Chapter 869

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Main Character:

Shen Yao

"Sister, going out in two days?"

Shen Chengyu was surprised, thinking how could it be so fast; they had only rested for a short while, and many of the crystal cores they brought back were still left.

Shen Chengning also felt it was fast, mainly because the outside temperature had dropped too sharply; previously when they went out they could still endure it, but going out now would truly be fatal.

Shen Chengyi did not say much about the content of her talk with Zhou Xiuying, only emphasizing that this matter was very beneficial to their family; moreover, the officials themselves would also arrange personnel. Although the outside environment was harsh, the Research Institute had also produced many finished products for warmth and cold resistance; as long as their bodies could overcome it a bit, there would generally be no major problem.

"During the days I'm not here, if you want to train, go to the Ability User Center. If there are any problems, you can go find Xuanxuan. If that doesn't work, you can also go to the Mission Center," Zhou Xiuying would not be acting together with them this time.

Shen Chengyi picked up her bowl and chopsticks and ate a mouthful of rice. "Try not to be too high-profile."

On the surface, matters had come to a pause, but behind the scenes there were definitely still problems. So many personnel rotations could not be handled with just a few simple words, and there were also some unspeakable rules among them.

Although Shen Chengyi had grown very quickly, she had not yet reached the level of being able to perfectly catch all the Shen Family's various messes. Most of the time, it was the Shen Family itself behaving obediently and cleverly, avoiding certain deep pits, to prevent Shen Chengyi from being unwittingly implicated and threatened by others.

Just like the other people in the team, to a greater or lesser extent, all were forced to compromise because of their family members' problems, even having to hand over the crystal cores used to enhance abilities. The key was that this approach was also treating symptoms not the root; it would not make the other party fear or dread them, but instead would turn them into the other party's ATM, coming over to tear off a bite whenever they pleased.

Shen Chengyu and Shen Chengning nodded obediently upon hearing this. The two of them indicated that recently they would honestly stick to a two-point line, just walking back and forth between the Ability User Center and home. When the weather got colder and colder, they would simply stay home and train; at worst, they would practice attack skills without using abilities.

Shen Chengyu's water system could simply release water. Although this water was just ordinary drinking water, using it at home for washing up could save water fees, and there was no need to worry about the problem of water supply being cut off because the water pipes froze or cracked.

Shen Chengning's wood system could plant fruit, vegetables, and grain, and even artificially accelerate their ripening. Whether keeping them for their own family to eat, selling them to other households in the building, or supplying the officials, they could all earn points or exchange for needed things.

Anyway, ability exhaustion is just the process of recovery, increasing the ability storage capacity, striving for quantitative change to achieve qualitative change. In the future, they could also use crystal cores to enhance their abilities, letting their own skills strengthen further.

After eating and drinking their fill, in the next two days, Shen Chengyi seized the opportunity to give the family members a fierce round of guidance. The days of her absence were destined to be monotonous. Although they would not actively provoke trouble, if trouble came to provoke them, they also could not have no countermeasures in hand.

"Remembered? Must be fast, accurate, and ruthless; cannot hesitate." Even if the officials ultimately classified it as active assault, they would only be judged to pay compensation.

Better to spend one's own money than to be bullied by others.

Shen Chengyu hummed twice and nodded. "Rest assured, I know what to do."

Prioritize attacking the enemy's fragile points; regardless of man, woman, old, or young, cannot be soft-hearted. Otherwise, capsizing in the gutter, the ones who suffer losses and hardship will be them.

Such things have not failed to happen in the Shelter either; as the saying goes, people cannot be judged by appearance.

Judging by appearance, one suffers the loss oneself.

Shen Chengning even demonstrated next to Shen Chengyi for this, but because her attack strength was insufficient, Shen Chengyi required her to attack her directly. Left and right, with that little wood-system attack power, she truly could not injure Shen Chengyi, who had lightning abilities.

Shen Chengning: ……

Shen Yao just watched from the side as the three gestured and sparred. She had her own arrangements; Shen Chengyi would not interfere too much. Shen Chengyu and Shen Chengning were ultimately younger in age; facing them, Shen Chengyi would unconsciously shoulder the big sister title.

Two days later, Shen Chengyi rose early and went out.

This time she wore the Research Institute's latest research result, a protective suit that could allow one to live and move freely in minus seventy degrees. For this mission, the officials specially had the Research Institute staff rush the work, even compressing the Evolution Potion production yield considerably.

The pure white protective suit perfectly fit the human body's curves; wearing it was very comfortable. The only troublesome point was that the protective suit wrapped too tightly; speaking and breathing were somewhat restricted, so one could only try to avoid them.

