Horrible Death Toll, the Conflict Intensifies

Yun Che and Xing Feng didn't turn down Mo Wenyang when he found them. They located a three-story KTV nearby, went in, put down the roller shutter. Yun Che deactivated the air membrane, Xing Feng went full-on. Soon, they cleared the building. Half an hour later, the expedition entered the shelter.

"Hooo…"

"Uaaagh."

Everybody was exhausted, they collapsed to the ground panting as soon as they got into the building. The injured superfunction possessors groaned. Some heavily injured ones were in fear of the impending zombification. Mo Wenyang asked the soldiers to gather all the injured superfunction possessors. Those heavily injured ones, all tied up, were taken to a corner in case of sudden zombifications. Mildly injured ones were taking first aid, having their wounds bound up.

"Shit, nearly 70 people died. 15 heavily injured, 100 mildly injured."

After counting the casualties, Mo Wenyang kicked over the chair that his deputy got for him. The numbers were beyond their anticipation and they hadn't even reached the research institute yet. The numbers would become bigger when they made the way back. The bigger the numbers were, the more accountable Mo Wenyang was. Even if the quest was complete, he would have to bear a bad name.

"Major General Mo, too many Wei Soldiers have died. We can't afford to lose more people."

Major General Zeng wore a glum look on the face. It was kind of weird that out of the nearly 70 deaths, 30 were Wei Soldiers and most of the rest of his men were mildly injured. Plus the deaths last night, half of his forces were gone. Hadn't they been fighting an unorganized battle, he would suspect that Mo Wenyang set it all up.

"What is this bullshit? Your soldiers mustn't die but ours can? Are the lives of my soldiers worthless? We're in this together, I can't believe you just said that!"

If it was normal times, Mo Wenyang would put up with him but in this dire situation, any man could lose control. Wei and Wang Army were mostly made of level-2 superfunction soldiers, so it was their own fault! "Do these idiots think the provincial city is no different from Lingjiang City? What do the lives of the soldiers mean to these two dumb-asses?"

"I didn't mean by that, Major General Mo, my meaning is, can you ask Captain Yun and Captain Xing if they can lead a small team and all the space superfunction possessors to collect the seeds, and in the meantime, the major force will wait here tending the injured?"

As he spoke, Zeng took more than one glance at Yun Che and Xing Feng who were also worn out. "They had spare energies for looting supplies, they should be fine with the help of those space superfunction possessors, right? Plus, they got the dog and the wolf." Thought Zeng.

"You fucking…"

Mo Wenyang couldn't even breathe smoothly in anger. He took his gun out and pinned the muzzle against his forehead. "I'll blow your fucking head off!"

This was most outrageous! Yes, Yun Che had space superfunction and Heiyu and Wolf King but wouldn't they ever get tired? He also would have to lead nearly 10 space superfunction possessors that were incapable of fighting? Had he taken him for a God? This asshole was preposterous!

"Major General Mo…"

There was a gun in Major General Zeng's head! The man held his breath in nervous agitation. His deputies wore a wry face, showing no intention to mediate it. First of all, they, too, were tried. Secondly, their boss's idea was way over the top, even they felt ashamed.

The other superfunction possessors hadn't and wouldn't do anything either. Everybody was pushed to the limit but no one would propose Yun Che lead a team made of a bunch of helpless space superfunction possessors to finish the quest. They all looked at Major General Zeng with their denunciatory and scornful eyes. "How about you do it?"

"You know what? I can lead Chaoyang and Peak guys to finish the quest, but there are two things I won't do. One, I won't take more space superfunction possessors with me. Two, I won't take the same route back to the base. If you think you can return to the base on your own, Major General Zeng, then it's fine by me. But take a look around, there are many people on the expedition. When we're back in the base, if the rumor of us finishing the quest on our own doesn't affect you, then that's even better."

Before everyone noticed, Yun Che came over and sat in a chair, smoking his cigarette. He dealt with most of the level-3 zombies this morning so he was exhausted too. Had he not heard someone mention his name, he wouldn't even have moved an inch.

"Why? Since you can finish the quest on your own, why didn't you tell us earlier? And why won't you take the same route home?"

Perhaps Yun Che hit his nerve, Major General Zeng glared at Yun Che despite the gun in Mo Wenyang's hand. Yun Che was amused by such absurdity. He stood up after flicking the cigarette butt away. "Why should I tell you earlier? Perhaps you have forgotten that it's a military-civilian co-operation in which the military plays the main role. We're here to aid you. As to the route, you can try the same route home if you like. Last thing, if there's something you cannot do, don't bossy around and ask others to do it for you."

Yun Che wasn't a God, he wasn't obliged to look after the military. He wouldn't even have asked Heiyu to fight if he hadn't been doing Mo Wenyang a favor. He didn't have a problem doing the quest without haste, he got enough supplies that could last more than a year in his Space. Major General Zeng's insatiability knew no bounds. Had he ever thought about what it would be like without Chaoyang and Peak? Would they be here within three days? Would the death toll start to go up until now? To be honest, Wang and Wei Army never took the lives of the soldiers seriously. The soldiers should consider themselves lucky if they got to go home alive.

"You-You have extra energies but you'd rather spend them on looting supermarkets than save more people's lives. Am I not allowed to point that out?"

Major General Zeng got agitated and spoke out his mind aloud. It turned out he was just jealous of Peak and Chaoyang who got to collect supplies on the way with zero deaths.

