Making Plans, Zhou Zeyu’s Proposition

"We're two blocks away from our destination. From the map, the nearest route is less than a thousand meters. Going into the institute and killing all the zombies in 3 hours should be feasible, provided there are no higher-level zombies."

It was 3 pm, the main force was still resting because those heavily injured ones needed to be watched closely. Mo Wenyang planned the upcoming operation with his deputies. It would be dark around 7 pm, the main force would be mostly recovered and ready to go around 4 pm. The best possible shelter for the night for them would be the vault inside the institute.

"Should be feasible? I would agree with you if you said it this morning. Now we got at most 300 combatants and some of them will need to be looking after the wounded, so don't call me a pessimist, I think we only got 200 people available. The one-thousand-meter distance from here to the institute shouldn't be a big issue but the hardest part lies inside the institute. Before the doomsday, it was a state-owned seed research center where at least a thousand scientists and assistants worked. The numbers of security guards and other zombies that have roamed into the institute after the doomsday aren't even included. In total, I would say there are about 2,000 zombies inside the research institute, which is 10 times more than us. Clear the place in 3 hours? Not a chance."

Mo Wenyang took a look up at one of his deputies. He seemed to be mocking him while in fact, he was making a rational analysis. What he didn't mention was that it was his most conservative estimation, the actual number might be much larger. 3 hours? The job wasn't likely to be done in 5 hours. In the dark, humans got poor vision so the ability to act was weakened, however, zombies would become fiercer at night. All of them might die in there. At this point, the expedition couldn't afford to make any mistake, because any mistake would be fatal.

"Sorry, commander. I was being cursory."

The deputy lowered his head after hearing Mo Wenyang out. Major General Zeng, too, attended the meeting. He opened his mouth, trying to say something but his deputy held him back. Wei Army had suffered a great loss and Major General Zeng wasn't acknowledged by the majority, so they'd better lay low in case they were ordered to be the human shield.

"We're all tired. Let's rest for the night here and move out tomorrow morning."

Mo Wenyang had made his decision. He stood up from his chair and walked toward Yun Che and his folks. After resting on Heiyu's body for more than an hour, Yun Che's energies were mostly recovered. He cracked his eyes open when he felt someone walking up to him. Xing Feng actively lit a cigarette and put it in Yun Che's mouth.

"So? Has the decision been made?"

Xing Feng took out several folding stools and sat on one. He didn't even say hi to the commander. Yun Che was disinclined to move with the cigarette in his mouth; he still lolled on Heiyu's body.

"Yes. We'll move out tomorrow morning. We'll be fully recharged tomorrow. We go in, do the job, and get the hell out of the city. I hope we can make as many miles as possible after the seed are retrieved. When we are back on the beltway, the quest can be considered done."

Mo Wenyang sat on the stool beside Xing Feng. He'd been wearing a long face the whole time. He knew from the start that it would be an arduous quest, he thought he was prepared for it but when the death toll started to increase, he couldn't help but feel sorry for the loss. All those casualties were superfunction soldiers on whom the construction and development of the base relied. He wished none of them had died.

"You've made the right call. I thought you'd resume the operation against all odds. If so, I'd have to withdraw from the operation right away."

Between buddies, Xing Feng was always blunt. If he was a soldier in an army led by one of his close pals who considered the lives of soldiers worthless, he wouldn't follow this commander as well.

"You'll never get that chance."

After darting a sideways glance at Xing Feng, Mo Wenyang punched him on the chest. They then looked and smiled at each other. They were cousins at about the same age, one was only a few months older than another. They grew up together, joined the army together, then the special force. The only difference was, Mo Wenyang had been a cheerful, casual young man who was warm-hearted to the ones he liked but averse to the ones he disliked. Not until the person that he once fully opened his heart to died did the cousins got on separate ways. Xing Feng and his men quit the army and jumped into another business; Mo Wenyang applied for a transfer to the Southwest Base. Despite all that, their bond was still tight and they still knew each other through and through.

"Xing and I will be scouts to see if there are high-level zombies inside the research institute."

It wasn't that Yun Che didn't want to sneak in and put all the seeds and research equipment and files into his own Space but if he did this, people would start questioning the size of his Space. Also, the purpose of this whole quest wouldn't be achieved. He might as well apply to the base for doing the quest on their own in the first place. Now that they'd come to this far, they could only be realistic. The progress could be slightly slower at this point, but the most important thing was to minimize the number of deaths.

"It'll be great if you're willing to."

Mo Wenyang didn't say no as he understood the magic of space superfunction. He glanced the heavily injured soldiers with the corner of his eye, once again, sorrow filled up his eyes. "I hope they won't become zombies. I would hate to end the lives of my people by my own hand."

No one would. Nothing would be more harrowing than this. But once they did start to zombify, Mo would have to do it anyway. Put the fact that zombified superfunction possessors were more powerful than average zombies aside, even their abominable looks during the zombification was unbearable.

"Don't worry. They won't."

Yun Che felt so much better now after finishing up a cigarette. As he spoke, he stood up to stretch his body.

"You're very sure of it."

Mo Wenyang found Yun Che's assertion both ridiculous and conceivable at the same time. He decided to take it for a joke. Xing Feng, however, put on an unperturbed smile. He knew Yun Che's little secret: the water that Che fed them with was no regular water, so no, there would be no zombification, unless they drank the water after they became zombies like Yun Cheng did.

