Chapter 14 - Tasks

Ji Yun had once followed Wang He and his team to the target destination. With him leading the way, everyone successfully avoided the impassable sections and took less detours along the way. He didn't know why, but there seemed to be more zombies now than the last time. However, he had no time to think about it anymore as they drove at full speed; the loud sound of the car engines attracting many zombies to after them. Fortunately, their current car's speed is still faster than the zombies's running speed.

'BANG——' a zombie standing in the middle of the road was ruthlessly hit by Ji Yun. The zombie's body onto the the modified windshield, leaving a zigzag trace.

In the truck, except for Wu Ye, everyone looked indifferent, already used to such a sight.

Unable to express his feelings, Wu Ye silently turned his head towards the window. The car continued its journey to the edge of the safe radiation zone in Lan Cheng, where vast barren fields and scattered factories could be seen. Numerous zombies, whether it be humanoid or animal-like, frantically shuttled across the barren fields. People who earn their living by hunting zombies were either standing on top of a car shooting with machine guns, attacking zombies using their abilities, or attacking them with crude weapons.

The sounds of gunshots, roar of engines, howls of human beings, and roars of zombies intertwined together, playing the music of death.

Isn't this thrilling?

No. This was just the lowest level hunt since the scattered zombies did not even form a medium-sized zombie tide. In a sense, this massacre was just an independent hunt. However, once a zombie tide is formed, the balance would be reversed, and that's when all hell breaks loose.

It has been 20 days since Wu Ye landed in this apocalyptic world. Today was his first time to encounter the desolate nature of the apocalypse. At the same time, it was also a first for him to experience "lamenting the many hardships of people's lives," as described by Quyuan.

As they drove ten kilometers ahead, the number of zombies sharply increased.

"Sit tight!" Ji Yun shouted as he accelerated the truck's speed, constantly drifting to avoid the obstacles on the road and the zombies that had become more and more dense.

It's obviously not the first time Yang Li Na had experienced such a scene. Thus, she rolled down the window a little and threw out a screaming toy whistle with a thin slice of bloody meat tied to it. The smell of fresh flesh and blood along with sharp sounds were the greatest lure for zombies. And Yang Lin Na having thrown several whistles in succession, Ji Yun immediately felt the pressure ease up. Without hesitation, he took this opportunity to rush out of the 'zombies wall' that spread two to three kilometers with the fastest speed the truck could muster.

After rushing out from this area, the number of zombies dropped significantly. However, it was still better in the safe radiation zone in Lan Cheng. Wu Yu couldn't help but be scared after seeing the zombies coming at them one after another. Fortunately, the unreliable system did not throw him into the periphery. Otherwise, he wouldn't have known how he would die.

After traveling for more than thirty kilometers, the truck finally stopped at the foot of a mountain.

With a tacit understanding among them, everyone took their guns and cleared the surrounding zombies. Zhang Ling, who was charming, came down to look after their vehicles while the others ran for the medicine field on the hill.

Their task was to collect a variant herb, formerly named as honeysuckle. After it mutated, the honeysuckle's brilliant golden color faded and turned transparent like a crystal. Some zombie hunters had picked it randomly and brought it back to base because they thought the flowers were beautiful. But later, they found out that the mutated honeysuckle not only detoxifies, it could also clear away the heat and worked wonderfully as a remedy for simple headaches, fever, and cold. Its effect was comparable to some special medicines before the apocalypse happened.

In this current situation where medicine was scarce, the mutated honeysuckle was undoubtedly a valuable resource. However, Lan Cheng was not a place where honeysuckle was cultivated. Most honeysuckles grew in the wild or came from people who casually planted them for fun. Few of it were planted in patches, so it's difficult to find mutated variants.

Wang He was originally from this place, so he knew that there was a small piece of honeysuckle field here. He had long prepared to select this task to make a fortune. Unexpectedly, he wasn't even able to touch a petal before he was driven away.

Wang He's team failed because of a group of mutant wolves. Although the group had a variety of small and large ones, over 20 mutated wolves still attacked them. Several people died before they escaped the wolves' enclosure. The loss on the wolves' side wasn't small either. More than a dozen unmutated wolves and pups died in the hands of Wang He and his team. It's no wonder the hatred between both sides runs deep.

Before taking this task, Qin Wuhua had already inquired with Ji Yun about these details. Right after he had secured an employment contract between him and Yang Li Na's group, he informed his newly formed team about the situation and made everyone aware of what they were about to face.

"Be careful, they're coming!" Qin Wuhua warned, stopping everyone in their tracks immediately.

Yang Qi lifted his arms. As he did so, mud gradually formed a two-meter high solid earth wall around them. Before the wall formed completely, Ji Yun released several rat-like robots from inside his backpack. These robot rats rapidly moved on the ground, rushed out of the earthen wall enclosure, and disappeared into the overgrown honeysuckle fields. Two wolves chased after the mechanical rats into the field. Unfortunately for these wolves, Ji Yun had already controlled the rats to burrow into the ground.

The battle started with a series of wind blades that the wolves spat out and left terrible cracks on the earth wall. Then, three gray wolves soared up to heaven. Their bodies swelled up like balloons, growing into twice their original size. With bloodshot eyes, they rushed up and rammed their bodies onto the earthen wall like mad dogs. However, the moment the earthen wall collapsed, the three wolves were hit by three bolts of thick purple lighting that fell accurately onto their heads. The hit caused these three wolves to howl and fall on the ground, convulsing weakly before they died in their blackened fur.

"Ao Wu——" The wolf howled in anger and rushed up with the rest of its companion.

