Seconds after the quake passed, the air remained still.
Shen Yuan lowered his eyes to Huo Yan, calmly licking his paws and grooming himself. When Huo Yan raised his head at him, Shen Yuan could see the smile in his eyes.
What eventually broke the silence was a jaded male voice screaming from everyone's radio. "Did you all feel that over there!? Damn it! First a big one and now two in one day!? This never happened before! What the hell is going on!?"
Zhou Yi gestured at Bai Feng who had the map ready in his pocket and spread it open for him. He pushed the talk button and replied, "Where, Old Qiang?"
"Also from the west but closer! Definitely inside the orange zone! Don't tell me you've reached the checkpoint already!? You're going to get pinched!"
"That's for us to think about. Just give us the location."
"Near X-3 and X-8! It shouldn't be too big, but don't let your guard down! God knows what other shitshow hell's going to pull on us!"
"Understood." Zhou Yi turned to Birdie. "Go."
Birdie gave a nod, reignited his engine, and zoomed away in a blitz. Two other scouts hurried back to their motorbike and chased after their boss.
While waiting for Birdie to return, Zhou Yi ordered the rest to follow their initial plan and make the barricade.
They moved the cars throughout the road and arranged them to block the entire width of the road, leaving no gap to the walls on the sideroad—both towards the direction of the first and second crevice. They made two layers of car blockade and positioned some cars inside for them to have a higher vantage point.
Wei Nian positioned his squad on the rooftops of the small shops around them, not too high so that their bullets could still reach the ground, Yan Li remained on the ground with her squad, while Zhen An and his squad combed through the area to make sure there weren't any damned lurking around.
Soon after everything was set up, Birdie and the scouts returned and reported their findings. He took out a pocket camera and showed the photo of the crevice.
A large fissure split across the asphalt—a deep, long gash, spanning over half of the block. Flame red hue glowed from within, connecting to the layers of hell itself. If one fell, there was no hope of going back up.
"Thankfully, it is smaller than usual," Yan Li breathed a small sigh of relief. "If it's only this much, the scouts are enough to handle it."
Birdie nodded in agreement, ready to be dispatched.
"We still need the scouts you sent to the first crevice. You can pick one person from every squad to make up for the numbers," Zhou Yi approved it.
Shen Yuan raised his hand. "Can I volunteer?"
Birdie and Yan Li glanced at each other and looked back at their boss.
Zhou Yi didn't like the idea of Shen Yuan separating from him since this was his first mission, but if Shen Yuan knew he rejected his volunteer because of a selfish reason, he would lose trust in him.
"What makes you confident enough to volunteer?"
"On the contrary, I'm not confident enough to follow you to the frontline. There's a higher chance of encountering something beyond my capability," Shen Yuan corrected. "This smaller crevice is more appropriate for my first mission. I'll give my best to support Squad Leader Birdie."
"…"
Seeing Zhou Yi unable to deny his words, Shen Yuan inwardly sneered.
As if he didn't know what this bastard was thinking. If he rejected his volunteer despite his answer, it would be equivalent to him forcing a new, unprepared member to the frontline and telling him to die.
"…Alright. You can go with Birdie." Zhou Yi squeezed the words out of his mouth.
"Thank you. I'll work hard." Shen Yuan curled an appreciative smile.
"I want to volunteer too!"
Liu Zhen appeared from behind the supply truck and scurried towards them. He flinched under Zhou Yi's scrutiny but steadied himself and bowed 90 degrees straight.
"Let me prove myself, boss! I'll make myself useful!"
"What the hell are you doing here?" Bai Feng chided with fierce disapproval. "How did you even follow us?"
"I-I…slipped into the supply truck," Liu Zhen answered without raising his head, hiding the cold sweat dotting his face. He himself knew how crazy his action was. "I know I made a mistake earlier, so please let me redeem myself. Just give me one chance."
"No." Zhou Yi flatly rejected.
"Please!"
