Fourth chapter of the week (June 11)
If the Reading List on NU reaches 1000, there will be a bonus chapter! Currently: 760/1000.
Chapter 29: Acting Openly
10 minutes of time was not long, but it was still enough to handle a lot of things. When the light pillar fell, the mission rewards were fallen also. And for everyone, it was inevitable to not be excited to see 5 mission items in front of them after a battle of life and death.
“Eldest Brother Yun, you allocate them. I believe you!"
As always, w.a.n.g Yang was straightforward even though he was excited and flushed with the joy of victory.
It was very clear that Yun Tu played a key role for the whole process of this mission. Firstly, he was the one who successfully entered the Secret Area which was controlled by the military led by Li Wei and destroyed their plan to monopolize the Secret Area. Secondly, in the first wave of the Blood Bats" attack, Yun Tu, with the w.a.n.g Brothers, successfully used his strategy and was able to avoid major injuries. In addition, he shared his bread and water in darkness and made it able for them to maintain their physical strength, and eventually was able to enter the underground chamber. Finally, he altered the w.a.n.g Brother"s weapons which directly benefited them. He also provided the situation to guarantee the victory in the final battle with a battle plan that basically came entirely out of his ideas.
Therefore, regardless which aspects, Yun Tu"s contribution amongst the three was the biggest; even w.a.n.g Peng could not deny this fact.
“Everyone has worked hard to get the rewards. So let"s discuss about the points!" Excessive modesty would only make the friendly att.i.tude change, so Yun Tu got to the point.
An interspatial ring was the standard award for the missions, and amongst the three, only w.a.n.g Yang did not have it, so it was natural that it went to him.
There were 2 main job scrolls, and this was very rare to come by. But it was unfortunate that the Shadow a.s.sa.s.sin Scroll Yun Tu had been hoping for did not appear.
“Storm Swordsman” was obviously very suitable for w.a.n.g Yang, since he could advance his skill, so Yun Tu handed it over to him. w.a.n.g Yang was quite embarra.s.sed. His contribution was the smallest in the whole mission, and receiving the 2 mission reward items, for him, was really unjustified.
“Man, you shouldn"t be making a fuss and be a hypocrite. I don"t have the interest or am suitable in taking the sword path. You"ve always been calling me Eldest Brother, and these 2 Brothers of yours are give you this!" The treasured swords were for heroes. And in regards for the things that would suit his friends, Yun Tu felt that it was also quite good and satisfying.
The other main job scroll was "Healer Priest". And this was even more unsuitable to Yun Tu"s needs. Although he had no deep knowledge about people"s occupation and rank in the apocalypse, but people who had played modern games could understand 70-80% when they looked at this name. This job scroll should be the rarest and most precious item from all of these 5. w.a.n.g Yang had taken away a Swordsman Scroll that was suitable for him, so the two brothers hinted Yun Tu to take this scroll.
There were also 2 weapons, a willow staff and a dagger!
Dagger was the weapon Yun Tu most wanted. It was because he was a Shadow a.s.sa.s.sin in his past incarnation and his main weapon was a dagger. But that willow staff was a necessary supporting equipment for a Healer Priest. Yun Tu could not take all of the remaining rewards, since w.a.n.g Peng would return empty-handed. After having a consideration over and over, Yun Tu reluctantly gave up the dagger he most wanted.
The mission"s reward had been divided and Yun Tu took 2 items out of 5. But if Yun Tu"s contribution for upgrading w.a.n.g Peng and w.a.n.g Yang"s weapons was to be counted, not only were these w.a.n.g Brothers not having a loss, they even profited from this allocation, because w.a.n.g Yang got the most suitable thing for him. But since Yun Tu saw that the item was not useful for him for the time being, he did not mind it.
Some things could only rely on luck. Since Yun Tu had his second repertoire, it was his third time getting through the Secret Area"s mission, but he had yet to get the thing he most wanted.
It took only 2 or 3 minutes for distributing all the items from the mission. And during this limited time, Yun Tu, w.a.n.g Yang and w.a.n.g Peng then tried to dig out the monster boss"s Inner Core and successfully took 2 fangs from the beast.
“Take care! We"ll meet again if we have the chance!"
As the light pillar disappeared, the Secret Area was also shattered. In a split second, all the people inside it were sent back to the real world.
Yun Tu knew very well that there would be no creatures coming out of this Secret Area. And he also had secretly killed his personal enemy, Li Wei, in the Secret Area. So the moment after he came out of the Secret Area, Yun Tu was very clear about the direction he had to withdraw to.
However, his plan might be perfect and beautiful, but the reality was cruel. The time taken to finish the mission was too long, and he could feel that something was different since the radius of 300 meters outside of the gate into the Secret Area, had long been surrounded by soldiers.
“All of you! Raise your hands up! If anyone dares to resist, kill him at once!"
A few hundreds of soldiers who circled and surrounded the area, pointed their muzzles toward everyone who came out of the Secret Area. n.o.body was able to get inside and to outside, even the soldiers who just came out of the Secret Area were also shocked.
“What the h.e.l.l is this?”
“Stealing openly?”
Yun Tu was the first to respond as he spoke those words. He turned vigilant and quickly looked at w.a.n.g Yang and w.a.n.g Peng!
The 3 of them were well aware that they were clearly the primary targets of the military hunting operation.
The distance was 300 meters away as they looked at each other. Yun Tu, as well as the other Awakened who sprang out from the Secret Area, pretended to lift their hands over their heads. But Yun Tu"s gestures were a bit different from the others. His left hand changed from the fist into a palm as his fingers unbent and stretched out one after another.
He did not know whether w.a.n.g Yang and w.a.n.g Peng could understand his so-obvious hand signal. But since there was no prior communication, and since the crisis situation was dire, he could only bet this once.
