The group entered Black Beast Camp, but rather than approach the sturdy buildings, they rested in the former grazing area.
Yao Fang of Black Beast Camp provided them with food and water, a large tent capable of sleeping ten, and the corresponding supplies.
It was getting late. Aside from Dila, who had to begrudgingly sleep outside, everyone else could rest comfortably in the tent for the night.
It was no worse than the cave rooms at Cliffside Camp.
Li Ban and Zhu Yao decided to take turns keeping watch.
As Priests, their mental and physical states already far surpassed those of ordinary people; sleeping three or four hours a day was enough to completely restore their energy.
Even without sleep, absorbing spiritual rhinoceros could keep them fully energized.
Since they would likely be traveling for a long time afterward, the others needed to rest as much as possible.
Li Ban took the first watch of the night, but Zhu Yao did not immediately lie down. She waited until the others were mostly asleep before quietly coming over to sit beside him.
Li Ban shook his head. "I don't want to go. But once they take Red Fruit Camp, I can use White Seeds to trade for two red fruits."
Li Ban currently had two red fruits on hand. It was not a large amount, only enough for emergency use.
Red Fruit Camp was currently besieged by three factions; it was impossible for them to sell red fruits to outsiders right now.
Unless Li Ban agreed to help them fight the other three camps.
But Li Ban did not want to waste spiritual rhinoceros on human infighting.
Even if they were doing it to ensure their own survival.
"Besides, I think the situation at Red Fruit Camp might not be as simple as it seems on the surface."
Zhu Yao pondered for a moment, then nodded. "I understand. They're being besieged by three camps, yet they still refuse to lift the restrictions on selling red fruits. The waters here might run very deep."
Regardless, having confirmed that Li Ban would not participate in the war between the four camps, Zhu Yao could finally sleep peacefully.
Their goal was to find a way to leave the Recycling Station; they could not casually get bogged down in the camps' schemes.
Even if they were forced to get involved for certain benefits in the future, that should only happen once they reached the center of the continent.
Not right after setting out, only to end up entangled in a mess of trouble.
Pressing forward burdened like that, it would definitely be impossible to leave the Recycling Station.
Although—
Even now, Zhu Yao still did not know what they had to do to leave the Recycling Station.
Sometimes, when she slept at night, she would see that crimson Sea of Monsters the moment she closed her eyes.
That curtain they could never break through.
Early the next morning, Yao Fang visited Li Ban again, only to receive the same reply that he would not participate in the war.
Feeling slightly disappointed, he did not force the issue, but he brought up another condition.
"Over the next three days, we will join forces with Bell Tower Camp to launch a general assault on Red Fruit Camp."
"During this time, could you and your team temporarily stay here in Black Beast Camp?"
Li Ban raised an eyebrow. Were they afraid he would cause trouble halfway through, or even turn around and join Red Fruit Camp's side?
"You are all moving out; aren't you afraid I'll attack your home base while staying here?" Li Ban asked mockingly.
Yao Fang smiled honestly, but his eyes were filled with shrewdness.
"Not many of our people are participating in the final battle. Everything is still centered around Bell Tower Camp, and when the time comes, the bulk of the spoils will be distributed to them."
"Please forgive us. Asking you to stay for two days is to prevent our allies from getting the wrong idea."
"Sounds nice, but you're the ones overthinking it, aren't you?" Tail said, walking past and unceremoniously exposing Yao Fang's true thoughts.
"Sure."
Surprisingly, Li Ban agreed very readily.
Tail, who had just walked past, widened her eyes and turned back to look at him, as if she were meeting Li Ban for the first time.
"However, I want two red fruits," Li Ban continued.
Zhu Yao pursed her lips into a soft smile. When discussing it with Li Ban last night, she had figured that since they were not joining Black Beast Camp's side, the camp would definitely guard against them betraying them midway to join Red Fruit Camp.
Therefore, they would inevitably make some demands.
As long as the demands were not excessive, Li Ban could agree, but he would ask for two red fruits in return.
Compared to the red fruits Black Beast and the other two camps would obtain after successfully taking down Red Fruit Camp, two was an insignificant number.
So insignificant that they could give the red fruits to Li Ban right now without feeling any heartache.
Yao Fang paused for a moment, then nodded without overthinking it. "Fine, I'll have someone bring them over right away."
Li Ban and Zhu Yao exchanged a glance, both with smiles in their eyes.
Off to the side, Tail lightly puffed out her cheeks, realizing this was the result of their discussion last night.
