Hidden Deeply
Just when everyone thought they could breathe a sigh of relief, an unexpected incident occurred.
William had been so focused on the bloody corpse behind him that he neglected the bones and wreckage on the bridge. His motorcycle accidentally hit a protruding piece of metal, causing the bike to lose control instantly, and the front end began to sway wildly.
Although William had experience riding motorcycles, he couldn't manage the terrifying 'death wobble." After struggling for five or six seconds, he had no choice but to abandon the bike.
William rolled on the ground and, after getting up, ran forward without looking back. It was evident that his legs were entwined with a transparent whirlwind.
'Whirlwind Legs?"
Henry immediately recognized it as a Gold Card skill that could temporarily boost speed, providing excellent escape capability.
Tristan nodded, 'Yeah, that kid runs so fast that even dogs can't catch him."
Henry chuckled, 'He owes me a motorcycle."
Tristan drew the machete from his waist. 'Now's not the time for that; let's deal with these monsters first."
'Prepare for battle!"
Henry communicated through the intercom with Annie, who was on the roof of the truck, 'The Halo Blood Corpses must have some differences from the other blood corpses. Your task is to find it and tell me its location."
'Got it."
'Activate StrongStrikeHaloStrongStrikeHalo."
'Okay."
As they spoke, William came running back, and the horde of corpses officially entered the range of the mechanical bows. The women standing on top of the military truck began firing arrows, shooting down the front row of blood corpses from their elevated position.
After several rounds of shooting, dozens of blood corpses were eliminated.
Henry shouted, 'Marcus!"
'Got it, boss! Brothers, follow me and charge!"
Marcus responded loudly, leading the way with a blast shield raised in front of him. The other men in the team followed suit, and more than twenty of them formed a wall with their shields, firmly blocking the horde of corpses.
'It's my turn to take action."
Tristan wiped his short knife on his clothes, jumped up from his position, and leaped over the shield wall, diving headfirst into the horde of corpses.
'What the hell just went by?" Marcus was taken aback.
Henry was also stunned, unsure why Tristan was throwing himself into danger.
The next second, he saw limbs flying everywhere around Tristan. He was like a human meat grinder, carving a bloody path through the horde with just his strength and a machete.
'This is my boss's talent,
B
a
r
b
a
r
i
a
n
Barbarian. Impressive, right?"
William showed a proud expression.
Henry chuckled to himself, thinking that the destructive power of a Gold Card talent couldn't be that exaggerated. Tristan was clearly holding back; he must have learned some kind of talent that increased his damage output.
'I see it!"
Annie's voice came through the earpiece. At the back of the horde, there was a white-haired blood corpse.
'Got it!"
Henry waved his black knife and plunged into the horde of corpses.
As the saying goes, 'Each profession has its specialty." In close combat, Henry was indeed weaker than Tristan, and his speed in killing corpses was far behind Tristan's.
However, his target was not these ordinary blood corpses, but the Halo Blood Corpse in the back!
Thanks to Annie's precise reporting, Henry quickly reached the white-haired blood corpse. Aside from the white hair on its head, its body was indistinguishable from that of a normal blood corpse.
'Die!"
Henry swung his knife, and the white-haired blood corpse's head flew high into the air. In the next moment, he firmly caught it and casually stuffed it into his spatial ring.
'Ahhh! Ahhh!"
Suddenly, Tristan's monstrous roar came from beside him. He grabbed a wrecked car and swung it around, instantly knocking down a dozen approaching blood corpses. Then he hurled the car wreck far away, crushing another dozen blood corpses into pieces.
'Is it OverlordOverlord or SuperStrengthSuperStrength…?"
SuperStrength…?"
Henry envied him fiercely; this was clearly a Color Card ability!
He wished he could have it.
Without the boost from the Halo Blood Corpse, Marcus and William began to spray the horde with their rifles. In less than five minutes, the blood corpses on the bridge were completely cleared out.
'Huff, huff, huff…"
Tristan sat on the ground, panting heavily. He had taken down over a hundred blood corpses by himself and was utterly exhausted.
'Uncle, you've been hiding quite well," Henry said, pulling Tristan up and teasing, 'If I had known, I wouldn't have brought you along. What are my people going to eat and drink tonight because of you?"
Tristan chuckled, 'Well, in the apocalypse, you have to keep some tricks up your sleeve, right? Don't just pick on me; you've been hiding things too. I only just found out you had a gorgeous woman hidden in the RV—she's Annie, right? I've seen her in a TV series."
