But complaints aside, the problem was now here.

Where did these damn things come from? But that was something the headquarters tech team would have to investigate.

Chen Xiaofei had studied the position of the player, but couldn’t figure out anything.

Xu Duoduo was also puzzled. However, she suddenly remembered a post she had seen on her tablet, about a wanted criminal from the headquarters. Among them was a suspect with a unique ability—supposedly, a media-type special ability user.

This ability was so rare that it left quite an impression on her.

Xu Duoduo pulled up the post and patted Big Dog’s shoulder, handing the tablet to Qin Luo. “Quick, take a look. Could this have anything to do with him?”

Qin Luo lowered his head to receive the tablet. “Tsk, nice thinking, Xu Duoduo. Lao Bai, take a look at this, it’s from half a month ago.”

They didn’t have much free time during missions, and the apocalypse was evolving faster than ever.

Bai Shu couldn’t finish reading it all.

He leaned over to glance at the tablet. “Squad leader, send me the link, I haven’t searched for anything in ages.”

Communications had always been a major issue after the apocalypse, and even the headquarters had trouble with it. Nowadays, regular people couldn’t even get online.

But today, there was suddenly someone broadcasting across space—this was interesting.

Xu Duoduo nodded, quickly sending the link privately to everyone, not just Bai Shu. Everyone should take a look.

Qin Luo and Chen Xiaofei also clicked on the link, which displayed a list of wanted criminals. This person was second on the list.

After reading it, Bai Shu said, “Hmm? A criminal record before the apocalypse? This guy’s not simple.”

Qin Luo commented, “What a pity. He looks a bit dumb, but if not for that, he could’ve been useful for improving the base’s problems.”

Xu Duoduo remembered that this suspect had been able to connect to their vehicle’s player system—could it be he had been eavesdropping?

She used her space ability to create a protective shield around the vehicle.

Instantly, she felt more at ease.

She then looked over the details again. The suspect’s name was Fang Ming, 17 years old, 171 cm tall. Before the apocalypse, he was charged with excessive self-defense. After the apocalypse, he escaped and even killed several police officers.

It felt strangely familiar.

Xu Duoduo suddenly remembered that Fang Ming had a similar backstory to the mutated snake man.

Both had taken advantage of the chaos and ability awakenings on the first day of the apocalypse to kill police officers in self-defense.

Bai Shu, the 3A team’s walking encyclopedia, quickly gathered all the information about this person and sent it to the team and to headquarters.

After all, he was the biggest suspect at the moment.

“This guy’s really unlucky. He acted in self-defense for his sister. His parents divorced, and he lived with his father, who was an alcoholic and never home. When his father was around, he would beat him. His sister dropped out of school due to depression, and he was bullied by his classmates.”

On the day the incident happened, several of his classmates followed him home, raped his sister in front of him, humiliated him, and even slapped him in the face with a kitchen knife.

In the end, Fang Ming fought back and killed them.

Chen Xiaofei was furious. “Those scumbags deserved to die! How can it be excessive self-defense?!”

Bai Shu remained calm. “The first strike was fine, but the dozens of strikes after were aimed at their lives.”

Qin Luo, his heart aching, sighed. “What a pity. He should’ve found a good lawyer and used public opinion in his favor. He still had a chance.”

In such a situation, it wasn’t guaranteed to end in death. If he had surrendered, he could have been treated fairly later on.

He was a victim, too.

Wang Weihui sighed as well. He was about the same age as the team members from the Leopard and Dove teams. He wanted to say Fang Ming was impulsive, but the suffering he had endured was hard to express. However, what followed was undeniably brutal.

It all ended with a deep sigh.

Xu Duoduo also felt regretful when she saw the news reports Bai Shu had compiled. Lawyers had even offered to take his case for free.

Bai Shu said, “Leave the legal matters to the professionals. We’re not in that line of work.”

There’s a time and place for everything, and professional tasks should be handled by professionals. As a combat team, they didn’t deal with such cases.

But the mood remained solemn.

This kind of ability was rare, much like Xu Duoduo’s small zombie form. Later, the headquarters sent a message, confirming their suspicions.

As for how the audio was traced, it was thanks to the abilities of other rare ability users at headquarters.

Chen Xiaofei couldn’t help but praise, “Our headquarters is really deep and hidden!”

There were quite a few powerful ability users, they just kept it low-key. At times like this, some random organization wanted to poach them? Impossible!

Their base was over there—who would betray their own family and teammates?

They didn’t dwell on it for too long, though, because as they moved further away from the base, mutated creatures started becoming more common. A swarm of mutated rats was scurrying around nearby.

Bai Shu opened the window and threw a few marbles out, which exploded in a line.

The mutated rats screeched, high-pitched and very annoying.

Chen Xiaofei also opened the window and began shooting at them. The rats were so densely packed, each biting the tail of the one in front, making them easy targets.

Their eyes glowed red, and as soon as they realized the massive machine on this side was shooting at them, they charged forward, fearless.

Qin Luo called Xu Duoduo over, “You haven’t used this model before, so I’ll teach you. Come over while there’s time.”

Xu Duoduo quickly moved to him, and Qin Luo adjusted her grip on the gun, guiding her as she fired several shots. Once she got the hang of it, he let go, allowing her to continue.

He didn’t get overly affectionate.

As he moved to the other window, he crouched on one knee and aimed at the other mutated rats, blowing the heads off one by one.

The rats’ bodies quickly piled up on both sides of the vehicle, forming two straight black lines.

Chen Xiaofei saw a few more running toward them, about to jump at him. He shouted, “Still coming?! These mutated rats have some guts!”

Bai Shu explained, “Rats have strong revenge instincts.”

They target you even in death.

Wang Weihui warned, “We’re about to change lanes, be careful not to get thrown off.”

Everyone assured him it was fine.

The battle vehicle roared and sped out of the mutated rat area, leaving them behind.

Chen Xiaofei shouted, “Cool!!”

The highway returned to peace.

The vehicles in front also stopped firing. Wang Weihui switched to the public channel to warn the Leopard and Dove teams, who were still two kilometers behind.

“Mutated rats near Mian Mountain Service Area. Get through quickly, don’t engage, and stay safe.”