Chapter 487 - 484: Huge Harvest
When Zhou De and his men first retreated into the distance, they still felt a bit anxious.
He had even considered that if things went south, he would split the team in two. One part would take the convoy and drive farther away, while he would lead the other to provide backup.
However, the way things unfolded was worlds apart from what he had imagined. In his view, for a mere 22 people to fend off a horde of 15,000 Zombies, they would be in a frantic, chaotic struggle even if they managed to survive. It would all depend on how many heavy-duty weapons they had.
But in reality, after their initial, somewhat fierce counterattack, they didn’t even need to use common area-of-effect weapons like Hand Cannons. With just ordinary Firearms, the Zombies fell in swathes, like wheat being mowed down.
The speed of their kill rate was so high that it stunned even an officer like him, who had seen his fair share of intense situations.
Zhou De estimated that even if the Military Department itself took action, they would need to dispatch at least an entire regiment to achieve such a kill rate.
But that was only possible by laying down an overwhelming hail of bullets to form a dense network of firepower.
Yet now, the enemy’s fire wasn’t dense at all—it was almost sparse. The only thing that stood out was what seemed to be two machine guns firing continuously. But for a Zombie horde, such firepower should have been negligible.
Although Zhou De couldn’t figure out what was happening, he was certain of one thing: the other party’s strength was terrifying. At the very least, this horde of 15,000 Zombies posed no threat to them whatsoever.
The horde of Zombies fell at a terrifying rate, and in just ten minutes, only a few hundred remained. He was, however, a little confused as to why their killing Speed had suddenly slowed down toward the end.
But a few hundred Zombies were no longer a threat to his convoy. After watching for a moment longer, he gave the order to move out.
Just as the convoy approached the shopping mall, the last of the nearby Zombies were dealt with.
At that moment, Zhou De saw Lin Xinghai lead his people out of the main entrance and head toward them.
If the previous interactions between Zhou De and Lin Xinghai had been on equal footing, his attitude changed completely after witnessing them slaughter the Zombie horde.
"Captain Lin, you’ve truly opened my eyes this time. I never imagined a team from East Sea Academy could be this formidable." Zhou De quickly disembarked, a wide smile on his face as he approached. His level of enthusiasm had shot up several notches.
Both the military and Mercenaries respected the strong. This was especially true out in the perilous wilderness, where strength was paramount.
"Haha, you flatter me. Our Gun Technique is just a bit better than average. Colonel Zhou, your timing is perfect. We’ll need to ask for your help collecting Elemental Crystals!" Lin Xinghai replied with equal enthusiasm.
’A hundred-man team is a rare source of labor, after all!’
"Of course, of course. It’s just... the smell of blood here is so strong. I’m afraid it will attract more hordes of Zombies..."
Before he could finish, Lin Xinghai cut in with a smile, "You can rest assured on that point. While your soldiers are collecting the Elemental Crystals, we will guarantee their absolute safety. The members of my squad happen to be short on Zombies to practice their Gun Technique on!"
With Lin Xinghai having put it that way, Zhou De had nothing more to say. He immediately ordered all his soldiers to disembark and help collect the Elemental Crystals.
And just as Zhou De had feared, the process was interrupted by the scent of blood attracting wave after wave of Zombies.
However, Lin Xinghai kept his promise. He had the members of the Xinghai Squad spread out to form a perimeter.
The members of the Xinghai Squad had just received pointers from Lin Xinghai. In a mere 10 minutes, both their accuracy and Speed had shown marked improvement. Having tasted the sweet results of their training, they were filled with enthusiasm.
When they saw more Zombies approaching, they needed no orders. They excitedly rushed forward, using the undead as live targets to practice their Gun Technique.
Although their safety was guaranteed, the speed of collecting the Elemental Crystals was less than ideal. It took a full half an hour to extract the crystals from all the Zombie corpses.
"Collecting these Elemental Crystals is just too time-consuming."
Lin Xinghai turned to Little Fatty and asked, "Once you finish the programming, how fast will those Combat Robots be at collecting Elemental Crystals?"
’This is an extremely important matter. It could even determine the rate at which they earn money from now on.’
"According to the projected data from the tech department, they should be about five times faster than a normal person! Of course, we’ll have to see how they actually perform to know for sure," Little Fatty quickly replied.
"That’s good!" Lin Xinghai nodded, then had someone tally up the Elemental Crystals.
They had first killed 15,000 Zombies, and then nearly 1,000 more had trickled in. This meant they had obtained around 16,000 Elemental Crystals. However, since this was the outskirts of the city, the vast majority were Ordinary Zombies; the proportion of Intermediate and High Level Zombies was low.
The final count came to a staggering 9,600 ordinary Elemental Crystals, 5,400 Intermediate Elemental Crystals, and just over 1,000 High Level Elemental Crystals.
Even so, the Elemental Crystals alone were worth 234,000 Huaxia Coins. Adding the 23,400 Huaxia Coins they received for the kills, they had earned a total of 257,400 Huaxia Coins in one fell swoop.
And thanks to Lin Xinghai’s requirements, their ammunition consumption had been extremely low. The total cost was definitely under 20,000 Huaxia Coins, meaning the rest was pure profit.
After calculating such a massive income, everyone grew ecstatic.
It was only then that they truly understood how fortunate they were to be following Lin Xinghai. They could already imagine a future where they wouldn’t have to worry so much about Cultivation Resources.
After finishing the count, the group wasted no more time. They immediately reassembled the convoy and got back on the road.
What followed was another long stretch of travel.
However, things were a little different from before. This time, whenever they encountered Zombies on the road, the other students didn’t let them go so easily. Instead, they treated every single one as a live target for practicing their Gun Technique.
The only problem was that these groups of Zombies were small, sometimes only a dozen, or a few dozen at most. It was hardly enough to be satisfying.
The one silver lining was that every time they killed a certain number of Zombies, Lin Xinghai would point out their mistakes or tell them what to focus on to improve faster.
Under these conditions, the journey no longer felt as tedious as before. And under Lin Xinghai’s guidance, their Gun Technique continued to improve at a rapid pace.
After all, upon reaching the Blood Qi Realm, their control over their muscle groups and their coordination were already quite high. This made learning Gun Technique much easier, and their progress was tangible.
By 6:00 PM, the convoy finally arrived at the second danger zone.
Upon arriving, all the students grew excited. For them, this was not only another excellent opportunity to practice their shooting, but also a chance to rake in a huge amount of Huaxia Coins.