Chapter 861

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Protagonist:

Shen Yao

Shen Chengyi glanced at the map Shen Yao handed over, the markings on it clear and visible; compared to the few blurry maps she had obtained before, her own mother really had some methods.

"However, this map also has a flaw; its range isn't large enough."

Because the system spent most of its time on gossip within the shelter, with little time to observe the outside situation, being able to draw such a map was also thanks to Shen Yao's occasional urging and reminders.

Shen Chengyi felt this map was sufficient, because much of the content involved mutated plants and animals, and their target was also the crystal cores on these mutated plants and animals; unless all the mutated plants and animals on the map were dealt with, they simply didn't need extra exploration.

"When do we set off?" With manpower and a map to guide them, Shen Chengyi now had everything ready, just waiting to leave.

"In a couple of days, I'll tell the team members first; going out at this time requires preparing quite a lot of things." Although they had had a premonition before, once Shen Chengyi actually got the map, the team members in the group were still very surprised.

"How did the captain get it? The price set by the officials is too high."

"Right, captain, if we have to give so much income to the officials, going out isn't worth it for us."

"No, I bought it from others; the markings on it aren't complete. You've all done missions before, everyone organize first; this mission of ours can only rely on ourselves."

"……"

Shen Chengyi lowered her head, expressionlessly sending the message to the group, no longer paying attention; next, she and Shen Yao together packed the prepared cooked food into portions and put them into the space.

Shen Chengyu and Shen Chengning were also going out this time; they weren't main team members, just being taken out by Shen Chengyi to see the world, because Shen Chengyi's chosen target was immobile mutated plants, and with her there, Shen Chengyu and Shen Chengning would hide more safely, with a lower chance of trouble.

Shen Chengyu and Shen Chengning were naturally happy; they had long wanted to go out and see the outside situation. Since coming to the shelter, whenever the weather got a bit colder, they hadn't gone out to search for supplies.

Although the family indeed didn't lack those few melons and dates, staying for a long time in crowded places with many people, they themselves couldn't stand it.

Moreover, the personnel inside the shelter were mixed and disorderly, and the place where they lived also had disputes from time to time; the Shen family being low-profile didn't mean other families were low-profile. A few days ago, someone downstairs had thieves sneak in and steal a lot of winter food. Although they reported it to the officials, such things were too many, and the officials were powerless.

Shen Yao simply made more cooked food. Considering the cold weather outside, it wasn't easy to eat cooked meals taken out, and they easily got cold, so she simply used bread slices from home to wrap rice and meat dishes together, even rolling many dough balls or rice rolls, guaranteeing one bite each.

"Taste the flavor."

Stuffing the rice balls she made into Shen Chengyu and Shen Chengning's mouths, Shen Yao continued kneading the just-steamed rice; beside it was fragrant pork belly, fat and lean interspersed, paired with rich oil and red sauce sauce, making Shen Chengyu and Shen Chengning swallow their saliva in unison.

Mmm

So delicious!

If not for wanting to improve and train their own abilities, they wouldn't be willing to go out.

Eating while ordering dishes, Shen Yao, with a good temper, satisfied them all. Once outside they'd have to eat in the wind and sleep in the dew; letting them be more comfortable in eating and drinking, Shen Yao could also be more at ease.

After processing many ingredients in the space one after another, basically covering all the dishes the three sisters liked to eat, by the day Shen Chengyi and the others left, Shen Yao was also greatly relieved.

Sigh

Her hands were really tired; even though Shen Yao had been cooking often recently, making so many dishes at once still greatly challenged her energy.

Urging the system not to idle, hurry up and catch up, 'Always loitering in the shelter is so boring; outside there are so many mutated creatures, surely it's very exciting.'

System: ……

That said, it still felt the host wanted to freeload off its information.

Muttering that the host was truly thick-skinned, the system hurriedly caught up with Shen Chengyi and the others, following not far behind them, listening to them discuss the direction and destination after leaving the shelter.

'Wow, they want to go to Ping City; although there are no supplies there, there are many mutated creatures inside Ping City, the most numerous being landscape trees and mutated cats and dogs.'

Moreover, Ping City wasn't far from the shelter; they had been to Ping City before, the road was easy to walk, unlike other places where they'd need to blaze a new path.

