By the pond in the small mountain village, a small shed had been set up, and mosquito coils were lit.
It was almost 5 o'clock, and they could still fish for about an hour. Jiang Ziqi had already taken the children with their bamboo baskets to catch shrimp fry.
All they needed to do was put in some corn soaked in wine, or catch a few pond snails, crack them open, and throw them into the bamboo basket. Then, place a brick on top, let it soak, and pull it up every 10-15 minutes.
This pond was often maintained, and it was full of fish and shrimp. The aquatic plants near the bank also harbored many loaches and eels, so there was no need to worry about not catching anything.
Most of the people fishing were not focused on fishing itself. Instead, they sat together, drinking tea and discussing matters.
"Sister Qin Xia, has your logistics team finished inspecting the recovered supplies?"
"They have finished the inspection, and there are no problems. Hai Ping and Meng Yao are currently categorizing them. From what I've seen, most of it is food, and there's very little clothing."
"What about the nine survivors?"
Wang Zhihai answered this time. "Captain, rest assured, they are all lying down. Lin Qingyan and Zhou Ping are taking care of them. Fortunately, we have Ziqi. The two of them managed to extract all the insect eggs hidden within the bodies of these survivors. They were utterly exhausted.
Now that they've applied the gel and are mentally fatigued, they'll likely wake up tomorrow."
Lin Yuan didn't say much, as he had already anticipated this situation. Lin Qingyan and Zhou Ping were not skilled in internal medicine surgery. In the hospital, they primarily assisted in surgeries, with very few opportunities to be the primary or secondary nurse.
Their experience was too limited.
However, with the gel, there were no major issues. It was good for them to gain experience with these survivors.
"Did you ask them about what they encountered on their journey?"
Lin Yuan and his companions had reviewed the memory card, but it contained little. Besides a few movies that were likely intended for blackmail, there were also some transaction details related to human trafficking.
They couldn't find any information related to the insects on his body.
"We asked them too. They all spoke normally. However, when they talked about passing through Qing She County on their way south from Qu City, they encountered a very beautiful foreign girl with a head of red hair. After that, Du Minghu became like a different person. Apart from searching for his son, he spent his days in this area searching for someone else.
They said they didn't know when these insects were placed in their bodies."
Passed through Qing She County? Searching for someone in this area?
Lin Yuan pondered for a moment, but then suddenly recalled something. At that time, two tracking personnel from HSAC were following him and Jiang Ziqi, one named K and the other H.
K had been burned to charcoal by him, but H had not. Although H's body had already begun to rot and grow mushrooms due to Jiang Ziqi's tentacles, Lin Yuan and Jiang Ziqi had not cracked open H's skull to check if his brain had also rotted.
Could it be that the red-haired foreign girl had some special method to read information from the brain?
Or could even the charred insect corpses be revived?
But that didn't make sense either. Even if she knew his information, why would she come looking for him? This mysterious organization was clearly not aligned with HSAC.
The more he thought, the less he could figure out, and Lin Yuan became frustrated, so he decided to stop thinking. He then asked, "Brother Wang, are you sure all the bodies were cremated?"
"They were burned. Zombie corpses are easier to burn, and we didn't leave a single piece of rotten flesh from everything we killed in that convoy.
Furthermore, when collecting these fragments, Ziqi checked them. We even searched the ground, and there were no omissions! I personally watched everything turn into charcoal. The bones were also ground up and burned again."
Wang Zhihai was not lying. The team members were very diligent, fearing that they wouldn't burn thoroughly. The thought of growing insects on themselves one day was chilling.
Therefore, the disposal of the bodies this time was the most meticulous cleaning operation since the team's establishment.
Hearing Wang Zhihai's affirmative reply, Lin Yuan also felt relieved and put the matter aside for the time being. "Let's not worry about this for now. Let's hurry up and organize the abandoned mountain stronghold, move in, and wait for national rescue."
However, with the addition of nine more people, all women and children, six adults and four children.
The burden on his shoulders had increased slightly. He could only pray that no more people would arrive. The current team already had 32 members, and any more would mean that the rescue helicopters from the emergency response would not be able to accommodate them.
He also guessed that Du Minghu was likely a pawn, and it was unlikely that all their efforts would be spent on him, a mere experimental subject.
He didn't care what these two organizations were trying to do; the country was managing it.
"By the way, Brother Wang, how is the radio tuning going with you, my father, and Brother Sun?"
The sooner the information he possessed could be given to the country, the better.
"It's almost done. This is thanks to Hai Ping. He specializes in this area. Our contribution wasn't very significant. We also found manuals and some related books in the military camp, which were quite useful. It should be completed in the next couple of days."
(Does anyone think the military doesn't have a library?)
Just as Lin Yuan was about to speak, he noticed the fishing float moving. He quickly pulled the fishing rod, and to his surprise, a golden-red carp was hooked.
"Lin Yuan, this carp is so beautiful! And it's carrying its young!" Wu Tian had already grabbed the fish as it was pulled ashore.
"Then we should release it. Its color is beautiful, perhaps it's an auspicious sign."
"Then I'll put it back," Wu Tian said, stroking the beautiful carp, which was too large to be held in two hands. He felt that its scales shone brighter and brighter under the sunlight.
Watching the fish return to the water, Lin Yuan turned back to continue discussing their affairs.
"The first carp is so beautiful, it's a good omen. It's good that we released it," Wang Zhihai didn't object to Lin Yuan's decision.
"Regarding the radio, please make sure to get it done as soon as you have time. I need it."
"We know the importance of this."
"Right, once the mountain stronghold is repaired, we can take some time to go to town and get some cement."
"Why don't we make the cement ourselves? I remember the information provided by the country mentioned this method," Zhao Anjing offered her opinion.
Lin Shouyi took a sip of tea and explained to Lin Yuan, "The method of making cement using primitive techniques is indeed simple and quick, but the cement produced needs about 20 days to set, and its strength is insufficient.
Moreover, we have shale and granite here, and minerals like limestone and iron ore are not evenly distributed, making collection difficult. There is ready-made cement in town, and there are also many construction sites in the suburbs. The risk factor is not high, so going to get it is clearly more cost-effective."
"Oh, I see. I thought we could make it ourselves," Zhao Anjing clearly preferred to do things herself.
Seeing her eagerness to be self-sufficient, Lin Yuan smiled and said, "How about this? Since we have about three hours of study time every day, you and Meng Yao can discuss the plan for making cement yourselves during this time. If we can build a cement kiln or a blast furnace ourselves, it would be quite an achievement."
Lin Yuan wouldn't offer any rewards. Everyone ate from the communal pot. The only presentable reward was tea.
As for gold and silver jewelry, the team members more or less wore one or two pieces they liked. There was still a large pile of them in the supply warehouse, both expensive and cheap. No one was interested in choosing more; they were keeping them as assets for when they were in a safe zone.