Monster Hunter: I can accept monster quests!

Chapter 4 Strange Things at the Warehouse

On the way back to the base, Hua Miao had a tooth mark on her forehead, and Chen Yan got a claw hit on the face.

As soon as they returned to the base, they were caught red-handed by Naomi, the head of the supply squad, who was guarding behind the gatepost.

She had a stern face, and although her arms were slender, her strength was frightening.

Chen Yan was half a head taller than her, but he had no power to resist in her hands and was examined over and over again.

After confirming that he was not injured, Naomi raised an eyebrow, smirked, crossed her arms in front of her, and stood in a T-stance.

"Hey, isn't this Chen Yan, the new guy from our Survey Supplies Management Office? I was wondering why I hadn't seen him all afternoon. I thought he'd been carried off by a monster. Turns out he went hunting. Judging by your appearance, you're really wasted in my supplies team. Why didn't the great hunter Chen Yan make it into the recommendation group?"

Seeing her expression, as if she'd caught a team member slacking off at work, Chen Yan gave an awkward smile.

I had only said I would take a casual stroll around the outpost, but I ended up encountering two monster quests as soon as I stepped outside. It has indeed wasted a lot of time, and now the sun is almost setting.

But he already had a plan. He took off his basket, lifted the animal skin, and revealed that it was full of herbs and mushrooms.

"Squad leader, I saw that the supplies in the warehouse were running low, so I went out to gather herbs and take a stroll. I didn't go into any dangerous areas, just walked around the safe zone. I promise, I'll come back earlier next time!"

Thanks to the olfactory sense of the crown lizard, Chen Yan found quite a few herbs and mushrooms hidden in the nooks and crannies. Although they were not anything valuable, at least it proved that he hadn't gone to find a place to slack off.

Naomi casually flipped through the basket, and as she pulled her hand away, she sniffed the grass juice on her fingertips. The fresh grass juice told her that the basket was indeed filled with freshly picked herbs and mushrooms. Hearing Chen Yan's sincere words, she hummed a few times and reluctantly let him go.

"Alright, consider yourself lucky you escaped."

She led Chen Yan through a maze of streets until they arrived at a small conference room located between the first and second floors.

Pushing open the door, Chen Yan found the small conference room noisy. He glanced around and saw that not only were several material investigation administrators from the Material Management Office present, but most of the other logistics and supply personnel were also there.

There were thick ledgers stacked on the table, and several bespectacled dragon-human scholars were flipping through them, calculating the data inside.

After Chen Yan rubbed her rumbling stomach and found a corner to stand in, she stood at the head of the table and gently tapped the surface. The meeting room immediately fell silent.

She took a completed ledger, lightly touched the red circle on it with her fingertip, and frowned slightly.

"Everyone's aware of the strange things that's been happening at the supply warehouse lately, right?"

As soon as he finished speaking, the conference room immediately became lively.

Chen Yan blinked, and seeing that everyone else was nodding, he gently poked the soft waist of the blonde waitress standing next to him.

The girl ignored him, so he poked her again. She still ignored him, so he poked her again. Watching the fine downy hairs gradually rise on the girl's waist and the goosebumps appear, Chen Yan found it very interesting and poked her even more happily.

Until the young lady grabbed his mischievous fingers.

"What! Let me tell you, don't think that just because you're handsome you can get away with a few apologies and I'll forgive you!"

The young lady rolled her eyes at Chen Yan. Seeing that he remained unmoved, and that his very handsome face was looking at her with a very confused expression, she bit her lip again, feeling unwilling.

"Unless you treat me to a fancy meal, take me to a hot spring, and then..."

Chen Yan interrupted the blonde woman who was incessantly counting the conditions on her fingers.

"No, um, I wanted to ask, what was that strange thing the class monitor was talking about in the warehouse?"

"you!"

She stomped her foot angrily, turned around and went back to ignoring Chen Yan.

Chen Yan asked the people next to him and learned that the strange thing in the warehouse referred to the recent loss of supplies from the base's warehouse.

Starting from the first half of the month, things began to disappear from the warehouses of various sizes scattered throughout the base. At first, it was just some food supplies such as barbecue that were being lost, and the administrators didn't take it seriously, assuming that someone had used them first and hadn't had time to record it. But then more and more things were being lost, and they became more and more expensive.

During the inventory check this afternoon, they discovered that even a significant amount of extremely valuable military supplies were missing.

"Everyone, come and take a look."

Naomi glanced at everyone, but didn't notice anything amiss. She spread several ledgers on the table, pointed to the numbers on them, and spoke calmly, but those who saw them were all a little uneasy.

"We just finished inventorying the warehouses. What we found was shocking. The total amount of stuff that was stolen from all the warehouses, big and small, throughout the base is enough to sustain a small to medium-sized monster ambush..."

Facing the now quiet conference room, she glanced at the people who had gathered around her. Her gaze wasn't particularly intimidating, yet it made it impossible for them to look away.

"This time, not only did dozens of bottles of recovery potions disappear out of nowhere, but more than a dozen bottles of large recovery potions also vanished. As for the raw materials and consumables, countless quantities were lost. If it were only these, it wouldn't be so bad..."

She tapped the ledger heavily.

"But, three of the thirty secret medicines we had in stock yesterday were lost. These are life-saving items that hunters keep on hand when they are given important missions. Even losing just one is not a small matter, let alone three."

She traced the circled numbers with her fingertips, and the elderly scholars on either side nodded. They had checked it several times already, and indeed, three were missing.

The secret medicine is extremely precious. Not only are the raw materials mostly grown in the territories of powerful monsters, but the failure rate during its production is also frighteningly high. Simply put, one secret medicine is enough to pay Chen Yan half a year's salary.

"One good news and one bad news."

"The good news is that the warehouse where the secret medicine is stored is very securely locked, and there are experienced hunters on guard outside. There are only two keys to get in, one on me and one on the Commander-in-Chief. I have questioned them carefully and confirmed that it was not an insider who took the secret medicine."

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

"The bad news is, to this day, we still don't know what kind of bizarre monster was able to silently bypass the warehouse's locks and the hunters, and steal the most precious secret medicine inside?"

Everyone expressed their opinions, but no one could come up with a definitive answer.

Standing in the corner, Chen Yan's face was slightly pale. He was hunched over, clutching his lower abdomen in discomfort. Perhaps it was because he had acquired the Thief Dragon's Big Stomach, but his stomach acid seemed to be several times stronger. He was about to faint from hunger.

He didn't even know the location of the warehouse where the secret medicine was stored, so naturally he had no idea what to do. At this moment, all he could think about was getting to the cafeteria to eat his fill.

By the time the meeting ended, Chen Yan was almost unable to stand. He felt he had never been so hungry before, and he was confident he could eat a whole adult herbivorous dragon clean from head to toe.

The blonde receptionist put away her meeting minutes and was about to follow the crowd out when Chen Yan mustered all his strength to lift his hand and softly place it on her shoulder.

"Sister, take me...take me to the cafeteria, my legs are weak...my legs are too weak to walk..."