Chapter 12

Now it was the 126th year of the new calendar, and with the increase in population, the four major bases were slowly expanding outward.

To expand a base, the first step was to expand the surrounding safe zones.

The criterion for a safe zone is the absence of any mutated organisms, including mutant beasts, mutant insects, and mutated plants.

Grassroots, grass seeds, and insect eggs require continuous official spraying of pesticides, which can take more than a decade. Building a complete isolation wall is also a massive project, so the safe zones of the major bases remain limited.

Outside the safe zones is the danger zone, and the farther you are from the base, the more dangerous it becomes.

Ability users take on tasks in corresponding danger zones according to their levels to ensure maximum safety. However, mutant beasts and insects are active and occasionally breach official surveillance, wandering around. If a high-level mutant beast strays into a low-level danger zone, safety incidents are bound to occur.
—-
The aircraft, being large and heavy, slowed down considerably. After two landings for E-class and D-class mercenaries to disembark, more than twenty minutes passed. At exactly seven in the morning, the aircraft landed on the final stop of this trip: Jin City.

Jin City is the center of the C-class danger zone in the southern part of the Southeast Base. C-class mercenaries conduct missions in this area, while A-class and B-class mercenaries usually have their own transport vehicles. After taking a one-hour “free ride” from the base, they are about to drive away to more distant high-level danger zones.

Just as Xu Qiao was about to unbuckle her seatbelt, a familiar mechanical voice came over the intercom: “The aircraft will return at four o’clock in the afternoon. Please board on time; latecomers will not be accommodated.”

“If you encounter a mutant creature above C-class, please ignite a flare; the patrol team will respond immediately, but they may not arrive in time. Please make every effort to rescue yourself.”

The announcement repeated three times before the cabin door opened.

The seats of the four were close to the cabin door, making them among the first C-class mercenaries to disembark from the aircraft.

Xu Qiao and Meng Li walked side by side in front.

The dust kicked up by the landing aircraft had not completely settled, creating a foggy haze in the bright morning light. Huge, crumbling remnants of buildings were scattered in the distance, and everywhere they looked was a wasteland.

Accompanied by a sudden rumble, modified off-road vehicles and armored cars drove out of the aircraft’s A and B sections, kicking up clouds of dust as they went.

Some C-class mercenaries looked on enviously, while experienced C-class mercenaries reminded their companions, “Hurry up and leave; otherwise, the nearby mutant beasts and insects will surround us.”

No matter what level the mutant creatures are, once they gather together, they become extremely difficult to deal with.

Sun Fushan exchanged glances with his teammates and led the way southwest.

In fact, Sun Fushan preferred that the eldest member, Qin Chi, take charge of directing them during the mission, but this easygoing Teacher Qin was lazy and unyieldingly refused the task. Meng Li was too cold, and while Xu Qiao was easygoing, she was a healer—how could a healer be on the front lines?

With no other choice, Sun Fushan could only continue to fulfill his responsibilities as a team leader.

Tasks in the C-class danger zone varied widely, from excavating abandoned buildings for usable resources to eliminating mutant beasts.

The former was colloquially known as “garbage work,” taking a long time and relying entirely on luck, but it was relatively safe to stay in the abandoned city areas. The latter was more time-efficient and labor-saving, but the risk of being killed by mutant beasts was higher.

Meng Li disliked scavenging, and Qin Chi clearly was not someone who wanted to be a “garbage worker.” Sun Fushan’s purpose in forming a team with bodyguards was to improve his own combat ability.

The healer followed her combat-oriented teammates, but Xu Qiao also preferred the task of hunting mutant beasts, especially when her teammates were reliable.

With over a thousand C-class mercenaries spreading out in different directions, about half an hour later, there were no other mercenaries in sight behind the four of them.

Sun Fushan opened the portable map he carried and pointed to a mountainous area southwest of Jin City, asking, “Here?”

Meng Li replied, “Run there?”

Sun Fushan felt a bit proud yet embarrassed as he said, “I, I have a car.”

Meng Li looked at him, speechless.

Sun Fushan turned around and took out an off-road vehicle from his spatial crystal core. It was painted in deep green camouflage, with two rows of five seats.

Qin Chi smiled and said, “Not bad.”

Xu Qiao joked with Sun Fushan, “If you had listed this condition when recruiting team members, you would have filled the slots immediately.”
—-
After leaving the base, the communication wristbands only had the function of displaying the time. Sun Fushan tried to express his meaning succinctly: “For, for equipment, for people, it’s different.”