"Believe it or not, they won't."

Yun Che had no energy to argue with Mo. He turned around and petted Heiyu's head. "How do you feel? Still tired?"

Heiyu was no less tired than Yun Che was. Yun Che did have killed so many level-3 zombies this morning, but half of the credit ought to go to Heiyu. And afterward, Heiyu also spent a large amount of spiritual power clearing this KTV. He didn't want to move unless he had to, even the energy bars that Yun Che fed him with tasted less delicious than usual. The Wolf King wasn't in any better state, either. The death toll would have been more terrible without their vital aid.

"Yeah."

This time, Heiyu didn't play any tricks or endlessly yammer, he just lethargically lifted his eyelids. Unlike superfunction possessors, Heiyu needed to absorb enough spiritual energy for his recovery rather than rest or absorb the power of crystal nuclei. The spiritual energy out here was too thin to sate him in a short time.

"Shrink a little. I'll take you out for a stroll."

Those who were familiar with Yun Che knew that the so-called stroll was his excuse to send Heiyu back to Space. Yes, when Heiyu was fully spirited, he did act like a jerk, but everybody preferred the spirited Heiyu. People were mostly used to his character anyway. If someday, Heiyu stopped being a jerk, people would even get confused.

"That's what I've been waiting for."

Right after Yun Che said it, Heiyu transformed into a puppy in the blink of an eye. Yun Che picked him up, placed him on the shoulder, nodded at Xing Feng, then went upstairs. Obviously, they couldn't use the front door, the quickest way out would be descending from the second floor.

"These two bastards just left? Do they have any respect for me, the commander of the expedition here?"

Mo Wenyang muttered as the two of them blurred at the staircases. He wasn't upset, though, for he knew that everything Yun Che did was meant to benefit him.

"So, uh, Major General Mo, a quick word?"

Zhou Zeyu, a natural people person, came up to Mo Wenyang, put one arm around his shoulder, and whispered in his ear, "How about we figure out a way to ice Zeng?"

Yun Che couldn't be bothered to talk Zeng back, but it didn't mean that other Peak guys had no inclination to make the asshole disappear. "Does he think he can get away with plotting against our captain? He'll have to pay the price or else we won't be happy!"

"Is this what Yun Che wants?"

Mo Wenyang turned his head to look at Zhou Zeyu and asked in a low voice. If it was what Yun Che wanted, he would try every way he could. He never liked that son of a bitch anyway. The sooner he stopped breathing, the better.

"Che doesn't even want to speak to him. It's what we want, right?"

Zhou Zeyu took a look around others as he spoke and surprisingly, the guys who normally would never want to be part of shit like this, such as Jiang Shang and Yang Huaien, nodded simultaneously. Peak was a family and they wouldn't stand the fact that some sneaky bastard tried to play dirty on their boss. Chaoyang boys, such as Yang Huaien, Yu Wenqing, and Shen Rui had been Xing Feng's brothers-in-arms for almost a decade, they knew better than anyone that even though their captain never said a word, deep down, he very much wanted the son of bitch dead. Frankly, Zeng was already a dead man, it was just a matter of time. What's more, Yun Che was Chaoyang boys' future in-law, he basically could be counted as a Chaoyang member, which made Zeng's saying and doing more inexcusable.

"We can. But Major General Qian's death has already alarmed the guy. You didn't notice he's been with his deputies all the time these days? Taking his life when he's alone wouldn't be easy."

After a quick thought, Mo Wenyang covered his mouth and murmured. He wasn't concerned if anyone would overhear him. First of all, they huddled in a corner relatively far away from the crowd; secondly, there was no hearing-enhancement superfunction possessor, so they wouldn't be heard as long as they kept it down.

"It's easier than you think, actually. You just put them in a shady, small corner, we'll do the rest."

Zhou Zeyu winked at Mo with a faceful of confidence. Mo Wenyang wasn't interested in what they would do, he just agreed with a nod, "All right. But try not to get others involved. Just make it clean and quick, like what you did with Major General Qian. We mustn't be the suspects."

Let it not be forgotten that Wei Army still got his back. Any rumor would potentially turn Wei Army against Mo Army. The base was still in development at a steady pace, now wasn't the right time to fall out with the other two armies.

"Don't worry, we got it. So please?"

Promised Zhou Zeyu assuredly. He then made an after-you gesture, which seemed pretty irritating.

"All you have learned from Yun Che is how to piss people off."

Mo Wenyang got up after giving Zhou a glare. He had a hunch that the closer he and these guys became, the more often he'd get pissed off.

"Come on, guys, let's discuss what we're gonna do."

Zhou Zeyu, however, didn't give a damn about what Mo Wenyang thought or said. When Mo was gone, he called the guys to close up for a discussion about how to avenge Captain Yun. Two months ago, when Zhou Zeyu and Yun Che drove to Huai City, Zhou would be scared half to death just because Yun Che hit a zombified guy in the middle of the road; he nearly accused Yun Che of killing the person. Within two months, Zhou Zeyu had become a man who could breezily propose a murder plan. The doomsday could really alter a person. In this environment, even the nicest person would be twisted into a callous monster.