Chapter 28 - 27: The Temptation of Gourmet Food

"I’ll follow Shen Tang and Captain Jia Lan."

Song Fang’s Black Wolf Beastman, Lang Xiao, was the first to step forward. He was originally a beastman from Jia Lan’s team, and both families were neighbors. Now, his impression of Shen Tang had completely changed; he believed her words were not nonsense.

His character was originally more stable and he didn’t want to take risks.

"I’ll follow Captain Xiao Jin too."

"Forget it, my salary is enough to buy Purification Crystal Stones. Anyway, with so many people, I won’t get much."

"Then... I won’t go either."

After four beastmen joined Shen Tang’s camp, it visibly shook the morale. More and more beastmen stood behind Shen Tang.

Xiao Jin and the others were the pillars of their unit, with many loyal followers.

In just a few minutes, as many as fifty to sixty beastmen stepped forward from the queue, deciding to take another path.

Several females also came forward; they didn’t want to endure high risks. Anyone could see that following Xiao Jin and the others was safer!

Shi Yin cursed fools in her heart, gnashing her teeth, "You’ll regret it!"

She walked up to Shen Tang with a gloomy face and said, "Just wait to be embarrassed!"

Shen Tang raised an eyebrow and sneered; who would really be embarrassed, let’s wait and see.

"Hmph!" When Shi Yin left, she gave Shen Tang a hard shoulder bump, unwillingly turned her head towards Xiao Jin, her fingertips gripping tightly into her palms, her heart growing more and more jealous of Shen Tang, filled with malice.

Everyone knew she liked Xiao Jin, and Xiao Jin knew too, but he still looked down on her and defended Shen Tang every time.

What was so good about this ugly thing?!

Clearly, she was the most outstanding female in the city, the one who deserved him the most!

As long as she could find the Purification Crystal Ore, Xiao Jin would definitely look at her with new eyes!

Shi Yin thought of this, full of pride, as if already imagining the scene of Xiao Jin realizing her worth later, regretting and kneeling in front of her, begging for her forgiveness and favor.

Xiao Jin saw this female staring straight at him, eyes filled with that disgusting desire, his sword brows furrowed deeply, a strong sense of disgust crossing his eyes.

He didn’t like females at all, especially hated the clingy, brainless fools.

Compared to the City Lord’s tyrannical and annoying daughter, Xiao Jin even found Shen Tang’s fat figure somewhat pleasing now. At least she wasn’t as ugly anymore, nor was she annoying.

Shen Tang saw this dog man suddenly turn his head towards her, a doubt flashed in her heart, wondering what he meant. Just then, she saw Xiao Jin’s face darken, shifted his gaze away, and seemed to be muttering to himself.

Meanwhile, a system voice sounded in her mind.

[Xiao Jin Affinity +5!]

"..." This dog’s increase in affinity was really inexplicable.

The City Lord’s face darkened, "Are you really leaving the team to take another road?"

"Yes, we’ll meet at the next landmark point."

...

Most of the beastmen still followed the City Lord to search for the Purification Crystal Stone Mine. Shen Tang’s team, with fifty to sixty beastmen, took another remote path.

On the road, they encountered many polluted body attacks, but with Xiao Jin and the others, they quickly passed without injury.

Although they didn’t find a Crystal Stone Mine, they were lucky to find a river with relatively low pollution levels, replenishing their dwindling supply of bottled water.

As midnight fell, the fog in the polluted area grew denser, making it impossible to continue traveling.

After ten days of traveling, the beastmen were mentally and physically exhausted, worn out.

Xiao Jin suggested setting up camp on the flat land not far from the river, to rest for the night.

"Great, I can finally catch my breath!"

"Let’s quickly get some sleep to recharge. I feel like I’m about to turn into a zombie."

"Following Captain Xiao Jin is really enjoying life."

Dozens of beastmen quickly set up an electric net on the flat land, prepared defence, set up tents, and lit campfires, as many lower-level pollutants were still afraid of fire.

At night, the temperature in the polluted zone dropped below zero, and Shen Tang wasn’t sleepy, so she sat by the campfire outside the tent to warm up.

Shen Li came over and handed her a bottle of nutrient liquid, "Have something to eat."

After saying this, he kneeled next to Shen Tang and also started to warm himself by the fire.

The orange firelight fell on the man’s handsome and gentle face, the light and shadow distinctly outlined; his fox eyes were extremely beautiful, with long narrow eyes and slender eyelashes casting a faint shadow. Getting closer, one could see a small red mole on the tip of his nose, appearing charming and gentle.

Shen Tang’s heart beat faster, and she quickly averted her gaze. These beastmen most hated her being infatuated.

She lowered her head, looking at the nutrient liquid in her hand, lost in thought, recalling that night... Was Shen Li really a spy sent from another country?

What was his purpose?

Shen Tang had originally relied somewhat on this childhood friend, Brother Fox, but now, she couldn’t help but be a bit vigilant.

"Not hungry?" the red-haired man beside her suddenly spoke.

Shen Tang shook her head, "I don’t like drinking nutrient liquid." After saying that, she took out a few pieces of jerky from her Light Brain Space, which was the dry food she had prepared before coming, given to her by Lu Xiao.

Shen Tang ate half of it, and made the other half into jerky, which could be stored in the space for half a month.

"You’re already so fat, and you still eat!" A slender hand with well-defined knuckles appeared in front of her, quickly snatching the jerky away.

Xiao Jin looked at the dry jerky in his hand, and it actually smelled quite good.

Shen Tang’s mouth twitched, "Give me back the jerky, it’s my dinner for tonight!"

"You’re already so fat, eat less, I’ll help you lose weight." Xiao Jin looked down from above, analyzing her still plump figure, a flash of undisguised disdain in his eyes, then threw the jerky into his mouth and chewed it twice, his golden eyes lighting up, "Not bad, where did you buy this?"

Such hatred for stealing food!

Shen Tang felt her anger rising, but when she saw the fluffy round leopard ears popping out from the man’s black hair, along with his happily swaying long leopard tail behind him, her love for fluff made her relent.

Cats, being like that, domineering and unreasonable.

Shen Tang laughed proudly, "Of course, I made it myself!"

"You?" Xiao Jin sneered disdainfully, clearly not believing it; this fat woman was gluttonous and lazy, how could she have made it?

"If you don’t believe me, don’t eat it." Shen Tang couldn’t be bothered to explain further, and took out another piece of jerky from the space, crunching and munching, enjoying it.

Xiao Jin’s swordlike brows creased slightly, his gaze towards her showing a hint of curiosity.

Then, he turned away, and a few minutes later, dragged over a beast resembling a cow, skinned and dismembered it on the spot, taking out a few pieces of the most tender meat, purifying them, and handed it to Shen Tang, "Make it for me on the spot, I’m hungry too."

After tasting the jerky, he found the nutrient liquid bland and unpalatable.

Shen Tang’s head was filled with black lines; how could jerky be made and eaten fresh? She turned her head towards the campfire in front of her, feeling inspired, "How about barbecue today? It’s even better than jerky."

Shen Li had given her some spices before, which were still in the Light Brain Space, just waiting to be used.

"Barbecue?" Xiao Jin frowned; the post-apocalyptic menu was indeed lacking, and most beastmen survived by drinking nutrient liquid and eating raw meat, spending time on cooking was considered a waste.

Shen Tang suddenly thought they were quite pitiful, unable to enjoy delicious food made life uninteresting. She looked at a few beastmen, blinking her eyes, "How about you guys help me out?"