Because Luo Xiaole and her group stumbled upon and eliminated a zombie nest, and with the full escort of Zhou Shoushan's army, they returned to the base safely.
"Have my children returned..."
At the window of the mission center, many people gathered, anxiously watching the direction where Luo Xiaole and her team were submitting their mission.
"What's with them?" Luo Xiaole asked Nie Heng, confused.
"These are the relatives or friends of those missing elite team members. Your mission has attracted a lot of attention. When they heard you were back to submit the mission, they all rushed here, hoping to take their family members home."
"So that's how it is..." Looking at the anxious and eager faces outside the door, Luo Xiaole's nose tingled.
Some people would forever lie in cold caves, never to see their loved ones again because of one mission...
"You said you would come back, boohoo!"
"I don't believe it, I don't believe it..."
"My son, I don't want you to go on missions to support the family. We can eat wild vegetables at home, the two of us, why did you..."
After the casualty list was confirmed and displayed on the large screen at the mission center, many people repeatedly checked the list in disbelief, weeping uncontrollably.
Waves of wails rose to the sky...
"Commander, we have confirmed the situation at other strongholds. After these strongholds were evacuated, many villagers' bodies were left on the ground... They were likely killed and abandoned after being exploited by labor," reported a close aide.
Zhou Shoushan also announced this situation and mentioned in the announcement that any clues related to the Green Dragon Gang's strongholds would be accepted. These people must not die in vain.
When Old Li and Da Qiang saw the announcement, they knelt down with a "plop," covering their faces and weeping. Their entire village had been exploited by the Green Dragon Gang, and they were forced to work in different strongholds. Those bodies were their long-lost fellow villagers... If Luo Xiaole hadn't led them out in the end, they would have become part of those corpses as well...
Luo Xiaole stood there, her heart heavy as she looked at everything before her. The "Sadness" energy bar in front of her kept soaring and was soon full. She clenched her fists, feeling a pang of sadness. She hadn't expected the final "Sadness" energy bar to be filled in this manner...
"Sigh," she sighed heavily.
Zhou Shoushan walked over and, after a long silence, said, "You've done your best. I will arrange the subsequent work properly. You... get some rest." Rest for the body and rest for the soul. He instructed his aide, "All fallen team members this time will be awarded the Luocheng Base Medal. Ensure proper care for their families and provide material and living support; all injured ability users will be properly settled, unified for the best treatment, and then arranged to reunite with their relatives." After arranging the work, he turned to Luo Xiaole. "Don't worry, I will take good care of the villagers you brought back. I will give them stable jobs so they can try to... quickly integrate into life in Luocheng Base."
"Thank you for your trouble, Commander," Luo Xiaole nodded.
"Mr. Tan Hongyi, I heard you have some research achievements in zombie control. Please come with me. I will be responsible for your safety in Luocheng Base." Tan Hongyi followed Zhou Shoushan.
[Elite Team Codename 3295, Members Xiao Aluo, Mo Chen, Lin Xia, Guan Gong Dao... S-rank mission completed. Reward: 200,000 base points. Heroes return, remember the brave, please continue to work hard.]
[Elite Team Codename 3295, annihilated a large zombie stronghold outside the city, eliminated a huge zombie threat outside the city, made great contributions. Additional reward: 200,000 base points. Salute to them.]
As the large screen continued to scroll, the remaining families immediately rushed around Luo Xiaole and her team, holding their hands with tears in their eyes, expressing their gratitude to the young team members.
Others at the mission center continued to stare at the big screen, seemingly shocked.
"I... I'm not mistaken, right? Xiao Aluo is here again this time?"
"She was the one who completed the mission last time, wasn't she? Is she that powerful?"
"Look, she's directly entered the top 60 of the mission points leaderboard! Wasn't she only in the top 100 last time?"
"'Only' in the top 100, my friend, you have quite the nerve!"
"What kind of ability does she really have? Is she really that powerful?"
Others began to discuss, but since they had never teamed up, no one knew who the specific Xiao Aluo was.
"Wait... this Xiao Aluo, how come her name is the same as the two popular shops in the city center these past few days..."
"It's not that the names are similar, these teammates are probably the owners of those two shops!"
"That's the city center! Who is this Xiao Aluo? Rich and capable..."
"Isn't it time to hitch a ride!"
In an instant, countless team-up invitations were sent through the base cards. Luo Xiaole's base card in her pocket was almost numb from the vibrations. She quickly set the card to do not disturb mode and set an auto-reply to politely decline other team-up requests.
Finding a place to sit down, she immediately rushed into the system's space zone. She doubled the points from the recent mission and exchanged them for mall coins.
[Your account has received 800,000, balance 2,931,185 mall coins]
Under the bright lights in the system, Luo Xiaole walked down towards the location of the pharmacy. Another shop lit up, emitting a golden glow.
[Detected that the host has collected all four emotional energy bars within 15 days. Do you want to use 1,000,000 mall coins to activate the buff store?]
"Activate!"
[Congratulations to the host, the pharmacy shop activation mission is complete]
[Mission completion reward: 150,000 mall coins have been issued, balance 2,081,185 mall coins]
Luo Xiaole curiously entered the buff store. On the shelves were rows of small test tubes with different effects, all colorful. These were... buffs?
Luo Xiaole decided to try it. She was feeling listless and drained, so she exchanged for test tubes labeled "Excitement" and "Anti-Fatigue."
She drank them down with a "glug glug," sweet.
"Ding!" A faint golden light seemed to flash across her body. Immediately, she felt instantly sobered up! She was full of energy! As if she had inexhaustible strength! She could fight for another five hundred years! Not bad, buffs are a good thing.
The system's voice came again.
[Weapon shop activation mission has started]
[Please collect 10,000 weapons (weapons with spatial reinforcement do not count, only weapons that exist in the real world) and 1,000,000 mall coins within 15 days to activate the weapon shop.]
[Mission completion reward: 150,000 mall coins. Failure to complete the mission penalty: the host will lose the ability to act for 7 days.]
Luo Xiaole discovered something and excitedly looked at the system panel. This was the last item zone shop! If she unlocked this weapon shop, not only would she have an endless supply of weapons, but more importantly... the next unlock would be the body modification function! And she didn't lack money now. So she only needed to... get those 10,000 weapons!