mtl008 Chapter 272 Going Out 8
Chapter 272 Going Out 8
Ye Jingmo sat in his seat, slowly tore open the tissue packaging, wiped his hands clean, and then used his slender fingers to hold the wet wipe and wipe Jiang Li next to him.
Jiang Li felt the cool, damp wipe sliding across her face, from her brows to her cheeks. She could sense that Ye Jingmo's gaze was fixed on her.
Ye Jingmo's actions attracted the attention of everyone around him.
Jiang Li's ears turned slightly red. She tugged at Ye Jingmo's sleeve and whispered:
"Brother Mo, you can clean yourself up. I can do it myself. There are so many people watching over us."
"You can't see the dirt on your face anyway, so wouldn't it be faster if I helped you? Let them see if they want to, it's not like it'll hurt them."
"Don't move! You'll get it dirty again."
Ye Jingmo gently gripped Jiang Li's chin with his left hand, preventing her from escaping, while his right hand continued to gently wipe her with a wet wipe.
"Fu Qian, how about I check the dirt on your face for you too?"
Seeing Fu Qian's envious expression, Wang Tang jokingly teased her while holding a wet wipe in his hand.
Fu Qian knew that Wang Tang didn't have any bad intentions; he just liked to tease her. She rolled her eyes at him without any politeness, turned her back, and carefully cleaned the dirt off her body with a wet wipe.
Wang Tang seemed to have been wronged, leaning against Liang Zi and saying in a cheeky tone, "Liang Zi, how about we wipe each other down?"
Liangzi shoved the man aside without any politeness. Wang Tang didn't have a girlfriend, but he did. What would people think if two grown men acted like this?
Liang Zi knew that many men in the base lived together in pairs to make a living, which he understood and respected, but he shouldn't be dragged into it.
"We're brothers who've been through thick and thin together, and yet you despise me like this? It hurts. Tianmeng..."
Before Wang Tang could even touch Zhang Tianmeng, he immediately pulled away.
"Hey, Brother Wang, I've already cleaned myself up, don't touch me. Otherwise I'll have to waste the wet wipes."
……
Pudding, squatting on the ground, looked at its two owners with a resentful expression.
No, this is treating it like a dog, feeding it dog food without any hesitation, right?
Wait, no, it looks like a dog, so eating dog food isn't wrong.
Pudding fell into deep thought, resting its head on its paws, its eyes filled with confusion. Even its tail stopped wagging, and it stood there blankly in mid-air.
After Jiang Li cleaned the dirt off Ye Jingmo's face, she looked down at Pudding, who seemed to be stuck in some kind of problem, with a strange expression.
These days even dogs are contemplating the meaning of their existence?
Jiang Li ignored what Pudding was thinking and started cleaning the blood-stained fur on Pudding's back with wet wipes.
The dried blood clumped on the fur, forming clumps that were difficult to clean. Jiang Li and Ye Jingmo had to put in a lot of effort to clean Pudding off.
Seeing the pudding smell delicious again, Jiang Li happily rubbed its head.
"Each of you will receive a bottle of nutrient solution. Keep it for lunch to tide you over, and we'll have a better meal in the evening. It'll also serve as our team's inaugural meal."
Wang Hao distributed nutrient solutions to everyone, a rare smile appearing on his usually stern face, as he told them the news.
"A little better? What good stuff did the base bring us? Self-heating hot pot or individual rations?"
However, as long as it's not a nutrient solution, I can accept anything.
Zhang Tianmeng looked at Wang Hao expectantly; he hadn't had a hot meal in a long time.
"Yeah, Captain, tell us what's good to eat tonight?"
Fu Qianyi was really looking forward to the gathering of like-minded people, something she hadn't experienced in a long time.
"It's a secret." Wang Hao put his index finger to his lips, making a shushing gesture. "If I tell you, there'll be no anticipation."
Fu Qian smiled and said, "I didn't expect Captain Wang to have this side to him. I always thought you were a serious and unreasonable person."
The others nodded in agreement.
"The captain is a good person. He is tough and handsome when facing enemies, and gentle and kind when dealing with his own people."
"I feel so too."
Wang Hao was overwhelmed by everyone's comments, so he pretended to cough a few times to ease his embarrassment.
Out of the corner of his eye, Wang Hao spotted Pudding still lying on the ground. He quickly rummaged through the supply box, took out a large bag of dog food, and handed it to Ye Jingmo.
"This is Pudding's food. I don't know where the base found this big bag of dog food, but it should be enough for Pudding to eat on the road."
