Back to the Apocalypse

translator: xiin

editors: apricot & juurensha

Zhou Yuanji quickly distributed the tasks and divided everyone into three groups based on the number of people they had. One team was assigned to the science and technology building, another team was assigned to the training grounds, and another team was responsible for the dormitory building. Zhou Yuanji’s arrangements were reasonable and logical, and as long as nothing unexpected happened, nobody would put forward any other suggestions. Although the military factory was dangerous, it was of great value to them. So even though many people had been sacrificed here before, there were still more people willing to follow in their footsteps and come to this place.

Zhou Yuanji’s eyes are bright and ambitious, and he adjusted himself to his peak state.

Everyone readied themselves for a fight and were waiting for the order to start.

The Song and Qi Families clearly also had their own ambitions during this mission and had sent over two elite teams. Before the acquisitioned goods were distributed, they would all be at least superficially working.

As for the Bai Family, they were divided into two groups. One group was headed by the Zhou Family, and the other group contained Wu Guoan’s team. Like typical wallflowers, they had little say in the team and suffered the pain of being stuck between a rock and a hard place.

"We’ll go in and act independently. No matter what the situation is, we will meet here two hours later. Everyone should be careful. Safety comes first.” Zhou Yuanji’s superficial words were very good, and most people felt very comfortable hearing this.

“Good.”

“No problem.”

Everyone handed down orders to their own subordinates. This mission was very important, and they had to reiterate how they should coordinate, what arrangements needed to be made, and what routes to take. Even if they had done the preparation, nobody was relaxed and cautiously advised their subordinates over and over again. Only Wu Guoan and his group seemed to pay no heed at all as they sat on the floor to eat and drink, appearing not even the least bit nervous.

Zhou Yuanji’s expression was dark. He endured, and endured again before bursting into anger on the spot. The gazes other people threw Wu Guoan’s group’s way weren’t pleased either, but they were eating and drinking their own provisions and hadn’t rejected the assignments they were given. There was no room for others to criticize them, so everyone else simply turned their heads away so that what they couldn’t see wouldn’t irritate them. They all wanted to wait and see how long this group could remain proud for! There were some mercenaries who had established good relations with them on the way over and seeing how leisurely they were, jealousy rose up in their hearts. This group of people was just asking for trouble!!!

“Prepare for action.” Zhou Yuanji gave the command, his cold eyes sweeping indifferently over the carefree group on the ground. He knew that if he didn’t speak up, that group of people would definitely turn a blind eye.

Everyone else also looked over. The situation currently was that they were all ready to go, but Wu Guoan and his team were still lazy and idle, sharply contrasting with everyone else on the scene.

“What?” Wu Guoan raised his head, his expression muddled, a piece of meat still inside his mouth.

“We’re about to depart. Hurry up." Zhou Yuanji forced himself to explain patiently.

Wu Guoan opened his mouth wide, and the meat fell on his shirt. He looked foolish and ignorant as he asked, "Aren’t we moving out tomorrow?"

“Who told you we’re moving tomorrow? We’re leaving now. Right now. Hurry up and assemble." Even though Zhou Yuanji had a good temper, he couldn’t help losing it at this point.

“No, we can’t do the mission today." Wu Guoan hurriedly shook his head, ignoring Zhou Yuanji’s angry words as he spoke in a self-righteous manner.

Zhou Yuanji was so angry he was trembling and immediately made an exaggerated accusation, "Are you refusing to follow the command? Or are you objecting to the orders from the base? Or are you afraid?"

Wu Guoan refused to play along and retorted, “Who says we’re not obeying orders? Isn’t it just a delay?"

Zhou Wei sneered, “If you don’t give a reason, you are disobeying military orders. According to military punishment, we can deal with you at will."

Wu Guoan grinned, then glared at the people trying to hide their laughter behind him. He felt extremely bitter; why was he the one responsible for doing all the hard work and saying bad things? He picked his nose in disdain. To tell the truth, he really looked down on this uncle and nephew pair from the Zhou Family. His potty mouth slipped out as he said, "Ohhh, the Second Young Master of the Zhou Family is really so amazing; you even managed to set up the Capital Base and can deal with people as you like. Psht. Don’t treat us like we’re motherf*cking stupid, isn’t it just that you don’t like the looks of us? What tricks do you have planned next? Bring it on and stop doing things in secret."

“You’re seeking death." Zhou Wei was in a rage, his fire abilities flaring out as he hurled a huge ball of fire at them.

“What? Are you getting angry because I spoke the truth?" Even before Wu Guoan could make a move, an ice barrier rose up in front of him.

Zhou Wei’s first blow didn’t hit its target, and his anger was inflamed. Another fireball condensed in the air as he flashed towards Wu Guoan.

“Stop it.” Zhou Yuanji hurriedly called his nephew back. His face was cold, and he was determined to deal with this group of people who didn’t know what was good for them right here and now. The Zhou Family immediately prepared to attack.

The atmosphere crackled with tension, as though it could tip into a fight with just a breath.

“Uncle.” Zhou Wei didn’t really dare to attack them face on. He gave Wu Guoan a hard glare, then retreated to stand behind Zhou Yuanji.

Song Guoxing rushed out to mediate, “Okay, stop quarrelling. We haven’t even started, and we’re already fighting amongst ourselves? What kind of people are we?"

Zhou Yuanji bit out a laugh, looked at Wu Guoan, then turned his head to look at Song Guoxing. He put on a helpless expression and didn’t answer.

