Infinite Ebullience
Chapter 228 - 47 - Dilemma

Chapter 228: Chapter 47 - Dilemma

"Tang Zheng, is Ai Li injured?" Seeing Chikashima Airi carried on Tang Zheng’s shoulder, Pang Meiqin breathed a sigh of relief quietly. As for Liu Nai’s vital status, she didn’t particularly care, even though it was a matter of life and death for Tang Zheng and the others.

Li Xinlan rejected Pang Meiqin’s goodwill and looked dejectedly at Tang Zheng, "I’m sorry. I couldn’t protect Liu Nai properly. She was captured."

Pang Meiqin felt slightly awkward. Fortunately, she was wearing a gas mask and didn’t have to worry about her facial expressions betraying her thoughts, or her awkwardness could have disappointed Tang Zheng. Therefore, she quickly came up with a solution, "We must come up with a way to get Liu Nai back."

Tang Zheng couldn’t find any excuse to console them. Or rather, he couldn’t suppress the raging anger in his heart.

He knew they couldn’t protect Ai Li. After all, among the group, only he and Yin Shangwu were the strongest. If he let his team members assist, they would definitely be reluctant, so he had to swap places. One for three, to make up for the gap in strength. He thought that himself, combined with Yin Shangwu, could handle any crisis. But he didn’t expect it to fail so miserably.

Looking at the fainted idiots lying on the floor, Tang Zheng’s face turned iron blue with rage when he thought of the severe consequences of losing Liu Nai and the dangers they would face during the battle. He glanced at Zhang Hao, who was asleep, and without saying a word, stomped on his face.

Two teeth spat out with blood, and the boy was still unconscious.

"We made a lot of noise, someone will surely call the police. Let’s leave first." Noticing that no one had died, Tang Zheng expressed a mixed feeling. Then, he bent down to pick up Bai Guo, "Find a villa 100 meters away to settle for the moment."

One minute later, Tang Zheng returned and tasked the unharmed Pang Meiqin with taking care of the unconscious. He searched the battlefield in the living room on his own.

Across from the stairs, a Russian man was lying down with his head blasted to the state of rotten watermelon. Judging from his level A protective clothing and ability to use the seed ability, he was no newbie. However, upon decrypting his wristwatch, it turned out to be a standard model with nothing of value, just a few guns and hand grenades. As for the man upstairs, he had been blown to pieces by a hand grenade and was merely a newbie wearing primary protective clothing and holding an AK74. He didn’t even have a wristwatch.

Yin Shangwu also killed two Russian men, one was shot in the head, and the other was beheaded with a Tang sword. However, what’s the point? Liu Nai was still missing.

After thoroughly checking the situation, Tang Zheng returned to the temporary residence, finding everyone else awake and sitting in the living room waiting for him. Meanwhile, Pang Meiqin and Zhang Lanyu were blaming each other for the incident.

"What’s going on, Yin Shang Wu? You usually act so tough, but turned out to be useless in the end. There were four of you together, yet you still lost Liu Nai. So what if you killed two invaders? It’s only because others were attracting attacks for you." Zhang Lanyu was infuriated. Why was it Liu Nai who was kidnapped? Every time she saw the comfort and feigned worry in Pang Meiqin’s eyes, she wanted to tear her face apart.

"Tang Zheng alone not only protected Liu Nai but also killed two invaders. This is the gap. We shouldn’t have changed the target girl. You guys are just dragging him down." Pang Meiqin hid her smugness at getting the advantage and blamed Li Xinlan and Qin Yan, hoping to make Tang Zheng disgusted with them.

"Hum, at least we fought. Not like you, laying down pretending to be dead." Li Xinlan could no longer bear it. Feeling very guilty, she exploded with anger when Pang Meiqin said this.

"You’re the one playing dead. I was fighting back while lying on the ground, okay? I emptied an entire clip, which is better than the silly Zhang Hao who fainted immediately." Pang Meiqin argued with a poker face. That clip was purely fired haphazardly because she was scared of being attacked. She should be grateful that it didn’t hurt her teammates.

"Ha, how would I know that the enemy would use biochemical gas to attack? There’s nothing I could do, okay?" Zhang Hao also felt wronged. He had the ability but didn’t get to use it. "Otherwise, I too could have killed a few invaders."

"Well, why didn’t you prepare a gas mask? Whose fault is that?" When Pang Meiqin thought of the props that Tang Zheng had suggested they buy, which she originally thought they had overspent on, she was glad they came in handy.

"That’s because you guys formed cliques and excluded others. I don’t believe that you fools could be so well prepared. It must be Tang Zheng’s suggestion, why didn’t he remind me?" Zhang Hao protested, standing up with his neck out straight and shouting.

"We’re not your mother. Why should we tell you? Also, before you start complaining, think about your own annoying behavior." Pang Meiqin scoffed, feeling pleased with herself. "By the way, if it weren’t for our counterattack, you’d probably have had your head exploded by now. It’s not hard to deal with a dead pig anyway."

"You..." Zhang Hao stood up in a huff, ready to fight.

