Mu Bai hid behind the crowd and listened quietly to gather information.
“Why are we responsible for the entire escort? I thought we were just assisting…”
Zheng Mingyuan asked, confused.
“Because our forces are limited. We have more important things to do and can’t spare the personnel.”
“This…”
“That doesn’t matter,” Scarface interrupted suddenly.
“What’s our payment?”
“Aren’t 400 standard-issue firearms enough?” the middle-aged military man frowned.
“We don’t need those things,” Scarface smiled.
Ordinary zombies could be handled with cold weapons anyway, and they had barely encountered any Variants along the way, suggesting their numbers were few.
Heaven knew what would happen if those 400 guns reached the camp.
To maintain a fragile peace and prevent their advantage from being erased, the Players silently agreed with Scarface’s words.
“Hmm… I can provide you with some mutant zombie crystal cores. I believe you all know that these cores are quite rare, even among Mutants. Holding one allows you to slowly absorb energy to increase your physical strength. Twenty as a deposit. How does that sound?”
“Fifty.”
“We don’t have that many. If you feel it’s not enough, you can select some higher-quality weapons and equipment from the Armory, but it’s limited to one item per person present. Otherwise, the cooperation ends,” the middle-aged military man said coldly.
“Deal!”
Everyone was pleased with the arrangement.
After learning the escort route in the briefing room, the Players were taken to the Armory and entered the innermost warehouse.
“If any of you are interested in a specific gun, please inform the administrator of the corresponding area. They will be responsible for opening the gun cabinets… To ensure we can send you back to the camp before dark, you have at most 30 minutes to select your firearms.”
Mu Bai was dazzled.
Unlike the 400 standard firearms promised to the survivor faction, which were produced after the doomsday and were durable but lacked outstanding precision and power, the weapons here were different.
Those post-apocalyptic guns were like the AK-47s on Earth, with a high defect rate.
But the firearms here were all manufactured before the doomsday, using the technology and production standards of a superpower.
Passing a gun cabinet, Mu Bai was drawn to the label.
“I want to see the guns in here,” Mu Bai said to the administrator of that area.
“One moment, please.”
The administrator opened the cabinet.
An M110 was secured inside, complete with a full set of accessories for the sniper rifle.
A sniper rifle might be less practical than an assault rifle at this Station, but in many survival-type Stations, it was a lethal weapon.
This was a way to kill people from outside their field of vision!
Mu Bai suddenly had a clever idea.
Her [Portable Space] could store items through her thoughts without needing to touch them.
Although there were limits to her mental reach—she had just tried it on the closed gun cabinet and found she couldn’t penetrate sealed spaces—she could exploit a bug here.
“I also want to see the ammunition for this gun,” Mu Bai requested.
“Follow me.”
The administrator closed the cabinet door and locked it.
The moment the door shut, Mu Bai’s mind moved.
The M110 and its accessories inside the cabinet were sucked into her storage space.
There was no sound, and the administrator noticed nothing.
In another room for storing ammunition, Mu Bai did the same thing, sweeping all the sniper rifle bullets in the Security Box into her inventory.
Her 3 cubic meters of space were now completely full.
“Do you have shotguns here?”
Mu Bai asked again.
“We have no shotguns in stock.”
“Alright then. I’ll take another assault rifle.”
“…What?”
“Ahem, I mean, I need an assault rifle and a pistol that suits me.”
‘Good grief, I almost slipped up.’
When she left the warehouse, Mu Bai’s backpack was filled with bullets, and Ye Yuan also carried an ammo bag.
Mu Bai obtained a Glock 42, while she openly took an M4A1 for Ye Yuan.
At the Armory entrance, Tang Shifu and Mo Cha had already finished their selection and were waiting.
They also had a pistol and an assault rifle each.
Once all the Players gathered, several soldiers brought a box over and opened it to reveal twenty crystal-clear crystal cores.
After a fair distribution by Zheng Mingyuan, everyone received one.
The remaining few were put back in the box and placed in the armored vehicle the military provided for the researchers’ escort.
Mu Bai used [Identification] on a crystal core.
[Basic Zombie Crystal Core: Absorbing the energy within can increase a certain stat by 5 points and grant immunity to low concentrations of the Zombie Virus. Absorbing more will not continue to increase stats; it will only restore stamina.]
The Players present were all Level 2 and possessed the [Identification] ability.
They knew the second core would have no effect once they used one.
Although they coveted the remaining cores, they wouldn’t risk stealing or snatching them.
As dusk approached, it was time to leave.
An armored vehicle led the way, followed by several off-road vehicles carrying the Players.
At this moment, a young adjutant stepped out and stood behind the middle-aged military man.
“They’re just a bunch of rabble. Their leaders keep changing, and this time they didn’t even have people on patrol. I don’t know how they’ve survived until now or even became the largest survivor organization in the nearby districts… Sir, why are you being so polite to these yellow-skins?” the young adjutant expressed his disdain and confusion.
“They are already dead men; just humor them… If I had let you out earlier, you would have messed things up.”
The man in uniform lit another cigar.
“How is the task I gave you?”
“Everything is ready. We can leave anytime tomorrow…”
“And the drones?”
“Arranged.”
Suddenly, a soldier ran over.
“Report, sir! A sniper rifle is missing from the Armory! It’s gone!”
“What happened?”
The young adjutant’s eyes glared like knives.
The stock of sniper rifles was already low, and each one was precious.
It would have been one thing if it had been chosen, but an unexplained disappearance was unacceptable!
“The warehouse administrator said that after those survivors left, he checked again and found an M110 that had been shown to someone was gone, along with its ammunition. But looking at the surveillance, there’s no trace of it being stolen. It just vanished into thin air!”
The soldier was drenched in sweat.
“…It’s a pity for such a good gun,” the middle-aged military man sighed.
It was obvious who had done it, though they didn’t know how they had managed it.
Would a group of survivors, who might not have even touched a gun before, really be able to use a sniper rifle that even trained soldiers struggled with?
***
By the time they returned to the Survivor Camp, groups of five Players were already patrolling the inner perimeter of the fortifications.
Mu Bai was secretly surprised.
Su Wan was quite a talent.
She had managed to organize a camp of 2,000 people using just an assault rifle.
Even if it was only temporary, it was still an outstanding ability.
Most people wouldn’t even have the ability to organize a university club activity.
Before dinner, the Level 2 Players gathered in a villa for a meeting.
Zheng Mingyuan wisely took the initiative to step down from his leadership position.
His advantage had vanished, and continuing as the leader would only make him a target.
From then on, until the mission was completed, all important matters would be decided by a vote of the Level 2 Players.
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