She had actually noticed the two sitting together and whispering last night, but they kept their voices very low and were outside the tent, so she could not hear clearly.
"Two is way too few," she muttered. "If it were me, I'd ask for twenty."
But remembering that her own small camp had completely fallen apart precisely because of twenty red fruits, Tail's mood dropped. She stopped paying attention to their trade and turned to leave.
The general assault on Red Fruit Camp lasted a day and two nights. During this time, Red Fruit Camp even sent negotiators to the fourth faction, Strait Camp, hoping to secure their cooperation by splitting the red fruit forest equally to counterattack Bell Tower Camp and Black Beast Camp.
But Strait Camp did not agree.
Thus, after holding the line, Red Fruit Camp was finally breached by the three camps, who pushed straight into the core of their base—the red fruit forest enclosed by high walls.
Guo Kao was not a member of the assault team. Because of his knowledge of planting and his sharp mind, he became part of the first batch of researchers to enter the red fruit forest after the camp was conquered.
He followed Dr. Wang Min of Bell Tower Camp, who was leading the team past rows of soldiers standing with swords and guns, and entered the high walls.
As soon as he entered, he was a little dumbfounded.
"Why is it all black wheat? Where are the red fruit trees?" Guo Kao asked in astonishment.
"Those few might be it." Dr. Wang Min frowned, a bad premonition welling up within him as he looked at the scattered, withered trees inside the walls.
Guo Kao looked in the direction Dr. Wang Min indicated and said in disbelief, "Only this few, and they're all withered? Did they... did they know the situation was unsalvageable and kill all the red fruit trees?"
"That's probably—not the case. The camp leaders had already taken precautions against this. We had spies here to prevent the people of Red Fruit Camp from going mad and destroying the forest. According to the spies, even when it was certain there was no hope left, no one tried to enter the forest to destroy the trees."
Guo Kao suddenly blinked. "Are you saying they didn't act in the end because they didn't want to destroy the red fruit forest, or because... there was no need to?"
Wang Min turned to glance at Guo Kao and tiredly pinched the bridge of his nose. "We're on the same page."
He waved his hand and instructed the soldiers beside him, "Go check everything inside the high walls. Red Fruit Camp definitely has more red fruit trees than this. See if there are any secret passages, hidden rooms, or the like."
"Yes, sir."
The soldiers scattered, meticulously searching for any possible hidden passages.
While everyone was busy, the people originally responsible for tending the red fruit forest at Red Fruit Camp were brought over under guard.
Yao Fang held down a woman with her hands bound, forcing her to walk bent over and staring at the ground.
Wang Min recognized her identity just by looking at the top of her head.
"Felice?"
The woman suddenly raised her head, her messy bangs hiding her eyes.
Yet Wang Min could still see the anger and mockery through the gaps in her hair.
"Where is the real red fruit forest?" Wang Min didn't waste breath on the defeated. "If you don't tell me, I'll turn all your lovers, friends, and teammates into monsters right in front of your eyes."
Felice's mouth twitched.
Just when Wang Min thought she would stubbornly refuse, or ultimately bow her head and tell the truth, Felice suddenly burst out laughing.
She laughed incredibly hard, her entire upper body trembling.
If Yao Fang had not still been gripping her arm, she would have collapsed to the ground from laughing so hard.
"There is no other red fruit forest, hahaha! Didn't you see? All the red fruit trees are right in front of you, hahaha, hahahaha—"
Guo Kao abruptly turned around, gazing at the dead trees behind him.
"There are no more?"
Yao Fang also frowned. For the first time, he hated the lack of a sense of pain, because it meant he had no way to torture Felice physically.
"Bring the prisoners up!"
Since physical torture was useless, they could only resort to psychological methods.
But if Felice did not care about her companions in the slightest, they would have to investigate the others to find a breakthrough point.
Fortunately, Felice was not completely indifferent to her friends and family.
However, when she stopped laughing and raised her head, she said something none of them wanted to believe.
"I'm not lying to you. The red fruit forest withered a long time ago. What you've received recently was our very last bit of stock."
Wang Min grabbed Felice by the collar. "What did you say? The red fruits are all gone?"
His chest heaved.
The development of the situation had completely exceeded everyone's expectations.
Guo Kao stood behind the others and blinked. "Why didn't you say so earlier?"
Felice struggled to tilt her head, the mocking smile returning to her face. "Because you wouldn't believe it."
"Our red fruit reserves are critically low; we can't sell them to outsiders for a while."
