Bai Shu said, “Having steamed buns to eat is already good enough. Just make do with it.”

As he spoke, he painfully took out a can of chili sauce from his personal storage card.

Chen Xiaofei immediately snatched it away. “I knew it! Bai-ge, you’re the best!”

Sweet words, but ruthless hands—he scooped out a huge spoonful without hesitation, nearly driving Bai Shu mad. “Bastard! That was my last can! Couldn’t you have taken less?!”

Even Wang Weihu, who usually looked so steady and reliable, took advantage of Bai Shu’s moment of distraction to scoop out a large spoonful as well.

As reliable as they were in rescue missions, in private, these three were absolutely unreliable.

They were on the verge of a full-blown fight over a jar of chili sauce when Xu Duoduo silently pulled out four large meal boxes. These were her personal food rations she had stockpiled earlier.

The three of them froze, staring intently at the four boxes, their eyes glued to them.

The meals were packed in clear disposable containers: white rice with three side dishes—fish-flavored shredded pork, garlic stir-fried greens, and braised chicken.

Then, she brought out four cans of tomato and egg soup. Seeing that they still hadn’t moved, she opened the lids of the containers. The rich aroma of freshly cooked food immediately filled the air, making the three of them gulp down their saliva in unison.

“Oh my god, I must be dreaming. Squad leader, are you a little Doraemon?”

“Help, how long has it been since I’ve seen real food? This isn’t a dream, right?”

“Thank you, squad leader! You’re the best person in the world—no, the best zombie!!”

What moved them to tears? A proper meal with three dishes and a soup!

No exaggeration.

Chen Xiaofei was literally crying as he ate, sobbing, “I thought being able to eat a bowl of hot porridge was already happiness. I never expected to have a full meal—wahhh!”

Wang Weihu and Bai Shu had already stuffed their mouths full of food, still trying to steal from each other.

The fish-flavored shredded pork and braised chicken were absolutely perfect with rice! The garlic greens were refreshing, and the tomato-egg soup warmed the soul. These were ordinary home-cooked dishes before the apocalypse, but now, they were priceless treasures.

Xu Duoduo happily held three mutant cores in her hands. She even secretly added a roasted duck leg to Qin Luo’s portion. Regardless of anything else, just the effort he had put into finding mutant cores for her was enough to earn her gratitude. With extra food in hand, she was very satisfied.

When Qin Luo returned, he found that his three teammates were gone—replaced by three pigs furiously gobbling down food, their cheeks stuffed full.

Chen Xiaofei, still eating, pushed his meal box toward him and mumbled, “Good stuff, Qin-ge, eat!”

Qin Luo: …

Honestly?

Xu Duoduo’s cooking was really good. The fish-flavored shredded pork was fragrant and savory, the braised chicken was incredibly tender, and the rich sauce mixed with rice alone was enough to make him want to eat a whole pot of it.

For a while, the living room fell silent. Xu Duoduo sat on one side while the other four sat on the floor around the coffee table, eating in complete focus.

Worried they wouldn’t have enough, Xu Duoduo took out four extra boxes of white rice.

They still ended up finishing everything.

Afterward, Chen Xiaofei slumped against the sofa, rubbing his stomach. “Help, I’m stuffed!”

Bai Shu sat in a daze, satisfied.

Wang Weihu was still cleaning up the battlefield, making sure not a single grain of rice was wasted.

Qin Luo, meanwhile, was replying to messages. Finally, he shook his tablet and said, “All set. Xu Duoduo’s new ID number is 13613. Way better than 13444.”

The other three, too full to talk, simply gave him a thumbs-up in unison.

Qin Luo accepted the praise, then turned to Xu Duoduo. The little zombie hesitated for a second before also giving him a thumbs-up. Qin Luo couldn’t help but laugh.

Seeing him laugh, the others started laughing too. The feeling of being full was just too blissful.

“Squad leader, don’t take it personally. The apocalypse keeps changing, and so do the rules. When we first left the base, we didn’t know how they treated mutants now.”

Who could have guessed that mutants would all be officially incorporated into the system? Or that so many people had mutated yet still retained their consciousness?

Signal reception on their wristbands wasn’t always stable, and sometimes, the forum’s database updates weren’t timely either.

Because of all this, they had been cautious and wary of Xu Duoduo at first.

Xu Duoduo touched the collar around her neck, then shook her head and typed on her tablet: [It’s fine. It’s normal for you to be cautious.]

After all, they represented the headquarters and were responsible for humanity’s future.

They weren’t kids.

Everyone was an adult, and now that everything was clear, the matter was settled.

The rest of the evening was peaceful.

They cleaned up the coffee table together. The bottles of various-flavored nutrient solutions and the remaining steamed buns went straight into Xu Duoduo’s storage space, since no one wanted to eat them.

After dinner, they chatted about their current situation, reviewed the base’s new regulations, and discussed taking on new missions.

Qin Luo explained, “There are two types of missions. One is headquarters-assigned, which we usually can’t refuse. The other is self-selected from the forum board.”

Headquarters missions had stable rewards, with occasional special bonuses, while self-selected missions carried more risk.

The clients were usually either rich people or other ability users.

Chen Xiaofei scrolled through the forum and laughed. “Squad leader, you know delivery guys, right? We’re kinda like them.”

Bai Shu thought about it and found the comparison surprisingly accurate.

Since Xu Duoduo was new to their team, the four of them explained a lot to her. Even though the post-apocalypse world was unpredictable, they at least knew more than she did.

They added each other as friends. Wang Weihu gave Xu Duoduo an earpiece for communication. “It only works within a ten-kilometer range. If you want to call people like before, well, that’s not gonna happen anytime soon.”

He sighed as he spoke.

Meanwhile, Qin Luo and Bai Shu were studying the mission board together.

“With the squad leader’s storage ability, we can make multiple trips to well-stocked locations. But unexplored areas will be dangerous,” Bai Shu analyzed. He marked a few locations on his tablet. “There are two best options for supplies.

“One: C City. It has the country’s largest grain warehouse, but a non-biological mutant core recently appeared there, making it extremely dangerous.

“Two: I City. It’s coastal, so the danger level is unknown. But it has an armory.”

He explained that, aside from these two, most other supply-heavy locations had already been visited by many teams. That meant more people and fewer resources.

The key was that their missions had to be rescue-based. Stockpiling supplies would have to be done in secret because Xu Duoduo’s spatial ability couldn’t be exposed.

If people found out, their entire team would be in trouble.

Not that they couldn’t protect her, or that headquarters would harm her—but she would definitely be under constant surveillance, and she’d lose her freedom entirely.

That would be a real hassle.