Chapter 60: Danger and Opportunity

The day after returning to the base was also a sunny and pleasant day.

Having arrived back yesterday morning, the team members had fully recovered their vitality after a day and a night of rest, spontaneously waking up early to sweat it out at the training grounds.

However, Qi An, who was usually the ultimate workaholic, surprisingly didn't show up. This worried Yu Shuang immensely, as she feared Qi An was just sleeping in and spent the entire morning debating whether or not to call her.

Fortunately, Qi An arrived on time at 9 AM when they gathered to report on their mission. Aside from some slight dark circles under her eyes, everything else seemed completely normal.

With her mind finally at ease, Yu Shuang called over Zhao Bohan, who had been studying maps in the lounge all this time, and together they entered Wei Fengduo's office.

Their recent mission had been issued and commanded by North Base 1. Yu Shuang had already submitted the detailed mission report to the North 1 command headquarters yesterday along with Qin Tianshuo.

Her reporting to Wei Fengduo now was merely a formality.

As expected, upon hearing the details, Wei Fengduo was mostly filled with emotion. "You all did an exceptionally good job this time. North Base 1 has granted high commendations, and the regiment has already approved the bonus—the exact same amount as last time!"

The others were still happy to hear this, though Yu Shuang wasn't expecting any military merits this time. Instead, she asked a more crucial question:

"Commander, how many days of leave do we get this time?"

Wei Fengduo coughed lightly. "It won't be much this time—around three or four days. Your next mission will be assigned very soon."

Yu Shuang pressed on, "What kind of mission is it? Is the difficulty comparable to this one?"

"This... I'm not clear on that yet..." Wei Fengduo hesitated.

Yu Shuang and Zhao Bohan exchanged glances. Zhao Bohan asked, "Is it decided by the regiment?"

Wei Fengduo fell silent.

Yu Shuang's anger flared up once again!

Yet this time, she had no way of storming into Wu Zirui's presence in a fury.

Was she going to demand why he kept assigning them so many suicide missions?

That regiment commander would undoubtedly retort, "Does our 2nd Team refuse to take on even slightly difficult missions now? Or should I hand you the entire mission list and let you pick yourselves?"

The distinction between a "high-difficulty mission" and a "suicide mission" was far too subtle to argue.

A myriad of resentments churned within Yu Shuang. She knew that no matter how thoroughly they had embarrassed Liu Hui and Wu Zirui yesterday, the power dynamic between the two sides was completely unequal.

The lifeline of their entire squad was firmly pinched in those two people's hands!

An awkward silence hung in the office for a moment. Since Wei Fengduo couldn't offer a single promise, Yu Shuang had no choice but to swallow her pent-up anger and anxiety, leading the others out of the room.

When you're out of luck, even drinking cold water can get stuck between your teeth. On their way back to the lounge, they ran into Zhou Yang from the 1st Team again.

"Back already? Let's hope you'll be able to come back next time, too." With strong backing and well-informed sources, that guy knew full well what troubled the 2nd Team. Leaving behind a gloating remark, he swaggered away.

It took all of Yu Shuang's self-control not to chase after Zhou Yang and kick him twice.

The 1st Team was allowed to pick and choose from the mission list, and rumor had it they had recently been nominated for a Third-Class Merit citation, though it hadn't been officially approved yet.

Entering the lounge, Yu Shuang's residual anger had yet to fade, while the rest of the team shared feelings of fury and apprehension.

The only ones maintaining their composure were Qi An and Zhao Bohan.

However, Yu Shuang found Zhao Bohan's attitude particularly grating and scoffed, "The vice-captain isn't worried at all. Could it be that you already have a solution?"

It was merely a remark spoken out of frustration, but to her surprise, Zhao Bohan actually nodded. "You could say that."

Taken aback, Yu Shuang instantly sat up straight, fixing her piercing gaze on him. "You really do?"

Noticing the eager gleam of hope in her eyes, Zhao Bohan couldn't help but smile, signaling Tang Long to shut the door tightly.

"We aren't afraid of high-difficulty missions; we're only afraid of being targeted by the regiment commander, of being forced to execute high-risk missions—or even trap missions—at an excessively dense frequency," Zhao Bohan said in a low voice, analyzing the realistic situation first.

