In the living room

"Dad, Mom, it's getting late, I'm leaving!" Chen Shouyi glanced at the time and said, then picked up the backpack from the sofa and slung it over his shoulder.

Mrs. Chen quickly stood up and said, "Come back early after completing the mission!"

"Don't be careless, be careful when you're out." Father Chen said.

"Brother, don't forget the gift!"

Upon hearing his sister's words, Chen Shouyi couldn't help but feel speechless.

Gift?

Still want a gift?

How about a nuclear bomb?

To avoid worrying his family, the mission this time naturally became a regular security escort task in his words, and at most, the time away would be a bit longer, as if it could be done with a wave of the hand.

"Got it, Dad and Mom, no need to see me off."

Chen Shouyi said while turning to walk out the door, quickly striding into the distance.

At this moment, his chest experienced a slight squirming, and a small head secretly popped out from the collar of his outerwear, cautiously sticking its head out and quickly glancing around. Finding pedestrians everywhere on the road, it was immediately frightened and swiftly shrank back.

Chen Shouyi looked down at his chest, couldn't help but chuckle, and his suppressed mood was instantly relieved quite a bit.

He briskly walked all the way, and after about ten minutes, reached City Hall Square.

Eight steam trucks lined up in the square.

Among them, four had been modified, with the truck bed welded with thick, sealed steel plates, presumably used for loading nuclear bombs.

The other four, although not heavily modified, had a cannon welded on the front.

At this moment, about a company's worth of soldiers stood beside the trucks, their atmosphere solemn and respectful. Unlike regular soldiers, Chen Shouyi noticed that their arm patches bore a nuclear symbol and a shield, clearly indicating that these soldiers were from the central strategic forces.

"Chen Shouyi, you're here." Xiao Changming waved.

Chen Shouyi walked over quickly: "Is it just you? Seems we arrived a bit early?"

"People from the Capital City should still be in the guesthouse!" Xiao Changming looked at the time: "But they should be here soon, less than ten minutes until nine o'clock."

"Have you seen them?" Chen Shouyi asked.

Xiao Changming nodded: "There was a reception last night that I attended with the commander."

"How's their strength?" Chen Shouyi asked. As a martial artist, this was naturally his main concern and couldn't help but inquire.

Xiao Changming took out a pack of cigarettes, gestured, saw Chen Shouyi refuse, lit one, took a puff, and said casually: "Five people came, all should be senior martial artists! I tested one during a handshake and found I couldn't squeeze him at all; I suspect he wasn't exerting any effort."

Chen Shouyi nodded, all martial masters, nothing unusual about that. This mission is of great importance, posing a serious security threat to Great Xia Country. If a senior martial artist were sent, it would seem abnormal.

However, Chen Shouyi hadn't expected there would be as many as five, confirming that the Capital City indeed harbors hidden talents.

As the political and military center of the country, various resources are undoubtedly prioritized there, and as the only martial artist examination center nationwide, its attraction to martial artists from all over is unmatched by other provinces and cities.

...

Not long after, Lei Ruiyang also arrived.

Lei Ruiyang had a blank expression, seemingly completely ignoring Chen Shouyi, greeted Xiao Changming, and stood to the side.

Chen Shouyi's face cooled; he hadn't forgotten the small stunt the other pulled last time. If the occasion weren't inappropriate, he would've wanted to punch him.

"No one has any unresolved conflicts, this mission is extremely dangerous, and cooperation will definitely be needed at that time, how about letting bygones be bygones with a smile?" Xiao Changming tried to mediate.

But neither of them responded. They were both proud people, incompatible in personality, and didn't see eye to eye, certainly not something that could be mediated with a few words.

Xiao Changming's warm demeanor met cold indifference, he said something but didn't press further.

As time ticked by, five minutes before nine, a group of five finally walked quickly towards them, their steps fluid and graceful, each step measured meticulously.

"Hello everyone, sorry for being late." A handsome young man with blue hair and a lazy smile said, "My name is Ye Zong, let me introduce everyone, this is Lu Shouhu, this is Luo Jingwen, this is Zhang Wenlong, and of course, our ice-cold beauty Sun Mengyuan!"

Chen Shouyi glanced at him, this non-mainstream youth named Ye Zong, with dyed blue hair, gave him a sense of danger, clearly the strongest among them.

Those mentioned by Ye Zong nodded in turn to greet.

"We've already met Xiao Changming yesterday, the other two please introduce yourselves!" Ye Zong looked at Chen Shouyi and Lei Ruiyang, smiling.

"My name is Lei Ruiyang, hello everyone." Lei Ruiyang forced out a stiff smile and said.

"Chen Shouyi!" Chen Shouyi said. Although it's not apparent on the surface, he could tell that these people had a dismissive attitude towards them.

Seeing the group arrive, the company commander from the strategic forces, who hadn't come over earlier, quickly ran over, face full of respect, and said, "Director Ye, can we set off now?"

"Since it's time, let's set off."

The group didn't waste time and quickly boarded one of the trucks.

The trucks were already loaded with various supplies.

