Chapter 20: A Pickup Job Turns into a Search Mission!
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Upon hearing this, Luo Shan frowned. “So, what you’re saying is, our mission isn’t to ‘find someone,’ but rather to pick someone up?”
“Just go to the designated location and bring them back?”
Zhang Peng nodded. “Exactly! What else did you think it was?”
Luo Shan had thought they would be searching everywhere, with an exciting and perilous process.
But now it seemed...
They were simply going out to see the world a bit, then heading straight back home?
Sigh...
Though the task was much simpler than he had imagined, he couldn’t help but feel a bit disappointed.
Sitting in the passenger seat, Jiang Yi, however, felt this mission was probably not so simple.
If it was merely about picking someone up at a designated spot, then the credit should undoubtedly go to Liao Yuanfeng.
In his previous life, Luo Shan would not have owed Zhou Yiming a life-saving debt.
Sure enough, Jiang Yi’s intuition was correct—
About half an hour later, the convoy led by Liao Yuanfeng stopped at a commercial street.
He flipped out a compass, whose needle pointed directly at this street.
Since vehicles couldn’t pass through here, he called for the daredevil squad members to all get off the vehicles.
As Luo Shan stepped down, a choking smoky smell greeted him, causing him to frown and mutter, “What’s burning?”
Liao Yuanfeng glanced at him and explained proactively, “It’s beast-repelling incense.”
“With this scent around us, fierce beasts generally won’t come near.”
“Remember, the smell of beast-repelling incense is a burnt smoky odor. If one day you smell a cool, minty fragrance, then be careful.”
“Because there’s also a beast-attracting incense with a fresh mint scent.”
Luo Shan gained some knowledge immediately and nodded repeatedly in thanks.
Liao Yuanfeng was down-to-earth and reminded the team loudly, “Everyone, stay sharp!”
“Even though we have beast-repelling incense, that doesn’t mean we won’t face danger!”
“The wilderness is chaotic! Far from as safe as our club base!”
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“There are fierce beasts unaffected by the incense and human beings with ill intentions, any of whom could take you out at any moment!”
Liao Yuanfeng’s voice was quite serious.
Naturally, the daredevil squad members sharpened their focus to the utmost.
Then, Liao Yuanfeng arranged a formation and led the group toward the shop indicated by the compass.
In this post-apocalyptic world, the state of the shops was drastically different from before the catastrophe.
Some shops had their doors wide open, revealing a scene of utter chaos inside.
Some even had human corpses or beast remains lying conspicuously.
The air was thick with the stench of blood and rot.
The shop pointed to by Liao Yuanfeng’s compass had its iron door firmly shut.
Outside the door lay a pile of putrid flesh, indistinguishable as human or beast remains.
A long-lived tumor worm was slowly crawling toward the decayed meat.
Yes, the long-lived tumor worm.
This post-apocalyptic game also had a fierce beast called the “long-lived tumor worm.”
They looked ugly and bloated, feeding on rotting flesh but were completely non-aggressive, ranking at the bottom of the fierce beast hierarchy.
Humans used “long-lived tumor worm” as a metaphor for the lowest-class useless individuals.
Since these worms posed no threat, Liao Yuanfeng didn’t even bother dealing with them.
He held the compass and approached the locked iron door.
After confirming the compass location once more, he knocked several times and called out:
“Zhou Yiming? Zhou Yiming, are you inside?”
“I’m Liao Yuanfeng from the Joy Club! Wang Xueyan sent me to rescue you! If you hear me, open the door and come back to the club!”
“If you don’t open up, I’m breaking in!”
However, after knocking for about two minutes, there was no response from inside.
Frowning, Liao Yuanfeng took a few steps back and whispered to the daredevil squad, “Get ready to break in. It could be dangerous. Everyone stay alert.”
The squad members tensed up, gripping their weapons tightly.
Luo Shan directly raised his compound bow, aiming at the iron door.
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Yet, before Liao Yuanfeng could force the door open, it suddenly swung open.
There really was someone inside!
Three young men stood behind the door, clutching weapons.
They looked very nervous, seemingly ready for a fierce battle.
But upon seeing the posture outside, their faces instantly turned pale, and without resisting, they dropped their weapons and raised their hands in surrender.
“B-Boss! Bosses, calm down! We’re human! We mean no harm! Let’s talk this through!”
Clearly, these three were sensible enough to know when to yield.
This was why Liao Yuanfeng brought extra manpower.
After all, in this post-apocalyptic environment, ordinary people instinctively believe that strength lies in numbers.
Liao Yuanfeng’s expression was cold and sharp as he scanned the three briefly before frowning.
“Just the three of you? Where’s Zhou Yiming?”
“W-What Zhou Yiming?” One of the rough-looking youths stammered nervously.
Another, more shrewd-looking, asked methodically, “Zhou Yiming? You mean that pre-apocalypse top celebrity, Zhou Yiming?”
Liao Yuanfeng nodded.
The shrewd youth shook his head. “There’s no such person here.”
“Nonsense!” Liao Yuanfeng barked angrily, holding up the compass. “I came here based on this! Zhou Yiming’s locator compass clearly shows he’s inside this shop!”
“Locator compass?” The shrewd youth rolled his eyes and pulled a compass from his own pocket. “Is it this thing?”
Liao Yuanfeng snatched the compass from him, his face darkening. “How did you get this? Where’s Zhou Yiming?!”
Jiang Yi immediately understood from this scene—
Sure enough, the locator compass had been found, but Zhou Yiming was nowhere to be seen!
From now on, the mission to pick someone up was about to turn into a mission to find someone!