With the Liu Family siblings officially joining, the new five-person team began to get busy.
The first task was to inventory the team's supplies.
In ordinary top-tier deserter teams, or the Desert Hunting Team under an Evolver's leadership, this is usually entrusted to the captain's trusted aide or handled personally.
But this involves two issues: first, the integrity of the person in charge—whether they might be corrupt—and second, their professionalism, including the ability to distribute current resources wisely, and make future plans.
Especially with the latter, don't underestimate these measures.
They might seem insignificant, but sometimes they can decide the fate of a team.
Most deserter teams, including Desert Hunting Teams, are often quite powerful, and their harvests from hunts are generally good, but due to poorly thought-out arrangements, the leaders and chiefs can be wasteful and extravagant...
Ultimately, this leads to the team falling apart.
Some starve to death, others flee.
So it's essential to cultivate good habits of careful calculation right from the start.
Ding Yi took all the remaining jerky from the team out to show sincerity. Liu Qian also took out the dehydrated jerky they had been allocated from the compartment.
On Lin Feng's side, forty pounds of wolf jerky, ten pounds or so had already been consumed; continuous battles had led to significant consumption.
Every bit of Life Value expended in repairing and upgrading items needed a pound of wolf meat to replenish.
This time, they harvested a hundred and fifty kilograms of dehydrated jerky, and after deducting the clothes and supplies bought by the three in the car's general store, there were still one hundred twenty kilograms left.
Mostly, it was Chen Shanshan who spent a lot; those two watches alone used up fourteen kilograms.
Aside from that, Lin Feng and Chen Shanshan also had twenty kilograms each of rock-horned horse loin.
Lin Feng's share had already been consumed by two kilograms.
This portion was privately owned and was not included.
The Liu Family siblings had consumed less than ten kilograms of their hundred kilograms of jerky, exchanging it for two sets of clean clothes.
Their loin wasn't included either.
Currently, there are a total of two hundred ten kilograms of jerky remaining, and fifteen kilograms of wolf meat.
The latter serves as regular reserve food and isn't touched for now.
Mainly the dehydrated jerky, which is the daily food supply for the permanent residents of the Fifth Village, originating from livestock raised in Nongzhuang Village, fattened through insane feeding acceleration, making the meat dry and tough.
Not only is it difficult to swallow, but it also takes half a day to digest.
Wolf meat is only semi-dehydrated and rich in nutrients, suitable for emergencies during hunting expeditions.
Including the one hundred fifty-point score on Chen Shanshan's Hunter badge, there's a total of three hundred sixty points.
After Liu Qian inquired about the arrangements from everyone, she quickly completed the statistics and formulated a reasonable plan:
"One point per kilogram of jerky, out of the three hundred sixty points, up to two hundred can be used for modifying the tricycle, while the remaining one hundred sixty points you three will need to purchase and update equipment, each approximately fifty points."
"Modifying the tricycle is a long-term task, and if a suitable opportunity arises, it might be sold, or used as an auxiliary vehicle to carry supplies."
"For instance, if Captain Chen gets upgraded to an Evolver and obtains a motorhome, the tricycle's utility becomes minimal, so investing too much at once won't match the benefit."
"We need to invest resources in what we currently need the most..."
As she said this, Liu Qian crouched before the pile of jerky, looking at the three main combat forces of the team:
"The most critical thing now is to improve the success rate of hunts, complete Tier One promotion, evolve from a deserter team into a core strength of the Five Major Villages, a stable Desert Hunting Team!"
The others looked at each other, surprised by Liu Qian's clear vision for the future, which greatly surpassed the unplanned teams that lived day-to-day without considering the future.
But only this way could the team be ensured of being on the move forward, rather than complacently consuming resources without a clear plan until hitting rock bottom before considering going out.
Many uncultured, unskilled deserter teams, including some Desert Hunting Teams, are like this...
Often after strenuous efforts and full harvests, they begin to indulge and slack off, though promoting consumption in Oasis Town, to the detriment of personal and team growth.
Lin Feng needs someone like Liu Qian, who is clear-headed, to effectively act like an accountant manager, reminding himself and team members to stay motivated:
"That's right, let's go ahead with this plan. This time, we'll head to the Hunting Wilderness Guild together and first exchange these two hundred plus kilograms of jerky for shopping points."
"Then, look at the tricycle's parts modification."
Liu Qian nodded and added:
"It's two hundred ten kilograms of dehydrated jerky!"
After discussion, the group immediately moved the stacked dehydration jerky to the tricycle compartment.
Lin Feng also specially brought his remaining loin, wanting to inquire about the price.
These parts that brought enhanced effects should be worth more than ordinary jerky.
On the way to the Hunting Wilderness Guild, Lin Feng asked about this matter.
Sitting diagonally opposite Lin Feng, Liu Qian spoke:
"These parts are collectively referred to as enhanced meat."
"Generally speaking, the lower the Enhancer's level, the better the effect when consumed, and if the Desolate Beast's level is lower than the Enhanced Person, it only has the effect of supplementing nutrition and restoring status."
"The heart and loin of a Level 9 Rock-Horned Horse are relatively valuable, several times more than other parts."
"I know about this much..."
At this moment, Chen Shanshan, who was riding in front, added:
"Enhanced meat generally only accumulates in late-stage desolate beasts from levels 7 to 9, serving as the energy foundation for their advancement to tier one desolate beasts."
