Chapter 124

Chapter 124

The Superpower's area of effect was massive, and the battle was intense. Not far away, Tang Yi spotted them and hurried over to brief them:

"...At first, after you went down, apart from the three of us, there wasn’t even a single moving thing around. Then, a sharp scream came from underground."

"Shortly after the scream, zombies began emerging—first just a few stragglers, then larger and larger groups. Now, they’re emerging from all sides, surrounding us."

"..."

Cheng Jing and Jiang Nian understood. The zombies they had eliminated below were indeed summoned there.

That female zombie earlier had likely sensed the danger instinctively and sent out a signal—or perhaps it was simply "calling in the troops."

Either way, it was the one that had summoned its hidden kin.

After grasping the situation, Cheng Jing and Jiang Nian joined the fight.

Cheng Jing was a given. Jiang Nian, meanwhile, first used his Superpower to assist his teammates in rotation, testing how his Purify ability synergized with different attribute-based abilities.

When he felt mentally exhausted, he picked up his gun and went full-auto on them.

At first, it was fine, but gradually, Lu Ningzhou, who was close to him, noticed he was inching farther into the fray.

"Brother Nian, be careful. Don’t advance too far."

Lu Ningzhou erected a chest-high barrier in front of him while warning.

"I know."

Jiang Nian replied, though he was already itching to charge. A zombie horde of this level might seem like it had them surrounded, but they were small fry.

Of course, thoughts were just thoughts—he restrained himself to stay within the safety line so his teammates wouldn’t worry.

There were many ways to relieve stress, and for those living in the apocalypse, hosing down zombies with gunfire was one of the most satisfying.

As another large wave of zombies approached, Jiang Nian slung his rifle.

Just as Lu Ningzhou thought he was tired and was about to tell him to fall back, he saw Jiang Nian dip into his ring space and pull out a rocket launcher.

"No shit!"

Lu Ningzhou exclaimed in awe:

"Brother Nian, you absolute madman! Do you even know how to use that? Need help?"

"Relax, Brother Jing drilled me proper. I’ve got this."

Jiang Nian grinned, then slickly racked a round, shouldered the launcher, and adjusted his stance.

After ensuring his teammates wouldn’t be caught in the blast, he aimed at the massive horde within range and decisively pulled the trigger. BOOM!

Go hard or go home—and look damn good doing it!

This thing was something Brother Jing had gotten from Zhou Li, and Jiang Nian had been dying to try it out the whole way here.

Even though his Brother Jing sometimes wanted to keep him in a gilded cage, when it came to teaching him skills, he went all out.

Lu Ningzhou gave him some serious side-eye and raised another barrier in front of him.

"Kaboom!"

"Blast!"

"..."

The massive explosions startled everyone.

Cheng Jing, who had been keeping an eye on his movements, gave him a nod of approval and gestured for caution without saying anything.

Jiang Nian let loose two more shots before handing the rocket launcher to Lu Ningzhou.

Lu Ningzhou took a single shot to get a feel for it before returning it—after all, his main role was providing defense for the team, and a quick try was enough.

Though they were strong, caution was always necessary when facing zombies or enemies. The old saying "caution pays off" was no joke.

Meanwhile, Jian Cheng, Tang Yi, and Zhou Rongbin—who also couldn't dish out heavy superpower attacks—approached.

Even Liao Yu, after clearing a wave of zombies near him, came over to join the fun:

"Pops, lemme get a turn with the big gun!"

His superpower was formidable, but guns were every guy's dream—who wouldn't want to take a shot after seeing one?

Jiang Nian handed his launcher to Jian Cheng, pulled out another for Tang Yi, then told Zhou Rongbin and Liao Yu:

"Brother Jing's storage ring has two more. You can go ask him."

Hearing this, Liao Yu and Zhou Rongbin made a beeline for Cheng Jing.

Cheng Jing knew what they wanted and didn't mess around, pulling them out right away.

