Chapter 96: Lieutenant Langley

Terry continued with his work and created the platforms for the firearms to be mounted.

They even went out of the compound to set up observation points in the surrounding areas of the hydroelectric dam.

When they were setting one up at the boundary near the fields, they met Patricia and her team, who were hard at work.

The crops in the fields grew when Patricia went around touching them with her ability.

It was tedious work but necessary.

The crops in the fields, which would have taken a month or so to be ready for harvest, grew in a matter of minutes to reach the state needed for harvesting.

Alex was pleasantly surprised by the result.

He might have to think about getting livestock to rear soon, now that they had the means to grow crops in an accelerated manner.

Having a source of meat on top of the crops guaranteed their survival.

And if it was possible, he would then be able to get more people to come and join the hydroelectric dam when the timing was ripe.

The whole area was too large for the two hundred or so of them to manage and protect fully.

He didn’t have any idea yet where to recruit them, but he was sure there would be others like him and his friends who didn’t trust the authorities.

And of course, these newcomers would have to be able to contribute and be loyal to him.

If not, they might be more trouble than they were worth.

Once it was lunchtime, Alex and his friends got back to the hydroelectric dam to have lunch.

Alex and his friends were able to get four rooms with the best view and facilities in the workers’ dormitories.

Eddy and the others insisted on it.

These rooms were most likely used by the management and executives of the hydroelectric dam.

Inside the rooms, there was everything they needed.

Beds, sofas, cupboards, tables, and electronic appliances were all there.

There was even a kitchen in all of them.

But even so, Alex and his friends preferred to go to Brian’s room and do their things over there.

It was either habit, or they wanted to avoid cleaning their own rooms as much as possible.

Brian was always particular about tidying everything up, and so he was their prime target to go to.

Alex waited while Terry prepared lunch.

All there was to it was to wait for the research results from Teresa to see if there was anything new they needed to know while dealing with the soldiers from the Elite Awakened Special Ops unit.

Right now, the food supplies weren’t ready yet, so there would still be a need for him and his friends to go out there to the surroundings or the city and scavenge for food and other resources.

There was a high probability that they would meet again.

It would definitely be better if he stayed ahead of them.

"Stop worrying," Terry said, coming over and placing a plate of steak down in front of him.

Their rooms came with a kitchen with all the cooking utensils, seasoning, and cooking oil available, so it wasn’t an issue for Terry to whip up an awesome meal.

Alex cut a slice of the steak and put it into his mouth.

He chewed on the steak, and it didn’t take much effort, as the meat was so tender it felt like it had melted in his mouth.

Then the flavors of the sear and sauce took over.

Alex enjoyed the meal with his friends, and they had some coffee, enjoying the view from the window looking out into the water by the dam.

There was still work to do, but it was a much-needed respite for him.

...

Meanwhile, in the quarantine area.

General Xavier was in his room, with all of the other Lieutenants of their respective teams standing in front of him.

He handed them a manila folder and leaned back in his chair afterwards.

The Lieutenants opened the manila folder and read the documents inside.

They grinned after reading the instructions inside.

Operation Scorched Earth gave them the authority to clear everything that stood in their way.

It didn’t matter if it was humans or mutated beasts.

They were able to execute them in any way they deemed appropriate.

One of them, Lieutenant Langley, with his hair gelled back, narrowed his eyes and thought about how he would go about it in the sector he was allocated.

It was also the sector where the hydroelectric dam was.

But he wasn’t going to do all the hard work himself.

He already had some candidates who were more than willing to do the job for him.

Some of the thugs and underground gang members who lived downtown were eager to get resources from him.

They hadn’t wanted to come to the quarantine area, thinking they would be kings out in the lawless jungle.

But reality hit them, and they found it tougher and tougher to survive after their initial loot from the shops and supermarkets in the area ran out.

There weren’t many options left for them anymore.

"Now, the higher-ups don’t have much patience left; all of you had better not mess it up for me, or else you won’t have an ass left for me to kick," General Xavier said, and the Lieutenants stood up straight and gave him a salute.

"What are you waiting for? Go and accomplish the mission!" General Xavier said, and the Lieutenants quickly turned around and left his office.

Lieutenant Langley held the manila folder and walked towards his team.

His team wasn’t too far behind Lieutenant Lee’s, with the exception of him being at S-Level Ability Enhance, which allowed him the ability to buff the abilities of two Awakened at the same time, boosting their abilities to a level above.

Although it wasn’t an offensive ability, it helped that he was able to boost his sergeant, who was at A-Level, to an S-Level with it.

The sudden increase in strength and power surprised the enemies, and they were able to survive as a team until now.

"We will move out to downtown tomorrow. Make contact with Rudy and arrange to meet him at his hideout today," Lieutenant Langley said.

His sergeant, Sergeant Baron, nodded his head and said, "I will get it done before we move out, sir."

Lieutenant Langley let out a sigh and walked towards the officers’ mess.

Sergeant Baron proceeded to shout at the corporals to get up and follow him.

...

Back in the hydroelectric dam.

Alex was inspecting the vehicles he had gotten from the highway, making sure that there was enough fuel and that they were still able to run.

He was preparing to go to the city the next day, to explore what was still left in the area.

The operations at the hydroelectric dam were going great.

Eddy and his team of engineers were able to fix some of the faulty equipment just in time.

Patricia and her team had already harvested much of the crops from the fields and planted more with the seeds he had gotten from Halmart previously.

There wasn’t any news yet from Teresa, but it was what he had expected.

Some things can’t be rushed.

The fresh meat and vegetables in his storage space wouldn’t last too long with two hundred-odd of them here.

He still needed to go out, kill enemies, and get the rewards for his storage space.

However, after he finished his check and ensured that everything was in order, he got a surprise from Teresa.

She came over to him with the empty syringe in her hand and said, "The contents of the syringe were a much-diluted version of the mutagen that could make someone much more powerful quickly, without too much side effect compared to achieving the same result if they had eaten the meat of the mutated beasts."

Alex frowned and nodded his head at her while pondering on it.

So that was what the soldier had been trying to do before he was killed by him.

He glanced at her and asked, "Do you think this is the best they can come up with?"

Teresa shook her head and replied, "I’m sure this isn’t the final version of it."

Alex thought about it in another way and asked, "What do you think they’re trying to achieve with this? Make super Awakened that would be stronger than normal ones like me?"

He had no clue about it, so he could only offer his guess that was off the top of his head.

Teresa shook her head at him and replied, "I’m not too sure myself; all I know is that they are most likely trying to keep the best part of this mutagen and reduce or eliminate the side effects of it as much as they could."

"I guess we will figure it out one day," Alex said, and sighed after hearing what she had said.