Whenever it is, food always takes top priority.
Fifteen days, it may sound neither long nor short.
If we tighten our belts, the current food supplies might last for about a month. Moreover, if things get really tough, we can still have Du Jiajia send Little Huang to catch some rats, lizards, or whatever else is available.
However, this is not a sustainable solution, and it comes with significant risks. Besides, we can't rely solely on meat; grains and vegetables are necessities too.
After dinner, all members of the Mingqi Group held an emergency meeting.
The topic, of course, was about going out to find food.
Before this, Chen Mu, Dong Junwei, Tang Jing, and others had already discussed the matter in a smaller group, and naturally, Chen Mu was responsible for drafting the list of personnel to go out.
Unlike the previous decision, this time, based on the actual situation, Chen Mu presented another roster for the expedition team.
A total of five people.
He Ying, Chen Mu, Wei Dalei, Xue Xu, and Lu Shanshan.
This list was carefully considered.
Firstly, we can't send out too many people, as it would make the home base vulnerable and increase the risk of exposure.
Regarding the initial plan to include Zhao Xiaoyan and Sun Yuan, after careful deliberation, Chen Mu decided not to take them for the time being. Although these two have some value in reconnaissance, their mental strength is not yet strong enough, and their abilities can only support them for a limited time. Their real defensive capabilities are quite limited.
Originally, Chen Mu didn't intend to let Wei Dalei go out since they needed someone to guard the base. However, the situation has changed significantly from a few days ago.
Firstly, the sealing work for the door gap has finally been completed. While it's not entirely sealed, the 125 stainless steel columns with a diameter of 3 millimeters are thicker than a human's waist and cannot be bent or damaged even with Wei Dalei's strength. Unless the enemy has some targeted ability, it's almost impossible to destroy them.
Secondly, Dong Junwei has been tirelessly making hand grenades these days, and the production is astonishing. Currently, the Mingqi Group has 315 explosive warheads. Of course, because the manufacturing cycle is relatively long, and with the growth of Dong Junwei's abilities, the power of these grenades varies. However, they are already more than sufficient to deal with ordinary humans.
The remaining eleven people simultaneously threw these grenades, enough to carpet bomb the area in front of the storage room's door.
If they couldn't deal with the enemies even with this method, then whether Wei Dalei was present or not wouldn't matter.
Lastly, and most crucially, there's Little Huang.
This little cat now spends most of its time playing with Du Jiajia, except during mealtime.
But Du Jiajia strictly followed Tang Jing's instructions and only spent up to two hours with the cat each day. In fact, if the mental communication with the cat exceeded this time limit, Du Jiajia would experience headaches.
Nevertheless, having this cat guarding the entrance significantly boosted everyone's sense of security, and it proved to be effective.
Just in front of Du Jiajia, Little Huang has dealt with two centipedes and a passing-by little frog. The frog was very innocent.
Fortunately, maybe Little Huang wasn't hungry at that moment, or perhaps out of pity not to be sensed, the cat just played with the frog until it was barely breathing and then allowed it to crawl out of sight, sparing its life.
With all these security measures in place, coupled with the tunnels in each room, the storage room became an impregnable fortress.
Because of this, Chen Mu took almost all the fighting force with him.Lu Shanshan's role was also evident - with her presence, they could bring back more supplies.
As for bringing Xue Xu along, it was also a matter of having an additional safety measure.
Although Xue Xu's abilities were hard to describe, their effect was simple and direct, especially when facing dangers like rats.
Even Chen Mu didn't have full confidence in ensuring everyone's safety.
Of course...
Xue Xu and Lu Shanshan are not official members of the Mingqi Group at the moment. Therefore, theoretically, even with a unanimous vote, they cannot be forced to participate in this kind of mission.
Regarding this matter, Chen Mu privately approached Lu Shanshan to ask for her opinion. She almost didn't hesitate and readily agreed, promising to persuade Xue Xu as well.
This made many of Chen Mu's earnest words and persuasion efforts unnecessary.
Thus, the meeting followed the necessary procedure of informing everyone about the decision, and they settled on departing the day after tomorrow.
In addition, Dong Junwei briefly discussed the work arrangements for the period when Chen Mu and others would be away.
...
Early the next day.
After the Nth battle with He Ying, Chen Mu casually cleaned up and then went to the place where he practiced his abilities alone every day.
This place was on the inside of a shelf leg, blocking most of the outside view, ensuring minimal disturbances.
He leaned against the iron shelf leg and sat on the ground, recovering the strength he had just used in the battle. At the same time, he took out a stainless steel weapon he carried with him.
A cartoonish figure with a long nose, resembling a bellows, gradually took shape.
"Do you like Peppa Pig so much?" Dong Junwei's voice came from beside him.
Chen Mu had already heard the footsteps of the squad leader but remained focused on the stainless steel carving in his hand. He smiled and replied, "Mainly because I'm more familiar with this one. When I was in the welfare home, this was the only cartoon we could watch every day."
Now, he had become accustomed to using Peppa Pig's image to test the accuracy of his abilities. Compared to the first day, he could now recognize this pig head at a glance.
Dong Junwei was slightly stunned, not knowing what to say for a moment.
"Is there something, Squad Leader?" Although Chen Mu's position as the Class 4 monitor was now a thing of the past, Dong Junwei's current official title was the Chief Decision Officer of the Mingqi Group. But at least for the nine people of Class 4, they still called her "Squad Leader" out of habit.
"Nothing, I just wanted to ask how many grenades you plan to take tomorrow, so I can pick some of better quality for you to take," Dong Junwei said.
With a whole day of rest ahead, Chen Mu also needed to make some preparations, and grenades were certainly indispensable. Upon being reminded by Dong Junwei, he replied, "I actually wanted to discuss this with you as well."
"Grenades?"
"Yes." Chen Mu nodded and stood up, saying, "At the moment, the explosive power of the grenades should be sufficient. The biggest problem is accuracy."
"Is there any good solution?"
"No solution," Chen Mu spread his hands, "Wei Dalei and I have been practicing in our spare time, but the results are not very satisfactory."Dong Junwei nodded, "That's indeed a problem."
"So, I changed my approach."
As he spoke, Chen Mu picked up a stone from the ground.
Despite the room being fairly clean, it was inevitable that there would be some cement debris, sand, and dust. To humans at this time, a large part of it looked like ordinary stones.
Dong Junwei silently watched him.
Chen Mu continued, "Since there's no way to improve accuracy, I thought about whether we could increase the blast radius of the grenades."
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