"It's like clockwork, they've appeared so quickly…"
Kold said with a frown.
"Prepare for battle! It's a wolf pack!"
Zhao Xiyue immediately posted a message in the regional chat channel.
The regional chat channel had become the primary channel for announcements. With no one else in the area besides the military base, posting notices here ensured everyone would see them.
Once combat began, the chat channel would be locked, and communication would be limited to point-to-point radios.
Non-combat personnel were to expedite the collection of bat carcasses, while those who had just fought were to continue resting. The second defense unit quickly moved onto the city walls.
"The battle is about to begin. These mutated wolves are much stronger than the bats. You must protect yourself!"
Kold said with a serious expression.
"Show me your hands!"
Zhao Xiyue pulled out a rope made of thorny vines and said to Kold expressionlessly.
"I've already helped you repel the mutated bats once. Don't you trust me?"
"And as I said, mutated wolves are not only powerful but also cunning and treacherous. I've fought them before, and my presence here on the battlefield would be helpful!"
Kold said earnestly.
"Xiyue, let him go!"
Zhao Longchuan leaped from the command tower and landed beside Zhao Xiyue, saying gently:
"He did help us a great deal last time. Reducing casualties in battle is a rare and valuable thing!"
"Let's trust him for now. After all, he's human too, not one of the monsters!"
"Mm..." Zhao Xiyue retracted her rope upon hearing her brother's words.
"The battle is about to begin, prepare to fight. We'll discuss anything else after the battle!"
Zhao Longchuan gave Zhao Xiyue an encouraging look, then patted Kold's shoulder before returning to the command tower.
...
On the other side, in the open tall grass.
Zhang Chen, Zuo Nan, Xiaobai, and Er Pang were moving slowly.
For Zhang Chen, he possessed absolute vision. Even with his eyes closed, he could perceive his surroundings through the energy flow of nearby objects, making the tall grass an insignificant obstruction.
Xiaobai and Er Pang were naturally adapted to surviving in such environments. They could sense danger through their senses and smell, making their progress here quite comfortable.
Xiaobai was even a little excited, finding hiding in the grass quite amusing.
Only Zuo Nan was on edge, his nerves stretched to their limit, fearing a terrifying monster might pounce from any corner.
The two people and one wolf accompanying him were all monsters.
Monsters might not eat monsters, but they could eat him.
His anxiety made his palms sweat incessantly.
However, seeing Zhang Chen and Xiaobai's calm, even excited, demeanor, he had to force a smile...
He deeply regretted agreeing to come along. While there were many monsters in the manor, wasn't sleeping in his own room more appealing?!
Whoosh!
Several dark flying objects darted through the air in panic, passing overhead Zhang Chen and his companions.
Zuo Nan flinched instinctively.
At that moment, Xiaobai chuckled and her figure blurred.
When she reappeared, she held a bloodsucking bat about a meter long. Its sharp teeth were bared, presenting a terrifying and ghastly appearance.
Its wingspan was three to four meters, flapping erratically and causing the surrounding tall grass to rustle.
"Heehee, Daddy, look what fun thing I caught!"
Xiaobai gripped it forcefully, snapping the bat's wings back and pinning them tightly against its body.
Despite the bat's struggles, its body could barely move, leaving it to gaze at Xiaobai helplessly.
At this moment, the bloodsucking bat seemed less frightening, and almost... pathetic...
"Mm, play with it if you like, just don't get hurt!"
Zhang Chen said dotingly.
"Mm-hmm, shall we play kite flying? I saw in cartoons that dads take their daughters kite flying!"
Xiaobai asked expectantly.
"This kite might be different from what you understand... and it's dark outside. If you put this thing in the sky, it's pitch black and not very pretty. How can we play?"
Zhang Chen said with a smile.
"Sigh, so boring!"
Xiaobai pouted, and with a slight exertion, she snapped all the mutated bloodsucking bat's bones.
Just then, another group of mutated bloodsucking bats flew past overhead in a panic.
"This situation feels... familiar..."
Zuo Nan muttered to himself.
"Hm? What is it?"
Zhang Chen asked.
"Oh, nothing. It just reminded me of a story I heard from other slaves, about the Prophet Organization."
Zuo Nan said with a sheepish smile.
"Tell me about it!"
Zhang Chen said as he walked.
Upon hearing there was a story, Xiaobai immediately recovered from her disappointment and looked curious.
"I heard that there was an organization called the Prophet Organization. Its leader was a powerful and very beautiful woman named Mi Duo."
"This organization was once one of the world's top ten organizations, and Mi Duo was one of the few people who maintained her integrity in the apocalypse."
"Even though monsters were rampant in the post-apocalyptic world, and humanity's greed, cruelty, and darkness were fully exposed, Mi Duo still believed that humanity had a bright side."
"The current darkness and ugliness were merely desperate measures taken out of necessity due to extreme scarcity of resources."
"Therefore, she organized and systematically helped promising camps grow stronger, understanding the post-apocalyptic ecosystem so they could adapt better to the new world..."
Zuo Nan paused here and let out a sigh.
"Mi Duo was a very good person!"
Xiaobai praised him.
"She was indeed a good person. If I had met her, I would probably be a strong person now, or at least not have become a slave..."
Zuo Nan gave a wry smile and continued:
"But the end of Mi Duo and the Prophet Organization was something no one could have imagined."
"A team personally trained by Mi Duo poisoned and killed her. It's said that because of her beauty, her corpse was desecrated before she was harvested."
"After absorbing Mi Duo's energy, this team's strength greatly increased. Unwilling to settle, they devised a plan and killed the other members of the Prophet Organization one by one."
"What was most chilling was that when they besieged the last two members of the Prophet Organization, none of the teams who had received help from the Prophet Organization stepped forward to assist in the fight."
"The reason was... those thugs promised to share a certain percentage of crystal cores with these teams after the deed was done..."
As he spoke, a cold wind suddenly swept through.
Zhang Chen couldn't help but shiver... The weather had turned...