The man didn’t even glance at her, simply walking past her and placing the Crystal Stone in Su Mo’s palm.
She picked it up and looked at it, the deep green color shone beautifully under the sunlight’s refraction, and she happily accepted it.
Jianxiong, seeing the Crystal Stones scattered on the ground, hurriedly gathered Li Qian and Zhao Changsheng to pick them up without a moment’s delay.
Zhao Xiweng suppressed her emotions and returned to Mo Yan’s side while the rescued Gold Element Superpower User lay on the ground, breathing in but not out.
Su Mo glanced at it and then took Lu Chen’s hand, saying to the soldiers who brought them, "Can we go now? The sun is almost setting."
The soldier nodded, "Let’s go."
Minimizing the inevitable casualties was his duty.
Although Mo Yan was quite helpless, having witnessed too much death and injury along the way, he had no choice but to give up on his comrades and lead the remaining people away.
Ai Yang still couldn’t accept it and took out his anger on Su Mo, charging at her and screaming in a breakdown, "Su Mo! Do you just want to hog the Crystal Stones for yourselves? If there were problems, why didn’t you speak up earlier!? Do you know that people have died!?"
Su Mo was originally happy about the day’s fruitful return, but his words left her speechless. She stopped and said calmly, "Did I give you too much face today?"
Zhao Xiweng came over to explain, "I believe you didn’t do it on purpose, Admiral Lu even came back to save us."
Her words were really unpleasant to hear, causing Su Mo’s brows to furrow. Ai Yang wanted to add more words but was stopped by Mo Yan, who reprimanded him sharply, "Have you had enough?"
"How many of our people have died! It’s been because of her all along the way!" Ai Yang broke free and pointed at Su Mo’s nose as he cursed, each word uglier than the last.
Zhao Xiweng didn’t speak at this time, and Su Mo didn’t miss the schadenfreude in her eyes.
Jianxiong and the others who had collected the Crystal Stones came back, and seeing his words, their superpowers began to surface, but they were quickly blocked by a swift soldier, "You are in a cooperative relationship now, no fighting!"
Lu Chen had an icy expression, and frost covered his slender fingers. Su Mo grabbed his hand and her lips curved into a smile, "Let me."
She activated her superpower and ran swiftly towards Ai Yang, arriving in front of him in the blink of an eye.
Her overwhelming presence was released, as she gripped his neck, and her fingers tightened and she smiled brilliantly, "Such a dirty mouth, let me help you pull some teeth."
Ai Yang was just a Level 2 strength superpower user, and he couldn’t compete with the pressure from Su Mo. A young and strong man was easily subdued by Su Mo.
Mo Yan went to stop her with a pained expression, "Don’t do this, Su Mo. Let’s talk it out peacefully."
Su Mo turned her head, her smiling face chilling, "Did you stop him when he was not speaking nicely?"
Not bothering with him any further, her hand originally locked around Ai Yang’s throat shifted to gripping his mouth, forcing it open. The Tang Blade appeared in her hand, and she used the tip to flick out the upper and lower front teeth.
Ai Yang let out an instant howl of agony.
"Enough, Su Mo! Why have you become so unforgiving?" Mo Yan couldn’t stand it anymore and reached for her hand, only to be blocked by an Ice Blade floating in front of him.
Unable to tolerate it any longer, he turned to Lu Chen and shouted angrily, "Enough is enough! You saved us only to kill us now?"
"Our boss saving you wasn’t his intention," Jianxiong said coarsely from not far away, "mainly afraid the sister would get scratched."
Receiving a satisfied glance from Lu Chen, Jianxiong puffed up his chest, see, that’s how clever he was.
Ai Yang’s mouth was bloody, with several front teeth scattered on the ground.
Su Mo put away her blade contentedly and dusted her hands off, not bothering with Mo Yan as she passed by Zhao Xiweng, she paused deliberately and blinked at her, "My man is outstanding, for sure, but if you don’t reel in that gaze of yours, I don’t mind taking another pair of eyes."
Zhao Xiweng lowered her head and whispered softly, "You’ve misunderstood."
"I hope so," Su Mo smiled, her patience having been too generous for too long, everyone seemed to use her as a topic of conversation.
When they returned to the vehicle, they only handed over the Zombie Crystal Stones from the zombies they had killed in Nanfang Village, as the Level 3 Mutated Tree was unexpected and the soldiers didn’t ask them for the corresponding crystals.
The convoy made it back to base successfully before nightfall, and Mo Yan’s vehicle left without greeting anyone after entering the base. Su Mo had Jianxiong stop the car at the Outer Ring; she needed to check on the mother and son there.
"Wait here for a while, I have something to do," Su Mo jumped out of the car.
"I’ll come with you," Lu Chen got out of the car and took her hand as they walked into the cluster of dilapidated tents.
Since they were waiting for someone, Jianxiong parked the car on the side and turned off the engine.
Following her memory, Su Mo arrived at the sagging tent that was lit with a faint candlelight. She stood at the entrance and softly called out, "Jian Chunhua?"
There was a rustle inside the tent, and then the curtains were pulled open.
Upon seeing Su Mo, Jian Chunhua was so excited that she immediately tried to kneel down: "My savior!"
Su Mo quickly caught hold of her, "Let’s talk inside."
"Right, right, right," Jian Chunhua hurriedly led them into the tent.
The man on the small bed had woken up and was sitting up, holding a stale bun in his hand.
When Jian Qing saw Su Mo, he first felt ashamed and then grateful; he straightened up, his Adam’s apple bobbed, and he finally bowed solemnly to Su Mo: "Thank you, my lady."
He would never underestimate this young-looking girl again.
"Is your leg starting to mend?" Su Mo asked with a smile.
Jian Qing nodded excitedly; he didn’t know why, but the flesh on his leg had been growing surprisingly fast these past few days.
Standing to the side, Jian Chunhua chimed in happily, "I don’t know what medicine you used, but in the past two days my son’s leg hasn’t hurt much, it’s just itchy."
Su Mo nodded and approached Jian Qing, placing her hand on the bandaged leg: "Let me have another look."
Her profile was delicate with a perky nose, rosy and attractive cheeks, and eyelashes like fan brushes while looking down; Jian Qing couldn’t help but be captivated by her face.
Lu Chen’s gaze darkened, his icy stare causing Jian Qing to shiver uncontrollably. He turned his head and when he met those phoenix eyes, his heart skipped a beat and he quickly lowered his head, not daring to look anymore.
Jian Chunhua hadn’t noticed the exchange between the two; she stood by and hesitated for a moment before speaking: "Erm... my savior, I have something to report."
Su Mo’s eyes were downcast, her movements uninterrupted, "Go ahead."
Taking a breath, Jian Chunhua said, "I don’t know if it’s true, but after you left, a couple came looking for me, saying they were your... parents."
Su Mo’s hand paused, then she replied, "Wrong people."
Jian Chunhua immediately breathed a sigh of relief: "I thought as much, if they really were, why wouldn’t they take you back home to live with them?"
Su Mo’s eyes dimmed. After removing the gauze, she saw Jian Qing’s leg wound had healed to an extent that was within her control, and there was no more dead flesh. She picked up a basin at the side; it contained water that had turned black from washing. She sighed, took it out to dump, and after having Lu Chen add some ice cubes and Biluochun Tea, she brought the water back.