"Do you think your skills have improved?"
Wang Hu smiled, "One against four, I guess."
"Good job, any other changes?"
"Yes, first, I've developed some resistance to the zombie virus. My skin can resist infection on its own from minor injuries, but a serious injury would still lead to infection."
"That's good, very good." Ye Fan was pleased; not getting infected easily was a crucial means of survival.
"Also, if you get promoted to Squad Leader, you can appoint me as Squad Leader Level."
"Oh, that's an interesting rule!"
Ye Fan thought about it. Indeed, the squad leader of a group is usually replaced by a veteran, not Second Lieutenants or Captains, at most a Sergeant.
A Corporal is qualified to take over as Squad Leader.
However, the current squad leader position was occupied by himself, and to appoint Wang Hu, he would need to be promoted to Squad Leader.
For promotion to Squad Leader, the number of people must exceed a single combat squad.
A combat squad consists of eight people, which means Ye Fan would need at least nine Red Alert Soldiers under him.
"Have you reached the top after your star promotion to Corporal?" Ye Fan remembered that Red Alert Soldiers could only upgrade twice, One-Star and Three-Star.
"Report, the system has been adjusted. Each Red Alert Soldier can now be promoted three times, with all Privates upgrading to a maximum of Sergeant."
"Oh, then you're at Two-Star now."
"Yes, Sir."
"Great, keep it up. Start gathering resources at once."
There weren't any resources among the ground full of zombies. What Ye Fan meant was to collect jewelry, just to say it more tactfully to avoid being heard as greedy.
Without rushing into the supermarket, four soldiers began collecting jewelry among the zombies.
Through two skirmishes, they killed up to two hundred zombies, about half of whom were women.
More than eighty percent wore jewelry. After more than twenty minutes of scavenging, Ye Fan collected a total of three hundred money.
Three hundred gold, plus the previous hundred, meant Ye Fan could produce four more soldiers at any time.
"Still not enough for the Squad Leader promotion, no rush. Let's check the supermarket for a supply box first."
He led four people into the supermarket, which was now free of zombies.
All the zombies had been drawn out by gunfire, but the supermarket no longer looked the same as before.
Items were scattered everywhere. Some vegetables and fruits had already rotted, attracting a lot of flies.
Some longer-lasting food should be taken, but Ye Fan didn't have any transportation. It looked like once he found a supply box and got promoted to Squad Leader, he'd have to get a vehicle.
"Nana, have you locked onto the supply box location?"
"Locked. The supply boxes appear in places hard for others to find, sixteen meters from your location."
"Sixteen meters, it should be over here then."
Ye Fan walked forward and soon arrived at the stairs.
"The supply box is still five meters away from you."
"Five meters, on the second floor?"
Ye Fan looked up and saw clutter blocking the stairs to the second floor, frowning slightly.
There was a metal door here, the kind with metal bars, already closed and blocked tightly with a fridge, shopping cart, cabinet, and even a quilt filling the gaps.
This was clearly not the handiwork of the zombies; there must be people here.
There were survivors on the second floor.
Holding secrets, Ye Fan didn't like interacting with survivors before becoming overwhelmingly strong, but the supply box was right in front of him, and he could not leave it.
He signaled to Wang Hu, who, after two upgrades, seemed to have increased in intellect, understood Ye Fan's meaning, and immediately went to the door, shouting, "Listen up, people upstairs! We've cleared the zombies here. We're coming up, remove the clutter and open the door to let us through."
Ye Fan heard some arguing sounds from upstairs, seeming to have divided opinions on whether to open the door.
"Never mind, Wang Hu, open the door."
Wang Hu, now a Corporal, had noticeably increased in strength. Though not strong enough to smash through a modern security door, this kind of sliding door was no problem.
Using the butt of his gun, he pounded it several times, and the lock broke.
They pulled it open a bit, and then a few people got in to move the clutter.
One by one, the items were thrown down until the passage was almost cleared.
At this moment, the down quilt on top was suddenly lifted, revealing the smiling face of an old man.
"Haha, we were waiting day and night for you to come by! Wonderful, wonderful, fellow soldiers from the army, welcome, welcome!"
Under the cover of scattered items, Ye Fan saw seven or eight people hastily moving things, quickly clearing a path.
Ye Fan didn't lead the way; Wang Hu went in first, with two others protecting Ye Fan as they ascended, with Li Biao at the rear.
Standing on the stairs, Ye Fan scanned his surroundings, first noticing the location of the supply box.
