After extinguishing the fire dragon, Xu Song breathed a sigh of relief. He then noticed that several young soldiers nearby were looking at him with bright eyes, full of admiration. These soldiers had recently joined the military just before the apocalypse, and they were a year or two younger than Xu Song, making him feel a bit pressured by their admiration.
“Alright, everyone, take a break. We’ll continue our journey once the vehicles are repaired!” The overall commander of this operation, Commander Zheng, announced through a megaphone.
Xu Song glanced at the mutated tree standing quietly by the roadside, indicating that he was safe. Yue Zheng squeezed his hand, leading him back to the truck they had been riding in.
There were many types of mutant plants, but most of them wouldn’t actively attack humans. Most of them would pretend to be harmless when they realized they couldn’t deal with humans.
Perhaps this tree was the same.
The abilities users gradually climbed onto the vehicles. The vehicles with punctured tires and shattered glass were being repaired by accompanying soldiers. On top of the truck, an inexplicable tension hung in the air as people silently observed each other, trying to gauge each other’s abilities.
The fire dragon that had appeared earlier had initially been thought to be summoned by Panlong’s leader, Fan Wenbiao. However, as time passed, more and more people learned the truth. While they now knew that it wasn’t Fan Wenbiao who had summoned the fire dragon, they still didn’t know who had done it.
Their eyes swept over the people in the truck. Most of them were keeping quiet, and their abilities were mostly known within the group. Fire-based abilities were relatively rare in the base, and some were currently trapped in the snowstorm and couldn’t return, so the abilities of everyone on this mission were well known.
Could it be someone from the military? It was possible, considering that the abilities of military personnel were the least known among the group. Those abilities users had previously only cooperated with the military, but this time they had been forced to come out due to the survival issues affecting the base.
After clarifying the issue in their minds, the atmosphere inside the vehicle relaxed once again. People chatted quietly, occasionally cursing the two mutant cacti they had encountered earlier. “In this day and age, even a cactus can be used as a machine gun. Are they trying to make life even more difficult?”
“That’s right, and it’s got infinite ammo, even better than our machine guns.”
Some checked the time and took out dry rations from their bags to eat. They had been in meetings all morning, and they had to set out again at noon. Many of them hadn’t had a chance to eat lunch yet, so they were starting to feel hungry.
Traveling with the military meant they had access to supplies. Xu Song took out the supplies he had received before getting in the vehicle.
It included a can of stewed beef, a can of eight-treasure porridge, a can of pickled vegetables, and a field military ration. Inside the military ration, there were four compressed biscuit-like dry rations, along with two individual packets of chocolate, vitamin C candy, and drink mix, as well as toothpicks.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
In addition to that, each person also received three bottles of water.
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“Really?” Xu Song curiously looked at him, then glanced down at the can of beef that had clearly expired by half a year. He had never eaten military rations without pull tabs before and didn’t know how they compared to regular home-cooked beef. Well, he was just curious and wanted to try it out. After all, they were now constantly eating mutated creature meat, and there was hardly any chance to eat beef or anything like that from before.
“We can eat this during camping; you can heat it up over a fire,” Yue Zheng pointed at the canned beef as he explained.
Xu Song nodded. He wasn’t actually hungry; both of them had eaten well before leaving, and they also carried homemade dry rations with them. During the break before gathering for lunch, they had eaten some.
Before long, the damaged vehicles were repaired, and the eight soldiers and two officers who had accompanied them climbed back onto the trucks. Xu Song noticed that several young soldiers were looking at him with somewhat intimidating expressions.
Instinctively, he leaned slightly toward Yue Zheng. Yue Zheng discreetly placed his hand behind Xu Song’s waist. The weather was colder these days, so it wasn’t easy for anyone to notice. Even if they were seen, he didn’t care. Even his mother-in-law had approved of their relationship, so what did the opinions of others matter to him?
Several young soldiers held their guns tightly in their arms, staying vigilant while occasionally stealing glances at Xu Song, their actions somewhat awkward. Inadvertently, a couple of them twisted their necks…
“Cough, um, are you two from Squad 0246?” One of the officers suddenly approached with a smile on his face.
Xu Song shrank back again, feeling a chill run down his spine.
“Ding Jianhua,” the officer extended his hand, his eyes on Xu Song with enthusiasm.