Weapons were meant to be used—if they didn't use them now, Zhou Li might not supply them next time.

"..."

Deafening explosions echoed one after another. No horde of zombies could stand up to the relentless barrage of superpowers and heavy firepower.

Half an hour later, no more zombies emerged—after all, their calls for backup only reached so far.

The surroundings gradually quieted, though the ground was ripped to shreds everywhere, littered with zombie chunks.

Next came the grunt work of mopping up the battlefield and collecting cores. The thrill of firing rocket launchers came with a price: the hassle of gathering cores afterward.

And Cheng Jing laid down the law—those who had used the launchers were responsible for the cleanup.

The others took the chance to scout the nearby area before nightfall.

Though the cleanup was troublesome, Jiang Nian was on cloud nine. The built-up stress inside him had been thoroughly released, and he was back to being his old upbeat self.

Great teammates, and an even better partner—he didn't want his past or experiences to bring anyone down.

Kneeling to pick up cores, he muttered to himself:

"Ten points... another ten..."

"Score—thirty points!"

"Getting closer to that house..."

"..."

The squad searched the area but found nothing unusual.

Given the number of zombies earlier, at least those within the hospital were pretty much cleared out.

As they prepared to wrap up, Cheng Jing called Zhou Li to report the situation at the West River City People's Hospital branch.

Zhou Li said he would dispatch a search-and-rescue team to conduct a thorough sweep of West River City via aerial insertion, working from the inside out.

Cheng Jing was only responsible for reporting the situation and didn’t need to lead his team in this grid search operation.

They could continue with their own plans and stock up on supplies in advance.

Since the exploration team had a space-wielder and enhanced storage gear, there wouldn’t be much left after their sweep.

Now aware of the base’s movements, they moved forward before nightfall. The distance from the hospital to the commercial district was only a few kilometers.

There was still time.

Passing by a gas station, they luckily collected 100 liters of gasoline and 50 liters of diesel, wiping out over a dozen zombies nesting there in the process.

While the team gathered fuel, Jiang Nian took care of the zombies—this time not with a gun but a specially modified compound crossbow given by Brother Jing.

He was tagging along for field experience. When possible, aside from practicing his abilities, he could also familiarize himself with various weapons.

After collecting the fuel and dealing with the zombies, they found some packaged food close to expiring and two large boxes of tissues in the gas station’s convenience store.

Jiang Nian carefully wiped the supplies clean by the car door before storing them in his space ring. The team wasn’t short on food, so these near-expired items could be sold back at their shop.

The others were pretty blasé about the finds, but he was over the moon—no matter how small the haul, it gave him a huge sense of accomplishment.

"I told you, your Nian Nian must’ve been a hamster in his past life," Huang Qian whispered to Cheng Jing.

"..."

A faint smile tugged at Cheng Jing’s lips as he watched the man beaming like an idiot over the lousy haul, though his heart ached. He sighed quietly and murmured,

"Hamsters need someone to take care of them. I didn’t do a good job in his past life."

"Ew! Get a room! Can’t you two stop being lovey-dovey? Just promise to stay glued together for three lifetimes already!"

Huang Qian rubbed her arms, muttering 'These sappy lovebirds are terrifying' before walking away.

Cheng Jing didn’t mind—because it was the truth, not just sweet talk.

In their past life, when he enlisted and his mother-in-law’s cancer diagnosis happened around the same time. He had spoken first about joining the military, so Jiang Nian hid his mother’s illness, smiling brightly as he supported and encouraged him...

That was also why Cheng Jing resented being ghosted after enlisting.

He never knew how Jiang Nian had kept it together back then.

The man who had always been whining and clowning around in front of him had, in that moment, been scarily composed—like the protective older brother who shielded his younger siblings.

Yet that same person had gotten screwed over by his own father, all because he listened to his mother and was hung up on family!

"Sigh..."

Taking a deep breath, Cheng Jing walked toward his little hoarder.