Chapter 40: About to Begin

Human Alliance frontline Military District.

Chenjie stood before a door and pushed it lightly; with a "creak" of the door, it opened.

Chenjie frowned, walked into the dim room, and saw Yingfang sitting decadently on the sofa, his eyes dull and lusterless.

"Yingfang, you can't go on like this. Although the Captain gave you a few days off, you can't be this decadent. Look, there isn't a single ray of light in the room." Chenjie said as he walked toward the curtains and opened them, letting the sunlight shine in.

"You need to let the sunlight in; your mood will improve a little."

Yingfang slowly looked at Chenjie and said, "Speak, what do you want with me?"

"Yingfang, there is a Task to head to the Zerg rear and destroy a Zerg Incubation Nest." Chenjie looked at Yingfang's haggard appearance; although he understood Yingfang's mood very well, he still stated the purpose of his visit. "The higher-ups have assigned this Task to our squad, and the Captain asked me to notify you."

"Mm, understood." Yingfang nodded; upon hearing "Zerg," a trace of hatred flashed in his eyes.

It was when he was told by his mother that Yingzhou's school had been invaded by the Zerg, and that Yingzhou had died in this attack.

When Yingfang heard this news, he almost couldn't stand; he dared not imagine that his younger brother had just died like that, and not even a corpse was left behind.

Seeing Yingfang shake off his previous decadence, Chenjie reminded him, "Yingfang, although I know it's not great to say this, I still have to warn you: we are going to the Zerg rear this time, the enemy's Base Camp. Do not let your emotions cloud your judgment."

"Mm, don't worry."

Yingfang nodded, a determined light revealing itself in his eyes. "I will control my emotions."

Chenjie looked at Yingfang, a trace of worry flashing in his eyes. He knew that Yingfang had been brooding over Yingzhou's death, but he also understood that this Task was extremely important to them and could not afford any mistakes.

"Good, then we depart early tomorrow morning." Chenjie said, "Prepare yourself; we need to act as soon as possible."

After Chenjie left, Yingfang looked at a photo on the table; it was a photo of his family of three taken when he became a Psionic, back when Yingzhou was still small.

And when Yingzhou sacrificed himself at school, he had been away executing a Task; it had been so long, and he only learned of this tragic news after returning to the Military District.

"Kid, I'm going to avenge you this time, don't worry."

The next day, Yingfang arrived at the assembly point fully equipped and saw the Captain already waiting for him, so he stepped forward and saluted, "Captain, Yingfang reporting for duty."

The Captain looked at Yingfang and nodded, "Very good, Yingfang, you look to be in good condition. Yesterday, I heard from Chenjie that your state wasn't very good, and I was considering whether to let you participate in this Task."

"Captain, don't worry, my condition is absolutely fine. Please, you must let me participate in this Task!" Yingfang stood straight and said.

"Alright, return to the ranks. We are preparing to depart in a moment." The Captain nodded and said.

Yingfang's Captain was named Xu Fenqiu, who had led this combat squad for over two years and was usually quite concerned about his teammates.

He knew that Yingfang had been brooding over Yingzhou's death, but seeing Yingfang's emotions adjust back, his hanging heart relaxed slightly.

"Good! Everyone is here, I'll say a few words." Xu Fenqiu stood before the squad members and said, "This Task is to penetrate deep into a Zerg Hatchery; it is expected to take half a month to get there. You are all old teammates, you know the discipline, so I won't say much more. Let's move out!"

"Yes!"

The 17 squad members responded.

Yingzhou stood on high ground, overlooking the scene below, a sense of accomplishment surging in his heart.

He looked at the results of his work over this period; trenches were densely packed across the surrounding land. These trenches were like a giant spider web, tightly surrounding this area.

The trenches were connected to each other, forming an intricate network that allowed the Krieg soldiers to move freely within them and flexibly respond to enemy attacks.

Ajie found Yingzhou and said to him, "Yingzhou, do you think these trenches can withstand the Zerg's offensive? Although we've set up quite a few traps, those traps can't seriously injure the Zerg at all."

"The purpose of those traps wasn't to kill the Zerg in the first place; I need to slow down the Zerg's speed so we can hunt them better." Yingzhou looked at Ajie confidently and said.

"Tsk, this formation of yours looks like you're about to go to war with the Zerg." Ajie clicked his tongue; the training during this period made him realize the strength of the man before him.

"When did the Zerg ever call a truce with us?" Yingzhou retorted.

Ajie shrugged and did not continue the topic.

"The Zerg hunt starts tomorrow; can we survive?"

"I don't know, but I will do my best to let most people survive." Yingzhou smiled and shook his head.

That night, Yingzhou took out most of the supplies for these survivors to eat; his camp now had 231 people. With 131 people left as a margin of error for the system Task, as long as the Zerg didn't all come to cause him trouble, they should be able to hold out.

"Big Brother Yingzhou, if we can return to the Human Alliance, will they accept us?" Marie sat beside Yingzhou, asking with eyes full of anticipation.

Yingzhou sat cross-legged by the campfire, watching these survivors happily eating their food, and turned to look at Marie, "They will, after all, that is human territory. It's just that we would only be able to live in the border regions of the Human Alliance."

Yingzhou had long understood the various internal conflicts within the Human Alliance, but he was very clear that these survivors had actually done nothing wrong. As for the conflicts within the Human Alliance, let them make a fuss there; it had nothing to do with these survivors.

Every year, the Human Alliance would rescue some survivors from the slave zones of the Alien Race, and surprisingly, the probability of these survivors becoming Psionics was actually much higher than those within the Human Alliance.

It was precisely because of this reason that the Human Alliance's attitude toward these rescued survivors was fairly decent. If not for this special situation, Yingzhou even suspected that many high-level officials of the Human Alliance might directly turn them away on the grounds that these survivors would pose a security risk to the interior of the Human Alliance.

Among the crowd, Charlie's figure appeared particularly eye-catching. Compared to three months ago, his appearance had changed quite a bit.

His originally thin body, while not yet strong, had already grown visible muscle lines. Yingzhou still remembered when this guy first started training, he couldn't even keep up with the physical demands. However, his will was exceptionally firm, and he eventually succeeded in enduring those arduous training sessions.