Chapter 587: Crunchy Noodles

Xia Qing nodded. "Does Tang Zhengrong let him run?"

With a fugitive brother, can Tang Zhengrong's position as deputy base commander still be secure? Or is Tang Zhengrong planning to run with him?

The likelihood of Tang Zhengrong running with him is small, because their families and roots are all in Hui Three.

Yang Jin gave a cold laugh and gave a brief, to-the-point introduction: "Tang Zhengrong has kept himself completely clean. Of course he wants Tang Zhengsu to go to jail, so as to build up his own upright, glorious image. Tang Zhengsu appeared to accept it, and only put forward one condition: hand Sufeng over to his son Tang Rui."

"Tang Rui looks like he's living a life of wine and pleasure on the surface, but he's actually a ruthless character too. Tonight our main objective is to take out the core Sufeng members fleeing with Tang Zhengsu; the secondary objective is to take out Tang Rui. Once they're dead, Tang Zhengrong won't amount to much."

When cutting weeds, you must pull them out by the roots. Qinglong's goal is to wipe out Sufeng — killing only Tang Zhengsu simply won't do the job.

Xia Qing nodded. "Understood."

After telling Xia Qing the detailed battle plan, Yang Jin carefully instructed her: "The military and Qinglong's main force must be in the open tomorrow night, and must stay inside the inner city, otherwise Tang Zhengsu won't dare to run. Tomorrow night you'll take part in the operation as a sniper. Your mission is to make the enemy think Brother Luo has already arrived, to slow down their escape, and to hold out until Brother Luo and I lead the team over to pursue them. Victory will be ours. The core Sufeng members are all very strong in combat — don't underestimate them."

"Understood!" The core members of Hui Three's First Squad were definitely very strong in combat. Xia Qing had a clear sense of her own limits and wouldn't act rashly — otherwise she'd be the one to die. Xia Qing asked the key question: "Do we need to take Tang Zhengsu alive?"

Yang Jin gave a clear answer: "Dead. If he's alive, there are too many variables. He's currently out on bail awaiting trial — the moment he steps outside the safe zone's walls, he's a fugitive and can be shot dead in accordance with the law."

So, in order to legally kill Tang Zhengsu, they had to wait until he fled outside the safe zone before making their move.

Time was tight. Yang Jin, who still had to rush back to the safe zone overnight, stood up and extended his fist toward Xia Qing.

Xia Qing also stood up, and bumped her fist lightly against Yang Jin's.

Tomorrow night — certain victory!

At seven the next morning, Xia Qing wore her own new-material thermal underwear and snakeskin suit underneath, with Yan Ning's camouflage protective suit over the top. She shouldered her sniper rifle, climbed onto the military truck, and rode with her comrades toward the Hui Three safe zone.

There were two squads on the truck, twenty people in all. According to the personnel data Xia Qing had obtained, all twenty were Evolvers — sixteen male Evolvers and four female Evolvers — a standard operational squad with balanced abilities.

Xia Qing was now Yan Ning, a Level Five visual-evolution sniper from Squad Six. According to the combat data, Yan Ning's sniping ability was above average, her physical fitness average, and her close-combat ability also average — in short, a very ordinary sniper.

Xia Qing, currently wearing Yan Ning's skin, had above-average physical fitness, average close-combat ability, but her sniping ability was above average to good, already approaching top-tier.

If it weren't like this, she wouldn't have qualified as one of the snipers impersonating Luo Pei to confuse the enemy. The corner of Xia Qing's mouth curved up slightly.

The truck traveled along the isolation belt cutting through the northern Zone One territory, then left the territory area and passed through a vast stretch of dense Evolution Forest before entering the town ruins, which also belonged to the Evolution Forest.

Xia Qing closed her eyes and pricked up her ears, carefully listening to the sounds outside. The chatter of her comrades in the truck, the creak of wheels pressing on the snow, the howl of wind through the trees… On the snowy ground by the road, two crows were fighting a blue magpie. From the sound of it, the crows had the upper hand, cawing arrogantly, while the magpie called weakly — probably getting beaten badly and losing quite a few feathers.

A gust of wild wind swept past, carrying the sound of dead vines and rotting leaves slapping against broken walls and crumbling ruins — and… Xia Qing's eyes snapped open. The sound of someone biting into crunchy noodles!

"What's wrong? Is something happening?" The female soldier sitting across from Xia Qing was startled by her suddenly opening her eyes. The others also gripped their weapons and looked at Xia Qing.

Xia Qing gave a slight shake of her head, then hugged her rifle and closed her eyes again.

Having carried out missions together for three months, the squadmates in her squad had already grown used to Yan Ning's silence. Seeing her shake her head, they relaxed and went back to chatting.

The truck bumped through the town ruins, and Xia Qing never heard the crunch of noodles again. But she knew that one person — or rather, one adult with a child — had been inside that abandoned building just now, secretly watching the military truck.

Crunchy noodles were a kind of staple food-cum-snack with a very high price inside the safe zone. Xia Qing couldn't bear to eat them when she was in the safe zone, but she knew the sound very well, because her roommate Feng Wen loved them — her brother often bought them for her.

How did the people living in the town ruins manage to trade for food that only existed in the safe zone?

Was it food they'd snatched from Zhong Tao's patrol delivery truck half a year ago and still hadn't finished, or…

Xia Qing couldn't help but think of the brightly colored food wrapper in the trash can of her idol's office when she went to deliver New Year goods to Territory Seven yesterday.

The corner of Xia Qing's mouth curved up slightly again.

Staying inside a room and eating crunchy noodles without wearing a protective mask meant the people living in the ruins were very relaxed, and their food situation wasn't bad.

After the military truck underwent a simple inspection at the safe zone gate, Xia Qing and the others didn't even get off the vehicle before entering the safe zone, passing through the outer city and heading straight for the inner city military camp.

Xia Qing jumped off the truck with her comrades and entered the military camp. After a brief rest, they began carrying out patrol duties. Today was the thirtieth day of the twelfth lunar month — New Year's Eve — and there were far more people on the streets than usual, so the patrol duties were heavy.

By quite a coincidence, the patrol route of Xia Qing's squad had to pass through the general Evolver residential area of the outer city — the place where Xia Qing had lived for five years.

Wearing the Red Eleven Army's camouflage combat uniform and a protective mask, Xia Qing sat inside the patrol vehicle, gazing through the window at the familiar streets outside.

Festive red lanterns hung from the lamp posts on either side of the street, and the loudspeakers played cheerful songs that everyone could hum a few lines of. But the ragged people curled up by the roadside in the sun had sallow, sickly faces with no trace of joy.

Some stretched out dirty hands covered in chilblains, staring fixedly at the patrol vehicle and begging for food; some glowered darkly at the people inside the vehicle, their expressions as if all their misfortune had been caused by the people in the vehicle, as if they wanted to rush up and tear them apart; some stared up at the bright red lanterns with empty eyes, lost in some memory, tears streaming down and cutting two muddy tracks across their faces; some hid in the cold, gloomy alleys, doing things that couldn't be exposed to daylight…

This place was exactly the same as when Xia Qing had been here — not a single change.

Except that before, she had always walked through here on foot, and no matter how tired or miserable she felt, she had to keep a poker-faced red face, carrying or dragging a heavy machete on her back.

She had been robbed of supplies here, and she had also cut people down and saved people here. She had walked this road for a full five years.

The patrol vehicle moved slowly forward. Behind the iron-mesh fence wall, a six-story building with peeling, mottled walls appeared before Xia Qing's eyes. Her gaze moved upward, over the wall, and settled on the window of the third-floor outermost room — the room she had lived in for five years.