Chapter 474: Departure
His tone was flat, betraying no emotion—but Ye Jia immediately shut up, and both men smoothly changed the subject.
After all, Zhuang Mingxu held the reins of the entire base. Even without powers, he could make your life miserable. He wouldn’t kill you, but he could assign your whole squad to some nightmare mission.
“This cook’s food is really good today.”
“Liu Rui, how come you’re up so early?”
Following Lin Mo’s gaze, Ye Jia spotted Liu Rui coming down from the second floor.
“Yo, early bird!” Ye Jia greeted him enthusiastically.
Liu Rui paused at the unexpected warmth, stared at them strangely, and nodded.
“Morning,” Zhuang Mingxu greeted him too. “We’re meeting at eight. You’ve still got time to sleep a bit.”
Liu Rui shook his head and walked over. “Base… Base Leader.”
“Hm?” Zhuang Mingxu looked up from packing food and met his gaze. “You need something?”
Liu Rui nodded.
“Pack up the rest,” Zhuang Mingxu said, looking at Ye Jia.
Ye Jia picked up a strip of meat with two fingers, stuffed it into his mouth, and gave an “OK” gesture while chewing noisily.
Zhuang Mingxu led Liu Rui toward the reception room.
“I… I want… to go…” Liu Rui pointed in the direction of the Blazing Flame Squad.
“Mhm.” Zhuang Mingxu nodded.
“The kids,” Liu Rui held up two fingers.
“Xu Sa’s younger siblings,” Zhuang Mingxu completed for him. “You want me to bring them back?”
Liu Rui nodded. “Settle them… in… the orphanage.”
“Do you need any support?”
Liu Rui shook his head, paused, then added, “Basic… living needs.”
“Alright, I’ll make sure they’re provided with the essentials. I’ll also have the staff keep a closer eye on them so they don’t get bullied.”
Liu Rui let out a breath of relief, as if a major task had been completed.
Seeing that he had nothing more to say, Zhuang Mingxu gave him a few reminders about the upcoming mission. Once all three were up and had their backpacks ready, they headed to the assembly helicopter.
On the aircraft belonging to the Blazing Flame Squad was a bright red flame insignia—recognizable from afar.
Around the helicopter, several people were already waiting.
Among them were Cong Qing, who was in charge of mission distribution, and Lu Xiao.
“Just waiting on you guys,” Jin Diao greeted them in a sharp field uniform and a military pack on his back. “I’m the temporary commander for this mission. Young Master Lu, I’ll be counting on you.”
“Young Master Lu,” Meng Huan called from the co-pilot’s seat in matching gear.
Lu Weiyi nodded and greeted, “Uncle.”
Lu Xiao patted his shoulder and glanced at Xu Sa and Liu Rui behind him. He handed over a large pouch filled with clinking crystal cores. “Take care out there. Your safety comes first.”
“Of course, Uncle Lu,” Xu Sa readily accepted the cores and headed toward the cabin.
Lu Xiao straightened Lu Weiyi’s collar and, with a thousand words condensed into one sentence, said, “Uncle will be waiting for your safe return.”
Lu Weiyi nodded and didn’t refuse the cores either.
Once everyone was onboard, the helicopter quickly powered up. The blast from the rotors sent the clothes of those seeing them off into a chaotic flutter. Lu Xiao, standing closest, was slightly unsteady but didn’t back away. He just raised his head and waved at them.
It wasn’t until the helicopter left the Capital base and the people on the helipad were completely out of sight that Lu Weiyi finally looked away and turned his attention to his teammates.
Besides Jin Diao, all the faces were unfamiliar. Jin Diao took the initiative to introduce them.
“Thank you to Young Master Lu and our friends from Half Moon Bay Base for joining us. I’m the acting commander of this mission—codename Jin Diao, A-rank Metal Element.”
“We come from different bases and most of us don’t know each other, so let’s do a quick round of introductions for smoother teamwork.”
“This is Song Xiao from Panshui Base, an A-rank Wood Element user,” Jin Diao said, pointing at a man in his late twenties.
The man looked very honest and gave a small nod as a greeting, but said nothing.
“We only have three Wood Element users on this mission. If—just if—anything unexpected happens, the three of you will need to grow vines simultaneously to ensure all team members land safely. The wilderness has largely become untamed forest, and being alone out there is dangerous,” Jin Diao said, patting Song Xiao and the man beside him on the shoulder. “We’re counting on you.”
“Don’t worry,” said the man cheerfully, then turned to Lu Weiyi’s group. “I’m Li Ze, S-rank Wood Element. Young Master Lu, just take care of your two teammates. I’ll handle four others, and Song Ge can take two. How’s that?”
“Al… alright,” Song Xiao replied timidly.
Jin Diao raised an eyebrow, assuming the guy was just naturally shy, and didn’t say more.
“What about the cockpit?” Xu Sa asked. With the partition, it was hard to keep everyone together.
“The pilot, Han Fei, is also a Wood Element user. He’s bringing Meng Huan with him,” Jin Diao replied, but before he could point them out, a voice interrupted.
