Zhang Ji’s gaze swept back and forth from Gu Ning’s to Brother San’s face, as if he was weighing something.
Those previously chattering special abilities users were all stunned by Brother San’s agreement. They stared in some disbelief at the Third Company team before noticing that their team members all looked as if it was normal to accept it and none objected.
They really didn’t understand as from the “strength” the Third Company had displayed in terms of both supplies and crystal cores, they didn’t have to accept the mission. For example, the rice which was up for trading had already exceeded several thousand pounds and the number of crystal cores they received in exchange was unimaginable. Thus, why would they take up such a big risk now for just a few hundred pounds of rice given by the base?
Or did it mean that there is a secret agreement between the Third Company team and the base which they didn’t know about?
However, the Third Company team was indeed strong. Even that little girl who looked like just seven or eight years old was a Spiritual ability user. It was rumoured that when Zhang Ji’s team entered the base a month ago, there was a clash between both sides and that little girl alone was able to use her spiritual power to block the psychic attacks of more than ten abilities users! Of course, these were all rumours from the base which hadn’t been confirmed.
Moreover, the other teams from the time they had entered the base till now when they went out to hunt for zombies, there would be some casualties more or less. Even Zhang Ji’s team with more than ten special abilities users and having only been in the base for a month already suffered two deaths by now. On the other hand, this Third Company team, which had been living on the base for nearly two months, had not even received a single casualty, let alone death.
Every day, when those few members went out, they would always return together. They always chatted and laughed on the way back as if they weren’t out hunting for zombies but were on a holiday instead.
Also, the Third Company team tends to go out to hunt zombies in areas that were densely populated and often avoided by the general survivors. Therefore, there wasn’t many encounters with other teams so their real strength remained a mystery.
Then this mission would be a great opportunity to understand them.
Following the Third Company team to go out hunting, on the one hand, they could figure out their real strength. On the other hand, the basic strength of the Third Company was there and since they dared to take on this mission, they must have a certain degree of assurance.
Frankly speaking, fifty pounds of rice per person was still a relatively high reward and temptation.
The other teams in the conference room were a little excited but they didn’t make their stand immediately as they were all still waiting for the Zhang Ji team’s opinion.
Naturally, Zhang Ji could feel the tense atmosphere in the conference room and those unconcealed gazes focusing on him. As if he couldn’t feel them, his fingers under the table were tapping on his thighs repeatedly while he thought about it. What the other teams had thought of, he could naturally think of it as well. Although it was said that after exchanging a few batches of supplies with Gu Ning, their need was not so urgent for the time being. Yet, fifty pounds of rice per person was a very substantial amount and tempting.
Furthermore, if he agreed to accept it, at least half of the special abilities users’ teams in this room would join in too.
Plus, with the strength of the Third Company…..
After weighing, he finally made his decision and smiled before announcing: “Director Zhong is right, since we are protected by the base, it is only natural that we should do our part as well. So do count us in.”
When Zhang Ji announced this, the conference room immediately had an uproar again. The other teams of special abilities users who had been reluctant and wanted to retreat, as they saw that the Third Company and Zhang Ji team were going, all became enthusiastic at once since it was equivalent to a double layer of insurance.
As for Gu Ning’s team, not everyone was joining this mission. ShiTou, Luo Long, Xiang Yi, and several others who did not have special abilities were left behind. In order not to expose Gu Ning’s healing powers, Gao Yue was coming with them.
Thus, the Third Company members who joined were Gu Ning, Xiang Xu, Brother San, Jia DaoZhang, Zhang XiaoBai, Cheng Ming, Fang Fa, Zhong Xu, Huang MengYao, and Gao Yue. A total of ten people.
Zhang Ji and his team, since all of them, were special abilities users, naturally, all of them were joining.
The remaining other teams had all their members joined in as well.
After all, one more member would mean another fifty pounds of rice!
From the beginning to the end, the Base Commander sat in the main seat the whole time without saying a word and left directly after the meeting was adjourned.
The others went off one by one to get ready, with the Third Company team walking at the end. It was then that Director Zhong called out to Brother San.
The supplies which he had provided this time were all donated by Gu Ning last night, so of course, he wouldn’t think that Gu Ning and the others were aiming for those supplies. Moreover, if Brother San hadn’t been the first to come forward, then Director Zhong really didn’t know what other method he should use to convince those people to participate: “Brother San, Gu Ning, I’m really grateful to you guys this time.”
Brother San replied with a straight face: “Director Zhong, I am still a soldier and there are many people in my team who are also soldiers.” Many things might have changed after the apocalypse happened but the sense of honour and mission that was engraved in Brother San’s soul for over ten years had not been erased. Gu Ning right now could understand Brother San’s feeling, even more, coupled with her thoughts of what she had once sworn in the Five Stars Brigade. This trip was unavoidable and was a definite trip for them.
