Chapter 96: Another Wave of Gratitude Points

Watching more than ten thousand people kneel before her, Wang Keyue felt deeply uncomfortable.

"Vice-Commander Fang, please have the food I brought distributed to the soldiers first," Wang Keyue said.

And so the jelly strips were handed out in an orderly fashion. The soldiers who received them looked utterly baffled, and some even felt resentful. "This... this tiny bit... isn't even enough for one day!" Though they usually had only two thin bowls of porridge a day and never truly ate their fill, even being able to drink a little extra water was better than nothing.

After every soldier had received a strip, Wang Keyue briefly explained how to eat it. As for the wrapper, it could be buried directly in the soil; it was a biodegradable bag and would not harm the environment.

The soldiers, faces full of reluctance and resistance, began to take their first bite. At first they did not react at all, only finding it sweet and delicious. It was not until they were nearly finished that they suddenly realized the hunger that even three coarse steamed buns could not satisfy had now been completely filled by a tiny morsel of food.

At that moment, Little Treasure in the system was grinning from ear to ear.

"Everyone, these are energy tonics specially made by my sect for all of you. As the name suggests, they replenish the energy you need. One strip a day is enough to keep you full," Wang Keyue explained from the platform.

Beside her, the burly man channeled his inner force and repeated every word into the megaphone, word for word.

This time, everyone understood. They all began to feel it for themselves, and the effect was astonishingly real.

Their bellies grew warm and satisfyingly full, and their whole bodies seemed brimming with strength. That feeling of being truly fed was something they had not experienced in months.

For a long while, Little Treasure's voice in the system never ceased. Inside the storage space, it was so excited it was nearly mad with joy. "Little Yue, am I seeing this right? The hearts of gratitude are already close to twenty thousand! One heart of gratitude can be exchanged for ten gold coins. Right now, we're almost at two hundred thousand gold coins... Oh! More hearts of gratitude are still coming in..."

Wang Keyue smiled with satisfaction. Xiao Hongyu, standing nearby, glanced at her, then slowly moved closer and said in a low voice, "Master, are you satisfied with what your disciple did this time?"

Wang Keyue returned him a smile of affectionate approval, the sort one gives to a child who can be taught.

"Master, I've decided that every morning, when I hand out the rations, I'll first give them a stern reminder, and then when I distribute them, I'll mention your name again. That way, Master can gain gratitude points every day," Xiao Hongyu added.

"Excellent. Truly excellent!" Wang Keyue gave him a thumbs-up and praised her bargain second disciple heavily.

"Master! Actually, there's another wave of gratitude points you haven't received. Shall we... go take a look?" Xiao Hongyu whispered near her ear.

Wang Keyue looked at him and nearly laughed, because she already knew what he was referring to.

Still, with money in hand, she no longer felt uneasy. So why not go and have a look? Perhaps there would be an unexpected surprise.

Under the gaze of tens of thousands, the two of them slowly descended from the platform. Hearing Little Treasure's reports, Wang Keyue could hardly believe it; the hearts of gratitude in her little treasury had already risen to more than thirty thousand.

Soon, the two of them arrived at the rear of the military camp, the medical area. There, too, an atmosphere of deathly stillness lingered, as if everything that had happened on the training grounds had nothing to do with them.

Only the bitter smell of medicinal herbs and the foul stench of decay and death filled the air. No matter how scorching the sun was, it could not dispel the gloom here.

Xiao Hongyu led Wang Keyue from tent to tent. Even though she had already prepared herself mentally, she was still shocked by the conditions inside the tents.

The tents reeked of rotting flesh and even of filth. Especially in the largest tent, where the critically wounded lay, the situation was even more dire.

The limited resources here had already been used to treat the lightly injured soldiers. As for the more than five hundred gravely wounded in the large tent, the doctors here were powerless. In truth, they had basically given up.

"Can you save them?" Xiao Hongyu asked softly.

Wang Keyue frowned deeply. She now possessed advanced traditional Chinese medicine skills, and with one glance she could tell that these soldiers were beyond help and that no medicine could save them. Of course, that judgment applied only to this era and this environment.

If she brought out the high-tech medical machines from her spatial market, then ninety percent of these severely wounded soldiers could still be saved.

"I can save them, but only their lives. Their limbs, however, I have no way to restore," Wang Keyue answered honestly. In truth, their limbs could still recover, but her market did not yet carry such medical equipment. Besides, in such a feudal age, if you made a severed limb grow back, they would probably burn you as a monster before long.

If they could survive, and no longer go to war, instead living out a simple and ordinary life, would that not be good?

"That is already very good. If you save them, would you be willing to take them in? Didn't you say you wanted to found your own power and make your mark? They could absolutely help you," Xiao Hongyu said.

Looking into Xiao Hongyu's earnest eyes, Wang Keyue considered it for a moment. Though these people might be disabled, they were crippled in body but unbroken in spirit, and that made them an invaluable force.

What was more, since they had endured in such conditions, it was clear how steadfast their character was. If her level rose in the future and she could buy equipment for limb regeneration, or even mechanical prosthetics, these people would surely become one of her most dependable forces.