After serious consideration, Bai Shu spoke up, “This matter should be handed over to headquarters.”

After all, a large organization wasn’t something they could handle alone. It was best not to let their country be the one taking the lead. They needed to pull in other countries to suppress the Liberals together. If others refused to participate, then they could consider other options.

Qin Luo and the others had no objections, and Xu Duoduo also nodded.

Only then did Bai Shu quickly report the interrogation video to headquarters. Before long, an operator contacted them through a private channel, asking if it was convenient to talk.

Everyone confirmed it was fine.

They then concisely summarized the key points, solving the issue in under two minutes.

The headquarters staff expressed their gratitude to 3A and stated that they had grasped the situation. They would report it to the leadership immediately—this was a matter of great importance.

A newly discovered substance harmful to espers had just emerged, and already, some people were scheming to use it for harm.

This had to be dealt with!

Ever since Xu Duoduo learned that the gray crystals could harm espers, she had activated a spatial barrier to protect her teammates.

She was worried that these toxic substances would hurt them.

She stored all the gray crystals in her cube space, where each compartment was an independent space. Even so, she made sure to place these hazardous materials far away from food.

Just looking at them was unsettling.

Now that the hazardous materials in this area were taken care of, it was time to collect the nearby food supplies.

Without the gray crystals, the food would no longer have preservation effects. It was uncertain whether nearby food had been contaminated, but the ones farther away should be fine.

In any case, they had to take everything back to the base for testing before deciding if it was safe to eat.

Xu Duoduo stored all the items from this country into her spatial card, planning to bring them back to the base.

No one expected that they had also completed a hidden mission.

That was pretty amusing.

Afterward, they began gathering supplies from the surrounding areas while also eliminating mutated insects and collecting some of their materials, such as beetle shells.

Progress was slow but steady.

The deeper they ventured, the more scattered power stones they found on the ground.

They weren’t clustered together, though.

It took manual effort to dig them up one by one.

Xu Duoduo kept picking them up along the way, to the point where she turned into a white-haired zombie—it was normal at this stage.

After all, her esper energy was constantly being drained.

Qin Luo commented, “There’s a lot of ore in this country, huh? And there are many materials that Lin Qianxing needs. The amount of ore here is probably dozens of times more than in R City.”

Bai Shu nodded in agreement. “Indeed, these ores are valuable resources. So far, we haven’t found any more hazardous substances, so we can collect all of these.”

Chen Xiaofei patrolled the area from above, keeping watch.

Meanwhile, Wang Weihu was fighting mutated insects and rats below, making good use of his earth spikes.

Xu Duoduo carried a chainsaw as she fought monsters. Whenever she spotted ore, she would bend down to collect it. She remembered how valuable these materials were—all of them could be exchanged for points!

Some ores were golden, some deep purple, and others light blue.

They all glowed.

They were quite beautiful.

Even though she didn’t know exactly what they were, she figured it was best to bring them back to the base first.

Zombies loved hoarding things!!

Xu Duoduo was satisfied.

And so, they continued the cycle of fighting monsters and collecting resources until deep into the night.

Along the way, they encountered a few stealthy monsters that appeared silently right next to them, scaring Chen Xiaofei multiple times. In the end, Xu Duoduo took care of them with her chainsaw.

Zombies were ridiculously fierce in battle!

Qin Luo couldn’t even hold her back, so he could only call out to her from time to time, “Hey, babe, don’t overwork yourself!”

Xu Duoduo thought it was fine.

Chen Xiaofei, on the other hand, was so excited that he howled, “Squad Leader is getting stronger and stronger! I feel so safe!”

Wang Weihu and Bai Shu nodded in agreement. Indeed, whether in combat or other aspects, Squad Leader was improving rapidly. It was truly gratifying to see.

Qin Luo was proud as well. The incredible Xu Duoduo was his girl. “Of course! My wife—how could she not be amazing?”

Chen Xiaofei immediately called him shameless.

After a long day, all the teams found a place to rest, settling on the second floor of a street-side shop.

The Leopard Squad and Dove Squad had improved significantly this time. Though they had been chased all over by a giant mantis at one point, they ultimately managed to kill it.

And they weren’t constantly calling 3A for help anymore.

Still, when it was time to rest, they contacted 3A. After getting their coordinates, they eagerly ran over.

“Brother Wang! Brother Wang! We found a ton of ore—want some?”

“Brother Bai Shu, I looted an entire gun store! There are so many models—do you want to take a look?”

“Brother Xiaofei, come check this out! The gun laws abroad are crazy—there are gun stores right on the streets!”

“Brother Qin! Brother Qin! We also found a bunch of great stuff that’s perfect for Sister Duoduo!!”

At this, Qin Luo turned his head and saw the Leopard Squad and Dove Squad members excitedly pulling out an array of gorgeous dresses and jewelry from their spatial cards.

Even the zombie was stunned.

Although these dresses didn’t have any special attributes, they were indeed beautiful.

The real highlight was the jewelry—zombie eyes locked onto them, sparkling with excitement. She loved them!

Qin Luo immediately said, “Nice! You guys did well. I’ll take all of these—name your price.”

If his wife wanted something, he had to buy it!

Meanwhile, Wang Weihu noticed that the ores were all valuable, with some familiar-looking ones that could fetch a good price. “These ores can be exchanged for points—you should keep them for yourselves.”

While headquarters mainly wanted power stones, these other ores could also earn extra points when brought back.

There was no need to give them to 3A.

Bai Shu and Chen Xiaofei examined the firearms, clearly pleased. Some of the old-fashioned models were quite exquisite—what man wouldn’t like them?

“You should keep these for yourselves. Why give them all to us? But these guns are nice—name a price, and I’ll buy a few.”

“Yeah, they’re really good. Set a price?”

But the Leopard Squad and Dove Squad members immediately refused, shaking their heads like rattles.

“No, no, no! We don’t want points—these are gifts for our seniors!”

“Yes, please accept them!”

“We sincerely appreciate you guys. If it weren’t for Brother Wang and the others looking after us, we wouldn’t even know how many times we’d have died by now!”

“Yeah, we’re aware of the fatality rates among other rookie teams. The fact that our squads have had zero deaths is entirely thanks to you guys. You never looked down on us, even when we were dragging you down, and you helped us so many times.”

“Exactly! You always carried us to victory. Now that we’ve grown a little, we want to show our appreciation.”

“If it weren’t for Sister Duoduo’s red sugar ginger tea, I don’t even want to imagine how we’d survive in this weather. Every time I was stressed, a cup of that tea made me feel all warm inside.”

“So, how could we take points from you guys? Just accept these gifts with peace of mind!”