Chapter 564 – The Special Squad
....
After Mu Chen and his two companions successfully infiltrated Team F, they realized things weren’t going as smoothly as they had imagined.
The most obvious issue was…no one took the initiative to speak to them.
Even if they wanted to strike up a conversation, it wasn’t as if they could just go up to someone and bluntly ask, “Do you know Ling Mo?”
They needed to blend in first!
Xu Shuhan was quite skilled in asking questions, and getting chummy with people was Mu Chen’s specialty.
But without the opportunity to put their skills to use, it was all just talk!
And that guy who had extorted everything from them had not shown up again after arranging for them to stay in three secluded rooms!
How shameless! Extortion without service! Mu Chen cursed that “big brother” in his heart.
Fortunately, no one in Team F restricted their freedom, so aside from Xia Zhi, the other two kept wandering around the group’s territory, hoping to pick up any piece of information.
But despite helping out a lot, the information they gathered was pitifully scant…
And Ling Mo? Since bringing Mu Chen and the others back, he seemed to have forgotten about them entirely.
Although he was just a figurehead regimental commander of Team F, he quickly exercised his authority as a commander.
“Form a special squad?” an elder of Team F asked during a meeting.
“Yes, a small team,” Ling Mo nodded, “They will be in charge of collecting all sorts of information, such as scouting specific buildings and factories, gathering intelligence on surrounding survivors, summarizing the evolution of the zombie populations, and detailing environmental changes. The Air Force Corps has a similar functional department, but their scope of observation is broader. We can be more meticulous. After exchanging information with each other, we’ll obtain a complete picture.”
“Right!” an elder exclaimed, as if having an epiphany, “Although we don’t have the strong reconnaissance capabilities of the Air Force, we each have our strengths! They can’t go down to the ground or inside buildings like we can.”
“It’s still the regimental commander… oh no, it’s still big brother who thinks of everything!” another said sincerely. Despite his age, he didn’t find it awkward at all to call Ling Mo, who was a decade younger, ‘big brother.’
Of course, what’s there to feel awkward about? Strength is what commands respect!
“We’ve just established the management, we can’t cover everything at once…” someone in the crowd murmured in defense, only to be immediately met with a barrage of eye rolls.
“Monday morning quarterback!”
“The problem is you didn’t think of it!”
“Do you think you could have come up with this idea?”
The poor guy was metaphorically set upon by the crowd and was left in tears.
Is it really necessary to be this dramatic?!
Amidst the clamor, Lucy, who was sitting beside Ling Mo, suddenly asked, “Ling Mo, what’s your actual plan?”
“Well…” Ling Mo said earnestly, “You guys have to start paying me on time from now on… It’s a win-win situation.”
Everyone broke into a sweat at his words!
Thump! There was an immediate sound of someone toppling from their chair.
Lucy sighed, “I knew it… But you’re not wrong; it indeed is a win-win situation.”
Her opinion was unanimously seconded, and the resolution proposed by Ling Mo was thus pa.s.sed.
However, Ling Mo always felt that Lucy seemed quite melancholic. Had she suddenly become sentimental?
…
After the members of Team F arrived in City X, due to environmental constraints, there hadn’t been any significant expansion, and the members were basically still the same as before.
When Ling Mo personally selected members for the special squad, he directly brought out the list of Team F psychics with special abilities that Lucy had given him before.
Selecting members based on their special abilities made the process much simpler and more direct.
“That one… there’s an Enhancement type with hearing enhancement, he should be very useful for reconnaissance, count him in,” Ling Mo said, looking into the crowd.
These psychics, who usually held themselves in high regard, behaved very modestly in front of Ling Mo.
During meetings, they often jumped up, banged on tables, and yelled at the elders, but now they were all quietly lined up, looking at Ling Mo with a mix of confusion and antic.i.p.ation.
Of course, there were also those who stood at the back, maintaining a calm and observant att.i.tude.
Ling Mo was formidable, but they hadn’t personally sparred with him, so not everyone was blindly convinced by his authority.