“I’ll introduce myself,” said a man, stepping forward. “Name’s Sun Kai, 28, A-rank Metal Element.”
“Who the hell cares how old you are?”
“Come on, I’m just trying to make an impression. Maybe someone will help me find a wife.”
“Get lost. I’m Xia Ming, A-rank Earth Element.”
“Zheng Hong, A-rank Fire Element.”
“Ai Ping, A-rank Water Element.”
With the easy-going start, when it came to Xu Sa, he didn’t wait for Jin Diao to introduce him.
“Xu Sa, S-rank Lightning Element, attack role.”
“Li… Liu Rui, S… S-rank… Fire Element.”
“We…”
“Lu Weiyi, SS-rank Psychic Element.”
Jin Diao had just started to speak when Lu Weiyi cut in at the same time. The moment his words fell, the whole cabin burst out in laughter.
“Young Master Lu, who doesn’t know you? No need for introductions!”
“Wait, didn’t you say you were bringing team members? Shouldn’t they be Wood Element?”
“Are they not?”
Someone voiced their doubts and looked around. Everyone else seemed confused too.
“I thought he was… Spatial Element?”
“No way, I heard he’s Psychic.”
“No, I’m sure—I saw him store things before at the Major General’s place.”
“That might just be a jade-space artifact.”
“Heh, a storage artifact? Show me one then.”
“Just because I don’t have one doesn’t mean others don’t.”
They bickered among themselves, none able to convince the others, and the argument was about to escalate—fortunately, it was still calm outside now that they’d left Capital Base.
“Quiet.” Jin Diao didn’t bother to clarify. With abilities, there was no need to get hung up on classifications—what mattered was that you could use them when needed. “Let me briefly explain our route.”
“Our destination is Panshui Base. Based on helicopter flight speed, it’ll take about 16 hours to get there. After nine hours, we’ll need to refuel once,” Jin Diao said as he laid a map out near Lu Weiyi.
“This is the flight route we agreed on earlier. We’ll refuel near the Jinnan Base around 3 p.m., then spend a day spraying the surrounding area with the agent and staying overnight.”
“No… no way.” Before Jin Diao could finish, Song Xiao—who had been doing his best to stay inconspicuous—suddenly spoke up, visibly agitated. “You promised to come to our base first. You can’t spray the agent at Jinnan Base first.”
“Our helicopter needs to stop there for refueling. Spraying while we’re at it lets the pilot rest too—it’s the most efficient plan,” Jin Diao explained.
“No. You took our crystal cores, you can’t go back on your word.”
“This is—”
“No! Absolutely not!” Song Xiao stood up and waved his hands, refusing to listen, drawing everyone’s attention with his strong reaction.
Shrinking back slightly under their gazes, he still insisted, “Every day’s delay means more mutant animals are born… We—we paid 50,000 more crystal cores.”
“We go first. Our base must go first.”
No matter how Jin Diao reasoned with him, Song Xiao wouldn’t budge. In the end, Jin Diao had no choice but to reluctantly agree: after refueling at Jinnan Base, they would head straight to Panshui Base. After all, Song Xiao’s side had paid the extra 50,000 crystal cores.
“Then after refueling, we’ll fly directly to Panshui Base. We’ll try to arrive at this point here before nightfall,” Jin Diao said, pointing to a marked location on the map.
“According to our intel, this spot is near the Panshui border. There have been zombie siege incidents in the past—we’re not sure about the zombie numbers now. But the mountaintop here is the only open terrain in the area where a helicopter can safely take off again.”
“A jungle?” Lu Weiyi frowned.
“Yes. It’s a mountaintop area in the jungle. The surrounding terrain is rocky and mostly clear of large trees—open enough to land.”
“But it’s encircled by dense forest. If we’re attacked by mutant plants, it’ll be hard to get out, especially with limited visibility at night. Not ideal for operations. We’ll need to spend the night there.”
“The wider area is sparsely populated, and vegetation has taken over most of the land. Landing blindly would be dangerous.”
“Then why not rest at the base? Wouldn’t landing at a base be safer? You could also rest better at night.” Lu Weiyi scanned the map and noticed all refueling points deliberately avoided any bases.
“We’ve received intel from the Zheng Army and the Guard Unit. They did rest at bases—but some bases are chaotic, and helicopters have been attacked.”
That caught Lu Weiyi completely off guard. Even Xu Sa was baffled. “What the hell were they thinking?”
“It’s been five years since the apocalypse. Some people whose lives didn’t improve naturally resent those whose did. There are extremists. Plus, certain factions in the bases profit from the mass breeding of mutant creatures. They probably think we’re threatening their interests.”
“That’s why the Major General recommends avoiding bases if possible, to prevent conflicts with those with twisted mindsets. This whole zone here,” Jin Diao circled a large section of the map, “is the target area for spraying the agent.”
Lu Weiyi mentally calculated the coverage area. Realizing that stopping too far from the refuel point would waste too much fuel, he said nothing more.
After all, the Capital Base had limited fuel reserves, and they hadn’t been able to begin petroleum extraction. Every liter had to be accounted for.