"Why? Are you trying to raise the price again?"
"Exactly. Red Fruit Camp is guarding such a massive treasure, you don't even need to go out hunting. You just sit around every day waiting for black wheat to fall right into your mouths."
When day broke once again and they heard the battle had ended, Li Ban and his team members began studying the map Guo Kao had provided.
Tail traced a straight line on the map with her finger. "Can't we just head straight there?"
The end of the straight line she drew sat right at the Northern Continent Central Rift.
"We have to go to Wanghai Cliff first," Zhu Yao said.
But Li Ban used a piece of charcoal to lightly draw a curved line. "And we need to visit these few places as well."
Ming Kai looked down. Those places were all marked as monster lairs.
He recalled the last time he saw Li Ban and Zhu Yao at a monster lair; they had completely ignored the changing battle below and solely focused on fighting the spitters up above.
Was what he wanted the spitters? Or something inside them?
Ming Kai thought to himself silently, with no intention of asking.
Ed squatted nearby, staring blankly at the map everyone was gathered around, looking as if he were sleeping with his eyes open.
Aside from Ed and Dila, probably everyone else in the squad knew Li Ban was collecting waste elements.
Zhu Yao even had her own suspicions, but because it completely contradicted her past knowledge, she still did not dare to confirm it.
Li Ban looked at the group, seeing their expressions of "I know, but I'm not going to say it," and smiled.
"Of course, we don't have many people. We'll only skim the surface of these places; we won't go on any deep expeditions. Safety and efficiency come first."
Zhu Yao calculated the time they would spend on the road. "We don't have enough wheat flatbreads right now."
Even if each person only ate two a day, it wouldn't be enough.
"And there's Dila," Tail added. "He's too big, he needs at least ten a day."
"It's fine. We can trade spiritual rhinoceros for them."
Li Ban looked up and gazed into the distance. Yao Fang was already walking toward them with Guo Kao.
Both of their faces looked terrible.
Li Ban felt that he had probably guessed correctly.
"Right now, they should be in desperate need of spiritual rhinoceros."
Because he needed to use spiritual rhinoceros to trade for wheat flatbreads, Li Ban had to visit several monster lairs on the way to Wanghai Cliff to replenish their waste elements.
In truth, other monster locations might also hold large amounts of waste elements.
But he did not want to waste time exploring little by little, so he targeted the monster lairs they were already familiar with.
Even though those places were a bit more dangerous and the monsters were more concentrated.
But to Priests who didn't lack spiritual rhinoceros, they were not considered truly formidable.
Moreover, the nearby camps rarely bothered to attack monster lairs with such low cost-effectiveness, meaning the amount of waste elements present there would definitely not be small.
Just as he thought this, Yao Fang and Guo Kao arrived.
"Your Excellency Li Ban, those two red fruits we gave you—" Yao Fang seemed furious, but after taking a few deep breaths, he didn't finish his sentence. "The red fruit trees at Red Fruit Camp have all died. However, Dr. Wang Min from Bell Tower Camp studied them; a few trees still have a trace of life, but they need a massive infusion of spiritual rhinoceros to have any chance of being saved. I wonder if you and Your Excellency Zhu Yao would be willing to sell us some spiritual rhinoceros."
Li Ban didn't agree immediately, asking in return, "Don't your three major camps have any spiritual rhinoceros in reserve?"
"We do, but firstly, we don't know exactly how much spiritual rhinoceros is needed to save the red fruit trees, and secondly, we can't let our camps' spiritual rhinoceros reserves drop to dangerous levels."
So they were seeking to buy it from every Priest they knew?
"Fine, but I need two more red fruits, along with two hundred wheat flatbreads and one jin of black wheat seeds."
When Yao Fang came to buy spiritual rhinoceros, he knew the other party would state a price, and that it would definitely include black wheat.
The only thing that put him in a difficult position was Li Ban asking for two more red fruits.
And this was when they still didn't even know if they could save the red fruit trees.
"Everything else is fine, but can the red fruits be swapped for something else? Like weapons and clean water?"
Li Ban shook his head. "If you can't make the call, go find your camp leader. Honestly, if the red fruit trees are truly gone, then for your camp of over two thousand people, having two more red fruits or two less doesn't mean much. But if you manage to save the trees, the significance of these two red fruits changes entirely."
"I can't decide the ownership of the red fruits right now."
Yao Fang said helplessly, "Please wait a moment. I'll go ask the camp leader for instructions."