The flight to the granary.
At this moment, three helicopters, carrying Lu Heng and two elite squads dispatched by the army, were en route to the granary.
These two squads were all fourth-tier elemental ability users of the nature element. They were elite personnel specially trained by the base after receiving crystals from Lu Heng.
The people in this team were initially all third-tier ability users, and they were mostly personnel who went out on missions, so their combat capabilities were much stronger than ordinary soldiers.
The two squads rode in the other two helicopters, while Lu Heng, along with his golden eagle and Siberian tiger, which were already known to everyone, rode in a separate one.
Since the base had also sent so many ability users to cooperate with him on this mission, he saw no need to bring out other animals. The ninth-tier wind and ice elemental animals had considerable destructive power, and they could already use area-of-effect skills, causing widespread damage. Bringing along those ability user soldiers was only to deal with unexpected situations.
After more than two hours of flying, the planes quickly arrived near the granary. Lu Heng signaled everyone to land in a place with fewer zombies when they were still some distance from the granary. After all, the sound of these planes was not small, and the closer they got to the granary, the more zombies there were.
Lu Heng released the golden eagle from the helicopter in advance, letting the golden eagle clear a space to facilitate the helicopter's landing. Then, the golden eagle flew to the vicinity to kill the scattered zombies attracted by the sound of the helicopters, escorting Lu Heng and his team for a safe landing.
After everyone landed, the helicopters would immediately take off and leave. They had agreed to send planes back to pick them up in two days.
The base's order to these soldiers for this mission was to kill zombies. After all, they couldn't rely entirely on the crystals provided by Lu Heng for upgrades; they also had to dispatch specialized teams to collect crystals.
After the helicopters left, Lu Heng and his team remained quiet at their location. The departure of the helicopters had also drawn away nearby zombies, so as long as they maintained relative silence for a period, they could then kill the wandering zombies that had lost their targets.
Lu Heng and his team landed on a highway leading to the granary. After the apocalypse, due to the blockage of city entrances and exits by vehicles, abandoned vehicles were almost non-existent on the highways.
The zombies in this area were mostly wanderers from surrounding villages. After failing to see any living people, these zombies would wander aimlessly. Therefore, there were almost no zombie hordes appearing in clusters in the wilderness.
After clearing the surrounding zombies, Lu Heng began to arrange the next steps.
The plan for this operation had been discussed in detail at the base before they set out, but the actual situation on the ground had too many variables. Therefore, the military had requested that the soldiers accompanying the mission obey Lu Heng's commands.
The soldiers had no objections to this. After all, they now respected Lu Heng greatly, and Lu Heng was the strongest ability user they knew. This made these brave men admire him even more.
"I believe you already know the purpose of this mission from the base. We need to kill zombies and obtain their crystals. However, zombies now have the possibility of upgrading to level four at any time.
I also know that all of you are fourth-tier elemental ability users, but you lack area-of-effect skills. Therefore, when facing large numbers of zombies, it will be up to me and my pets to handle them.
You just need to maintain defense and respond to unexpected situations. There will definitely be high-level mutants among these zombies, so you must remain vigilant."
"Yes." The captains of the two squads nodded in agreement.
They now had to walk to the granary. Fortunately, it was not far from the granary.
These soldiers were accustomed to such high-intensity wilderness training before the apocalypse. Moreover, after becoming ability users, their physical fitness had also greatly improved. This distance was nothing to them.
However, several soldiers couldn't help but twitch their mouths as they looked at the electric bicycle Lu Heng was sitting on.
Lu Heng paid no attention to their gazes. If it weren't for the fear of making too much noise, he would have definitely brought his off-road motorcycle. How fast that would be.
At this moment, on the rear rack of his electric bicycle, he had loaded several spare batteries. Not wanting to use his spatial ability in front of outsiders, he had to bring a few spare bicycle batteries.
"Alright, let's go!" Lu Heng waved his hand and rode his electric bicycle in the middle of the two squads.
To prevent attracting zombies by running, the soldiers could only choose to walk briskly. Therefore, Lu Heng couldn't ride his electric bicycle too fast. Fortunately, the physical fitness of these soldiers was exceptionally good; even in a brisk walk, they ran faster than ordinary people.
After traveling for about three hours, they gradually approached the granary. The zombies on the road had also increased. The golden eagle had been flying at high altitude, reporting the situation of the surroundings and the road ahead to Lu Heng through telepathy.
Every time they encountered a large number of zombies ahead, Lu Heng could accurately predict the situation of the zombies ahead. After several such instances, Lu Heng's image in the minds of these soldiers had improved even further.
They didn't know that this intelligence was reported to Lu Heng by the golden eagle. After a few times, they even thought Lu Heng had the ability to foresee the future, which allowed him to accurately state the number of zombies they would encounter.
Of course, the zombies encountered on the road were only small groups, with no more than twenty or so at most. The soldiers could handle them, and there was no need for Lu Heng and his pets to take action at these times.
Practical training was important, and he wanted to give these young people more opportunities to train. With him as a great safety net, such rare opportunities were not common.
Suddenly, Lu Heng raised his hand, signaling everyone to stop. The golden eagle had informed him that hundreds of meters ahead, the zombies had already become dense. They would have to use area-of-effect attacks to kill those zombies, otherwise, if the zombies gradually surrounded them, these soldiers might suffer casualties.
"The zombies ahead have become dense. Enter defensive formation now."
With a command, the soldiers formed a back-to-back formation in groups of three, facing outwards, and then each group dispersed while maintaining a safe distance.
Lu Heng and the Siberian tiger guarded the front and rear of the formation.
Soon, they approached the dense zombie群. Lu Heng walked at the front of the formation. He was holding an ice-elemental dagger in his hand. He then felt the energy transmitted from the dagger and activated his own abilities. Instantly, many ice cones silently suspended above the heads of the zombies in front of them.
At this moment, the ice cones refracted dazzling light under the sunlight.
The moment the ice cones appeared, in the blink of an eye, these ice cones began to rapidly descend towards the zombies on the ground, instantly piercing through their bodies and creating many holes.
Then, another wave of ice cones condensed again, continuing to attack the surrounding zombies.
"Team One, go collect the crystals. Team Two, maintain vigilance." Lu Heng commanded as he walked forward.