The person who arrived wasn’t someone else, it was Zhou Qiang from Xianan University, leading a team of nearly 200 people, entering Kongming Academy in great numbers.
The purpose of Zhou Qiang’s trip was to get an understanding of the situation at Kongming Academy and to help the student council president of Xianan University, Xia Luo, find his cousin Deng Xiao, as well as his high school classmate Qin Yu.
This was also the first time Zhou Qiang led a team out of Nine-tails City since the apocalyptic catastrophe.
The giant snake monster of Kongming Bridge did not continue to chase into Nine-tails City but remained guarding the bridge. Xia Luo and the others decided not to provoke that giant beast for now, planning to challenge the bridge-guarding giant snake once everyone’s genetic potential and cultivation were improved.
Zhou Qiang brought people to move most of the food from the supermarket in Nine-tails City back to Xianan University, and then led 200 men along the road outside to Kongming Academy.
Both universities are good ones, one located to the south of Biyun Mountain, and the other to the north. The road outside is about twenty kilometers long, and it was originally shrouded in thick fog. However, some time ago, Zhao Gang and others from Kongming Academy explored along the road and reached Nine-tails City, and the fog on the road was long dispersed, so Zhou Qiang and others encountered no trouble coming over.
Occasionally encountering some mutated creatures on the road, they easily dealt with them.
Upon entering Kongming Academy, Zhou Qiang saw the once vibrant university campus now in ruins, lifeless, filled with the desolation and terror of the apocalypse, and couldn’t help but sigh inwardly.
Now, no one knows what has happened to this world, nor what the future holds. All anyone can do is survive, get through the present difficulties, and let themselves live; as for the future, they would deal with it later.
Zhou Qiang noticed that the sports field of Kongming Academy, like that of Xianan University, was covered by an orange glow, and there was also a circular building in the center of the field.
"I didn’t expect Kongming Academy to also have a Genetic Store, this world is really hard to understand."
Zhou Qiang led 200 people into the sports field, and such a large scene startled everyone on the field.
Yang Xiao and others stood up, watching Zhou Qiang and others slowly walk in.
Xiao Zhe suddenly brightened up and said:
"Isn’t that Zhou Qiang from Xianan University?"
"Nonsense, he’s the vice president of the student council at Xianan University. Xiao Zhe is the vice president at Kongming Academy. The two schools often have exchange activities, so of course, we know each other, I know him too."
Xu Hua, on the side, said with some pride.
"Is it impressive? I also know the president of the student council at Xianan University, Xia Luo."
Deng Xiao, on the side, said dismissively, curling her lips.
Xiao Zhe and Xu Hua both swallowed dryly and ignored Deng Xiao.
The two walked out of the crowd to greet Zhou Qiang and others.
"Oh, Zhou Qiang, what wind blew you here?"
"Ha ha, Xiao Zhe, Xu Hua, you two aren’t dead yet?"
They were all old acquaintances and spoke rather casually. Encountering familiar faces from the past in the post-apocalyptic world stirred some excitement in their hearts.
After exchanging a few words, Zhou Qiang scanned Xiao Zhe and the others with his eyes.
Xiao Zhe, Xu Hua, and the others around from Kongming Academy had relatively low equipment levels; only a few had purchased cloth armor, and most of their weapons were black longswords.
Meanwhile, Zhou Qiang and those behind him wore hard armor, which seemed a notch above Xiao Zhe’s cloth armor.
The defense attribute of hard armor is 4 points, while ordinary cloth armor only has a defense attribute of 2 points. Xiao Zhe had inquired about this at the Genetic Store with Gu Bo, who mentioned that hard armor starts at 100 Crystal Coins, with some expensive ones costing several hundred Crystal Coins.
Also, the sword at Zhou Qiang’s waist, though also a black long sword, shimmered with a red glow along the blade, evidently weapons with added fire element attack damage.
These weapons could be obtained from killing mutated creatures or purchased from the Genetic Store, but the prices were astonishingly high, starting at at least 100 Crystal Coins.
No wonder last time Zhao Gang couldn’t beat five people with a group of more than 30; it seems the people at Xianan University indeed evolved genetically faster and acquired more resources.
Although Zhou Qiang joked and laughed with Xiao Zhe and others, the 200-person team behind him maintained a vigilant stance, with a tidy formation and no one stepping out casually to speak.
Through initial conversation and his own observation, Zhou Qiang gained some understanding of the overall situation at Kongming Academy.
Naturally, Xiao Zhe and Xu Hua also recognized the strength of Zhou Qiang and others, wearing smiles and trying their best to please Zhou Qiang.
"Zhou Qiang, come sit in our camp, have something to eat, and rest for a bit."
Zhou Qiang chuckled lightly and said:
"What food do you have here?"
"We still have some instant noodles, Master Kong braised beef noodles, and sausage, these things are hard to come by now."
Currently, only Xiao Zhe’s team in the entire Kongming Academy had a few boxes of instant noodles.
Zhou Qiang smiled slightly, thinking to himself, we have a few hundred boxes of instant noodles back there, yet he said:
"Aren’t you guys going to hunt some mutated creatures to eat?"
"We do have some, but those mosquitoes, beetles, flies, bees, grasshoppers, and the like are really disgusting to eat, they’re not as tasty as instant noodles from before."
"Hmm, what you said is right, but you could hunt some high-level mutated creatures, like rabbits, snakes, lizards, dogs, or pigs. These mutated creatures’ meat is delicious, and beneficial for enhancing genetic evolution too."
Upon hearing this, Xiao Zhe said with an awkward expression:
"Our combat power is low right now, we can’t compare to you. Yesterday, we tried to encircle and capture a mutated porcupine in the valley ahead, but not only did we fail to capture it, a few of us got injured."
Zhou Qiang laughed softly:
"Hmm, then let’s go sit in your camp first, I have something to discuss with you,"
After saying this, Zhou Qiang turned to the team behind him and said:
"Everyone rest here, don’t wander too far."
Listening to these words, the team behind him relaxed their guard, some sat down on the ground, while others moved around in groups, knowing it was safe within the sports field.
Xiao Zhe and Xu Hua led Zhou Qiang and a few of his subordinates to their camp.
Xiao Zhe’s camp was close to Yang Xiao’s, and when passing outside Yang Xiao’s camp, Zhou Qiang smelled the aroma of roasted meat and couldn’t help but twitch his nose.
"Hmm, smells good, Xiao Zhe, you’re not fair, having such fine roasted meat and not sharing it with me, just letting me eat your instant noodles?"
Xiao Zhe was slightly taken aback and said:
"Ah, that’s from one of the squads here that hunted it."
Zhou Qiang stopped walking and looked at Xiao Zhe:
"What, aren’t you the boss here? They don’t share the good stuff they hunted with you?"
Xiao Zhe said awkwardly:
"Sigh, Zhou Qiang, things here are a bit complicated; it’s hard to explain in a few words, I’ll explain it in detail later. Xu Hua, go to Yang Xiao and get some roasted crow meat."
Xu Hua was a bit stunned and said:
"Okay, you take Brother Zhou back to the camp first, I’ll go get the roasted meat from Yang Xiao."