Chapter 184 Nemesis

"Calling Gao Yuan, what's your situation? Over."

Gao Yuan received Panxin's call, but he didn't know what to say.

Should he tell the truth, or should he conceal some details?

In the end, Gao Yuan decided to tell the truth.

"Gao Yuan here, no one's inside, the survivors are all dead, I'm starting to evacuate, over."

"Understood, be careful, drones are adjusting flight paths and will provide you with vision at any time, over."

Gao Yuan really wanted to talk to someone, to dilute the psychological refuse that had just accumulated in his heart.

People sometimes need an outlet for psychological release, otherwise, it becomes unbearable over time.

"Brother Pan, I've got a question. Why do you call each other by your real names during missions? Shouldn't you have code names? Over."

"We do have code names. When we operate in small groups, the team members are very familiar with each other and usually go by nicknames. If it's a large-scale operation, there will be a special code name. As for joint operations like this one involving several groups, which qualify as large-scale, we are all familiar with each other, so no special code numbers were prepared, and we still use nicknames directly. As for you, you don't have a nickname, so we can only follow and call you by name."

"I see, so what's your nickname?"

"My nickname was Mr. A, and I was always called Mr. A, but since this code name was quite common, so… they changed it a bit and started calling me Mr. Jian'er."

"Mr. Jian, that code name certainly has character. What about King Kong Brother, is he just called King Kong?"

"Certainly not, King Kong is his actual name, so his nickname is Mr. Hao."

"Mr. Hao? How does that follow? What does Mr. Hao have to do with King Kong?"

"Well, Kong doesn't go bad, and if it's not bad then it's good, so he becomes Mr. Hao."

Gao Yuan pondered the nickname for a moment, then said sincerely, "Why do they all have to add a 'Mr.'?"

"Hmm, it's a Shenzhou specialty."

Gao Yuan thought for a bit and then said, "So what would mine be? You guys must have given me a nickname, tell me what my nickname is."

"Uh, well… There are quite a few code names we've given you; we haven't formed a unanimous decision yet."

"Let's hear them."

"Well, there's Singleton, Hu Zai, um, but the code name we've given you tonight is Nemesis."

Gao Yuan really was stunned for a moment, then he said quite baffled, "What's all this about? Why not Superman, Tough Guy, or Mastermind as nicknames?"

"There's a method to naming code names, you see. Most of us carry out secret missions, so first, code names cannot reveal personal identity information, and then they can't reveal your specialties and characteristics through the nickname, like calling someone good at explosives 'Bomb.' How would that work? As for why you're called Singleton and Hu Zai, that's pretty straightforward, right? As to why you're called Nemesis, hehe, I can't tell you that, you'll have to figure it out on your own, and if you can't, I'll tell you when you get back."

Singleton and Hu Zai are certainly straightforward. Because Gao Yuan was the only child of Da Hong Third Company and a seedling of the 33258 Brigade, calling him Singleton made sense. And since the 33258 Brigade had become the Fierce Tiger Brigade, Hu Zai was also understandable.

But what's the deal with this "Nemesis"?

Gao Yuan immediately thought of Luo Xingyu and Xinghe, then he also immediately understood the meaning behind "Nemesis".

Gao Yuan said with a wry smile, "Nemesis, damn, I get it now, kudos to you guys for coming up with that..."

Panxin laughed and said, "Actually, there was another option called 'Astrologer', since you've taken all the 'stars', but we felt that codename was a bit of a mouthful. Then, 'Nemesis' also has another layer of meaning, so we called you Nemesis. It doesn't matter whether you like it or not, it's our codename, just to make communication easier."

Gao Yuan was somewhat bemused and said, "I wouldn't really consider myself a 'Nemesis', would I? How have I bested them?"

"Aren't you 'Nemesis' enough? Both stars have been utterly devoured by you. We were all wondering, if you're not 'Nemesis', then how did you manage it? So you are 'Nemesis', because you've bested them."

Gao Yuan wanted to say more, but at that moment, Shi Lei's voice came through the walkie-talkie.

"Enough, just have a quick chat and let it be, why keep going on and on, 'Nemesis', have you encountered something? You're not usually so talkative, over."

Gao Yuan thought for a moment and replied, "No issues, just feeling a bit frustrated after this pointless trip, over."

"Then let's not talk anymore, now's not the time for idle chatter, zombies are going to show up soon ahead, stay alert, and keep the communication channel clear, over."

"Affirmative, over."

How boring, can't even have a chat. Gao Yuan looked around and then began to deliberately search for convenience stores, supermarkets, and places like liquor and tobacco stores.

Couldn't have come all this way for nothing. Though the rescue mission had unfortunately ended with encountering scum, he could at least bring something back with him on the way.

Like, in the whole base, he was the only one who could freely enter and leave the city. Every time he went out, if he didn't bring back something that was extremely scarce in the base, he would feel like he was letting himself down.

What was the base lacking?

The base was lacking in everything, but especially in things like cigarettes, alcohol, tea, coffee and the like. The more apocalyptic the world was, the more people craved addictive substances like tobacco and alcoholic beverages, yet these items were precisely what the base did not have, especially cigarettes, as smoking was strictly prohibited, so naturally, there was no supply of tobacco.

There was an abundance of liquor and tobacco stores, and Gao Yuan quickly found one with its door tightly locked. Checking to make sure there were no zombies around, he immediately went to the entrance of the store.

The liquor and tobacco store had glass doors, with the shutter door on top not lowered at all. The door was closed and already locked upon pushing; it was impossible to see anything inside because the vision provided by the night vision and thermal imaging was blocked by the glass door—after all, Gao Yuan was using devices to see, rather than his own eyes.

It was better for the door to be locked than wide open.

Gao Yuan pushed a couple of times, then with both hands he gave a strong shove, and the cheap lock designed only to deter honest people broke with a snap.

Gao Yuan entered the liquor and tobacco store and as expected, the shelves were full. He happily took out the pockets he had brought with him.

He threw in rows of name-brand cigarettes into the big bag, stuffed in bottle after bottle of good liquor; one bag was quickly filled. Then he looked at the drink fridge, and without any hesitation, he opened it up, grabbed some drinks to start drinking right away, and in the end, he didn't forget to stuff a few bottles of Coke into the bag as well.

As he hoisted the bag to leave, Gao Yuan felt that he might have stuffed too many things inside the bag. But as long as he could carry it, the weight was not a problem; a larger volume could be managed.

Feeling quite pleased with his bounty, Gao Yuan walked out of the liquor and tobacco store. Then, he heard Panxin through the walkie-talkie, "Nemesis, retreat quickly. Our bait drone will soon run out of fuel and won't be able to cover you any longer. You'd better hurry up, over."

Nemesis, this nickname sounded okay. Gao Yuan mulled over his new nickname for a moment, then replied, "Understood, Nemesis. Beginning evacuation, over."