Chapter 219: Awards Ceremony
Chapter 219: Chapter 219: Awards Ceremony
Time flowed by like a river. Just two days later, the commendation ceremony officially began, inviting the squads and individual members who had made outstanding contributions during the Corbin escort mission.
On the day of the ceremony, the plaza was packed with a sea of people. Duty staff shuttled through the crowd, methodically maintaining order at the scene.
The Sunset Squad’s two off-road vehicles pulled up slowly at the entrance. The moment the doors opened, a blinding barrage of camera flashes erupted. Luna Dawson had to squint against the glare just to stow the vehicles into her spatial storage and escape the mob of lenses.
The weather had finally warmed. The comfortable temperature of twenty degrees Celsius drew almost everyone in the base outdoors, making the ceremony exceptionally lively.
"Good thing we brought masks, otherwise the high-def cameras would magnify our faces several times over," Luna Dawson said, touching the edge of the mask on her nose bridge, her focus inexplicably shifting in an odd direction.
Aaron Palmer looked at the crowding people and cameras, his face full of confusion. "What kind of treatment is this? Why are there so many cameras staring at us?"
Miles Dawson immediately shifted into full flattery mode. He leaned close to Luna Dawson and praised, "Sis! Even if you wore zero makeup, your looks would completely defeat those big stars. Wearing a mask is shortchanging them; it’s practically their loss!"
The elders traveling with them couldn’t help but laugh and nod in agreement. It was true—the kids in their family were all exceptionally good-looking. Just standing there made them incredibly eye-catching.
The group entered the venue. Not long after they found the Sunset Squad’s exclusive seating and sat down, several staff members walked over with a stack of pre-prepared small cards, distributing them one by one to each squad. It turned out the cards contained acceptance speech drafts. The staff explained that they needed to familiarize themselves with the content for a rehearsal later, but if they had prepared their own speeches, they didn’t have to use the provided version.
Luna Dawson’s mouth twitched violently. Francis Grant hadn’t mentioned a single word about having to give a speech! She cursed that unreliable bastard in her head.
The squad members all declined the task, pushing the responsibility back and forth. In the end, they unanimously elected their captain, Luna Dawson, as their representative speaker.
Miles Dawson even patted his chest and guaranteed, "Sis! You used to make a living off your looks, right? You were always shooting in front of cameras every day. You’re the most familiar with this kind of scene, so it definitely has to be you!"
Once he said this, the whole squad voiced zero objections and passed the motion unanimously.
Luna Dawson sighed inwardly. In the past, she recorded videos and shot promotional materials in front of a camera. Now, however, she had to speak live in front of tens of thousands of people. She couldn’t help but feel a trace of nervousness welling up in her heart.
The commendation ceremony hadn’t officially started yet. Besides the attendees seated inside the venue, thousands of onlookers stood around the perimeter. Security personnel with solemn expressions guarded every corner, strictly controlling the order. As Luna Dawson looked around, she spotted many familiar faces and exchanged greetings with quite a few people.
At the front and on both sides of the plaza, three giant screens were looping videos. After the apocalypse, televisions and other entertainment media had long disappeared. Only those wearing exclusive wristbands could access the network. Now, everyone’s gaze in the plaza was firmly drawn to the screens.
The videos featured compilations of various rescue operations, big and small, since the apocalypse began. There were figures of soldiers charging into battle, moments of Superpower Users unleashing their superpowers, and the courageous appearances of ordinary people resolutely rushing to the frontlines to fight zombies. These scenes were meticulously edited. Luna Dawson saw quite a few familiar faces among them; during the half-month of the Corbin rescue, they had crossed paths with many fellow travelers, forming some connections with each other.
A moment later, two hosts—one male and one female—dressed in formal attire walked onto the stage. With solemn tones, they recounted the hardships and dangers of the Corbin rescue, as well as the fruitful results ultimately achieved. Every word tugged at the heartstrings of the crowd.
Immediately after, an exclusive promotional video of this rescue mission was broadcast on the screens.
