Chapter 275: New Mission
Translator: Insignia Editor: Svjohn
Everyone in the refuge was anxious and felt insecure in the past two days due to the noise from the bombings as well as the sight of many injured soldiers returning to the refuge. Especially today, almost half of the soldiers on guard duty have now been posted to the frontline. Fortunately, Huo Dong was in the logistics department and did not have to follow them. However, he knew that safety would not last forever.
The frequency of his visits have been increasing over the last few days and his conversations were full of negativity. Luo Yuan did not intend to ask him anything. However, based on what Huo Dong said, he did not seem to think that the future of the rehabilitation base would get any better.
On the third day, Luo Yuan with his sensitive six senses could clearly hear the buzzing sound of mutated bugs’ wings. Apparently, there were numerous mutated bugs near the city. On that day, speakers which were installed to cheer the residents up and to announce good news from the battlefield had stopped working. It was extremely quiet in the area.
On the fifth day, there were no more injured soldiers being sent to the refuge and the sound of bombs going off began to reduce. It seemed like the war had come to an end. However, soldiers that were sent to guard the frontline never returned. Huo Dong had been staying in the hostel the entire day. Everyone was anxious and nervous. Many did not even utter a single word as they knew the situation was getting worse instead of better.
The troops were either all dead or had retreated strategically. The city was left behind and the refuge had become an abandoned town. Time had passed and the great migration did not happen according to how it was planned. Luo Yuan finally knew the reason when he received a message from the system in the afternoon.
"D-Level mission: Clear all mutated bugs at the train station underground. Time Restriction: None. Accept/Decline."
Luo Yuan expression turned serious... he took a deep breath and then clicked ‘Confirm’!
He knew that he had to complete the mission regardless of whether the purpose was to upgrade his power or migrate smoothly. He thought to himself that perhaps he could bear the unstable or uncertain life and live a good life. However, he knew that not everyone could live a life like that when he looked at Huang Jiahui and Zhao Yali.
They were looking forward to a stable life in a peaceful environment. They wanted to be free and to live confidently instead of being anxious and feeling insecure all the time. These were not the days that Luo Yuan could relax either. He also wished to have a life where he did not need to keep his eyes half open while he sleeps and hold his saber tightly every single second.
Based on their current situation though, he could not decline the mission. For him or for them, it was the same. He sighed silently and wiped his clean Zhanmadao again although there was no dust on it.
"Luo Yuan, are you alright?" Huang Jiahui asked softly. She looked at Luo Yuan anxiously as she could sense he was not in a good mood.
"I’m fine, just thought about something suddenly. Don’t worry, things will get better." Luo Yuan stopped frowning and then smiled to Zhao Yali.
However, what she returned to him was a supercilious look. Luo Yuan actually felt extremely stressed at that moment. That was the second time he received a D-Level mission after the special mission of killing the Giants. It meant that he might be able to meet a green level creature during the mission.
Green level creatures are totally different compared to those of a lower rank. Those which were below the green level were nothing out of the ordinary. However, once they rise to the ranks of a green level creature, their life would become very colorful as they would have numerous superpower. For example, the snake scales which he had could split mountain and water; the feathers of the green bird had an ionic plasma force field which proved how scary and powerful some creatures could be. It has been almost half a year since he killed the giant snake with some luck. He is much stronger now as his strengths, intelligence and dexterity have been upgraded by 50 % compared previous times. His combat abilities have increased more than 10-fold. Besides that, he has been getting more familiar with his own properties and skills. Now, he has already transferred all his knowledge into every single cell in his body. However, he believed that it would be just as messy as the previous encounter he had with those super creatures. He held his fists tightly as he thought about that.
After lunch, a government official came as expected. Luo Yuan was surprised that it was not Secretary Zheng. Instead, it was a middle-aged lady. She was not that young anymore as he could see the wrinkles at the end of her eyes. Her kids should be around seven to eight years old if she had one or more. Her skin was fair and her body figure was well maintained. She looked professional and elegant. However, her attitude was dull just like a typical government servant who spoke precisely without any emotion. It made Luo Yuan feel curious. Based on her attitude, she probably did not know his identity.
