Chapter 143.2 – Fire Seed (12)
◎ V587 escorts you ◎
Rainbow Mist was a typical karst landscape, with the central city located at the summit of a plateau surrounded by undulating green terraces. However, at this moment, a multitude of zombies had piled up in layers, crawling upward. In this critical situation, numerous awakeners rushed from all directions, joining the battlefield one after another.
Although this wave of zombie tide was formidable, fortunately, there was no commander, making it incomparable to the zombie king encounter that Song Ke and the others had experienced.
The starship’s cabin door opened, and in the brisk morning wind, V587 arrived above the battlefield.
Song Ke and Su Cha, the two melee fighters, descended low into the center of the most densely packed powered zombies, slashing through them like a whirlwind.
Lin Youyou promptly applied buffs, boosting the speed and strength of the two. With death scythe-like spiritual weapons in their hands, they rapidly harvested zombies.
Xu Xing, with his victory headband on, performed movements resembling radio calisthenics. As he raised his arms and kicked his legs, countless ice blades swept through the air, accurately piercing through the zombies’ heads. His efficiency in killing monsters was the highest among them.
Lu Xiaoyu controlled one of the mechanical arms to move the starship and brought out a heavy machine gun purchased from the black market, firing alongside Zhuang Qingyan in the high sky.
In a section of the monster group, Song Ke occupied a small high ground. As she looked down at the densely packed living dead below, she raised her hand slightly. Just as she was about to take action, her terminal suddenly beeped. Song Ke dismissed it, but the other party switched to voice bombardment. Song Ke lightly clicked her tongue; can’t they see she’s busy?
Glancing at the sender, it was another official message from the Awakener Department. They had changed personnel several times in the past few days, harassing her daily and requesting her to undergo “further examination.” Annoyed, Song Ke added it to the blacklist and activated the “Do Not Disturb” mode, finally bringing peace to her terminal.
Immediately afterward, her palm moved slightly, and a high-speed shooting longbow appeared.
“Su Cha, lend me some ability.”
Su Cha flipped over with one hand, gripped the bowstring, and unleashed his awakened energy. The ethereal blue surface of the bow instantly flashed a cold quenching green; this was a newly developed attack method after the two of them dealt with the mutated moths in the U-Lab laboratory.
Song Ke took a step back, pulled the bow, aimed, and released—
Ding! The arrow shot through the head of a level 3 zombie.
She pulled the bow again, another arrow, still a level 3 zombie.
Arrow after arrow, each shot found its mark. Song Ke specifically targeted level 3 zombies, and under the powerful penetration and the dual impact of strong neurotoxins, even robust level 3 zombies instantly perished, without any chance of fighting back.
In the terraced fields, Fang Zhixu carried a black mountaineering bag and, like a scout, swiftly followed Song Ke’s shooting path. He ran to the fallen level 3 zombies, cleanly sliced open their skulls, and extracted crystals.
It sounded absurd when spoken out loud—why would the healer of V587 also join the battlefield?
The reason given by others was: because of Fang Zhixu’s unique physique and precise knife skills, he was entrusted with the most important task—collecting crystals.
Song Ke encouraged him with a pat on the shoulder, “Don’t worry, I’ll protect you.”
Xu Xing grinned, “Uncle Fang, you should exercise more~”
The awakeners on the battlefield were stunned by their skillful maneuvers:
“Damn! Where did those people come from?”
“They’re targeting evolved zombies and mutant zombies specifically. Are they here to score points?”
“Secretary Li, I need to know all the information about this team within a minute!”
After resolving the crisis of the zombie tide in Rainbow Mist, V587 hastily headed to the next location.
“A-level Commission (privately issued): Escort mission, please ensure the safe return of Mr. Zhang and his family from the Yinqola Shelter to B13, Baishen.”
This kind of private mission was a rare and highly sought-after opportunity. The issuer needed to pay a considerable deposit on the mission platform and determine the mission’s difficulty level. Although points could only be calculated based on the lowest limit after determining the level, the significant feature was the generous Alliance coin reward.
As for Mr. Zhang, whether he was naive with money and a beautiful soul or just wealthy and generous, he surprisingly posted an A-level mission!
Zhuang Qingyan was right. Lu Xiaoyu, having tasted the sweetness, was indeed full of enthusiasm and managed to secure this rare mission using the newly upgraded cheats.
…
At the entrance of the Yinqola Shelter, Mr. Zhang paced anxiously.
A group of awakeners wearing matching tactical suits approached him.
“Excuse me, are you Mr. Zhang, the client?” a gentle female voice rang out.
Mr. Zhang looked up in surprise, and the speaker was a delicate woman with flowing long hair.
“You are…” Mr. Zhang’s expression showed doubt.
Snap! Suddenly, the people in front of him stood at attention, loudly shouting a slogan:
“Thousands of miles away from home, the original heart remains unswayed, V587 assists you in setting sail for a distant journey!” Xu Xing excitedly recited his lines.
“Worry-free throughout the journey, thorough protection, V587 ensures your safe journey.” Su Cha’s sorrow is greater than death.
“V587, the most reliable guardian in the entire Alliance, escorts your travels,” Zhuang Qingyan summarized with a grin, hands resting on his stomach.
