Chapter 258 - Shen Que, Is There Something Wrong with This Water?
"Damn it, what's with these two beasts, why are they chasing us? We only took two crystals, big deal?"
One of the women, with her arms crossed, looked extremely impatient.
"Brother Fan, let's just kill these two. We can take them back for meat after."
The woman continued.
The man called Brother Fan looked at the plump wolf and dog in front of him and nodded. "Alright."
He had never tried wolf meat, but dog meat was something he enjoyed, and the thought of it made his gaze shift toward the eagle.
"Howl!"
"Bark! Bark! Bark!"
The malicious gleam in the two people's eyes made the animals uneasy and wary, and they charged at the pair.
One of them possessed lightning powers, while the other was skilled in fire powers.
Their strength far exceeded that of the zombies and other psionics they had faced before, putting the two animals at a disadvantage in the fight.
As Zazi dodged the wind powers, a bolt of lightning struck toward his head.
At the critical moment, Shen Que quickly threw a ball of flame, successfully blocking the lightning.
Meanwhile, Meng Ci manipulated the surrounding greenery, wrapping it around the two animals and pulling them out of the battlefield, while he courageously rushed forward.
In the blink of an eye, the four of them were engaged in a fierce brawl.
They went at each other hard, neither side backing down, making it tough to tell who would win.
However, just as the battle was heating up, an accident occurred.
Suddenly, sharp ice blades shot from all directions, targeting the four who were locked in battle.
The four quickly dodged to the side, alert to their surroundings.
"Captain Lu?" Meng Ci, seeing the newcomer, asked in surprise. "Right, I should be calling you Captain Lu now."
The newcomer was Lu Chen, dressed in an army green short-sleeve shirt and high-top boots.
Every time Meng Ci saw Lu Chen's boots, he couldn't help but wonder if his feet got hot.
"Actually, I should be calling you Captain Lu now."
Meng Ci recalled the official announcement he had seen two days ago, which commended a group of people who had made significant contributions during the apocalypse.
Lu Chen was on that list.
Although Lu Chen was currently a lieutenant, he was also serving as a deputy battalion commander.
Everyone knew it was just a matter of time before he'd be promoted to major, given his contributions over the past few years.
The man and woman, realizing Meng Ci knew the two, looked like they'd seen a ghost.
"Comrade Meng, Comrade Shen!"
After greeting Meng Ci and the others, Lu Chen turned to look at the man and woman standing nearby. He nodded slightly as a gesture of greeting.
Then, he began to inquire why the conflict had occurred between the four of them.
Meng Ci gave a concise account of what had just happened, without exaggeration or adding any false information.
As a result, when Lu Chen turned his attention to the other two, they had no choice but to reluctantly admit to the truth.
However, the woman still tried to justify their actions.
"We obtained the crystals through our own strength. If they couldn't even protect two crystals, it just shows how incompetent they are!"
The woman had initially wanted to say that Meng Ci and the others called for help because they couldn't handle the situation, but she thought better of it when she remembered that Lu Chen was a soldier.
After all, with so many zombies around, if they were expelled from the base, even if they were strong, they wouldn't be able to withstand a zombie siege.
Upon hearing this, Meng Ci rolled his eyes, having seen shameless people before, but never anyone quite this brazen.
"Captain Lu, you gotta back us up here," Meng Ci said, crossing his arms and leaning on Shen Que, before yawning.
They came out to find crystals, not to waste their powers on these kinds of people.
Lu Chen, understanding the importance of psionics, simply asked the two to hand over the crystals and give two extra to Meng Ci's group.
Unsurprisingly, the man and woman were reluctant. After all, even in a two-on-three situation, they might still have a chance.
However, just as this was happening, a team of soldiers approached.
"Brother Fan, let's just give them the stones," said one of the men.
"The base is only so big; there will be times when we'll run into them again."
An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth; revenge is a dish best served cold. As long as there was a chance to meet again, they could always get their revenge.
Brother Fan, seeing reason, tossed the four crystals to them.
Qie Zi and Xiong Ying moved forward, their bodies shifting with agility, and caught the four shimmering crystals with their sharp claws.
Then, they stood upright on their strong hind legs, displaying remarkable strength and balance as they steadily approached Meng Ci and the others.
Especially Qie Zi, who, when standing upright, was nearly as tall as an average person, and even taller than some.
While Xiong Ying was shorter, it was still significantly taller than most women.
Just then, a group of soldiers approaching from a distance spotted Xiong Ying, and a few of them immediately recognized it.
"Is that Xiong Ying?"
"It does look like it, but wasn't one of Xiong Ying's legs crippled?"
"Yes, and I remember Xiong Ying had a scar on its face, and it wasn't this big."
The dozen or so soldiers murmured among themselves.
After handing over the crystals, the man and woman quickly left, muttering under their breath.
After learning that Lu Chen and his team had come out to eliminate zombies, Meng Ci said goodbye.
About thirty minutes later, Meng Ci and Shen Que arrived at a river.
"Hey, look! There's water here."
"This water looks pretty clean. We can grab a bunch and save our points."
"Xiao Su, what are you doing?! We haven't even checked if this water's safe, so don't stick your feet in it!"
...
A group of eight—men and women—was already by the river.
Seeing the river, two of them immediately scooped up some water and started drinking it.
Others were already kicking off their shoes and socks, ready to cool off by washing their feet.
After almost ten days of rain, both surface water and groundwater had returned.
But after the zombie outbreak, the authorities warned that outside water was contaminated and banned its consumption, while jacking up the price of official water supplies.
Initially, the base residents were cautious and stocked up on water from the exchange points.
But a few days later, some psionics who ventured out found the river water looked clean and, running low on their own supplies, drank it without any problems.
Psionics and ordinary people, unwilling to waste points on water they could find anywhere, started filling their containers with the same river water.
Since the river was clear and flowing, they figured it couldn't be harmful, so they eagerly took drinks.
Meng Ci and Shen Que also parked their car and got out.
"Shen Que, do you think there's something wrong with this water?" Meng Ci asked.
"There is!" Shen Que said decisively.
Hearing this, Meng Ci also came to the riverbank, wanting to take a closer look to see if there was anything unusual.
"You drink the water upstream, and I'll wash my feet downstream, it won't affect you!"
The man called Xiao Su couldn't wait to put his feet in the water.
It had been hot these past few days, and his feet had been sweaty, so washing them would be much more comfortable.