Chapter 9: Lovesick Fool. No Big Problem.

At the same time, in the far outskirts of Longchang City, a Fourth Military Region military base.

A military helicopter flew in from the direction of Longchang City proper. Inside the cabin sat four fully armed Special Forces soldiers, the burliest man among them with his left arm in a military bandage sling, apparently badly injured.

All of them wore full-coverage headsets—some resting with eyes closed, others staring blankly at the scenery outside—except for one short man, who chattered away nonstop.

“It’s only been a few days and those Mutants are already this strong? One swipe and they can leave a mark on an iron door. Keep developing at this rate and they’ll be slicing through steel like mud. Good thing bullets still do the job. Maybe it’s my imagination, but I keep feeling like the Mutants are a little faster than they were on our last mission…”

“It’s not your imagination.” Another man of medium build cut in abruptly. He was the squad’s sniper, one of the people with the best dynamic vision in the entire Military Region.

The cabin fell silent at once. A few seconds later, the short man waved it off with a “hey.” “So they’re faster—so what? How fast can they get compared to your gun or our Deputy Captain’s? Yours are the ones where every shot lands and every bullet kills!” With that, he smacked the thigh of the man beside him, hard.

The man called Deputy Captain had been resting with his eyes closed. He was about as tall as the injured burly man, but with a leaner build and far less bulk. He was strikingly handsome, with healthy wheat-colored skin. His features were sculpted yet soft, and his presence was intensely vivid—something like a black panther at rest: seemingly harmless, yet in truth the jungle’s apex predator.

His teammate had just walloped his thigh with full force, yet his brow didn’t so much as twitch. He merely lifted his eyelids slightly and said in a low voice, “What does our marksmanship have to do with you? Nobody can protect you twenty-four hours a day. Once we reach base, you’ll go… do extra physical training.”

He had originally meant to say range practice, but thinking of the current ammunition shortage, he changed his words on the spot.

“…Yes sir.” The short man dared to be angry but not to talk back. After that one answer, he finally settled down.

The helicopter soon arrived over the base’s helipad. The short man, quiet for a long while, suddenly cried out, “Everyone look down! Why are there so many people? What happened?”

At his words the other three looked over. Not far from the helipad, on an open stretch of ground, stood several columns of fully armed soldiers, appearing ready to deploy at a moment’s notice.

“That’s the Fifth Battalion.” The medium-built man watched for a bit and spoke with certainty.

“Wasn’t the Fifth Battalion overhauling communications lately? They finished already?” the short man muttered.

“Apparently. Didn’t we help them test their signal on the way to Huazhong Hospital?”

“A shame only Longchang City has its signal back. Everywhere else is still dead…”

The cabin quieted again. Soon the helicopter landed, the doors opened, and the four Special Forces soldiers, pilot included, began unloading the instruments and samples brought back from the hospital.

Once everything was carried off, the Deputy Captain shot the short man a look. The latter immediately ran over to the lined-up Fifth Battalion, strolled a lap around them, and came back with a face full of shock.

“Holy shit! Zhongdu is about to start retaking the city districts! The Fifth Battalion’s being transferred out for support! That was fast!”

“Zhongdu?” the medium-built man and the burly man exclaimed in unison. The next second, they felt a gust of wind sweep past them; when they turned their heads, they could only see the Deputy Captain’s rapidly vanishing back.

“Where’s the Deputy Captain going?” the medium-built man asked blankly.

The short man grinned. “Do you even have to ask? He obviously went to dig for information!”

“You mean… the Deputy Captain’s ex-boyfriend?!”

“Who else could keep our Deputy Captain this hung up? Tsk tsk. Five years now. Our Deputy Captain Xing is a truly devoted lovesick fool!”

Everyone in “Saber-Toothed Tiger,” the Fourth Military Region’s Special Forces combat detachment, knew that Xing Lyu, Deputy Captain of the elite Dagger Squad, had never gotten over his ex-boyfriend.

Because his ex had settled in Zhongdu, even though Xing Lyu and his father—a Major General serving in the First Military Region—were on terrible terms, that connection had never stopped him from using every means possible to find out how his ex was doing. His devotion ran so deep it could move heaven and earth.

Before the apocalypse, he couldn’t leak classified information; after it broke out, civilian communications in Zhongdu went down, and Xing Lyu hadn’t been able to reach him. Now that there was finally hope, of course he wouldn’t let it slip by.

While the three were busy gossiping, a dark-skinned man walked over. “You’re not reporting the mission—what’s all this idle chatter?”

“Captain!” The three jolted in alarm and instantly lined up, raising their hands in salute.

Captain Ji Wencheng of “Dagger” returned the salute and jerked his chin at the three of them. “Where’s Old Xing?”

The short man grinned. “Deputy Captain went to dig up information.” Then, afraid Ji Wencheng might miss the point, he winked and jerked his mouth toward the Fifth Battalion.

Ji Wencheng mulled it over for a second and understood. He gave a light cough and was about to say something when he suddenly frowned. “What happened to Dayu’s arm? Is he injured?”

The burly man smiled sheepishly. “It’s nothing. Just a gash.”

“Nothing my ass—you could see bone! Captain, I’m telling you, these Mutants are mutating way too damn fast! Wooden doors used to hold them back for a moment; now they can leave marks on iron doors! Look at my wife here!” Growing more worked up as he spoke, the short man shoved the submachine gun in his arms right under Ji Wencheng’s nose.

