The Invasion Day – Chapter 94
Table of Contents | Character Guide
Chapter 94
T/N: Zhen Zi’s info has been added to the Character Guide! ^^~
Having Miao Jia as part of the team was almost like having a ‘cheat code’ that allowed them to avoid the alien wave in advance. And thanks to Miao Jia’s prior intel, even when they faced an actual wave, the number turned out to be only a tad more than a thousand.
It was only when he stood on the wall of Pei City and looked at the endless mountains and plains outside that Fu Shiwu really understood how an alien wave was formed after these creatures landed on the earth.
Fu Shiwu hardly had any energy left to talk with the others and could only unthinkingly shoot at them without any stop.
Later, as his bullets were about to run out, indeed like what Tang Xuhai had said, Captain Zou sent someone to give him more bullets. The captain also asked Fu Shiwu if he wanted to switch to an automatic rifle, but he found shooting with a rifle wasn’t as accurate as his pistol and had no choice but to change back to his pistol, his spirits a tad saddened.
Wen Zhaoming had been throwing flames without rest, all the way from morning till the moment the sun almost descended.
At dusk, a few soldiers came over and started tossing grenades, letting them rest and eat for a moment.
Seeing Wen Zhaoming so worn out that he could hardly stand firm, Tang Xuhai said: “Lao Wen, you and Zhen Zi should go to the high wall.”
Wen Zhaoming’s face had gone as white as a sheet, his lips chapped. He licked his lips and said wryly: “We won’t. How can just the two of you handle this?”
Tang Xuhai had been cutting up aliens for one full day and indeed felt a little weary, but he knew he could hold on for a while more: “You go and rest, else your power will be exhausted and there’ll be only me and Fu Shiwu left tomorrow.”
Zhen Zi hesitated for a moment, she was incredibly tired, but to ask her to leave her companions behind was something that her character wouldn’t allow.
Captain Zou came down to them: “If you can’t hold on, take a rest. What you’ve done is beyond my expectation. This battle can’t be over in a day.”
Wen Zhaoming finally stepped back and stood still. His hurt limbs were already in immense pain, so much so that he almost toppled over with just one light movement. Zhen Zi hurried over to support him.
Only then did Captain Zou realise an abnormality. So this fire-type ability user turned out to be disabled!
With deep admiration surging from the bottom of his heart, Captain Zou quickly summoned two young soldiers to help Wen Zhaoming walk down.
“This team! If he has difficulty moving, why didn’t you tell me earlier?” Captain Zou said with repentance.
Very coldly, Tang Xuhai’s lips arched up: “The aliens won’t be any less cruel because of that.”
Captain Zou went silent for a moment, then turned around and told several soldiers to stand on the edge of the low wall with flamethrowers on their backs.
He explained to Tang Xuhai and Fu Shiwu: “We initially expected that there would be a few more fighters, so the number of flamethrowers and grenades allotted to us isn’t many. You two should also rest first. Once it gets dark, these aliens will automatically retreat.”
Fu Shiwu’s arms were so sore he couldn’t raise his wrists at all. But even so, his face remained as indifferent as ever and, very calmly, he trotted to the high wall behind Tang Xuhai.
“Captain Zou, considering that we’re also involved, shouldn’t you clarify the matter?” Tang Xuhai looked at Captain Zou with a solemn expression.
Captain Zou heaved a long sigh and said: “At a bare minimum, ten people are needed for each section of the wall, and at least eight ability users are required to be on defence. These statistics have been precisely calculated earlier. When the mission was announced yesterday, I didn’t expect this situation to happen. This is quite a loophole, considering it just so happens that your corps of eight people is also assigned to this section of the wall.”
“This is too much disregard for human life!” Fu Shiwu couldn’t believe it: “If it weren’t us who came today, what would you do if the aliens found a gap to attack?”
“What is waiting for us is not death, but punishment by martial law.” A hint of rage cast over Captain Zou’s face: “Don’t worry, this matter won’t be forgotten. Since their ploy has failed, I’ll have the chance to ask for more ammunition in the evening. It won’t be so hard tomorrow.”
With a fierce, intimidating gaze, Tang Xuhai looked at Captain Zou: “Who has the right to assign the corps to assist in defence missions? Tell me his name.”
Almost scared stiff, Captain Zou said with a wry smile: “This is factional war within the army, you ordinary people really shouldn’t be involved.”
Wen Zhaoming patted Tang Xuhai on the shoulder and lightly shook his head. They had no one and no power to rely on, thus to fight anyone heads-on at this time was simply asking for trouble.
Tang Xuhai tightened his fist, his teeth clenching hard: “Then we can only let it go?!”
Wen Zhaoming said: “For the time being, we have to be patient and lay low. A gentleman’s revenge is never too late, even when it’s ten years later!”
Captain Zou said, his tone sounding as though he really had a card up his sleeve: “It won’t take that long! Soon we’ll be able to kick the other party down.”
Tang Xuhai smiled menacingly: “Don’t forget to let me know when the time comes.”
Eventually, both the flamethrowers and grenades didn’t last very long, so Tang Xuhai and Fu Shiwu had to endure the fatigue and continued the killing till the end, to the point that others had to carry them down.
Captain Zou asked the soldiers to drive them back to Villa No.7, and Miao Jia, who stayed behind, was stunned to receive them.
Seven people left standing upright, but three of them came back lying down. Zhen Zi barely managed to walk back by herself, while Wen Zhaoming also had to let someone carry him.
Wen Zhaoming’s legs were completely swollen. Wang Dan and Liu Peiqi, who had been doing leg work for one full day, hurriedly helped him reduce the inflammation and pain. Hollande headed into the kitchen to prepare dinner, for now wasn’t the time to pick Chinese or Western food.
