Chapter 50: Intrusion

Seeing that no one raised any objections, Hao Zhou continued, "Good. I hope we can cooperate sincerely in the upcoming action, complete the mission smoothly, collect the bounty, and then go our separate ways."

"For the sake of effective cooperation moving forward, please introduce your individual talents now."

The group looked at one another.

"I'll go first," Sister Li said. "I possess an S-grade support talent. I can create a perception barrier with a maximum radius of 5 meters."

"The barrier can shield everything within it from the perception of external organisms."

"While in the shielded state, even if zombies see us, they won't perceive us as living humans and won't launch an attack."

"Sorry to interrupt," Hao Zhou asked, "Does that include mutated zombies?"

"Yes, the barrier is still effective against Tier 1 mutated zombies. As for higher-level mutated zombies, I haven't had the chance to test them yet, so I can't say for certain."

Hao Zhou nodded, indicating he understood.

It was then the turn of the brothers, Kunba and Kunta.

The elder, Kunba, spoke in slightly stiff Chinese.

"The two of us have practiced martial arts since childhood. After entering the game, we also obtained talent skills related to Martial Arts Mastery. We can increase the power of our strikes for a period of time, which is very effective against ordinary zombies."

As he spoke, Kunba slammed a fist into a nearby large tree.

*Thud!*

A dull sound echoed.

The tree swayed, shedding over a dozen leaves. A deep fist print was left in the trunk.

"Once we equip Iron Armguards, the power can be further enhanced."

Hao Zhou looked toward the last person, Fang Heng.

"Your turn."

Fang Heng pondered for a moment.

The others in the squad had some level of skill, so it was necessary for him to show his hand as well.

Fang Heng pulled the Butcher's Cleaver from his backpack.

The others watched him in silence. They could tell that this cleaver was very heavy.

"I won't go into detail about my talent; it's a support type and cannot be used in combat."

"As for combat, my character attributes are quite high, and my equipment is decent."

The group fell into immediate silence.

Decent equipment? High character attributes?

What kind of self-introduction was this? Why did it sound so much like bragging?

Seeing the skeptical looks on their faces, Fang Heng couldn't help but swing the large blade a few times in the air before displaying the attributes of the Butcher's Cleaver to everyone.

"You can check the stats."

Excellent-grade equipment!

Such high damage!

The attached skills were also near perfect.

The only flaw was the equipment requirement, which was the weapon's biggest drawback.

The looks the others gave Fang Heng changed instantly.

The value of this cleaver itself was quite high, with a selling price of at least 5,000 Survival Points.

In that case, his previous claim of having decent equipment wasn't actually bragging.

Furthermore, equipping the cleaver required 9.5 Strength and 8.5 Constitution.

The fact that he could equip this blade meant his attributes were indeed much higher than those of an ordinary player...

What level was he? His attributes had already reached the requirements for a cleaver?

By deduction, his talent must be some kind of attribute buff.

No one spoke, everyone making silent guesses in their minds.

Hao Zhou began to estimate the overall strength of the squad.

At first glance, Fang Heng and the Kunba brothers were both primary damage dealers specializing in combat.

Sister Li leaned more toward logistics and support.

"If there are no issues, we can now have the Federation personnel notarize this."

Once the discussion was finished, Old Black led everyone back to the warehouse.

He spent 500 Survival Points to complete the notarization with the Federation notary and even transferred 150 Main God Points to the official in advance.

This way, Fang Heng could go directly to the Federation staff to claim the mission rewards upon completion.

"Good luck. I will wait here for your safe return."

...

With preparations complete, Hao Zhou led the squad to a small hill east of Hope Town.

From here, they could see a large crowd of zombies gathered within the town in the distance.

The zombie density was very high.

Hao Zhou spread out the map he had prepared earlier.

"I checked earlier. The number of zombies is lowest from this eastern direction. After invading the town, we only need to turn through seven intersections to reach the community hospital."

Sister Li frowned and asked, "Calculating at a normal person's jogging speed, how long will it take to reach the hospital?"

Hao Zhou estimated for a moment and replied, "A little less than ten minutes."

"Releasing the barrier consumes mental strength. With my current ability, I can maintain it for ten minutes at most, after which I will need at least two hours to fully recover my mental strength."

Kunba urged, "The timing is perfect. Let's move."

"No, there's not enough time. We have to account for the time spent breaking into the hospital, and we might get entangled by mutated zombies along the way or have to clear out zombies blocking the path. All of these will delay us..."

Fang Heng took a bite of an Oreo cookie, listening to the discussion without offering an opinion.

A moment later, the leader, Hao Zhou, formulated a plan.

He used the small explosives he had obtained earlier to topple the mayor's statue at the town entrance not far away.

The falling statue would crash into the adjacent buildings.

The resulting explosion and impact would create massive noise.

The noise would draw the zombies away, once again reducing the number of zombies gathered at the eastern entrance of the town.

Then, they would force their way in.

They would try to gain as much as 3 to 4 minutes of time before Sister Li activated the perception barrier.

Once confirmed, the plan would be executed!

Ten minutes later.

*BOOM!!!*

The pre-set explosives detonated.

The falling statue slammed into the building, letting out a violent roar.

Not far from the town entrance, Fang Heng was using a whetstone to increase his weapon's attack power.

He faintly felt the ground beneath his feet tremble slightly.

"That's a bit excessive..."

The other members of the squad had similar expressions.

Hao Zhou gave a self-satisfied smile.

"I forgot to mention during introductions—I was in the demolition squad during my service."

*You really are something else!*

The massive sound attracted the zombies within the town, and they began moving toward the direction of the statue.

"Go!"

Taking advantage of the gap created by the zombies being drawn away, the five members of the squad gathered and rushed into the town.

Sensing the scent of humans, the zombies remaining in the town swarmed toward Fang Heng and the others.

Fortunately, zombies moved relatively slowly during the day.

The group jogged along the way.

Hao Zhou led the way at the front, trying to avoid being surrounded by zombies, only fighting back when it was absolutely unavoidable.

After equipping the armguards, the strength of the Kunba brothers had increased further.

The two of them protected the flanks, killing a zombie with just a few punches.

Fang Heng guarded the rear of the group, a large cleaver gripped in his hand.

*Slash!*

A direct strike!

Blood splattered as a zombie rushing from the right was sliced completely in half by the cleaver.

[Prompt: Your attack caused the 'Dismemberment' effect.]

[Prompt: You killed a zombie. You gained 2 Survival Points.]

[Prompt: Your attack caused the 'Dismemberment' effect.]

[Prompt: You killed a zombie. You gained 2 Survival Points.]

[Prompt: Your attack caused the 'Dismemberment' effect.]

[Prompt: You killed a zombie. You gained...]

(End of Chapter)