Forced to marry a disabled man in the countryside? I'll repay you tenfold!

Su Wanqing ate her meal inside the tent. In the mountains in late autumn, it gets bitterly cold as soon as it gets dark. Luckily, the tent was covered with the thick quilt she had brought, otherwise, the night would have been very difficult to endure.

Zhou Yanshen mixed the leftover snake meat from last night with today's wolf meat in a bowl and brought it in steaming hot. Yesterday, he had been taking care of Su Wanqing and hadn't eaten much because he was worried she wouldn't have enough, so there was quite a bit left. Today, seeing there was plenty of meat, his wife ate a large bowl of pure meat. After she finished eating and wiped her mouth, she saw that he hadn't even touched his chopsticks yet.

"Go ahead and eat. There's so much meat; there's going to be a lot left over today. I'm full, I can't eat anymore—burp."

Zhou Yanshen nodded and picked up the basin to start eating.

Su Wanqing originally thought there would definitely be leftovers today, but in the end—Zhou Yanshen finished the entire bowl of meat.

She already had a large appetite, but Zhou Yanshen could eat even more than her, leaving her dumbfounded. This was the first time in all their years of marriage that she had a direct understanding of his appetite.

Zhou Yanshen was a little embarrassed, his ears turning slightly red: "You made it so delicious." This was the first time in so many years that he felt truly full. He felt lazy and didn't want to move at all after eating.

Su Wanqing thought Zhou Yanshen would have a bright future as a mukbang (eating broadcast) star, but unfortunately, this man had his own career. After eating, he not only had to patrol but also arrange for night watch, because the appearance of a wolf pack made it unsafe.

"I'll be leading a team on night watch tonight," Zhou Yanshen said, putting on his coat. "From now on, we'll rotate shifts every other day. If you need anything, just call out from outside; I'll hear you."

That's why he ate more tonight—keeping watch is exhausting, and he needs to conserve his energy.

"Okay, thank you for your hard work." Su Wanqing nodded. She kept her 30-meter Insight Eye active, but in her heart she was thinking, if the space were upgraded, the range should be even larger, right?

Zhou Yanshen kept watch, while Su Wanqing burned mugwort around the tent to repel mosquitoes before going to bed early. She was also exhausted after a long day, and pregnant women are prone to drowsiness. Her belly had been getting bigger and bigger lately, and her old pants were no longer suitable. She was only thinking about finding the mine as soon as possible this time, upgrading her space, and making a few more loose-fitting thermal underwear and cotton pants when she got back. After all, this was her third pregnancy, and her size was much larger than that of an average person.

I drifted off to sleep.

She wasn't in a hurry to find minerals—with her cheat code, she could just travel hundreds of miles around and find them eventually.

……

In the middle of the night, just before dawn, there was a sudden commotion outside.

Su Wanqing turned over and continued sleeping—since Zhou Yanshen hadn't come to warn her, it wasn't her problem.

Just as she fell asleep, a blast of cold air rushed in. Zhou Yanshen lifted the tent flap: "Wanqing, wake up."

She groggily opened her eyes, her eyelids drooping with sleep: "What time is it? What's wrong?" We're not prospecting for minerals today, can't a person get a good night's sleep?

Zhou Yanshen said urgently, "Something's happened at the camp. Dozens of people have been burrowed into by grasshoppers. The medic said that once they burrow into the flesh, they can't be removed, not even by surgery. They suck blood, and what if they get into the brain..."

Before he could finish speaking, Su Wanqing suddenly opened her eyes wide, all sleepiness gone.

Grasshoppers—one of the most terrifying insects in the area! They secrete an anesthetic when they burrow into flesh, so the person doesn't feel it at all. By the time they're discovered, dozens or even hundreds have already burrowed in. These things suck blood and eventually burrow into the brain; once inside, the person is doomed.

She immediately activated her Eye of Insight, and within a 30-meter radius, there were countless red dots—everywhere except her tent, the ground was teeming with those tiny black insects!

A chill ran down her spine. Luckily, she had burned mugwort last night, so the insects hadn't come over. The thought of those little creatures burrowing into her flesh one by one while she slept... sent a shiver down her spine.

"Take me there quickly! You can't pull this thing out with your hands; the more you pull, the deeper it goes!"

Su Wanqing put on her clothes and followed Zhou Yanshen, who was carrying a flashlight, as they ran towards the center of the camp.

The open space was crowded with people, all of whom hadn't patrolled the night before. Commander Zhao's groans were the loudest, while Old Zhang and Li Guodong paced anxiously—the two old men, lacking energy and blood, were immune to insect bites and had escaped unscathed. But Li Guodong's two students were covered in at least dozens of insects, their faces deathly pale as they huddled together.

Commander Zhao was in the worst shape. The wolf bite wound on his leg from last night hadn't healed yet, and when he opened his eyes this morning, he was unbearably itchy all over. He pulled back his clothes and saw hundreds of black insects densely embedded in his flesh, some already halfway in. He cursed as he dodged them.

"Gently! Gently! Don't force it if you can't pull it off! It hurts like hell! These beasts are sucking my blood and burrowing into my flesh! My legs are already bad enough, and now this is happening to my body!"

The medic, drenched in sweat, struggled with both tweezers and medication: "Commander, over a dozen have completely burrowed inside, I can't reach them at all! And dozens more are only halfway in, what do we do? The medication we brought isn't working!"

Upon seeing Su Wanqing, the military doctor was overjoyed, exclaiming, "Dr. Su! Come quickly! What can we do? If we don't treat it, these worms will burrow into the heart and brain within 24 hours, and the person will be gone! Some of them are already missing!"

Old Zhang made a decisive decision: "Stop this mission! Quickly evacuate everyone to the county hospital and save their lives!"

Li Guodong nodded in agreement: "These things shouldn't be here in the first place. They were probably attracted by the smell of wolf blood from yesterday. I've never seen so many grasshoppers before—they've been listed as dangerous creatures by the government, so we can't be careless!"

Commander Zhao panicked, his face flushed red: "We've found the mine! We'll find beryllium ore soon! If we retreat now, all the money and time we've spent will be wasted! If we apply again, we'll have to wait several more months! The higher-ups are waiting for this mine to produce anything. The international situation is very tense. If we back down, mission failure is a minor issue; it'll delay national affairs..."

Li Guodong interrupted him: "You can't joke around with human lives! Your entire army was wiped out, even the logistics were affected, and all that's left are the few people who patrolled last night and the two of us old men. What good are we? Even with Xiao Su here, or one more doctor, could we save so many of you?"

Old Zhang was so anxious he stamped his feet: "Make a decision quickly! We need to treat it briefly now and get back to the city to the hospital to try and get the bugs out. All three drivers are infected; who will drive? If we delay any longer, everyone will be in trouble!"

go?

That won't do!

Su Wanqing's heart tightened—the beryllium ore hadn't been found yet, and the space hadn't been upgraded. If they retreated now, all their efforts over the past few days would be wasted!

She took a deep breath and quickly gathered her thoughts. There were actually ways to deal with these bugs. For those that were halfway in, soaking them in alcohol for a while would stun them, making them easy to squeeze out whole. If you tried to pull them out forcefully, breaking their bodies in half and leaving the other half embedded in your flesh, that would be truly fatal.

As for those that had completely burrowed in—she possessed the ability to see directly, scanning and locating them, then simply cutting away that small piece of flesh. Medical conditions were poor in this era; even if everyone were evacuated to the hospital, there was no better solution. The people here were terrified of the grasshopper, but to her, it was just a matter of making a few more cuts. With the powerful spiritual spring present, the surgical wounds would heal in two or three days.