What he wanted were teammates who appreciated his personal strength and didn’t mind his stuttering.

Sun Fushan took the driver’s seat. As Xu Qiao walked toward the back row, Meng Li actively followed, and Qin Chi, seeing this, sat in the front passenger seat to allow Sun Fushan to focus on driving while keeping a vigilant eye on the road ahead.

Under normal circumstances, C-class danger zones that had been cleared and checked by officials essentially didn’t contain high-level mutated creatures, so the sound of the off-road vehicle, having undergone noise reduction treatment, wouldn’t attract formidable opponents. However, the old era’s smooth concrete roads had long been destroyed, leaving only dirt paths trampled by ability users or mutant beasts. Thus, the vehicle jolted for nearly an hour before they reached the foot of a mountain.

The vegetation at the foot of the mountain was not dense. Sun Fushan parked the vehicle and led the way, with Xu Qiao following closely behind. Meng Li and Qin Chi lagged a couple of steps behind, maintaining a triangular formation around Sun Fushan while keeping Xu Qiao protected in the middle.

Given their personalities and the environment, no one in the team spoke, making it a true case of “silence is golden.”

This place used to be a scenic area, with a towering rock standing at the entrance. The colorful name of the scenic spot carved on it had long been washed away by over a century of rain, leaving only the base text in the same color as the rock.

On either side of the rock were large pits that could accommodate four people, likely once occupied by two mutated trees, now cleared by the guard forces.

As Sun Fushan approached the pit and leaned in to take a look, a basketball-sized gray mutant beast suddenly lunged out, aiming for Sun Fushan’s face.

Xu Qiao’s heart lurched, and the next second, a brown earthen board, slightly larger than the gray mutant beast, appeared out of thin air in front of Sun Fushan, accompanied by the sound of a sharp object piercing flesh.

The board was flat on one side, while the other was covered in sharp earthen spikes, which the gray mutant rat had crashed into.

The board vanished, and Sun Fushan swiftly dug out the D-class crystal core from the mutant rat. At least it could be sold for some points.

Xu Qiao looked at Meng Li, who seemed to be regretting her unnecessary actions, as Sun Fushan may not have noticed that she had just caught a glimpse of a flash of red light aimed at the mutant rat, which then quickly vanished midway.

Meng Li pressed her lips together, seemingly annoyed at herself for overreacting.

The newly formed team naturally needed time to get to know each other and adjust, so Xu Qiao suggested, “Next time a mutant beast appears, let Meng Li take the shot, and the time after that, it will be Qin Chi’s turn. You three should familiarize yourselves with each other’s attack speeds and strengths.”

Sun Fushan nodded repeatedly in agreement.

The four continued deeper into the area.

The second attack they encountered came from a patch of climbing vine that grew along the mountain wall. The vine was about the thickness of chopsticks and appeared to be a non-mutated form of the Lian Stone vine. However, as the four walked seemingly unguarded past that section of the wall, one of the vines suddenly sprang up into the air, revealing its previously wall-clinging side, now stained a blood-red color.

The tip of the vine split into three tendrils, heading straight for the nearest Meng Li.

The surprise attack was sudden and silent; neither Sun Fushan nor Xu Qiao noticed it, but Qin Chi slightly turned his head to take a glance.

The attacked Meng Li sensed the rush of wind and quickly wrapped three fiery lines around the three tendrils of the vine, each about the thickness of a thumb.

The Lian Stone vine recoiled in pain, but the three fiery lines continued to wrap around the vine and burned quietly.

The vine attempted to use its other tendrils to extinguish the flames, but the fiery lines suddenly grew larger, turning the nearby section of the mountain wall into a sea of flames.

By this time, the four-member team had all turned to watch the spectacle.

Sun Fushan’s eyes brightened: “C-class Lian Stone vine!”

They had barely arrived and already found something; it seemed he had chosen a good spot!

Once the Lian Stone vine had completely lost its vitality, Meng Li grasped the main vine with one hand and yanked it hard, pulling out a main root over two meters long and as thick as an arm. Although this main root was buried in the mountain soil and had turned gray from the burning, when Meng Li raised her dagger and sliced it, it split in half like a cooked yam, revealing a pale green crystal core with nowhere to hide.

Meng Li didn’t look at it for long and directly handed it over to team leader Sun Fushan.

