After walking out of the Commander’s hall, the three leaders discussed among themselves the various required preparations for the next step. “How many guys do you need, Yahe?”

“We have scouting tasks in the morning but we can assist you in the evening?”

“How long do you think this will take?” As experienced trained personnel, they knew enough to think about certain important logistics.

For any mission, there were two main points to be considered. One was the enemy’s strength and one was their own strength.

Based on this, other things like the number of troops and weapons required needed to be assessed.

However, before they could discuss these things, Yahe shook his head resolutely, rejecting all the help.

“They are just trash. I can handle it myself. I would have handled it myself even back then but I didn’t have the green signal from the commander and now that I have…”

“He He. It’s time to teach that arrogant ice prick a good lesson.”

“Yahe, are you sure that you are not underestimating them a bit too much?” Zemin reminded him. After all, anyone who survived so long in the apocalypse couldn’t be looked down upon.

“Heh. Those fools? You haven’t met them personally. I have seen them. Complete and utter idiots who couldn’t even last against a few centipedes. Ptui.”

“I can finish all of them in no time! Hmph!” Yahe didn’t wait around any longer and walked away in long strides with a lot of excitement and eagerness dripping from his face.

“I can’t wait to teach everyone there a lesson. How could I lose face to such useless idiots! Sigh!”

“Today I can finally wash away that shame and humiliation.”

Zemin watched his figure disappear into the building and silently shook his head. “Hmmm. Why do I feel so uneasy about this? Should I prepare some backup troops just in case?”

Yahe, on the other hand, diligently started handing out instructions.

He assigned two people to first scout and monitor the area before he could get the others geared up and ready for the invasion.

Even though he was a bit impatient, he also didn’t intend to play his cards too hastily. This would officially be their first attack against other humans.

He knew and had enough patience to understand the significance of this. He had to deal with it with the utmost soft touch so that the others inside the camp wouldn’t be rattled by it.

After all, as military people, they are supposed to protect others and not harm, especially now. They at least had that much responsibility to uphold.

And it was not like he was planning to harm anyone either.

“Sigh. What difficult times! I have to twist someone’s arm just to do some good for them. They should be thankful that kind-hearted people like me still exist!”

A couple of hours later… down below the ground level…

Lu Chen sneaked a few peeks at the dog who had her eyes diligently closed. He was sweating from top to bottom and completely exhausted from training in just a few hours.

He was pretty sure Alex, Xu Meilin, Luo Zu, and Guan Ye were also currently in the same condition.

In all honesty, he was not even sure if they managed to grasp the method in the first place, especially Xu Meilin and Luo Zu, who kept looking at each other and exchanging helpless glances.

However, the dog in front of him, or rather the girl in front of him, seemed to be easily doing the same thing without tiring herself out.

The difference between them was like night and day and he couldn’t help but remember the numerous times where she had received horrendous scars and injuries as a result.

Yes, she was healed back to normal after everything was over, but that didn’t mean that she didn’t go through all the pain and suffering.

She was probably someone like Xu Meilin. How difficult must it have been for her to endure everything and fight with not just hers but everyone’s life on the line every single time?

Even her past life didn’t sound too good as what sort of a family poisons their own child. Was she adopted?

Even if she was adopted, knowing her, she would have probably loved them as family, just like she was treating him and Su Yan right now. How could someone be so cruel to do that to a kind and loving person?

Were those people still alive? Lu Chen silently clenched his fist. He didn’t know why but deep down he actually wanted her family to survive and hoped that their paths would cross…

As he rested for a bit, Lu Chen absentmindedly continued recollecting the various things that had happened so far. He let out a long sigh and unknowingly stared at the dog with a warm loving expression on his face.

However, unfortunately for him, Qin Hua’s eyes flashed open at this very moment and she stared directly right at him.

Fuck! Lu Chen instantly turned stiff and a knot formed in his throat. For some reason, he felt like a thief caught in the act and his pale face turned a shade of red as he quickly looked away.

[Woof? What happened to him?] Qin Hua was confused, but her focus and attention were in fact on something else entirely.

She slowly got up and the frown on her face deepened. She tapped the guy who was still weirdly looking somewhere else at a wall and scribbled on the ground.

“There is someone watching us.”

“Huh?” Lu Chen immediately became alert and stood up, but Qin Hua signaled him not to be hasty. “I will handle this.” She scribbled on the floor.

[Blending into darkness] She quickly jumped into a nearby shadow and silently slipped out through the labyrinth of tunnels.

Lu Chen’s gaze followed her until she disappeared and then he walked over to the cave opening where Alex and Xu Meilin were seated to warn them about potential enemies.

They benefited greatly from the past couple of rest days and were able to take a much needed break, but he did not want everyone to become complacent and forget about the dangers lurking outside.

Meanwhile, a black shadow reached the surface above the ground. A pair of feral eyes glinted from within the darkness and locked onto the human figure pacing back and forth.

[Woof! What is he doing?] Qin Hua wondered. She hadn’t paid attention to the other people whom they had met so she didn’t recognize him instantly.

However, his clothing and the gun that was slung on his shoulder were a dead giveaway, and she watched him like a hawk.

He didn’t look like he had wandered out here by chance.

Also, the possibility of these people coming in peace or just to say a friendly hello was highly improbable considering the way things ended last time.

The best outcome would have been for both parties to never interact again. She didn’t know if the other party had plans to stay here in the city long-term.

At least their group would have moved away after using the mana ores. As far as she knew, they didn’t have any plans to stay here after that.

Qin Hua silently watched the guy while mulling over various things.

Because of the devastation unleashed by the centipedes, the entire hospital and the surrounding area had collapsed and there was only rubble and rocks everywhere.

There weren’t too many places to hide and move covertly and yet this person was trying very hard to do so.

No matter how she looked at him, he looked very suspicious and sneaky as if he was up to no good.

[Woof! This guy is definitely here with a hidden agenda. I should wait and watch and find out his real intentions, instead of simply killing him.]

She licked her paws and squinted her eyes at the intruder.

And as if he could feel the dangerous gaze of a predator on his back, the person who was currently walking around in the midst of the destroyed hospital building shivered slightly.

The hair on his back stood up and he was even covered in goosebumps.

Duyi wiped the sweat off of his forehead. “Should I just return to the base? There is nothing unexpected here. Damn it. Why do I always get selected for these fucking scouting missions?”

“I have such bad luck.” The young man seemingly in his twenties continued grumbling and talking to himself while making the rounds.

This continued for another 10 minutes and he hadn’t observed anything weird at all.

“These people are just cuddled somewhere under the ground. Why is the leader so intent on forcing them to join us?”

“Doesn’t that only mean less food for us and more people to worry about? Sigh. I sometimes fucking hate these do gooders.”

“It’s a damned apocalypse for god’s sake. Why can’t they simply follow the survival of the fittest rule? Why should weaklings be protected at all? They clearly don’t deserve to live anymore.”

Duyi continued walking. However, when he reached a certain area where the hole was a bit deeper, he suddenly stopped. He looked utterly shocked and his eyes almost popped out of their sockets.