Saving

The gunshots in the small town lasted for a while before falling silent.

The rescue team assembled 500 meters outside the town and set up observation posts. Everyone took a break while Kirk seized the opportunity to check his skill changes.

Due to the intense fighting these past few days, Kirk hadn't had time to review the combat logs. He took a look and saw that due to combat incentives, the proficiency of various skills had grown rapidly, and indeed there were many pleasant surprises.

[Basic Small Arms Mastery] had leveled up to Level 2, improving mastery of pistols, large-caliber pistols, and submachine pistols, increasing damage by 10% and accuracy by 10%.

[Basic Small Knife Mastery] had leveled up to Level 2, improving mastery of close-combat small knives such as daggers, long daggers, combat knives, and wrist blades, increasing damage by 10% and speed by 10%.

[Basic Physical Defense Mastery] had leveled up to Level 2, reducing physical damage by 10% and enhancing the effectiveness of defensive equipment.

[Basic Melee Combat] had also leveled up, improving melee weapon mastery and passively increasing melee damage by 10%.

Kirk sighed, realizing that the space honed a person's abilities, and the more thoroughly one trained in a certain aspect, the faster they grew. He was developing in the direction of melee combat.

His current basic attributes were: Strength 7, Agility 8, Stamina 9, Intelligence 9, Wisdom 7, Charisma 3. He had to thank Mori; without his guidance, he definitely wouldn't have been able to harden his heart to face walkers head-on, and thus wouldn't have been able to train his abilities.

At this moment, Kirk received a system notification: "Contractor, at 24:00 tonight, the walkers will undergo their third mutation. Their attack power, speed, health, and desire to attack will increase by 10%. Their sense of smell, hearing, and sight will evolve again, and the walker devouring function will be activated. Walkers will devour each other, accelerating their evolution and leading to the appearance of more mutated walker variants. The plot difficulty will increase again, from C+ to B. You must survive for another 48 hours in the novice plot to return!"

"***, you shitty space, are you even letting us live!" Little Fatty spat on the ground. "What a shame, that bitch Ma Ruiqi got away..."

"If fate allows, we'll meet again," Kirk said with a wise expression.

"Big brother, you think The Governor knows we've already been here? Will we be able to get in later?"

"This will exploit a blind spot in people's thinking. Tonight, as the walkers undergo their third mutation, the defense pressure on all human communities will greatly increase. The Governor and his people won't expect us to have been seen through and still dare to come back a second time. They're under immense pressure defending against the walkers, so we'll use this opportunity to sneak into town and rescue the hostages again."

"What about our nest? Won't it be overrun by walkers?" Little Fatty was still worried.

"As for the prison, the electric fence has been repaired, and the backup generator has been reactivated, so the power supply is abundant. As long as the rescue team keeps The Governor's men in check here and they don't cause trouble, dealing with the mutated walkers at the prison will be much easier. After all, no matter how much the walkers mutate, they're still stupid and can't withstand the power of the electric fence," Kirk chuckled.

Midnight arrived, and a large horde of walkers began their death march, gathering at the town gates. The town seemed to face a great enemy, and a large number of people rushed out to assist in the defense. Kirk and Little Fatty saw the figure of a woman appear on the defensive wall – it was Ma Ruiqi.

"This woman really knows how to switch sides quickly, becoming a loyal guard so soon," Little Fatty scoffed. "Do you think the space punished her?"

"Probably not," Kirk replied. "The space's mission is survival; how you survive is up to you. As long as you survive, the mission is complete."

The walkers were clearly much faster than they had been during the day or even last night. Kirk now estimated their movement speed to be equivalent to a normal person running at full speed, which was a terrifying prospect. Humanity's prospects for survival were even more grim. Fortunately, they would be returning in another 48 hours.

The defenders, however, were orderly. Heavy weapons were brought up, including a heavy machine gun removed from a Humvee.

This was bad news for the walkers. Even the most powerful walkers couldn't withstand the metal storm of a heavy machine gun with their flesh and blood. In a short while, walkers fell one after another in the hail of bullets.

The military strength of this town was far greater than that of the plot team. The Governor had a great talent for plundering resources.

As night fell, the town gradually settled into peace.

Rick led the rescue team into the town from a hidden corner.

Daryl, the tracking expert, quickly located the hut where the hostages were being held; it was a makeshift shelter in the most remote part of town.

The rescue team surrounded the area from all sides, preparing to infiltrate. Kirk was selected as part of the first wave of attackers.

Kirk, holding a dagger in his right hand and a thick piece of cloth in his left, crept up behind a burly middle-aged man. With his left hand, he clamped down hard on the man's mouth, and with his right hand, he ferociously used [Throat Cut]!

The middle-aged man's mouth was sealed, and a large amount of blood gushed from his throat. Kirk's [Throat Cut] was vicious, performing an instant-kill check first, and if successful, inflicting 4 times the fatal damage plus 30 points of bleeding damage. The middle-aged man was a seasoned fighter, likely with over 100 health, but under the high damage of Kirk's [Navy SEAL Special Dagger], he couldn't escape death, rolling his eyes and gasping his last breath shortly after.

On the other side, Mori, who had acted simultaneously, had already cleanly snapped the neck of another guard. The two nodded at each other and entered the interrogation room.

The interrogation room was dimly lit and divided into several compartments. The rescue team began searching them one by one. At this moment, they heard voices and screams coming from the compartment on the left. Mori, Daryl, Rick, and Kirk entered one after another, rushing into the room. A fat man, hugging his arms and laughing heartily, was about to draw his gun when Daryl shot him through the eyes with his crossbow, killing him silently and instantly.

