The next morning, as soon as Ye Fei entered Pit Section 0, he was greeted by a chorus of congratulations. The atmosphere was exceptionally lively.
It turned out Lu Ziye had advanced to Captain Level, and his Power had surged.
Just then, Luo Zai sidled over and whispered, "Did you notice? Everyone seems a little *too* happy, don’t you think?"
"Hm?"
Ye Fei turned his head slightly.
"Lu Ziye took five days’ worth of surplus resources, cultivated day and night, and finally broke through to Captain Level. But at this level, it’s hard to advance just by eating flesh, so all those resources are going to be freed up."
It dawned on Ye Fei. This was more than half of the entire squad’s surplus resources. No wonder the atmosphere was so unusually festive!
"So? Feeling tempted?"
Ye Fei glanced around the area and said, "It’s useless even if I am. It has nothing to do with me."
"As expected of Brother Dafei, the man who stared death in the face. You assess the situation so quickly and calmly, not letting personal gain cloud your judgment."
Luo Zai couldn’t help but give him a thumbs-up. He could tell Ye Fei wasn’t being pessimistic; this was the result of a calm, objective analysis.
’After all this time, I’m really starting to admire him. Ye Fei is different from everyone else. He always handles things with such composure. He might be blind, but his mind is all the clearer for it, and his judgment is incredibly sharp.’
’Unlike the others, who all look so eager to jump at the chance.’
’They can’t possibly think next week’s resource redistribution has anything to do with them, can they?’
’They’ve all had their Superpowers for a month or more. If they had any real Talent, they would’ve already made their mark!’
"Right now, the only one with untapped potential who desperately needs a breakthrough is Loli. You and I barely make the cut for the second tier."
"I’m about three days from making a push for Elite. You won’t hold it against me if I take the second-place resources, will you?"
Luo Zai said it jokingly, but he meant it.
"That’s a long wind-up for the pitch, huh? Don’t worry, I have no problem with you taking second place. In fact, I’ll even cast a vote for you."
Ye Fei smiled.
"No, no, we’ll all compete fairly. I just don’t want this to get in the way of our beautiful bromance."
Luo Zai chuckled, a weight lifted from his heart.
’Seeing Luo Zai grinning, his expression relaxed, made Ye Fei happy too. After all, Luo Zai’s worries were justified. It wasn’t uncommon for even fathers and sons to turn on each other when personal gain was on the line.’
’Or rather... my interests don’t conflict with anyone in the Shelter. It’s a symbiotic, mutually beneficial relationship.’
During the tests the next day, Luo Zai achieved explosive results, just as he’d implied, causing a sensation throughout the entire Shelter.
However, Loli’s performance immediately after was also excellent, and everyone rushed forward to congratulate her.
Because given their similar Talent, she was already at Elite Level and progressing much faster. It was naturally more cost-effective to support her in reaching Captain Level first.
The other members of the hunting squad weren’t ready to give up. Some desperately drank mushroom soup, wanting to take a gamble.
But just as some people have a talent for holding their liquor, the same was true for mushroom soup. In this regard, Luo Zai was miles ahead of everyone else.
Without the right Talent, it didn’t matter how much you wanted it or how anxious you were; there was nothing to be done.
And so, the hunting squad quickly fell silent again, settling into a new hierarchy:
The first tier consisted of the hunting squad’s captain and vice-captain.
Both were at Captain Level. They had the authority to create development plans for the Shelter and were the main fighting force in combat.
The second tier was made up of those with better prospects and a chance of pushing for Captain Level: Luo Zai, Loli, and Ye Fei.
They received a larger share of the resources.
The third tier was the ordinary hunters.
Their Power wasn’t necessarily weak, but they had all awakened their Superpowers at least a month ago, and their progress had slowed to a crawl—a clear sign of poor Talent.
But Ye Fei’s situation within this second tier was different from the other two. He was being cultivated as a support-type Superpower User. Though his position was unique, the extra resources allocated to him were minimal.
On the third day, after using up his Cultivation Resources as usual, Ye Fei went to the shaft entrance of Pit Section 1 to cook mushrooms. The area had originally been a simple elevator shaft for miners to get up and down quickly, but now it served as a ventilation opening for safe fire usage.
"Ye Fei, get me a bowl of mushroom soup! Make it at least ten standard mushroom doses!" Luo Zai called out loudly.
Thanks to Ye Fei’s efforts, the use of mushrooms had gradually become standardized, even developing its own "jargon."
A "standard dose" of mushrooms referred to the dosage of Hallucinogen as defined by Ye Fei.
The larger the dose, the stronger the hallucinogenic effect, and correspondingly, the stronger the side effects.
A single sip of a ten-dose mixture would be life-threatening for an ordinary person, but Luo Zai could now down it in one gulp.
This meant he could recover his energy rapidly, allowing him to practice Cultivation for longer than anyone else each day.
So, casually asking for "ten doses" was a total power move.
Luo Zai savored the adoring look from a young girl standing nearby.
This was one of the reasons he visited Ye Fei so often—it was all about feeling good, body and soul.
"I’ll let you in on a secret. I’m about to get a girlfriend," Luo Zai said smugly.
"Can’t be helped. My Power won’t let me be low-key. By the way, how are things... COUGH COUGH... progressing between you and Xu...?"
As he spoke, Luo Zai glanced over his shoulder. He really didn’t want another run-in with Liu Ru.
"What progress? Don’t go spreading rumors. We’re just researching mushrooms."
’Luo Zai was a great guy,’ Ye Fei thought, ’but his constant need to show off and spout bullshit was giving me a headache.’
"Oh? Researching *which* mushroom, eh? Alright, alright, I’ll drop it, Ye the Great Benefactor."
This only egged Luo Zai on further. He only stopped when Ye Fei’s expression grew stern, at which point he quickly waved his hands to show he’d drop the subject.
’Of course, I knew what he was thinking.’
’He was just trying to convince me to leverage this skill of mine—cooking mushroom soup for the whole Shelter—for my own gain. That’s what most people would think.’
’I’m just an ordinary guy, so of course I was already doing that.’
’It’s just that what I want isn’t something I can share with others. So, to everyone else, it looks like I’m just doing good deeds for free.’
’But this served as a wake-up call. Do people who expect nothing in return really exist?’
’They probably do, but that’s not how the world thinks.’
’People will just assume that if you don’t seem to want anything, it can only mean that what you *do* want is something you can’t talk about.’
’So I’ve decided. Starting today, I’m going to start charging for the mushroom soup. And I might as well start with Luo Zai.’
"One bowl of mushroom soup for one pound of Mutated Beast Flesh. Hand it over!"
"What the..."
Luo Zai’s face fell. He’d been hoping Ye Fei would admire his slick suggestion—he thought it was a brilliant idea, after all—but he never expected it to backfire so spectacularly.
To make matters worse, when he turned his head, he found Xu Yi standing behind him, staring at him warily.
After that, Ye Fei and Xu Yi began their usual mushroom research.
Xu Yi had "planted" the mushroom on her left arm. This had been Ye Fei’s suggestion; it would have been a shame to add another scar to such a fair arm, so planting it on the smallpox vaccination scar that everyone already had was the perfect solution.
Of course, this mushroom was nothing like the disgusting, terrifying one Ye Fei had initially. On the contrary, it was quite beautiful.
This was because a mushroom cap hadn’t actually sprouted; instead, only red Fungal Hyphae had spread out.
At first glance, it looked like a faint red tattoo. Inside the pitch-black mine, this "tattoo" even emitted a fluorescent glow, making it look all the more beautiful.