“What can you do tomorrow like this?” Wang Dan said worriedly. Looking at their utterly drained postures, it would be difficult to even get up tomorrow.
Fu Shiwu turned over on the sofa with difficulty and lifted his arm ever so lightly: “One night’s sleep is enough…”
“It’s hard to recover to the best condition even after one night’s sleep.” Tang Xuhai mumbled as he lay on the sofa, his voice dull.
He never could’ve foreseen that on their very first day of alien attack, they would be pushed into such a dreadful situation!
Wen Zhaoming looked up, trying to rest his head against the surface, but he could only feel it spin like mad.
A moment later, he straightened up and said to Miao Jia: “We can’t just stay passive like this! Miao Jia, you head to the Old Town and find Zhou Weihua and ask him to send a few men over, preferably ability users with attack capability.”
Miao Jia stood up, nodded, took the car keys and turned away at once.
Tang Xuhai raised his head and gave Wen Zhaoming a thumbs-up: “You’re always the smart one. You know how to seek help from outside.”
Wen Zhaoming pressed his lips together and pulled a weak smile.
After dinner, to their surprise, Captain Zou sent someone to deliver an item. A soldier came in with a wheelchair, while another held a paper box.
“Commander Fu, our platoon is giving this to Mr. Wen. Tomorrow he won’t have to stand for so long.”
They sent an electric wheelchair, even though compared with the one Wen Zhaoming had before, the material didn’t have quite the same lightness and the battery was also bulkier.
Wen Zhaoming’s eyes widened in surprise before he turned to the soldier: “Please send my thanks to your captain once you get back.”
Fu Shiwu sat up, staring straight at the wheelchair, and turned his head to Wen Zhaoming: “Do you want to use it? I feel that you can walk pretty well now, and no one would be able to detect any issue.”
Fu Shiwu still remembered how those people in the warehouse ridiculed Wen Zhaoming’s disability and laughed at him. His companion had finally freed himself of his self-esteem and squarely faced his defects, standing up on his own. If he had to get into a wheelchair again, would he be able to bear it?
Naturally, Wen Zhaoming understood Fu Shiwu’s concerns and smiled reassuringly: “It’s okay. Sometimes it’s more convenient to have a wheelchair.” Then he licked his dry lips: “Also, sometimes sitting in a wheelchair is a great way to deceive the opponents.”
When people saw a man with a disability, the first thing in their mind would be that this man didn’t seem intimidating. This was a sort of psychological impression that had long been shaped in humans through history, so they wouldn’t become vigilant at once.
With regards to the way Wen Zhaoming thought about this, Fu Shiwu felt that as long as his companion wasn’t disheartened, everything else was no issue.
The young soldier that carried a box put it on the coffee table and said: “This is reliever medicine for your team. It was the result of a research by the Institute of Science to restore special ability users’ powers. If you use up too much of your ability, your power might be exhausted on the same day and might not be recovered even on the next day. This reliever supplements the heterogeneous cells’ energy to allow your ability to return to normal.”
This was the first time everyone in the room had heard about this. Liu Peiqi stepped up to open the box and saw the items inside, which looked like tiny tubes of toothpaste, and when the lid was unscrewed, the creamy-textured reliever oozed out.
“Let me taste it.” Looking at his companions’ curious eyes, Liu Peiqi gathered the courage to lick a bit of that thing: “No taste at all.”
The soldier who delivered the wheelchair curled his lips a little: “It’s odourless and tasteless. The Institute of Science has to study for a long time to arrive at this result; previously, it was as unpalatable as Chinese medicine.”
The young soldier holding the box said: “We heard that their next objective is to make the reliever available in various flavours.”
“Institute of Science…” A flash of light beamed brightly in Fu Shiwu’s eyes as he said: “They’ve done a lot of useful, amazing research.”
There was truly no way to refute this point. After all, since the sky veil opened and the aliens invaded Earth, the Institute of Science had relentlessly provided various data and analysis on aliens, heterogeneous molecules and special ability users. It could be said that without these scientists’ efforts, no one knew what humanity might have to go through to arrive at everything they now knew.
With this box of reliever medicine, Wen Zhaoming, Tang Xuhai and Zhen Zi had a very peaceful sleep that night.
Early the next morning, Tang Xuhai knocked on Fu Shiwu’s room door.
Only a handful of the team members knew that Fu Shiwu wouldn’t be able to take the reliever, and Tang Xuhai was a little concerned about how he recovered.
“How are you feeling today?” Tang Xuhai looked up the lump of hair that was poking at the top of Fu Shiwu’s head, resisting the urge to pull it.
Totally unaware of his mischievous urge, Fu Shiwu replied: “My arms are still a bit sore, but I’m fine. I didn’t use up all my ‘ability’ yesterday, because I found that yesterday’s aliens were all cannon fodders, not even one Level-2 alien turned up.”
Tang Xuhai said grimly: “Yesterday, their attack was only to test the waters. Today is the real thing! We mustn’t take it lightly.”
Fu Shiwu’s expression toughened up at once and he nodded sternly.
That moment, Tang Xuhai finally couldn’t help but stretch out a hand to grab his silly lump of hair!
Translator and reviewer at Strictly Bromance blog. In essence, she lives to indulge in plot-driven stories sprinkled with camaraderie and slow-burn drama-free romance, especially more so if they belong to adventure, mystery or supernatural genre. A trope that she always thirsts after: “Comrades who go through life and death together”.
Tang Xuhai really likes the silly lump of hair lmao