The rumble of two transport planes flying overhead could be clearly heard even within the inner city.
Lu Heng put on his jacket and got up to leave the room.
It seemed the personnel from Luocheng had returned, arriving half a day later than Lu Heng.
As he opened his door, Lin Yu from across the hall was also stepping out.
"Brother Lu, are you going too?"
"Yes, I'm going to talk to those foreigners."
"Then let's go together."
...
Within a few buildings near the airport of Wuming City, the returning soldiers were arranged for collective physical examinations. Those who had gone missing in Luocheng for a period were specifically housed together in a separate building.
They had direct contact with aliens and had resided in alien space for a time; the air there was, after all, different from that on Blue Star.
Therefore, the examinations for these individuals needed to be more thorough. Even in a well-equipped place like Wuming City, examining hundreds of team members would take considerable time.
When Lin Yu had made arrangements earlier, he had planned to give these people a month's leave.
One reason was to observe them after they returned to the human living environment, to see if there were any after-effects. More importantly, having watched many sci-fi movies, he feared that aliens might be disguised as humans among them.
Lin Yu explained his plan to Lu Heng, who had no objections and was satisfied with Lin Yu's meticulous consideration.
"However, those foreigners need to be housed separately, and their personal freedom must be controlled."
Lu Heng had not forgotten that these people had come to seize their city and establish a base there.
Although they were all survivors in the apocalypse, and their target should logically be zombies, many people in this era had lost their humanity, driven only by possessiveness. They had to guard against these outsiders first.
"I know. I've arranged a separate courtyard for them, and they will be guarded."
"Okay, I'll go find Zhao Liang to ask a few things first. After arranging for the foreigners, I'll go find you."
Lin Yu acknowledged, then parted ways with Lu Heng, each heading to their respective tasks.
Lu Heng found Zhao Liang, who was organizing his team members to cooperate with the examinations.
"City Lord Lu, you were looking for me?"
"Yes, I need to talk to you. Come with me."
With that, Lu Heng turned and left, followed by Zhao Liang's footsteps.
Walking silently into an empty room, Lu Heng spoke again, "I'm looking for you to ask about matters in Luocheng."
"Yes, please ask. I'll cooperate with whatever I know."
"First, sort out what happened after you arrived in Luocheng and tell me."
Zhao Liang nodded, found a seat, and after a moment of thought, recounted everything that had happened in Luocheng to Lu Heng.
The routes they took to kill zombies in Luocheng had all been determined within Wuming City.
They quickly advanced towards Luocheng, killing zombies along the way. It was not difficult for the team members.
Everyone managed to kill zombies with relative ease daily, as all members of the team were skilled, and the ability attributes of the awakened were reasonably distributed.
When they first arrived outside Luocheng, they still assumed it would be like usual, and the killing would be easy.
However, as they pushed further into Luocheng, some of them began to notice issues.
But before they could analyze the differences in detail, they encountered the team of foreign awakened individuals.
Those people's awakened abilities were not low, but they were too arrogant and constantly provoked Zhao Liang's team.
They would often play dirty tricks on the team or launch sneak attacks when they were facing large numbers of zombies.
This finally enraged Zhao Liang and his team. Zhao Liang led his team in pursuing those foreigners, while also dealing with the relentless zombie attacks from the vicinity.
Gradually, they penetrated deep into Luocheng, reaching the vicinity of the Luocheng Government Building.
It was then that they realized they had encountered trouble. The number of zombies in this area, despite their constant killing, was not decreasing but increasing.
Everyone had almost no time to rest, constantly dealing with zombie attacks from all sides.
They had retreated into the Government Building before, intending to use it as a barrier to at least allow them a brief period of rest.
However, facing a considerable and seemingly endless horde of zombies, even this proved difficult.
"The second day after we retreated into the Government Building, we managed to clear the zombies inside, gaining a brief respite, but..."
Zhao Liang's gaze seemed to drift into the distance, and he was once again plunged into terrifying memories.
Unexpectedly, on the second day after they entered the Government Building, that strange robot appeared.
The robot was mixed within the zombie horde, and the zombies did not attack it.
As Zhao Liang's men were clearing zombies in batches outside, perhaps the robot was accidentally injured by their men. The robot retaliated, and using some unknown weapon, they felt a flash of blinding light before them, and the personnel at the front instantly fell.
Listening to Zhao Liang's account, this matched what the alien had said. It was likely the robot's self-defense retaliation that had killed the humans.
"We became somewhat chaotic afterward. Under the robot's continuous attacks, we retreated into the building, but even so, we couldn't stop the robot's attacks."
Zhao Liang's face was pale. Recalling the many vibrant lives in his team that had fallen before his eyes in an instant, he felt deep pain and self-blame.
As the commander of a team of several hundred, he bore undeniable responsibility for leading the entire team into an inescapable passive situation.
Lu Heng and the others were well aware of this and planned to transfer Zhao Liang to another department after a month of recuperation, no longer having him serve as the captain of the zombie-killing team. Someone who could not make correct decisions in a short period was no longer suitable to lead a team.
As for the team members, deaths were inevitable in the apocalypse, and this would not cause too much psychological burden for ordinary soldiers.
However, changing the leader was necessary; someone who could not correctly predict danger should no longer lead the team.
"How many days were you inside that space?"
"It was always daylight there. I judged the time by my phone. I stayed in the space for five days, and on the sixth day, I saw you."
"Were those foreigners brought into that space with you?"
"Yes, they also felt something was wrong later, and then retreated into the Government Building with us."
"Alright, you should go find Lin Yu now."