Henry laughed heartily, in a great mood.
With the horde cleared out, the next step was to clean up the battlefield and collect cards. Marcus had taken charge of that, so Henry didn't need to worry. However, Tristan and William had to do the heavy lifting themselves.
But both of them wore smiles on their faces; this outing was a clear win—blood profit!
'Boss, all the cards are here," Marcus said, bringing the cards over. There were two Silver Cards among them, and the rest—White, Green, and Blue Cards—added up to nearly two hundred.
'Okay."
Henry collected the cards and glanced at Tristan and William, who were still busy. He said, 'Help them out."
'Sure."
Before long, the battlefield was cleaned up.
Tristan and William walked toward the military truck, chatting and laughing. Henry smirked, 'Uncle, you've made quite a haul."
'Yeah, over two hundred cards. It feels great."
'With over a hundred people in the camp, how long will this last?" Henry grinned as he got into the truck.
Tristan's smile instantly froze, and William's face fell.
That hit hard, my friend…
Inside the military truck, William's expression was grim. 'Boss, I know you mean well and don't want to see them eaten by monsters, but these cards are what you risked your life to earn. Are you really planning to share them with them?"
'Look at Henry's people; every one of them is battle-tested. If the people in the camp could actually help us, I'd willingly give them the cards. But they…"
'Alright, enough grumbling."
Tristan sighed, 'This is my fault. It's the apocalypse; I shouldn't be acting like a saint. But now I'm already in this situation; what can I do? Am I supposed to just kill them?"
Tristan felt quite frustrated. Due to his lack of experience in team management, he hadn't laid a solid foundation from the start, which led to this situation. He realized he needed to learn a thing or two from Henry about managing and operating a team.
Overall, this had been a glorious victory. When the camp learned that Tristan and his team had taken down an entire horde and seized a large number of cards, everyone was thrilled.
Tristan wasn't stingy; he immediately distributed more than half of the cards to everyone, allowing them to have extra meals. Henry chose to watch this unfold with a cold eye.
As night fell, the restaurant, now supplied with water and electricity, had a hint of homey warmth.
At this moment, Tristan was sitting on the rooftop, drinking. When he saw Henry arrive, he waved with a smile, 'Hey, little brother, come sit. Want to have a drink?"
Henry sat down with a cheerful expression. 'Uncle, you didn't invite me up here just to drink, did you?"
'Of course not. I'm just feeling a bit down and wanted to chat with someone. Oh, you have cigarettes? Hurry and give me one," Tristan said. Although he was in his forties, his mindset was no different from that of a twenty-something; clearly, he had been carefree during peacetime.
Henry lit a cigarette for Tristan and stuffed the remaining half a pack into the pocket of his tactical vest. 'Make it last; I don't have many left."
'Got it, thanks!" Tristan laughed heartily.
The wind carried away the nicotine in the air as he gazed out at the pitch-black city. Suddenly, Tristan asked, 'If you were in my position, what would you do?"
Henry stubbed out the half-smoked cigarette and answered off-topic, 'Uncle, I should have taken them away last night, but unfortunately, we were blocked by the Black Blood Heart. Should we join forces to take it down?"
'What is the Black Blood Heart?" Tristan naturally had no idea what it was.
'It's a creature that's ten times, or even a dozen times stronger than a regular Blood Heart. The Black Blood Heart possesses a certain level of intelligence, and each one can spawn a large number of Blood Corpses, Night Demons, Winged Demons… and even some new monsters."
'Then… can we defeat it?" Tristan was somewhat tempted. The stronger the monster, the better the cards it dropped; after all, risk and reward went hand in hand.
'Whether we can defeat it is another question. There will definitely be significant casualties in the battle, so be mentally prepared for that."
Henry narrowed his eyes and said meaningfully, 'I don't know how you lead your team, but personally, I believe in not keeping idle people. You get what you give. Alright, Uncle, it's getting late. I'm heading back to rest. Think it over, and give me your answer tomorrow morning."
After Henry left, Tristan's expression turned serious.
He wasn't a fool; he could easily pick up on the deeper meaning behind Henry's words. But… was this approach a bit too cruel?
He felt uncertain.
'Johnson, where are you? Oh, you're with Wilson? Don't move; I need to discuss something with you." Tristan put down the walkie-talkie and walked down the stairs.
'……"