Two weeks after the Zeta City incident, Victor brought Li Yun a present: two new team members.
Li Yun’s eyes immediately lit up when he saw them.
At long last, he and Natasha would no longer be the only two people being worked to death.
“Introductions.
Keith Icahn—the pale-faced hunter—and Father Fernando.
Keith volunteered on his own.
Fernando was recommended to me by someone.”
Victor gave Li Yun a brief introduction to the pair, and Li Yun nodded to show he understood.
“A pleasure to meet you, Captain Li Yun.
I’m Keith Icahn.”
“Fernando.”
The two shook Li Yun’s hand, and he responded warmly.
At last he had more people under his command who could actually be put to work.
Excellent.
Victor smiled when he saw the group getting along well enough on first meeting.
Then he coughed twice and added, “There’s one more person.
I wasn’t sure whether you’d want her, but she volunteered too.
She’s certainly capable.
I just don’t know whether you’re willing to accept her.”
Li Yun blinked, then laughed openly.
“What do you mean, whether I want her?
If you’ve got capable people, send as many as you like.
At this point I’m even more desperate for talent than you are!”
Victor visibly relaxed.
He motioned for the person beside him to remove her gas mask.
The moment Li Yun saw her face, he froze.
“Yo~ Li Yun~ We meet again.” The masked newcomer was Blair.
Her heavy combat gear had hidden her build so completely that Li Yun had not even been able to tell whether she was a man or a woman until she took off the mask.
Natasha was numb.
Completely numb.
She knew this woman.
Blair had been part of the Helgen Town operation and, if not for Li Yun, would have died there.
Natasha had assumed the two would never meet again.
Instead, Blair had gone out of her way to come to them.
“I’m the one she brought in.” Fernando helpfully added the explanation.
He understood now that he was essentially Blair’s entrance gift.
Unlike Blair, who had spent years operating in gray areas, Fernando’s record was spotless.
Bringing someone like him into CT counted as a meaningful contribution in its own right.
“Done eating from every table in town?
Decided to start drawing a government salary from CT instead?” After his brief surprise, Li Yun accepted the situation easily enough.
It was not really a problem.
He did not believe Blair had been planted as a spy by someone else.
Even if she had, it was hardly fatal.
“Got tired of the old menu.
Thought I’d try something new.
Either way, I’m not going hungry, right?
Just don’t put a bullet in my back, Captain.
I really did come here in good faith.” Blair tossed her hair, making herself more comfortable.
Li Yun smiled without committing himself, signaling that for the moment he was reasonably willing to trust her.
He considered the composition of his team.
Three men, two women—five people in total.
Not bad at all.
Under the current circumstances, five was arguably enough.
Any truly large operation would involve more than just their unit; other combat teams would inevitably deploy alongside them.
Then Li Yun thought about the recent situation in the Lost City, and some of the smile faded from his face.
The zombies had been growing increasingly vicious.
As time passed, mutations caused by the Z-Virus were deepening, and the creatures themselves seemed to be evolving.
Their skin was tougher, their muscles more resilient, their bodies lighter and more explosive when jumping.
They were faster, more ferocious, and more aggressive.
Li Yun’s team had originally maintained a warning distance of roughly sixty meters.
Now they had pushed it out to eighty.
If Natasha’s shooting before had mostly been for amusement, now she deliberately eliminated any enhanced zombies that tried to approach the defensive line.
Her standard M4 had also been replaced with a Barrett M95.
Combined with specialized armor-piercing ammunition, it let her kill enhanced zombies within her engagement range with ease.
Having a sniper like her dramatically reduced the pressure on Li Yun’s sector.
The Barrett’s thunderous report did attract more zombies, but that was still preferable to letting enhanced variants accumulate until a whole mass of them charged the defenses at once.
“Has Headquarters still not decided what to do with the Lost City?
How long do they expect us to keep plugging the gap with manpower?”
Li Yun was more than a little exasperated by the current situation.
It was not that he was afraid of hard work.
But leaving a place like this festering indefinitely was practically begging for another disaster.
“Soon.
There’s already a preliminary sterilization plan.
They’ve changed it from launching a nuclear weapon to using incendiary bombs.
Rex’s laboratory will receive two bunker-busting incendiaries to make sure it’s completely destroyed.”
Victor did not mind revealing a little internal information to Li Yun.
Once a decision like that was formally approved, nobody would be able—or dare—to stop it anyway.
Li Yun sighed with relief.
That sounded much better.
At least there was finally an end in sight for the Zeta City—or Lost City—operation.
Then Victor added something that made Li Yun’s balls ache all over again.
“Don’t relax yet.
The incendiary strikes will only cover priority zones.
Once the bombing is over, combat teams will still have to clear the remaining zombies.
After a colorful burst of American profanity, Li Yun finally said, “Retake the city?
Who the fuck is going to move back into that place?
Are they insane?”
“That’s not your problem to solve.
And I can tell you this: Dr.
Soi is working on a vaccine for the Z-Virus.
If she succeeds, then combined with the sterilization achieved by the incendiary strikes, there’s no reason the city couldn’t eventually return to normal.”
That finally allowed Li Yun to relax.
If Soi was behind the vaccine effort, he could believe there was a real chance of success.
In that case, retaking the city did make sense.
Zeta was a fully developed industrial city with complete infrastructure.
Abandoning all of it would truly be a terrible waste.
Victor decided he had said enough—perhaps more than enough, considering some of it was internal information.
He checked his watch and climbed into his vehicle.
Before leaving, he said,
“All right.
The people are yours, and I’ve already given you more advance information than I probably should.
How you get them working together is up to you.
I’ve got my own work to do, so I’m heading out.”
Everyone immediately saluted.
“Yes, General!”
Victor smiled and had his driver pull the off-road vehicle away.
Once Victor’s vehicle disappeared into the distance, Li Yun turned toward the three newcomers.
Blair opened her mouth, but Li Yun cut her off immediately.
“I already know what you can do.
You two new guys—how about showing us a little of what you’ve got?”
Keith and Fernando exchanged smiles.
Fernando patted the two Desert Eagles strapped to his thighs.
Li Yun blinked.
So this guy dual-wielded Deagles just like Andrey?
Keith turned slightly to display what he carried across his back: a whole string of grenades.
Li Yun understood immediately.
Apparently this man was an accomplished grenadier.
“I’m also very good with a knife at close range.
Want to try me, Captain?”
Keith drew the custom blade at his waist.
Calling it a knife was almost misleading; it was half again as long as a standard tactical knife and looked more like a short sword.
Li Yun waved the offer away.
He was convinced now that every one of these people had a specialty worth respecting.
Good.
The future of this team was looking brighter by the day.