"Enough. Everyone shut up." Tang Zheng yelled. If these two had the energy to argue, it was because their target girls were safe. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have the mood to argue.

The shout from Tang Zheng silenced everyone. They could all tell that he was in a bad mood and didn’t dare to continue their chatter. Even their breathing became much softer.

"Uncle, what do we do next?" Lu Fan felt quite helpless about the sudden incident. He was young and unprepared, so he had to leave his fate up to luck. The feeling was simply terrible.

"Go chase them! What’s the use of just standing here?" Li Yuanhang started to deliberately steer the conversation, creating an opportunity for himself to escape.

"That’s easier said than done. Where would we even start? You haven’t even seen what they look like." Pang Meiqin dismissively looked at him, then quickly covered her mouth and worriedly looked at Tang Zheng.

"This one’s on me." Having failed to install a tracker on the girl’s equipment and failing to perfectly handle this ambush, Tang Zheng felt despondent. He fell back onto the sofa, tilting his head back and staring blankly at the ceiling light.

"Tang Zheng, you’ve done well so far." Ai Li sat next to Tang Zheng, grasping his hand. She knew she wasn’t the real target of Tang Zheng’s protection, so she was happy being near him.

"I’m going back to the room. This is so boring." Zhang Lanyu, leaning against the wall, kicked it and then stormed off to the second floor, cursing along the way.

"Wait." Tang Zheng furrowed his brow, looking at everyone.

"What?" Zhang Lanyu was unnerved, her tone becoming sharper.

"Go take a bath. A thorough one." The moment those words left Tang Zheng’s mouth, everyone was left stunned. Zhang Hao and the policeman were lost for words. Only the four flight attendants remained impassive.

"What did you say? I’m not easy!" Zhang Lanyu reacted as though she stepped on a cat’s tail, shouting in protest to maintain her decency, but inwardly she was more than willing. She even sent Pang Meiqin a defiant look.

"What are you talking about? How could Tang Zheng be that kind of person?" Ai Li was upset. Even after all the protection Tang Zheng had provided, they still doubted him.

"What do you mean ’easy’? After taking a bath, burn your clothes too. Everyone has to do this. I’m not giving the enemy any chances to spy on us."

"I see now. But will this be enough? They probably stopped watching us, right? After all, they already have Liu Nai." Qin Yan finished bandaging her arm wound and started pondering their next steps.

"No, on the contrary, given the careful demeanor of the enemy’s commander, he will certainly keep an eye on us until the mission ends. Besides, isn’t Ai Li still here? They will definitely attack again. This is our last chance." Tang Zheng swallowed these words. He knew that burning clothes might not help at all, but it might give the enemy the impression that he was trying to find their weaknesses and lower their vigilance. If they did nothing, it would raise suspicion.

"But if they really retreated and couldn’t find us, what then? Do we rely on the duration of the mission to decide the outcome?" Tang Zheng ignored the others, falling deep into his thoughts. "And what about Yin Shangwu’s situation? Theoretically, she shouldn’t be that weak. She killed two invaders but couldn’t protect Liu Nai? This is just too strange. Was she only interested in killing?"

Suppressing the urge to observe Yin Shangwu, Tang Zheng got up and walked toward the stairs. "I need some time alone. No one disturbs me."

"Alright, everyone do as Tang Zheng said. Zhang Hao and the policeman stay on guard. Those of you who are free can rest now." After clapping her hands to get everyone’s attention, Qin Yan saw Zhang Hao looking dissatisfied and said, "If you’re injured too, you can go upstairs and rest."

"Fine." Zhang Hao didn’t bother arguing, considering whether he should sneak out for a bit of fun. After all, Liu Nai was the one who was lost, not him.

"Judging from the enemy’s attack, it seems the Russian team isn’t quite united either." After entering his room, Tang Zheng took out a piece of A4 paper and started writing and drawing on it.

Meanwhile, the captured Liu Nai was dragged into the bathroom by Yelena. She was forced to take a bath, and even her clothes and jewelry were taken away and disposed of.

"Let me go. I want to go home." Liu Nai fiercely resisted, but the Russian woman in front of her was too powerful, dislocating her shoulder easily.

"Don’t worry, we’re only protecting you for a month, then everyone can go home." Yelena, a voluptuous woman with fair skin, stood under the showerhead, enjoying the warm water while persuading Liu Nai. "As to why we’re doing this, you should have heard it from the Chinese team. I hope you cooperate."

The defiant Liu Nai, sweating profusely from the pain, was about to retort when she was cut off.

"Don’t force us to be rough. The men out there won’t be as gentle as the Chinese. We only need you to be alive in a month, so if you don’t want to suffer something inhuman, you’d better stay quiet." Yelena narcissistically caressed her ample chest, her mind wandering to how the leader named Tang Zheng would face this predicament.

Liu Nai’s face fell with disappointment. She didn’t hold out much hope. Even if Tang Zheng was a god, there’s no way he could find her without any information. (To be continued. If you like this work, please vote for it on qidian.com. Your support is my greatest motivation.)