Chapter 418: Exchange Students
“Colonel, we will do our best to learn everything we can out there and return as soon as possible,” said Du Quan, the oldest among them. Seeing Qin Xing allow so much equipment to be taken without trying to stop it, he understood clearly—this was Qin Xing paving the way for them with real action, hoping the other side would show more care because of it.
Qin Xing patted him on the shoulder. “Stay alive.”
“Yes, sir!”
“Yes, sir!”
After several thunderous responses, the 21 members of the three squads lined up behind Lu Weiyi.
“If I have time, I’ll come back again. I hope all of you will be doing well,” Lu Weiyi nodded at Qin Xing and headed toward the nearest cliff, where Li Zhuang and Antonio had already built a path leading upward.
The previously sheer wall had been solidified by Li Zhuang using his powers, with a 2-meter-wide semi-circular column protruding from it and a half-meter-wide spiral pathway wrapping around it. Antonio had helped by adding a guardrail on the outer edge to provide a basic layer of protection.
“I’ll try to extend this path all the way up. Your people can use it to go aboveground at any time,” Li Zhuang said, starting the climb.
Qin Xing’s eyes lit up. He immediately turned to those around him. “Bring the ropes—I’m going up with them.”
“I’m going too!”
“Count me in!”
Several of the people who had followed Qin Xing eagerly spoke up, but he waved them off and selected five people to accompany him.
Lu Weiyi pulled Dean aside, letting Li Zhuang and Antonio lead the way. Du Quan and the 20 ordinary soldiers followed in the middle. Li Qing and the others mingled among them to guard against mutated bird attacks. Concerned for their safety, Lu Weiyi also used Little Green’s branches to wrap around each of them as protection.
“What’s this stuff?” Du Quan, ever alert, reached to pull at the vines on himself.
Li Qing stopped him. “It’s a protective measure from our team leader—kind of like a rope. If anything unexpected happens, it could save your life.”
Du Quan’s brows twitched, but he suppressed his reaction and continued climbing.
Climbing up was more exhausting than descending, but this new staircase was more user-friendly and easier to ascend.
By the time they reached the top, Li Zhuang and Antonio had pushed their powers to the limit and were pale-faced, collapsing to the ground unable to move for a while.
Dean hurriedly handed them crystal cores to replenish their energy. Qin Xing thanked him and had just turned to look around when a few rabbits bared their teeth and came charging straight at them.
They moved so fast they were practically a blur. Zhou He, the closest person, reacted instantly—he flicked something like a nail right into a rabbit’s skull, pinning it to the ground just inches before it would’ve reached the group.
“T-This is a rabbit?” The burly Wang Aiguo poked the creature with the barrel of his gun, revealing a mouth full of sharp fangs.
“These things eat meat?” The younger Liu Zhuo pulled out a dagger and pried open the rabbit’s mouth, clearly showing blood and flesh stuck between its teeth.
Li Qing nodded. “Mutation has taken many forms now. No one really knows how much of their original nature these creatures still retain. And this one doesn’t even have any powers—if it did, it would be far more dangerous. You all need to stay alert over the next few days.”
Qin Xing and his team watched with curiosity.
“Ordinary people shouldn’t eat mutant meat. Some of the energy it contains is too much for the human body to handle. Our base has devices to detect mutation levels in meat. Only those below a certain threshold are considered safe. So, you should be careful what you eat—best to avoid mutated meat entirely,” Ning Yuan warned.
As he spoke, more mutant birds flew toward them from the distance, which Ning Yuan quickly took down.
“Where do you want to build the outpost? I’ll have an earth-element user help out. It’ll be faster,” Lu Weiyi asked Qin Xing.
Qin Xing had just watched Ning Yuan use his powers to make a giant tree tremble and flee, dragging its roots with it. He was still stunned.
“What the hell…”
“This can’t be real, right?”
Someone whispered, then slapped themselves hard across the face—the loud smack snapping everyone else out of their daze.
Qin Xing swallowed hard and tried to act calm. “Around 50 meters above ground level.”
“Got it,” Lu Weiyi said, turning his gaze to Zheng Jun.
Zheng Jun nodded and walked back toward the path they had just climbed. One of the men who had come up with them quickly followed.
“I’ve been thinking,” he said. “Could you help hide the entrance to this path above? With everything I’ve just seen, we’re not equipped to handle this kind of threat. If someone from outside finds this place…”
Just imagining what kind of people had survived the outside world made the threat clear. Qin Xing knew full well what this hidden world would mean to outsiders. Even one high-level ability user could dominate the entire underground village.
And the villagers… he didn’t even dare to imagine what their future would become.
