Zeng Changchao drank half a bottle of water before he replied, "Brother, why are you asking this?"
"I want to recruit you all into my team. But I need ability-users. No matter what your ability is, as long as you awaken your ability, you can join my team," Gu Shaoze said with a smile.
When they heard his words, the children went silent and looked at Zeng Changchao.
After he thought for a while, he said, "Brother, most of my friends are only awakening their basic abilities. But my ability is different. As long as you agree to let Jiaojiao join us, then we will follow you."
Hearing her name called, the youngest girl raised her head and smiled at them. Looking at her sunken cheeks, Rong Mo'er found her pitiful and carried her into her lap.
The little girl didn't feel any animosity from her and leaned on her body as she ate the biscuit.
Seeing this, Gu Shaoze nodded and said, "I can accept Jiaojiao, but I need to know what your ability is first."
After he said this, Zeng Changchao nodded and said, "Brother, I will show it to you."
As soon as he finished his words, his body slowly turned transparent until he couldn't be seen anymore.
When Gu Shaoze and Rong Mo'er saw this, surprise flashed in their eyes.
Not long after, Zeng Changchao reappeared and said, "While I can turn invisible, I can't cover my body smell. So, this ability is useless against zombies."
Although the children thought so, for Gu Shaoze and Rong Mo'er, his ability was rare and important. If they trained him properly, he would become an important person in their team.
His ability might be useless against zombies, but to gather intelligence and be used to go against humans, his ability is very useful.
After a moment of silence, Gu Shaoze smiled and said, "No matter if your ability is useless or useful, as I said before, we will recruit everyone, including Jiaojiao."
The moment the children heard this, their eyes lit up. After their families died at the hands of the zombies or turned into zombies, they no longer had anyone they could depend on. Now that someone was finally willing to take them in, they were grateful.
"Thank you, Brother!" Zeng Changchao and the children said with teary eyes.
"My name is Gu Shaoze. This is my girlfriend, Rong Mo'er. From now on, we are a team, a family. We will do our best to raise you all, but I demand total loyalty. If you dare to betray me or our team, I will kill you with my own hand."
When they heard this, they felt a chill run down their spines. Since they had made up their minds, they clenched their fists and said, "Brother, Sister-in-law, we will be loyal to you for the rest of our lives."
"Good. Now, all of you should eat and rest. We will leave this place in a few days," Gu Shaoze said with a smile.
"Okay."
After he settled the children, Gu Shaoze and Rong Mo'er went out again. This time, they didn't go to find Wei Ying but went to the water warehouse instead.
When they arrived, they saw the Eagle team members distributing water to the survivors. Although they only gave each of them two bottles of water, it was enough to save their lives for now.
Seeing them coming over, one of the soldiers came over and greeted them, "Comrade Gu, Comrade Rong, what brings you two here?"
"We came to fill the water tank," Gu Shaoze replied casually.
Hearing this, the soldier was stunned. He looked at him for a moment before he said, "Comrade Gu, the captain and our team are still outside killing zombies. So we don't have any crystal cores right now."
Waving his hands, Gu Shaoze said, "I have a lot of energy. It would be a waste not to use it."
After he said that, he went to the wooden house and climbed the ladder. Without wasting any more time, he started filling the water tanks. When he was almost out of energy, he took out the water-type crystal cores and, while absorbing the energy, he filled the water tank.
Rong Mo'er understood that her boyfriend didn't do this to help the survivors but to give Wei Ying a bargaining chip to take over the camp. With someone controlling the colonel, they would be able to leave smoothly.
When the sky darkened, Gu Shaoze finally filled up the water tank. In just one day, the Eagle team had already used up more than eight tanks of water and were left with one and a half tanks.
Coming down from the ladder, he looked at his girlfriend and said, "Mo'er, do you blame me for wasting crystal cores like this?"
Shaking her head, she replied, "This is a necessary move. So I won't blame you. What's more, we can find more crystals later."
Gu Shaoze let out a sigh and hugged her while saying, "We might have to wait for a few days before we are able to leave."
Hugging him back, Rong Mo'er replied, "It's okay."
After he used up his energy several times, Gu Shaoze felt his energy pool increase, albeit a little. Noticing this, he said, "Mo'er, it seems that we have to go out to kill zombies so you can increase your energy too."
Rong Mo'er nodded and said, "Okay, I will listen to you."
The moment they left the wooden house, the Colonel and his subordinates came over. Seeing them walking out of the water warehouse, the Colonel narrowed his eyes.
Before he and his men could pass through the gate, they were stopped by members of the Eagle team.
"Colonel, this is a restricted area. Please stop."
"Insolent! How dare you block the Colonel?!" one of the soldiers brought by the Colonel shouted angrily.
Standing in front of them, one of the Eagle team members said, "Colonel, this is the private property of my team. Even if you are the Colonel, you can't barge in like this."