Because the wounds on Qin Chuan's body were also caused by saving them.
Xu An finished speaking, and Qin Chuan did not refuse. He nodded, said a quiet thank you, and walked towards the rooms at the back.
Xu An pulled Zhou Haimei, carrying the firewood they had dried earlier, towards the rooms at the back.
She carried the iron bucket from inside the room outside and filled it with snow water. In the center of the wooden cabin, there was a recessed area resembling a stove for cooking.
Xu An and Zhou Haimei jointly lifted the iron bucket filled with snow water onto the stove.
They also stuffed firewood into the stove and lit it with a lighter.
Soon, the warm firelight illuminated the entire room.
Xu An brought over the small stools they had modified earlier and placed them at a moderate distance from the stove.
"Can you manage by yourself? There's soap and a small water ladle over there. You can take water and wash."
Qin Chuan had never bathed like this before. When he was in the army, he would just jump into a small river whenever he found one.
But in this icy weather, he obviously couldn't just find a small river and jump in to wash.
He nodded and looked at Xu An, "I understand."
Then, the two looked at each other.
Qin Chuan felt a bit awkward. His face, soaked in blood, showed no expression, but his voice was unusually hesitant.
"Aren't you two going out? What are you doing here!"
Only then did Zhou Haimei react and pulled Xu An away. As they left, Xu An placed the clean clothes for Qin Chuan by the door.
The two then returned to the wooden cabin and began preparing what they needed for their own baths later.
Actually, the weather was still very cold. If not for the fact that all three of them were stained with blood to varying degrees.
Xu An actually didn't want to bathe. Compared to the discomfort of not bathing, catching a cold now would be a fatal problem for them.
"An An, when do you think the lighthouse will arrive? Didn't Qin Chuan say he had already contacted the lighthouse?"
"I don't know, it should be soon. Since the lighthouse has spent so much time searching for energy, they must be running low on their own. The lighthouse is more anxious than we are right now."
As they spoke, both of them thought about the task the doctor had assigned before going down to the lighthouse.
"What about the task that the doctor assigned? We haven't caught a single mutated monster."
Xu An gave a reassuring smile, "It's okay, I caught a few. Besides, aren't there so many monsters on that mudflat? We can just catch a few to hand in."
Zhou Haimei thought that made sense.
Those monsters clearly looked like mutated creatures, but for some reason, Xu An hadn't found any trace of the little mushroom on them.
She originally wanted to ask Ze Yuan, but for some reason, Ze Yuan had been silent, as if he had fallen asleep.
When Zhou Haimei heard this, she instantly switched to a mode of slacking off.
"As long as you have some, hahahaha, I thought we were going to go back empty-handed."
Although Zhou Haimei and Xu An didn't care about the mission rewards, they still had to put on a show of basic perfunctory effort.
"By the way, do you still have enough trading coins?" Xu An suddenly thought that Zhou Haimei might have participated in the competition this time just to win trading coins.
"I do, you don't need to worry about me. I wanted to participate in the competition before to prove myself, it's fine. It's you, do you have enough trading coins?"
Zhou Haimei said seriously, "Before, I heard my dad say that the lighthouse is gradually starting to charge for centralized heating and water supply. If, as you said, the lighthouse doesn't have enough energy this time, prices will probably increase across the board. Do you have enough trading coins?"
Xu An thought for a moment, "I don't know. When I left, I transferred all my trading coins to my mom. There should be some left."
She didn't mention that in her spatial dimension, there were still many metal items from home that hadn't been exchanged, though she didn't know if it was enough.
But Xu An also knew that this extreme cold period was likely to last for a long time, so she was a bit worried about what to do if it wasn't enough.
"It's okay, don't worry. If you really run out of money, come find me. I'm alone and still have a lot left."
Xu An knew that Zhou Haimei had plenty of trading coins, so she didn't stand on ceremony with her.
After all, Zhou Haimei was a member of the military and received a fixed salary every month, not to mention the support from her parents. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to call her a little rich girl.
But Xu An thought that her rented house was also about to expire, and considering the rent, she didn't know how many trading coins would be left.
She would have to find a way to earn some herself when she got back, rather than waiting to consume what she had.
After all, waiting for Zhou Haimei to bail her out was not a long-term plan.
Zhou Haimei naturally saw Xu An's worry. Although she wanted to say not to worry, that she had money.
But she also knew that with Xu An's pride, she wouldn't accept such uncalled-for assistance.
Qin Chuan finished his bath quickly. Before long, he walked in limping. Xu An took out the blankets they had hidden earlier and warmed them by the fire.
Then she handed them to Qin Chuan.
"Don't catch a cold."
"Thank you."
This was Qin Chuan's first time experiencing being cared for. He thanked her softly.
On the other side, Xu An called Zhou Haimei to go and wash, while she started preparing dinner.
After Zhou Haimei left, Xu An looked at the fire in front of her, "When will the lighthouse arrive?"
Qin Chuan glanced at his always-present wristband. The red dot kept flashing, and the displayed distance was getting closer and closer.
"At the latest, it will arrive in one to two days. My signal has already connected, and I've sent the locations where resources appeared to the lighthouse. Once they've finished mining, they should come to pick us up."
Xu An said as she sorted through the ingredients in front of her, "Is the lighthouse starting to run short on energy?"
Qin Chuan suddenly looked up, his eyes shining brightly.
"What do you know!"
Seeing Qin Chuan's reaction, Xu An's five-part suspicion turned into ten.
It seemed her guess was correct.
Xu An didn't answer him. "Didn't we collect energy in the desert last time? How long has it been, and the lighthouse has already used it all up?"
Qin Chuan didn't explain to Xu An. When he first learned the true purpose of the expedition, he had also had this confusion.
However, his superior had told him that how the lighthouse utilized energy was the business of the technical personnel at the lighthouse; it wasn't something he, as the captain of the law enforcement team, needed to worry about.
What he needed to worry about was how to lead people to find new energy sources to supply the lighthouse.
Now, facing Xu An's question, Qin Chuan was somewhat speechless.
Could he really just let things develop like this, ignoring everything else and focusing only on his own tasks?