Rebirth of MC Chpt 102 - 202 (unedited translations)

Chapter 142: Li Qing is released from confinement

In the days following Long Zhanye and Huo Zaiyuan's news about the 'Sorcerer's cult' and the black talisman, Long Haotian and the Head priest are swarmed with work. One contacts the other remaining safe zones in secret, ordering a covert investigation of the cult, while the other concentrates all the knowledge and skills accumulated over decades to pull apart every aspect of this evil talisman.

After a few days of proper rest, Huo Zaiyuan has recovered fully. In addition, his mood is fairly good as he feels that he might just break through to the fifth level sometime soon. The fourth peach tree in the formation has already started to flower.

However, before he can bask in bliss longer, something happens. That morning, Zuo Hanyang rushed to inform them of an incident that befell one of A base's mercenary squad in A City's southeastern district. They were attacked by several evolved zombies in one of the fringe villages there. An entire veteran team of ten members now reduced to three who managed to escape, with one of the survivors infected and locked in a separate housing immediately after their return to the safe zone.

A safe zone's medical bay

Regarding these evolved zombies, the higher-ups feel it is a very important matter and thus, has to be handled by none other than Long Zhanye's newly established 'Long Yuan squad'.

"What happened after you and your team entered the village?" Responsible for recording the verbal report, Zuo Hanyang asks as he puts his pen to paper.

Qin Jun is busy treating the injured man's wounds while Huo Zaiyuan and Long Zhanye stand aside, silently listening.

Although this member of the mercenary squad was able to escape with his life intact, he sustained a serious fracture in his tibia after experiencing a rough tumble down a slope in the middle of evading the zombies. But after a day of medical attention, he has regained consciousness and is clear-headed enough to answer questions.

"Our squad accepted a mission issued by the safe zone to scavenge for food and other supplies. When we neared that village, the probe on our vehicle designed to detect life suddenly blared, indicating that there were still survivors in the village. Therefore, we immediately drove in, thinking that we might as well rescue them while completing our assignment...but we were wrong. We shouldn't have let down our guards after seeing the probe displaying signs of life..." The squad member becomes increasingly agitated as he begins to recount what happened.

Seeing this, Qin Jun immediately steps forward and presses firmly down on the man's chest to keep him lying flat on the bed. "You're wounded, so try to restrain your emotions. Becoming agitated will only worsen your current condition. Listen to me, focus on my voice. Take a deep breath, hold, and exhale slowly. Relax. Try to relax a little."

Under Qin Jun's soft directions, the emotional man takes a few deep breaths, calming down slowly before continuing. "In order to ensure everyone's safety, seven of us got down from the armoured car, leaving two of our best marksmen behind as both reinforcements and to protect the technician... Only when we moved deeper into the village did we realise something wasn't quite right. The Taoist priest we recruited said that there was a layer of weird purple mist everywhere, but we thought it must be remnants of poisonous gases and so didn't pay it much attention. Our main priority is to rescue the survivors, so we continued forwards... Suddenly, we heard the technician shrieking in our earpieces, followed by an extremely terrifying roar... A large swarm of zombies jumped out from all around. The Taoist was extremely quick in laying down a protective array, but it was easily ripped apart. Before we knew it, he was pierced through the chest by long, sharp claws..."

"We've read the file of the Taoist priest in your squad. He was outstanding in every aspect. Arrays, barriers, talisman creation, experienced in real combat situations... To be able to tear apart an array set by a first-rate priest and know to target said person first...that zombie should be a higher ranked evolved," Huo Zaiyuan muses aloud, then turns to the casualty. "May I know if you noticed anything different about this zombie?"