Chapter 18: Manpower Restriction

Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales

In the main hall of the castle, Tang Yu was lying on the sofa and stretching, his body almost sinking into the fabric.

 “What a degenerate lifestyle…”

 With the Origin Crystal shortage resolved, Tang Yu felt much more relaxed.

 Getting resources from killing monsters was growing less and less useful. Every time he went out hunting for demonized beasts, he had to spend a large amount of time searching for them.

 It was very awkward.

 Others wanted to keep as far away from the demonized beasts as possible, but Tang Yu wanted nothing more than to run into one.

 He was now coming to understand why this place was said to be located somewhat farther away from the abyssal fissures.

 Outside of mishaps like the demon flood, this place truly didn’t have many demonized beasts.

 He now turned the focus of his work to searching for resources in the wilderness. He no longer had much hope of finding demonized beasts.

 In his mind, Roger used the contract to send him a message.

 Chen Haiping was looking for him.

 After a momentary daze, he realized that he had ordered Chen Haiping to count the guns and ammo that Han Jing’s group had left behind. He had gained so much from this incident that he had completely forgotten about this matter.

 “Then…” After thinking for about two seconds, Tang Yu said, “Bring him to the castle.”

 …

 “Go to Villa No. 1?” Chen Haiping was rather surprised.

 Villa No. 1 had always been forbidden ground, and only Chief Tang and his comrades had the right to go in. He knew that he was far inferior to those experts, but it was impossible to say that he didn’t feel envious.

 He now had the right?

 In the former shelter, precisely because he had not been one of Wang Tai’s close subordinates, he had been excluded. But now, in the space of a few days, he had received Chief Tang’s trust.

 Chen Haiping was rather moved.

 At the same time, he was rather curious to see what was in Villa No. 1 that made it a forbidden zone.

 Following Roger, Chen Haiping walked past Villa No. 3, Villa No. 2…

 “There’s nothing weird about the surroundings. If I had to say something, it’s just a little cleaner…” As he wondered, Chen Haiping suddenly felt like his mind had crashed.

 “Am I seeing things?”

 Nearby, where Villa No. 1 had been, was a castle.

 This castle wasn’t large, somewhat larger than the stand-alone villa it had replaced. But the villas of this place all shared the same style, so when Chen Haiping saw that one had been replaced by a castle, he thought that he was seeing things.

 This hadn’t been here before!

 As he got closer, he was able to make out more details of the castle. It had a silver-white outer walls and pointed, dark blue roofs. None of it seemed real.

 After a moment of hesitation, Chen Haiping knocked on the outer wall.

 It was rather tough and sturdy…

 The gates to the castle were wide open.

 He followed Roger inside.

 As he stepped through the gates, he felt like he was entering another world.

 It was a torrid summer outside, and even the light breeze carried an irritating heat that made one want to lash out.

 Stepping into the castle was like stepping over the boundary line between two worlds. It was an entirely different feeling!

 All of the dry heat had disappeared, replaced by an extremely comfortable temperature, like he was bathing in a stream, a cool breeze caressing his cheeks.

 The air was even steeped with a relaxing fragrance.

 Chen Haiping felt like all of his pores had been opened, and the fatigue that had built up over the last few days dissipated significantly.

 Of course, he thought that this was an illusion. After all, this environment was simply too comfortable.

 Is there an air conditioner installed here? But not even an air conditioner’s temperature control could be this comfortable…

 As he thought to himself, he realized that the sensation underfoot also wasn’t right.

 The red carpeting, the fragrant wooden furniture, the crystalline lights embedded in the walls…

 Chen Haiping was beginning to wonder if he was still alive.

 …

 “Chief, I have finished counting the guns and ammo left. There are twenty-three pistols of various types, fifteen automatic rifles of various kinds, one rocket launcher, and five rockets. There are also a few grenades and more than one thousand clips of ammo.”

 As he spoke of these weapons, Chen Haiping smiled. “With this many guns, it will be much easier to set up a defense line for the shelter.”

 “You’re right. And not only that, I have two light machine guns and automatic rifles, and also something else pretty nice…”

 “Something nice?” Chen Haiping was confused as he saw Tang Yu take a long object out from beneath the table. “This is… a sniper rifle! An M99 semi-automatic sniper rifle! Where did you find this? With this weapon, we can even snipe dangerous demonized beasts from a long distance!”

 This sort of gun was lethal to humans and highly damaging to demonized beasts. If it were used properly, they would have many more options open to them in battle.

 “Correct.” Tang Yu nodded. “So, starting from today, this sniper rifle is yours.”

 “M-mine? This is too valuable.” Chen Haiping didn’t dare to believe it.

 Tang Yu pushed the sniper rifle over.

 “Your shooting’s not bad, and only in your hands will this sniper rifle maximize its value. If you feel like you don’t deserve it, consider it a loan. If it’s not used to snipe demonized beasts, its value will be lost…”

 At his side, this sniper rifle would just be a decoration. As for Roger and Yilian, not only could they not use it, they didn’t need this sort of weapon.

 A weapon that couldn’t show its worth was simply an ornament.

 Fortunately, among his people, Chen Haiping excelled at shooting, and Tang Yu had seen him use a pistol to shoot down demonized beasts before.

 “Alright.” Chen Haiping took in a deep breath. “Chief, I will not let you down. I will definitely make sure the value of this sniper rifle is not lost.”

 He solemnly took the sniper rifle, then he thought of something. “Chief, those people from before were sent by some boss from Lindong. As all of those people have now been lost here, that boss might not give up so easily.”

 Concerned, he asked what Tang Yu’s countermeasures were.

 “Countermeasure? There’s no need to worry. The only worry is that this boss is some senior military official with soldiers under his command. Otherwise, no matter how strong his men are, so long as it’s not a modernized force, they won’t pose any problem. Moreover, since those people have all been lost here, that boss in Lindong will need to waste a lot of time just finding out what happened. In short, there’s nothing to worry about.”

 Chen Haiping was rather concerned, but when he looked at Tang Yu and Roger, he saw that neither of them seemed concerned at all. On the contrary, Roger seemed to be seething with killing intent.

 He had originally planned to advise a change in the shelter’s location, but he couldn’t say anything now.

 That boss in Lindong had powerful subordinates, far more than the group they had here. But Chief Tang did not seem to be someone who did something he wasn’t sure about.

 From the very beginning, he had believed that building a shelter was far too bold of an idea. But after their step-by-step progress here, he had come to trust in Tang Yu’s abilities.

 Perhaps…

 Chief Tang still had a trump card that could deal with that Lindong boss?

 Chen Haiping couldn’t think of anything, but he was willing to believe it.

 And he had never thought about leaving.

 If he left, he wouldn’t have to worry about the Lindong boss, but Chen Haiping didn’t want to continue this sort of life where he struggled to just barely survive.

 For some things, someone had to just step up and do them.

 Whether it was for fame, fortune, or his own beliefs, he wanted to try and help Chief Tang set up his shelter.

 He didn’t fear failure. What he feared was losing his sense of humanity and living life like a walking corpse.

 Since he couldn’t advise Chief Tang to change locations, Chen Haiping could only do his best in his own way: training the survivors in shooting to increase the defensive strength of the shelter.

 For the rest, he would just have to look to Chief Tang’s trump card and the will of the heavens.

 “…However, Chief, we have far too few people. We can’t even use all the guns we have.”