's thought, Chen Yunliang said, "I want to go look for the captain and the others first. After all, there are so many people here, and I'm worried..."

Before Chen Yunliang finished speaking, a loud noise was heard in the distance, causing the surrounding trees to shake a few times and leaves to fall.

Lu Shiyu picked up the fallen leaves on his head and asked nervously, "Did something happen to Tang Zeyu and the others?"

Chen Yunliang also had a serious expression on his face. They couldn't see how far the battle in the distance was going, but judging from the noise just now, the situation had begun to go beyond normal limits.

"I decided we should go over and take a look," said Lu Shiyu.

"Well, let's go there now." Chen Yunliang nodded.

"Okay, then you guys go ahead and do your work. I still have to rush back to see how the teacher is doing."

Yan Ning waved his hand and prepared to leave when Lu Shiyu patted his shoulder from behind.

"Please wait a moment."

Yan Ning turned around suspiciously and asked, "Is there anything else?"

"You don't want your teacher to know that you beat us, do you?"

Yan Ning's forehead was covered with cold sweat: "What do you mean?"

When Lu Shiyu saw his reaction, he knew that he had guessed right.

When he was with Professor Chen before, Professor Chen often scolded Tang Zeyu and others as rude barbarians who only knew how to fight and kill all day long. He looked like someone who particularly hated warmongers and was very disgusted with fighting.

Such an old-fashioned person would definitely restrain his students from fighting. Judging from Yan Ning's reaction when he knew that they knew Professor Chen, Yan Ning should also be very respectful of Professor Chen.

What students fear most is that someone will complain to their teachers or parents. Professor Chen is both their teacher and a parent-like figure, so wouldn’t that make things much easier?

Lu Shiyu's eyes curved: "Nothing, I just want to ask you for a favor."

Yan Ning became alert: "What help?"

"The base has sent too many people, and we are short-handed. Please come and help us deal with it."

Yan Ning struggled to leave: "No! The teacher will definitely be angry if he finds out!"

Lu Shiyu clung to Yan Ning tightly and refused to let go: "If we tell your teacher that you hit someone, he'll be angry too!"

"You! How old are you and still telling tales? How boring!"

"Anyway, I won't let go until you agree!"

Yan Ning failed to control the strength and pulled Lu Shiyu down alive. Lu Shiyu probably didn't expect that the other party could pull him down so easily, and fell to the ground defenselessly.

When Yan Ning saw that she fell, he suddenly felt a little panicked, but Lu Shiyu had not moved since she fell.

"Hey, you..."

“Ah ...

Lu Shiyu hugged his arm and rolled over: "It hurts! My hand! Ahhhh!"

Yan Ning was startled by Lu Shiyu's sudden shout and immediately wanted to go forward to check, but Lu Shiyu dodged him.

With tears in his eyes, Lu Shiyu accused with a choked voice: "I'm going to sue your teacher!"

Yan Ning choked, but after all, it was indeed he who did it, and he scratched his head as if admitting defeat.

“Wuwuwuwu…”

"Okay, I'll help you guys."

Lu Shiyu looked up and sniffed.

"real?"

"Really," Yan Ning was so upset by the crying that he said, "Stop crying, go find your teammates and get you treated."

Lu Shiyu staggered to his feet and limped to Chen Yunliang's side, looking as if he was really seriously injured.

Chen Yunliang glanced behind Lu Shiyu, and Yan Ning wisely turned his back.

"Is it necessary to fight so hard?" Chen Yunliang said indifferently.

"Well, isn't it just to trick him into helping me?" Lu Shiyu rolled up his sleeves and said, "He looks like a good fighter, and he has such powerful abilities. Having him here is a big help."

Chen Yunliang lowered his head, held Lu Shiyu's arm, and looked at the purple bruises above.

"Did you pinch it yourself?"

Chen Yunliang squeezed Lu Shiyu's arm and said, "You're not hurt at all."

Lu Shiyu looked back guiltily, and felt relieved only when he was sure that Yan Ning didn't look at him.

"Keep your voice down, it took me a long time to pinch this out."

Chen Yunliang made a quick check and confirmed that the only injury on Lu Shiyu's body was the bruise she had pinched herself, and the tears she had just shed were also squeezed out due to the pain, in order to deceive Yan Ning.

Because Lu Shiyu usually had an honest image, even Chen Yunliang didn't suspect that she was pretending.

Chen Yunliang was a little surprised by this.

"I didn't expect you to be bad too."

"This is called outsmarting!"