Song Guoxing frowned. He had heard his third elder brother say that the Bai Family’s Young Master was worth making friends with before, but it was completely different from what he had witnessed during this journey. Young Master Bai’s team had no discipline, and Song Guoxing couldn’t imagine what kind of accomplishments such a team could have. However, since his elder brother had advised him thus, he couldn’t simply just watch on as they quarrelled. His impression of Bai Jing subconsciously turned worse as he looked at Wu Guoan with dissatisfaction, “Little Wu, speak up."

Wu Guoan was very depressed inside, but he widened his eyes and said, “I think it’s better to take action tomorrow. It’s not early anymore today, and we’ve been hurrying along for the past few days. Everyone should recover today, so we have more energy tomorrow and are more likely to successfully complete the mission."

Song Guoxing was very unhappy and felt that he’d been held in contempt as he said, “It’s only 3 PM now. We had eight hours of rest last night and two hours of break this noon."

Wu Guoan seemed to be unable to understand his sarcasm as he grinned cheerfully, "I looked at the almanac yesterday. It’s not a good idea for me to take action today. In order to reduce the number of casualties, it’s better to act tomorrow. I’m also doing this for everyone else’s sake."

Song Guoxing was really infuriated by this. He’d never seen such an unreasonable person before. None of the soldiers in his team would dare disobey orders like this.

“Whoop!” Li Ran couldn’t help laughing. He then noticed everyone’s hostile stares and quickly covered his mouth. Brother Wu was too talented. He could even come up with this kind of tall tale. What kind of era was it now, to talk about divination guides?!

No matter what Song Guoxing or the Qi and Bai Families who also took turns to speak up said, Wu Guoan continued to make use of his excellent bullsh*tting abilities. As long as anyone brought up proper matters, he simply refused to agree. If they accused him of being afraid and timid, he would righteously reply that he was willing to do the task tomorrow. If they said that he was purposely causing trouble, he had a set of lies prepared as well as reasons upon reasons and always claimed that he was doing this for everyone’s sake.

It was also impossible to really begin fighting amongst themselves. The saliva battle lasted for more than two hours. So now, there was no need to continue. The sky turned dark at 7 PM, and no action could be taken today. Everyone was so angry that their stomachs were growling, and it was just the right time to eat.

Song Guoxing swore that he had never been so angry in his life.

Unwittingly, Wu Guoan and others had become public enemy number one and provoked everyone’s anger, but who cared? Surviving this mission would make them the biggest winners.

Wu Guoan had his own plan in mind. As one of Brother Sa’s original men, he thought more deeply. Knowing that Brother Sa and Young Master Jing might be within those walls, it would be silly for them to really go in and do the mission during the day. It was obvious from a glance that Zhou Yuanji had something up his sleeve; the assignments seemed fair, but who knew if there was any danger? Others had come to the military factory before, and he didn’t believe that nobody had ever managed to bring out any news. How could Zhou Yuanji look so confident if he didn’t have some hidden cards in his hand?

All he had to do now was wait...

He believed that Brother Sa and Young Master Jing knew they were camping outside and would come to meet up with them. Everyone else in their team were also looking forward to their bosses’ arrival.

Night fell. The campfire burned bright as it flickered; the camp was divided into several factions, with Wu Guoan and others obviously isolated and left at the furthermost edge of the rear.

Nobody had any objections to this. To them, the further towards the edge the better, making it more convenient for Bai Jing and Xiao Sa when they came.

Sure enough, at around three in the morning, two extra figures appeared in their tent.

Bai Jing’s eyes swept around, and he couldn’t help the twitch of his lips. Everyone was certainly there.

Wu Guoan laughed dryly, "Brother Sa, Young Master Jing, everyone was waiting for you."

Bai Jing looked around. It was a tent big enough for 80 people, but over a hundred people were crammed inside. Weren’t they too bored, doing something like this?

Xiao Sa was expressionless as usual. He immediately found a place to sit down and said, "Enough. Let’s talk business."

Wu Guoan first went over the situation from today and received Bai Jing’s admiring glance in return, leading him to speak even more energetically as he added that he’d made Zhou Yuanqi tremble in anger and Song Guoxing snort and glare.

Bai Jing was very impressed, “Your shamelessness really knows no bounds, and you don’t feel embarrassed even after going so far. You can develop as the Minister of Foreign Affairs. In the future, shameless matters can be left for you."

Wu Guoan choked instantly, and his breath was stuck in his throat. Could that even be considered a compliment? Foreign Affairs? What was that?

The future Minister of Foreign Affairs was like a frost-bitten eggplant as he instantly withered.

Everyone in the tent laughed. It had really been a pleasure watching Wu Guoan talk nonsense today. Everyone was amused, and the laughter continued endlessly.

When everyone had laughed enough and quieted down, Xiao Sa didn’t delay any further and immediately brought up the topic at hand. He brought out a map and laid it on the ground, "This is the result of the investigations Bai Jing and I made. Take a careful look and remember it clearly."

Now that they were talking about proper affairs, nobody was in the mood to laugh anymore. Qin Lie saw through to the main point at a glance, “This is the distribution of zombies?”

Xiao Sa nodded. “Don’t go to the warehouse near the back or the fourth floor. Also, the zombies have a habit of patrolling. You guys need to remember that the zombies will definitely riot tomorrow. Take your small lives seriously, and if you see an opportunity, you can try to gain favour with the Song Family."

It was impossible to clap with one hand; Bai Jingcheng was their backing in the Capital, but if they encountered conflict, he was obviously unreliable. He Yong hadn’t risen in power yet, and he preferred to deal with the Song Family over the Qi Family. Xiao Sa refused to admit that he was being a little petty; who told the Qi Family to have plans to marry someone from the Bai Family? Even if it was an empty alliance, it still made him unhappy.