"Quick, go tell the captain!"
One of them immediately ran downstairs into the yacht’s lounge, where they found Jin Ziyu leaning over a refrigerated cabinet, drooling.
"Captain, we spotted a boat coming out of the Banyan Forest!"
Jin Ziyu froze for a moment, then immediately got up and hurried to the observation deck.
By now, the speedboat was rapidly approaching, and the yacht’s searchlight had already locked onto it.
Watching the speedboat draw near, Jin Ziyu raised a megaphone and called out, "Which esteemed member of Peach Blossom Base is that?"
Lu Jiamei brought the speedboat to a stop nearby and replied, "It’s me!"
Recognizing the voice, Jin Ziyu smiled. "Ah, it’s Sister Mei. Isn’t it a bit dangerous to be taking a speedboat out this late at night?"
"An urgent mission came up. I might be going out a few times tonight, so get familiar with this speedboat—the one with the Fluorescent Cactus. It’s one of our base’s boats. There’s another, smaller one, which we’ll show you tomorrow. You can carry on with your watch!" Lu Jiamei explained, then continued on her way out to sea.
"This is the Seventh-level Wind Sea Region, and they still have to run missions this late at night? Isn’t the boss a little too harsh?" one of them couldn’t help but whisper.
"Harsh? Would a harsh boss provide us with all this food?" Jin Ziyu completely disagreed.
"She’s handling it very steadily. That speedboat must be able to withstand Level 7 gales!" another person remarked, watching the boat disappear into the distance.
The others all nodded.
As they watched, the glow from the Fluorescent Cactus seemed to stop at a certain point in the distance. It circled a few times, then headed back.
On its return trip, it didn’t pass by the yacht, but instead disappeared directly into the Banyan Forest.
"What kind of mission was Sister Mei on? It looked like she just went out there to spin in a few circles."
"That’s not for us to worry about. Let’s just focus on our watch," Jin Ziyu replied. She headed back to the lounge, found a spot on the sofa, and prepared to get some rest.
She and two others were scheduled for the second half of the night’s watch.
But the thought of all the food in the refrigerated cabinet made it hard for her to fall asleep.
After dozing off and on, Jin Ziyu was woken up around midnight.
"Ziyu, it’s almost time for our watch!"
Jin Ziyu was instantly awake. She glanced at the digital clock on the cabin wall; it was already 11:40 PM.
"Alright. Let’s get something to eat, then we’ll go relieve the watch," Jin Ziyu said, getting to her feet.
The other two nodded. They turned to get their plates, took some food from the refrigerated cabinet, heated it in the microwave, and began to eat.
This was what Jin Ziyu had been waiting for, so she certainly didn’t hold back, once again piling a small mountain of food onto her plate.
After heating it up, she devoured the mountain of food like a whirlwind, patting her flat stomach in satisfaction.
The other two watched Jin Ziyu with envy. ’Where does all that food even go?’ they wondered. ’How can she eat so much and not gain any weight?’
’It must just be this one meal,’ the two comforted themselves. ’If she kept eating that much all the time, she’d definitely get fat!’
Jin Ziyu led her two companions to the observation deck. "Go get something to eat," she told the other three. "You can rest now. We’ll take it from here."
"Yes, Captain!"
One of them was already yawning, and as if it were contagious, the other two followed suit.
"Go on, get some rest!" Jin Ziyu shooed them downstairs, then scanned the surroundings. "With this wind and rain, no one should be out tonight, right?"
The words were barely out of her mouth when another speedboat shot out of the Banyan Forest. It followed Lu Jiamei’s previous route exactly, circled a few times in the same spot, and then returned to the Banyan Forest.
"This Peach Blossom Base is really strange," Jin Ziyu muttered. "Why insist on going over there just to do a few laps in the middle of the night?"
Her teammate chimed in, "Yeah, isn’t that just a complete waste of fuel?"
"They gave us enough diesel to restore our yacht’s power as soon as we arrived. The base must have a huge supply!"
Hearing her teammates, Jin Ziyu nodded in profound agreement. "Plentiful Energy and abundant food. We really won’t have to worry about going hungry anymore!"
Hearing Jin Ziyu bring up food again, one of her teammates couldn’t resist asking, "Captain, did your appetite only get this huge after you became an Evolver?"
"Not entirely. I’ve always had a huge appetite. It’s why I could never even land a boyfriend!" Jin Ziyu said with a hint of resignation, but she quickly brightened. "But really, as long as I have something to eat, who needs a boyfriend!"
The other two were a little surprised. They never expected there to be such a sad story behind her appetite!
"After becoming an Evolver, I do feel like my appetite has increased even more," Jin Ziyu continued. "It’s like my body needs more Energy, so now my appetite is even more frightening!"
"Oh, so that’s why!" the two said in unison, the realization dawning on them.
"If that’s the case, doesn’t becoming an Evolver mean you’d consume a massive amount of food?" one of the teammates suddenly asked.

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