Apocalypse: the Most Ruthless Person

Chapter 349 - 298: Challenge Completed!

Zhang Su listened to the supplies report and realized they were all conventional weapons. He wondered, "That night, I clearly saw drones. Where did the drones go?"

These things have an unexpected effect when dealing with zombies. If used properly, they can eliminate zombie groups without losing a single soldier, which is the high-tech equipment Zhang Su covets greatly, capable of significantly enhancing the camp’s defense capabilities.

"There aren’t many drones, all have been deployed in battle, but we should still find some. I remember retrieving them after spraying pheromones; they should be in the equipment box, and zombies aren’t interested in them, but operators didn’t have time to clean them up..."

Pan Guoliang pointed towards the direction of the west wall, where the fight was most intense.

"Let’s go, you come with me to look for them."

Zhang Su personally led a few people towards the west wall.

Blood and flesh flying everywhere couldn’t describe the scene’s intensity. With zombie groups catching fire, many bodies became grotesquely sinister after burning, once again challenging everyone’s nerves.

For the trained group, their adaptability was pretty good. They quickly focused their attention on finding the drones and effortlessly found a half-human-high black box in a corner, similar to a rifle transport box. Because it was in the corner, it wasn’t affected and was well preserved, though a bit dirty.

"Brother Su, can we open it and take a look?"

Wu Lue’s eyes sparkled as he touched the black box, completely unfazed by the dried adhesive blood stains on it. He had no resistance against two things: various electronic products and teachers of different flavors.

"Of course, if you know how to use it, you will be the one to operate it in the future."

Zhang Su also wanted to take a look. He had thought about buying a drone to play with, but upon inquiry, he found many places in Qin City restricted flights, instantly losing interest.

With a pat-pat, Wu Lue opened the box latch and carefully lifted the lid. His eyes lit up when he saw the contents inside.

"Haha, Brother Su, this is absolutely a good piece of equipment. You know the domestic brand that keeps claiming never to produce military drones? Well, this is their cutting-edge product, not just a regular version, but a complete upgrade of the civilian model..."

While speaking, Wu Lue took the drone out from the box, gently unfolding its wings as if caressing skin. The drone, resembling an alien spider, appeared in his hand.

"How did you figure that out? There isn’t any name on it."

Zhao Dezhu was puzzled; the drone didn’t indicate any brand or anything.

"Heh heh." Wu Lue smiled mysteriously and said, "Writing a name would ruin the mystery, but the model numbers on these parts can’t be faked. Some parts have been deliberately reinforced, yet several high-end models share the same components. Even if it’s not independently produced by them, it’s co-developed with some department!"

"I see."

Zhao Dezhu rarely saw Wu Lue speak so confidently, and couldn’t help but believe him the more.

"The civilian version can carry three kilograms, the military version at least doubles that. The lift speed, flight time, wind resistance capacity, these hard metrics will see corresponding improvements. Haha, it comes standard with a loudspeaker, damn, there’s even a thirty-times zoom lens, and thermal imaging? This is awesome."

Wu Lue studied the drone in his hand like it was a cherished treasure.

"Luezi, you jabbered a lot and missed the two indicators I most wanted to know... Do you know the remote control distance and flight time?"

Zhang Su didn’t expect to use the drone for combat. Its biggest functions would be reconnaissance and drawing zombies, so these two parameters were crucial.

"Hmm... Remote control distance depends on the environment, varying significantly. Without considering special interference sources, if obstructed by buildings, I estimate at most one kilometer, maybe even less... Whether military or civilian, it’s tough to break through this aspect, given the physical limits are there. But if you stand at the edge of the Celestial Horse Island Mountain and let it go, ten kilometers with no pressure!"

"Ten kilometers?"

Zhang Su furrowed his brows, recalling stored map models in his mind. A ten-kilometer straight distance could surely lead the zombie group to the United Village Quarry or the Chuhai River channel beside West Camp Village.

"Ten kilometers is quite enough. What about the flight time?"

"As for flight time..." Wu Lue found the battery-related parameters and said, "Based on the battery capacity, the theoretical flight time can reach three hours, but in practice, it definitely won’t be. At least cut it in half. Hmm... Purely flying without filming anything, an hour and a half shouldn’t be a problem."

Theoretical state is like measuring fuel consumption on a car lifted by a gantry, with tires spinning freely, offering just a bit of reference.

Upon hearing hours mentioned, Zhang Su didn’t bother to calculate anymore. He waved his hand and said, "Considering the zombie’s running speed now, flying this long is enough. With this thing, a zombie group under five thousand, no, ten thousand in size won’t pose any threat to us."

To completely annihilate ten thousand zombies, even with Celestial Horse Island’s terrain advantage and high-end weaponry, it would be a tough battle with possible life-threatening risks. But now, one person controlling a drone can lead a ten-thousand zombie group away, the power of technology...

