Still short a few hundred clicks—come on, good sirs, help push this over the top in one go! The first update is delivered now. …… Bang!

The moment Ye Chen entered the room, Mu Baifeng hastily slammed the door shut and stared at Ye Chen with anxiety. "What do we do now? There's no way out!"

Ye Chen waved a dismissive hand. "Just shoot directly through."

"Shoot directly through?" Mu Baifeng was stunned.

Ye Chen nodded, backed three zhang away from the room, squatted down, and aimed at the floor beneath the room, pulling the trigger. Bang, bang, bang, bang! Four consecutive shots hammered the exact same spot. An enraged roar erupted from outside immediately; clearly, a monster had been hit.

Yue Heng didn't ask any questions. Mimicking Ye Chen's posture, he crouched down and fired continuously, but each time he managed only three shots. Beyond the fourth round, the position of the bullet would drift off target.

The first bullet pierced the floorboard; the second and third penetrated clean through to hit their mark.

"This works too!" Mu Baifeng nearly spat blood. "He's judging the location of the zombie ants purely on guesswork!"

Ye Chen said nothing, continuously squeezing the trigger. Every time he fired, it was a burst of four rounds. Although he couldn't see the monsters, in his mind, he had already memorized the appearance, posture, and attack patterns of these creatures. Merely visualizing them allowed him to roughly guess where they were positioned behind the barrier and how their heads tilted when they raised their claws to strike.

Bang!

The floorboards were suddenly ripped open with a large gap, and the head of a zombie ant crawled inside.

Bang, bang, bang!

It was met by three bullets, all striking the head. It immediately collapsed dead, and its corpse conveniently plugged the hole.

Mu Baifeng watched, dumbfounded. Just then, another zombie ant tore a large hole in the floor and squeezed in. Mu Baifeng jumped in fright and quickly pulled the trigger, imitating Ye Chen by firing three shots in succession.

Bang, bang, bang!

Three bullets flew out. The first struck the ant's head. Because the ant’s outer carapace was incredibly hard, the bullet only penetrated a small distance before its momentum vanished, getting stuck inside. If two more rounds had followed immediately, this ant would certainly have died.

But the next two bullets did not strike the ant's head as Mu Baifeng had anticipated. The second hit the wooden support beam above its head, and the third also struck the beam.

The ant, provoked by the attack, immediately turned red-eyed and charged toward him.

"Damn it!" Mu Baifeng cursed, cold sweat beading on his forehead, and he frantically pulled the trigger. Perhaps due to nervousness, he missed every single shot.

Bang, bang!

Ye Chen squeezed the trigger. Two bullets pierced the zombie ant’s head, killing it instantly.

Mu Baifeng let out a breath of relief, casting Ye Chen a look of gratitude, then gave a wry smile. "How did you hit it? Why did my three consecutive shots scatter completely?"

Ye Chen replied coldly, "Your technique isn't good enough."

Mu Baifeng froze for a moment, then tears welled up. He, the respected captain, had just been told his skill was lacking by a mere soldier—how could he bear such humiliation...

"Every time you fire, the handgun shifts position. You need to bring it back to the exact original spot instantly if you want to hit the same location. This repositioning needs to be incredibly fast; otherwise, if the target has moved, it’s all for nothing," Ye Chen stated calmly. He fired several more rounds in succession, killing another monster. Coupled with the two Yue Heng had taken down nearby, all the monsters outside were eliminated.

"Let's go!" Ye Chen stood up and walked toward the exit, Yue Heng following close behind. Mu Baifeng looked at the two of them, feeling somewhat speechless. What kind of monsters had joined his squad?

Ye Chen led the way out of the room and immediately saw a gruesome scene on the ground outside: a pile of shredded remains, including an arm bitten off halfway, a severed thigh, and a pulpy, bloody mass where intestines were strewn everywhere—it was utterly repulsive.

Mu Baifeng grimaced slightly upon seeing the sight, then finally sighed.

The group arrived at the staircase and saw that the fighting below had concluded. Corpses lay everywhere; the ground was stained crimson with blood, littered with mangled limbs and broken wreckage, turning the room into a complete mess.

