Hard Quest & Xing Feng with A Tough Attitude
The latecomers seemed more self-righteous than the host and initiators of the conference? Only Yun Che would act so rudely. Before the conference even started yet, the military and the government were one point behind. Not all superfunction possessors in the room were foolhardy, the ones that sniffed the subtlety in the air whispered to their own people, telling them to stay put no matter what the conference was about. With Peak and Chaoyang, two of the top squads here, the superfunction possessors' interests wouldn't be violated.
Yun Che certainly had attracted the authorities' attention for being such a swank as Xing Feng expected. Apart from Mo Wenyang who would benefit from the conference, the other two armies and the government watched Yun Che alertly.
Yun Che, the problem-causer acted as if nothing happened. Nor did he seem to care about those wary eyes laid on him. He sometimes whispered with Xing Feng, sometimes turned to the captains of superfunction squads around him for small talks. It seemed our popular Captain Yun was having a great time.
"Please be quiet, everyone."
It was almost 10 o'clock, the poor Head of Base Defense had to brace himself for the conference. He waved his hand to quiet the room. After making sure everyone's attention was on him, Jiang Wanshan cleared his throat. "My dear friends, you're called here to discuss an important issue which will affect the existence of our base in the long term. I believe you all know that the base is actively expanding, the second security wall has reached the villages in Wanan suburbs. The large-scale expanding covers almost every village and town in Wanan District of Lingjiang City and most of the lands are still tillable. If we were to live and thrive in the long run, we'd need more means other than collecting the remnants of pre-doomsday supplies. We must be self-sufficient. So the authorities of the base have come to a decision that we shall adopt a land-contract system for all the farmlands in the newly expanded areas. The terms will be announced later. Now, the tricky problem lies in front of us is where to get seeds for those vast farmlands? Our planting scheme cannot be implemented until we resolve the seed problem. That's how the base embraces a bright future."
As a politician, Jiang Wanan sure knew how to intrigue the public and then make a sudden stop at the climax. All superfunction possessors anxiously, expectantly stared at him. You wouldn't need superfunction to be a farmer, any healthy civilian could be one. All squads were facing the same problem: the minority, as in the superfunction possessors, were supporting the majority, as in the commoners in all those families. If the government could sign a land-contract with every family so that the folks got to grow their own food, then the future was indeed promising.
"About the seeds. You probably don't know but every province in China has a special warehouse as a disaster precaution. Tons of seeds are stored in those warehouses. Normally, a seed bank like that serves as a regular plant research institute but when a disaster strikes, it brings hope to the reinvigoration of China."
Having noticed that the crowd was tantalized, Lin Xian finished the speech for Jiang Wanshan. At this point, most people had understood why they were called here. There was no such thing as free lunch in the world. The land-contract system and seeds that the base offered must come with strict terms. Given how discreet these high-ranking officials were, this quest would be ten times more dangerous than they could imagine.
"This seed warehouse is in the basement of a state-owned research institute locates inside the second ring of the provincial capital. The information our drones brought back is, the security guards of the institute have all become zombies. With such a dense population in the provincial capital, the quest will be highly treacherous even we send out all the free superfunction soldiers in the armies. Thus, the help of everybody in this room is much needed. For the good of the base, I hope you can pick your best team members to group up a company consists of about 100 superfunction possessors to work with the military. Together, we shall retrieve the seeds."
Wang Guoan soon confirmed everyone's guess. From what they'd learned about the doomsday in the past two months, everybody now knew that the stronger one used to be, the fiercer one would become as a zombie. The security guards of the seed warehouse must have been the top fighters when they were humans, so they must be the most fearsome zombies now. And there weren't just a couple of them but hundreds. Just imagine how gruesome it would be to be up against more than one hundred high-level zombies and countless low-level ones. Even if all the superfunction possessors were gathered for the quest, they'd be outnumbered. And let it not be forgotten that they had to be through herds and herds of zombies before reaching the institute inside of the second ring of the provincial capital. The odds were against the expedition, no one casually said yes or no.
Peak and Chaoyang, two leading superfunction squads in the base, didn't show any tendency to speak. But when people looked at them, they could see that Xing Feng and Yun Che didn't wear a serious face at all, instead, they acted like they heard nothing. Lin Xian and Wang Guoan were full of guesses as they'd kept an eye on them for all this time.
"Chill out, my dear friends. This is a military-civilian joint operation in which the military will take the lead whereas your superfunction company just enjoys the ride with us."
Lin Xian and Wang Guoan put on enough airs whereas Mo Wenyang just added negative solemnity to the negotiation. The other two armies, the government, and all the superfunction possessors rolled eyes at him. But later, anyone with an OK memory opened up their eyes. "How come it sounds so familiar?"
Well, it did! When Yun Che looked for allies for the Tongyang quest at Superfunction Association, he said the same thing. And the ride was proven to be fruitful as Loser Squad did have gained a lot. The problem was, people were unsure this time because the promise didn't come out of Yun Che's mouth. Let's be honest, superfunction possessors held Yun Che and Xing Feng that they hung out with a lot in higher regard than they had for the haughty military.
