The Reborn Otaku’s Code of Practice for the Apocalypse – CH242

Chapter 242 — After the Battle

A total of four people were hauled out from the building by Yan Fei using his metal manipulation. One of them… had already stopped breathing from his injuries.

Ignoring the dead one, Luo Xun and the team began a brief interrogation. Of course, the captives were not about to spill the beans so easily. They were well aware that this group had already slaughtered everyone else; there was no way this situation could end amicably, nor would these people leave them alive. Consequently, the three kept their mouths tightly shut, none of them willing to utter a word of information.

Seeing this, the beautiful Zhang Su narrowed his eyes, his smile blooming like a flower. He grabbed one of them by the collar and dragged him into an adjacent dark room…

“How long do you think he’ll take?” Luo Xun asked idly, looking up at the gray, gloomy sky, searching in vain for stars.

“No idea. Depends on how long he feels like playing with him.” Li Tie began swatting mosquitoes out of sheer boredom—mosquitoes still existed in the apocalypse, but fortunately, they didn’t seem to turn into zombies, otherwise humanity would truly be doomed. Of course, mutated mosquitoes did exist. Once, while spending the night outdoors, they had encountered a mosquito the size of a man’s palm, which gave everyone nightmares that night.

“Hey, aren’t you going to go in and keep an eye on him? What if he takes a liking to one of them… cough, cough… your hat might turn a bit…” Han Li nudged Wang Duo’s waist with his elbow, wearing a vulgar grin.

Wang Duo shot Han Li a look of utter disdain, far too lazy to even answer the question. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to accompany Zhang Su, but the problem was… he was terrified that if he watched the scene inside, he would throw up his dinner from the night before. He knew his lover best; if that man got into the groove of his eccentric pleasures, heaven only knew what horrors would ensue.

About half an hour later, Zhang Su walked back out, an expression of unfulfilled relish on his face.

“How did it go?”

“They’re all dead,” Zhang Su said, spreading his hands helplessly.

Luo Xun was momentarily speechless. Talk about efficient… “Did you find out anything?”

Zhang Su explained, “The guy capable of tracking our movements was also a wind-type user, and he’s already dead. There are nine people left behind with those five trucks outside. They will only wait there for three hours; if they don’t receive a signal after three hours, they will immediately retreat back to base tonight.” Zhang Su paused, a spark of excitement flashing in his eyes. “They belong to the Dragon Soaring Squad. The one leading the column this time was their second-in-command. He spotted our squad liquidating dried packs of non-mutated greens, and since he had heard rumors from long ago that our group used to systematically supply a few squads with that kind of pure vegetation inside the base, he deduced that we must have an independent base outside and suspected we possess a specialized methodology to cultivate non-mutated plants, so—” Zhang Su shrugged, spreading his hands while casting a teasing glance at Luo Xun.

The implication in Zhang Su’s eyes was glaringly obvious—the absolute catalyst behind these people tracking them down was that Luo Xun was “far too capable.” And wasn’t that the truth? Capable enough to cultivate a massive hoard of non-mutated greens, and since they could haul out such a substantial volume of dried packs for sale, heaven only knew how much more they had stashed at home! It was no wonder the opposition had targeted their squad—out of all the scattered independent teams setting up stalls at the marketplace, why did these people lock onto theirs? Turns out it was entirely the captain’s fault for being too competent.

Luo Xun was completely speechless, turning his head back up to count stars in a sky packed with dense storm clouds and completely devoid of a single shred of starlight. After a long while, he turned his gaze back to Zhang Su: “What is their communication signal?” He had only just recalled that several trucks were still anchored outside. Since the situation had already escalated to this dimension, they could only ensure the weeds were thoroughly yanked out by the roots.

“Unleashing fireballs, the bright red variety, three in a rapid succession,” Zhang Su stated, spreading his hands. “Though I evaluate that they probably wouldn’t lie under the circumstances… who knows if this signal is a fake?” Although all three captives had reported identical details when subjected to isolated interrogations, Zhang Su still indicated that it was best to maintain an extra layer of vigilance.

Luo Xun was well aware of the risks, yet he was entirely prepared to give it a shot—if the signal successfully reeled the targets in, they could handily sort them out once and for all right here. If it failed to draw them over, they would immediately execute a tactical relocation to an alternative sector.

Luo Xun turned to look at Xu Mei, and she nodded in confirmation: “No problem.” Saying this, she raised her hand toward the upper atmosphere, unleashing three fiery-red fireballs in a rapid succession—her fire attribute tier parameters were vastly superior to the deceased fire-user’s, meaning she could easily replicate a signal displaying an identical visual signature.

Luo Xun turned his focus back to Zhang Su: “They claimed they belong to the Dragon Soaring Squad? Exactly what fraction of their squad’s total strength did this column represent? Did the absolute leader of their squad authorize this specific deployment?”

Zhang Su raised a hand to stifle a yawn: “The group deployed tonight maps onto roughly one-third of their total personnel, though the trucks comprise half of their fleet. Their absolute leader was fully aware of the plot; the deployment tonight was finalized after their second-in-command and their captain huddled to brainstorm the strategy together. It shouldn’t involve alternative independent squads or the base administration.”

Zhang Su wasn’t clear regarding alternative, highly specific parameters; after all, it was impossible for him to conduct an absolutely itemized inquiry during an interrogation, but he had successfully extracted data regarding the current dynamics among the various squads inside the base hierarchy—the overwhelming majority of independent teams had currently chosen to systematically partner with the official base administration. The absolute primary perk of partnering with the officials so early was that by anchoring themselves within the inner city, they could secure a substantial portion of their private assets during the initial phase, while sharing a wealth of internal military intelligence along the way.

