Chapter 120: Chapter 108: Braving the Tiger’s Mountain

At this moment, Phoenix City was like the dormant hum of cicadas on a summer afternoon—waiting for a single ray of scorching sun to erupt into a city-wide chorus.

"Boss, there’s definitely something wrong with the city. Should we still proceed as planned?"

Lynx and The Crown Prince leaped down from a tree. "Boss, there’s no one in sight anywhere in the camp. The nearby streets and residential areas are also clear of zombies. Could someone have cleared them out?"

Lex Cross shook his head. "No. When you clear out zombies, you don’t clear out the bodies, too."

"What idiot do you think has the time or energy to clean up zombie corpses right now? Worried it’ll spoil the city’s appearance?" A man with the air of a scholar—pale, with a kind and handsome face—walked over, speaking to Lynx and The Crown Prince in an earnest, lecturing tone.

"Fortune-teller, why don’t you divine what’s going on in Phoenix City, then? You talk as if you already know." Five ran back, clapping the fortune-teller on the shoulder as he spoke.

The "fortune-teller’s" name was Saul Sterling, one of Lex Cross’s thirteen subordinates and the team’s strategist. It wasn’t that he possessed some supreme intellect, but that his family had a long legacy centered on deduction and calculation. After arriving on this planet, his original superpower was suppressed and unusable, but it wasn’t long before he awakened a different, Spiritual Ability.

Perception.

It was a Spiritual Ability that converted his superpower into a perceptive force, allowing him to render the geography and layout of an area centered on himself as a visual image in his mind.

The higher his Superpower Level, the wider and more detailed the area he could perceive.

At Level 1, his Perception could only vaguely sense dynamic elements in his surroundings. Over the past few days, Lex Cross had given him most of the Crystal Cores they collected on their journey so he could absorb them and level up.

His Second Level Perception could already sense environmental changes within a three-kilometer radius.

A faint white superpower energy radiated out from Saul Sterling. In just three minutes, a complete image of the entire environment within that three-kilometer radius—from streets and houses to plants and trees—was faithfully reproduced in his mind.

"Saul, what did you find?"

Even before their vehicles had reached the outskirts of Phoenix City, he had faintly heard an unusual sound originating from within the city.

"Boss, it’s completely empty within three kilometers. My Superpower Level is too low; I can’t detect any humans or creatures that might be hidden underground or using special concealment superpowers." But even so, Saul Sterling’s superpower was already comparable to a satellite positioning system. And as it leveled up further, it would produce even more unexpected effects.

Lex Cross’s brow furrowed even more deeply.

"What about the direction of the Phoenix City air station?"

"No activity there, either."

Seeing Lex Cross’s grave expression, Five and the fortune-teller asked, "Boss, if something’s not right in Phoenix City, why don’t we just take another route?"

At that moment, the other seven special forces soldiers in the vehicles also got out and asked about the situation. Everyone had a different opinion on whether to change their route and find another air station.

Lex Cross shook his head. "The Phoenix City air station is the closest one to the surrounding small towns that offers air travel. The road back to Argent is too long. If we don’t fly, given the current situation, it would be difficult to get there even in a month. We can’t afford to waste that kind of time."

"That’s true. It already took us two days to get here from Sinia City. Changing our route now... who knows how much more time we’d waste," Five said, nodding in grave agreement.

In this post-apocalyptic world, it seemed both zombies and living creatures were evolving at a rapid pace. First, there was the zombie bull in Varden Village. If they hadn’t arrived when they did, it would have surely evolved into a Level 3 zombie creature by now.

Although they hadn’t encountered any zombies above Second Level on their journey, the hordes were growing larger each time. As for living people... they hadn’t seen a single one.

Time. Time was precious to them. Their own strength was constantly improving, and they had to fight for every second to maintain their lead and secure their footing in this world.

"Actually, no zombies in the city doesn’t necessarily mean something fishy is going on. Maybe we just got lucky, and all the zombies left beforehand. It’s not impossible," Five said, his whimsical theory earning him idiot-looks from the fortune-teller, Lynx, and The Crown Prince.

"A city with a population of at least a million, maybe several million, and the entire zombie population just disappears? Are you stupid, or did the zombies run out of places to go? Did they all hold hands and decide to leave together?" Lynx and The Crown Prince glared at Five, deeply suspecting that if such a thick-skulled person wasn’t following their boss, he would have died hundreds of times over on the cosmic battlefields.

Lex Cross pulled a small tablet from the side pocket of his tactical pants. After entering a password, he tapped the screen a few times with nimble fingers and opened a page.

"This is the air station’s location. A third-tier city’s air station should have small to medium-sized transport planes. Our target is the red dot. Everyone stay alert along the way. If anything seems off, head for the transport runway at the station."

"Sir!"

The twelve men responded in unison, having no objections to Lex Cross’s orders.

The thirteen of them returned to the vehicles. Lex Cross and Saul Sterling were in the first car, with Micah in the second row.

"Captain Cross, is it another zombie horde?" Micah asked, extremely nervous. He was now just an ordinary man, completely helpless and utterly useless. Without the protection of these special forces soldiers, there was no way he could make it back to the Argent Research Institute on his own.

The journey had shown him the full cruelty of the apocalypse. He had originally wanted to ask Lex Cross for help finding his granddaughter, but after being sternly refused by the team, he was left helpless. He didn’t have the courage to leave the group and search on his own, so his only hope was to get back to Argent and ask the higher-ups for help. Deep down, however, he knew the chances of his granddaughter still being alive were extremely low. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

Tianna Bloom had been trying everything she could think of to get close to Lex Cross and make a good impression on him. But whenever she suggested meeting with Lex Cross or switching to his vehicle, the special forces soldiers would mercilessly ignore her. Besides, whenever they encountered zombies and it was time to fight, despite having mentally prepared herself, the sight of the ugly, terrifying creatures would leave her legs frozen, unable to get out of the car. She would just tremble uncontrollably, let alone actually help.

When forced to choose between her own safety and getting close to Lex Cross, Tianna Bloom unhesitatingly chose the former.

"Lynx, are we heading into the city center now? Aren’t we going to an airport to fly to Argent?"

Tianna Bloom asked tentatively.

Lynx glanced back at Tianna Bloom before turning his eyes forward again, completely ignoring her. Seeing her embarrassment, The Crown Prince answered, "Who told you we were going to an airport? These are all third-tier cities out here; they don’t have commercial airports. The closest facility is the Phoenix City air station. It’s for cargo transport. There should be small or medium-sized transport planes inside, big enough for all of us."

Hearing this, Tianna Bloom finally breathed a sigh of relief. She had thought her family would have to drive all the way to Argent with these soldiers. If they ran into any powerful zombies or monsters along the way, she wasn’t sure if she’d even make it there alive.

"That’s great! If we’re flying, we’ll get to Argent in no time."

Stephen Bloom also beamed at the special forces soldiers, piling on the flattery. "If it weren’t for you all, we wouldn’t have known what to do. If we get the chance in the future, our family will definitely repay you properly."

Sharon Caldwell chimed in, "That’s right. Is the air station far from here? In a bit, if Captain Cross needs any help, just let us know. My husband and I might be too old to be of much use, but Tianna is an Ice Ability User, and she’s gotten much stronger now. So please, don’t hesitate to ask."

Tianna Bloom was already plotting in her head. ’Once we get to the air station, I have to grab the seat next to Lex Cross. The flight from here to Argent will be at least four hours. That’s more than enough time for me to make my move.’