Shen Chengyi's return date for this trip was uncertain, because the officials' purpose was to clear the dangers around the Shelter. As long as these dangers remained, once the severe cold passed, the Shelter would inevitably face the risk of being besieged and attacked.

So this time the officials' will was very strong; they would absolutely not return without resolving these dangers.

"How long will that take?" The outside temperature was getting lower day by day. Even with the protective suit, if the temperature broke the charts and dropped below seventy degrees, wouldn't a person be directly frozen into an ice sculpture?

"Don't know. It depends on the accuracy of official intelligence and personnel coordination," Shen Yao stood on the balcony looking down, just happening to meet the gaze of Shen Chengyi looking up from the bottom of the building.

Shen Chengning sighed. "Hope everything goes smoothly this time."

…………

Zhou Xiuying, wearing a military uniform, stood in the Mission Hall. Before her were the crowd wearing protective suits. When Shen Chengyi arrived, there were not many people here; later, more and more arrived in succession.

Some of them were officially registered ability users; this time they belonged to those attracted by conditions and sincerity, coming to join while also having the intention to draw close. There was also one group that was originally military personnel; they were the main force of this mission. Other ability users could withdraw in a crisis, but their military order was to resolve the crisis at all costs.

"Very good. Everyone is present. Next, I will say three points."

Zhou Xiuying made a hand gesture; her neat and dashing aura was even more intense than when she talked with Shen Chengyi the previous two days.

"First, prioritize guaranteeing safety; on the basis of safety, resolve risks.

Second, cannot give up search and rescue, but also cannot lose your own lives for the sake of search and rescue. Your purpose is for the Shelter's relocation early next year; this is the key point.

Third, at the latest no more than one month, you must return!"

The Research Institute observed that the entire North would have a major temperature drop in one month. This temperature drop would very likely break minus one hundred degrees, fundamentally unsuitable for human survival.

In fact, the officials had already activated the program for reinforcing building exterior walls. The measures taken during initial construction appeared inadequate for the current situation and still needed subsequent patching and repair.

"Alright, no more nonsense. The vehicles are already waiting at the East Side Gate. Everyone, please take care on this trip."

As her words fell, the crowd turned and left the Mission Hall with uniform steps.

The dark green military trucks were particularly conspicuous in the pure white world. According to the previously assigned teams, Shen Chengyi climbed into the cabin and seized the time to close her eyes and rest.

Unknown whether it was good luck or bad luck, Sun Tiantian and Leng Wei were also in this mission, but the three of them were not assigned to the same group.

Shen Chengyi was in Combat Team Five. The captain inside was a military man; she was currently the Deputy Captain, mainly responsible for combat. All arrangements and plans were the captain's responsibility.

"Miss Shen, hello. I am Wei Ran."

The captain walked over. Because he was wearing a protective suit, his voice sounded somewhat distorted.

"Hello, Shen Chengyi."

Shen Chengyi extended her hand and bumped it against the other's, then stood up and shifted to the side a bit, vacating the seat.

Wei Ran was not polite either. He sat down directly and then spoke to Shen Chengyi about some arrangements for their Combat Team Five. The most important was still mutual coordination. The number of ability users was not enough to support a squad, so they had to get used to coordinating with firearms, to avoid friendly fire during attacks.

"We are acting on separate lines. How many other groups are acting together with us?"

A total of fifteen groups came out this time. Among them, two by two were bound pairs; the rest were for flexible support at any time.

That is to say, after they reach the destination, they will first act together with the bound group, while the remaining five groups are used for flexible support. The specific situation of this group is unknown; they can only focus on themselves first, striving for the two groups to coordinate and resolve it.

"It's Combat Team Eight. I'm quite familiar with their captain; our mutual coordination is also considered tacit."

Wei Ran stated there were fifteen small teams; the last five were responsible for flexible support, while the first ten were paired up to cooperate in pairs. Their five teams had good luck, running into familiar teammates, which would greatly reduce the danger of being attacked from front and rear.

Don't think that just because it's an official mission it's guaranteed safe; when one's own life is at stake, no one can be fully trusted.

Wei Ran said she was very familiar with the other party; the two of them had joined the military together, and no matter what they did they always strove to be on the front lines. Now they had both become ability users, and they still hadn't given up on striving.

"Since Captain Wei can guarantee safety, we can focus more of our energy on those mutated creatures from now on. It's cold, and that's not good news for either us or them."

Some mutated creatures can resist the cold, but the energy they expend in winter is too great, so these creatures are also unwilling to come into conflict with humans.