Zhao Jianguo kept throwing fireballs with both hands, while Luo Yang supported him by directing the fireballs with his wind power, forcing the wolves to keep back. Yang Qi mobilized his power and pierced a female wolf's body silently. Seeing another one from his pack fell down, a newfound insight overwhelmed the beast. A black shadow swiftly moved to where Yang Li Na stood. Before she noticed, sharp teeth were already buried on her neck.

Wu Ye's brain went blank for a brief moment despite the absence of blood splatters.

At that critical moment, Yang Li Na's metal power advanced to second level, allowing her to cover the surface of her skin with metal, successfully resisting the fatal blow from the wolf. However, the wolf was also able to tear a large piece of metal skin from her neck with its unusually sharp teeth.

When the wolf failed to strike her, it turned around and scratched the backs of Zhao Jianguo and Luo Yang, deep enough to see their bones.

The sounds of gunfire coupled with the screams of these two men filled the air. The wolf fell to the ground with an unwilling expression, its blood and brains spilled out, staining the ground with with red and white color.

The remaining five mutated wolves whimpered before they quickly turned around and rushed to escape into the dense forest on the mountain.

"Hey, motherf***er, why didn't you do that earlier?" Zhao Jianguo gritted his teeth in pain. He was glad that he hadn't hurt his spine, but on the other hand, he couldn't help but complain to Qin Wuhua. Luo Yang also stared at him pointedly.

Yang Li Na withdrew her ability and covered her neck with her hands. Bright red liquid constantly oozed out from the gap of her fingers and her blood-soaked flesh was a frightening sight. She sneered bitterly as she said, "Had you reacted faster, you could have avoided that blow. If it wasn't for Qin-Ge's quick reaction, you two would've been corpses by now. You got saved, and yet you still dared to complain about the rescue being slow. Tsk, how right were they when they said that 'People are invincible when they're at the most shameless'."

"Yang Li Na, what do you mean by that? Damn it!" Zhao Jianguo's face was flushed, and it was unknown whether it was due to shame or anger.

"Li Na, I know that you're still blaming me because of Zhang Ling…" Luo Yang saw how Yang Li Na's ability had advanced and now he wanted to repair their relationship. After all, a second level metal ability, known for its combat effectiveness, is significantly more valuable than healing power which is ineffective in combat.

"Stop, pack up, and leave first. I'm not in the mood to talk to you." Yang Li Na, who has seen Luo Yang's true face, didn't even want to say a word to him.

By this time, Ji Yun's robot rats had already succeeded harvesting mutated honeysuckle. While this honeysuckle field didn't look small, it only has three mutated species, one big and two small ones. When they mutate, honeysuckle vaguely looked like it had evolved from shrubs to trees. Its branches were more robust and upright and its leaves changed from soft green to dark green with hard saw-like edges. Also, the change in the color of its flowers to transparent crystal made it look even more enchanting than the ordinary honeysuckle. It's unknown whether its evolution has taken a downward direction or whether the flower just had a low rank. It didn't have the ability to attack like most mutant plants.

Just now, they fought with wolves quietly because they were afraid to disturb the other animals in the mountain and alert the wandering zombies nearby. Once they had successfully gotten mutated honeysuckle, they immediately carried the wolves' corpses and plants down the mountain.

Qin Wuhua was very strong. On his own, he could drag four wolf corpses. Meanwhile, since Wu Ye did not help at all at the fight, he took the initiative to carry one wolf's corpse. He gritted his teeth under the weight of ten kilograms on his shoulder. Ji Yun himself carried three honeysuckle flowers they got, while Yang Li Na and the others split up and surrounded them, wiping out zombies that approached before they could surround them. They smoothly arrived at their vehicles and escaped from the zombie siege.

"Yang Li Na, your neck is still bleeding, are you sure you don't need Zhang Ling's help?" Ji Yun had a good impression of Yang Li Na, hence he couldn't help asking her when he saw that she was very pale.

Yang Li Na said, "She only heals when she wants to use her powers, when she doesn't want to use it, what could you do? Besides, do you think she'll be willing to treat me?" Yang Li Na has learned Zhang Ling's willful nature more than once, she was simply too familiar with her. After speaking, she took out a roll of bandages from her backpack and simply wrapped up the wound that had just been cleaned. Then she took out two toy whistles from her bag and tied the sponge, which had just been used to clean her blood, to it.

"You really did not waste anything." Wu Ye said.

"Being frugal is a virtue, little brother should learn it."

"…" Could we cooperate pleasantly?!

"What are you going to do with the wolves' bodies you just hunted?" Yang Li Na asked.

Wu Ye said, "Of course we're going to take it back to the base and sell it. Why, do you have a better idea?" Wolf meat is a good thing. It had good taste, not to mention the complementary wolf skin could be good against the cold weather.

Yang Li Na shook her head and laughed, "You three are not familiar with Lan Cheng I see. Isn't it a waste of time to take them back to the base and sell them?"

"If you don't trade back in the base…is the rumor of the black market for abilities user true?" Ji Yun exclaimed. He had heard that there was a mysterious market outside Lan Cheng base, which was exclusively for dealing with abilities user without paying any taxes. Its existence was tacitly approved by the high level management of Lan Cheng base.

Lan Cheng base's compromise is to attract and unite ability users. However, they naturally did not want ordinary people to know about it and so they set a trading area outside the base where they would not collect taxes. Hence, while they agreed to its existence, they put forward a clause that ability users should keep the existence of the black market to themselves.

Since many ability users thought highly of themselves, they thought they should not work with ordinary people. Half of the ability users themselves worked for the high-level management of Lan Cheng, making ability users happy to accept the terms of the higher-ups. Having ability was a prerequisite to enter the black market, and they only passed this information around from one ability user to another.