As Ling Mo looked at them, a man squeezed out from the crowd.
“Big brother, you are talking about me. My ability is called Wind Listener.” The man looked somewhat timid, with a resemblance to Skinny Monkey and not particularly handsome features.
He didn’t dare make eye contact with Ling Mo, nor did he dare to look at Ye Lian and the others by Ling Mo’s side; as soon as he came out, his gaze was fixed on his own toes.
“h.e.l.lo…” Ling Mo said with a smile.
Immediately, someone started to tease: “Why pick Skinny Monkey first? He’s just good for eavesdropping, look at him… What a natural talent!”
“Ha ha, yeah, for all we know, he’s been listening in on big brother’s private conversations these days,” another laughed.
“You guys…” Skinny Monkey immediately turned around, annoyed, “Stop talking nonsense!”
“What if we do talk about you?” someone said coldly.
As soon as Skinny Monkey broke ranks, the indiscipline of these individuals was exposed.
They were wary of Ling Mo, but they didn’t fear Skinny Monkey.
“Big brother…” Skinny Monkey didn’t dare to confront them and instead turned to Ling Mo with a pitiful look, silently praying that Ling Mo wouldn’t misunderstand him because of this.
“Alright, enough with the jokes. Skinny Monkey, your ability is good, would you like to join the special squad?” Ling Mo glanced at the group, then asked.
He spoke to Skinny Monkey gently, but that glance at the crowd made everyone’s heart chill.
It wasn’t fiercely intimidating, but the brightness in his eyes gave them the feeling of being seen through.
Ling Mo deliberately used a slight mental interference, and judging by the effect, he was quite satisfied.
He knew very well that arguing with this group was pointless; only strength could deter them.
At this moment, Skinny Monkey appeared both excited and fearful, stammering: “Special… special squad? Me? My ability is good?”
The man seemed to have very little confidence in his own value, but after Ling Mo thought about it for a moment, he understood why.
Wind Listener, this type of special ability could only support others; its possessor’s combat power wasn’t much to write home about, practically on par with an average person.
If Skinny Monkey had been part of a normal survivor group dominated by regular people, he would have likely held a respectable position. However, in a group where the majority were Psychics, he seemed very weak.
Just by observing the way those people had freely mocked him, one could tell that he’d had a rough time.
But to Ling Mo, his special ability was extremely useful.
“I say you’re capable, so you definitely are. Give it a try,” Ling Mo said as he flicked out a tentacle and gently tapped a wall from a distance.
Skinny Monkey’s ears immediately perked up, and his eyes darted in the direction of the sound.
“You see, didn’t I tell you that you could do it?” Ling Mo said with a smile.
“Big brother is really impressive…” Skinny Monkey looked at Ling Mo in disbelief. The man hadn’t made a move, so how did he manage to produce a sound from such a distance? None of the pretty girls by his side had moved either!
This was truly unfathomable to him…
“Come over here,” Ling Mo said.
Skinny Monkey walked over to stand behind Ling Mo, appearing somewhat anxious and uneasy.
Even though no one saw or heard what had just happened, they all knew that something had occurred.
And with Ling Mo mentioning the special squad, some people immediately became interested. Even those who weren’t interested at first were now curious about what Ling Mo was up to.
Ling Mo looked over the crowd, then down at the list in his hand, a slight smile appearing at the corner of his mouth.
These people were all ready-made manpower. It would be wasteful not to put them to good use, right?
When he decided to become a regimental commander, this had already been part of his plan.
Whether it was Niepan or Falcon, in the end, neither was truly his own team.
Falcon had a much closer relations.h.i.+p with him, but the information Yuwen Xuan could access wasn’t very comprehensive.
If Ling Mo wanted to establish himself and protect his girlfriends, he needed a power that was truly his own.
Going around looking for people? He didn’t have time for that. But Ling Mo understood very well the existing method of recruiting.
“Next…” As Ling Mo began to call out again, those below were already craning their necks in antic.i.p.ation.