12 – Meeting Ling
The captain was a bit panicky, and Luo You was not calm either. He had been under the impression that the survival base was literally a ‘base’, yet after walking a lap around it, he discovered that this place’s defensive facilities comprised of a short wall and a few lookout posts, that was it, and that its strongest firepower was the SUV fitted with the machine gun turret.
What the hell, this clearly was a village!
This defense could not withstand the team of five Evolvers, nor would it be capable of avoiding being razed by that pack of Nightmares. These facilities could at most defend against rogues and small scale Blood Wolf packs.
At this moment, Luo You finally realized that the Cube’s balancing of the teams’ strength wasn’t completely fair, and that the compensation for being weak was merely symbolical. Just like this world of survival of the fittest, the strong live and the weak die, where was the fairness in that?
Momentarily, Luo You didn’t know what to do. The enemy team would arrive in less than two days. In this short amount of time, it was impossible to overhaul the base’s defensive fortifications. Also, this mob didn’t have any efficient weapons. Luo You even contemplated about hiding himself. By using the survivors as bait, he could snipe the enemy’s five people one at a time.
However, Luo You didn’t have the kind of sniper rifle used by assassins. With his Rail Gun Sniper Rifle, he might succeed in killing one person, but after the first shot, his location would be exposed. He wouldn’t get the chance to fire a second shot.
Currently, he could only hope that the other party’s strength didn’t exceed his party’s strength by too much. According to his assessment, not taking the dynamic mission into account, he had completed one B-rank, three CC-rank, and seven C-rank missions.
Then taking this as a consideration, the average strength of the enemy should float between CC and CCC, that is, they should possess one CC- to one CCC-rank reward point on average. This was Luo You’s judgment. Of course, he didn’t know whether it was accurate or not. After all, this was also the first time he was participating in a team battle. In a sense, he was also a ‘newbie’.
Luo You had his brows locked in a frown, when a petite silhouette suddenly stopped next to him and issued in a sweet voice: “Hey!”
It was a fourteen- or fifteen-year-old lass with long, flax-colored, curly hair, fair cream-like skin, a pair of sapphire-like dark blue eyes, which were narrowed into enchanting crescent moons, a delicate and elegant nose, and crystal-like bright and limpid teeth, which slightly protruding from behind delicate pink lips. Her lovely face devoid of make-up was more flawless than fine jade, with a smear of graceful and adorable apple-like, pinkish red on her cheeks. Although she was dressed in filthy survivor’s clothing, along with a pair of clearly oversized and shabby boots, but none of it could conceal her charm.
Luo You still maintained his thinking posture, not budging, Only the slight slanting of his eyes indicated that he took notice of the other party. But very quickly, his eyes turned back, and he proceeded with his contemplation, not acknowledging the lass.
“Hey! I’m talking to you!” The lass jumped in front of Luo You. She was shorter than Luo You, and his face was concealed under the cloak; therefore, she lifted her head in curiosity, sizing Luo You up from below: “You’re so strange. Why are you wrapped in bandages?”
Luo You still didn’t pay the girl any attention. Instead, he reached out with his hand and grasped at the earth wall beside him, intending to test the hardness of the wall. The outcome was a hole in the wall. With this hardness of the wall, Arnold, an Evolver who had exchanged a two C-rank reward points for the lowest-ranked Giant bloodline, could smash it with a punch.
“Ah, what are you doing?!” When the lass saw Luo You making a big hole in the wall, she hurriedly squatted down, dug out soil from the ground with her little hands, and then went to fill the hole. Because she was not tall enough, she had to tiptoe: “This wall was painstakingly put up by everyone. We hope that one day it will become a ‘Wall of Life’, just like those in major cities.”
Luo You suddenly felt a bit funny. The one hundred meters tall ‘Walls of Life’ of major cities were load-bearing structures designed by the best grandmasters and constructed from the most advanced military materials. For the past few years, with the number of people participating in the Cube’s missions increasing, the wall’s materials were progressively replaced with high-tech materials redeemed from the Cube. It was a crystallization of endless technology and knowledge. Was it something a few survivors could create?
Even if these people had physical mechanics experts with the ability to raise a one hundred meters tall earth wall, what would be the point of it? Large mutants could easily open a hole in that earth wall.
Luo You still didn’t speak. But it wasn’t that he was avoiding a confrontation with the lass, he just didn’t feel like speaking. The many years spent in the wilderness culminated in him developing a habit of being reticent.