"Even if you beg or cry, nothing will change. This action of yours only further proves how immature and irresponsible you are. You're only giving us more work to babysit you." Bai Feng didn't give any pity.
"How about we calm down first?" Shen Yuan stepped between Bai Feng and Liu Zhen. "You can save the scolding for later. With the additional crevice, an extra person is just what we need."
Bai Feng frowned. "Why are you defending him?"
"I'm not. I also think what he's doing is dumb and causing a burden to others." Shen Yuan spread his arms. "But denying his use is equally dumb. Although the other crevice is smaller, there's still a chance we're going to need to camp there for a couple of days, right? He can help take care of the supplies and other menial tasks for us. Since we're only bringing minimal people there, we're going to need to manage our stamina and energy as effectively as possible."
"…" Bai Feng stared at Liu Zhen's bowing figure for a while and turned to Zhou Yi for his opinion.
Zhou Yi checked his watch. "We don't have time for this. The damned should already start crawling out of the first crevice by now. I'll leave the decision to Birdie. Let's go, Bai Feng."
"Yes, Boss."
As the two men set out, Liu Zhen slowly raised his head and looked at Birdie with pleading eyes. Birdie simply left without uttering a single word.
"That means 'yes'." Yan Li smacked Liu Zhen's back and walked away. "Work hard, kid."
Liu Zhen beamed in rejoice, the throbbing pain in his back felt nothing in comparison. Still, when his eyes fell on Shen Yuan, he felt nothing but suspicion and doubt.
Why would this person help him?
"Are you waiting for Squad Leader Birdie to change his mind or what?" Shen Yuan calmly said. "If you don't finish up in time, we might just leave you after all."
"…Kh!" Liu Zhen could only clench his fists and hurry away.
With swift preparation, they headed out at full speed within 10 minutes. Birdie and the scouts who accompanied him before led the way with their motorbike while the rest rode a car together and followed behind them.
Shen Yuan stroked Huo Yan's fur in leisure, attracting several side-eyes from his seat neighbors. He slid his gaze outside the window and smiled.
BAM–!!
Three specters rammed the left side of the car and throttled it over. Before Birdie and the scouts could see what happened, more specters hammered their bikes off the ground and hurled them meters up the sky.
The car rolled with violent crashes, flying glass shards and metallic body parts in its trail. It smashed against a traffic light with a loud bang, putting a stop to its momentum, and toppled it on its roof like an upside-down turtle.
Shen Yuan crawled out of the backdoor window and staggered up to his feet. He leaned on the traffic light to shake away the dizziness as he brushed the shards off his clothes.
Scenarios like this weren't uncommon to use in his regular missions and were something he was trained to handle, but still, two arms would never be enough to protect his entire body from a crash like that. He dislocated his left shoulder.
Huo Yan leaped out of the broken car window and rushed to Shen Yuan, his tail swinging from side to side. "Meow…"
"Don't worry," Shen Yuan calmed Huo Yan down.
He rubbed around the dislocated area and snapped it back in place with a sharp crack. A low groan slipped between his lips, but he managed to control his face from showing any pain. He rolled his shoulder and made sure it was properly fixed.
"Yep. All good."
"Help…over…here…" a feeble voice pleaded from a near distance.
Shen Yuan looked down to see an arm extending out the window, barely catching attention with its weak sway. He knelt down and peered inside.
Liu Zhen, half-conscious with blood dripping down his face, slowly shaped Shen Yuan's face in his dimming, spinning vision. "You…what…"
"You see, I'm very good at bearing grudges when I want to." Shen Yuan curled a sweet, eerie smile. "I would've just let you go if you had stayed in the shelter since you're not real anyway, but much to our luck, this world decides to make you dumb. Blame that Sister Ming of yours for making you get involved with me."
Finished saying his piece, he stood back up and stretched his arms and back. It was a shame he couldn't do anything to Ming Xia herself, but oh well.
There was a more important thing to do.
"Show me the way, Yan-Yan."
"Meow~"