"I am here on a mission, but it is not a rescue mission."
Qin Chuan's voice was not loud, but it was enough for everyone present to hear.
Hauler seemed unwilling and was about to ask more.
But Ana spoke first, "Hauler! You..."
Hauler was met with silence.
Qin Chuan did not continue to dwell on the issue with him. He looked around and found a familiar face.
Not only him, but Zhou Zhe also noticed. Just as he was about to speak, Qin Chuan stopped him with a look.
Only then did Zhou Zhe realize the current situation. Revealing Xu An's identity now might cause trouble for both of them.
Qin Chuan thought he had stopped them early enough, but their interaction was still noticed by those who were paying attention.
Old Six followed Zhou Zhe's gaze and saw Xu An with his head bowed, a playful smile curving his lips.
If he had only been guessing before, now the doubt in his heart was confirmed.
Hauler seemed unable to recover from the blow of dashed hopes, looking at Qin Chuan before him in a daze.
He couldn't quite understand.
No matter how much he deceived himself, he couldn't comprehend what mission could be more important than human lives, than hundreds of human lives!
"Don't you care about our lives?!"
Hauler, as if struggling for his last breath, quietly asked this question. He actually knew he had overstepped. By rank, Qin Chuan was his superior, and a soldier's duty was to obey orders. He shouldn't question Qin Chuan's words.
But at this moment, he couldn't help himself.
Ever since the apocalypse began, he had maintained his duty as a soldier, relying on nothing more than a strong conviction in his heart.
On every hungry, suffering night, he told himself that if he just held on a little longer, help would surely come.
Hauler was lost in a haze of despair, but just then, Qin Chuan's indifferent voice came from above him.
"You were living fine before I arrived. Now that you know there's no rescue, who are you putting on this show for?! Hauler, don't forget, you're a soldier! Stand up! Are you going to give up if you hear there's no rescue?!"
As the words fell, Zhou Zhe saw the young girl with a long braid, who was supporting Hauler, glare fiercely at Qin Chuan.
"Captain..."
Hearing Qin Chuan's words, Zhou Zhe felt sweat break out on his forehead. They were on a secret mission this time. Not only did they run into survivors on the ground, but their captain was also so sharp-tongued. He was afraid they might come to blows.
However, Zhou Zhe could understand Hauler's despair. He had seen that look on countless faces during their missions over the past year.
Seeing them in military uniforms, how many people went from full of hope to shattered hope...
But the most disheartening thing was that Zhou Zhe knew he could do nothing. Not just Zhou Zhe, but every soldier on the lighthouse, until they received clear orders!
They... could do nothing...
Hauler's mind was filled with the thought of why he had persisted for over a year.
A complete breakdown from the inside out shattered the last vestiges of his faith.
If he had never met Qin Chuan, he could have continued to deceive himself. Hauler knew, he had known from the beginning, that their area was sparsely populated and remote, making the cost of searching for them greater. But he had always persuaded others, persuaded himself.
Even if everyone else didn't believe, even if his own commander had changed his mind, he still firmly believed they hadn't been abandoned...
Unlike Hauler, the other few people, excluding Xu An, appeared calm after hearing Qin Chuan's words.
At least on the surface, they were calm.
Qin Chuan glanced at the time on his watch. He didn't have the leisure to mediate Hauler's emotions.
"Hauler, do you know where Hellfire is?"
"No!" Ana replied coldly.
Qin Chuan ignored the girl who was hostile towards him and turned his gaze to the bowed Hauler.
"I am not asking you now, Hauler, I am ordering you! Tell me the location of Hellfire!"
"Understood, sir!"
Almost as a reflex, upon hearing Qin Chuan's order, Hauler immediately stood at attention and gave a crisp military salute.
This movement was etched into his very being, something he would never forget.
After a brief moment of dejection, Hauler also understood that this man before him couldn't make decisions about rescue.
He suppressed the resentment in his heart, realizing everyone was bound by their circumstances.
"Sir, I know, but that location is very dangerous. Are you sure you want to go?"
"You just tell us the location, and we'll go ourselves."
As soon as Qin Chuan finished speaking, Ana beside him sneered, "Hellfire is not something you outsiders can find."
In response to Qin Chuan's questioning gaze, Hauler nodded, confirming Ana's words, "That place truly requires a local guide to find, but it's very dangerous. For us... it's considered taboo."
"..."
Xu An listened to the conversation between Qin Chuan and Hauler, calculating in his mind. Qin Chuan was also looking for Hellfire?
What did he want Hellfire for?
In an instant, something flashed through Xu An's mind, but he caught it with his keen intuition.
"Rabbit Head Monster!"
The first time he met Qin Chuan, he said he was on some mission, and then she encountered the injured Rabbit Head Monster!
This series of events planted seeds of suspicion in Xu An's mind. He secretly observed Qin Chuan's stern face.
Was he secretly investigating mutated beasts?
This certainly couldn't be Qin Chuan's own intention. Then... who was the mastermind behind Qin Chuan?
At this moment, Xu An's mind felt like a light bulb with a connected circuit. Many things he couldn't understand were suddenly explained.
Why the lighthouse had changed so much from the previous life, why the defensive measures within the lighthouse were so targeted, and why Qin Chuan knew the exact locations of mutated beast appearances...
If Xu An had only been questioning before, now he could be one hundred percent certain, "Within the high command of the lighthouse... there is another reborn..."