The Governor and Ma Ruiqi quickly stood up. In front of them were Green, his face covered in blood, and Maggie, who had been stripped of her shirt. It appeared they were interrogating them, with The Governor holding a red-hot branding iron. Ma Ruiqi was stripping Maggie's clothes. This woman was utterly shameless. Surrendering to The Governor could be attributed to a desire to live, betraying the team could also be attributed to a desire to live, but stripping a female captive couldn't possibly be justified as a means of survival!

Enemies meeting, eyes burning with hatred. The Governor was just like in the TV shows, elegant and imposing, extremely handsome, but unfortunately, his opponents now were all his enemies! Rick's wife had indirectly died by his hand, Mori had worked with him and been used by him, creating a deep-seated hatred; Daryl had been attacked by him and nearly killed. Kirk had no personal enmity with him, but if this villainous boss didn't die, he would eventually die at his hands, so it was better to die sooner rather than later.

As for Ma Ruiqi, there was nothing more to say; everyone wished they could kill this two-faced, treacherous, and cunning woman with their own hands.

The Governor reacted extremely quickly. While Ma Ruiqi was still screaming, he grabbed Green and held a gun to his temple, taking him hostage. The implication was clear: dare to approach and he would kill him!

The Governor was about to utter some classic villainous lines, and Rick and the other plot characters, hesitant to act, were preparing for a standoff. However, there was Kirk, who didn't play by the rules.

Green had no particular connection to him. He was just a plot character; if he died, he died! (Green: Damn it.) Killing The Governor, the boss, and Ma Ruiqi, the traitor, was more important.

With a leap, he lunged towards Ma Ruiqi, drawing his special dagger. He showed no mercy to the woman, no preamble, and plunged a sturdy weapon deep into her body! (Kirk: Don't slander me, it's a knife.)

As Kirk's blade, no, his knife, went in white and came out red, Ma Ruiqi screamed in agony, blood pouring out, and she stumbled backward repeatedly. Kirk's Strength was 7, while Ma Ruiqi's was only 4, inflicting significantly more damage.

Ma Ruiqi grabbed a pistol and fired several shots at Kirk. This woman had terrible combat awareness; at such close range, she still used a pistol. Kirk charged forward, unfazed by the bullets. In her panic, Ma Ruiqi only hit him twice, and with various damage reductions, the damage was not significant. He reached Ma Ruiqi and cleanly slit her throat with a [Throat Cut]!

Kirk had long experienced Ma Ruiqi's ruthlessness in betraying teammates, and now she had betrayed the team for personal reasons. Kirk had no soft spot for such a venomous woman. He gave The Governor no chance to speak, completely unconcerned with whether Green lived or died.

Ma Ruiqi's screams abruptly stopped, leaving only the blood spurting from her neck and the choking "heh heh" sound of blood in her severed throat. Even with her enhanced stats, her health was at most 50-60 points. Kirk's heavy blow plus [Throat Cut], with the bleeding damage alone, killed her.

"If you hadn't betrayed us, I wouldn't have been able to bring myself to kill a woman!" Kirk whispered in her ear.

Ma Ruiqi's eyes, filled with disbelief, seemed to finally recognize this unremarkable young man as the disheveled otaku from the car. He had killed her? Why had he killed her? She had only sought to survive, so she had sided with The Governor and betrayed her team; was there something wrong with that?

But there were no "ifs." Kirk watched as Ma Ruiqi's gaze dimmed, and he sighed inwardly, "If I hadn't entered this damned space, how could I have brought myself to kill a woman? It's all this deadly space's fault."

This was the first time he had killed a person. It was different from killing walkers or plot characters. Ma Ruiqi was someone from the same place as him. The blood on his hands was pungent and stinging.

Then, Kirk received a notification: "Contractor No. 4444, you have killed Contractor No. 4439. You have obtained her key." Immediately, a blood-red key appeared before Ma Ruiqi's corpse, its color so striking, as if it had been soaked in fresh blood for a long time.

Seeing Kirk's ruthless actions, even The Governor, who was no stranger to killing, was taken aback. Daryl seized the opportunity and shot him in the right hand with his crossbow! The Governor cried out in pain, dropped Green, smashed through the makeshift shelter behind him, and scrambled away in a panicked retreat.

Little Fatty looked at Kirk, "Is The Governor that weak? I thought he'd at least have a third transformation, otherwise, how could he call himself a boss?"

"Don't underestimate The Governor just because he's in a sorry state now. It's because his strength doesn't lie in personal combat. If you compare him in terms of schemes and tricks, he's truly invincible in the universe," Kirk said, walking towards Ma Ruiqi's corpse and picking up the blood-red key.

The rescue team acted swiftly, finding Green, Maggie, Michonne, and Andalusia. After regrouping, they discovered that Andalusia had fallen in love with the evil Governor. Blinded by him, she refused to join the team, insisting on staying in the town.

Thus, the plot characters had no choice but to wish her well and disappear into the vast night before the Governor could organize his counterattack.

The newcomers were also rescued. Ranmaru and the Korean kid hadn't been interrogated much; it was likely they were too insignificant to be bothered with.

Amidst the chaos, Kirk and Little Fatty received a system prompt: "Contractor No. 4444, you have completed the [Rescue Hostages] mission. You have gained 2000 survival points, 100 team contribution points, and 2% plot deviation."

RanmarU found Kirk. "Kirk-san, thank you so much for saving me! Please don't hesitate to ask if you need anything in the future!"

The Korean kid maintained his cool expression but also came over to thank Kirk.

They drove back to the prison. Tonight, they had successfully rescued their companions, but the fight against the Governor had only just begun.