Chapter 361: Chapter 346: King of Chicken Dinners

Those aunties were way too good at their job, and Huo Changzhou was so furious his face was contorted with rage.

He slammed his hand on the table. "Tell me," he growled, "what is she *really* doing at our farm?" She can’t actually be here just to plant crops for disaster relief, can she?

’In this apocalypse, could someone so saintly actually exist?’

Huo Changzhou refused to believe it.

The woman at his side had been listening to him complain for half the night and was long past fed up.

’This idiot is completely useless. How can someone so impatient be entrusted with any real responsibility? If it weren’t for his special status and the fact that he still has some use...’

The woman stubbed out her e-cigarette. When she looked up at the man, however, her expression was one of pure tenderness, her eyes betraying not a hint of her annoyance.

"Changzhou," she said, turning and throwing herself into Huo Changzhou’s arms. Her body coiled around him like a boneless snake as she whispered, her eyes sultry, "Whatever her reason for being at our farm, the higher-ups will worry about it. Why are you getting so worked up over it?"

That was true, but whenever Huo Changzhou thought about how the prize he’d been about to claim had just flown away from right under his nose, his heart ached with an indescribable pain.

It was beyond words.

The woman buried her face in his chest, a flicker of disgust flashing through her eyes.

’Idiot. He can’t even get his priorities straight.’

’This is so irritating.’

She lowered her eyes, hiding her impatience, and continued to console the man in a soft, gentle voice for a while longer. Only then did she ask, as if it were an afterthought, "By the way, have you delivered that thing to her yet?"

’The higher-ups have already asked about it several times.’

"’How am I supposed to deliver it?’ Huo Changzhou’s temper flared at the mention of it. ’For the past three days, Gu Xi and her people have been living out of the planting zone—eating, sleeping, everything. They haven’t even been back to the guest house.’"

"And that planting zone is crawling with people. Who knows how many eyes are watching in there?"

"No matter how I try to get the item to Gu Xi, someone with an agenda is bound to see!"

"But the higher-ups were clear: no one else can find out about this. Otherwise, I’ll be the one to face the consequences."

Huo Changzhou was already on edge, worried the higher-ups would punish him if he failed the mission. Now that the woman had brought it up, his expression turned even fouler.

’This idiot, capable of nothing but impotent rage. Aside from his own arrogance, what can he actually do?’

A flicker of contempt and disgust crossed the woman’s eyes, but she raised a hand to caress Huo Changzhou’s chest, reminding him with feigned casualness, "Dr. Qi’s daughter came along this time too, didn’t she? Maybe you could try to work something out through her?"

Huo Changzhou frowned. Using Qi Xiang was, in fact, a good idea. After all, from what he’d observed over the past few days, that Miss Gu didn’t seem to have her guard up around Qi Xiang at all.

However... when his teacher had given him the item, he had specifically warned him that Qi Xiang must not find out about this under any circumstances.

As Dr. Qi’s star student, Huo Changzhou was very obedient to his teacher’s instructions.

Hearing the woman’s suggestion now, he couldn’t help but hesitate.

The woman’s fingertip gently traced a circle on his chest. "Changzhou, I know you’re fond of Miss Qi. If you really can’t bring yourself to use your junior, we can just think of another way. At worst, if we fail the mission and the higher-ups come down on you, just put all the blame on me..."

’But this wasn’t *her* mission. Even if this idiot pushed all the blame onto her, what would it matter?’

’Besides, she wasn’t like this moron.’

The woman leaned against his chest with an adoring expression.

Huo Changzhou instinctively pulled her closer, a flicker of tenderness stirring in his heart.

He considered their relationship to be purely physical, but after sleeping with her for so long, he had developed some feelings for her, however shallow.

Huo Changzhou held the woman and thought for a moment. "Let me think about it," he said.

...

Qi Xiang had no idea she was already being targeted. She was taking advantage of a break in the farm work, squatting at the edge of a field and chatting with Yang Chi.

"I wonder when we’ll be able to go back," Yang Chi mused, looking out over the bustling fields.

"Should be soon, I hope," Qi Xiang replied, feeling a little homesick herself. "I wonder if that kid, Lu Shiliu, is taking good care of Da Hong..."

Qin Yi, who happened to be walking past, overheard them and couldn’t help but feel a pang of melancholy herself.

It was true that when they left, they had entrusted Da Hong and her entire brood to Lu Shiliu’s care. They had even made a special request to Mr. Zhao to prioritize feeding Da Hong and her chicks with the first batch of successfully evolved plants from the experimental fields.

Gu Xi had also left more than enough feed for Da Hong and the others, and she’d specifically instructed Lu Shiliu to watch over Da Hong carefully. If he noticed any abnormalities in Da Hong’s mutation, he was to contact them immediately...

Lu Shiliu was an excellent Beast Tamer, and they had prepared for everything in advance. Logically, they shouldn’t have had anything to worry about.

The problem was... Lu Shiliu was *too* good at his job!

An expert Beast Tamer knows exactly which mutated animal’s meat is best for which recipe!

And Lu Shiliu... he was the undisputed king of eating chicken! 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

His appetite was so voracious... even Shen Yue, a glutton incarnate, had to bow down in defeat.

With no one watching over them, who knew if all those chicks and ducklings Da Hong had raised would be enough for him to devour all by himself!

The worry on Qin Yi’s face was so thick it nearly smoothed out her dimples.

’If only we’d known Gu Xi’s space was about to upgrade, we should have brought all those half-grown pullets with us when we left. Sure, feeding them on the road would’ve been a pain, and the chicken poop really stank, but that was an endless supply of meat!’

Seeing her expression, Qi Xiang sighed and patted Qin Yi’s shoulder. She understood exactly how Qin Yi felt.

When they’d left, they only had Wei Heng butcher the fully grown roosters and store them in Gu Xi’s dimensional space. But that wasn’t nearly enough. That pack of beasts from the Special Service Team had devoured them all long ago on the journey here.

At times like this, Qi Xiang really missed the old hens back home.

They had left all the hens for Lu Shiliu because they couldn’t bear to kill them, needing them to lay eggs. As for now...

Qi Xiang recalled the big, greasy, golden-brown chicken leg Lu Shiliu had been munching on during their video call yesterday, and she instantly lost the will to speak.

As the two young women sighed beside him, Yang Chi’s thoughts also drifted back to South City...

’This won’t do. I have to get back and check on Da Hong right away!’

’Any later and even the bones will have been turned into fertilizer.’

At that thought, Yang Chi channeled his appetite into action. He opened his personal terminal and, after a flurry of furious taps, the Light Screen flickered to life.

Yang Chi’s spirits lifted instantly. He looked up at Qi Xiang and Qin Yi, waving them over conspiratorially. "Quick, come here. I’ve got something good to show you."

Qi Xiang and Qin Yi exchanged a look and quickly huddled closer.

Only to discover... that Yang Chi’s Light Screen was playing a little movie.

And the stars of this little movie were none other than Huo Changzhou and that woman.

At the sight, Qi Xiang instinctively looked around for Wei Heng. ’He can’t see this,’ she thought. ’Otherwise, he’ll start nagging us again about being a bad influence on Gu Xi.’