Chapter 395: Underground Shelter
Chapter 395: Chapter 395: Underground Shelter
"I see them! I see them! The Gold Pearls are exploding one after another amidst the corpse horde!" Li Xiang yelled, clutching her head. "The Mutated Birds are starting to retreat now. Hey, Xie Ning, were these Mutated Birds really drawn here by that parrot?"
Even though she couldn’t see a thing, Xie Ning still craned her neck, trying to look down from the top of the wall.
All she could see was a vast, hazy expanse. "What’s happening now?"
Li Xiang peeked over the edge, then gasped, covering her mouth in disbelief. "That’s strange. There’s a commotion in the horde. It looks like they’re killing each other!"
’Killing each other is exactly what’s supposed to happen. It means Xiao Yu’s potion is highly deceptive and working perfectly.’
"How can that be?"
"That’s because we soaked the Gold Pearls in the hallucinogenic potion earlier," Xie Ning said, giving her a light pat. "Why so many questions? You’re the only one who can see right now, so keep your eyes on them."
"If the situation improves, you won’t have to stay here on watch in the middle of the night."
Li Xiang was now completely captivated by the sea of zombies below.
The zombies were mindlessly beating and killing one another.
They were smashing into each other, heads splitting and bleeding. It really looked like they’d gone into a killing frenzy.
Many of the zombies had their limbs torn off, but they still struggled forward, lunging and biting at each other.
In the midst of the brawl, many zombies began losing arms and legs.
Li Xiang gave Xie Ning and Gu Chen a rough description of the situation. The two of them exchanged a glance and nodded slightly.
The trio stayed on the wall for over an hour before covering their faces and shuffling toward the stairs.
"They’re tearing each other apart down there. Are you sure we don’t need to keep someone watching?"
"I’ll have the Wind Ability Users from Squad One and Squad Two come up later to take shifts on watch."
"But they won’t be able to see what’s happening down there," Li Xiang pointed out with a pout.
Xie Ning froze for a second, then couldn’t help but chuckle. "Are you saying you want to stay on the wall and continue the watch?"
"Well, it can’t be helped. No one can see the situation down there except me. If the zombie horde shows signs of turning back on us, I can be the first to let you know."
Xie Ning stopped in her tracks and turned to look at Li Xiang. She suddenly raised a hand and thumped her on the shoulder. "Li Xiang, I never thought you’d become so conscientious."
"’Conscientious’ my foot! I’m doing it for the Contribution Points!" Li Xiang shouted, but a gust of sandy wind made her choke and cough. "And you! Stop hitting me whenever you feel like it! Why’d you hit me just now?"
"Because your brother isn’t here," Xie Ning huffed.
"Oh, right." Li Xiang actually nodded dumbly in agreement.
’If her brother were here, he would definitely be the one getting hit. It would never be her.’
"By the way, I’ve been working so hard, on watch for almost a full day and night. Getting, say, ten thousand Contribution Points for this shouldn’t be a problem, right?"
Xie Ning shot her a glance. "Should be."
"What do you mean, ’should be’?" Li Xiang glared. "I need a definite answer."
"Fine, fine," Xie Ning agreed, nodding nonchalantly. "Go get a few hours of sleep. Come back to take over the watch around ten tonight."
"Check the situation below every half hour. Report any problems immediately."
"You think I need you to tell me that?" Li Xiang said, covering her mouth as she headed down. "Oh, are we going back to the temporary container homes to rest?"
"That’s not an option anymore." Xie Ning shook her head. "Aren’t you afraid you’ll be blown away, container and all, by this sandstorm?"
Gu Chen tapped his communicator wristband and turned to Xie Ning. "All survivors are being moved to the underground shelters. We’re going too."
Xie Ning nodded.
"How far is the underground shelter from here?"
"At our current pace, it’s about a half-hour walk."
Xie Ning followed Gu Chen down from the wall. Several squads of Superpower Users were already lined up at the side, apparently ready to move out.
"Captain, we received orders from command. The sandstorm is too severe, so we need to lead everyone to the underground shelter."
"Go," Gu Chen said with a solemn nod. "By the looks of it, this sandstorm won’t let up tonight. Get the residents settled as soon as possible. Prioritize the elderly, weak, sick, and disabled."
"Yes, sir!"
As the group of Superpower Users retreated toward the underground shelter, many of them spoke up worriedly. "We still have teammates back at our homes."
"Yeah, shouldn’t we go back and get them?"
"My mom’s still over at the office building."
"Everyone, please don’t panic. We’ve already made arrangements for your families. While you were fighting on the wall, we dispatched comrades to go door-to-door and escort them."
"Rest assured, we will not abandon a single survivor who remains within the base."
"Jingji Base currently has nine underground shelters. We are now heading to the one in Zone A. We can talk more once we get there. The sandstorm is just too strong right now."
"Ah," another female Superpower User asked worriedly, "we’re going to Zone A, but what if our families are in Zone B or C?"
The base official leading the group paused for a moment before explaining, "The sandstorm is severe and visibility is extremely low. How about we get inside the shelter first, and then we’ll sort things out? We understand your concerns and will do our absolute best to reunite you with your family and friends."
Hearing the official’s ambiguous answer, Xie Ning couldn’t help but frown. She whispered to Gu Chen, "My grandparents..."
Gu Chen gave her a reassuring look.
Xie Ning felt a little more at ease. She turned to Li Xiang, who was dragging herself along like a dead dog. "How are you holding up? Need me to drag you the rest of the way?"
"And how would you do that?" All Li Xiang wanted was to collapse and sleep; she was utterly exhausted.
She had been on watch atop the wall longer than anyone else.
Since she had to constantly use her visual superpower to observe the battlefield below, her consumption of superpower energy was immense.
Xie Ning conjured a wheelchair out of thin air and patted its back. "Get on."
Li Xiang was overjoyed. She immediately collapsed into the wheelchair. "Xie Ning, I take back every bad thing I’ve ever said about you. You’re a good person! You’re basically an angel of mercy!"
Xie Ning started pushing her forward, her face expressionless. "Keep running your mouth and I’ll dump you out."
Li Xiang didn’t say another word.
Xie Ning glanced down at her and couldn’t help but shake her head in resignation.
That girl, Li Xiang, had fallen asleep in an instant. Her head was lolled to one side, completely out cold.
’With the wind and sand raging, and the roar of the storm everywhere... just how exhausted must she be to fall asleep in an instant?’
Gu Chen reached for the wheelchair’s handles. "I’ll push."
"It’s fine. We’re almost there. Go do what you need to do." Xie Ning covered her nose and mouth with one hand while pushing the wheelchair with the other.
With her current Sixth-Rank strength, pushing Li Xiang was effortless.
"Captain Xie!" Several Gold Ability Users turned, saw Xie Ning, and hurried over to help her with the wheelchair.
’Are you kidding? This was the master who could teach them Gold Skills. Naturally, the closer they were to her, the better.’
The group battled against the wind and sand, finally arriving at the entrance to the underground shelter.