Starting from the ninth day, he began to slack off a bit.
Severely sleep-deprived, he was indeed exhausted, and it wasn’t long before he rested his head against the car window and drifted off to sleep.
When he woke up again, the team had just finished a hunt and was preparing to get back in the car, as Wen Lei was trying to move him to the front passenger seat.
Ren Zhong rubbed his eyes groggily, "Are you guys done already? Sorry, why didn’t you call me earlier?"
Zheng Tian smiled and said, "Actually, we did call you, but Ren, you didn’t react at all. We thought the opponent wasn’t strong, so we handled it ourselves and let you sleep a bit longer."
Ou Youning also said, "Yeah. Ren, you look like you’re on night watch now. Just rest easy, we can handle it. Anyway, now in the morning we..."
"Ahem!" Zheng Tian coughed suddenly, interrupting Ou Youning.
Ren Zhong looking sleep-deprived in broad daylight was a bit unusual, but still acceptable.
No one said that after sleeping at night, you can’t sleep during the day.
In fact, many frontier people, even if they sleep thoroughly at night with their wrist watch, often laze around at home during the day not wanting to move.
Being awake like that isn’t much different from being asleep.
Ren Zhong thought for a bit and said, "Then, if you encounter situations you can’t handle, like a Ruined Beast nest or a Second Level Ruined Beast, wake me up then."
So, for this morning, Ren Zhong started to slack off with confidence.
It was quite fitting, anyway, by noon, the professional team always found a way to come over and demand a random encounter tax.
Due to Ren Zhong slacking off, the team’s hunting progress in the morning was naturally lackluster.
The not-so-foolish Zheng Tian had long seen through Ren Zhong’s previous way of doing things.
Ren was deliberately avoiding the extortion from the professional team.
Although Zheng Tian felt inside that this approach would eventually risk being exposed, which was somewhat dangerous and prone to incidents.
But then she thought, since it was the survey officer’s own decision, even if the professional team did figure out the trick, it wouldn’t be a big deal.
By noon, after only having been woken up twice briefly, Ren Zhong was fully rested and mentally refreshed.
In the afternoon, the team turned the tide and resumed the grand sweep.
The target remained Rat Cliff Mountain.
The small Rat Cliff Mountain seemed like Shen Wansan’s treasure bowl, with an endless stream of Ruined Beasts.
Even though it had recently been harvested, new rat-like Ruined Beasts grew back, seeming impossible to completely cut down.
On the ninth day, the harvest was still plentiful.
Everyone’s indulgence further fueled Ren Zhong’s arrogant attitude.
On the tenth day, Ren Zhong simply got into the car and went to sleep.
The others even consciously lowered their voices during conversations, fearing to wake him.
He proceeded to slack off for five consecutive mornings.
The image of Ren Zhong as a hard worker gradually collapsed in everyone’s minds.
Perhaps this is the corrupt life that frontier people would never understand.
Singing and celebrating every night, only carefree high-class citizens could live so unconcernedly, and live well.
Ren Zhong compressed his daytime activities, yet the team’s harvest in these five days did not decrease.
The reason was simple, as the economic situation gradually improved, the team did not rest on their laurels.
The team’s strength was visibly enhancing.
Zheng Tian got a new gun, which, although still First Level, was further enhanced with extreme modifications, advancing its shooting accuracy, reload speed, the burst speed of high-powered bullets, and stability in multiple performance metrics.
Ou Youning also finally started buying numerous goods he used to only drool over but never dared to purchase, honing the "art is explosion" concept to be more refined and fierce.
Bai Feng started using expensive new potions again. The black scales on his hand were becoming increasingly lustrous and dazzling.
Besides daily extra practice, Wen Lei also invested heavily to fine-tune and modify his armor, stuffing new things into the base modules, or replacing components with better performance indicators.
Previously, when encountering Second Level Ruined Beasts, the team would either avoid fighting or cautiously ambush after careful preparation.
If the first strike failed, they would immediately retreat a long distance.
Now, as long as they found a lone one, they could plan briefly and launch a swift assault, like a flying dragon riding face, not knowing how to lose.
Even if it was a pair of Second Level Ruined Beasts, with a bit of planning, they could still manage.
Ren Zhong would first hold one off while the other four surrounded the other, stable as can be.
One day, the team even wiped out a small group of three Second Level Ruined Beasts.