"Here, eat up. Warm yourself."
Barto handed the mutton soup he was holding to Gu Ning.
Gu Ning pulled down her outer mask, leaving only the inner one that had an opening for her mouth. She cupped the soup, blew on it, and took a sip.
The rich, fragrant mutton soup went down, and most of the chill in her body was instantly dispelled.
’After all that trouble, I can finally eat.’
Gu Ning took several more sips, her gaze sweeping over the other teams. They were also cooking.
They were going to spend the night here and set out again tomorrow morning.
Vine had managed to temporarily stabilize the order within the convoy, but the Dog Team still got into minor squabbles with the other teams from time to time. The animosity was mutual.
A few members of the Dog Team walked past a Wolf Team member’s pot, "accidentally" bumping into them and knocking the soup from their hands.
"Are you fucking blind?!" the Wolf Team member roared, jumping to his feet.
"Whoops, my bad. Guess I am a little blind," the Dog Team member said shamelessly. "Ah, what can you do when our leader’s not around?"
Gu Ning saw the members of the two teams were at each other’s throats and knew the problem with "the dog" hadn’t been resolved.
He had a problem, and his men naturally sided with him.
Watching Vine run back and forth between the teams and Philinos patrolling the sky, Gu Ning chewed her mutton and fell into thought.
’It’s only been one day on the road, and there are already so many problems. I don’t know what’s going to happen next.’
Vine, Philinos, and ’the dog’ were all team leaders. The three of them held the same rank. Vine seemed to be the one in charge, but ’the dog’ wouldn’t listen to him, and his orders couldn’t override him.
Trying to force someone of the same rank to submit would only backfire.
As for Philinos...
Gu Ning’s head throbbed even more when she remembered her conversation with him in the vehicle. His recent desire to "throw out the dog" was on par with Barto wanting to "kill the dog"—they both preferred to solve problems by getting rid of the person causing them.
She couldn’t help but think of Alex. If he were here, he would know how to handle this situation.
Gu Ning glanced at the vehicle Seth was driving and understood with certainty that Alex wasn’t following their convoy at all.
What Alex had said during the day, the way Barto and the others were deliberately hiding things from her... maybe he had left temporarily, or maybe he’d been assigned another mission. But she understood that they all just wanted her to leave Zone 19 with peace of mind.
Gu Ning checked her terminal. Still no signal.
She couldn’t contact Alex, nor could she reach Andrew.
’Looks like I can’t rely on them anymore.’
Gu Ning thought carefully about the day’s events and decided she had to have a proper talk with these team leaders.
"Too bad it’s frozen, so it’s not very fresh," Seth said as he fished some mutton out of the pot. He sliced the meat with a small knife and gave a piece to Gu Ning and another to Cook. "Once we get to Zone 5, we’ll have fresh mutton to eat."
Seth’s eyes sparkled as he spoke of Zone 5. "Zone 5 has lots of ranches. Little Boss, I’ll take you to catch some sheep when we get there."
Cook was delighted at the mention of sheep, wagging his tail. "WOOF!"
Seth laughed. "I’ll take you too."
"What are you thinking about?" Barto tapped Gu Ning’s bowl.
Gu Ning’s thoughts were pulled back. "Thinking... journey... tomorrow."
Barto said, "I’ll drive tomorrow."
Gu Ning sized up his human form, then scooted closer, whispering to him, "Barto, go get... Vine... Philinos. Wait for me... in the vehicle."
Barto: "What for?"
Gu Ning nudged him with her elbow. "Go. Have things... to discuss."
Barto said to Seth, "You go get—"
"You go," Gu Ning said.
Seeing her resolve, Barto had no choice but to get up and fetch them, telling Seth and Cook to watch over Gu Ning.
As soon as he left, Gu Ning turned her head to look at a ruined corner of the wall behind her.
Leo was still tied up, with a few soldiers from the Wolf Team watching him.
Vine had just given the order that no one else from the Dog Team was to approach him, saying he needed to cool off on his own.
Gu Ning leaned in and whispered a few words in Seth’s ear.
Seth nodded, got up, and called over to the ’wolf pups’ guarding Leo. "I’ll watch him for you. Go get something to eat."
The team members saw that Leo had his eyes closed as if asleep, and the pot was just a short distance away, so they entrusted the duty to Seth without worry.
