24 Independence or Dependence

While speaking, Huang Xiao signaled the others in the squad with his eyes.

"Yeah Captain, the Deputy Captain is right. If we follow the army, we won't get a thing. The zombie nuclei we'll earn by hunting average zombies for them won't be any more than we can get on our own."

"Exactly! Moreover, we have finally found a high-level zombie now. I don't think she's gone far. We might run into her again if we keep chasing. Why do we need to follow the army then?"

"Besides, there are so many of us. If we find a level-three zombie, there's no way we'll let her get away. Even if we bump into a level-four one, we'll still have a good chance against it. Even in the worst case, if we can't defeat the zombie, can't we just run? Perhaps, we can kill a level-four zombie by joining forces. If that happens, we would earn a fortune, wouldn't we? That would be a bagful of rice and clean quilts!"

"Right, right…" The few who had received Huang Xiao's silent signals immediately joined the conversation to side with him.

Xie Dong frowned and said with a frosty look, "None of us has ever encountered a level-four-zombie, and we have no idea how powerful they are. But, my feelings can't be wrong."

"Captain, you yourself are a level-four being with a fire superpower. Are you still afraid of level-four zombies? That would be wrong!" Huang Xiao said smilingly. Although his expression was neutral, his eyes flashed with jealousy and hatred.

"Yeah!"

"Even though I'm at level-four, I'm still not sure that I can defeat a level-four zombie. Besides, I have heard that level-four superpowered human beings are no match for level-four zombies at all." Looking at these people who seemed to be unmoved by his arguments, Xie Dong knitted his eyebrows with impatience.

At that moment, Huang Xiao shrugged and said, "I don't care. I won't follow the army anyway. Besides, they may not allow us to join them."

Aside of from, if those in the army saw him in this state, they would laugh their heads off behind his back, wouldn't they?

Thinking about this finally got Huang Xiao's feet moving. He then began walking in the other direction ahead of the others.

Xie Dong glanced around at the others, noting that six or seven of the nine didn't seem to be willing to listen to him. He then looked at the direction which Huang Xiao had gone to, having no choice but to sigh and nod.

"Alright then. We leave this place now."

He surely knew that Huang Xiao had hostile feelings toward him. This time, ever since they left the base, the latter had been running opposite him, acting impulsively irrespective of the consequences.

Of course, he had a lot of complaints about Huang Xiao, but as the Captain and the strongest one in the squad, he couldn't do anything about it except protecting all his teammates like a nanny. He also needed to give consideration to the rest of the squad's opinions. After all, if the squad members were at variance with each other, it could lead to dangerous infighting.

Therefore, he had been trying to be patient with Huang Xiao's reckless behavior all this while.

...

After they left, Wu Chengyue arrived with a formidable thousand-man army.

In the front of the group were three modified and heavy off-road vehicles. These vehicles could not only defend against zombies' claws, but could also knock down any zombie walls in their way. In the apocalyptic era, all vehicles were reinforced with layers of giant metal thorns on the front, which jutted out like huge nails.

When these vehicles collided with zombie walls, blood and meat pieces would splash across the sky. Nothing could stop these vehicles.

Behind these off-road vehicles were a few heavy, green colored army trucks, also modified for practicality in this zombie infested world.

The motorcade stopped in the area where Xie Dong and his squad had been standing a while ago. An extra tall and strong man came out of the first vehicle, followed by a few men and a squad of soldiers.

These soldiers cleared off the surrounding zombies and turned this area into an empty place once they got off the vehicle.

The tall and strong man stood in the front, his sharp eyes scanning the surrounding area. His eyes paused briefly on where Xie Dong and his squad had recently been standing, then moved away.

At this time, a man appeared from behind them. He was shorter than the man in the front, but his body shape could still be described as tall and straight. The expression on his handsome face was quite mild. His eyes contained the faintest hint of a smile, and the corners of his lips were on the verge of curving. It was such that the others couldn't tell if he was smiling or not.

This man looked gentle, warm, and humble. However, the camouflage clothing that he was wearing slightly cut down his gentle warmth and gave him a serious, soldier-like presence.

At this very moment, no one could detect the fierceness that he had shown the last time because of Lu Tianyu. However, his brows were still drawing slightly together in a frown, showing a worried look.

"It left fast, or we would have bagged ourselves another level-four zombie nucleus," he said while sighing slightly.

The tall and strong man turned around and glanced at him, then snorted coldly and said, "That zombie-hunting squad probably didn't even know what had targeted them. One level-four, one level-three, and four level-two superpowered human beings, along with a few ordinary ones... Hmm... In front of a level-four zombie, a squad like this is just a food delivery service. I thought they'd smartly follow us once they saw us, but it seems that they're a bunch of idiots."

Wu Yuecheng slightly turned up his mouth corners, but the glimmer of a smile in his eyes wasn't brightening. He said, "They left the base to risk their lives for a better life. People's desires are just like this. The more they want something, the more they are willing to risk to get it."

The tall and strong man nodded in agreement, then turned around and shouted at the dozen or so level-four superpowered soldiers behind him, "Squad one to five, take your people and search the surrounding area for signs of Ling Ling. Squad six to ten, search for high-level zombies and hunt them down... Move!"

"Yes, sir!" From amongst the dozens of people behind him, ten immediately stood in attention and responded before turning to carry out their orders. They gathered their people and leaped into action straightaway.

At that moment, a young woman got off the vehicle a little anxiously. She looked to be about twenty years old, but was twenty-three in fact. She had a magical vibe about her that belonged to the forests.

She wasn't gorgeous, but wasn't ugly either. She could be counted as pretty, like a pretty girl next door. Her face was clean, and her watery eyes were quite clear.

This woman was Wu Chengyue's Deputy Commander, and her name was Meng Yue, a level-five with botanical power.

With an anxious look, Meng Yue strode over to Wu Chengyue, then grabbed his arm and said, "Brother Yue, I sense it! Ling is nearby! The feeling is weak, but it's there."

The two men both changed their expressions when they heard her words. The faint smile on Wu Chengyue's face faded as he stared at Meng Yue nervously, asking anxiously and excitedly, "Where? Where? Yue, have you sensed Ling Ling's location?"

If Meng Yue hadn't been confirming that Ling Ling was alright, Wu Chengyue wouldn't have been able to remain as calm as he was right now. When he heard Meng Yue say that she had sensed his daughter, his restrained vibe was suddenly stirred as he became agitated.

Meng Yue closed her eyes and sank into her sensation with a serious look. Suddenly, she opened her eyes as a beam of light flashed across them while she pointed in a direction and said, "That way."

Next, she felt two figures flash by as the two men in front of her disappeared without a trace.