"Hey, Brother Su, what do you think the Cyan Dragon Corps was thinking? With this equipment, why still slug it out with the zombies?"

Wu Lue asked puzzledly, gently caressing the drone’s exquisite blades, reluctant to let go.

Zhang Su surveyed his surroundings, the brutal scene leaving him sighed deeply, "A large family unwilling to leave, perhaps overconfident. When the zombie horde was five kilometers away, they should have known. Hey, Old Pan, why didn’t you divert a portion of the zombies then?"

He turned to look at Pan Guoliang, recalling this matter seemed puzzling. Based on the situation with Cyan Dragon Corps, even if they had to brace for it, it wouldn’t have prevented them from diverting the horde to lessen the pressure. However, according to their observations, there were no traces of the horde discovered elsewhere.

Judging from the scale of the horde attacking the barracks, if they deployed ten to fifteen vehicles to guide them in turns, plus some drones controlled by people, the entire horde might have rerouted before reaching the barracks, achieving victory without fighting.

Pan Guoliang, with an awkward expression, shrugged, "I wasn’t qualified to participate in tactical discussions, but there must be reasons for such a foolish decision. I think it’s related to factional struggles, the evasion of responsibilities between the commander and vice commander."

"Damn. Playing power struggles and wiping out the whole camp?"

After hearing this, Zhang Su was stunned. From previous discussions with several captains of the Grain Collection Team, he knew there were factional struggles within the Cyan Dragon Corps. But in his view, regardless of internal struggles, they should unite against external enemies...

If it was truly as Pan Guoliang said, then the demise of Cyan Dragon Corps was not unjust, and this event also sounded the alarm for Zhang Su: internal unity is very important. Fortunately, with his super hearing, forming factions right under his nose would be difficult!

"Never mind that. Look around the area; see if there are any drone boxes, even if they’re broken, take them all!"

Zhang Su no longer cared about the mess with Cyan Dragon Corps—they were history after all. All he needed was to draw some lessons from it. Now in the northern part of Qin City, Celestial Horse Island had clearly become the largest force.

"Come on, let me study this hunk of iron properly!"

Zhang Su led the people to the tank where Pan Guoliang was hiding, opening the hatch without a word and climbing in. Although he might not have the chance to drive a tank as a commander during battles, he still wanted to feel it.

Thud, he jumped into the narrow driver’s seat, and before he could look around, subtitles appeared in his mind.

[Conquer 60% of the Cyan Dragon Corps members within ten days, Difficulty: A, Completion]

[Reward: Backup Energy Slot*2]

"??"

Zhang Su had long been accustomed to the mysterious subtitles, but this time the reward left him slightly unclear about its specific use.

"What does ’Energy Slot’ mean?"

As soon as he spoke, Zhang Su saw in his mind three progress bars appear next to [Insight Label 10/20], which must be the so-called energy slots. The first energy slot was blue, with the blue progress bar at more than forty percent. The remaining two were grey, with three words on them: Unactivated.

"Oh! Does energy refer to my physical strength? Or my state? Vitality? But why is it only forty-five percent? I don’t feel that tired..."

Zhang Su scratched his head. So much had happened on this outing today: attracting zombies, killing zombies, destroying Lei Youliang’s team, and then experiencing explosions and modified zombies. But speaking of fatigue, there was no obvious feeling, he could hold on even through another night.

"Never mind, let’s assume it refers to physical state. With three slots of energy, does that mean my endurance is maxed out right now?"

In the dark tank driver’s cabin, Zhang Su wore a strange smile.

"Can I activate backup energy before my own energy is depleted?"

With a thought, Zhang Su immediately saw the three words ’Unactivated’ vanish on the second energy slot, shifting up to align with his own energy slot. A virtual shadow was left in the original spot, and the overlapping energy slot flashed, rapidly filling from forty-five percent to full, glowing with a bright blue light, giving off a sense of fullness.

"Hmm?"

Zhang Su’s eyes lit up. He could distinctly feel his mind clearing instantaneously, his muscles full of vitality, his entire body brimming with strength, breathing smoothly and heart pounding strongly.

It had been so long since he felt this comfortable, so long that he couldn’t remember the last time!

It was like the feeling after a full day of training, muscles sore, stepping into a sauna, then getting a massage, and finally waking up naturally the next day.

In short, two words: Clear and Transparent!

"Is it really as simple as just replenishing energy? Could there be some strengthening effect? No... perhaps this is the real perfect state of mine. Seems like my energy was never full when I woke up every day!"

Zhang Su pondered, thinking that in a fully energized state, he felt reborn.

The clear feeling was evident, along with some benefits he hadn’t yet realized. For instance, as long as energy remained above eighty percent, immunity would significantly increase, resisting common viruses, basically not falling sick.

Excluding the invasion of zombie robots...