Chapter 111: A Friend on the Mountain, Please Show Some Grace

Under Zheng Qiongmei’s tearful pleas, Yu Yuangui promised to immediately arrange an investigation.

Half an hour later, Mili arrived.

“Captain Yu, the investigation is complete.”

“Yesterday afternoon at 2 p.m., Zheng Yingjun, Lü Qigang, and Lin Hong left the base on snowmobiles, saying they were going to rescue a woman stranded in the blizzard.”

“At 6:05 p.m., Zheng Yingjun sent a distress signal to the base.”

“Early this morning, as soon as our personnel started work, they tried to make contact but received no response.”

“The signal department realized the situation was serious and immediately triangulated Zheng Yingjun’s distress signal location, which is roughly in the eastern area near the highway.”

“That’s all the information we have.”

Mili placed the printed investigation report on the desk.

To emphasize the signal department’s seriousness about the case, they had used several sheets of A4 paper for the report.

In the post-apocalyptic world, where resources were scarce, paper was a luxury at the Fire God Base. The use of so many sheets spoke volumes about their commitment.

Yu Yuangui glanced at Mili, took the report, and stamped it.

Zheng Qiongmei asked anxiously, “Is that all? Captain Yu, please, save my son.”

Yu Yuangui said, “Zheng Yingjun is very capable, ranked in the top five within the base. He’s definitely fine—probably just found something interesting and lost track of time.”

“Secretary Zheng, rest assured, there have been several times before...”

“Ah, Secretary Zheng, that’s not what I meant. Don’t worry, I’ll immediately arrange a search party to the distress signal location. I’ll notify you as soon as there’s news.”

“Mili, have Liu Yuping take a few people who aren’t busy today, along with some good dogs, to search for Zheng Yingjun and the others.”

“Yes, Captain Yu!” Mili replied.

Yu Yuangui said, “Secretary Zheng, everything is set. Just wait for news. It’s possible that the team I send out won’t find them before Zheng Yingjun returns on his own.”

Zheng Qiongmei wiped her tears and said, “Thank you, Captain Yu! Thank you!”

After a while, Mili returned.

“Captain Yu, all teams have been dispatched—six ability users and fifteen security personnel.”

Yu Yuangui nodded. “Good. Send Zheng Meng as well; let her lead the team.”

Zheng Meng was Zheng Yingjun’s cousin.

An elder sister looking for her younger brother, whether or not they found him, would show they had tried their best. Later, even Base Commander Zheng Kaicheng wouldn’t be able to fault them.

Mili hesitated, as if realizing something.

“Captain Yu, could it be that Zheng Yingjun really is dead?”

Yu Yuangui glanced around, tapped the table, and whispered, “Don’t say things you shouldn’t say, don’t ask what you shouldn’t ask. Some things, with simple analysis, you can already guess the answer—like the distress signal.”

Previously, Zheng Yingjun had gone on multiple expeditions with others, sometimes for just one or two days, sometimes three to five, always returning after having his fill.

But he had never once sent a distress signal.

Mili understood.

Zheng Yingjun was probably truly dead.

In such a case, even if found, all that would remain would be a corpse.

...

Early in the morning, Sun Rong hurriedly woke everyone up, asking, “Is there anything special among the things you brought back yesterday?”

“I don’t know,” Guo’s group replied. “Everything’s on the table; we haven’t looked closely.”

Yu Feng asked, “Is there a problem?”

Sun Rong rummaged through the cold-weather gear and emergency pack, finding two signal devices.

At that moment, one signal device was shot and destroyed.

But the other still blinked green every five seconds.

“It’s over.”

Sun Rong sat down heavily on a stool, holding the device.

He quickly stood up again.

“No, we have to leave the villa immediately. First, get rid of this device, then find a place to hide for a while. We’ll come back at night.”

“We still have the snowmobiles. We can go further away.”

“Bring food today. Go logging, search for gas stations, collect fuel.”

“Move quickly! If we wait too long, it’ll be too late!”

Chu Zekai, Guo’s group, Luo Zhengyi, and Yu Feng immediately sprang into action.

Following someone so cautious about death was definitely the right choice.

Before long, they sped south on their snowmobiles.