'Ping City was a city before the apocalypse, with quite a few permanent residents,' Shen Yao sat on the sofa, half-hugging her arms with eyes closed to rest, 'With their current strength, going to Ping City is dangerous but they can return to the shelter.'

Otherwise, if they ran too far and something really happened, they couldn't come back; they could only rely on themselves.

You must know there were many soldiers in the shelter; they had many large-scale lethal weapons. The officials could constantly sell evolution potions, also thanks to these soldiers carrying weapons and suppressing everything.

On the other side, Shen Chengyi and the others, who were being endlessly nagged by one person and one system, were driving their modified vehicles on the cement road to Ping City.

Shen Chengyi was naturally the driver, and the car she drove was the black SUV they had brought before.

However, at this time the black SUV's appearance had changed quite a bit; even because of previous missions, the vehicle had suffered much damage. Shen Chengyi would repair it variously after returning to the shelter. Now carefully examining this steel monster, it was completely different from the original black SUV.

Shen Chengyu and Shen Chengning sat in the back, squeezed next to a sweet young girl; the front passenger seat was occupied by a cold and aloof older sister type. One was called Sun Tiantian, the other Leng Wei, both names fitting the people themselves.

Behind Shen Chengyi was also a modified off-road vehicle and a small truck; these were resources brought by the team members themselves. After hunting crystal cores, they still needed to pay extra fees for these.

"The officials are currently active in the periphery; their main purpose is still hunting evolution wood puppets." Compared to crystal cores, the officials needed evolution crystals to make evolution potions.

Leng Wei said the news she had heard. Before the apocalypse she was an office worker, mainly responsible for dealing with people. As a result, when the apocalypse came, she happened to be on a business trip. It was a case of blessings in disguise, and she smoothly entered the shelter.

The subsequent story was roughly the same; not wanting to be appointed, she took the initiative to improve herself, relying on her unyielding courage and ability to become an ability user, after which no one dared to scheme against her.

Sun Tiantian propped her chin, holding the beef jerky she made herself in her hand. "Winter missions are few; this time we're here for a private mission. When we go back, we're afraid we'll still have to complete the officials' mandatory missions."

This was a regulation they had when joining the officials. Mandatory missions weren't many, basically once a month, and completing missions would give evolution potions. They weren't so unwilling.

Evolution potions were the treasure dangled before them. Whether or not they were ability users, they all needed evolution potions.

No one chose to use evolution crystals; without exception, they were all torn to pieces by the violent energy inside the evolution crystals.

"Mandatory missions; whether successful or failed, the officials will give rewards."

"However, with the officials' current focus, most mandatory missions are still hunting or expulsion missions."

Expelling or hunting mutated creatures around the shelter to prevent them from threatening the shelter's safety. After all, many people lived inside the shelter, most of them ordinary commoners without weapons. Once mutated creatures broke through the shelter's outer defenses and rushed inside, these ordinary people would have only a dead end.

Hearing this, Sun Tiantian sighed. "Right, but the last mandatory mission was very dangerous. Although the officials gave us many rich rewards," one also had to have the life to enjoy them. If you died, it was all over; no matter how many rewards, it was in vain.

Leng Wei saw this very openly. "If we don't go, we basically have no qualification to get evolution potions."

"What the officials do has clear price tags." One couldn't say the officials' behavior was bad; one could only say both sides had their own persistence and purposes. In the end, who could gain the upper hand depended entirely on themselves.

Shen Chengyu and Shen Chengning were just background characters; the two of them couldn't get a word in, honestly shrinking in the corner listening to the three chat, occasionally putting some snacks in their mouths to ease their somewhat tense emotions.

The fast-moving vehicle slowly decelerated until it completely stopped.

Because the lead car stopped, the two vehicles behind also had to stop.

The people behind started contacting Shen Chengyi in the car, wanting to ask why they stopped.

"Situation."

Shen Chengyi put down the satellite phone in her hand, then she and Leng Wei got out of the car separately.

Shen Chengyu and Shen Chengning had to squeeze to the edge of the window to look outside; although their view was partially blocked, what they saw outside still made them gasp.

Hiss.

Someone actually died!

Shen Chengyi and Leng Wei weren't outside for long; they threw the corpses blocking the road to the roadside, both took off their unwanted gloves, then got back in the car.