Song Ke stood behind everyone, arms crossed, nodding in satisfaction.
Indeed, these were the slogans she had thought hard about. Very good, very impressive.
Mr. Zhang: “…”
These people were all flashy, but were they reliable? He explicitly requested at least two A-level awakeners!
“Which route are we taking back?” Mr. Zhang tentatively asked.
From the Yinqola Shelter to Baishen, most cities along the way had already been destroyed. Therefore, Mr. Zhang’s family didn’t dare to travel alone.
If this group couldn’t provide a good solution, he would definitely complain to the platform!
“Respected Money Bag… cough, client, your Dadao special car is ready,” Song Ke said with a straight face.
Mr. Zhang looked in the direction she pointed, staring blankly for a moment. He saw a sparkling starship parked not far away.
These people could actually get a starship?! And it was the latest model from District B. Can starships be privately used?
Mr. Zhang and his family boarded the starship with dreamy expressions. Even hours later, stepping onto the land of Baishen, they still couldn’t believe it.
This… they arrived already?
…
As night fell, the seven of them stayed in Baishen for the night. During that time, Zhuang Qingyan went out for a bit, and the next day, they resumed their journey to accumulate points.
After three full days of continuous effort, V587’s points surged significantly, currently ranking around 60%.
Three days later, on a rare rest day.
Northern Base, Garden Apartments.
At five in the morning, Song Ke’s hair was messy as she got up dreamily to have a drink of water. Having received three A-level missions yesterday, everyone was as tired as Taotao.
She closed her eyes and, in a state of unclear consciousness, groped her way back to the bedside. Accidentally kicking the trash can, she lowered her head and saw that it was full.
Song Ke’s eyes glazed over, and after two seconds of contemplation, she decided to go downstairs to take out the trash.
Wearing pajamas and sleep pants, she had just walked out of the apartment door when someone called her name from behind.
“Song Ke?”
A man and a woman stood side by side under the trees, resembling each other. The woman looked her up and down, while the man glanced at her, taking out a terminal to check the recording.
Song Ke felt that the two seemed a bit familiar and, after a while, slowly recalled that they were the S6-level twins, Ling Yan and Ling Yue.
After Ling Yue called her, two more unfamiliar awakeners appeared behind her. The four of them inconspicuously blocked her way.
Song Ke’s gaze focused, and she instantly became clear-headed. Judging from the awakened energy released externally, these two were also S-level!
Ling Yue sighed, “You are really hard to find.”
Song Ke asked, “What?”
Ling Yue pointed to her own dark circles and cursed in the Cario Empire’s common language.
“The position is constantly changing, and the entire Alliance is in chaos. We’ve been staking out for three whole days, not even getting a wink of sleep.”
“Stake out on me? Why?” Song Ke was puzzled.
“We want to invite you to go somewhere.”
As soon as the words fell, Ling Yan and Ling Yue both acted simultaneously, instantly clearing all objects around Song Ke, including the trash bag in her hand.
The next second, Song Ke found that all the radiation nearby had disappeared, similar to the situation she had encountered below the 7th floor of the Death Prison. Her awakened energy couldn’t resonate, and she couldn’t use her abilities! At the same time, her hands and feet were tightly restrained by an unknown force, and she couldn’t make a sound.
This was… a restraining-type ability? Territory-type ability?
Song Ke suddenly looked up; it was the other two S-level individuals who had taken action.
The twins captured Song Ke’s arms from the left and right, effortlessly lifting her up.
Song Ke’s feet left the ground, and a question mark slowly appeared in her head. What were these people up to? A fight? It didn’t seem like it.
“Sorry, sorry!” Another A-level awakener rushed out, clasping his hands together and bowing repeatedly to Song Ke. “We have no ill intentions. It’s just a last resort. The Awakener Department tried to contact you, but you didn’t respond to messages, didn’t answer calls, and even blocked location tracking. Commander He gave a strict order – today, no matter what, we must bring you back.”
Song Ke blinked slowly. Commander He Qiu Hong wanted to see her?
If that’s the case, why not just meet and talk? Why resort to physical actions right away? Sending four S-level individuals in such a big fuss was unnecessary. Really unnecessary. Also, could they let her change her clothes…
A strong spatial fluctuation occurred, and the five individuals disappeared from the original location.
…
Half an hour later, Zhuang Qingyan lazily leaned against the door, knocking on Song Ke’s room.
“Knock, knock,” he announced, “Captain, it’s time to go.”
No one responded.
He changed his posture, casually tidied his hair, and knocked twice again. “Song Ke, don’t think about staying in bed.”
Inside, it was quiet as if there was no one there.
Zhuang Qingyan furrowed his brows slightly, the careless expression on his face gradually disappearing. He twisted the doorknob open. “I’m coming in.”
The bedroom was empty.
Zhuang Qingyan took two quick steps, reaching out to touch the bed. The palm of his hand felt icy.
His expression remained relatively calm, but his eyes revealed a storm. The awakened energy belonging to an S-level spread out like a dark cloud, a sign of an impending tempest. In the invisible space, a faint trace of not-yet dissipated spatial ability lingered.
