Chapter 264: A Bountiful Harvest

...

...

On the other side!

A golden light abruptly appeared at the edge of the rocky beach, then suddenly dissipated!

Several figures fell from half a meter in the air, stumbling as they stepped onto solid ground...

As soon as Song Xingmian steadied herself, her gaze swept over the familiar faces beside her,

Han Cheng, Chen Muqing, Zhang Lieyang, Xu Yuanzhou...

Only Lu Heng was missing!

She bit her lip and grabbed Han Cheng by the collar: "Han Cheng! What are you doing! Who gave you permission to activate the teleportation talisman on your own? I said to bring everyone!!!"

"Lu Heng is still over there! You left him alone on the battlefield against dozens of Awakened! How do you expect an injured person to survive! Tell me!"

Han Cheng gently pushed Song Xingmian away!

"Mianmian, calm down!"

He shook his head and spoke seriously: "This is called selective sacrifice! From the moment he and that jelly entered the dungeon until now, aside from blocking a few attacks, his contribution to the team has been almost zero. His only use was to delay the pursuers and buy us time!"

"Shut up!"

Song Xingmian stumbled back a step, "You are the person least qualified to judge him!"

Han Cheng was stung by her words.

He had intended to endure it.

But Song Xingmian actually staggered as she prepared to head back.

Han Cheng grabbed her: "Song Xingmian, have you lost your mind? He's just an ordinary S-Rank Talent holder, is it really necessary for you to value him this much?!"

Song Xingmian shook off his hand: "It's worth it! I'm going back!"

Zhang Lieyang followed silently, asking nothing else...

Chen Muqing, however, had a grim expression; he was starting to find things incomprehensible.

What exactly was Lu Heng doing?

He clearly should have had great strength, right?

Otherwise, Officer Zhou wouldn't have chosen him!

Then why was he hit by that ice spike?

He didn't even get up for the longest time, giving Han Cheng the opportunity to isolate him?

Chen Muqing suddenly felt helpless...

He completely couldn't see through this ally's thoughts!

He also didn't know how that guy was doing now!

"Whoever takes another step forward!"

"I will kill..."

Han Cheng's voice suddenly came from behind, sounding sinister.

The ghost head blade appeared in his hand.

Purple resentment seeped out in strands from the gaps in the scabbard.

Song Xingmian turned around, "Han Cheng, are you going to draw your blade against me?"

"I won't draw my blade against you, but I will kill anyone else who plans to throw their life away."

Han Cheng's gaze crossed her shoulder, falling on Zhang Lieyang, who stood silently behind her.

Zhang Lieyang slowly stepped out: "If Miss Song is certain about going to save him, I'm willing to have a little spar with Captain Han..."

Han Cheng narrowed his eyes: "Mianmian, I know you have life-saving items on you, but the opposition consists of three top-tier teams and three SSS-Rank combat Talents!"

"What if I say I must go?"

Song Xingmian was hell-bent on her course!

She took a deep breath: "If Lu Heng dies on the island, it's because you deliberately excluded him from the coverage area when you activated the teleportation talisman!"

"I have already recorded this fact truthfully!"

Han Cheng's voice suddenly rose: "Record it! Go ahead and record it!"

His voice was loud and self-righteous: "As the captain, in the final evacuation window, I chose to take away all the main forces who could continue fighting. What's wrong with that?!"

"Lu Heng was already heavily injured, had the lowest Talent level, and offered almost no benefit to the subsequent mission!"

"Add another sentence! Song Xingmian requested to return for a rescue but was overruled by the captain! The reason being her strategic value far exceeds the rescue target, and mission objectives cannot be compromised for personal feelings!"

"Whose side do you think the Military District's tribunal will take?!"

Han Cheng took a step forward, his tone having regained its calm: "If you go back now, you'll not only waste the time he bought for you, but you'll also make his sacrifice completely meaningless."

"Do you think he wants you to go back and die?"

Song Xingmian's expression froze.

Only then did Han Cheng turn around: "Everyone, get on the boat! Lu Heng is dead; staying any longer is meaningless. We still need to find the tide needle. Completing the mission he failed to finish is the best way to honor him!"

The boat was pushed from the edge of the rocky beach back into the water.

The oars sliced into the iron-gray sea, sending out circles of fine ripples.

Chen Muqing sat by the gunwale and looked back: 'Lu Heng, if you're dead, Officer Zhou's mission is a complete failure... After all, I can't kill a guy like Han Cheng...'

He shook his head slightly, then picked up an oar and began to row.

...

...

In the distance, on the island, it was silent.

There were no other living people left on the island.

Thirty corpses,

In various directions and postures.

Some were face up, some were face down on the rocks, and some were embedded in ice walls.

Blood meandered across the ground.

The thick smell of blood was a bit choking even for Chen Yu, the perpetrator.

He stood in the center of the pile of corpses, covered in blood.

He was forced to take off his military uniform and change into a familiar set of black windbreaker gear.

After doing all this,

He finally took off the demon-slaying gloves and began to absorb them one by one.

This wasn't just simple absorption;

He also had to carefully search every corpse to see if they had any portable items.

Actually, the best way just now would have been to threaten them into handing over the resources in their spatial storage.

That way, even if most would rather die than submit,

A small handful of those afraid to die would have been enough...

But facing thirty top-tier Awakened, Chen Yu didn't dare to be overconfident. In the apocalypse, those who die are often the aggressive, hyper-masculine types.

And Chen Yu prided himself on being the cautious type. Since his own resources were perfectly sufficient, there was no need to put himself in danger for the sake of these people's supplies...

Finally,

From the bodies, he scavenged six golden body cards that they hadn't had time to activate.

All things considered, the big battle just now had only consumed 4 golden body cards.

And besides the golden body cards,

There were also two phantom cards, two tracking cards, a bracelet, and a ring.

[phantom card]

Description: A translucent card with light gray mist flowing slowly on its surface. When held, the edges of the card occasionally become blurred, as if it is unsure of its own existence.

Effect: Upon activation, generates a phantom exactly identical to the user at the current location, which continues the previous action. The user enters a stealth state for up to 5 seconds. Stealth is automatically canceled when attacking others or using other items.

[tracking card]

Description: A dark brown card with very faint footprint-like textures extending from one end to the other, as if a traveler had walked across the card, leaving behind a trail of blurred footprints.

Effect: After setting target characteristics, the card will burn itself, and the ashes will drift toward the target's direction.

[Strongman's Bracelet]

Description: A wristband woven from dark brown leather, with natural wear marks from long-term use. A line of tiny text is engraved on the inner ring, blurred to the point of being almost unrecognizable.

Effect: When worn, strength is increased by 5%. The amplification effect is constantly active.

[Glimmer Ring]

Description: A simple silver-white ring. The surface has no decoration, only a very thin luster slowly flowing over the metal as if it were breathing.

Effect: Contains 5 slots of backpack space.