Otherworld Advance Team
Chapter 692 - 685: Returning to the Epidemic Area

Chapter 692: Chapter 685: Returning to the Epidemic Area

Silent throughout the journey, the transport plane followed a predetermined route towards the epidemic zone. Although the speed of the transport plane was not as fast as that of a reconnaissance aircraft, it had the advantage of a huge storage, capable of storing enough magic crystals for long duration flights.

Throughout the journey, Tangmo was engrossed in studying Feng’s body, completely ignoring the unclear relationship between Luo’er and Melia. Although she was a jealous girl, she was also a competent mage. When it came to research in the field of magic, she became so engrossed that she almost forgot Luo’er’s existence.

For Luo’er, having Feng to share Tangmo’s attention was excellent, lest she pester him all the time. Although he was not resistant, it was inevitably tiring after a while.

Ever since Feng joined the advance team, his remarkable combat power has disrupted Luo’er’s original plans more than once.

The success and efficiency of the recent missions can undoubtedly be credited to Feng. Otherwise, with the pitiful combat power of the advance team alone, dealing with so many people would have been a delusion.

As the influence of headquarters rapidly expanded in the Otherworld, everyone began to feel the severe shortage of manpower. This didn’t only affect elite forces like the advance team, but even the defensive forces and civil staff were severely lacking.

Once Lipei’s leasing rights were obtained, the headquarters had to reappoint a large number of officials to govern Lipei. Furthermore, since Lipei’s Otherworld Gate had not yet been connected to Earth, the majority of officials had to be selected from the inhabitants of the Otherworld.

Of course, the subspecies of the Origin Project were naturally the best choice. However, the problem was that the first batch of Haiya Academy students were still in college and lacked the qualifications and governance experience. It would be feasible to let them join the advance team and fight, but it would be too much to ask them to govern a city and its surrounding territories.

The headquarters was faced with numerous dilemmas. The direct reconnaissance forces lacked manpower due to the heavy workload and as the headquarters’ power expanded, the threat from rival forces increased . In addition, the number of mercenary troops, that served as defensive forces, was also seriously insufficient, let alone having to select a group of Otherworld officials to govern Lipei.

The advance team was overwhelmed, and Wang Xu was also under a lot of pressure. As for Lin Wei, who was the chief of the General Staff Headquarters, not only did he have to deal with these troublesome problems, he also had to face queries from various domestic parties.

Since the launch of the Origin Project, the national budget, equivalent to a fleet of several aircraft carriers, has been exhausted, without any appreciable returns in sight. The country continued to allocate funds to the Otherworld, which was like pouring money into a bottomless pit, putting a heavy burden on the treasury and becoming a massive burden.

The representatives of the navy even explicitly stated that if they had invested this money into naval construction, they could have dominated the entire Pacific Ocean and pushed the second island chain to the west coast of the United States.

Lin Wei was under tremendous pressure now. He hadn’t seen any return on the money invested previously, yet he still had to muster the courage to continue applying for funds to meet the needs of the front-line headquarters. Though the Ministry of Defense backed him, the pressure he faced was still considerable.

After several hours of flight, the transport plane finally returned to the airship headquarters above the camp. Dense smoke from the burnt forest still filled the sky. Li Si had shut himself in his office, preventing the smoke from entering the room. His office window had long been stained a brownish-yellow from the smoke residue.

Luo’er and the others pushed open the cabin door and walked into the office. As soon as Li Si saw them, he didn’t care about the smoke that had followed them in. After coughing a few times, he quickly approached and embraced Luo’er.

"You’ve worked hard, thank God for your help, otherwise I wouldn’t have known what to do. I’ve heard of your situation, and I truly appreciate your help." Li Si patted Luo’er’s back with sincerity.

As he was about the same age as the members of the advance team, he wasn’t as constrained as the elders and was accustomed to expressing his feelings through gestures.

"It’s what we’re supposed to do," Luo’er also patted his back, comforting him.

"I have some good news," Li Si let go of Luo’er and looked around at everyone, saying excitedly, "The second sample has been rushed back to Earth. People at the Otherworld research center are already working on it. It won’t be long before we have an antibody."

"That’s wonderful," Upon hearing his words, Luo’er breathed a sigh of relief, then sincerely said, "This damned epidemic is finally coming to an end."

"Brother Li," Hu Daoke stepped forward, looked around, then asked him, "Where are Murong and the others?"

"Oh, they are still on a mission," After a pause, Li Si continued, "You guys don’t have to go on missions for a while, stay put and rest. Let Murong and others take care of the tasks."

"Is that really okay?" Hu Daoke asked, exchanging a glance with Cheng Ziang.

"No worries, Murong and their team, as new Advance Team members, need the necessary experience. Plus, you guys won’t be idling away. After some time, I have a more important task to assign to you." Li Si waved his hands and spoke.

"What kind of task?" Hu Daoke asked, his face filled with curiosity.

They got along well with Li Si, who was about the same age as them, so they didn’t find him intimidating despite his youth and leadership position.

"The Church Court is almost reaching the Door of Annihilation. We might need to go over there and see if we can provide necessary support. As for you, the Advance Team might need to land and join the Church Court Army to seal the Door of Annihilation." Li Si spoke seriously.

"Nice, this is what I call a task!" At his words, Hu Daoke immediately got excited.

Li Si chuckled at him, then looked at Luo’er and spoke up, "Murong and their team are new and lack experience, so I dare not assign such a task to them. I will have to rely on your experienced Advance Team."

"No worries, we still have our ace up our sleeve - Feng! Isn’t that right, Feng?" Hu Daoke confidently said, casually wrapping an arm around Feng’s shoulder and pulling her closer like a ragdoll.

Surprisingly, once she got familiar with everyone in the Advance Team, Feng lost most of her hostility towards them. No matter how they interacted with her, she responded with the pliancy of a ragdoll. However, she behaved differently towards strangers - anyone within her attack range could potentially become her next target.

"I heard this lass made quite an accomplishment this time." Li Si looked at Feng’s innocent eyes and said after a pause

"She deserves all the credit. We, the Advance Team, just went to clean up the battlefield. The entire battle was basically resolved by her." Luo’er looked at Feng and responded with a wry smile.

"I heard the people at the Otherworld Research Centre still aren’t giving up. They want to apply to the headquarters to bring her back to Earth." Li Si said, looking at her.

"Dream on. I’d rather let her go than hand her over to those people at the research centre," Luo’er declared resolutely. After a pause, he added, "Besides, Feng is not an Advance Team member, let alone a part of the headquarters. What right does the research centre have to take her away for research? Do Otherworlders not have rights? Do they want to capture every alien they encounter in the Otherworld for research on Earth?"

"You don’t need to complain to me about it. I share your view. After all, the Research Centre has to follow the instructions of the Otherworld General Staff Headquarters. Without the approval of the Chief of the General Staff, they can’t take away a single Advance Team member." Li Si shrugged and said with a smile.

Upon hearing that Li Si was on his side, Luo’er finally breathed a sigh of relief. As the successor to Wang Xu, Li Si would continue as the Chief of the front-line Headquarters. At least for the foreseeable future in Luo’er’s career, the front-line Headquarters would stand by his side - and that was all he needed.

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