Seth was Alex’s right-hand man and had a good temper and personality. They had a good impression of him and trusted him.
When Gu Ning saw the ’wolf pups’ leave Leo, she picked up her bowl, now full of mutton, and walked toward him.
This time, she kept her distance from ’the dog,’ placing the bowl on the ground.
Seth stood with his back to Gu Ning a short distance away, helping to keep watch.
Cook followed her over, leaned down to the bowl, and snatched a large piece of meat.
Gu Ning pulled Cook away as he tried to eat all the meat, then pushed the bowl forward a little more.
Leo opened his eyes.
He glanced at the bowl of mutton on the ground, then slowly shifted his gaze to Gu Ning’s face. "What’s the meaning of this?"
Gu Ning pushed the bowl forward again.
Leo slumped down, leaning nonchalantly against the wall. He tilted his chin up at Gu Ning. "Can’t you see I’m tied up? You expect me to eat off the ground like an animal?"
"Come here and feed me," Leo said, opening his mouth.
Gu Ning didn’t dare get any closer. Seeing his mouth wide open, she picked up a piece of meat from the bowl and tossed it at him.
Her aim was perfect. A bullseye.
Leo spat the meat out, furious. "Are you playing fetch with a dog?! Come here and feed me with your hand!"
Gu Ning didn’t throw another piece. Instead, she picked one up and fed it to Cook.
Leo gritted his teeth. "You despicable female. And here I thought Alex was the one who snuck you here. Looks like they’re all your dogs."
’Just what I wanted to hear.’ It confirmed that Leo knew she was a female.
Leo sized her up and sneered, "You’re covered in their scent. Did you really think you could hide from me?"
Gu Ning didn’t say a word, continuing to feed pieces of meat from the bowl to Cook.
Leo stared at the hand she was using to hold the meat and unconsciously swallowed.
"You know why I can smell your scent?" Leo said.
’Of course I know, you practically glued yourself to me and sniffed just now.’
’Besides, during their previous encounters, this dog seemed to have noticed something was off. She just hadn’t given it much thought, since he didn’t look too bright.’
Leo: "It’s because they’re useless. And they still thought they could hide it from me."
Gu Ning now had a good idea of the reason for Leo’s earlier behavior. She moved a little closer to him and said, "So you... going to expose... me?"
Hearing her speak, Leo was taken aback for a moment. He sat up a little straighter and chuckled. "Where did this little wild beast come from, talking like that."
Gu Ning: "Zone 5."
Leo was skeptical. "Really? You came to Zone 19 with Alex?"
’He believed that so quickly?’ Seeing how quickly he believed her, Gu Ning pressed her lips together and nodded.
Leo wore an expression that screamed, ’I knew it, I’m a genius.’ "I knew it! He was hiding you in his room like you were some kind of treasure."
"Is their mission to escort you?" he asked.
Gu Ning didn’t actually know the specifics of Vine and the others’ mission. When she set out, she’d thought she was just going to Zone 5 with Alex.
But this was the story she had prepared for Leo, so she didn’t elaborate. Leo suspected Vine and the others were hiding another mission from him, and besides her identity, there was probably something else.
’To ensure a peaceful journey and a smooth arrival in Zone 5, I’ll just go along with what he’s saying for now.’
She took out a pen and paper, wrote down what she wanted to say, and held it in front of Leo.
Leo leaned in, squinting one eye to read it. He glanced away from her hand, which smelled of mutton, licked his lips, and leaned back. "Telling me the truth only now, and you want me to drive for you? Too late."
Gu Ning knew ’this dog’ wouldn’t be so easy to handle. She hadn’t expected him to obey her meekly. It was enough to let him know that he was now carrying out the same mission as Vine and the others, that he wasn’t being excluded.
Otherwise, he’d feel resentful and would still cause trouble on the road.
Leo snorted. "They’re your dogs. I’m not."
Gu Ning: "Dog Team... only... you are."
Leo processed her words for a moment, but his brain couldn’t quite make the connection. "I’m what? And what’s with this ’Dog Team’ name? It’s weird. Call me by my name."
Gu Ning didn’t answer him. She placed the half-empty bowl of mutton next to him and turned to leave with Cook.
When she was a little farther away, she heard Leo yelling from behind her, "Come back! Feed me, you hear?! Or I’m not driving for you tomorrow!"