There were ten boxes of various arrows alone, eight boxes of machine gun shells, and a large amount of water and food supplies.

Ye Zong looked around, opened a wooden box labeled with armor-piercing arrows, took out an armor-piercing arrow, gently weighed it in his hand, and said to everyone: "It's a bit light; I should have brought some arrows from the Capital City."

"This one is specified to weigh a pound, meant for Martial Artists," Luo Jingwen beside him also took one out and shook his head: "We're using the one kilogram type. Should we ask Hedong City to replace these?"

"No need, they probably don't have stock. If they did, they would have brought it already," Ye Zong shook his head and said, "Forget it, it's usable, just less powerful. Hopefully, we won't encounter any strong enemies this time."

Chen Shouyi and Xiao Changming, among others, remained silent.

Hedong City didn't have Martial Masters before, so naturally, they didn't produce special arrows for them. Not to mention arrows, even bows for Chen Shouyi and the others were still Martial Artist Level.

Chen Shouyi was still unable to use them, as his strength hadn't reached the Martial Master Level.

Xiao Changming and Lei Ruiyang couldn't even buy them.

The manufacturing difficulty for Martial Master Level war bows is extremely high; there were only a handful of companies in the country that could produce them. The client base is also pitifully small, and the cost is quite high. Usually, they only produced upon receiving orders, with no inventory at all.

After the mutation, with power cut off and technological regression, producing these strong bows has become incredibly difficult. Even if one wanted to buy, they couldn't.

As soldiers gradually boarded the remaining six trucks, the convoy started moving.

...

"Wang Shouyi, you seem really young." Lu Shouhu, sitting across from Chen Shouyi, asked curiously.

Young, really young. Director Ye also seemed young, looking about twenty-five or twenty-six, but this one still had a hint of youthfulness on his face.

He had a full beard, each hair standing like steel needles, looking quite rugged.

"My name is Chen, Chen Shouyi." Chen Shouyi said with a slightly darkened expression.

Lu Shouhu slapped his forehead, apologetically said: "Sorry, my memory! I thought the name was strange."

There was a light laugh among the people, clearly catching the joke.

Chen Shouyi was used to people teasing his name since childhood and didn't mind, curiously asked: "Are there many Martial Masters on your side in the Capital City?"

"You'd have to ask Zhang Wenlong about the army; in the private sector, there are about seven," Lu Shouhu said.

"The Capital garrison has eight!" Zhang Wenlong stated concisely.

"You didn't count the newly promoted Martial Masters during this period. With them, there should be ten in the private sector by now," Sun Mengyuan said, glancing at Ye Zong with a hint of admiration on her cool face, "But Brother Ye has probably surpassed the Martial Master Level; if there were a higher level, he would already be recognized as one."

"Yes, Director Ye even personally killed a demigod," Luo Jingwen said with reverence.

Chen Shouyi and Xiao Changming, from Hedong City, were shocked to hear this.

Ye Zong waved his hand with a smile: "Don't praise me, it was just luck. If it hadn't been for It flying slowly in the air, and me ambushing, it wouldn't have been so easy to kill It. If it was in another world, I wouldn't even be enough to be killed by It in a second."

"Still, it's not something a Martial Master could handle! To kill a demigod single-handedly, even if the world doesn't know, in Great Xia Country, Director Ye is definitely the first," Lu Shouhu said.

Chen Shouyi felt shaken inside, a demigod is still a god. He suspected that the God of Courage was probably only at demigod strength. Though he hadn't seen, he wondered how slow the God of Courage flew. Even if he hit, he could only break some skin, as his attack strength was too weak.

...

The vehicle sped along the road unobstructed.

After having lunch on the vehicle, by 2 PM, the vehicle stopped in a park in Luohu City.

Like Dongning, Luohu City is a county-level city under Ningzhou, about twenty kilometers away from Ningzhou. Chen Shouyi followed the group out of the vehicle, noticing the road was desolate and empty as if it were a ghost town. The entire city's population had evidently been relocated.

At this time, soldiers from the strategic unit also got out of their vehicles, with one soldier launching a red flare.

About ten minutes later, a group of soldiers quickly ran over from the distance.

"Hello, Chief!"

"Report the current intelligence!" The strategic unit's major nodded and said, then looked at Chen Shouyi and the others: "Director Ye, please come over and understand the situation as well."

"Yes, Chief," a captain spread a high-resolution military satellite map on the grass, and as Chen Shouyi and the others approached, they promptly reported the situation:

"According to intelligence from our airship reconnaissance, those nuclear bombs have temporarily not been moved and remain at the site of the strategic airship crash; however, the guards are very tight, with about five hundred Barbarian troops stationed around this area and here!"

The captain gestured at the map, which was marked in red ink: "There are also a lot of aerial animal units patrolling day and night. Another bad piece of news is that the Barbarians have captured many people and started researching those nuclear strategic airships."

"Damn it!" The major cursed.

Chen Shouyi remained silent inside, thinking that many of those captured were willingly faithful followers.

PS: I don't know if anyone believes me when I say there was a power outage today?

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