Chapter 498: Sharing Intel
“They’re turning around! They saw us!” Han Fei’s voice echoed from high up in the trees, slightly distorted by the distance.
After days of tension, Lu Weiyi finally felt a wave of relief. He exhaled hard and sat down on the dewy ground, not even caring that it soaked through his clothes.
Not long after, the helicopter doors opened. Han Fei manipulated plants to tangle around the dropped rope ladder, binding people together for lift-off.
“Yo, squad leader. Morning,” Li Zhuang grinned as he pulled Lu Weiyi up last.
Xu Sa had already taken Dean and Gu Qingyue aside to check on Liu Rui. Not far away, Antonio gave them a nod in greeting.
Aside from them, Gu Qingji and Ning Yuan were there too. In the distance, a low-flying passenger aircraft hovered conspicuously.
“Hey bro, how many people did you bring?” Han Fei asked casually, shirtless as Dean treated his injuries. He glanced between the aircrafts.
“Over 500.”
“Base commander, where’s the safe landing site you mentioned? There are a few clearings, but the pilots can’t confirm the exact spot,” Ning Yuan asked.
After surveying the area, Lu Weiyi pointed in a direction. “Over there—I used my ability to cut down half a mountain’s worth of trees. Flatten the terrain a bit with your powers so the passenger plane can land safely.” He glanced at Li Zhuang, then added a reminder to the pilot: “Don’t go west. That’s where the mutated plants are.”
“Copy that.”
After giving instructions, Lu Weiyi turned to Ning Yuan. “Who all came?”
“It’s just us from the base military. The elite team’s on that other plane. General Lu sent some psychic ability users too. Total count: 530 to 540 people.”
“You all came out here—what about the base’s safety?” Lu Weiyi asked. Mutant creatures in the ocean weren’t peaceful either. The sea might seem safer than land, but it was much harder to defend against.
“They’re all small creatures—manageable. Besides, bringing them out here keeps the ground teams from getting any funny ideas,” Li Zhuang’s words also hinted that the situation outside wasn’t great.
“Someone’s causing trouble?” Lu Weiyi frowned.
“They probably think you died here,” Ning Yuan sneered. “Mingxu sent Lu Xi with fighter jets to the Capital base to help Yan Yan stabilize the situation. Major General Lu also had us bring two jets here to directly eliminate the mutated creatures in this area—to serve as a deterrent.”
Previously, Half-Moon Bay had openly showcased advanced equipment and research, relying on Lu Weiyi and the high-level ability users at the base. This had brought in steady income but also made them the target of envy from many other bases. It wasn’t surprising that some were getting restless now.
Ning Yuan shared the situation at the base and handed Lu Weiyi a stack of handwritten documents. “These are interrogation results from the Capital base. Mingxu sorted them and asked me to give them to you.”
The reports contained information extracted by Lu Xiao from prisoners from the Panshui Base—some of which Lu Weiyi had already learned through his spatial ability. Cross-referencing the two, he quickly got the full picture.
Realizing it was indeed the Panshui people who were behind this, Lu Weiyi felt an overwhelming urge to just walk away—this wasn’t the first time humanity had betrayed itself.
Despite the increasingly dire threat from the outside, humans still couldn’t unite.
Ning Yuan, having read the intel earlier, saw the anger rising in Lu Weiyi and assumed it was frustration about not being able to retaliate. He offered a bit of reassurance. “I didn’t want to take those people out either—feels like doing someone else’s dirty work. But don’t worry, Major General Lu sent people to Panshui Base to demand payment as our compensation.”
“Mingxu’s take is…” Ning Yuan leaned in and lowered his voice, “High-grade crystal cores like this aren’t easy to get. If we can secure them now, they’ll help you level up.”
If the information was correct—if there was really an SSS-level ability user here who could also control S-level mutated plants and was actively targeting ability users—then this was indeed a major threat.
What’s more, Mingxu had already sent the most advanced weapons from the base and the top-tier personnel. If they didn’t eradicate this now, it would only get worse in the future.
“I understand,” Lu Weiyi said as he quickly skimmed through the battle strategies Mingxu had provided.
The plane had already landed.
The trees that Lu Weiyi had previously sliced down with his ability had left the terrain uneven and piled up. But now, under Li Zhuang’s power, the ground had been leveled and even a makeshift runway had been created for the passenger aircraft.
By the time Lu Weiyi disembarked, others had already begun organizing the area and setting up temporary tents.
“Brother—”
“Father!”
Two familiar voices called out, and Lu Xi ran toward the helicopter door. But even faster were three massive wolves, nearly three meters tall. One of them had a tiny figure nearly buried in its thick fur on its back.
The enormous wolves charged through the crowd, causing people nearby to scatter in alarm. One of the wolves leapt nimbly over the crowd, barreling toward Lu Weiyi.
“Damn it, why didn’t anyone clear the—” Han Fei, quick to react, aimed his rifle at the wolf, but Antonio beside him moved just as fast to stop him.