The targeting didn't stop there; it could also manifest as negative mission evaluations, suppression of promotions, and so on.

They wouldn't always have the incredible luck of crossing paths with Chen Yuezhou's group at life-or-death moments, nor would Qi An always happen to experience a psychic power upgrade right when their merit report hit a snag.

"To break free from this predicament, there are only two solutions: first, find a way to pull the regiment commander down from his position; second, break away from the 3rd Regiment, or at least partially detach ourselves from Wu Zirui's control."

Though Zhao Bohan stated it casually, none of the others felt inclined to clap their hands and shout "Brilliant!"

"How?" Tang Long muttered. "How could we possibly pull the regiment commander down by ourselves? Besides, all the long-range special operations forces are in the 3rd Regiment. Are we supposed to transfer to the close-defense troops?"

Qi An, however, seemed to have a flash of realization, her gaze sweeping over the paper map on the table.

"The first option is practically impossible, but the second one is feasible.

In fact, our recent mission wasn't entirely under the regiment commander's control," Zhao Bohan said, his eyes sweeping across the group.

"Why did North Base 1 and North Base 2 transport worm oil to our base? Why did the New-Born Base send poison gas and medicine? And what was Chen Yuezhou doing coming to our base as a chief team leader from the New-Born Base?"

"Didn't you say that why they transport supplies isn't something we should care about?" Zhuang Xiao asked, blinking his clear, innocent eyes.

Zhao Bohan choked for a moment. "You..."

Even with her mind preoccupied, Qi An was almost amused.

Yu Shuang slapped the back of Zhuang Xiao's head. "Quiet!"

She had also caught on, her eyes blazing brightly as she looked at Zhao Bohan. "You mean there's going to be a war—a massive war led by North Base 1 that will mobilize numerous bases!"

"Right! That's the only explanation that makes sense!" Zhao Bohan's slender finger pointed at the location of Hualin County on the map.

"Before the apocalypse, this county was quite wealthy because it directly bordered Lian City, a prefectural-level city with billions of tons of iron and coal resources.

Inside the urban area of Lian City are one of the country's largest thermal power plants and steel-smelting plants. Even before the end times, it had already established fully intelligent precision machinery processing plants and chemical plants.

Hundreds of kilometers north of Lian City is Yun City, which possesses petroleum and rare earth mineral deposits, housing a complete rare earth refining and electronic component processing industry." Zhao Bohan's finger dragged further north of Yun City to the boundless grasslands.

"I've checked the records. Before the apocalypse, the reserves and varieties of rare metal deposits in this region hadn't even been fully explored.

Previously, a team led by Professor Guan, a nuclear physics scientist, went there to survey... I deduce that there might be uranium mines in this area!"

As he finished speaking, the others fell silent in astonishment. Qi An was still rummaging through her not-so-abundant mental database to search for the connection between "uranium mines" and "nuclear physics." Yu Shuang stared blankly for a moment before murmuring:

"...So the scale of this war is far larger than we previously imagined. They're planning to wipe out half of the mutated insects' Northwest Army Group!"

"This is just my deduction," Zhao Bohan added cautiously, though his expression remained confident.

"The key point is that the supreme command for this major battle will inevitably be North Base 1.

Now, with nano-satellites, communication between various bases has become very convenient. All supplies and personnel related to this campaign are uniformly dispatched by North Base 1.

I suspect Chen Yuezhou might be personnel transferred over by North Base 1.

During his participation in this major battle, he only reports to the North 1 command headquarters. Whatever missions he executes, his superiors back at the New-Born Base probably can't interfere.

Furthermore, if this battle is won, new bases will definitely be established in the locations I just mentioned!

As for the importance of these new bases, I've already stated it—because they are so crucial, elite troops from various bases will be selected to garrison them."

Zhao Bohan's fingertips tapped on Lian City, a smile touching the corners of his mouth. "Our base is on the front lines, and we've already participated in a supply escort mission; we are already within the sight of the North 1 command headquarters.

Afterward, we must strive to participate in this major battle. If we have a bit of luck, we might just turn the tables entirely, and our standing could even surpass that of Wu Zirui!"