Chapter 10 Retreat immediately!
Chapter 10: Retreat Immediately!
Hearing the woman speak, Zhou Ming took a deep breath and nodded.
"Then I'll do it."
He had the woman sit on the ground, extend her chained foot, and then told Huang Tao and Zhang Qian to guard the entrance. If the monsters came, they were to kill them on the spot.
After hearing the order, Huang Tao was slightly startled and asked in confusion, "Why not kill them all first, and then have someone come in to take her away? You're not afraid of those monsters, are you, Senior?"
Zhang Qian also reacted, realizing that Zhou Ming was not at all concerned about the monsters. He wasn't even afraid that the woman's cries of pain when her foot was cut off would attract other Experimental subjects, which showed that he didn't put those Experimental subjects in his eyes at all.
So, what exactly was Zhou Ming afraid of, to be in such a hurry to leave this place?
"Just do as you're told!" Zhou Ming repeated, his voice cold, sending shivers down Huang Tao and Zhang Qian's spines.
Huang Tao and Zhang Qian walked to the entrance to guard, hearing the sound of a blade hitting the ground behind them, mixed with a crisp snap, like the sound of a butcher's knife cutting through pig bones at a slaughterhouse. The one thing they didn't hear was the woman's scream.
"Alright, Huang Tao, you carry her. We're retreating."
Huang Tao turned and re-entered the room, shining his flashlight on the imprisoned woman. He found her expression blank, even a little relaxed, showing a strange sense of comfort, as if she hadn't had a foot cut off, but had just received a pleasant massage.
Not much blood flowed from the cut surface of her ankle wound; that amount of bleeding didn't even require a bandage.
"Why are you just standing there? Pick her up quickly, we need to retreat!"
"Uh, but… this…"
For the first time, Huang Tao hesitated.
Zhou Ming glanced at Huang Tao, guessing that he was worried the woman would bite him for no reason, so he said, "Pick up the foot."
Huang Tao instantly understood Zhou Ming's meaning. He stared blankly at the pale, slender, bloodless foot, feeling a wave of dizziness.
…
Huang Tao didn't know how he got out. He felt like he had lost his soul, unaware of what he was doing along the way, just holding the woman and following behind Zhou Ming.
On the way out, the woman didn't go crazy; she was very quiet.
Just as Zhou Ming expected, her foot had a very good calming effect on her emotions.
Huang Tao and Zhang Qian followed Zhou Ming out of the air-raid shelter, and the sense of disorientation in their minds only slightly dissipated when their eyes met the first ray of sunlight.
Zhang Qian gazed blankly at Zhou Ming's back, asking the question she had wanted to ask for over ten minutes: "Senior… why are we leaving like this? Wouldn't it be better to deal with all the monsters first and then slowly rescue the others?"
"So slow," Zhou Ming said, clenching his fists. Only by doing so would his hands not tremble.
He took a deep breath and tried to describe in a calm tone, "There's an error in the intelligence. Let me ask you, why do ordinary people also turn into this after going in?"
"That's naturally…"
Halfway through his sentence, Huang Tao closed his mouth, and suddenly his mind cleared.
At that moment, he felt an extreme chill of fear, and the hairs on his body stood on end.
Yes, why do ordinary people turn into this after going in? Those five oddities were born because of rumors, but these people wouldn't be affected by rumors. Why did they also turn into this ghostly appearance after being captured?
"This place… is not right," Zhou Ming paused, then turned to look at the dark entrance of the air-raid shelter, "It turns normal people into something like them."
Huang Tao and Zhang Qian remained silent. Although both wore masks and Zhou Ming couldn't see their expressions, he could feel their intense emotional fluctuations.
"Calm down. Emotional management is the most basic quality of a Hidden Ones. Even if it's your first mission, you need to get used to it."
Zhou Ming, who hadn't fully gotten used to it himself, lectured the two like a seasoned veteran, speaking earnestly.
"I need to contact Wang Teacher. You two call the troops to take her over," Zhou Ming said.
…
Five minutes later, Zhou Ming briefly relayed the situation to Wang Xinyun over the phone.
"Oh, I see, you did very well! Fortunately, I sent you this time, otherwise, who knows what would have happened!
Leave the rest to me, your teacher. This oddity now exceeds your operational standards!
Write a report and submit it to me later! Your performance this time will be recorded in your assignment history!"
Wang Xinyun was not stingy with her praise, as if Zhou Ming had done something quite extraordinary.
"…"
"Zhou Ming, are you listening?"
"Yes, I understand. I will write the report."
"Your reaction this time was very quick, and your intuition is sharp! I know a very excellent Liaison Officer. Would you like to partner with him after you graduate?"
In this world, the relationship between a Liaison Officer and a Hidden Ones is somewhat like that between a celebrity and an agent. Wang Xinyun was recommending a "manager" for Zhou Ming's post-graduation job, clearly intending to include Zhou Ming in her network.
"About that… I'll think about it," Zhou Ming said tactfully. He didn't want to make a decision so quickly.
"Alright then, I also have a class to teach. Think about it carefully, and let me know anytime you decide."
"Mmm."
Zhou Ming hung up the phone and sighed with relief.
The first mission was temporarily muddled through, and according to his teacher's evaluation, it seemed to have been completed quite well. So far, everything was going smoothly.
However, the follow-up work still couldn't be taken lightly. He had to complete the mission report properly with the professionalism of the original owner!