86: Chapter 86: Fell into a Mud Pit?

Xu Wanning turned her head to look. A black SUV was driving in through the main gate. The side of the car was covered in mud splatters, the mudguards were caked with a thick layer, and the front left headlight was shattered.

She was all too familiar with this car; it was Lu Chengyue's. But it was perfectly fine when they left, so how did it end up like this upon returning?

Didn't they all take the minibus when they left earlier? A-Yue didn't seem to have driven his own car out, did he?

The SUV pulled into the parking space next to her. The driver's side door opened, and Lu Chengyue jumped out.

He was wearing a dark tactical jacket with the zipper pulled only to his chest, revealing a gray-black t-shirt soaked in sweat underneath—different from what he had been wearing when he left in the morning.

Lu Chengyue walked up to Xu Wanning. "I'm back."

Xu Wanning frowned. "Did you guys fall into a mud pit?" The minibus behind them also drove in, its body even dirtier than Lu Chengyue's car.

"Pretty much." Lu Chengyue wiped the mud off his clothes.

After the minibus came to a stop, Jiang Yishen and the others got out, followed by survivors who had come to register for missions, including Jiang Heng's two brothers, Zhang Shan and Shen Yue.

Upon seeing them, Jiang Heng immediately rushed over to hug them; he had truly missed them, having not seen them for a few days.

Jiang Yishen leaned in. "The survivors in that residential area got their hands on a cement mixer from somewhere. We were sprayed as soon as we entered. Thankfully, it was just mud; if it had been cement, we would have been in trouble."

Xu Wanning was stunned. That was possible? "So you didn't go in to clear out the zombies?"

"We did. We went in once we cleared the way." Lu Chengyue took hold of Xu Wanning's hand. "I came back halfway through to drop off an injured survivor and changed my clothes."

Xu Wanning realized with a start; so it was A-Yue who had brought that injured person back.

"We're planning to go to the cafeteria to eat. Are you coming with us?" Since they weren't in the same squad, they couldn't do everything together.

Meng Chen raised his hand. "Yes, let's go together! We're starving. It's too hard without a Space Ability user; we could only eat bread and drink milk at noon."

Jiang Yishen suggested, "How about we team up next time? We can take two missions, do one together first, then go do the other. That way, we won't have to worry about not having food."

Meng Chen looked at Xu Wanning with shining eyes. "Can we? Can we?"

How could Xu Wanning be unwilling? Teaming up meant being able to stay with A-Yue all the time, so of course it was good. "Sure."

"Yay!" Jiang Yishen and Meng Chen couldn't help but cheer, and the others from the Dawn Squad also had smiles on their faces.

"Let's go. Let's turn in the missions first, then go eat." Xu Wanning pulled Lu Chengyue along, ready to leave.

Lu Chengyue held her back, then knocked on the rear window of the car. "Come out."

The rear door opened, and a man stepped out. It was actually Su Chenyu. "He lives in that residential area too?"

Lu Chengyue nodded. "Yeah, it's a coincidence. He's a Fire Ability user and helped us burn the zombies. He wants to join a squad, but since we're an official squad, he can't join ours. He wanted to ask if you guys would take him in."

Of course Xu Wanning would take him in. In the future, Su Chenyu would be a big shot; his Fire Ability leveled up quickly and he used it better than others.

Su Chenyu walked over. "I promise I won't hold you back. Can you let me join?"

He hadn't brought his family with him. His parents felt it was better to stay at home, so he hadn't forced the issue. He just went back every week to drop off some supplies and check on them. As long as they didn't open the door for strangers, the risk of danger was extremely low.

"Of course you can. We'll just go to the Mission Hall in a bit and add your name."

Xu Wanning turned around. "Let's go. Mission Hall first, then the cafeteria for dinner."

Lu Chengyue followed, his hand naturally taking hold of her right hand.

His palm was large, with a layer of rough calluses, wrapping around her fingers, feeling hot.

Su Chenyu tactfully fell back two paces, constantly observing the environment of the Central District.

Jiang Heng and the others also consciously ran ahead to give the young couple some private space.

The Mission Hall had five windows for receiving mission receipts. At this time, most squads hadn't returned yet.

Xu Wanning pulled Lu Chengyue to the leftmost window, where no one was waiting.

The staff member at window number five was a tall, thin girl wearing glasses, with a name tag that read Yu Huan.

Xu Wanning had met Yu Huan before; she used to be an accountant, calculated figures incredibly fast, was great at mental math, and was the granddaughter of Grandpa Yu, who worked under The Great Leader.

Seeing Xu Wanning and Lu Chengyue approach, the eyes behind Yu Huan's lenses lit up. She twirled the pen in her hand. "The couple is here to turn in their mission together."

Yu Huan had only had a brief encounter with Xu Wanning before, back when The Great Leader was present to introduce them, and they hadn't even really spoken.

At the time, Xu Wanning had shown off her Space Ability, leaving a deep impression on Yu Huan. Plus, her grandfather had told her she must build a good relationship with Xu Wanning, so she was a bit more enthusiastic.

"These aren't the same mission." Xu Wanning sorted the receipts and placed them on the counter.

Yu Huan flipped through them, confirmed they had the two stamps, nodded, and registered the date, mission number, execution squad, and point total on the computer.

Then, she credited the points to their personal accounts, splitting them equally among the squad members.

Yu Huan smiled and handed the receipt stub to Xu Wanning. "The points have been credited. You can take your phones directly to the shopping mall to purchase supplies."

"Great." Xu Wanning stepped aside a bit and pointed to Su Chenyu, Jiang Heng, Cheng Xu, Pang Lei, Shen Yue, and Zhang Shan behind her. "They need to register individually to join our Dawn Squad."

Yu Huan looked them up and down. Seeing they stood steadily, walked upright, and had clear eyes—with no signs of being infected—she nodded. "Did you all bring your ID cards?"

"We did." Su Chenyu pulled a leather wallet from the side pocket of his bag, took out his ID card, and handed it over. Jiang Heng handed over his and the others'.

Yu Huan registered their personal information directly into the computer, then added them to the Dawn Squad's roster, after which she tore off a dormitory assignment slip and handed it to Xu Wanning.

"Dormitory 301 on the 3rd floor of Building 19. Go to the warehouse to collect bedding and basic daily necessities. Take the road on the left, it's the third door. You can collect them with this slip."

"Thanks." Xu Wanning took the slip, folded it twice, and tucked it into her jacket pocket.

After Lu Chengyue handed in the mission receipt and they picked up the daily necessities, the group walked out of the Mission Hall, where the others were waiting outside.

It was already getting dark outside, and the searchlights on the walls of the Central District base were sweeping across the night sky.

The group headed to the cafeteria. It was their first time eating at the cafeteria, so they wanted to see if it was any good; if not, they wouldn't come back.

As soon as they entered, they heard people inside talking about how good the food was, with more and more voices joining in the praise.

Zhou Ke stretched his neck to look inside. "How good can it possibly be? Did they hire a five-star chef?"

The group hurried to the window to line up, and were stunned to see Wu Suyun and Shen Yirou standing inside serving food.

"Mom, why are you here?" Wen Shuyang stared at Wu Suyun with wide eyes.