However, the lass’ character was the exact opposite of Luo You’s. She was offhand and extremely talkative, to the point that she could even be called a blabbermouth. With Luo You not picking up the conversation, she still went ahead disconcernedly: “But don’t get me wrong, I don’t want to stay behind the wall. I love freedom. I want to go into the outside world, to travel until the end of the mainland, to see what the world looks like! When I was little and was still being taken care of by my parents, I had never gone outside. I just listened to stories about how the world used to be. Dense and lush forests, billowing and majestic seas, snow-capped mountains, jungles, rainbows, and the various sounds of nature, is it true?”
Luo You’s eyes moved again as he glanced at the lass. It was currently the 7th year of the Age of Collapse. According with the lass’ age, she was six or seven years old when the disaster had erupted. With the memories of her childhood fuzzy and not having seen the world before the disaster, it was no wonder that she would throw around such questions.
“It is.” Luo You actually gave a reply to the insignificant question.
The lass stilled and then giggled: “So you can talk! I thought that you were a mute!”
“Ling!” At this moment, the captain’s voice arrived from nearby . His expression was a bit grave as he continued in a husky voice: “Come here. Stop bothering our guest.”
The lass named Ling said a bit unhappily: “What about it? I just want him to tell me a story!”
Ling turned to look at Luo You, and then said happily, “Hey, if it’s all true, then can I still see those sceneries now?”
“You can’t.” Luo You kept his answer concise.
Ling seemed a bit disheartened as she grumbled: “As expected. I heard the adults say that the world had changed beyond recognition. But… so what? Let’s just change it for the better! One day I want to leave here and go to the wilderness! I want to change everything, I want everyone to once more see the green hills and the clear waters!”
“Ling!” Seeing that Ling kept talking to Luo You, the captain came over in anxiety and pulled at Ling, dragging the lass away: “Don’t talk nonsense to outsiders, aren’t you afraid of making a fool of yourself?!”
“Ah! Stop pulling at me!” Ling slapped the captain’s hand while stomping her feet. She still remembered to turn her head and look at Luo You with her crystal clear, sapphire-like dark blue eyes, before saying happily: “My name is Ling! Remember it!”
12 – Meeting Ling
The captain was a bit panicky, and Luo You was not calm either. He had been under the impression that the survival base was literally a ‘base’, yet after walking a lap around it, he discovered that this place’s defensive facilities comprised of a short wall and a few lookout posts, that was it, and that its strongest firepower was the SUV fitted with the machine gun turret.
What the hell, this clearly was a village!
This defense could not withstand the team of five Evolvers, nor would it be capable of avoiding being razed by that pack of Nightmares. These facilities could at most defend against rogues and small scale Blood Wolf packs.
At this moment, Luo You finally realized that the Cube’s balancing of the teams’ strength wasn’t completely fair, and that the compensation for being weak was merely symbolical. Just like this world of survival of the fittest, the strong live and the weak die, where was the fairness in that?
Momentarily, Luo You didn’t know what to do. The enemy team would arrive in less than two days. In this short amount of time, it was impossible to overhaul the base’s defensive fortifications. Also, this mob didn’t have any efficient weapons. Luo You even contemplated about hiding himself. By using the survivors as bait, he could snipe the enemy’s five people one at a time.
However, Luo You didn’t have the kind of sniper rifle used by assassins. With his Rail Gun Sniper Rifle, he might succeed in killing one person, but after the first shot, his location would be exposed. He wouldn’t get the chance to fire a second shot.
Currently, he could only hope that the other party’s strength didn’t exceed his party’s strength by too much. According to his assessment, not taking the dynamic mission into account, he had completed one B-rank, three CC-rank, and seven C-rank missions.
Then taking this as a consideration, the average strength of the enemy should float between CC and CCC, that is, they should possess one CC- to one CCC-rank reward point on average. This was Luo You’s judgment. Of course, he didn’t know whether it was accurate or not. After all, this was also the first time he was participating in a team battle. In a sense, he was also a ‘newbie’.
Luo You had his brows locked in a frown, when a petite silhouette suddenly stopped next to him and issued in a sweet voice: “Hey!”
