Chapter 1456: Chapter 1331: Aftermath [Cast of Characters] Early the next morning. The reveille hadn’t been sounded yet, but Zhan Ming, due to his natural body clock, opened his eyes and saw a silhouette standing ghost-like at the head of his bed. Wait a second, he slept on the top bunk! The dormitory’s lights hadn’t been turned on yet, and it was quite dark. The sudden appearance startled him, making him instinctively sit up and swing a punch! With a “bang,” the punch landed solidly on someone, but only hit their shoulder, warm and firm. The person then released their grip and slid right down the ladder. While letting out a sigh of relief, Zhan Ming quickly leaned against the rail to look down: “Who the heck is it?!” Then, the dormitory lights turned on. Everyone had already been awakened by the earlier commotion and now stared at the person standing in the middle of the dormitory, their faces filled with horror: Zhan Ming was even angrier, leaning over the bed’s edge: “Damn it, you trying to scare me to death?! You’re lucky I didn’t hit you in the face; otherwise you’d blame me for disfiguring you!” Indeed, the person standing in the middle of the dormitory was disfigured. Their face was swollen with fat cheeks, red bumps covering their face and neck, and even their eyelids were puffy. Their upper lip was plump and red, curled up like those who get lip injections online… The lip change also affected their speech, and even with squinted eyes, it was hard to convey hatred. Everyone only heard them glaring at Zhan Ming with hatred: “You almost cost me my life… You watch out!” Having said that, they turned and left the dormitory. Everyone shifted their gaze to the top bunk, while Zhan Ming sat there, looking innocent: “Why are you looking at me? I don’t even know who that was!” But it wasn’t long before he found out. Because, early in the morning, the squad leader showed up. Soon, everyone knew—some dog thief wasn’t doing their job, taking off all their gear during shift change, convincing the incoming person they didn’t need protection. Well, sure enough, they didn’t wear any, and by the time their shift ended, you couldn’t recognize them. This was a big deal in the team. Because it’s only April; if it weren’t for the sudden warming earlier, there wouldn’t be so many mosquitoes this season. If this prank was pulled in June or July, someone could really have died! As a result, everyone was alarmed, and Zhan Ming was confused, called out, feeling as if a giant weight had crashed down, leaving him dizzy and out of sorts. From today on, he might as well change his last name to Dou, like Dou E. “I really didn’t lie!” He was almost swearing to the heavens, or cough, to the Party! “I was on duty yesterday too! Check the surveillance; I really didn’t wear protection because there were no mosquitoes…” ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ 𝘯𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭⚑𝓯𝓲𝓻𝓮⚑𝕟𝕖𝕥 He had taken his gear but didn’t see a single mosquito during his shift, really thinking they were gone for the season, so during his turn, he decided not to bring it. An entire two-hour night shift, genuinely not hearing a single mosquito buzz; he casually mentioned his surprise during the switch, who would have thought… At this moment, Zhan Ming stood there, bewildered: “Did I evolve?” “Bullshit!” The squad leader glared at him: “Even if you evolved into Superman, the mosquitoes here could still drain you dry!” There had been plenty of new recruits not believing it, claiming they were immune to mosquito bites, only to cry after standing for just 10 minutes. The mosquitoes here are truly the tyrants of the area, especially when standing guard in June or July, with nets covered by layers of them! How could there possibly be no mosquitoes?! “Did you use some new mosquito repellent?” A group of people had been watching the surveillance for a long time. Though it wasn’t high enough resolution to detect every mosquito, Zhan Ming’s state during his duty was clear— He indeed hadn’t worn protection and showed no signs of being pestered by mosquitoes. Zhan Ming seemed even more puzzled: “No…” But since the issue was already brewing, his roommates were questioned one by one, and thinking hard, they eventually hesitantly asked, “Could it be the Mugwort?” What? The leaders were stunned. What mugwort? “You know, the Mugwort Tea that logistics handed out yesterday! Zhan Ming didn’t like drinking it, so he used it to soak water and bathe.” They didn’t mention washing his feet, really saving him some face. “What?!” Now it was the logistics leader who got angry: “Do you know how many applications I had to submit to get that down here?! How difficult it is to obtain funding, you know? I even had to sweet-talk the sellers, they didn’t even want to make this bit of money from us! If I didn’t reveal our identity, do you think we could have secured such good stuff?!” As the head of logistics, he spent much more time on his cell phone than the ordinary soldiers did. He had followed Qiaoqiao’s livestream ever since trying the tea egg spice pack that comrades’ family members had sent last year. No one cared for those at first, but upon hearing they were sold for a high price of 20 yuan, everyone still brought them to the canteen, jokingly. Who knew, when that pot of spices was simmering, the entire canteen was filled with a rich spiced aroma, even if not a single bit of meat was added, and the tea eggs had such a dominant fragrance that it’s unforgettable. In the end, they finished the eggs and then, not giving up, added chicken feet, meat, and tofu, but without the spices, it just wasn’t the same. When they tried to grab more, not to mention the lousy signal had them missing out, but they finally snagged one package! The same online shopping phrase was used: “Sorry dear, we can’t offer free shipping on this product.” From then on, Qiaoqiao’s livestream rooted deeply in everyone’s heart. But his broadcasts weren’t regular, and the time everyone could get online wasn’t fixed either, so nine times out of ten, they were left missing the deals, slapping their thighs. This time, after a lot of trouble, finally finding the comrade who originally supplied the tea egg spices, that person went back to ask their family, who then found their relative— Ultimately, Zhu Xin asked Song Tan. Otherwise, there’d be no chance. For that one application, the tip of the pen almost sparked flames from all the writing; the difficulties of this task were completely unknown to the recipients! Now hearing someone used the stuff for bathing… Everyone nervously watched the logistics leader, afraid his blood pressure would shoot up. But now the focus wasn’t on bathing or even tea, but— “Did this Mugwort Tea really have such an effect just by wiping it over the body once, even without simmering to fully release its properties?” Doesn’t it seem too outrageous? Keep in mind, they had tried burning a whole bundle of Ai Zhu in the post, resulting in guards getting smoked into a runny mess, while the mosquitoes remained unfazed… At this moment, everyone stared at the unassuming Mugwort Tea soaking in their cups, itching to experiment…