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Chapter 515: Chapter 515: The Disappearance of Zeng Peng
Special Ability Users have very acute hearing, so Zeng Peng naturally heard what Yin Chengtian said.
He changed his attitude completely from how he spoke to Xie Hengrui, respectfully telling Lu Hao and the others, "Please rest assured, I will have someone watch over him. That kid is extremely timid, I doubt he dares to do anything rash."
"Captain Zeng, it’s still wise to be careful,"
Lu Hao only responded like this. They naturally weren’t afraid of Xie Hengrui, but he felt that Xie Hengrui wouldn’t let things rest so easily.
"Thank you for the reminder,"
Zeng Peng nodded and then led his team members to their temporary resting room.
"They’re gone?"
Su Jin asked as she saw the three people walk in.
"Yes, they’re gone. Let’s all eat quickly,"
Lu Hao said while closing the office door upon entering, because Lu Guanhai wanted to eat the fruits from the Space, which is why he went to close the front door. He did not expect to overhear the conversation by the door.
Immediately, Su Jin took out several sweet and sour tomatoes and shared them with everyone.
Liao Yifan did not expect to be able to eat tomatoes in the wintry land of ice and snow, and these tomatoes were all incredibly plump, their red appearance made her bite into one without hesitation. 𝑛𝘰𝘷𝑝𝘶𝑏.𝑐𝘰𝘮
"This tastes so good, it’s the best I’ve ever had!"
She omitted the word ’tomatoes’ following, just in case someone outside heard.
"Sister Yifan, there’s no one outside, don’t worry,"
Mao Qiqi also took a bite of the tomato and said. With her around, they didn’t have to fear eavesdroppers.
Xue Wanyi, before the Apocalypse, disliked tomatoes the most, but just one bite of the tomato Su Jin gave him completely overturned his previous understanding of tomatoes. Could they really taste this amazing?
Lu Guanhai was extremely proud, but he couldn’t admit that he was the one who grew these, so he could only quietly devour the tomato in his hand.
...
Li Haochu had always felt that the teams chosen by the base to carry out missions and the Guard squad were very harmonious, without any discord between military and civilians. He had heard at noon about a Special Ability User from the Sun Moon Rivers and Mountains Team wanting to defect to the Heart Talk Team, but he only considered it a minor incident.
What he didn’t anticipate was that this minor incident would cause such a big problem.
Zeng Peng had people keep an eye on Xie Hengrui throughout, and he only left for a little while, claiming to go to the bathroom, before returning.
Zeng Peng had considered the possibility of him using his Speed Element ability to attract Zombies for revenge, but with the icy winter outside, rather than luring Zombies, there was a chance of accidentally falling into a nest of them.
Besides, he could only bring a few hundred Zombies at a time. With so many Ability Users here, there was no need for fear.
However, when everyone was about to leave and prepare for departure, Zeng Peng disappeared.
The members of the Sun Moon Rivers and Mountains Team thought Zeng Peng had gone to the toilet, so they kept waiting in the abandoned office building. However, despite waiting and even being rushed by Commander Li’s men, there was no sign of Zeng Peng.
They then started to have an ominous premonition and searched the not-so-tall building thoroughly, even in the surrounding snow, but couldn’t find any trace of Zeng Peng.
"Indeed, one person is missing, my map doesn’t show this person within its range,"
In a room with the doors and windows shut tight, Mao Qiqi said to the newly arrived Li Haochu and Ye Rongxin.
She had counted all the people in the building twice on the map and it was still one person fewer than the number Li Haochu had mentioned.
"This is strange. Is it possible he went to the toilet and, by accident, was eaten by a Zombie?"
Li Haochu furrowed his brows and said.
"That’s highly unlikely, moreover, Captain Zeng is a Level Five Ability User. However, I think it’s very likely that Captain Zeng has met with foul play,"
Lu Hao stated. Without Mao Qiqi’s confirmation, he would not have been able to draw a conclusion, since there had been no sign of Zombies or High-Level Zombies appearing in the vicinity just now. Even if Zeng Peng had left, he couldn’t have walked out of Mao Qiqi’s map range in such a short time.
Yet, that person vanished without a trace, not showing up on Qiqi’s map, which meant, he was already dead.
"We didn’t find the body,"
Ye Rongxin said. The building wasn’t large, and he had just searched every room with others, but there was no body.
"Could there be an accomplice who hid the body in a space?"
Li Haochu immediately felt the situation had become more mysterious.
"I’ll fetch the person who had a conflict with him just now,"
Ye Rongxin, like Li Haochu, suspected it was the doing of Xie Hengrui, who had had a conflict with Zeng Peng.
However, Xie Hengrui denied it adamantly, even starting to cry on the spot.
"Captain Zeng has been as kind to me as a mountain; although I am young and ignorant, I would never harm him. I still hope he can forgive me and let me stay in the team,"
Xie Hengrui, with snot and tears streaming down his face, made everyone present somewhat believe him.
Yet, Ye Rongxin found a small iron box the size of a palm on his person.
"What’s this?"
Ye Rongxin asked.
As Xie Hengrui saw the iron box, a flicker of panic in his eyes did not escape Lu Hao’s notice.
"This is, it’s a keepsake a friend gave me before. I’ve always, always carried it with me,"
In the aftermath of his panic, Xie Ruiheng said, wiping his tears with his sleeve.
Ye Rongxin also doubted Xie Hengrui’s words and opened the iron box there and then.
Inside was a small clump of moss.
Miniature landscape plant?
"Moss?"
Ye Rongxin felt surprised, and the next second, a vine suddenly knocked the iron box out of his hands and onto the ground.
The moss didn’t fall out of the box and no abnormalities appeared; Ye Rongxin was astonished at Su Jin’s reaction—why was she so overreactive?
Furthermore, the entire Heart Talk Team immediately went on guard.
For a moment, Li Haochu felt that Su Jin and the others’ reaction was somewhat excessive; there was nothing in the small iron box.
"Is it mutated moss?"
Lin Xiuyuan also jumped up nervously.
They had encountered this thing once before, and it was very troublesome to deal with.
"Mutated moss?"
Li Haochu was hearing about this for the first time.
A figure swiftly moved towards the door, but just as Xie Hengrui was about to open it, a vine dragged him back and tied him up tightly.
"It seems you do know about this mutated moss. You used it to kill Zeng Peng,"
Su Jin stated this with certainty.
Lu Hao had already picked up the iron box, but the moss inside made no extra movements; it just stayed quietly inside, making Lu Hao wonder if it was just ordinary moss after all.
However, he knew it certainly wasn’t.
Otherwise, Xie Hengrui wouldn’t have tried to run away.
Xie Hengrui hadn’t expected the Heart Talk Team to recognize the moss. Coupled with his guilty conscience, he had tried to escape using his Speed Element Special Ability, but still got caught.