Their plan was to search along the highway for broken-down cars or abandoned gas stations, hoping to gather some gasoline.

The magpie flew overhead, watching Sun Rong and the others leave.

Once they were gone, the magpie suddenly grew larger in size, flying rapidly westward.

During the flight, a golden eagle passed by. Seeing such a huge magpie, it mistook it for some strange eagle and sharply turned ninety degrees, disappearing without a trace.

The magpie sneered at the departing golden eagle’s direction and continued patrolling the vast snowy wilderness.

After flying for a while, the magpie spotted a line of black dots on the horizon.

Fifteen snowmobiles were racing toward their location.

Noticing the magpie in the sky, the fifteen snowmobiles quickly stopped.

“That golden eagle from earlier isn’t here—did it get replaced by an eagle?”

“Not an eagle. No idea what kind of mutated bird that is. Everyone be alert!”

Deputy Captain Liu Yuping issued orders swiftly.

Everyone pointed their guns at the magpie, waiting for the command to fire.

The Fire God Base was built on the foundation of mountain forest air-raid shelters. Due to its location, they were constantly threatened by mutated flora and fauna.

Thankfully, with the extreme cold and blizzard conditions, many mutated animals froze to death, and mutated plants became stiff, giving them a rare breather. They could openly venture into the forest to dig frozen mutated animals or chop down cursed mutated plants.

But this good fortune didn’t last long.

A massive golden eagle appeared near the base.

At first, they paid it no mind, having seen all kinds of mutated creatures—they weren’t fazed by one more mutated golden eagle.

Until they discovered the eagle was man-eating.

That changed everything.

The base had dispatched ability users several times to ambush the mutated golden eagle, but all had failed.

What was worse, even the Type 36 sniper rifle couldn’t pierce the eagle’s feathers.

That was terrifying.

So when they saw this huge black bird, the base’s people decisively stopped their snowmobiles and went on high alert, just in case.

“Stay alert! No firing without orders!”

Deputy Captain Liu Yuping watched the magpie warily.

He knew a bit about birds; fierce raptors like eagles and golden eagles each had their own territory.

If a new raptor appeared in the sky, it often meant it was even more ferocious.

Caution was imperative.

Zheng Meng took down the sniper rifle from her back, ready to aim at the magpie.

Liu Yuping immediately stopped her.

“Captain, better safe than sorry. Mutated raptors that can fly in this extreme cold can’t be killed by sniper rifles.”

Zheng Meng glanced at him, frowned, and reluctantly lowered her rifle.

The magpie saw the whole scene clearly.

It circled once in the sky, then flew south, looping back toward the villa.

As it neared the villa, the magpie shrank rapidly in size.

“Your Highness, someone’s coming.”

The magpie trembled as it sat on the table near the fireplace, sipping hot tea.

“When I was flying, they tried to shoot me—it really scared me.”

Su Miao tilted her head.

“How many?”

“Fifteen snowmobiles, twenty-one people. The leader is a woman, looks fierce—it’s her who wants to kill me.”

So many people?

Su Miao’s tense heart tightened.

She glanced at the warm villa.

What if the villa got damaged while she was inside?

Even if the main structure wasn’t destroyed, a few explosions shattering the glass would be an unimaginable disaster.

She was very afraid.

The magpie said, “Your Highness, Sun Rong and the others left this morning on snowmobiles. They looked terrified when they left and probably won’t be back soon.”

Su Miao recalled something.

Today was supposed to be the day Sun Rong’s group came to collect vegetables.

Their escape was likely due to fear of retaliation from the Fire God Base—they certainly wouldn’t return anytime soon.

Their choice to flee was wise.

Su Miao pondered for a few seconds, then made a difficult decision.

To avoid the villa being damaged, she decided to find a vantage point outside to snipe them.

The grudge had been settled, and with so many enemies coming, her only choice was to eliminate them all.

She found a pure white blanket in her magical space and draped it over herself.

“Let’s go. Lead the way.”

Su Miao took out the Type 36 sniper rifle and, unusually, stepped outside, walking westward along the ridge.

“Your Highness, they came from that direction.”

The magpie flew ahead.

Su Miao nodded, looked around, and quickly found a suitable sniping spot.