“Bro, that’s our base’s precious baby. If it gets hurt, you’re paying for it,” Antonio said, placing a hand on his gun. He even dropped a perfectly fluent Beijing accent, which clashed amusingly with his foreign appearance.
Li Zhuang stepped in front of Lu Weiyi and blocked the wolf’s approach—but the giant beast simply opened its mouth and gave him a big wet lick on the face, drenching him in slobber.
“Hahahaha…” Seeing Li Zhuang’s disgusted expression, the people nearby burst into laughter.
“Father, hug!” Taotao reached for Lu Weiyi, but Lu Xi was faster and picked him up first. “Uncle will hold you. Your dad’s hurt.”
Lu Weiyi ruffled the boy’s hair. “Why’d you bring him here?”
“General Lu told us to. Said the kid was crying nonstop, day and night, because he missed you,” Li Zhuang answered, handing Lu Weiyi a jade stone. “Base Commander Zhuang asked me to bring this to you.”
The moment Lu Weiyi touched it, he recognized it immediately.
It was the first jade space stone he had ever acquired, which he had given to Zhuang Mingxu early on. The space wasn’t large, but it had been enough for Zhuang to store supplies during his mostly single years.
Now…
Lu Weiyi glanced at the specially delivered Taotao. Clearly, Mingxu knew this mission wouldn’t be easy—he sent Taotao to help deal with the mutated plants and included the jade to supplement Lu Weiyi’s energy reserves.
“Commander, are you alright?” Ye Jia and the heads of various elite squads—most of whom had separated at the Capital base a few days ago—stood nearby. Nearly all of the strongest teams had shown up, and more than half of the base’s psychic ability users were present.
“I’m fine. Thank you, everyone,” Lu Weiyi said casually, slipping the jade into his space. His gaze locked onto a conspicuous foreign man not far away.
“…Eric. Long time no see.”
“Good to see you, or not,” Eric replied with a gentlemanly bow.
Lu Weiyi looked him up and down, then gave a small nod to Qin Yu standing beside him.
Before the greetings could go on, Dean pinched the filthy hem of Lu Weiyi’s coat and wrinkled his nose. “You stink. Change your clothes.”
When Lu Weiyi had first entered the jungle, he’d managed full-body protection. But after days of nonstop travel, no rest, and constant exertion, hygiene had been the last thing on his mind. He hadn’t changed clothes in a long time.
“I haven’t figured out the exact layout of this area,” Lu Weiyi said as he sat down on a wooden stool, cooperating as Dean helped him remove his outer jacket while briefing the team leaders. “The power levels of the mutated animals in this jungle vary wildly—some are just oversized, but others are full S-level. S-classes are everywhere.”
“Since landing, I’ve traveled around 300–400 kilometers nonstop. I’ve encountered 26 S-level mutants. The largest was a mutated python I ran into just before dawn—it was nearly 100 meters long. I highly recommend you don’t—tch…”
When the torn clothing scraped across his wounds, Lu Weiyi couldn’t help but cry out in pain.
His body was covered in bruises, and some wounds had turned pale and gaping. The oozing pus had stuck to his clothes. As Dean accidentally tugged on it again, blood started seeping out once more. His shoulders and back were red and swollen in several spots, with tiny puncture marks covering them—as if something had pierced through the skin.
The area fell silent for a moment. Even Dean seemed momentarily at a loss over the sudden sight.
Everyone who had been focused on the mutated creatures now turned their attention to him. Many showed surprised expressions.
“What’s with the weird reaction? Isn’t getting injured on a mission normal?” Ning Yuan passed around bottles of water and shot them a glance before handing one to Lu Weiyi.
“Yeah, it’s just…”
“It’s just that the base commander really…”
“Doesn’t look like someone who’s ever suffered.”
The three of them finished each other’s sentences to convey the sentiment.
“There’s no such thing as someone who hasn’t suffered in this world,” Ning Yuan muttered. Having known the kind of life Lu Weiyi lived in the past, seeing him like this now made his heart ache.
“I’ll take over,” Gu Qingyue stepped forward quickly and took the clothes. He conjured an ice blade in one hand and approached the wounds with a serious expression, using the low temperature to numb the pain.
“You only used alcohol to disinfect?” Gu Qingyue asked, catching the scent of alcohol on Lu Weiyi’s skin.
“Yeah.” He hadn’t been able to bandage himself, and after a while the pain became something he just got used to.
Even though it was ice water flowing from Gu Qingyue’s hand, Lu Weiyi still couldn’t help but tremble slightly from the sting. Dean gripped his hand and quickly sent healing energy into his body, helping repair the cleaned wounds.
“These areas on your shoulder—are they poisoned?” Gu Qingyue asked.
“Yeah. It was from a type of… worm. About palm-length. Its legs are venomous. Not very potent, but contact gives a burning pain.” As the wounds began to heal, Lu Weiyi’s energy noticeably improved. “Be careful when you go out.”
