"Master, how much further is our mission objective?"
Seeing that everyone was still immersed in the previous incident, Tang Li began to find a way to change the subject.
"Our mission objective this time is a small county town under F City. After leaving the service area, it will take a little over an hour to get there."
Peng Yue replied.
The mission objectives for this "United Squad" were not all in E City, unlike the Peng family squad before.
This was because the mission objectives in E City were too small, and the "United Squad" had too much combat power.
If they chose those mission objectives, they might have to complete two or three to meet the combat power requirements set by the mercenary guild.
The mission objective for the "United Squad" this time was a large criminal organization located in F City.
They had over ten thousand members and were active in various places before the apocalypse. They engaged in trafficking women and children, as well as producing and selling drugs, and were extremely arrogant.
After the apocalypse arrived, during the stable period following the floods, they gathered in F City near Jiangcheng. They also engaged in highway robbery during the extreme cold season.
After the solar storm, communication was severed across the land. They occupied several towns in uncontrolled areas.
Furthermore, they declared their name as the "Heavenly King Gang".
With the onset of the great drought, they used several stratagems to occupy a small county town, controlling over a hundred thousand people.
Due to the severed communication and the subsequent busyness with various matters, the F City authorities only discovered this situation after the great drought began.
However, by this time, the "Heavenly King Gang" had become the gathering place for all criminal organizations between E City and F City, and even G City further south.
During previous missions, Zhong Heng, Peng Yue, Bai Xunyang, Lin Xi, and their squads had all heard of the "Heavenly King Gang".
Many criminal organizations that they had annihilated sold the people they had captured to the "Heavenly King Gang" while also purchasing various goods from them.
Countless criminal transactions took place daily in the exchange controlled by the "Heavenly King Gang".
F City, with its limited military strength and fear of falling into the "Heavenly King Gang's" diversionary tactic, as happened when the county town fell, leading to the potential fall of the F City shelter, had to report the matter to Jiangcheng.
However, there were too many such incidents. Jiangcheng also needed sufficient military strength to maintain order and ensure the construction of the underground city. It was impossible to handle every single one promptly, so they handed the matter over to the mercenary guild.
Previously, a single squad could not undertake this mission.
Even the top-ranked squad before had only managed to succeed by sheer numbers, and could not complete this mission.
The mercenary guild posted this mission with the hope that teams would form to undertake it.
However, no team accepted the mission until the "United Squad" was formed.
Thus, it was taken up by the "United Squad" as their first collective mission.
After lunch, the "United Squad" rested for a while and then, amidst the anticipation of the refugees, departed from the service area.
As for the families of those who had died, they were arrested by the security personnel at the service area because they were discovered to have consumed human flesh.
The service area also had penalties for those who ate human flesh.
Even if they ate the flesh of the deceased, as long as they crossed that line, they might kill for human flesh in the future.
Coincidentally, the underground city construction site was short of labor. Once these individuals were discovered, they would be sent to the underground city construction site to serve their final purpose.
After leaving the service area, the "United Squad" soon came into contact with members of the "Heavenly King Gang".
Chiu—Bang!
In the distance, a flare exploded in the sky.
However, as it was daytime, only the sound could be heard, along with a cloud of smoke slowly dissipating.
"We've been discovered, everyone speed up!"
Zhong Heng's voice came from the loudspeaker of the modified minivan.
Immediately, the speed of the entire convoy increased.
Shortly after, they caught up with the person who had set off the flare.
The man was riding a bicycle, pedaling furiously, but he could not outrun the armored vehicles of the "United Squad".
Seeing that escape was impossible, the man decisively threw away his bicycle, squatted by the roadside, and surrendered with his hands over his head.
He was hoping that these people would ignore him and directly enter the "Heavenly King Gang's" camp, allowing him to escape on his bicycle after they left.
After all, he did not want to be captured to work on the underground city.
However, he was clearly thinking too much.
As the "United Squad's" convoy passed by, the third vehicle on his side stopped in front of him, tied him up securely, and stuffed him into the armored vehicle.
Then, the convoy continued to move forward without stopping.
Although the "Heavenly King Gang" had a large number of members, they clearly did not have many firearms, nor did they possess high-powered weapons like machine guns or rocket launchers.
Although they had seen the flare and were ready, their defenses were easily breached by the armored vehicles.
After breaking into the "Heavenly King Gang's" camp, the first battle of the "United Squad" began...