Chapter 32: Calamity at the Mountaintop

“Adams, you previously admitted that you were a member of the military, but you’ve been lying to me, haven’t you?” Vivian asked with her head lowered as she walked beside Adams on the mountain road.

Adams did not defend himself. Instead, he asked directly, “How did you find out?”

Vivian took a deep breath and said, “First of all, the resources location that you know is far more detailed than the military. Even Constantine, who has been exploring the Zerg Realm all year round, can’t enter the base. Yet, you can easily open the door. This proves that you’re not from the military, but you know this place better than the military!”

Adams nodded in agreement and an approving grin appeared on his face.

Seeing that Adams didn’t respond, Vivian suddenly raised her voice and turned her head to say, “What I found the most suspicious was that you just suggested for everyone to be Wanderers. How can this be an idea that a military personnel would come up with?”

“Ahem! Ahem!”

Adams immediately blushed and couldn’t help but let out a few dry coughs. Then, he said with a smile, “As expected of the daughter of the Kevin family. You’re really smart! Back then, I genuinely had some things that I couldn’t mention and had no choice but to lie to you.”

Vivian blinked her large clear eyes at Adams and asked, “Now, are you able to tell me how you found so many supplies?”

Adams took a deep breath and hesitated for a moment. In the end, he decided to hide the secret about the system. He then said, “Ever since I was thrown off the cliff, my luck has improved a lot. Even I found it hard to believe, so I didn’t know how to explain it to you at that time!”

“Just lucky? I don’t believe you!” Vivian said while shaking her head.

Adams said smugly, “Since you don’t believe me, I can prove it to you. What’s the name of the ore that Garen needs?”

“Arcane Ore!” Vivian immediately said, and she stared at Adams with curiosity.

Adams secretly gave instructions to the system while casually saying to Vivian, “Arcane Ore. Let me try my luck. Maybe I’ll come across it while walking!”

As a low-grade ore, the Arcane Ore was not uncommon on the Zerg planet. However, it looked similar to ordinary rocks and was hard to identify.

Just then, under the system’s prompting, Adams’ eyes were already filled with the markers of the Arcane Ore. He randomly locked in on a nearby location and quietly walked over.

“Eh?! Arcane Ore!”

After walking for a short while, Vivian caught sight of the black ores not too far away, and she cried out excitedly. She hurriedly turned around and waved at Garen, signalling for him to hurry over and collect them.

Seeing that Garen and the others had hurried over to collect the ores, Adams turned to Vivian and asked, “Do you believe me now?”

Vivian nodded reluctantly and said, “Alright, I believe you!”

Adams said, “We are both core members of the Glorious Association. Let’s not suspect each other. You just have to believe that I will not sell out or betray my brothers!”

“Of course I see how kind you are to everyone and I feel very lucky to be able to join the Glorious Association. But I feel like you have some secrets that you haven’t shared with me yet!” Vivian pouted and said indignantly.

Adams simply smiled and continued up the mountain.

The group of them had completed the coming-of-age-ceremony missions and were in a good mood as they walked all the way to the top of the mountain.

Two weeks ago, everyone had set off from here. The devastation in the camp back then was still fresh in their minds.

Now that two weeks had passed, all of them were returning from a rewarding journey. On the other hand, the situation on the mountain was as miserable as hell!

There were originally more than ten people in the camp, but now there were only six or seven people left. They guarded the entrance of the camp with sallow faces and skinny bodies. They were staring blankly at the sky, as if hoping for the teleportation array to descend soon.

The corpses of many human companions had been made into simple traps not far from the camp, seemingly used to capture Zergs that ate corpses.

Glancing at the trap, Viavian saw the corpses of many women who had just died. They were probably the women whom she had seen in Anthony’s tent. Unable to bear looking at them any further, she turned her head away.

“Anthony is really detestable. He caused so many people to die for no rhyme or reason. He’s really a let down to the Wester family bloodline!” Vivian said with resentment.

Adams’ brows furrowed and he said, “Didn’t your cousin also get a difficult mission list? From the looks of it, he never even left the camp. Looks like he has never been anxious about his missions!”

Vivian shook her head and said, “I don’t know the specifics of his situation either. It’s just that in the past few years, the Kevin Family has had the intention of getting me to marry him, so they arranged for us to meet a couple of times.”

“Let’s take it one step at a time! We don’t need to be afraid of him anyway!” Adams said indifferently.

When Adams and the others approached the campsite, the eyes of the few people who were on the verge of death suddenly lit up. They scrambled to Adams’ feet.

“Y-you guys are back! You actually made it back alive! Do you have anything to eat? Do you still have anything to eat? Can you give us some?” The people who crawled out of the camp begged like hungry ghosts. It was a shocking sight to see.

Adams casually took out ten or so fruits and threw them to the people lying on the ground.

The group of them that were utterly famished desperately scrambled for the food without regard for anything else. They even began to bite one another.

Garen, who was standing behind Adams and Vivian, turned to Angus and the others, and said, “See that? This is the result of not choosing to go with Big Brother back then. We were able to eat and drink to our heart’s content the entire way, but they can only starve till they’re half-dead!”

Angus and the others could only shake their heads and sigh helplessly. Although their Big Brother was generous, he was not a benevolent Bodhisattva. These people had made the wrong choice early on, and they only had themselves to blame for this outcome.

As the noise outside the camp grew louder, the tent’s door curtain was suddenly lifted. Anthony, who was wearing gorgeous armor, strode out. When he saw Adams standing in front of the entrance of the camp, his eyes narrowed.

“I didn’t expect you guys to actually come back alive! Don’t tell me you guys just found a secluded corner to hide in the past few days and didn’t go down the mountain!” Anthony walked to the entrance of the camp and sneered at Adams. However, he couldn’t help but glance at the fruits that everyone was snatching.

Vivian was the first to find his expression an eye-sore. She snorted and said, “Anthony, please show some respect! Do you think everyone is as cowardly as you? Not only did we go down the mountain, but we also completed our respective missions, including the extremely difficult missions that are impossible to complete!”

Anthony’s face darkened when he heard that. In the end, he flashed a cold smile and leaned forward to say to Adams, “Completed? So what if they’re completed? If I don’t let you enter this camp, you won’t be able to return to the human planet. What’s the use of completing so many missions?

“Also, I have to remind you that although Vivian is speaking up for you now, she will marry me the moment we get back. We’ll see how she speaks up for you when she’s in my bed!”

“Y-you’re shameless!” Vivian roared as she pulled out the Bow of Death from behind her. She pulled the bowstring fully and aimed it at Anthony. She was about to release the arrow but Adams raised his hand to stop her.

“Cut the crap. We’re only here to enter the camp!” Adams said with disdain as he looked at Anthony. Then, he took out two fruits from his ring and threw them at Anthony’s feet. He said, “I know the rules. Take these two fruits as the entrance ticket!”