“Alright,” Li Qing agreed without hesitation. “We’re mainly worried that after you leave, the outside environment might cause you to mutate. If you become ability users, that’s still manageable—but if you turn into zombies…”
“Otherwise, we’d have brought you back to our base with us,” she sighed. Seeing that Li Zhuang and Antonio had recovered, she immediately took them along to conceal the section of the passage within 100 meters of the surface. They also disguised the top exit with a basic cover.
By the time everything was finished, it was already noon. After a quick bite to eat, the two groups said their goodbyes promptly.
Qin Xing pulled a letter from his pocket and handed it to Lu Weiyi. “Please deliver this to Lone Wolf for me.”
Lu Weiyi nodded and stored it in his space.
“Aren’t you going to ask what it says? Aren’t you afraid I might try to plead on account of old military ties?” Qin Xing asked curiously.
Lu Weiyi shook his head, his tone firm. “Brother Mu is definitely on my side.”
Qin Xing burst out laughing and called to his team, “Brats! I’ll be here waiting for you to come back alive.”
The group saluted him. Qin Xing returned the salute and stood there watching the car drive away. He kept staring long after it disappeared.
In the vehicle, Du Quan and the others were all red-eyed.
“We’ll be back,” Li Qing offered some comfort.
“Yeah. We’ll adapt to the outside world as soon as possible and return to face the new world together with our comrades,” Wang Aiguo said, like he was making a promise to himself.
Following the original plan, they took the 21 new members on a few circuits through the surrounding mountain ranges—partly to continue looking for coal mines and partly to help train abilities. This time, though, they had 20 more pairs of helping hands.
Luckily, these people were determined. Aside from a bit of initial shock at the enormous mutated creatures, they fought without fear—some even fought like they were risking it all.
Fortunately, Dean was there as their “blood bag,” preventing any fatalities right after leaving the base.
While treating people, Dean sighed in amazement. “You Chinese soldiers…” He gave a thumbs-up.
“We have no choice. Our colonel gave everything to pave the way for us—we can’t let his hopes down.” Du Quan’s face was pale, his lips trembling slightly from the pain as he spoke.
“Is this healing-type? The legendary support healer?” Liu Zhuo was excited as he watched Du Quan’s wounds quickly mend under Dean’s fingertips, his eyes glowing.
“Yup!” Dean puffed up proudly. “Healing type.”
“Wow, you’re amazing!” Liu Zhuo praised him without hesitation.
“It’s alright. Come to me if you get hurt.” Dean clapped him on the shoulder like a big brother. “I’ll save you.”
“Thanks so much!” Liu Zhuo grinned and followed him to check on others’ injuries.
Off in the distance, Li Qing and the others were locked in a fierce battle with a giant lynx. Antonio stood on a tree nearby, keeping watch and stepping in at critical moments to save them.
The forest was full of wild animal cries, and glowing animal eyes could be seen staring at them through the darkness. The rustling sounds nearby made it feel like something could jump out at any moment.
It was the kind of environment that easily made people tense. Yet Lu Weiyi and his group didn’t seem fazed. But at the same time, they could instantly kill any small creature that got too close—as if it were instinctual, even when resting.
“You guys have been living like this for the past two years?” Du Ping asked while helping Ning Yuan wash vegetables.
“It used to be even worse. Back then we still had zombie animals. Can you imagine what a zombie rat the size of your fist looks like? We even ran into zombie pigs.” Ning Yuan built a fire. Not seeing any fire-type users nearby, he resignedly used a lighter to get it going.
“Later, for some reason, the zombie energy seemed to stop infecting animals…” He paused mid-sentence and turned to Lu Weiyi. “Hey, you think we could study why zombie energy doesn’t infect animals anymore?”
“It does infect them,” Lu Weiyi replied. “There’ve been lab tests. But animals are rarer in cities, so the chance of zombie attacks is low. Plus, just like ability users, low-level zombies can’t infect high-level beings, so it’s just that we rarely see them.”
“Our base doesn’t have enough manpower to study new projects right now, but…” Lu Weiyi opened his notebook and glanced at it, “Capital has already gathered a group of researchers focused on zombie energy. In a few days, when we head back, we’ll bring them with us.”
“That Capital group is willing to cooperate?” Ning Yuan was surprised.
“They can’t wait to plant their people in our base,” Lu Weiyi said flatly.
He and Zhuang Mingxu had already discussed this in advance. No matter what the other side’s intentions were, research into zombie energy had to continue. It was essential for figuring out how to prevent future infections in ordinary people. If they wanted to control the power dynamic with people like Cheng Chuan, they had to accept some of their researchers.
That night, Lu Weiyi took the night watch again.
Under the soft glow of a night lamp, he was constantly writing and sketching in a notebook—tossing it into his storage space, then pulling it out again to continue.
