Lux handed temporary command to UMP45 for two reasons. First, as the leader of Squad 404, she was decisive and unlikely to make mistakes.
Second, given her personality, if the situation truly endangered their own people, she would decisively abandon Rick's group. There was no need to say it outright and hurt feelings.
This was the best decision to protect their own people. After all, everyone looks out for themselves—those strangers' lives were far less important to him than UMP45 and the others.
"Rick, have three people with good driving skills get on the pickup."
Lux said flatly.
"Robert, Troy, you two come here."
Rick waved. A burly man and a young man with a bit of a streetwise air ran over.
"Brother Robert used to drive taxis—best driver among us. Troy used to street race. With me and Daniel, we'll bring back four vehicles."
Rick took out a pack of cigarettes and offered one to Lux.
"No thanks. I don't smoke. Get in the vehicle."
Lux walked toward the driver's seat.
"Brother Lux, the city's really dangerous. Just driving this pickup in there might get us stuck. Shouldn't we bring more people?"
Rick tried to persuade him. They had barely escaped—it showed how strong their survival instinct was.
Even though Lux looked confident, with just a knife and a rifle, how much could he really do?
They had even thrown away their steel bars while fleeing to lighten the load. Their combat ability was basically zero.
"Lianne, you come too."
After thinking for a moment, Lux waved to Lianne. Bows had limited range, and defense here mainly relied on M99's long-range sniping.
"Okay."
Lianne smiled and climbed into the back seat of the pickup.
The others looked enviously at the compound bow in her hands. In the apocalypse, silent long-range weapons like that were far more useful than firearms.
"Daniel, you sit in the cab too. We big guys will ride in the back."
Seeing another archer, Rick finally relaxed. He jumped into the truck bed, followed by Robert and Troy.
"Well… Brother Lux, can I say goodbye to my sister? Just a few words."
"Go ahead. I'm not in a rush."
Lux waved.
Daniel quickly ran to a little girl with pink side-ponytails in the crowd, said a few words, patted her head, then climbed into the pickup.
Once Daniel was seated, Lux started the engine and drove toward the city.
"You're not a guy?"
Lux glanced at Daniel in the rearview mirror. With short, messy hair and a very androgynous appearance, it was an easy mistake.
"Hehehe. My retired soldier dad wasn't happy that my mom only gave him two daughters. He dragged me into training from childhood. Said long hair got in the way, so he cut it short and raised me like a boy."
Daniel laughed openly.
"Oh… sorry. I thought you were male earlier."
"Hahaha, it's fine. Everyone around me treats me like a boy anyway. I don't dislike it—my friends at school all see me as one of the guys."
Daniel said casually.
"You said you were trained. What kind of training did you receive?"
Lux asked calmly as he drove the pickup at a steady pace.
"I'm decent at close-quarters killing. I can also use things like entrenching shovels and the like. Oh right, my pistol skills aren't bad either. Within thirty meters, I can basically hit."
Daniel answered with a cheerful grin.
"Take this Nepalese Kukri and use it."
Lux said as he unfastened the Nepalese Kukri strapped to his leg and handed it back toward the rear seat.
"Thank you, bro, thank you so much."
Daniel happily accepted the machete and kept thanking him.
In the apocalypse, this kind of blade was a treasure. It was far more practical than chair legs or steel bars. She had never managed to find a weapon that really suited her, so getting one now naturally made her ecstatic.
"Where are your parents?"
Lux asked. A retired soldier was definitely someone worth recruiting into the team. The experience gained from military service was extremely valuable.
"Well, my dad and mom went on a trip to an uninhabited island in the Bimo Sea for their twentieth wedding anniversary. Then this biohazard outbreak happened. The ship that was supposed to pick them up probably never went. But honestly, that's not a bad thing. My dad used to be a reconnaissance soldier, so he should be able to survive on that island."
Daniel shrugged, answering indifferently.
"That's pretty good luck. There shouldn't be an outbreak on an uninhabited island. As long as they're alive, that's what matters."
Lux nodded.
"Did your younger sister also receive training from your dad? Her hair doesn't seem to have been cut short."
Lianne, sitting nearby, asked with a smile.
"She was dragged along for training at first, but my mom said you can't raise all the girls in the family like boys. At least one of us has to be able to get married in the future."
"So Gabriel kept her hair long. But that girl is always slacking off. The moment Dad isn't watching, she sneaks out to play. She didn't learn firearms or tracking at all, just picked up some basic hand-to-hand skills and goes out fighting people every day."
"You really couldn't tell. She looks like such a well-behaved girl."
Lianne said with a grin.
"Hahaha, you were fooled by that innocent look too. She's what you call… um… two-faced. Yeah, two-faced."
"She acts cute all the time, but when she actually fights someone, she's ruthless. Last year she broke a small thug's leg with a kick. My dad paid twenty thousand to settle it. He was planning to beat her hard, but she actually got away with it by acting cute."
Daniel said proudly.
"Of course, I can guarantee she's not a bad kid. Really. She's never bullied weaker classmates, and she often stands up for people who get bullied. She absolutely won't cause trouble for the team."
As if remembering something, Daniel suddenly added an explanation.
"Did something happen before?"
Lux asked calmly.
"Uh, nothing major. It's just that with the group we were with before, there was a guy who fought pretty fiercely. He helped protect a few women as we escaped toward the outskirts of the city."
"And you know how things are now. The world's in chaos, so he wanted to do that kind of thing with a pretty woman. Gabriel got into a fight with him and chased him off."
"Later we ran into a tough zombie. One person died before we met Uncle Rick's group, and then we stuck together for mutual support."
Daniel explained with a bitter smile.
"She didn't do anything wrong. How is that causing trouble?"
HK416, sitting in the front seat, spoke up.
"Well… other women aren't like us. They haven't trained their bodies, and they don't have guns like you do. What are they supposed to use to survive in this world?"
"No one is kind to others for no reason. They have to give something in exchange for men risking their lives to protect them, right?"
Daniel shrugged and said frankly.