The Invasion Day – Chapter 79

Table of Contents | Character Guide

Chapter 79

One of the older men started: “My name is Zhou Weihua, electricity-type.”

“Shao Le, wind-type.” “Wei Zhuting, fire-type.” “Lu Yu, rock-type.” “Mo Zhiyuan, earth-type.”

Fu Shiwu sat aside and looked at these men with a blank expression. It seemed that Shi Zheng recruited only special ability users from the types that were originally believed to carry attack powers. The types that later discovered their attack capabilities, such as water-type and wood-type, weren’t here. This also showed that Shi Zheng didn’t have the means to obtain the latest research results.

Tang Xuhai nodded to them: “Tang Xuhai, metal-type.” As his voice fell, he lowered his head and pointed to the hills next to him: “They’re your people, you know them better, so split yourselves. Divide those who could fight in your team into four groups, place them here, here and here. The last spot is here.”

“We’ll be situated in the middle. We shall arrange people to watch throughout the night. Each shift will last less than 2 hours, so that there’ll be no disperse of powers. Once there emerges something that cannot be dealt with, you’ll send a signal. Do you all have flashlights?” Tang Xuhai asked.

The men nodded and said unevenly: “Yes.”

“Good, when the time comes, this is how you’ll send a signal.” Tang Xuhai picked up his own flashlight, pressed the switch and tapped three times: “Two long and one short, got it?”

Seeing Tang Xuhai’s carefully laid-out arrangement, the men responded one after another: “Got it.”

Tang Xuhai said with a firm tone: “Unless I call for support, don’t leave your guard positions. Our position in the middle is the most mobile, so we’ll give aid to the group that sends out the signal.” 

Only after Tang Xuhai affirmed that he would take care of them should a situation arise that the men felt relieved. Although they had faced high-level aliens before and even killed a few, without a backbone, these men who were accustomed to only obeying Shi Zheng’s orders were at a loss and caught with much unease.

With his remarkably rich combat experience, Tang Xuhai quickly arranged the cross-defence positions for each group, ensuring that they could save manpower while avoiding blind spots. Even the resting positions for ordinary people were smoothly taken care of.

Tang Xuhai’s language was concise, his tone was steady and a formidable air of confidence emanated from him, thus these men couldn’t help but be convinced by his arrangement. With that, the anxiety that lingered in the heart of these survivors who had to sleep in the open air slowly faded.

After sending them away, Tang Xuhai laid out their own night shifts. Although a few Ping Nan survivors were crowding around them, Tang Xuhai didn’t intend to let them be on watch. After all, he didn’t fully know these people.

Fu Shiwu was scheduled to be in the third shift, so he got into his sleeping bag early. He opened his eyes wide, staring at the top of the tent as waves of sorrow crashed onto him.

Without the hard drive, how would he contact his parents in the future? He had forgotten the location of the research compound long ago, and now that he had left Yun City, his parents had no way to send him letters.

But… Their compound is guarded by soldiers, so they should still be fine…

Fu Shi fell asleep in a daze. Perhaps because he harboured those thoughts before closing his eyes, the quality of his sleep wasn’t great. For a rare time, he dreamt of the time when he was young.

It was such a joyful time. He was very happy to hang around with other children. They were all very young, with baby fat on their faces and their hands and feet as plump as lotus roots.

While he was playing games with other children, Fu Shiwu suddenly remembered that he needed to find his parents, but his friends pulled him back and didn’t let him leave.

Then the dream turned into an uncomfortable scene. He suddenly jumped from the compound to a dark surrounding, and a sharp, sarcastic voice was blowing into his ears. It seemed to be the time when he was isolated in primary school and bullied by the other boys into a secluded corner.

At this point, someone beat him. Fu Shiwu fell to the ground and was grabbed by his T-shirt collar.

T-shirt? Why was he wearing a T-shirt? He never wore them, because…

That’s it! It seemed to be because of this incident….

Someone was sitting on his back and he couldn’t get up, and that person was clutching onto his collar, refusing to let go. Since the collar of a child’s T-shirt was small, very soon, he couldn’t breathe.

“Do not hit him! I’m calling someone! Let go!” A girl’s voice came from the distance, and the pressure on his back was lifted at once.

He could breathe again, but because of the overwhelming fear of dying, he had a long fever. Someone was taking care of him… She seems like a nanny?

At this moment, Tang Xuhai walked into the tent to wake him up.

“Did you have a nightmare? You’re drenched in sweat.” Tang Xuhai said with his arms folded.

“…Uhm, I guess so.” Fu Shiwu touched his throat. The situation in the dream was totally clear and terrifying. He seemed to be on the verge of death just now.

At that time, he was very young, and since these memories scared the living daylights out of him, his brain somehow automatically got rid of them.

No wonder he hated wearing T-shirts. Anyone who was almost strangled to death by that piece of clothes would likely be repulsed by it.

Fu Shiwu crawled out of his sleeping bag, preparing to get out of the tent.

Tang Xuhai stretched out one hand and held back his shoulder: “Wait for your sweat to dry out first. It’s very cold outside, if you go out like that, you’ll catch a cold.”    

Taken back by his concern, Fu Shiwu stood rooted to the spot and could only let out a soft “Uhm”.

Fu Shiwu picked up his glasses and put them on the bridge of his nose, and his shy look just now vanished at once. Finding it incredibly interesting, Tang Xuhai reached out his hand to stroke the lump of hair that had poked upwards.

“Don’t keep touching my hair.” Fu Shiwu said helplessly.