Ji Wencheng looked at the white scratch on the barrel, and his brow twitched violently.

To cut down on weight, submachine guns weren’t made entirely of metal, but the barrel affected precision and stability, so it was always alloy. Leaving such an obvious mark on it was proof enough that the Mutants’ danger level was climbing by the day.

Ji Wencheng schooled his expression and pressed the barrel, which was nearly poking his nose, back down. “Enough. Understood. Dayu, get to the hospital now, and after your checkup, report to the Detachment Leader’s office. Little Bear, go fetch Old Xing. We have a mission.”

At the word mission, all three snapped serious. Dayu ripped off the sling holding his arm in one motion. “Captain, I’m fine. It’s just a small wound—”

“When I tell you to go, you go!” Ji Wencheng glared at him. “We’re short on hands right now. Every single one of you stays in top condition! Understood?!”

“Yes sir!”

“Dazi, with me. Everyone else dismissed!” With that, Ji Wencheng led the medium-built man toward the Command Headquarters.

A few minutes later, four people stood before the Detachment Leader and Ji Wencheng, a file in each of their hands.

“This is Dr. Wei Fengtang of the National Academy of Sciences, a renowned biologist. Before the crisis broke out, he led a research team to Changling Mountain to collect samples and lost contact after the crisis began. The last location his satellite phone transmitted from was here.” The Detachment Leader drew a circle on the map of Changling Mountain.

“On the morning of the 10th, the Military Region dispatched a Special Forces squad to rendezvous with him. Yesterday afternoon, word came in that they had found Academician Wei Fengtang and were preparing to withdraw. But the rescue helicopter crashed for unknown reasons, and the squad’s communications went down with it—only some of the members’ vital-sign monitoring signals remained. Until an hour ago, when Command Headquarters confirmed that the final monitoring signal had vanished. The point where that signal disappeared is here.” The Detachment Leader drew another circle roughly fifty kilometers from the first.

Silence filled the office.

The relationship between the Special Forces and their Special Forces combat detachments was that of a birth family and a daughter married out. Every selected Special Forces reserve would first enter the Special Forces, and only after a period of training would they have the chance to become Special Forces soldiers. The elites among them would then be chosen for the combat detachments, executing the most heavily classified—and most dangerous—missions.

They were indeed the elite of the elite, but that didn’t mean the Special Forces’ soldiers were necessarily weaker than they were; their own members were simply more well-rounded, and more reliable.

Which said everything about how dangerous this mission would be.

Deputy Captain Xing Lyu finished scanning the file in a few glances and raised his head. “When do we depart?”

The Detachment Leader waved a hand. “No rush. We’re still waiting on the latest word from the Zhongdu Base Research Institute. Dayu, what did the doctor say about your injury?”

“It’s nothing, really, just flesh wounds…” The burly Dayu raised his arm as he spoke and was about to demonstrate a rotation when the Detachment Leader stopped him.

“I asked what the doctor said.”

“…He told me to keep the wound dry and come back for checkups every day.”

“That’s it?”

“That’s it?”

The Detachment Leader’s doubtful voice and Little Bear’s shocked cry overlapped. The short man practically leapt in place to prove his own innocence. “How is that possible! I was the one who treated that wound! I could see bone! I damn well thought that arm was done for—I even snuck a few tears over it! Deputy Captain, you saw it too, right?!”

Seeing everyone turn to look at him, Xing Lyu gave a solemn nod. “Little Bear did indeed cry.”

Little Bear: “…”

Everyone else: “…”

“As for Dayu’s injury, I only glanced at it, but the wound was genuinely deep, and at the time his left arm had lost all function. He couldn’t move it.”

Couldn’t move it… At those words, the Detachment Leader and Ji Wencheng looked at Dayu again. They had just watched him raise his arm with their own eyes, yet Xing Lyu said his arm had lost function from the injury only hours ago.

Dayu, entirely oblivious that anything was wrong, smiled sheepishly. “Maybe my recovery is just that good?”

Even the best recovery couldn’t be this good.

The room went quiet for a moment. The Detachment Leader’s gaze swept over the four of them. “In a bit, all four of you go to the hospital for blood draws. Once we hear back from Zhongdu, if Dayu passes the medical evaluation, he goes. If not, we swap him out. Dismissed!”

“Yes sir!”

The moment they left the Command Headquarters, Little Bear hung himself off Dayu’s arm, muttering nonsense like “impossible” and “did you secretly eat a Ginseng Fruit?”

Dazi, of medium build and carrying a faintly scholarly air, watched the setting sun and asked Xing Lyu, as if struck by a thought, “Isn’t the signal loss point close to Liyang City?”

Xing Lyu nodded. “Liyang City is the closest city to Changling Mountain, flanked by mountains on two sides.”

“No wonder. If air extraction is impossible, Liyang is the unavoidable land route. Having a local like you along will make things a lot easier.”

Xing Lyu said nothing. Gazing at the dim yellow sunset, his thoughts had already flown to Zhongdu.

I hope that once this mission is over, civilian communications in Zhongdu will be restored, and I can contact Su Ze… Please let him be safe.

While Xing Lyu gazed at the setting sun, full of melancholy and worry, Su Ze had already ridden his Electric Motorcycle out of Liyang City, merrily speeding down the country road.

Seeing the sky gradually darken, he glanced at the setting sun, then at the Electric Scooter’s battery gauge, raised his hand, and took a bite of the Mutated Wutong Tree Root.

Not bad. No big problem.