Zhang Su had conducted a brief inquiry, verifying that their so-called internal intelligence consisted entirely of parameters his own group could easily harvest via satellite transmissions, rounded out by the spatial distribution of pristine resources remaining within the urban core ruins. The absolute most critical facet was—they could glean precisely which urban sectors housed immense densities of zombie columns, along with the general arrival timelines and trajectories of oncoming zombie tides. These details were visibly compiled from satellite imagery, but the base administration systematically broadcasted these notifications to the authorized squads in text form at regular intervals.

Right as Zhang Su finalized his summary of the interrogated updates, his eyebrows arched suddenly, and he pointed a finger toward the main thoroughfare outside: “They’re coming.”

Those three “signal flares” turned out to be remarkably useful; catching the visual signal, the five trucks had actually driven straight over.

Luo Xun rubbed his chin, a highly surreal, wicked smile crawling across his face: “Move out, let’s go rob them.”

Since they had arrived at these coordinates harboring the explicit intent to ambush and rob alternative survivors, they couldn’t complain when they ended up violently counter-robbed by his squad!

Human combatants could comfortably detour around the pavement to scale the perimeter wall, but combustion vehicles lacked that capability; they had to obediently chart the main road, circling toward the main gates of the residential compound to drive inside—this operational route was chosen just in case the compound truly housed valuable supplies or cash crops, as smashing through the wall meant they would have to expend physical effort to reconstruct the masonry down the line.

The fleet of five trucks rolled into the township’s main thoroughfare in a single-file column, steering straight toward the residential gates. Before they could even draw level with the compound entrance, an explosive, earth-shaking vibration rippled through the air, and the vehicles plummeted straight into a massive sinkhole!

The drivers initially assumed their fleet had blundered straight into a pre-deployed ambush, but upon secondary reflection, they evaluated that it might not be the case—this felt far more like a sudden structural fissure triggered by an earthquake. Otherwise, why had the vanguard vehicles traversed this exact segment of pavement without dropping into a trap, only for all five trucks to plummet simultaneously right now?

However, before they could even find the time to execute self-rescue maneuvers or scream to signal their companions, a succession of razor-sharp wind blades, metal blades, and lethal steel spikes violently erupting from their own vehicle frames systematically harvested their lives.

Streams of gasoline were drawn out from the fuel tanks of the various trucks, pooling smoothly into a metal barrel Song Lingling had stabilized beside her. Li Tie and the young men exploited the window to harvest and catalog the supplies packed inside the vehicle beds, while Yan Fei stepped up after the rest finished their chores to extract the metal components from the chassis of the trucks, fusing the raw materials into a massive sphere of steel levitating beside them.

By this point, the sky was gradually beginning to clear, a filtered, hazy glow crystallizing along the dark horizon. By the time Li Tie and the guys finally completed organizing the supplies, the daylight had thoroughly broken.

“Finalized, Boss, everything is neatly organized.” “Their… cough, cough… have all been gathered together into a single pile.”

Luo Xun completed a sweeping scan of the perimeter, catching that the boys had systematically hauled the blood-soaked materials into a pit by the roadside—a sinkhole little Xinran had newly excavated, the interior lined with a protective sheet of metal insulation Yan Fei had pre-fused.

“Pour it in.” The mandatory protocol following a combat encounter was to thoroughly obliterate the evidence. Armed with an abundant reserve of mutated mushroom juice, processing these remains was exceptionally effortless, leaving absolutely zero traces behind. The coordinates where the physical engagement had unfolded last night had similarly been thoroughly organized once over, appearing completely clean and pristine right now.

Pouring the mushroom juice into the massive pit, billowing plumes of white vapor slowly spiraled out from the cavity.

The group stood a short distance away from the rim, waiting for the chemical dissolution to finalize so they could directly bury the pit right on the spot.

Suddenly, a sharp flutter-flap-clatter of wings resonated. Startled by the sound, the group hurriedly raised their heads, watching an expansive pair of wings unfurl atop the roof of the concrete tower opposite their position. Giving two heavy flaps, suddenly—the winged silhouette plummeted straight down in an erratic, wobbling spiral!

Yes, plummeted straight down, completely distinct from an intentional flight!

“What’s the story there?”

“Isn’t that an eagle? How did it fail to take flight??”

The crew raised their heads in utter astonishment, watching a dark silhouette drift down through mid-air, frantically flapping its wings as it slid downward—”Its plumage is incomplete!”

“That’s not an adult eagle, it’s a newly hatched chick that hasn’t fully matured yet!” Luo Xun snapped into focus instantly, catching the exact trajectory of the eagle that was about to violently crash onto the pavement, and shouted to Zhang Su beside him, “Zhang Su, catch it!”

A pocket of wind materialized directly beneath the falling eaglet. The chick had been frantically flapping its wings throughout the entire descent, and it continued to do so right now, but regrettably, the feathers lining its wings were visibly underdeveloped, permitting it to at most execute a brief glide through mid-air. Fortunately, Zhang Su’s wind currents stepped up to cradle its bulk, guiding it through a brief drift to dissipate the terminal velocity before gently dropping it onto the ground a short distance away from the group.

The eaglet appeared to have never encountered humans before. Spotting Luo Xun and the team standing a short distance away, it flapped its wings in a visible panic, opening its beak to let out a succession of sharp chirps. Simultaneously, an identical torrent of avian shrieks echoed from the apex above.

Catching the screeches echoing from overhead, the rest of the crew instinctively raised their eyes to peer toward the roof, only to witness an alternative flesh-ball—heavily cloaked in bright yellow down, with far fewer developed feathers than the initial specimen—simultaneously plummeting straight down from the apex…

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