29: Section 29

"Attract Phage Beasts?" Jing Yuan smiled. "If I deliberately attract Phage Beasts, won't I be in danger?"

"Don't you have the ability to kill Phage Beasts? They're just mere Phage Beasts. If you can't beat them, you can always outrun them!"

"Even if I can outrun them, what about the others?"

"On missions to The Surface, there are always sacrifices. If we don't sacrifice a few more people, how can we make Mark take a major fall?"

"Hmph!" Jing Yuan sneered. "The Leader is truly cold-blooded!"

Jing Yuan felt disdain in his heart. On second thought, it seemed the Light and Shadow Society was always the most ruthless toward its own people.

"The Leader thinks too highly of me." Jing Yuan didn't refuse directly. "I don't have the ability to pull this off."

Charles remained quite calm.

"I said, this is just an opportunity to show your sincerity. As for whether you do it and to what extent you achieve it, I'll be the judge of that."

"Farewell!"

Jing Yuan turned and left without giving Charles a final response.

Jing Yuan couldn't understand Charles's logic at all. Deliberately creating a disaster just to deal with Mark?

The more people sacrificed, the greater Mark's crime?

Humanity's true enemies were the Phage Beasts and the mana ecology, not each other.

After this encounter, Jing Yuan felt more and more that Charles was not a good Leader.

The Lighthouse had no future under his hand!

After leaving the Light and Shadow Society Cathedral, Jing Yuan intended to go straight back to his quarters to rest, but he suddenly remembered his appointment with 4277 and turned toward the workshop instead.

Opening the workshop door, he saw the lights inside were still on.

4277, wearing her worn-out jacket, had fallen asleep leaning over the workbench.

Two flying daggers lay on the table, along with a finished scabbard beside them.

Jing Yuan walked over and tapped 4277, and she finally woke up.

Waking up, 4277 smiled happily. "You're here!"

Jing Yuan nodded and said, "If you were tired, you should have gone back to rest. There was no need to wait for me here."

4277 didn't mind at all. She picked up the scabbard next to her and said, "This is a temporary scabbard I made to make it easier for you to carry them with you."

Jing Yuan took the scabbard and looked at it, sensing the effort she had put in.

"Thank you!"

"You're welcome. You often give me good food too! Consider this scabbard a bonus gift."

"Alright! It's late today, hurry back and get some rest!"

4277 nodded, then whispered, "You're going down to The Surface tomorrow; you must be very careful."

Jing Yuan was stunned for a moment, then smiled. "Don't worry!"

...The next day, Wasteland Hunters Armament Preparation Depot.

Team Members were preparing to go down to The Surface, moving supplies and checking equipment.

Besides collecting supplies, this mission was also an assessment for the newcomers. Therefore, the total number of people was quite large.

In such situations, the Wasteland Hunters would usually select a relatively safe waypoint for resource collection.

They might encounter Phage Beasts, but the probability was low.

Jing Yuan arrived at the depot to report along with Mo Dong, Chu Feng, and Neil.

After registering, they went to collect their gear.

Although this was an assessment, the main focus was still on the collection mission.

To enhance combat power, Mark assigned Jing Yuan to the main combat team and even allocated his specialized gravity body to him.

Seeing the gravity body, Mo Dong and the other two were incredibly envious.

Jing Yuan saw Erica nearby. As her old classmate, he naturally went over to greet her.

"Hi, Erica!"

"Jing Yuan!" Erica asked with a smile, "Is your new gravity body okay?"

Jing Yuan nodded and said, "Sister Jing Nan let me test-drive it a couple of days ago; it feels pretty good. If I get the chance on The Surface this time, I'll have to test its capabilities properly."

"I'll tell the Captain that we should be in the same group! Following your idea from last time, if we encounter Phage Beasts, I'll provide long-range fire support while you kill them in close combat."

"Sure!"

Erica and Jing Yuan hit it off immediately, and Erica even gave Jing Yuan a high-five.

Erica turned around and saw Penny, with her long golden hair, walking past. Erica suddenly said, "Eh... Penny, didn't you just finish a mission at the Hall of Dawn yesterday? Why are you going on a Surface mission today too?"

Erica's thoughts were simple; she thought missions at the Hall of Dawn were exhausting, and after finishing one, a person should be given two days to rest.

Someone nearby heard this and said with a laugh, "Erica, missions at the Hall of Dawn aren't tiring at all. Why wouldn't she be able to go on today's mission?"

"They're all missions, how could they not be tiring?"

"You'll know the next time you go to the Hall of Dawn."

"You think you know so much!" Erica didn't accept what the person said and jumped over, raising her fist to strike.

Of course, it was just a playful strike.

Jing Yuan looked at Penny, and Penny noticed him too.

Jing Yuan was secretly surprised. Penny went to the Hall of Dawn yesterday too?

Chapter 30: Survivors?

Jing Yuan and Penny's eyes met, and Penny actually looked away intentionally.

However, since they were face to face, they had to exchange greetings.

"Penny!"

"Jing Yuan!"

Without any other words, the scene was somewhat awkward.

But everyone in the depot was busy right now, so no one paid attention to such a small matter.

Mark and Ran Bing were nearby arranging tasks. Seeing Jing Yuan, Mark walked up and patted him, saying, "I heard from Jing Nan that you adjusted the gravity body to close-combat mode?"

"Yes."

Mark explained patiently, "There are many types of Phage Beasts, and some have long-range attack capabilities. For us, balancing long-range and close-range is the best choice."

"I know."

"The area we're going to this time has a sparse distribution of Phage Beasts, so it shouldn't be a big problem. When we get back, ask Jing Nan nicely to help you change it back."

Jing Yuan agreed on The Surface, but he had his own plans in mind.

Soon, the Wasteland Hunters were fully equipped.

Jing Yuan and his three roommates, along with several other newcomers, boarded the same vehicle to enter the elevator platform.

Sitting in the vehicle, Jing Yuan looked around at the people inside; they all seemed to be newcomers for this assessment.

Aside from his three roommates, he wasn't familiar with the others.

At that moment, Jing Yuan suddenly remembered the big guy he had encountered during the previous assessment. He recalled that the big guy should have passed the assessment, so why wasn't he in the vehicle?

Neil was the one in charge of leading the group in the vehicle.

Jing Yuan asked curiously, "Brother Corey, are all the newcomers for this assessment in this vehicle?"

Corey glanced at Jing Yuan and said, "Yeah! They're all here!"

"I remember there was a big guy who also passed during the assessment. Why don't I see him?"

"A big guy?"

There weren't many big guys on the Lighthouse, so it was easy to leave an impression.

"I remember there was one like that, but it seems he didn't come."

"Didn't come? You can choose not to come even if you pass the assessment?"

"Well, I'm not clear on the specifics. Maybe he was taken by another department."

"Oh, I see!" Jing Yuan didn't ask further; he was just curious.

As the elevator platform descended to the ground, some of the newcomers traveling with them began to get nervous.

Even Chu Feng and Neil beside Jing Yuan looked tense.

This wasn't surprising; they had grown up on the Lighthouse and had never seen a Phage Beast, only hearing legends about them. Thinking about potentially encountering Phage Beasts on The Surface, it was normal to feel some fear.

After reaching the ground, the convoy moved forward.