The editing was fast-paced and sharp, and the soundtrack was grand and stirring, permeating with the tension of life and death. It was as if a professional director had filmed the whole process, forcibly producing the texture of a post-apocalyptic epic blockbuster.
In the video, countless tongues of fire spewed out, crushing the surging zombie hordes and bat swarms. The passionate moments of the various escorting squads were perfectly captured. Firearms wove an impenetrable web of firepower, while various superpowers flipped and collided in the air. The assistance of small animals was perfectly timed, and even ordinary people gripped knives and axes as they bravely charged forward. Although the footage lacked excessive cinematic techniques, it was filled with burning sincerity and raw emotion. It left the crowd seething with hot blood and restless hearts.
When the decapitated corpse of the massive Tier Four Zombie appeared on the screen, a collective gasp echoed throughout the venue. Everyone was intimidated by the monster’s hideous appearance. Murmurs of discussion broke out all around, with people secretly guessing how such a formidable zombie had been defeated.
Just as people were wondering, the screen showed Luna Dawson and Kevin Keane riding Rollo, dodging and weaving through the air while trading blows with the Tier Four Zombie’s massive fireballs using a rocket launcher. In the shot, those silent devouring black holes and the large-scale output of superpowers drew gasps of amazement from countless people.
Halfway through the video, a shocking scene suddenly appeared, even zooming in closely: Luna Dawson treading on water mid-air, striking directly at the Fourth Rank Aberrant Bat.
The bat had revealed its true form after being attacked. Its wingspan of over four meters was incredibly oppressive. Its pitch-black scales gleamed with a cold luster under the firelight as it launched countless ice cones at her figure. The sight made everyone’s hair stand on end, not daring to breathe.
In the next second, the high-ponytail figure wearing a mask charged right up to the Aberrant Beast!
She raised her hand to condense water shields gleaming with freezing light, forcefully withstanding the overwhelming rain of ice cones. Stepping on surging water waves, she charged fiercely toward the vicious Aberrant Beast without hesitation. Immediately after, a giant water arrow pierced the air, blasting toward the Aberrant Beast with an unstoppable momentum! The water arrow was as fierce as a thunderbolt, piercing directly through the Aberrant Beast’s skull, skewering the behemoth and sending it crashing to the ground!
Her figure suspended in mid-air, her long hair wildly blown by the strong wind. The mask couldn’t conceal her strikingly bright eyes. This valiant and heroic posture standing in the void completely stunned everyone watching the video!
Following that came the scenes of the Sunset Squad members activating their superpowers. A massive Fire Dragon tornado swept across the sky, and a purple-white Thunder Net over a hundred meters wide covered the heavens. Such large-scale, lethal superpowers madly slaughtered the Aberrant Beasts, beating the mutant bats until they dropped from the sky like flies, utterly routed and powerless to fight back.
This scene completely ignited the atmosphere at the venue. Cheers and shouts of approval rose one after another.
"Nice! Beautifully fought!"
"Show these monsters the might of humanity!"
"Yeah!"
"Great kill!"
"There is still hope for humanity!"
The waves of sound grew higher and higher, echoing in the air above the plaza for a long time. It dispelled the oppression brought by the apocalypse, stirring up burning passion and hope throughout the crowd.
Kevin Keane choked on his words. "Who filmed this?" He grumbled inwardly that they hadn’t even shown the whole thing; so many of his shared moments with Luna Dawson had been completely cut out...
Lynn Shelby coughed awkwardly. "I sent Francis Grant a few clips while we were chatting..."
Luna Dawson couldn’t resist eagerly digging for gossip. "What exactly have you two been chatting about behind my back?"
Aaron Palmer made an even more shocking comment, "Old Man Forrest! Don’t tell me you’re online dating Francis Grant!"
Hearing this, Blake Blue choked on his own saliva and broke into a fit of violent coughing.
Evan Olson also looked utterly exasperated as he stared intently at Lynn Shelby. "Since when do you two talk so intimately?"