```
"Is what you’re saying true?"
"Really true, the evidence is on that laptop, the software wasn’t even closed."
"Alright, that puts my mind at ease."
```
Fungus’s feedback indicated no lies being told. Ye Nai stood up, unceremoniously swept the person into Space, then went into the bathroom to freshen up.
Spores began to clean the entire room, wiping away all traces of strangers.
After freshening up, changing clothes, and eating a portion of stored rations for breakfast, spores also finished cleaning, and Ye Nai grabbed the room card, went downstairs, and checked out.
It was early in the morning, the streets were empty, perfect for speeding, so Ye Nai took out the motorcycle and raced out of the city.
Head back to danger zone number 5.
As daylight brightened and more early-risers started checking out, eventually, the surveillance room discovered sothing was amiss—a floor’s elevator outside cara feed was continually empty.
After several checks, they realized soone had hacked into the surveillance, replaced the real cara feed with empty footage, not knowing if sothing had happened during this undetected ti.
The surveillance room passed a nervous morning until they found no guest complaints or incidents.
The security guards were overjoyed, and after discussing, decided to keep it to themselves instead of reporting.
Reporting ant trouble for themselves, whereas not reporting ant nothing happened.
Before noon, Ye Nai finally returned to her rented place.
She changed clothes, washed her hands and face, laid out all the New Year’s goods she bought in the empty living room, and took a group photo to send to the team leader chat.
["I’m back, claim your New Year’s goods."]
["Wow, you’re finally back."]
["Thought you’d only co back after the New Year’s Eve dinner."]
["Nonsense, I’ve been dreaming of the chef’s cooking. What ti do we eat tonight?"]
["Said we’re eating at six, we’ll head out together at five, bring all your stuff, we’ll set off fireworks and share New Year’s goods after dinner."]
["Okie-dokie."]
Ye Nai packed up, returned to the bedroom, laid down on the bed, turned on the electric blanket, and fell straight to sleep.
Riding the motorcycle for hours, it was ti to rest.
Skipping lunch was fine, saving room for the feast tonight.
At three-thirty in the afternoon, an alarm woke Ye Nai, who took a hot shower, shaved her long stubble, changed into a new set of clothes head to toe, and spruced up neatly. Right before five, seeing the ssage to gather downstairs in the phone chat, she left leisurely.
Every team leader brought their team, a big group assembled downstairs, and Ye Nai was imdiately dragged away by a group of female soldiers to get into a vehicle and leave.
Arriving outside the military canteen, this open area was also filled with parked cars, and even more people.
Besides the warriors coming to eat, there were many outsiders willing to pay for themselves.
Ye Nai spotted the private team leaders in the crowd, those who last ti invited her for drinks but ended up leaving her with the bill.
"Yezi, we’re going in, what are you looking at?" Captain i ca over, pulled Ye Nai along, and signaled her to keep up with everyone.
"Looking at those private team leaders, they’re actually here too. Aren’t they afraid of people bringing up their dine-and-dash at the table?"
"Pfft, who says team leaders aren’t thick-skinned? Although this gossip has made them lose face completely, by coming to eat here, they can et you again in public. A few words exchanged, and maybe they can smooth over the issue of the drink bill and save their face."
"Then you all must protect , don’t let sit too close to them."
"Don’t worry, stick with us."
Ye Nai was surrounded by a large group and taken to the third floor of the canteen.
Glancing around, the spacious hall had tables set quite far apart. Even after everyone sat down, there was still plenty of walking space around, not crowded at all.
As she went upstairs, she noticed that the first and second floors had noticeably more crowded tables and chairs.
When it was ti to sit, they didn’t separate n and won, but rather those who could drink and those who couldn’t.
Ye Nai was directly pushed to the most conspicuous head table.
"Hold on, I’m sitting here? Isn’t this the leader’s spot?"
"Relax, the leaders also need your stomach."
"Do we have to drink like this during the New Year’s?"
"You know about toasts, right?"
"Will the ones downstairs co up? Then I should hide, shouldn’t I? I don’t want to see the private team captains; I’m not in the mood to play with them right now. A few words from them and they could lead astray."
"No worries, soone is watching the stairwell. If they co up, you can hide through that door there."
Ye Nai followed the direction of the gaze and saw a door at the far end of the hall.
"What’s that door for?"
"Outside that door is a fire escape, and the kitchen back door is right below."
Ye Nai gave a thumbs up.
"Good, it’s perfect for going to the bathroom." One of the main traits of a sieve stomach was quick water loss, which was fine; moving around from ti to ti helped prevent overindulgence in the drinks.
"Hey, right."
"Take it easy, this floor is usually for hosting guests. During festive days like New Year’s, our few teams can also co up here to sit."
"Private teams on the second floor?"
"Right, they can only co up for a while during toasting ti. Since they’re renting here, they have to go through the ceremony of showing respect. In fact, we don’t get much of the spoils they bring back, less than what you provide us."
"You’re not just flattering , are you? When they weren’t stable, didn’t they have to cling to the stronger ones?"
"When they weren’t stable, that’s when they were weakest. How much could they have to offer for support? Now that they’re stronger, they can sell to others and earn more, so why sell to us?"
"Makes sense," Ye Nai’s eyes brightened, and her confidence grew, "They have less, not like . I deal in quantity."
"Yeah, exactly, that’s right, you deal in quantity."
This statent was unanimously agreed upon by everyone. A week before, the amount of prey she had brought back was quite astonishing; otherwise, they wouldn’t say she was a promising Hunter.
"Because of the quantity of ga you provide us, you can sit on the third floor, while they sit on the second."
With those words, Ye Nai felt even more secure in her seat.
Around 5:30 pm, a commotion was heard from downstairs. Soone went to check and ca back up to report that the leaders had arrived.
It took the leaders over a quarter of an hour to get from the first to the third floor.
When they saw the table prepared for them and Ye Nai already seated there, each of them started to smile.
"Ah, tonight we’re reliant on Xiao Yezi," one said.
"Don’t worry, leave it to ," Ye Nai assured them, patting her chest.
Just before six o’clock, the dishes began to be served downstairs.
The servers were all logistics personnel of the Space Awakened. Each table’s dishes were stored in a space and brought up all at once.
Looking around, most of the dishes were glistening and succulent varieties of at—sautéed, braised, marinated—all prey she and the warriors had hunted and brought back ti and ti again.
There was even more alcohol. It lined an entire wall, box after box was placed on the tables; both beer and liquor. People in the army could drink, even if they couldn’t before enlistnt, after a few years, they could at least manage a few bottles.
Ye Nai didn’t drink. She took out a bottle of yogurt drink and alternated between the drink and the food, filling herself up before the toasting began, when it would be her ti to shine.
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