Infinite Ebullience
Chapter 472 - 30: Spoils of War

Chapter 472: Chapter 30: Spoils of War

Tang Zheng made an attempt to grab the Thunderstorm rifle and succeeded. Without hesitation, he turned it on the Filipino group leader, disrupting his rhythm although not causing any substantial damage.

The group leader found himself in a heap of trouble, disrupted by the Rabbit Explosives blinding him and the unnerving countdown. Despite his muddle, years of Survival Game experience kicked in, and with a sidestep, he managed to shoot and hit the general. A blue Cannon Beam burst forth, completely destroying half of the general’s head.

The headless general, after landing its last Warhammer blow, stood eerily still on the battlefield like a millennia-old statue.

This was the first time the general had fallen in battle. It left Tang Zheng feeling downhearted. He had discovered the general’s weakness. Against firearms, even if they couldn’t penetrate his heart, he was somewhat powerless.

However, there was some consolation. The Filipino group leader, who had dealt the lethal blow to the general, had not even had the chance to celebrate when the countdown ended. The Rabbit Explosives detonated, blowing his head off. His headless corpse fell into a pool of blood, caught in a rain of brain pulp and blood.

"Big harvest!" Thought Tang Zheng with a smug grin. The strong conquerors do live large. He picked up the Thunderstorm, Magnetic Storm, and a Gauss Sniper Rifle, especially delighted at the sight of the Russian special product, the Space Wristwatch, on the dead group leader’s wrist.

He took out a Nanomechanical Injection and inserted the needle into his neck muscle, slowly pushing the medicinal liquid into his body. Tang Zheng finally felt less pain. His rib injury should be healed in about five hours.

Tang Zheng, while hacking the wristwatch, searched the bodies of the fallen enemies. The body of the Filipino woman felt quite touchable, but he had no interest in the corpse of a woman, even one whose body heat had not yet disappeared completely. He deposed of her protective clothing and the Space Backpack and left. A proper burial for her? Sorry, even that seemed too much to ask.

Walking over to the body of Gao Wei, Tang Zheng sighed. The man had been battered beyond recognition and no proper rites had been performed. He collected his spoils of war and headed back to the fort.

The two women who had been anxiously observing the battle from the fort immediately rushed out to meet him. Li Muqing took the initiative to console Tang Zheng. But Li Meilian beat her to it, subtly nudging her in the side as she exited the door, causing Li Muqing to fall behind.

Without giving Tang Zheng a chance to refuse, Li Meilian threw herself into his arms. Being a candidate in a model contest and ranking in the top sixteen, Li Meilian was quite tall and willowy. She tilted her head up and planted a kiss on his lips, her tongue trying to part his lips.

"Hey, that’s enough," Li Muqing said whilst pulling her away. She couldn’t tolerate the thought of losing what was rightfully hers.

"My ribs are broken, you know?" Tang Zheng pushed Li Meilian away and entered the fort without a trace of emotion on his face. He put the spoils of war he was carrying on the ground.

"Group Leader, are you mad at me for not joining the battle just now?" An Ping asked, with his head lowered, still watching over his disabled brother. "That was the battle of conquerors. Dying pointlessly in there wouldn’t do any good."

The two women glanced at each other and fell silent, avoiding Tang Zheng’s gaze for fear of being held accountable.

"A little," Tang Zheng said. During the battle, he hadn’t paid much attention to it, but now, having survived the encounter, he felt slightly annoyed. These people might not have been able to help, but they could have served as bait and diverted some of the enemy’s attention. Of course, Tang Zheng would not have the heart to send a woman with whom he had just slept and a brother who was looking after his disabled younger brother to their deaths.

"Learn to be more observant in the future. An Ping, I understand your fear for your brother’s safety, and that’s perfectly fine. But if you want others to make sacrifices, you have to prove your sincerity." Seeing that Li Meilian was about to say something, Tang Zheng waved her off. "You’re not powerful enough, but that doesn’t mean I’m asking you to throw away your lives. All you need to do is show yourselves outside the fort, fire a few shots, and it would be enough to keep the enemy guessing. That hesitation could provide me with an opportunity to attack."

"We’re sorry. We understand." Both women apologized with their heads bowed, breathing a sigh of relief. The fact that Tang Zheng had spoken in such a manner indicated that he considered them part of his own team.

An Ping too promised to be cautious next time.

Tang Zheng didn’t really care. Unless these people showed outstanding performance, he wouldn’t divert his attention to help them again. If they died, it only meant they were unfortunate. His lecture was mainly to soothe their worries to maintain team harmony. If he said that he had absolutely no intention of sending them into the front lines to attract enemy fire, that would be a lie.