"If I hadn't taken part in the battles, more of you would have been dead. Take a good look at these."

Clink, clang.

Yun Che snorted and waved his hand, dozens of colorful level-3 crystal nuclei hit the ground. Those who saw this were all shocked. "Hadn't he killed all those level-3 zombies, we would have…" No one even dared to imagine it. Immediately, all the eyes on Major General Zeng became more hostile. "Look how much Yun Che has done for us? Where do you get the audacity to accuse him? Who else here killed as many level-3 zombies as he has?"

"Major General Zeng, if you keep being ridiculous, I have the authority to remove your rank."

In the deathly silence, Mo Wenyang's voice sounded exceptionally harsh. Major General Zeng had no choice but to step back. Before he turned around, he took a sulky look at Yun Che and Heiyu and the Wolf King resting near them. He searched his heart and insisted that his proposition wasn't a selfish one. In his opinion, even if he was being selfish, it was for the sake of his soldiers. He just couldn't get over what Yun Che had said and done to him.

Major General Zeng thought it wasn't a selfish proposition but it only was in Wei Army's interest. First of all, whether Yun Che got what it takes to lead a special force and a bunch of space superfunction possessors to finish the quest or not, they wouldn't be able to collect supplies on the way anyway. Secondly, if the quest was done, it would be considered a deed of merit done by a collective; but if failed, Mo Wenyang the commander would be the first to take the blame whereas Zeng himself would be accountable for nothing. Thirdly, if Yun Che should die, all the other space superfunction possessors would die together with him, nowadays, space superfunction possessors were extremely valuable, the three armies and all the superfunction squads would denounce Peak and Chaoyang. All in all, it certainly was a mean, malevolent proposition.

"Hmph, what a self-righteous prick. I've never seen such a brazen man like him before."

When Yun Che returned to his clique, he heard Zhou Zeyu swearing from a distance. Xing Feng walked up to Yun Che and held his arm. "We'll find a time to get rid of him before we set off later."

The prick should have been dead yesterday. Now they had to deal with this shit.

"He's not important. Wei Army has nearly died out, Mo Wenyang is commanding Wang Army and his, he's got no one to protect him. Even if we don't do anything to him, he won't necessarily survive."

Yun Che sat down with Xing Feng. He didn't really give a shit about the clown. Yun Che took a look at the tied-up, heavily injured guys near them and found out they were mostly soldiers. They were good men taking orders from a jerk. After a quick thought, Yun Che got up and walked toward them. Almost everyone more or less put some attention on Yun Che as he approached. To everyone's surprise, Yun Che took a pile of compact biscuits and several bottles of water from Space and gorged them one by one.

"You'll need strong willpower to fight the zombie virus. Just firmly believe that you won't turn in a zombie, then you won't."

The diluted spring water could purify the person infected with the zombie virus. It had been proven on Zhan Tianlong. Yun Che wasn't trying to act like a savior or something, he just didn't want to see these duteous soldiers turn into abominations. Neither did he want to kill them by his own hand.

"Than-Thank you!"

The soldiers weren't afraid of death or pain but what feared them was the possibility of turning into man-eating monsters. The gratitude came from the bottom of their hearts.

"You're welcome. When you overcome the zombie virus, we expect you to join us in the upcoming battles."

After patting one of the soldiers on the shoulder, Yun Che put the stuff away and went back to his own squad. Other soldiers who witnessed the whole thing all held Yun Che in high esteem. At this very moment, all soldiers from the three armies were thinking the same thing. They were aware that soldiers and low-ranking officers were cannon folder in large-scale battles, no one would give a shit about their lives as if they were supposed to die. Yun Che's small but heartwarming move made them feel that their lives had been taken notice of. No words could express this kind of feeling, maybe Yun Che himself didn't even know this rare kindness of his would earn so much sincere respect from these soldiers.

"Eat something. The main force probably can't press forward this afternoon. Maybe we do need to move separately after all."

Yun Che didn't take the chairs and table out, he just put the boxed meals on the ground. After looking at each other, Chaoyang and Peak guys started eating in silence. Xing Feng asked Shen Rui to take his portion to Mo Wenyang who was still sulking. Before Xing Feng was about to take some biscuits to fill his belly from Space, Yun Che put his meal in front of Xing. "I have no appetite. Help me finish it off."

Yun Che didn't care if Xing Feng was going to eat it, he just shoved the food boxes in his hand. Yun Che then kicked back, closed his eyes and relaxed on Heiyu's body. No one could imagine how tired he was. If he could lead a small group of people to break into the research institute, he would have already done it. Why would he make the extra effort? At the end of the day, he was just a level-3 superfunction possessor, not a God!

"Hmm?"

When the warmth touched his lips, Yun Che opened his eyes. Xing Feng nudged Yun Che's mouth again with the spoon full of food. "Just eat a little something. It'll break my heart if you starve."

Xing Feng knew that Yun Che was hungry, but his boy was just too mad to have a good appetite. No one would be apathetic about the horrible death toll, even though the dead ones weren't their comrades. They left the base together, so surely the expedition was expected to go home as a whole. Yun Che was just quietly working out a solution in his own way.

"OK."

No more resistance, Yun Che opened his mouth to catch the food. Xing Feng sat beside him. Bit by bit, the two of them dined slowly, replenishing their lost energy.