The Team

"Since you have the ability to venture deep into the Street of the Living Dead, why didn't you bring that so-called Living Corpse King back for us to see yourself?"

Parick crossed his legs, lounged comfortably in his executive chair, and looked down at the other man with a condescending gaze.

Seeing that the General Manager still intended to press for details, Xia Leng put on an expression of growing impatience.

"You know that we Apocalypse Hunters all possess keen danger-sensing abilities. That Living Corpse King is extremely powerful; I am no match for it. However, since you don't seem to trust me much, I can go find other mercenary companies. That way, you won't have to worry about being deceived or set up by me."

Xia Leng made a move to stand up and leave, an action that caused Parick's pupils to dilate slightly!

No one had ever dared to act so insolently in front of him. While he didn't like his subordinates to be sycophantic, he also didn't tolerate disrespect.

If any other subordinate had committed such a rude act in his presence, their fate would have been far less comfortable than being thrown into a furnace.

However, the temptation of a new type of evolved creature like the Living Corpse King, which he had never encountered before, combined with his initial favorable impression of this cold man, caused Parick to calm his rising temper.

"Hahaha, you are interesting—far more interesting than anyone else I've met. I like your straightforward personality. As it happens, two teams have just returned to the base after completing their missions. You can take those guys and hunt that Living Corpse King for me!"

Parick stood up, smoothed out his slightly wrinkled white shirt, picked up the phone on his mahogany desk, dialed a number, and began to deploy the hunting team with concise, clear instructions.

Xia Leng, with his back turned to the General Manager, felt a flicker of imperceptible cunning flash in his eyes. His first objective had been achieved; his second goal was to find a way to extract information about the Land of Corpse Cold from this company...

"The personnel have been arranged and are standing by at the entrance. Do you want to set off now, or would you like to rest for a while?" Parick put down the phone, sat back down, and asked Xia Leng with a smile.

"Let's set off now. There's no telling when the sun will set again, or when it might rise next."

Xia Leng replied indifferently. With the enhancement of the Blacklight Virus, even after the battle deep within the Street of the Living Dead, he felt no fatigue at all.

Just as he was about to walk out of the office, Parick called out to him one last time, "Since you're being so considerate of our company, what kind of generous reward do you want?"

"Wait until I come back alive."

As soon as Xia Leng stepped out of the General Manager's office, he saw Butler Jonathan standing at the door, eyes tightly shut, hands crossed over his chest, seemingly praying for something.

But the moment he heard the sound of the door opening, he jumped, eyes snapping open to see his benefactor standing right in front of him, wearing the same cold, indifferent expression as always.

"You're out?! How did it go? Did Lord Parick believe what you said??"

Jonathan hurried over and asked nervously, as this concerned his own life.

"I don't know. The result depends on whether we can capture that Living Corpse King. Are you coming with me?"

Xia Leng turned his head and looked coldly at the butler, who was so adept at navigating social nuances.

"Cough, I... I think I'll pass. I still have a lot of work to do in the fortress, I can't get away..."

As soon as Jonathan heard about leaving the safety of the fortress to head toward that terrifying, eerie street, he immediately scrambled to find an excuse to refuse.

"By the way, what are those rooms next door for? Why are they connected to your boss's office?"

Xia Leng seized the moment while the other man was highly tense to casually ask this important question.

"Those rooms? Oh, besides being the General Manager of this fortress, our boss Parick also serves as a consultant for the company's research team. But as for what they're researching, those of us in the lower ranks aren't qualified to know."

Jonathan answered truthfully. In reality, he had no interest in knowing; he understood the principle that the less he knew, the better it was for him.

Afterward, Xia Leng took the elevator with the butler back to the surface.

After parting ways with the butler, he walked alone toward the fortress gate, where the two mercenary teams Parick had assigned to accompany him to the commercial street were waiting.

Stepping out of the isolated fortress, Xia Leng saw two fully armed mercenary teams standing before the copper walls under the scorching sun, among them several Baptized Ones exuding formidable auras.

From a distance, he could already hear some of the soldiers in the ranks beginning to grumble.

"Damn it, I just got back from a mission, and now they're assigning us work immediately. The company is really squeezing us dry!"

"Shh, keep it down. Don't let the captain hear you. With his temper, he'll strip you naked and throw you out into the sun..."

Xia Leng listened to the various complaints from the ranks with his keen senses, approaching them without a care.

"You're the important person Lord Parick mentioned?"

Just then, a massive, hulking man blocked Xia Leng's path and asked in an arrogant tone.

Xia Leng looked up to see another power-type Apocalypse Warrior, nearly two meters tall with a fierce face. His strength hovered between the second and third stages, and he was likely on the verge of breaking through to the third stage.

"Yes, you must be Captain Philip. We can set off now."

Xia Leng replied flatly and walked straight past him, leaving this self-important Apocalypse Warrior feeling slighted right from the start...

"You bastard!"

Philip froze, then grew indignant. He couldn't detect the aura of a Baptized One from the man, yet he dared to ignore him like this. Could he be a brain-enhanced intellectual?

However, he didn't go to cause trouble for Xia Leng directly, as General Manager Parick had placed such importance on him—he must have some extraordinary strengths.

And so, the narrow-minded man silently filed this grievance away...

"Hello, I'm Gilbert, captain of the Falcon Team. I heard you're an Apocalypse Hunter like me?"

A moment later, another man exuding a unique aura walked over with a smile. Compared to Philip, he was much more of a gentleman.

Xia Leng looked at him—a dark complexion, sharp eyes like a hawk's, and an arm extended that, while not overly bulky, was filled with streamlined muscle. He could tell at a glance that the man was an agility-enhanced hunter, so he reached out and shook his hand.

"Hello. Can we set off now?"

Xia Leng's tone remained as flat as ever, though for him, offering a greeting was already quite rare...

"Hahaha, I guess you're an agility-enhanced hunter too, being so impatient. Let's head out then! Philip, get your team to start the vehicles—let's go have a good hunt!"

Following that, Xia Leng heard the deafening roar of engines erupting behind him!