Chapter 95: Chapter 91: Belated News of Casualties
Buzz buzz buzz——
The rotor blades of the helicopter roared in the sky, pressing the grass on the ground tightly to the soil. Wu Liang’s already messy hair was blown wildly in all directions.
Watching the youth being taken up while still unconscious, he couldn’t hide the smirk in his eyes.
The needed information had already been acquired!
Before this guy was taken away, Nightmare had already dug out all the necessary information deep within his mind and made some modifications to prevent the authorities from detecting anything unusual.
[Deep Dream Realm: Those who are trapped in a nightmare by Nightmare will have strong psychological suggestions implanted when they wake up, and their memories can be slightly modified]
Modifying memories—this was something that came about when the Nightmare Ability leveled up at the official base during a buffet.
Now using it was also out of desperation.
After all, the information in this guy’s mind was extremely important to him. If it were also known to the authorities, he might become a suspect...
"Shadow, there’s news for you."
At that moment, the Mechanic, with a slightly grim expression, handed over the communicator.
Wu Liang couldn’t imagine who would contact him at this moment. Furrowing his brows, he took the communicator and heard a familiar voice from the other side: "Shadow, can you return to the base now? Captain He is in critical condition..."
It was Rose’s voice. Originally elegant and full of charm, now it sounded hoarse, as if sobbing.
"What did you say!?"
Wu Liang’s expression changed instantly, and he unintentionally strengthened his grip, almost crushing the communicator in his hand.
He recalled his escape from the collapse of the Dongri Grand Hotel, where He Zhan was suppressing the rat swarm, and Sun Zhoushan was assisting him.
"No! How could it be! That amount of rat swarm could at most exhaust He Zhan, needing a few days to recover, how could he be in critical condition!?"
But even though he couldn’t understand it now, the situation over there was a fact!
Wu Liang abruptly stuffed the communicator back into the Mechanic’s hand and glanced at the helicopter still hovering in mid-air.
He rose into the air directly, surrounded by white mist like a rocket, flying into the still-open door of the helicopter.
"Return to the base! Quickly!"
Seeing this guy fly into the helicopter like Superman, the pilot, sweating profusely, operated the controls and began to ascend, ready to leave.
The pilot, puzzled, wondered if these Awakened really were still human, having abilities like this?
With such confusion, the pilot occasionally looked back at Wu Liang with curiosity.
But all he could see was a face so stern it might as well have been frozen, as if another second of observation would get him in trouble.
The frightened pilot suppressed his curiosity and focused on flying the helicopter.
A journey that originally took nearly twenty minutes to reach the official base took less than ten minutes as he increased the speed with dedication.
This was Wu Liang’s second time arriving at the base via official helicopter, the first being during the Wangsheng Village incident.
He disembarked immediately, ignoring the unconscious young man’s plight, and dashed towards the green-themed building as per his memory.
In this situation, He Zhan would definitely be lying in the official infirmary, the only place where his life could possibly be saved.
"I’m here! Where is He Zhan!?"
Practically breaking in, Wu Liang found members of the Second Team standing outside the infirmary.
Every one of them bore eyes full of unwillingness and sadness.
Through the infirmary window, Wu Liang saw a figure laying inside, completely burned beyond recognition, as if roasted by intense fire.
The horrific scene left him shocked to the core.
"How could this happen! Wasn’t he always suppressing the rat swarm? Where the hell did Sun Zhoushan go?"
In the scenario Wu Liang saw, He Zhan was tasked with suppressing the threat without protecting himself, and Sun Zhoushan, being responsible for clearing the rat swarm, should have ensured He Zhan’s safety as well.
If He Zhan was injured like this, what the hell was Sun Zhoushan doing!? With his awakened ability’s damage multiplier, could those ordinary people wielding supernatural objects possibly endanger him enough to harm He Zhan behind him?
"Shadow, calm down. Captain Sun was also seriously injured. It all happened too suddenly; no one noticed the enemy could attack in such a manner..." Liuyun calmed himself and stepped forward to speak.
The Priest and Cannon, among others, also stepped forward to explain the situation.
According to them, just after the First Team’s Ghost had subdued the person controlling the rat swarm with an electroshock glove, the entire Second Team arrived at the ruins of the Dongri Grand Hotel.
After all, only the First Team was assigned the task of tracking five fleeing impostors at the time, while the Second Team arrived as scheduled to meet with He Zhan.
Upon arrival, they found the rat swarm had already reached an uncontrollable state!
Although initially the rat swarm that burst from the ruins was completely suppressed, the number of remaining rat swarms hidden underground and within the ruins far exceeded everyone’s imagination!
Even though the mound of rats killed by Sun Zhoushan already reached mountain levels, rats continued emerging from underground in tens of thousands, causing everyone’s scalps to tingle.
What they didn’t know was, the supernatural object controlling the rat swarm was the most powerful one left by the impostors!
Not only had Sun Zhoushan exhausted all available firearms ammunition, even the blade in his hand was chipped, close to breaking.
Sweat pouring like rain wouldn’t be enough to describe his exhaustion.
So, the other members of the Second Team immediately took over the task of clearing the rat swarm, without searching for the impostors.
Their assistance allowed Sun Zhoushan and He Zhan to catch their breath and rest a little.
Just as everyone thought the situation was under control, they let their guard down.
Then it happened!
A rat, unnoticed and unrestrained, covertly approached He Zhan and leaped to latch onto his clothing.
Then, it exploded!
No one could have imagined the impostors wielding supernatural objects would be so deranged, hiding rats stuffed with explosives in the last batch of deeply buried swarms!
With the first rat’s explosion, a chain of explosives were triggered, catching everyone off-guard as if they were time bombs!
Although Sun Zhoushan barely managed some self-protection, He Zhan, who was wholeheartedly suppressing the rat swarm, suffered misfortune and was the first to be hit.
"As Awakened, we only gain abilities beyond ordinary people and better physical condition, but we don’t truly have a superhuman body made of steel. Such a close-range explosion leaves Captain He with any signs of life thanks to divine favor..." Rose, with tears in her eyes, spoke.
Her arms bore numerous bloodstains and wounds.
Gazing at He Zhan struggling for life in the infirmary, Wu Liang’s mind went blank.
His interactions with He Zhan were significantly shorter than those of the team members—only about a month.
Yet even in such a short time, He Zhan’s image as a protective, public safety guardian deeply impressed Wu Liang.
Wu Liang’s highest regard for the Official Awakened came from He Zhan and these Second Team members, who made him believe there were indeed good and just individuals among the Awakened.
But now, He Zhan was on the brink of death!
Crucially—Wu Liang believed this could have been avoided!
He had several chances to prevent this situation from occurring!
"If I hadn’t been so eager to track the fleeing impostors; if I had just helped him a bit with the Nightmare Ability before leaving the hotel; if I hadn’t failed to capture the Bionic Man, delaying their second plan..."
At that time, he was eager to interrogate the impostors, thinking He Zhan and his team’s abilities could handle the rat swarm, so he didn’t intervene further.
But if he had helped a little... would he have been alright?
As Wu Liang’s regret became increasingly evident, his breathing gradually grew heavier, and his thoughts started freezing, coming to a halt.
He desperately wished to see He Zhan standing unharmed in front of him at that moment!
He Zhan was not someone who should leave the world in such an absurd way!
If... he could save him... that would be great...
Wu Liang failed to notice the Ghost Compendium in his mind frantically flipping pages in an unnatural way, similar to when the Monkey Claw attempted to erode his memory.
Information on the Fierce Ghosts disappeared one by one, and all the text transformed into a single statement—
[The truth begins to operate]
[Everything as you wish]