"An Ability User, don't know why they died, no fatal wounds on the corpse."

After Leng Wei finished speaking, Shen Chengyi had already told the people in the two cars behind via satellite phone.

Because Ability Users aren't weak, and Ability Users who dare come out have some skill; now dying silently means there is great risk in the surroundings.

"Everyone be careful, we need to head to Ping City as soon as possible."

Staying in the wilderness means placing oneself in unknown danger; Shen Chengyi and the others definitely couldn't return to the Shelter empty-handed.

As the words landed, the vehicle beneath them started abruptly, speed faster than before.

Shen Chengyu and Shen Chengning leaned against each other; Sun Tiantian beside them stuffed two pieces of beef jerky into their hands, "Don't be afraid, danger exists but isn't fatal."

Although the dead people outside were terrifying, what they saw most on missions were dead people; Sun Tiantian had long adapted to being unable to adapt further.

The three cars all sped up this time, not caring even if it wasted more gasoline.

Charging straight ahead without stopping again; when Shen Chengyu and Shen Chengning got out feeling faint, they had already arrived at the entrance of Ping City.

Called an entrance, but it was actually just a road like those in Ping City Center; there were originally buildings on both sides, but due to various destruction, the buildings were long reduced to less than one in ten, leaving only broken limbs and remains.

"First find a place to rest, then we'll go deal with the Landscape Trees not far away."

What mutated was a shrub; before the End of Days it was common on city streets, calling it a tree isn't quite right, but because the End of Days came, the shrub mutated, and now it looks tall and imposing, very threatening.

Zhuo Yuan in the team suggested going into a building not far away.

He had stayed there once when on a mission before; don't look at the dilapidated exterior, actually the interior is well preserved, just needs a simple cleaning to rest.

"Up ahead, not far away there's also a dead ginkgo tree."

Zhuo Yuan walked in front leading the way; soon, the Wedding Guests arrived at the periphery of this building.

The signboard above had no trace left, only bare steel pipes visible; it's said this was a hotel, the area inside isn't large but quite spacious; they only thought of resting because they were too tired from previous missions, otherwise they would have noticed this place.

Three cars stopped outside, several people entered the building and successfully found the room Zhuo Yuan mentioned.

"You still have a key?" Sun Tiantian was truly impressed.

Zhuo Yuan laughed cheerfully, "Better safe than sorry, maybe it'll come in handy."

Besides, the supplies here have long been searched clean; no one would bother breaking open a door; he kept the key just for today.

The room was originally three rooms, with three single beds inside; too many people came in to stay, but they could simply rest.

Each opened their backpacks to eat lunch; Shen Chengyi took out a map and called her teammates to explain the afternoon attack plan.

"This Landscape Tree is on the next street; the surroundings are all empty space, and it's very good at leaf attacks; we first need to ensure our own safety," then go deal with the Landscape Tree, dig out the Crystal Core inside it.

The leaf attack launched by the Landscape Tree is to shoot its own leaves (palm-sized, oval-shaped) like flying darts; hitting a creature hurts very much, and can even cut soft skin.

The map Shen Chengyi took out was organized; the content on it was mostly handwritten by her; the information Shen Yao provided was hidden within; looking at it like a small map drawn by an individual.

"We have fourteen people total, divided into three groups; Chengyu and Chengning are responsible for Logistics," the other twelve people cooperate with each other to attack, striving to wear down this Landscape Tree.

"No problem."

"Can do."

"Fine."

"......"

Shen Chengyu and Shen Chengning were arranged properly without doing anything; although they still felt some regret in their hearts, they also understood they shouldn't fool around at this time; coming out to broaden their horizons means being ready to be Background Boards.

After finishing the talk, the following time was free activity; those sleepy could lean by the bedside to nap a while; those not sleepy could stand by the window in a daze; until one o'clock in the afternoon, everyone stood up, picked up their backpacks, and left.

The three cars were driven to the corner of the next street, using the Small Alley's cover to hide; Shen Chengyu and Shen Chengyi stayed in place to keep watch; the other twelve people, four in a group, back-to-back, moved toward the position of the Landscape Tree.

Soon, the tall and sturdy Landscape Tree in the distance appeared before everyone's eyes; the green leaves on the branches rustled.