"It... it ran away?" Wei Hong's face showed terror. "Aren't there so many black bloodstains around here? It ran? Is it... is it still nearby?"
He suddenly felt a little scared. He thought the S-rank mission was just a bluff.
Besides, his uncle had told him that there were some very powerful people in the team, and there would be no problem.
But they were attacked so terrifyingly shortly after setting off. This kind of physiological fear was truly suffocating.
"Let's go, keep driving forward," Luo Xiaole patted the dust off her body.
She had already glanced around. There were no black vortexes appearing nearby.
It should be safe for now.
Wang Biao usually played the role of a leader in the team, and he was usually the one giving commands.
But for some reason this time, upon hearing Luo Xiaole's confident words, he didn't feel any aversion.
He always felt that although Luo Xiaole looked frail and weak on a normal day, when it came to making decisions, she gave him a feeling of wanting to believe her and a sense of conviction.
He shook his head, dispelling this very strange sense of contrast from his mind.
"Alright, then I'll keep driving forward. Shui Cheng, you remain on alert at all times. And you, behind there, Wei Hong, right? What's your ability?"
"I'm not talented enough to have any special abilities, but I have some very good weapons." He showed no shame and proudly took out several weapons from his bag that looked very familiar to Luo Xiaole.
"These are the military's latest weapons against zombies. I've tried them, and they're amazing! I managed to get my hands on quite a few of the over 400 weapons released on the first day! If you guys need any, you can come to me, and I can lend them to you." He implied that he was very generous.
To his surprise, Wang Biao and Luo Xiaole showed no amazement upon seeing the weapons in his arms.
They even exchanged a calm glance and implicitly gave him a look of "Is that all?"
Neither of them even glanced at him again. They calmly returned to their seats.
One prepared to drive, and the other looked straight ahead.
"No need, thanks, little brother," Wang Biao started the car, a faint reply drifting over.
What was this unpleasant feeling?
Did they have these weapons too?
Impossible, he had met everyone who managed to grab the first batch.
Unpleasant, really unpleasant!
...
Around dusk, the car, racing against the setting sun, finally arrived in front of a row of rural villas.
The further they drove, the stronger Luo Xiaole's unease grew.
Looking at the increasingly familiar scenery, her heart turned cold.
This was the villa where she had rescued Ah Ling and the others at that time...
"The system indicates that the mission location is here," Wang Biao stopped the car, confirming the mission objective.
"The mission description states that this villa is very dangerous. Within a one-kilometer radius, there may be unknown zombie threats. We all need to investigate. Of course, this villa is the primary focus," Wang Biao said with a serious expression.
Luo Xiaole rubbed her aching joints and looked at the villa, feeling very worried.
"There's no place to stay tonight. Since it's still early, let's split into two groups and investigate the zombies around the villa separately to clear external dangers, then collectively attack the interior of the villa. Any objections?" Wang Biao's plan and instructions were very clear, and everyone had no objections.
"Then I'll be with you!" Xiao Zhen quickly stood beside Wang Biao.
"I'll team up with Shui Cheng!" Wei Hong sidled up to Shui Cheng.
The others looked at Luo Xiaole.
"I'll stand guard at the entrance of this villa, and help you keep watch," she said casually.
"Isn't that just wanting to be lazy... I knew you little bean sprout would slack off!" Xiao Zhen clicked her tongue.
"Alright," Wang Biao spoke up. "Xiaole isn't wrong. If we get separated, we'll indeed need someone to help us check our direction. Xiaole, you stay here, and we'll start by clearing out the dangers along the reed marsh."
"Okay, okay," Luo Xiaole nodded quickly.
They split into two teams and left along the reed marshes on either side of the villa.
Luo Xiaole stayed behind for her own reasons.
If she acted with others, her Strawberry Bear and the big bell would definitely be exposed.
These great killing weapons were unnecessary to be seen by those two opportunistic and gossipy people, to avoid unnecessary trouble.