Yue Zheng shook his hand, “Nice to meet you.”
Ding Jianhua smiled awkwardly, then swept his gaze over Xu Song. Xu Song’s actions earlier had not gone unnoticed. A few young soldiers had seen him summon a fire dragon with their own eyes and had reported it to their commander before boarding the vehicles. Consequently, everyone was now aware.
Previously, there had only been one second-level fire ability user, Fan Wenbiao, in the entire base. When he negotiated with the authorities, he often unconsciously adopted a somewhat condescending attitude due to being the only second-level ability user. This situation was far from ideal, and it wasn’t conducive to good relations among the various squads. Now that another second-level ability user had emerged, they naturally needed to treat him with greater importance.
Rubbing his nose, Ding Jianhua’s gaze swept over the two of them repeatedly. It seemed like he had figured something out. He then suggested, “The wind is strong at the entrance. How about coming inside?”
“No need, it’s more convenient here for our actions,” Yue Zheng politely declined, smiling.
Seeing that they weren’t willing to come inside, Ding Jianhua didn’t press further. He chuckled awkwardly, then headed back inside.
The other abilities user sitting beside another officer couldn’t help but ask, “Squad 0246? Is that squad famous?”
The officer next to him, clearly from an administrative background, pushed up his glasses and explained with a smile, “Squad 0246 is the third squad in our base to reach Rank D.”
Suddenly, all the eyes inside the vehicle turned toward them.
Xu Song moved backward, using his dear tree as cover to hide.
The third squad in the entire base to reach Rank D… When did this happen? What had they accomplished?!!
Pairs of X-ray-like eyes scanned over the two of them, and Xu Song and Yue Zheng’s expressions changed simultaneously—not because of the way they were being looked at but because Xu Song sensed something approaching rapidly, and Yue Zheng heard the sound of claws landing on the snow outside.
“Something’s approaching, probably a mutant beast,” Yue Zheng said, feeling Xu Song tugging at his arm. He confirmed that none of the other abilities users in the vehicle had reacted, which might mean there were no sound-based abilities among them.
“Something’s approaching?” one ability user questioned, looking puzzled. The person next to him also appeared confused.
Ding Jianhua quickly grabbed the radio, “Calling 006, calling 006, suspected approach of mutant creatures, suspected approach of mutant creatures!”
“Please indicate a direction, 006, indicate a direction,” the radio didn’t question how they had obtained this information but immediately asked for the direction. Everyone in this vehicle was an abilities user, and it was unknown what abilities they possessed.
The officer looked at Xu Song and Yue Zheng. Yue Zheng spoke, “Southeast, approximately four or five o’clock direction.”
“Southeast, approximately four or five o’clock direction.”
After Yue Zheng’s report, he glanced at Xu Song, who nodded lightly. His senses were also pointing in that direction.
Following the orders, the convoy came to a halt, and the soldiers readied themselves, extending their guns from various windows, waiting for the approaching threat.
The abilities user who had spoken earlier frowned and asked, “How did you detect it? Sound? Or something else?”
Yue Zheng raised an eyebrow but didn’t answer. Suddenly, the person next to him slapped him a few times, “Something is coming! That direction! Many footsteps!”
It appeared that there were indeed other auditory abilities users in the vehicle.
Xu Song glanced at Yue Zheng, and Yue Zheng discreetly squeezed his hand. It seemed the person who had questioned them was puzzled because the team’s designated sensor had not detected the approaching threat, leading him to question their information source.
“Mutant animals! Prepare for combat in all departments!” The radio issued orders, and gunfire erupted.
Xu Song and Yue Zheng got out of the vehicle again and stood behind cover. They saw a group of mutant monkeys and apes running ahead, followed by some mutant birds flying in the sky.
“They look like they escaped from the zoo… and there’s a flying tiger behind them!”
Yue Zheng gazed into the distance, raising an eyebrow in surprise.
“That tiger can fly!”
Indeed, a winged mutant tiger was roaring as it led its pack toward them!
Just slightly char the flying tiger—hahahahaha! Thanks for the update 🤣❤️🤣❤️🌳🦮🦔🦗🐝
I want the flying tiger as a peeeeeeet
Es gracioso porque en las novelas chinas utilizan “un tigre con alas” para hacer referencia a alguien que ya es poderoso y que obtiene algo que lo hace diez veces más peligroso jajaja