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墨書 Inktalez
The ship remained still, but a hand patted my shoulder. I turned to see Jack.
"We should leave the weapons for them," Jack said, flicking his fingers against the M16 in his hand.
Sometimes I felt that Jack had more of a leader's demeanor. He was always rational and calm, and most importantly, he was willing to make the tough decisions, even if it meant sacrificing lives—his own or others'.
He had once abandoned me when he believed there was no way to save me. He made that decision decisively. I couldn't do that.
It wasn't that I was incapable; rather, in a team, there needs to be someone who can make those fatal decisions. That decision might cost an enemy their life, or it could cost a teammate—or even oneself. But failing to make a decision or delaying it would be far worse.
If it came down to making a decision that could cost an enemy their life, I could do that. But if it meant deciding the fate of a teammate or abandoning them, I couldn't. It wasn't hesitation; it was simply beyond my capacity. This was a matter of character. I didn't see it as a flaw, but I knew this trait made me unsuitable to be the leader of this team.
So I scoffed at the idea that someone thought of me as a leader; I was clear about my position.
I nodded. "Yes, you think things through more than I do. What's most important is that we have enough incendiaries. Our first task is to find Specimen. With enough incendiaries, reaching the location of the lost backpack shouldn't be difficult. As for the second task—entering the range of Eternal Gate—if it proves too challenging, we can abandon it."
"You all, oh no, I mean we need modern weapons even more."
Tang Yumo peeked out from behind Jack.
"Here," she pointed down with a finger. "In this habitat, we have weapons prepared. Although they are the most primitive cold weapons, every one of us Hakka People is a warrior. While two people may not be enough to eradicate the Secondary Mutant Creatures here, holding this habitat is definitely within our capability.
However, we have to face not only the Secondary Mutant Creatures but also Heimanluo and dangers I've never seen or heard of before. Our weapons are simply insufficient for that. If you still plan to come back alive, then don’t distribute the weapons."
I hesitated for a moment.
"I believe you have more experience dealing with the Secondary Mutant Creatures, but the fighting force left here is too weak. Only one Hakka Man, A-Yong, can exert maximum combat power; the others are all novices when it comes to dealing with these secondary mutated beings. Your other person has no combat ability at all and even needs someone to take care of him. I don’t want to return to a group of the undead."
"My two Hakka People warriors do not include the one who is temporarily incapacitated; mine is the one who hid when we were ambushed at the exit."
"He’s not dead?! Where is he?" I asked in surprise.
"I don’t know his exact location. He might be on his way here or still recovering somewhere. But I can assure you, he won’t die. If there is only one survivor among our team, it will definitely be him."
"Did he obtain Eternal Life?"
"No, his awakened ability is concealment. As long as he isn't killed on the spot, he has a way to hide himself from these foolish and mindless Secondary Mutant Creatures. Even we cannot detect him when he is hidden."
"You've confused me. Can he shapeshift or become invisible? Does that mean he could be around us right now?"
"He is not here. Even with limited precognitive abilities, it is still a High-Level Awakening Ability; he would show signs in my presence. As long as he appears nearby, I would be able to sense him, at least to some extent.
Actually, you could also detect him; it's just that you don't actively use your own abilities. Right now, you are relying entirely on instinct. For instance, instinctively, you would resist others' prying and eavesdropping."
I waved my hand dismissively. I didn't want to hear her ramble on about such abstract concepts, and I didn't believe I had any superpowers. If I did, I should be able to feel them myself; since I couldn't, that meant they didn't exist.
"But how does he know our people are here? If he returns or searches this underground space aimlessly, it would be hard for him to run into our people."
"You don't need to worry about that. When we Hakka People enter the Underground Cavern, we all come here first. He currently has no weapons and will rush here immediately."
"Then that means..." I pointed at the Hakka person who had been incapacitated by Fatty. "He is the Listener."
Tang Yumo nodded with a resigned expression. She had revealed so much information that it was easy for me to deduce who the Listener was because I knew that among the three Hakka people we first encountered in the Underground Cavern, one had awakened the ability of hearing.
"Alright. Since you have such confidence in your people, I am willing to trust you this once and let us rebuild our trust."
"That's it, let's get on the boat and go," I said, turning my face towards Jack.
Jack jumped onto the boat, causing it to sway violently. Suddenly, I realized that getting Jack to hand over his weapon to someone else would be quite difficult. Our most powerful weapon at the moment was the M16 rifle; he could willingly give it to another team, but he wouldn't hand it over to me or Fatty. I had already tricked him once to get that AK-47 from him, and I doubted that tactic would work again.
I moved back a bit to clear the front row of the boat and teased Jack, "Soldier, come up front. This is where you belong."
Jack chuckled and squeezed past me to sit in the front row of the boat.
A San came over, struggling under the weight of a heavy weapon backpack, and managed to toss it onto the boat.
I took the backpack from him and looked seriously at A San. After a moment's thought, I pulled out my 9mm pistol from my waist and handed it to him.
A San looked a bit touched. "Brother Qiang, I have a knife. You should keep the pistol for self-defense."
I tossed the gun back to him, leaning forward with an even more serious expression. "Take good care of Xiao Ting and the two old folks. Stay sharp."
I glanced at the two Hakka people not far away and mouthed, "If they threaten your lives or if anything obviously unfavorable happens, don’t wait for them to strike first. Xiao Ting and the old folks can’t handle sudden situations; I'm leaving them in your hands."
A San nodded solemnly.
I then spoke aloud, "If they cause any trouble..."
I noticed A San's expression suddenly turned exceptionally grim. Although my words contained a hint of threat, they were mostly just for show; this guy shouldn't be unable to tell the difference.
"Hey hey."
The sinister laughter I heard behind me made it clear where A San was feeling the pressure from.
I turned around and, sure enough, Fatty had somehow crept up, providing a half-serious, half-joking commentary on my threats. Fatty's sinister grin wasn't meant to scare him; if something were to happen to Xiao Ting, I estimated that A San would meet a very grim fate.
(To Be Continued...)
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