Ye Jingmo accepted the dog food, thanked Wang Hao, and his cold and sharp features softened a bit.
Wang Hao waved his hand lightly, "This is not my achievement. If anyone should be thanked, it should be the base, otherwise we wouldn't have this."
After the natural disaster, it became rare to see people keeping pets, even military dogs..."
At this point, a fleeting trace of sadness crossed Wang Hao's face, but he quickly concealed it.
“Pudding came with us on this mission, it’s our partner, there’s no reason not to feed it. But you must have trained it before, I think it can understand commands.”
Jiang Li took out Pudding's dog bowl and poured a bowl of dog food into it. When she heard Wang Hao's question, she looked up and had a bright smile on her fair face, just like the winter sun.
"Yes, Brother Mo has trained Pudding. Otherwise, if it keeps eating random things outside, I'm afraid it won't live long."
Pudding, who was still deep in thought, saw the dog food and immediately jumped up, rushed to the dog bowl, and began to wolf it down without even lifting her head.
Everyone watched as Pudding ate with great relish, then looked at the nutrient solution in their hands and unanimously showed expressions of disgust.
Looking at Pudding, Wang Tang felt a little hungry. "Seeing Pudding eating so happily, I'm tempted to try dog food. It can't be any worse than nutritional supplements."
Seemingly sensing Wang Tang's burning gaze, Pudding bared its teeth and pushed its dog bowl a little further into the seat with its paw, as if afraid that Wang Tang would steal its food.
After thinking about the big dinner that night, everyone felt that the nutrient solution they had at noon might not be so bad after all.
Fu Qian pinched her nose, drank half a tube of nutrient solution, and immediately picked up the water glass next to her, swallowing two mouthfuls of water.
Her chest heaved violently a few times before gradually calming down, her face filled with utter despair.
Zhang Tianmeng, Wang Tang, and others couldn't help but complain, "How could the base make the nutrient solution taste so awful? It's practically a blatant whipping of a foodie like me."
Zhao Mingkai's expression was also rather unpleasant, and he slumped his head on the seat in front of him. "If the food is bad, we'll just eat less. That way, we can save some food, right?"
"Wow, what you said makes so much sense, I can't argue with it at all." Zhang Tianmeng said with a look of sudden realization.
After barely managing to fill their stomachs, fatigue and sleepiness overwhelmed them, and their eyelids drooped uncontrollably.
Jiang Li leaned on Ye Jingmo's shoulder with her eyes half-closed, as if she could fall asleep any second.
Wang Hao glanced at Liu Yu in the driver's seat; he had been driving for over an hour.
Wang Hao rested his hand against the glass window, thinking about the arrangements to come.
The drivers are rotated every two hours to ensure everyone gets rest and to keep the journey to Guangyan Mountain on time.
With a large group, they should be able to reach Guangyan Mountain after one round of rotation.
So he said, "Liu Yu, I'll switch with you driving later, and then we'll take turns driving every two hours."
The two girls in the team don't need to do the tiring work of driving, and Mingkai's hand is injured, so he doesn't need to participate either. That leaves six of us who can just go down in order. Does anyone have any objections?
"Drivers not only pay attention to road conditions, but also act as night watchmen, waking us up promptly if anything happens. Driving speeds at night should be slower than during the day; safety is the top priority."
Seeing Wang Hao's serious expression, everyone nodded in unison, having no objections.
After arranging the next steps, the car gradually quieted down, and everyone relaxed and leaned back in their seats, slowly falling asleep.
The previous battle with the wolf pack had already exhausted everyone, so now that they were in a safe place, they were all relaxed.
Deep sleep is the best way to combat fatigue.
The vehicles drove very smoothly, and they even safely crossed the overpass that they had previously feared would be destroyed at the base.
Apart from the occasional stopped cars, fallen rocks, or tree branches obstructing the road, which everyone gets out of the car to clear away, nothing unexpected happens.
Night fell quickly, and all the light slowly disappeared, with the visible range illuminated by the car headlights noticeably shrinking.
Outside the car, it was so quiet it was as if the car was the only thing in the world; not even the chirping of insects or the calls of birds could be heard.
Wang Hao glanced at the map, checked the car's current location, and then looked at the time. It was almost dinnertime. He turned to Wang Tang in the driver's seat and said...
"Let's find a place to stop, have dinner, and then continue our journey."
Following Wang Hao's instructions, Wang Tang carefully searched along the roadside and found a small courtyard that had collapsed halfway.
