Hua Yi's mood was so joyful that even Captain Zhou was momentarily stunned, then grinned widely as well.
"Not bad! Really not bad!" He paused, then asked, "You didn't do anything inappropriate, did you?"
He didn't probe too deeply, but just this one sentence made Hua Yi even happier.
She shook her head, "No! I thought of a way with my relatives..."
Captain Zhou thought for a moment and understood. Hua Yi really did seem innocent and fragile, probably someone who was cherished by her family before. Now, she probably used tricks like borrowing or pouting to get what she wanted from her relatives.
"Alright!" He said cheerfully, "I'll get someone on duty to exchange points for you. If you want to exchange more for anything else, feel free to ask me."
Hua Yi thought for a moment, realizing she didn't really need anything urgently, so she shook her head. Then she extended her arm.
"Last time, the two sisters helped me pay for some sanitary supplies. How many points do I owe? I can transfer them to you too."
Captain Zhou felt a bit awkward; he knew exactly what she had been given. He hesitated and said, "Just give me 20 points."
Hua Yi smiled and nodded, adjusted the amount, and transferred 370 points. Now, she only had 30 points left, plus the remaining 36 from buying jujubes, making a total of 66 points.
But with the multifunctional shovel, her toilet would be finished tomorrow, and that made everything worth it!
Looking at the duty officer hurriedly delivering the sharp, multi-functional shovel with camouflage patterns, Hua Yi was practically in love with it.
It had to be said, with such a tool in the dark of night, her sense of security increased immensely!
She took off her backpack and said to Captain Zhou, "Do you have a bag? I bought a bundle of jujubes at the market today. Please have some, Captain."
Captain Zhou froze for a moment, then waved his hands, "I'm good, don't need any. You can exchange your points for something more useful."
Fresh fruit was very expensive now. The girl's gesture was kind, but they couldn't accept it.
Hua Yi shook her head, "It's not expensive at all. The whole bag only cost 4 points."
Captain Zhou fell silent.
A whole bag for just 4 points?
"What's the mutation value on these?"
Hua Yi happily replied, "23!"
Captain Zhou: …
Let's just say, when they were in dire straits, they had eaten fruit with a mutation value of 25 points, and everyone who tried it said:
"Die and be done with it."
But Hua Yi insisted, "I've tasted it, it's actually not that bad. It's sweet… Brother, I really want to thank you."
"If you don't want it, I'll offer it to the two sisters who helped me."
She looked at him with a pitiful gaze.
And this entire bundle of jujubes was only 4 points...
"Alright!"
Captain Zhou went to the duty room and grabbed a small bowl, saying, "Thank you. But don't do this again."
Then he thought for a moment and grabbed a flashlight from the duty room as well.
"Take it, use it to light your way. Return it next time."
As Hua Yi happily walked back, carrying the multi-functional shovel and her backpack, Captain Zhou finally went back to the camp.
Along the way, he ran into a familiar face, and the person immediately commented:
"Hey! Where'd you get these fresh jujubes? Let me try one."
Captain Zhou smiled generously, "Go ahead, we're brothers, eat as much as you want!"
But as he said this, the other person grew suspicious: "Fresh fruit's so expensive now, can you really afford to give them away? Tell me the truth, how much is the mutation value?"
Captain Zhou disapproved, "What kind of person do you think I am? The mutation value's 10!"
Sure enough, if he had said 17 or 18, the person would've believed it. But 10?
"How much exactly? If you don't tell me, I'll stuff it in your mouth!"
Captain Zhou didn't want to eat it, so he told the truth, "23…"
The person froze, holding the jujube.
"23? And you told me to eat freely?! Are you out of your mind?"
Soon, a crowd gathered to watch. Someone suddenly realized:
"Wait, if it's really 23, then why is he bringing so many back?"
"Exactly! He's acting all mysterious and hasn't said where it came from."
"Maybe he's worried we'll eat too much… I suspect the mutation value's not more than 18."
Hearing this, the crowd started eyeing the jujubes with greedy hands.
Though 23 was too much, 18? It'd been a while since they had fresh fruit, so a few bites would be worth it, right? If it was bad, they could just spit it out.
Captain Zhou noticed this and quickly offered the bowl, "Come on, I said eat as much as you want!"
Reluctantly, some of them reached for a piece.
The moment they took a bite, the long-lost sweetness instantly filled their mouths!
Their eyes widened in surprise.
Another bite confirmed it—although the texture was a bit grainy, the overall taste was actually pretty good!
"Good kid, how'd you suddenly get so rich?"
The crowd continued munching, grabbing five or six jujubes at a time and stuffing them into their pockets. They also made sure to compliment:
"These jujubes must've cost a lot, huh?"
"A whole bowl like this, it's gotta be at least 40 points a pound, right?"
"40 points? You probably can't even buy it at that price."
After a while, the bowl that was full of jujubes was now only half full. The crowd then reluctantly pulled their hands back and sincerely thanked Captain Zhou:
"Nice! A real brother! Next time I've got something good to eat, I'll make sure to bring it to you!"
Captain Zhou: …???
This felt off!
There was no way those jujubes had been bought at a high price by the little girl, and yet they were being handed out so easily with no explanation!
It didn't make sense!
Right now, if such a good batch of jujubes existed, they would never make it to the open market. The adventurers would sell them to their close clients first.
As Captain Zhou mulled over this, he casually grabbed another jujube and hesitated before taking a bite.
The moment he bit down, all thoughts flew out of his mind, replaced by one overwhelming feeling—rage:
"Goddamn it, these bastards are so shameless! It's so good, and they're just eating it like that!"
As he cursed silently, he noticed another group approaching from the distance, shouting:
"Captain Zhou, we heard you're giving out these jujubes for free!"
Captain Zhou jumped, "Bullshit! There's no such thing! I'm taking these for testing!"
He stormed off with the bowl of jujubes toward the testing room. The instruments were precise down to the decimal point:
Mutation value: 11.3
The people who gathered to watch were stunned:
"What?! How did you get such a good thing? Captain Zhou, are you hiding a treasure?"
But when they turned to look at the jujubes' owner, Hua Yi's face wasn't smiling. Instead, she looked full of regret, almost as if she had lost a treasure she could never recover:
"Please get the two female soldiers, Cheng Yao and Song Yi, to come here."
Then, she forced a difficult smile, as if on the verge of tears:
"These jujubes were a gift from that kind-hearted girl who wanted to thank them..."