Usually, almost all the government servants treated him passionately and courteously but she did not, which made him feel curious about her. Due to his special identity, he used to receive a lot of ‘care’ but he was wondering why the upper management would send someone who knew nothing about him this time. Understandably, he had no interest in politics now and he did not think more about it. He picked up his saber and then followed the government servant after saying goodbye to everyone. Luo Yuan peeped at the room next door before he left, the room was empty with the door left opened.
"Have the people living there moved out already?" Luo Yuan was trying to find something to talk about while walking with her.
"I have no idea because I’m not in charge of hostel matters." The lady said and walked very quickly without turning back.
"Do you know how many people will be joining the mission?" Luo Yuan smiled and asked.
"I am only in charge of informing all evolved men in the B1 area. I don’t have the complete name list with me!" The lady frowned and said.
"Oh, do you know…" Luo Yuan wanted to continue but was interrupted.
"I’m just a regular clerk, you can talk to the chief secretary of the evolved men affairs section from the Civil Affairs Bureau if you have any more questions."
He wanted to ask about Secretary Zheng but did not expect to be interrupted like that. Luo Yuan did not try anymore.
…
Luo Yuan was unlucky as he was the first one to be notified. Thus, he had to accompany the lady to inform every evolved man on her name list one by one. An hour had passed by the time everyone rushed to the training room and gathered there. They waited another half an hour until everyone was finally there.
That was the first time he realized there were so many evolved men in Desert City! He glanced across the room and got the number in just a few seconds. The total was 78 people. Most of them were wearing the uniform of a soldier and the rest made up less than one-third of the crowd. Apparently, most of the evolved men have been recruited by the armies and the rest… His good sense of hearing suddenly heard two of the evolved men talking and he realized those who were not in uniform were not normal citizens as well.
"Captain! What’s happening now? How is it so that security guards have to go to the frontline?" An evolved man complained.
"This is the arrangement by the upper management, I’m not sure." Another evolved man said softly, "But I heard that was approved by the committee board!"
"All these people are nonsensical! Who is going to protect the government if all of us go together? There are many extreme evolved men nowadays!" That evolved man said with an upset expression.
"There are armies guarding the place, don't worry!" The evolved man who was being assigned as the captain said arrogantly.
He then continued, "However, we need to be very careful this time. Otherwise, we might die. There are many mutated bugs out there, I can foresee half of us might not be able to return."
"Sure, Captain! I’ll be careful. We can get the soldiers from the squadron to help each other. That will be safer." The other evolved man nodded and said.
"Just do it, I will get the Lieutenant Colonel."
…
After a while, a marching sound spread into his ears. A huge Lieutenant Colonel came together with his fully armored soldiers and marched into the hall. He glared around the place and everyone immediately became quiet.
He was very tall and buff; his face looked strict and serious with an extremely clean and neat uniform. He gave quite a good first impression to Luo Yuan.
"Well, most of you are soldiers and there are some of you from the government security section. I understand that there are some who are classified as non-governmental evolved men. I'm not good at giving a sweet talk or giving any false hope, however, I know the main duty of a soldier is to obey military instructions. You can opt out if you have a different opinion.
No one spoke a single word including Luo Yuan.
"Excellent!" He said with a satisfied look and continued, "This mission is very important as it is related to the important assets of the nation as well as its people. It is related to the safety of nearly 100,000 residents in Desert City, which also means it is related to the life of your family members. As an evolved man, I always believe that the stronger we are, the more responsibilities we must bear. Someone who has no collective mindset could not survive for long in this cruel world even if he is very powerful."
"Alright, I’m going to stop the nonsense now! I’ll lead the troops this time to complete the mission!"
"Everyone, get ready now. Let's go!"