Gu Ning remembered the hostile look Zhou Yan cast at her when Zhang Ji’s team left just now. Gu Ning narrowed her eyes, that Zhou Yan held a grudge against her and might make some small acts so it’s better to be careful of that woman and if necessary, she would strike first instead.
Gu Ning and the others had nothing much to prepare so she just had a quick word with Mother and Father Gu. Gao Yue had no complaints about the decision of having to tag along and her medical kit was full of various first aid medications that Gu Ning had equipped her with for unexpected situations.
Gu Ning’s two long knives with curled blades had been replaced with two fairly new ones.
Each person in the group carried at least three or more replenishing transparent crystal cores with them, just to be safe.
Then it was time to head downstairs and meet up with the others.
The outcome was that there would be a total of fifty-nine participants in total.
Gu Ning’s team had ten people.
Zhang Ji’s team had fourteen people.
There were also four other teams joined in.
One of the teams was called the Nighthawks, the strongest among the other four teams was a combination of two previous teams with a total of ten special abilities users. They were led by a tall man named Wang Sheng who was probably around thirty years old with Lvl.3 Earth ability psychic.
Another team was called Yuezhou because all of the seven members were from the Yuezhou provinces. The captain was called Wei Xin, about twenty-seven or eight years old, wearing a pair of highly myopic glasses with Lvl.2 Fire ability psychic.
The next team was called the Survival Squad, with eight special abilities users, led by Yuan Ge. He was a young man around twenty-three or four years old with Lvl.3 Plant ability psychic. At a glance, the whole team consisted of young adults around the same age.
The last team made Gu Ning took note of them as it was the only female leader among the several other teams. The team was called Green Tree Squad, their leader was Liang Le, an Lvl.2 Water ability psychic. There were around ten members on the team, seven of them were females and the youngest was around sixteen or seventeen years old girl.
Out of this total of fifty-eight special abilities users, Jia DaoZhang was actually the oldest, followed by Brother San. The youngest was also of their team was Xiang Xu and the ratio of female to male special abilities users was almost 5:1.
Apart from Gu Ning, there was another Space ability user in the Survival Squad. A young man in his twenties, perhaps the dangerous nature of the Space ability caused his demeanour to seem perpetually wary. His eyes always scan the surroundings vigilantly at all times.
In contrast, Gu Ning, who was “heavily loaded” was much more open and casual.
At least a dozen of these special abilities users had just evolved their powers in the last two weeks and had limited experience in actual combat.
After assembling, Director Zhong rightfully handed over the command of this mission to Brother San and none had any objections to it. Anyway, no one took it too seriously as whether or not his command would work when they arrived on the scene was still another matter.
Finally, they all got on the bus which was provided by the base.
Once on board, the bus was filled to the brim.
Jia DaoZhang consciously got into the driver’s seat.
Then the gate opened and the bus slowly drove away from the Zhongnan base towards the Baoxi District.
Without anyone reminding, Xiang Xu’s spiritual energy had already spread out with the bus as the centre, covering a five hundred metre range around it. Due to the great effect of her spiritual power, every time they harvested an evolved crystal core, they would first supply it to Xiang Xu. In just a month, Xiang Xu had jumped two levels in a row and had already become an Lvl.4 Spiritual abilities user. Furthermore, her manipulation of spiritual power was also terrifying, she could leap over the ranks and kill an Lvl.5 ability user with her current strength!
The rank of a special ability user was divided by the amount of storage one had in their psychic energy pool.
Gu Ning really didn’t know what rank she was, she probably own the world’s largest but non-regenerative pool of psychic energy.
Apart from the noise of the bus moving, there was no other sound on the bus. Although they had usually dealt with each other more or less, it was the first time that so many people went out together. Especially because of the Third Company team, who had always taken the “high-end, cold and elegant” demeanour, the atmosphere inside the bus was somewhat awkward.
The area around the base was almost cleared of zombies. The bus drove for a long distance without bumping into single zombies and the shops on both sides of the road were all wide open while the inside was a mess. The corpses of the zombies and humans on the ground had all been gathered together and burned, so this section of the road looked relatively clean.
Finally, someone couldn’t stand the loneliness and began to whisper.
Xiang Xu took the map provided by Director Zhong and guided the way for Jia DaoZhang.
After driving about five miles away from the base, one or two zombies gradually appeared on the road. Those zombies that still had their faces intact after five months in the post-apocalyptic world were those that had been bitten recently. If they had been turned into zombies for more than three months, the flesh on their faces was basically hanging on and rotting beyond recognition.
Due to the rush, Jia DaoZhang drove into the zombies on the road right away. The bus was violently bumped and swayed from those impacts. Everyone who was inside the bus had to hold on to the front seats to keep their bodies stable.