The shelter is taking advantage of the unfavorable factors outside to eliminate dangers in advance, and this group of people are the weapons in the official's hands, as well as the backbone of the relocation matter.

The truck beneath them swayed and jolted; rushing all the way, they finally managed to arrive at their temporary camp before nightfall.

Logistics personnel jumped out of the truck compartment to set up camp, while the combat team captains and deputy captains were called away for a temporary meeting, conveniently reporting on the surrounding situation.

The commander-in-chief in charge this time was a middle-aged man of few words but decisive action; he didn't say much, but there wasn't a word of nonsense.

As the temporary meeting adjourned, Wei Ran led Shen Chengyi to find Team Eight's captain, Cheng Nan.

Cheng Nan was an extremely outstanding sniper; later, after becoming an ability user, her ability and sniping became even more compatible. She herself had plans to advance further, and currently served as Team Eight's captain, cooperating with a Deputy Captain surnamed Liu.

"Cheng Nan"

"Wei Ran"

Wei Ran smiled and patted Cheng Nan on the shoulder; they were still wearing their protective suits, and would have to wait until the temporary tents were set up before they could take them off.

"This is Shen Chengyi, lightning ability user, also a very famous Big Shot in the shelter."

"Hello"

Cheng Nan reached out and bumped hands with Shen Chengyi, then turned her head and pointed at a man not far away who was chatting with his back to her. "That's Team Eight's deputy captain, surnamed Liu."

Wei Ran clicked her tongue at that. "No full name?"

Cheng Nan shook her head. "Not familiar. Heard he's an earth-type ability user."

Not everyone is like Shen Chengyi; if she doesn't speak, others will come up to her. Ability users generally have their own pride — you ignore me? I'll ignore you too.

"The commander-in-chief didn't say which area we're responsible for just now; looks like we still have to rely on drawing lots. Hope we don't get assigned the southwest direction — the mutated creatures there are mostly small, gregarious creatures, and they're not easy to deal with."

Large-scale weapons can't be used; we can only rely on manual operation. Just thinking of that scene makes Wei Ran shiver involuntarily.

Mm

Forget it, forget it; tedious work should be left to meticulous people. She thought Team One and Team Three were pretty good.

Quietly passing the buck in her heart, Wei Ran continued chatting happily with Cheng Nan. Although neither could see the other's facial expressions at the moment, and even their voices sounded altered, they were old acquaintances, so this little problem didn't count for anything.

Time was about up; the two sides separated. Wei Ran and Shen Chengyi returned to Team Five's temporary residence, took off their protective suits first, then went to eat.

"Tsk, dehydrated vegetable porridge again." It looked like it had no flavor at all.

The team members were mostly soldiers, and quite a few were soldiers Wei Ran had brought up herself.

"Captain, there are still a few boxes of canned meat." The youngster who spoke made faces, and didn't forget to fill Wei Ran's rice bowl to the brim.

Wei Ran raised a hand and knocked on her own forehead. "No good. That canned food is saved for extra meals. Today just eat simply. Tomorrow after we finish the tasks assigned from above, we'll see if there's anything edible around."

Wild hunting — that's their specialty. Not only can they eat and drink their fill, they can also get extra income; it's one of their important economic sources.

As Wei Ran's words fell, ghostly howls and cries of "aiyo" instantly rang out all around.

"Quiet!"

Wei Ran looked up and glared fiercely around, then buried her head and ate the vegetable porridge in her bowl bitterly.

The bland taste paired with vegetables that had no vegetable flavor; Wei Ran frowned in disdain, but drank it all clean in the end.

Shen Chengyi didn't participate in their conversation; she drank all the vegetable porridge handed to her expressionlessly. Although the taste was indeed not great, it was understandable — vegetables are scarce in winter to begin with, plus they're out on a mission, so they definitely have to spend minimal time on eating. Grabbing a handful of dehydrated vegetables and throwing them in the pot to cook with rice is truly convenient and lightweight.

"Chengyi"

After finishing dinner, Wei Ran beckoned to Shen Chengyi. Seeing Shen Chengyi come over, she hurriedly pulled out a folded map from her pocket.

On it was an explanation of the situation around the shelter, known only to official internal personnel.

Raising her hand and pointing at several positions on it, Wei Ran judged from her own experience that they would be troublesome. If they were unlucky enough to be assigned there, they would have to immediately file an application to mobilize the flexible support teams to follow.

"These mutated creatures have existed for quite a while. At first we didn't plan to deal with them — there were also factors making them hard to deal with. Now they suddenly want us to act against them; we're afraid their abilities have grown stronger, and we'll suffer losses."

No one has tried before this; we simply don't know where the limit of these mutated creatures lies.