He discovered that recently, Tang Xuhai couldn’t keep his hands off the stubborn lump atop his hair. He was angry at first, but now he didn’t even have the strength to be angry at Tang Xuhai’s continuous ‘disturbance’.

Tang Xuhai was the type who liked to get touchy-feely with the people he was close with, for he was used to bumping shoulders with both his decent and not-so-decent fellows. After his retirement from the army, Fu Shiwu and Wen Zhaoming became his new friends, thus naturally, this tendency grew back.

It was just that Wen Zhaoming was disabled, so Tang Xuhai couldn’t act recklessly around him. As such, Fu Shiwu became his sole target.

Fu Shiwu’s mismatched appearance and character really triggered Tang Xuhai’s nerve for adorable things, and thus he felt a particular need to twitch around. The lump of hair on top of Fu Shiwu’s head that poked upwards whenever he slept especially made his hands itchy.

It was important to note also that when Tang Xuhai was young, he must’ve been that sort of naughty kid with hands that seriously couldn’t stop moving.

After being caught by Tang Xuhai, Fu Shiwu carefully asked himself whether he should cut his hair short. He didn’t want to care about how idiotic he would look with a buzz cut.

The dark cloud above his head was almost visible to the naked eye. Having zero awareness in this aspect, Tang Xuhai stroked Fu Shiwu’s hair and said: “Don’t worry, your parents are definitely okay.”

It turned out he thought Fu Shiwu had a nightmare and was in a bad mood because his hard drive was broken and that he had no way to contact his parents.

Despite that misunderstanding, Tang Xuhai’s attempt at comforting him got to Fu Shiwu’s heart.

He took a deep breath: “Uhm.”

Tang Xuhai was still rather concerned about the people he put in the arrangement. This evening, they didn’t encounter any difficult aliens, and neither did any evolved or high-level ones come into their sight. There were only ordinary aliens that rushed over in large groups. Because so many people were gathering here, the aliens came one after another, but Tang Xuhai’s team didn’t have to raise a finger because the ability users from Ping Nan had neatly wiped them out.

After dawn, the camps set off in turn, and Tang Xuhai’s team still drove in front.

“In half a day, we’ll reach a large lake.” Miao Jia’s eyes lit up.

This lake was called Shuijing Lake, a 5A1Also called ‘AAAAA’, this is the highest rating awarded to the most important and best-maintained tourist attractions in China. The other four ratings are ‘A’ to ‘AAAA’. scenic spot of H Province, which was encircled with picturesque surroundings and a large resort.

“Uhm…” Tang Xuhai tilted his head to look at Fu Shiwu. Spotting his calm, unwavering expression, he turned around and asked Miao Jia: “How far is it from Shuijing Lake to the survivor base?”

“Huh?” Miao Jia was surprised. In the first place, they were only half the journey away from the survivor base of H Province. Although the people behind indeed slowed down their progress, they had saved a lot of time by taking the provincial road: “If we count from Shuijing Lake, it’ll take one day.”

“Good. Tonight, we’ll camp at Shuijing Lake.” Tang Xuhai said.

“What?” Wen Zhaoming and Fu Shiwu were stunned.

Wen Zhaoming straightened up and said: “Won’t it be too risky?”

“It’s alright, for our team, there shouldn’t be any danger. I observed the situation last night, there weren’t a lot of high-level aliens that descended like when the sky veil opened the day before yesterday. I think there won’t be another night that a large number of high-level aliens fall down any time soon, unless the sky veil is closed once more.” Tang Xuhai said.

Miao Jia pondered for a moment and started to manoeuvre his laptop: “Well… According to the statistics in various places last night, it’s true that those fair-skinned special aliens didn’t appear in large batches again.”

“Uhm.” Tang Xuhai nodded with a particularly affirmative attitude: “For those alien leaders, if the rate of their appearance exceeds a certain threshold, it’ll definitely cause infighting among them to snatch the role of the group leader.”

“This means… It’s just like a lone lion that challenges the head lion of an existing pride!” Miao Jia came to the realisation.

“Yes… So, no matter what is behind the sky veil, as long as its head is functioning in a sensible way, it won’t disrupt this balance.” Tang Xuhai narrowed his eyes.

“Does that have anything to do with us staying in Shuijing Lake for one night?” Fu Shiwu asked puzzledly.

In his mind, their journey had put them through so much shock and heartache, so many ups and downs. Wouldn’t it be better to reach their destination early?

Tang Xuhai rolled his eyes. Isn’t it because you’re in such a gloomy mood?! That’s why I thought to let you unwind in that place!

He said angrily: “Don’t think for ourselves only, but also for the people of Ping Nan who have been oppressed for more than two months. They’ve been abused for so long, and some have even lost their loved ones. Before they reach the survivor base, let them relax a bit, it’ll be good for their mental state. Once they enter the survivor base, they won’t be as free as they’re now. Who will have the time to bring them out to chill out?”

Fu Shiwu was bewildered to hear such sudden claims from Tang Xuhai, as though he thought that they actually made sense.

Tang Xuhai grumpily grabbed the steering wheel. Really, I’ve thrown my kindness to the wrong person. Wasted my sentiments!

Despite that hesitance, the moment Fu Shiwu arrived at Shuijing Lake, his mood was obviously lifted.

“What a huge lake!” Fu Shiwu exclaimed.

Tang Xuhai looked at his eyes under the glasses that were widening in sheer surprise and his mouth gaping at the shimmering lake whose shore wasn’t in sight at all with pure excitement. He raised his chin triumphantly: “Humph~”