"Liu Qian is right, the lower the strength level of the consumer, the better the enhancing effect. For example, if you and Ding Yi eat it, you can probably level up twice, reaching level 6 enhancement."
"The enhancing effect isn't as strong afterward."
"As for the level 7 Desert Wolf before, eating it didn't have much enhancing effect for me."
"As for the loin meat of the Rock-Horned Horse, it helped me complete the final level 9 enhancement. Eating it afterward would only serve to quickly restore my state."
"I'll share some with Ding Yi, allowing her to enhance to level 5, and I plan to keep the rest as rations for hunting battles."
"If sold, I remember that five kilograms are equivalent to one enhancer, priced between ten to thirty points."
"The specific value assessment depends on the enhancement level of the desolate beast and the energy richness of the enhanced meat."
"Why, are you thinking of buying the remaining loin meat?"
Lin Feng nodded. Currently, only at level 6 enhancement, relying on level 9 loin meat for nutrition was too extravagant. The 30 pounds of level 7 wolf meat from the team were completely sufficient.
There were still eight kilograms of loin meat on hand, which could be exchanged for a minimum of sixteen points. Combined with each person's fifty-point purchasing limit, it totaled nearly seventy points.
Buying a pair of resin glasses and a set of combat suit parts wouldn't be a problem.
Upon returning to the Hunting Wilderness Guild, the two women who hadn't come last time were shocked by the air conditioning after entering the hallway through the main door.
After pausing for a moment, they caught up with the crowd.
Upon entering the hall, they converted the 210 kilograms of dehydrated jerky they had with them into shopping points, then headed to the shops of the other Four Major Villages.
Lin Feng stayed at the butcher shop, taking out the eight kilograms of Rock-Horned Horse loin meat he held.
The butcher tore off a piece to taste, nodded, and then set a price of four points per kilogram:
"The enhanced meat of level nine desolate beasts is the most expensive, valued at five to six points per kilogram. The meat quality of wild Rock-Horned Horses is mediocre, originally worthy of five points, but the energy density of this piece of meat is a bit low. I estimate it came from a very weak level 9 Rock-Horned Horse..."
"So, at most four points."
"How about it? Want to trade?"
A flicker of joy appeared in Lin Feng's eyes, but he quickly restrained it, handing over the heavy loin meat in his hand.
This offer far exceeded his expectations. While appreciating the butcher's professionalism, the transaction was completed.
The total of eight kilograms translated to thirty-two shopping points, instantly making Lin Feng's resources more abundant.
However, after the butcher collected the loin meat, he did not immediately give Lin Feng the shopping points but instead pulled out a low-temperature refrigerated storage box from under the counter.
Opening it up revealed over twenty tubes of liquid.
Then the owner warmly introduced to Lin Feng:
"This is high-tech from the Oasis, produced by the Li Family who runs the farm. Drinking it, paired with regular dehydrated jerky, completes an upgrade."
"Young brother, it seems you haven't reached the late-stage enhancement yet? For the three stages of enhancers—early, mid, and late—it takes consuming high-energy-density enhanced meat to make leaps. These enhancement potions are refined, concentrated versions."
"Potions are divided into three stages of enhancement as well: low, mid, and high. Just one high-level potion can help you smoothly advance to become a Level 7 Enhanced Human!"
"Who knows when you'll next hunt down a level 7 or higher desolate beast? Why not buy one now, improve your strength, and be more secure when you go on bounty missions!"
"After all, power is fundamental."
Looking at those enhancement agents in the freezer, along with the owner's introduction...
Lin Feng suddenly felt tempted.
Having reached level 6 enhancement, he only needed to rise one more level to make a small breakthrough beyond the upper limit.
Although there was only a difference of a hundred kilograms of power between levels 6 and 7, the life level of the two was different.
Level 6 belonged to mid-stage enhanced humans with average strength only around half a ton, with full force exertion reaching only six to seven hundred kilograms. But level 7 was late-stage enhanced humans with a base strength of six to seven hundred kilograms, easily exerting it.
This was why, back then, Qi Mountain and others, despite having the strength of several mid-stage enhanced humans, dared not act decisively.
They could only incite other team members, forcing Chen Shanshan to compromise amid "abandonment by allies."
But at the time, such a situation, swapping in any late-stage enhanced human at level 8, could directly kill the leading Qi Mountain, and the little followers would not dare to make a sound.
Chen Shanshan's demeanor was still too soft. After all, she was just an eighteen-year-old girl, although awakened at twelve, having followed her Evolver master for six years. In terms of mental state and character, she was not yet as mature as Ding Yi, who had just arrived a month ago.
Now, with the Liu Family siblings joining the team, there were more variables, and Lin Feng also needed to quickly become a late-stage enhanced human to have more confidence in leading the team's decisions.
So buying a high-level enhancement potion now to break through to a level 7 late-stage enhanced human was very cost-effective.
Moreover, next time, as long as he hunted a level nine desolate beast, he could, like Liu Mingfei, directly become a level 9 enhanced person.
Begin preparing for tier one advancement.
Not to mention the item upgrade system, which sets the upper limit based on Lin Feng's level.
Under multiple needs, Lin Feng hesitated for several seconds.
Until a reminder popped out from the corner of his vision that an upgrade was completed, prompting him to finally make up his mind and ask:
"How much does a high-level enhancement potion cost?"