Sun Fushan smiled and said, “Let’s keep going; we still need nineteen more!”

Carnivorous mutated creatures were hard to resist when tempted by prey. As Xu Qiao and the others entered the mountain forest, their scent carried on the wind, drawing nearby mutant beasts and insects with sensitive noses closer.

A mournful cry echoed through the air, and Xu Qiao looked up to see a shadow resembling a small aircraft rapidly approaching.

Sun Fushan said nervously, “Snake Eagle!”

The Snake Eagle was a common raptor in the mountainous forests around the Southeast Base. The mutated C-class Snake Eagle could spread its wings up to three meters wide, and its sharp claws could easily lift Sun Fushan high into the air.

Flying mutant beasts were generally adept at speed, making them troublesome opponents that could escape even if they couldn’t defeat ability users.

Fire was strong against wood. Meng Li found it relatively easy to deal with C-class mutated plants, but C-class mutant beasts had formidable body defenses. Precise attacks would require several strikes to break through their defenses, and given the Snake Eagle’s swift movements, it might be challenging for Meng Li to kill it on her own.

Sun Fushan’s earth ability made it even harder to kill the Snake Eagle, so he turned his hopeful gaze toward Qin Chi.

Meng Li also understood how difficult the Snake Eagle was to deal with and asked Qin Chi, “Shall we team up?”

The advantage of wind abilities lies in control, which is slightly inferior to fire abilities in terms of attack strength.

Qin Chi nodded.

Xu Qiao observed silently.

The Snake Eagle, soaring in the air and fond of meat, had locked onto its first target: the plump Sun Fushan, who wasn’t wearing a helmet.

The Snake Eagle’s sharp, elongated eyes ignored the other three and lunged at Sun Fushan at an even faster speed.

With only a meter left between them, a sudden gust of wind blew the massive Snake Eagle off course by three meters.

The Snake Eagle, which had never lost in aerial maneuvers: “……”

Before the bewildered Snake Eagle could react, three fireballs, each the size of a fist, struck its neck one after another. With three explosive sounds, the Snake Eagle split in half and fell from the height, releasing a sudden aroma of roasted meat into the air.

Sun Fushan’s eyes lit up like fire, and he had to hold back from jumping up in excitement!

He couldn’t even go out by himself at home; look at that—his teammates hunting a C-class beast was as easy as child’s play!

He happily went to handle the Snake Eagle’s carcass while Meng Li turned to Qin Chi and praised, “Your wind control ability is impressive.”

Her previous team also had a wind ability user, but they could only hinder the movements of small mutant beasts and could never blow a large Snake Eagle off course like that.

Qin Chi humbly replied, “I’ve been practicing for ten years, so I’m quite skilled.”

Just as Sun Fushan was about to cut open the Snake Eagle’s head, he suddenly turned back and asked, “How do you use your wind blades?”

Qin Chi understood what he meant. He controlled the wind to move the Snake Eagle’s head over and then used another wind blade to swiftly cut out the crystal core.

Sun Fushan was in awe: so fast! So strong!

Meng Li was equally impressed, though her enthusiasm wasn’t as overt as Sun Fushan’s.

Qin Chi smiled faintly as he looked at Xu Qiao, the team’s healer, who was fully armed and protected down to her head.

Both teammates had expressed their admiration, so Xu Qiao naturally wanted to give a compliment as well, just as Qin Chi had praised her spirit form after Sun Fushan and Meng Li.

“You’re amazing! I’ve never seen anyone extract a crystal core as elegantly as you do.”

The crystal core was equal to the mission and also points; the higher the level, the more valuable it was. Mercenaries often dug out crystal cores with one hand holding down the mutant beast and the other wielding a knife, getting blood all over their hands.

Qin Chi was different; his wind blades were invisible, and the moment he extracted the crystal core, the wind cleaned the blood off the surface.

Such unique praise caught Qin Chi by surprise. After thinking for a moment, he smiled and explained, “Maybe I’m not used to scenes that are too brutal and bloody.”

At least in front of the three young people, Qin Chi didn’t want to show any signs of bloodthirst or violence.

Xu Qiao nodded; this was very much in line with his usual style.

Meng Li heard this but seemed to ignore it, mainly because she wasn’t interested in those details.

Sun Fushan, however, recalled the time when he had skewered a mutant mouse with his earth spikes, which had been very bloody. He wondered if Qin Chi would dislike that.