Chapter 574 – Naming Is Often Casual

This time, since it was mainly practice, by the time they successfully infiltrated a mall, half a day had already passed.

Mu Chen had called for countless stops along the way, unhesitatingly pointing out all their coordination mistakes.

Although Ling Mo was enjoying some leisure, he still provided many suggestions on using superpowers, which significantly improved their output.

With guidance from the two of them, the three quickly completed their initial cooperation. In the mall, their teamwork was starting to take shape.

“Alright, now it’s time to bring Gu Shuangshuang in.” Mu Chen motioned for Gu Shuangshuang, who had been following behind, to come over.

“Okay,” Ye Kai nodded. The other two had no objections either, curious about what role Gu Shuangshuang would play in the team since she hadn’t made a move before.

“Given the complex environment here, trying to draw the zombies away is almost impossible. Even if it was doable, it wouldn’t make much sense since the distance we’d achieve would be minimal,” Mu Chen analyzed.

Ye Kai nodded again, but his look towards Mu Chen was far less friendly than towards Ling Mo.

Mu Chen didn’t mind. He was just an undercover agent and wouldn’t be staying long; this team wasn’t being trained for Niepan…

“Damn it!! What am I even doing here!”

Mu Chen thought irritably, while saying, “So, the main task here is clean-up. To clear these zombies, two things are required: one, thoroughness, and two, minimal noise. Ye Kai, you should be able to handle yourself, but Zhang Xincheng isn’t suited for combat here, and Skinny Monkey has no combat prowess at all…”

Skinny Monkey broke into a sweat upon being named; there wasn’t much he could do about it…

“But relying solely on Ye Kai won’t work, it’d exhaust him to death,” Mu Chen continued.

Ye Kai’s eyes instantly turned fierce, but Mu Chen had already glanced at him and said, “If you want to try, go ahead, but don’t blame me for not warning you. And don’t bring personal grievances into the mission; it benefits no one.”

“Hmph…” Ye Kai couldn’t refute, but that didn’t stop him from glaring fiercely at Mu Chen.

“Alright,” Ling Mo quickly smoothed things over, “Your task is to go to the manager’s office on the top floor and retrieve something from the desk.”

“What thing?” Ye Kai glared at Mu Chen before turning to ask Ling Mo.

“You’ll know when you get there,” Ling Mo teased.

“What’s going on here…”

“Even big brother doesn’t know what it is…”

“Yeah, of course, he doesn’t.”

The group exchanged a few whispers before Mu Chen shouted, “Start! This time it’s against the clock!”

As it turned out, Mu Chen was right. In such a complex environment, the deficiencies in their combat abilities quickly became apparent.

Especially without effective protection, they had several close calls. While they managed to scrape through, Skinny Monkey turned pale with fear, and even Zhang Xincheng looked hard-pressed to cope.

The place wasn’t large, and the ceiling wasn’t high. Given the zombies’ jumping ability, they could easily reach it, rendering Zhang Xincheng nearly useless.

Skinny Monkey’s clairaudience was somewhat useful but only marginally. With zombies everywhere, an early warning of a second or two didn’t make much difference.

Though Ye Kai was incredibly strong and his frenzied slashing at zombies behind enemy lines was terrifying, he was just one person. And the zombies? Every advance could bring them face-to-face with five or six zombies simultaneously.

But with Gu Shuangshuang included, things changed.

Gu Shuangshuang’s psychic tremor could significantly reduce Ye Kai’s pressure, even making his Blade Dance more lethal than usual.

Staying by her side at least ensured that the zombies wouldn’t immediately swarm all at once. With Zhang Xincheng and Skinny Monkey hiding near her, they could even launch counterattacks effectively.

However, Gu Shuangshuang’s control over her superpower was quite poor. Even with Ling Mo’s guidance, she frequently made mistakes, sometimes even casting psychic tremors that affected her teammates as well…

“I’m… I’m sorry!” Gu Shuangshuang apologized, her face flushed with embarrassment.

“This is the third time. Without them saving you, you’d all be dead by now,” Mu Chen pointed out bluntly.

Gu Shuangshuang glanced at Ye Lian and the others, her eyes filled with both shame and gratitude.

Initially, she thought the three girls were just tagging along with Ling Mo for the experience. But the moment danger appeared, the girl who looked like a mixed-race suddenly flashed behind a zombie, grabbed its collar, and slashed its neck with the strange blade on her wrist.

The other girl was even more terrifying. She looked somewhat dazed, but she lifted her gun and fired. Two consecutive shots hit the zombie’s knees, and before it could fall, another bullet accurately blasted its head.

What was most frightening was that she always had this vacant expression, her gaze unfocused and dazed, yet she could hit her target with pinpoint accuracy.

The long-haired girl, who seemed the strongest, rarely made a move. But seeing the giant scythe she wielded, Gu Shuangshuang understood why she didn’t need to.

With her fighting, did they even need anyone else?

The four of them continued to battle and adapt, taking over twenty minutes to finally reach the top floor.

However, their time was mainly spent on the lower floors. As they moved up, their cooperation began to improve, and their progress sped up considerably.

“Here!”

Zhang Xincheng found the office first, but he didn’t approach; instead, he glanced at Skinny Monkey.

Skinny Monkey understood, closed his eyes to listen for a moment, and then shook his head.

The four of them, panting heavily, cautiously moved closer.

What could be on the desk? What if there was nothing? What would they take back as proof?

Ye Kai glanced warily into the doorway, then dashed inside.

As an experienced survivor, the first thing he did upon entering was to check all the corners. Some zombies knew how to hide their presence for a sneak attack, so he couldn’t let his guard down.

“It’s safe,” Ye Kai quickly finished his inspection and snapped his fingers.

Upon hearing the signal, the other three hurried inside. The group simultaneously converged on the desk.

“Hurry up and grab something, we’re almost out of time,” Skinny Monkey urged.

Although Mu Chen hadn’t mentioned any penalties for exceeding the time limit, it was obvious that he would definitely take the opportunity to mess with them.

Skinny Monkey was very timid, especially when it came to unknown dangers. So the thought of possible penalties made him strangely proactive, even reducing his fear a bit.

“Yeah…” Ye Kai nodded, then suddenly exclaimed, “What?!”

“What is it?” Zhang Xincheng quickly asked.

Skinny Monkey let out an “Ah!” and his heart, which had just calmed down, began pounding rapidly again as he jumped up like a cat that had its tail stepped on.

Gu Shuangshuang also looked back nervously, scanning the surroundings. “Is it zombies?”

“No, no,” Ye Kai shook his head, then picked up a piece of paper from the desk, turning around and slowly holding it up in front of the three of them. “Look.”

To be honest, Skinny Monkey and the others first noticed Ye Kai’s expression rather than the note.

The usually cool and tough guy was now wide-eyed and mouth agape, looking utterly shocked.

What could possibly scare him like this?

The three of them immediately felt a surge of curiosity and gathered around to see.

It was an old, ordinary piece of printer paper, but on it was a line of very new handwriting.

“Congratulations on passing the test! From this moment on, you are official members of the Miracle Squad!”

“…”

The small office fell into a moment of silence.

“Let’s ignore that rather frivolous squad name for now…” Zhang Xincheng muttered with a deadpan expression, then asked incredulously, “How did this note even get here?”

Zombies on the way, zombies in the mall… If they didn’t know for sure that Ling Mo wasn’t a mental ability superhuman specializing in illusions, they would have doubted whether everything they were seeing was real.

How in the world did this note end up here?