“5”,
“4”,
“3”,
“2”,
“1”,
Each finger stretched out was one second in time. By the time it was finished, nearly at the same time,
Yun Tu and the w.a.n.g Brothers began to charge over into 3 directions toward the soldiers.
40 people popped out of the Secret Area all of a sudden, and hundreds of soldiers who besieged them were mostly only ordinary people. So they were very nervous. Although their leader"s previous order was clear that they must shoot to kill anyone who resisted, but the soldiers in the surroundings knew that half of the people that came out of the Secret Area were their comrades in the army, and were Awakened. So when Yun Tu and the w.a.n.g Brothers suddenly charged, the soldiers at the scene hesitated for several seconds.
Their hesitation no doubt had given great opportunity to Yun Tu and the other two. The soldiers had yet to shoot their guns as Yun Tu"s group sheathed out their weapons. A few cold bright lights flashed and took down some of the besieging soldiers in front of them, as they smoothly ran out of the military"s encirclement within 10 seconds.
After having escaped out of the encirclement, the 3 of them almost simultaneously changed their swords into guns and then fired at the side whilst running to retreat. At the same time, the sounds of gunfire sounded from 3 directions.
Their speed was far beyond an 100 meters" sprinter"s speed as they stormed the surrounding and quickly disrupted the soldiers" positions.
“FIRE! They are resisting! Kill at once!"
Within just 10 seconds of time, when the second compulsory command to open fire was issued, Yun Tu and the w.a.n.g Brothers had long fled from the scene.
Since some people had taken the lead to charge and successfully broke through, the other civilian Awakened who were besieged also hurriedly rushed out. The scene turned chaotic in an instant, and then the besieging soldiers finally opened fire regardless if the target were their enemies or comrades. Everyone who were shot in the middle of the scene and was still alive, were panicked by the suppressing fire as they crawled on the ground and did not dare to rise again.
Since First Level Awakened had no ability to escape or block bullets, a lot of them died a tragic sudden death around the gate to the Secret Area under such indiscriminate fire from the military. Then, the first round of gunfire stopped as the military finally controlled the scene!
At this time, a middle-aged officer, with a second lieutenant badge on his shoulder who had been sitting next to the military car, came over as he ordered to clean up the mess.
“Tie up those who came out of the Secret Area! No matter whether they are soldiers or civilians. Take all of them and interrogate them separately!"
Half an hour later, when the scene had been cleaned up, only 15 people still lived out of more than 40 people who had entered the Secret Area. 7 of which were soldiers and 8 of them were civilian Awakened. But the ones who had completed the mission and successfully obtained the reward, Yun Tu and the w.a.n.g Brothers, were namely excluded from them.
“Useless b.a.s.t.a.r.ds! So many people on our side died! And yet you"ve let those b.a.s.t.a.r.ds who you were supposed to catch run away!"
A few hours later, the report was delivered to the Political Commissar Duan Hongyu as he used the report to slap that first lieutenant officer"s face.
“But… it"s impossible! The soldiers shot all the people who entered. How could someone be able to escape?" The officer continued to argue, but after seeing the ugly expression on Duan Hongyu"s face, he swallowed the words back. Although he was present at the scene when the incident happened, but he was not a company commander for the platoon’s" leader. He was only a regiment head quarter, a civilian post officer. Besides, Yun Tu and the w.a.n.g Brothers" speed in rushing out of the tight encirclement was too fast, and he did not have to the time to respond.
“I"ve told you that the Awakened"s reflexes and reactions are beyond that of ordinary person"s. The Secret Area was just about to be shattered at any time, and you were so d.a.m.n spirited to carry out the task and yet you still committed such a minute mistake? I had so much hope in you, I even planned to apply for a Blood Crystal for you after this mission, for you to become an Awakened. But it seems like there"s no need for it anymore. The likes of soldiers like you, who neglect your superior"s advises, are not necessary to survive in the apocalypse!"
After having used the report to slap Zhang Shiqiang"s face and then taught him through words, Duan Hongyu stood up from his seat.
At present, of the entire Awakened population in the city, half of them were definitely from the army. Because of his status, for Zhang Shiqiang to get Blood Crystals and become an Awakened was not difficult, but since in the peaceful era he was skirting the line between Commander Ding and Commissar Duan, it caused a lot of men under him to became Awakened first, while the Blood Crystals for him and his family were hung out.
“Commissar Duan, this subordinate knows this one"s mistake. Please give me another opportunity. I"ll hold your command as my highest priority!" Upon hearing Commissar Duan mentioning the Blood Crystal, Zhang Shiqiang suddenly knelt. He was perfectly aware that along with the pa.s.sing time, the level of control toward Blood Crystals would only become more and more strict. This was not the time for him to stand, for it would eventually lead to fruitless endeavors for him.
“Your words are wrong! The regiment commander is still Commander Jiang! And you still have to follow Commander Ding"s words!" Duan Hongyu continued using his words to beat him.
“Yes, I"ll still have to listen Commander Jiang"s words, but this subordinate knows by heart the weight and severity about the matter!" Zhang Shiqiang took his stand again.
“Good! Since you have this att.i.tude, I"m very happy. I"ll give you a mission now. My Duan Family has a little resentment with that Yun Tu. If you can help me find him in 2 days, I think getting an additional Blood Crystal for your wife is also not a problem. Then, I"ll be waiting for the good news from you!"
n.o.body had ever crossed Duan Hongyu in scheming and machinations. Zhang Shiqiang was actually one of the people he had long rejected inside his mind. But since the military was still in unity at present, a second lieutenant officer was still an official. If he could use him without any cost, then why not?
After having stretched and squeezed Zhang Shiqiang, Duan Hongyu walked away from the office.