All eyes were fixed on Yun Che as they thought of the last time. Yun Che got excited after getting all the attention. "What? Why are you all looking at me like that? I haven't done anything yet." He shouted.
"So what are you going to do then?" Everybody thought.
Much as everybody wanted to question Yun Che, they chose to keep their mouths shut. The two armies and the government had learned their lessons just a while back and they'd had enough while all the superfunction possessors knew how mighty he was, he could do whatever he wanted. What's more, he represented the superfunction possessor community, so whatever he would do or say, it'd be against the authorities' interests. The superfunction possessor community should be thanking him for speaking for them.
After getting a roomful of silence in return, Yun Che sat back with a pout. Although he decided to stop making a sound, Xing Feng knocked his knuckle on the table rhythmically and asked, "How many soldiers will the military send? What attributes will those soldiers be? What's your plan? Can you provide us with a detailed map to guide us from the base to the provincial capital to the institute and a map of the interior and the exterior of the institute, and the underground warehouse if possible?"
Every question that Xing Feng raised concerned their own interests and safety. All superfunction possessors suddenly turned to the three army delegates and stared at them.
"We can provide the maps. Every army will dispatch about 100 superfunction soldiers. As to your question regarding the attributes, sorry, it's classified military information. I cannot tell."
Lian Xian turned to Xing Feng and gave him a courteous, perfunctory reply as if Xing was some regular guy.
Sadly, Xing Feng wasn't a regular guy. It wouldn't be enough to fool Xing Feng around. Did Lin Xian forget how mighty Xing Feng was or did he just not give a damn about him at all?
"Then we don't need to talk anymore. Since you don't have the information for us, Chaoyang will withdraw from the operation!"
Xing Feng's chair slid back as he pushed the table. The tall man raised to his feet. Nobody expected him to take a strong stand like this. The entire room gawked at him without knowing what to do. What caught them off guard more was that Yun Che also stood up slowly. "Since the military doesn't show enough sincerity, the discussion is just a waste of time. Peak quits as well." Declared Yun Che.
As he spoke, Ye Xingchen and Jiang Shang also stood up and nodded. Apparently, they did plan to leave. The other superfunction possessors all stood up and stared at them. Who wouldn't want to be as resolute and tough as they were? They were just not strong enough. Let's face it, it'd be the base's loss if Chaoyang and Peak left the base. They'd be just fine without the base sheltering them. Whereas the other squads were in a different situation where many mouths needed to be fed in a big family, but only a few were capable of fighting for food. They sometimes would argue with the base over less significant issues if they got a point, but they would never have the nerve to act against the important decisions that the base made.
The most important thing right now was, if Chaoyang and Peak did quit, even the slightest chance of survival in this quest would no longer exist. Now that they couldn't say no to the military, who wouldn't want Chaoyang and Peak to stick around?
Lin Xian who caused the awkwardness got red-hot cheeks. He spitefully gnashed his teeth. It felt like a smack in the face which he couldn't even fight back. There were two reasons, one, just like what the superfunction possessors were worrying about, without Chaoyang and Peak's help, 90% chance that the quest would be a failure and the number of casualties would be staggering; two, their original plan was to use this operation to lure the main forces of Peak and Chaoyang out of the base, how would it work if they just chose to quit the quest? Not only he couldn't fight back, he also would need to offer the other cheek of his if necessary.
"Come on, guys, chill out. Major General Lin speaks for Wei Army. They like to keep things under the table but I don't. You wanna know the attributes of the superfunction soldiers, right? I, on behalf of Mo Army, will print a copy for every one of you, okay? It's not a big deal. Just chill."
Even Jiang Wanshan didn't know how to handle the situation at this point. Mo Wenyang, the one who didn't seem reliable, however, stood up to stop Xing and Yun from leaving. Although he insinuatingly belittled Wei Army, no one really cared. All they wanna know right now was whether Xing Feng and Yun Che would stay or not.
"Yes, Captain Yun, Captain Xing. Let's talk it out, talk it out!"
Wang Guoan, another major general who was supposed to make sure that the plan worked, stepped up with a greasy smile on his face. He cursed in secret. "Who do you take Xing Feng for? Bullshitting him like you do to a regular guy? Are you an idiot?"
"Captain Xing, Captain Yun, Major General Lin was just stating the fact. We were in the middle of a discussion, weren't we? If you have a different opinion, just say it, as long as it's reasonable. We aren't dictators that disregard the safety of our people. Am I right, Major General Lin?"
To help mediate the conflict, Jiang Wanan cut in. Lin Xian, who got called upon, had to stand up and forced a smile. "Right, Captain Xing. My meaning was, according to standard procedure, the attributes of superfunction soldiers is classified information. But in a special case like this one, to make sure that the quest gets completed and for the sake of everybody's safety, even classified information needs to be publicized, doesn't it? Sorry for not making myself clear just now."
Lin Xian apparently was a flexible guy. Since Jiang had paved the way for him, he apologized to Xing Feng in front of everybody. If Xing Feng continued to be adamant, it would make him look like the unreasonable one. It was, of course, one of Lin Xian's ruses that he, the delegate of Wei Army, deigned to say sorry in public. Xing Feng now had to accept his apology.