Her limbs were in too much pain to follow them on such a long mission. Otherwise, her stamina would be depleted too quickly, and it might be very dangerous at night.
Moreover, she had recently discovered that she rarely triggered the stiffening anymore.
She decided to go into the villa first to take a look.
She checked her protective gear, putting on her goggles this time.
Then she took out her Strawberry Bear plush toy from her pocket and put it on with practiced ease.
She gripped the big bell in her left hand for easy access and took out a handful of thumbtacks with her right hand.
This way, even if there was a room full of zombies, they couldn't do anything to her for the time being.
She took a deep breath and slowly pushed open the villa door.
To her surprise, she found...
It was silent inside, with no sound at all.
There were no zombie roars, nor sounds of human activity.
The house seemed to be in a deep sleep, with no movement.
However, there were many traces of combat inside the house. The black blood of zombies and fresh human blood were intertwined on the ground, indicating that a fierce battle had taken place.
"Oh no," Luo Xiaole discovered very obvious traces of her weapons in front of a perforated TV cabinet.
It looked like someone had used the weapon for defense in a hurry, but the force was misaligned, and it had cut into the TV cabinet with uneven depth due to an error.
She immediately thought of Ah Ling and the others.
The person using the weapon for the first time would most easily leave such marks; she was the same at the beginning.
From this, it was almost certain that the blood in the living room was left by zombies and Ah Ling and the others...
It seemed they didn't wait for Zhou Shoushan's people.
Otherwise, it wouldn't be like this...
Luo Xiaole felt as if her heart had been doused with a basin of cold water. She couldn't describe how she felt now.
She just felt a sense of indescribable disappointment.
Finally, for safety's sake, she searched all the floors of the small villa.
The small villa was temporarily safe, and they could rest here tonight.
"Roar!" The roars of zombies came from the reed marsh not far away.
And some anxious cries for help.
"Damn it, don't run around!" Wang Biao's curses followed.
Luo Xiaole quickly poked her head out of the window to look.
She saw several lurkers, who had already appeared at sunset, swiftly crossing the reed marsh and rushing towards Wang Biao and the other person.
Wang Biao was initially dodging very skillfully. While evading an attack from one lurker behind him, he powerfully decapitated another lurker that was catching up.
But who knew that Xiao Zhen had lost his composure and ran in a disorganized manner, even tripping Wang Biao. Both of them fell headfirst.
The lurker behind them pounced. Seeing this, Luo Xiaole quickly intervened.
She shot out more than ten thumbtacks from her hands, left and right!
The two lurkers who were about to pounce were hit by the thumbtacks and fell to the ground.
Then she quickly took off the plush costume.
Wang Biao looked towards the window in surprise, and Luo Xiaole waved at him.
The crisis averted, Luo Xiaole acted as if nothing had happened, returning to the villa entrance as before.
A few minutes later, Wang Biao and Xiao Zhen, covered in dirt, returned to the villa entrance.
"Xiaole! Was that you just now? I'm really impressed with you! By the way, why did you go into the villa alone? That's too dangerous." Wang Biao wiped the sweat from his forehead.
"Oh, I think I awakened a reconnaissance ability. I just scouted the villa and found no zombies before I went in," she lied with an excuse.
After all, the vortexes she could see served a similar purpose to reconnaissance.
"He needs treatment," Shui Cheng said, supporting Wei Hong and running over quickly from the other side, his words concise and his brows furrowed.
"What's wrong?" Xiao Zhen hurried to meet them.
"We encountered a mutant zombie. He got scratched by a branch while escaping."
"Oh, it's a minor injury, it's fine," Xiao Zhen comforted him.
"The smell of blood will attract more zombies," Shui Cheng explained, not bothering to say any more words.
"Understood, I'll treat him immediately."
Under Xiao Zhen's ability, the wound on Wei Hong's arm healed quickly, leaving no trace.
"Wait," Luo Xiaole stared at Wei Hong.
"He's going to mutate."
Luo Xiaole saw a faint black vortex slowly appearing on his head.