The bus was on the road for nearly an hour, and the journey went smoothly except for the abandoned car that got in the way and had to shift them away.
However, Gu Ning didn’t reduce her vigilance.
Soon, the bus came to a halt.
“The bus can’t go on any further.” Jia DaoZhang was slightly grave as he explained: “The area ahead is dense with zombies.”
Those people who had relaxed after the smooth journey was once again tensed up upon Jia DaoZhang’s words.
The Third Company and Zhang Ji’s team were the first to get out of the bus while the others slowly alighted.
As soon as they got out of the bus, they encountered a small wave of zombies.
The Third Company team hardly needed any command and Zhong Xu instantly shot dozens of water arrows over. Yet, from a glance, those dozens of water arrows were shot askew and were aimed at the top of those zombies’ heads instead. The other special abilities users who had just alighted were secretly laughing at Zhong Xu for his outrageous deviation aiming skill. However, in the blink of an eye, the dozens of water arrows had already sped out more than ten meters and reached the top of that small wave of zombies when Zhong Xu finally uttered a single word: “Burst!”
Those water arrows exploded with a bang on top of that small wave of zombies!
What? What kind of skill was this? Water psychic power could still be used like this?!
Eh? Yet those zombies didn’t seem to be injured by anything except being drenched……
Just when the group of onlookers was still puzzled, Zhang XiaoBai had spread open his hands and two lightning dragons were instantly conjured from his palms while twirling around both of his arms. With a swing of his hands, the two lightning dragons rushed towards the small wave of zombies with a loud bursting thunder!
Crackling and sizzling! —— A continuous burst of explosion and zombie howls mingled together, followed by a smell of burning mixed with rotten odour wafted over. However, no one bother to fan out the smell other than the Third Company team, the other teams were very shocked while staring at the eight zombie corpses lying on the ground.
Fang Fa dashed forward in a flash, and in less than thirty seconds, the heads of the eight charred corpses on the ground were gouged open. Fang Fa placed the knife back on his waist and the other hand was holding onto a dirty crystal core. He ignored the dirtiness and just shoved it directly into the pouch hanging from his waist.
Then the Third Company continued on its way forward.
The other special ability users’ teams including Zhang Ji’s team hadn’t recovered from the scene previously. If it weren’t for those gouged corpses lying on the ground, they almost thought they had just been hallucinating.
Eight zombies including one being evolved were destroyed in less than ten seconds?!
Yuan Ge, the leader of the Survival Squad, had his mouth wide open, staring at the eight burnt and gouged corpses on the ground before cursing out in surprise.
Zhang Ji was also filled with horror and astonishment.
He was shocked not only by the fact that the water and lighting ability could work together so perfectly in such a tactic but by the tacit understanding between the Third Company team. In the whole process, they didn’t even make a sound nor was there any eye contact and it was so seamlessly coordinated…… He considered his team to be very experienced in actual combat but they definitely did not have such a level of tacit understanding.
“Everyone, don’t just freeze there, we’re in a hurry.” Jia DaoZhang shouted at them after seeing that they were all still stationed at the spot.
Only then did they wake up from their thoughts and hurried to follow them.
When several teams came together at once, naturally each of them was playing their little mind games as before any of the powerful zombies appeared, they didn’t really want to use up their psychic energy in advance. At first, they thought that they would have to go through a bit of a tussle of wits to save their strength, it seem like they were just overthinking. The Third Company team didn’t seem to have any intention of saving their strength at all. Often a bunch of zombies would rush out from nowhere and before they could get within ten metres, they would be taken care of by the members of the Third Company team who were the first to charge over.
They had tackled at least a dozen waves of such small groups of zombies along the way but they didn’t seem to have any intention of asking for help from other teams. The rest of the special abilities users were happy to maintain their strength and reduce their psychic energy consumption but there was always a vague feeling that something was unbalanced.
Slowly, they realised what was the problem.
This area was densely populated with zombies, both normal and evolved. On average every three minutes, a few of them would scurry out of the alleyways on either side.
The Third Company team were on a killing spree, clearing and digging all the way. By now, they had already dug up more than ten crystal cores and one of which was an evolved crystal core! With all their strange tactics that no one else had ever thought could be used in combination like this, their psychic energy consumption was almost negligible!
Those other teams which had been cowering at the back watching the action slowly became envious and then silently rushed to the frontline.
Strangely enough, the members of the Third Company team didn’t fight with them for the kills. When they rushed to the front, the Third Company team retreated to the back and follow the group silently, except Xiang Xu who occasionally would point out the direction. The other members changed from their murderous mood to being as leisurely as if they were out for an autumn trip all of a sudden.
In the end, the other teams were struggling to clear the path and kill the zombies in front of them. Yet, when they had the time to glance back, they saw the Third Company team members were idly still and pin-pointing how the others were fairing in their combat which made them feel unequal and envious again.