The walls that enclosed the front space of the courtyard still exist, but half of the building that was built there has collapsed.
Parking inside, surrounded by walls on three sides, makes it a relatively safe parking spot, as long as you pay attention to what's in front of you.
Wang Tang carefully parked the car inside, and Wang Hao began taking things from the supply box.
Everyone felt a surge of curiosity and couldn't help but move closer, staring longingly at Wang Hao.
When Wang Hao looked up again, he had four boxes of self-heating hot pot, two packs of compressed biscuits, and a pack of braised quail eggs in his hands.
"Wow, this food is really plentiful."
Zhang Tianmeng immediately took the self-heating hot pot, deftly opened the packaging, and then soaked it in water.
Wang Hao didn't care about Zhang Tianmeng's actions. Instead, he handed the other three self-heating hot pots to Fu Qian and Liang Zi next to him, asking them to open the hot pots together.
"Supplies are still quite limited. We can only manage to do a little better and give some to each person. Even if we don't have enough compressed biscuits, we can still fill our stomachs."
"Captain Wang, it's alright. This is already a very luxurious meal. I haven't had self-heating hot pot in a long time."
Fu Qian couldn't help but take a few extra breaths as she watched the steam rising from the self-heating hot pot, as if she could taste its flavor that way.
Wang Tang couldn't help but swallow as he smelled the strong aroma of sauces in the car, anxiously waiting for the self-heating hot pot to cook.
As he waited, Wang Hao lifted the lid of the self-heating hot pot. On the tender rice noodles were bright green seaweed, white lotus root slices, and slices of fatty beef coated in sauce.
This made everyone, who hadn't eaten meat in a long time, almost turn red with envy.
"Everyone take two compressed biscuits first. The biscuits are a bit dry, but you can dip them in some of the broth from the self-heating hot pot to add some flavor and make them more palatable."
After all the compressed biscuits were distributed, everyone picked up their chopsticks and started putting food into the self-heating hot pot.
Zhang Tianmeng picked up a piece of fatty beef and put it in her mouth, and immediately felt tears welling up in her eyes. "After eating this, how can I possibly accept this nutrient solution that tastes like pig swill?"
"Yes, these lotus root slices are so delicious. We used to look down on them as junk food, but now we can't even afford junk food."
Wang Tang chewed on the crisp lotus root slices, his face full of happiness. Then, thinking that he might never be able to eat them again, he felt sad.
Jiang Li and Ye Jingmo didn't compete with Wang Hao and the others for the meat and vegetables in the self-heating hot pot, since they didn't lack such food.
Wang Hao and his group rarely get to enjoy such a sumptuous meal, so let them eat as much as they can to satisfy their cravings.
Jiang Li picked up a slippery piece of vermicelli, which was covered with seasoned sauce. It was smooth and refreshing, a texture she had never tasted before.
She secretly made a mental note of it, planning to open a few packs of self-heating hot pot to try when she returned to the base, or make some vermicelli to stew with meat later, which would definitely taste good.
Finally, even the hard, dry compressed biscuits tasted delicious after being dipped in the broth from the self-heating hot pot.
Soon, the self-heating hot pot was completely devoured, with not a drop of broth left.
Zhang Tianmeng even reluctantly licked the empty self-heating hot pot bowl.
Although this meal didn't fill everyone up completely, it was enough to make everyone feel about 70-80% full, and everyone was quite satisfied.
"There's also a bag of braised quail eggs. We'll give each person two small ones as a snack after dinner."
Wang Hao handed out quail eggs to everyone one by one, and even Pudding got two.
However, no one wanted to eat them right away; they put them in their pockets to eat with nutritional supplements the next day.
Pudding, unlike most people, stared at the quail eggs in Jiang Li's hand with her big, watery eyes, occasionally nuzzling her leg with her head.
Jiang Li thought that there were only two small quail eggs, and Pudding could just taste them; it didn't matter when she ate them.
So she cracked open the quail eggs, ate two at a time, chewed them, and swallowed them whole.
Pudding felt she didn't taste anything, so she ate the quail egg directly.
Pudding looked at Wang Hao and the others with pitiful eyes. This little egg wasn't even worth a bite from a dog, yet these people treasured it so much. It seemed they should go to the forest later to see if they could catch some prey and let them taste what delicious food was like.
After the excitement subsided, the car gradually returned to calm, and Liangzi took over driving from Wang Tang, and they drove back onto the road.