It was at the bottom of a pile of boxes, with many boxes on top; without knowing the location, it would have been impossible to find.
Ye Fan didn't immediately take the supply box but looked towards these people.
There were seven or eight people in total, both men and women, both young and old.
Some of them had hopeful expressions on their faces, while others looked terrified, their hands trembling slightly, appearing quite abnormal.
The room was in disarray, and visibility wasn't very good.
Just as Ye Fan was about to continue upstairs, Wang Hu suddenly said, "Officer, there are quite a few people here. For safety reasons, please wait downstairs."
The Red Alert soldiers consider protecting the officer their top duty. Although Ye Fan didn't think there would be any danger, he nodded in agreement.
Under Li Biao's protection, he returned to the front door before Wang Hu and the others went upstairs.
Ye Fan did not expect that they would come under attack just moments after heading up.
Moreover, it was clear that it wasn't zombies attacking them—it was people!
Crack, crack sounds echoed as streaks of cold light shot towards them!
A soldier beside Wang Hu was immediately struck by several arrows.
Thud, thud, thud~~~!
Several crossbow arrows hit the soldier. Even though he protected his vital areas in the nick of time, he was still seriously injured.
The soldier next to him immediately supported him; as long as the comrade didn't die, surrounding companions would help.
This soldier carried him downstairs, with Wang Hu covering the rear.
He raised his gun and fired towards the direction from which a crossbow arrow came.
Rat-tat-tat~~~!
The bullets from the assault rifle penetrated the box, and a scream was heard from behind it—a person attacking was shot dead on the spot.
Just as Wang Hu was about to shoot at a second person, a shadow suddenly dashed out!
Roar~~~!
A massive black shadow loomed over him, and with powerful impact, Wang Hu was knocked down, and the creature went to bite him.
If it had been the earlier Wang Hu, he might have been killed by this bite.
Having been promoted to Corporal, Wang Hu's agility had improved considerably. At the brink of life and death, he swiftly swung the gun in his hands horizontally, causing the monster to bite the gunstock.
The metal gunstock was deformed from the bite.
"Get off!"
Wang Hu kicked hard, pushing the monster away, and rolled his body over to the staircase.
However, he was still a bit slow; the monster bit fiercely into his left calf, making blood gushing out immediately.
Without uttering a word, Wang Hu held up his gun and fired.
Rat-tat-tat~~~!
A string of sparks flew as he lost his aim due to the injury. The monster, being extremely agile, dodged the shots.
But taking this opportunity, Wang Hu tumbled down the stairs, managing to jump down to the first floor with his injured leg.
"Protect the officer's retreat!"
Wang Hu yelled while holding his gun single-handedly.
Without needing Wang Hu to speak, Li Biao had already picked up Ye Fan and dashed outside.
Another Red Alert Soldier was carrying the wounded soldier struck by crossbow arrows as they retreated.
Wang Hu was formidable enough to suppress the enemy's pursuit at the staircase, allowing the others to pull back down the stairs.
The group of them ran back to the residential area in quite a mess, but luckily no one pursued them further.
They ran all the way back upstairs. Seeing the two wounded soldiers, Ye Fan's mouth tightened, and a surge of anger rose in his heart.
He had no intention of harming survivors, yet there were survivors attacking him.
This attack almost resulted in two soldiers being killed on the spot.
"Damn it, how ugly human hearts can be; I really underestimated this apocalypse."
He immediately took out his medical kit, intending to treat the two soldiers.
His Squad Leader Level medical kit had only one dose of medicine, but there were two injured soldiers.
Wang Hu, enduring the pain, said, "Officer, treat Qian Xiaobing. His injuries are more severe, mine are not life-threatening."
Ye Fan hesitated a bit. Wang Hu was currently their strongest fighter and should be given priority in treatment.
However, Qian Xiaobing was also a Senior Private, and he didn't want to abandon him either.
The supplies would only refresh by noon the next day; how could he save both?
At this moment, Nana said, "Officer, you can use one dose of medicine first and then upgrade to Squad Leader permission. The supplies will automatically refresh then."
Ye Fan was stunned for a moment. After checking the Money, he realized he was only over twenty Gold short of 500, enough to upgrade to Squad Leader!
"Li Biao! Go break open some security doors right away and collect thirty Gold for me as fast as possible. You have twenty minutes!"
"Understood, I guarantee to complete the mission!"
Li Biao immediately grabbed a fire axe and left the room with another soldier. The sound of banging echoed from the hallway. Ten minutes later, they returned, drenched in sweat.
"Officer, mission accomplished!"