She casually stomped on the snow, hollowing out a trench.

Covering herself with the white blanket served as perfect natural camouflage.

The old methods were truly excellent.

The magpie looked around, wanting to perch on a tree, but nearby bushes had been cut down by Sun Rong’s group, let alone any trees.

Helpless, the magpie settled on a snow-covered rock.

Birds get tired; resting on a rock was normal.

To prevent any mishaps during shooting, Su Miao released some cement debris from her magic space to serve as the rifle’s base.

The snowy ground made shooting unstable—each shot caused snowflakes to scatter and the rifle to sink, hampering her ability to fight.

“This still isn’t stable enough…”

She raised her hand, conjuring several water balls that flowed over the cement debris.

In an instant, the water froze solid, making the base harder than a fortress wall.

She placed the Type 36 sniper rifle on top—this time, it was perfectly steady.

Just then, the roar of snowmobiles reached her ears.

...

“Captain, the approximate location of Zheng Yingjun’s signal is around here.”

“Lin Hong’s signal device also disappeared nearby.”

Deputy Search Team Leader Liu Yuping approached Zheng Meng.

Zheng Meng dismounted from her snowmobile and scanned the distance.

Under the vast snow, the world was a seamless white; nothing was visible.

In such conditions, if someone was injured, there was no hope of finding a body.

“Look for any abandoned houses nearby.”

Zheng Meng said calmly.

The team paused briefly, then, under Liu Yuping’s direction, split into groups to search in different directions.

On the mountain, Su Miao saw the snowmobiles divided into three small teams.

Her unease grew.

Why weren’t they sticking together?

No matter—these people were all within her precise shooting range.

She locked onto an ability user at the front.

Bang!

The ability user didn’t react in time, a bullet exploding through his head.

His body flew off the out-of-control snowmobile and landed in the snow.

“Enemy attack!”

Someone shouted loudly.

But there was no need to shout.

Members of the Fire God Base’s search team all stopped their snowmobiles immediately.

As soon as they halted, four more people were shot through the head.

Su Miao’s hands trembled slightly.

This was her first time sniping from a high vantage point—it was exhilarating.

“There she is!”

Someone shouted.

Su Miao switched targets and shot the loudmouth in the head.

Just as she prepared to kill another, several ice walls suddenly rose from the snow, blocking her bullets.

Ability users!

Su Miao looked toward the ice walls’ origin point.

It was no surprise it was the female leader of the Fire God Base, whom the magpie had mentioned.

She had noticed Zheng Meng earlier but had chosen not to prioritize her, feeling she might be avoided.

With so many enemies, better to kill others first.

“Smoke grenade!”

Someone threw a smoke grenade, hiding the remaining people.

Su Miao blinked, locked onto the source of hostile presence, and kept firing.

“Ah!”

A scream rang out.

“Careful! Smoke grenades won’t work!”

No sooner had they said that, Su Miao shot them again.

“Damn!”

Zheng Meng’s expression was icy behind the ice wall.

If she hadn’t reacted quickly, she would have been sniped.

“Captain, I’ve located the sniper.”

A defense team member tried to show off in front of Zheng Meng.

But as soon as he peeked out, he was shot in the head.

His body slid down the ice wall, eyes wide in death.

Fool!

Zheng Meng didn’t even glance at him.

She looked around.

In just a short time, the search team had been whittled down to six people.

Four ability users and two defense team members.

What kind of killing monster was this?

Zheng Meng gritted her teeth.

“Where’s Liu Yuping?”

She called into the radio.

Seconds later, a defense member replied, “Captain Zheng, Deputy Liu was the first to be sniped.”

Damn!

Zheng Meng wanted to throw the radio into the snow.

She said, “Call out to the mountain — find out where they came from.”

Nearby ability users immediately took out loudspeakers and shouted, “Friends on the mountain, we are from the Fire God Base, please give us face.”

Face?

They were fighting to the death; there was no room for face.

Su Miao blinked and continued scanning for the next target with her Type 36 sniper rifle.

But everyone had hidden, making it hard to lock on—this was troublesome.

Then the magpie shouted, “Fire God Base people! If you want face, come out from behind those ice walls!”