Ye Chen walked downstairs and saw the people from the room emerging, their expressions somber. Near the floor lay several broken limbs—evidence that a few individuals had drawn too much enemy fire, attracted the monsters, and ended up dismembered.

"Is everyone alright?" Mu Baifeng looked over the crowd. Seeing that most were unharmed, a wave of relief washed over him.

Every time they undertook a mission, there were casualties. Considering how powerful the monsters were this time, losing only a few people was fortunate. He was long accustomed to this reality.

Everyone stared at the corpses on the floor, a palpable sense of oppression in their eyes. Perhaps the next moment, or the next mission, they too would end up like these—devoured by monsters...

Mu Baifeng glanced at the monster corpses on the floor and told the group, "Everyone, take out the Jīnhuà from the monster bodies. This counts as an extra reward; you don't have to turn it in. Keep it to increase your own strength."

Monsters hunted in the wilderness did not need to be surrendered.

Hearing this, the eyes of the squad members lit up. They looked at the pile of corpses, which included several zombie ants. A Level 12 monster like that, if they could extract a single Jīnhuà and convert it, would be worth tens of thousands of grams—an immense value!

Ye Chen walked over to Bai Long and lowered his voice. "You go dissect the large-mouthed monster downstairs and dispose of the remains. Don't let these people see."

Bai Long paused, shot Ye Chen a strange look, then turned and quietly headed downstairs.

The others paid him no mind, busy dissecting the bodies. Before long, all the dissection was complete. They had obtained five small Jīnhuà, some from Level 12 monsters and some from ordinary Level 1 zombies. These were handed over to Mu Baifeng for temporary safekeeping.

"Everyone rest briefly, then prepare to move out," Mu Baifeng said, his heart surging as he looked at the few pieces of Jīnhuà sealed in plastic bags, especially the high-level ones, which were incredibly valuable!

Since everyone belonged to the same military camp, they felt no apprehension about entrusting the Jīnhuà to Mu Baifeng. They weren't afraid of him stealing it; if they collectively reported him and the investigation proved the claim true, Mu Baifeng would face execution by firing squad!

A moment later, Bai Long walked back up from downstairs.

"Where did you go?" someone quipped casually.

"To the latrine; I was desperate," Bai Long complained, then walked up to Ye Chen. Once he saw no one was paying attention, he muttered quietly, "Everything is fine. The Jīnhuà obtained hasn't been tallied yet."

"We'll discuss it when we get back," Ye Chen nodded. He suddenly noticed someone looking over at them and casually asked Bai Long, "Did you run into a zombie while you were at the toilet?"

Bai Long started, then caught sight of someone peeking out of the corner of his eye. He immediately understood and let out an exaggerated sigh. "That zombie was ferocious! If it weren't for my agile footwork, deploying 'Lingbo Weibu,' followed by a 'Zhan Yi Shiba Die,' I probably would have been killed by that thing."

"Pah!" The eavesdropper immediately rolled their eyes, too bored to pay any more attention to the man.

After a short rest, Mu Baifeng checked the map. "The target location is in a building not far from here. Everyone, get ready; we need to leave. This must be finished today."

Everyone nodded, checked their firearms, tidied their uniforms, and prepared to depart.

"I'm running low on ammo."

"Don't look at me, same here."

"Who can lend me some? I'll pay you back when we return!"

A young man looked around pleadingly, but most people avoided his gaze, pretending not to see.

The young man gritted his teeth. "Whoever lends me some, I'll pay you back double when we get back!"

A slender man’s eyes lit up. He pulled out his pouch and smiled faintly. "Just remembered, I have a box here. It has 35 rounds."

The young man gritted his teeth and took it.

One bullet was equivalent to 2 Military Merits, so 35 rounds equaled 700 Military Merits, which translated to 700g of Jīnhuà. Therefore, using bullets to kill Level 1 zombies was essentially a losing proposition!

Most people would instead ambush high-level monsters. Once they obtained the Jīnhuà from a high-level monster and converted it, it equaled tens of thousands of grams of Jīnhuà—for example, Level 7 conversion yielded 3000g, Level 8 was 6000g, and Level 9...

Bullets were an enormous consumption item and the number one manufactured product in the Base City's production department.