"Can’t you put in a bit more effort?" Tang Zheng muttered, taking out an iron shovel and throwing it on the ground, "Li Muqing, go and tidy up Gao Wei’s body. Bury him."

"Why me again?" Li Muqing was speechless, completely not understanding that Tang Zheng was trying to toughen her up. The more she saw gruesome scenes, the stronger her resilience would become.

"I’ll go." Li Meilian was sincere and anxious. Now her proud expression had disappeared, wanting to show some value.

"Whatever." Couldn’t be bothered with these two women, Tang Zheng, after cracking the wristwatch, found out that he had struck it rich: besides the Gauss sniper rifle, he had over three hundred rounds of Cannon Beam Bullets, even various electromagnetic bullets. These were worth five hundred points worth of supplies, enough for Tang Zheng to hold out for two games. The remaining supplies were countless. Just like Tang Zheng, the dead Philippine team leader had crammed his space wristwatch, leaving no room to spare, naturally benefiting him. Of course, if Tang Zheng died, it would also make whoever found his wristwatch beam with joy.

The other two space backpacks had similar items. The stored Thunderstorm and Magnetic Storm ammo clips could make Tang Zheng break out into a smile in his dreams. Besides, there was also a total of one golden seed, two silvers and one bronze. Obviously, the Philippine Trojan Squad were survivors who didn’t like hoarding seeds.

"There are actually two unused Blink Cards left." While being happy, Tang Zheng also sighed a little, the cooldown time for this thing really was long. In one battle, there would only be one chance to use it. However, the wristwatch can be given to the newbie worth training, saving some would be good.

An Ping looked at Tang Zheng counting various spoils of war with envy. After a while, the two women with stained hands came back. Li Meilian was a bit better, Li Muqing’s face however was already pale, which was quite scary. She looked at Tang Zheng timidly. She had seen those enemies’ corpses, they died horribly.

"I’m going to go back to my own fort." Having confirmed there was nothing else, Tang Zheng once again checked An Ning’s injuries.

"Why not stay?" An Ping was astonished. Li Meilian didn’t understand, while Li Muqing was hoping for it.

"There’s no pattern to when the punishment troops appear. So many of us gathered together, when that high-schooler returns, there won’t just be two or three kittens." Thinking about having to fight a dozen high-school girls solo, Tang Zheng felt a bit of a headache. But he still comforted them, "Don’t worry, if the beastmen attack, I’m definitely retreating back this way."

"You guys rest up." Tang Zheng put away the spoils of war, not caring about An Ping’s invitation, and left the fort. Tonight had another piece of good news. Because he had wiped out the Philippine Trojan Squad, he could retrieve more supplies from the wristwatch, though it was still limited, but it didn’t affect daily sustenance and combat.

"I’ll go with you." Li Meilian glanced at the An brothers, with Tang Zheng, naturally she would not stay with these burdens.

Under Li Muqing’s unwilling gaze, the three of them returned to the frontline fort. Tang Zheng would indeed feel quite uncomfortable; after making and eating a late-night meal, he took a bottle of mineral water and went to see the wildflower, lying on the ground for a full half an hour.

Enjoying the piping hot canned beef, Li Meilian sighed in satisfaction, inevitably feeling that it was more comfortable with Tang Zheng.

As a person, it was inevitable to have a little selfishness, let alone he had taken advantage of her, so Tang Zheng gave the task of the night-watch to Li Meilian, changing in two-to-one shifts.

Li Meilian pouted her mouth, and didn’t even dare argue, fearing she’d be kicked out.

Tang Zheng thought about giving Li Muqing a seed to stimulate her Ability, but considering the side effects of sleeping for 12 hours, he dropped the idea. In case beastmen attacked mid-way, what would he do? Fight while carrying her on his back?

The morning sun warmed the earth with its sunlight, the fort felt somewhat gloomy due to the absence of windows. Tang Zheng wrapped up in a blanket, intending to keep sleeping, but then he noticed Li Meilian laying next to him.

"She is sleeping soundly. She won’t hear anything we do." Of course, Li Meilian wouldn’t tell Tang Zheng that she had knocked the woman out while she was dozing on her night-watch, causing her to pass out.

"Lower her image in Tang Zheng’s heart, and also be able to enjoy him, it’s like killing two birds with one stone." Li Meilian was quite determined. She wasn’t stupid, she could feel Tang Zheng’s extra care for Li Muqing. As for the reason, she understood. Wasn’t it just rolling in the sheets? She was also a beautiful woman, capable of pleasing men!