It was a fourteen- or fifteen-year-old lass with long, flax-colored, curly hair, fair cream-like skin, a pair of sapphire-like dark blue eyes, which were narrowed into enchanting crescent moons, a delicate and elegant nose, and crystal-like bright and limpid teeth, which slightly protruding from behind delicate pink lips. Her lovely face devoid of make-up was more flawless than fine jade, with a smear of graceful and adorable apple-like, pinkish red on her cheeks. Although she was dressed in filthy survivor’s clothing, along with a pair of clearly oversized and shabby boots, but none of it could conceal her charm.
Luo You still maintained his thinking posture, not budging, Only the slight slanting of his eyes indicated that he took notice of the other party. But very quickly, his eyes turned back, and he proceeded with his contemplation, not acknowledging the lass.
“Hey! I’m talking to you!” The lass jumped in front of Luo You. She was shorter than Luo You, and his face was concealed under the cloak; therefore, she lifted her head in curiosity, sizing Luo You up from below: “You’re so strange. Why are you wrapped in bandages?”
Luo You still didn’t pay the girl any attention. Instead, he reached out with his hand and grasped at the earth wall beside him, intending to test the hardness of the wall. The outcome was a hole in the wall. With this hardness of the wall, Arnold, an Evolver who had exchanged a two C-rank reward points for the lowest-ranked Giant bloodline, could smash it with a punch.
“Ah, what are you doing?!” When the lass saw Luo You making a big hole in the wall, she hurriedly squatted down, dug out soil from the ground with her little hands, and then went to fill the hole. Because she was not tall enough, she had to tiptoe: “This wall was painstakingly put up by everyone. We hope that one day it will become a ‘Wall of Life’, just like those in major cities.”
Luo You suddenly felt a bit funny. The one hundred meters tall ‘Walls of Life’ of major cities were load-bearing structures designed by the best grandmasters and constructed from the most advanced military materials. For the past few years, with the number of people participating in the Cube’s missions increasing, the wall’s materials were progressively replaced with high-tech materials redeemed from the Cube. It was a crystallization of endless technology and knowledge. Was it something a few survivors could create?
Even if these people had physical mechanics experts with the ability to raise a one hundred meters tall earth wall, what would be the point of it? Large mutants could easily open a hole in that earth wall.
Luo You still didn’t speak. But it wasn’t that he was avoiding a confrontation with the lass, he just didn’t feel like speaking. The many years spent in the wilderness culminated in him developing a habit of being reticent.
However, the lass’ character was the exact opposite of Luo You’s. She was offhand and extremely talkative, to the point that she could even be called a blabbermouth. With Luo You not picking up the conversation, she still went ahead disconcernedly: “But don’t get me wrong, I don’t want to stay behind the wall. I love freedom. I want to go into the outside world, to travel until the end of the mainland, to see what the world looks like! When I was little and was still being taken care of by my parents, I had never gone outside. I just listened to stories about how the world used to be. Dense and lush forests, billowing and majestic seas, snow-capped mountains, jungles, rainbows, and the various sounds of nature, is it true?”
Luo You’s eyes moved again as he glanced at the lass. It was currently the 7th year of the Age of Collapse. According with the lass’ age, she was six or seven years old when the disaster had erupted. With the memories of her childhood fuzzy and not having seen the world before the disaster, it was no wonder that she would throw around such questions.
“It is.” Luo You actually gave a reply to the insignificant question.
The lass stilled and then giggled: “So you can talk! I thought that you were a mute!”
“Ling!” At this moment, the captain’s voice arrived from nearby . His expression was a bit grave as he continued in a husky voice: “Come here. Stop bothering our guest.”
The lass named Ling said a bit unhappily: “What about it? I just want him to tell me a story!”
Ling turned to look at Luo You, and then said happily, “Hey, if it’s all true, then can I still see those sceneries now?”
“You can’t.” Luo You kept his answer concise.
Ling seemed a bit disheartened as she grumbled: “As expected. I heard the adults say that the world had changed beyond recognition. But… so what? Let’s just change it for the better! One day I want to leave here and go to the wilderness! I want to change everything, I want everyone to once more see the green hills and the clear waters!”
“Ling!” Seeing that Ling kept talking to Luo You, the captain came over in anxiety and pulled at Ling, dragging the lass away: “Don’t talk nonsense to outsiders, aren’t you afraid of making a fool of yourself?!”
“Ah! Stop pulling at me!” Ling slapped the captain’s hand while stomping her feet. She still remembered to turn her head and look at Luo You with her crystal clear, sapphire-like dark blue eyes, before saying happily: “My name is Ling! Remember it!”
