83: Chapter 83 The Thief!

The group continued driving. Not long after, they discovered scattered corpses of Mutant Ant.

Chen Ze raised his hand to put away the Big G, and the off-road vehicle instantly vanished into light, prompting everyone to immediately start collecting arrows and beast cores.

Because they had been moving while exchanging fire with the Ant Swarm, the battle line was stretched exceptionally thin, leaving ant corpses scattered everywhere, with two or three lying every few dozen meters.

Just as Chen Ze and his group turned past a residential area, they suddenly noticed something wrong.

Looking out, the ground was covered in dense trails left by the crawling ants, along with plenty of dark green bloodstains, but the corpses and arrows were gone.

"Brother Ze, I remember we came from this way, right? How come there isn't a single corpse left?"

Fatty asked, scratching his head.

Chen Ze felt suspicious as well, immediately wondering if the Ant Swarm had dragged their companions' corpses back to their nest?

But upon second thought, that didn't make sense; Mutant Ant only had the habit of transporting food and shouldn't recycle the corpses of their own kind.

He frowned and walked forward quickly, crouched down to carefully scan the ground, and instantly captured something unusual.

He saw several clear, fresh human footprints at the edge of the dark green blood. The tread patterns were distinct, and they had stepped into the blood that hadn't yet dried, clearly left not long ago.

"It wasn't the Ant Swarm; it was people."

Chen Ze's eyes suddenly darkened, and his voice turned colder.

Someone had been hiding in the shadows, taking advantage of the gap while they were away to sneak over, clean up the battlefield, and scavenge all the ant corpses and scattered crossbow bolts.

"Damn it! How dare they steal my kill; they've got guts!"

Fatty reacted instantly, his temper flaring up immediately.

They had just spent the whole way fighting off the Ant Swarm, retreating while battling, risking their lives to clear an entire battle line, only to have their supplies silently scavenged right after turning around; anyone would find that unbearable.

"Brother Ze, what should we do? I think it must be the people from these nearby Fortresses!"

Chen Ze agreed with Fatty's assessment, but to catch a thief, you need the stolen goods; he couldn't just tear down all these Fortresses and kill everyone, could he?

He looked around, didn't find any suspicious people, and then looked down at the footprints again.

He suddenly noticed that the footprints were scattered, looking like they belonged to four or five people, and they hadn't left toward any Fortress but were instead following the traces of the Ant Swarm's retreat.

"Heh, quite greedy, aren't they!"

A cold curve appeared at the corner of Chen Ze's mouth, and a flash of cold light swept through his eyes.

It wasn't enough for this group to scavenge the surroundings; they were planning to take all the spoils along the entire path, not intending to leave anything for them at all.

"Fatty! Follow me and give chase! Uncle, you stay in the car with the child; if there's danger, just leave first!"

Chen Ze spoke cleanly and decisively, without any hesitation.

Duan Linhai was just about to open his mouth to warn the two to be careful, but before the words could leave his throat, he saw Chen Ze and Fatty shift their figures and dash out over twenty meters, their speed no slower than a driving car.

He stood there dumbfounded, and after a long while, he muttered.

"Is this... is this the Boss's true strength!"

Both Chen Ze and Fatty were holding back anger, and at this moment, they didn't hold anything back, their terrifying speed fully erupting.

Gravel shattered and flew beneath their feet, dust billowed up, and the two figures raced along the broken ruins like arrows released from a bow.

"Brother Ze, those bastards won't be hiding somewhere, will they?"

Fatty asked, huffing with anger.

"Don't worry! The corpses along the way have all been collected, and the footprints are heading forward; they can't escape!"

The moment Chen Ze spoke, he stomped hard on the ground. The powerful explosive force sent gravel scattering, and his figure suddenly leaped three or four meters high, landing lightly and steadily on the roof of a Fortress.

Standing high, one can see far.

The entire area was instantly in full view. Chen Ze's gaze was as sharp as an eagle's as he quickly swept over the area ahead, and the next instant, his pupils constricted slightly.

On the open, ruin-strewn flat ground a hundred meters ahead, five figures appeared abruptly, one of whom was bending over to pick up an arrow stuck in the ground.

"Found them!"

At this moment, the five people ahead had no idea they had been locked onto by Chen Ze.

"Brother Fei! We've hit the jackpot today! Hahaha!"

A tall, thin man spoke, his face filled with irrepressible ecstasy.

"Over twenty E-grade beast cores, plus these specially made arrows; they don't look simple at all and will definitely be worth quite a few survival coins!"

"Stop talking nonsense, hurry up and collect them!"

The person speaking was the one called Brother Fei; he vigilantly observed the surroundings and spoke in a deep voice.

"Don't worry, Brother Fei. Swallow already confirmed it earlier; those Mutant Ant left long ago, why are you so nervous?"

The tall, thin man said dismissively, even taking out a beast core to fiddle with in his hand.

"Shut up! Do you think I'm afraid of those beasts? I'm afraid of the person who killed these Mutant Ant! Do you understand! You idiot!"

Brother Fei was truly angry this time.

He really couldn't understand why Liang Kun insisted on having this guy, Skinny Monkey, follow him; it was bad enough that his strength was poor, but he was also stupid as hell!

"Ow! Got it, got it! Isn't that what I'm doing right now? What are you rushing for?"

Skinny Monkey didn't care at all, silently walking toward the corpse of a Mutated Beast while muttering under his breath.

"You bastard, calling you Brother Fei is giving you face, and now you're acting all high and mighty! Once we get back to Brother Kun's Fortress, all these treasures will be my credit!"

However, just as he bent over.

"Bang!"

A dull, piercing gunshot suddenly rang out, and a bullet trailing sparks tore through the air, whistling toward them.

"Pfft!"

A precise hit!

The bullet struck Skinny Monkey's shoulder squarely, piercing straight through his flesh.

Bright red blood instantly burst out, and blood poured wildly down his shoulder, instantly soaking half his shirt.

"Ah~!"

A shrill scream rang out, and Skinny Monkey collapsed to the ground, curling up in agony like a boiled shrimp.

"My arm, ah!"

Skinny Monkey was still screaming, but the remaining four didn't even glance at him.

Everyone's mind was pinned by that gunshot, their scalps tingling and the hairs on their bodies standing on end.

It was a gun! Someone had used a gun to ambush them!

The four of them instinctively wanted to find cover, but looking around, they realized that the area for a hundred meters around was completely empty, with absolutely nowhere to hide.

They might have been targeted long ago; this open ground was chosen by the opponent on purpose!

"Come here, everyone!"

Brother Fei reacted first, and the others immediately stood back-to-back, trying their best to ensure there were no blind spots from which they could be ambushed again.

He swallowed his dry throat and shouted loudly.

"Brother, we have no grudge against each other; why resort to wounding people the moment you make a move? If there's something to discuss, can't we sit down and talk?"

As his voice fell, two figures slowly walked out from the distance.

Chen Ze held the arisaka type 38 rifle in one hand, his pace unhurried, a wisp of faint white smoke still drifting from the muzzle, his cold gaze sweeping over them.

Fatty looked full of malice, staring dead at the four people in front of him, the fire of rage in his chest almost ready to burst out.

"So it was you bastards stealing our stuff? You must have really grown some guts to dare to do this!"