"Do you think the safe zone can hold?" Zhao Jiayan asked solemnly.
Yang Yuan thought of the scene last night where Leader Chen easily created the fragile Power Armor and replied, "It should be able to, right? The military's technological weapons might be stronger than we imagine. With new materials and new energy sources after arriving in this world, there may have been significant scientific breakthroughs, not to mention there are many powerful Superpower Users."
Most of the powerful Superpower Users are almost all in the military camp.
After a pause, he continued, "The current military is no longer selflessly public-spirited. In a situation where death is inevitable, they definitely won't cover our retreat. Those scientists and engineers are far more valuable than us Superpower Users who refuse to follow orders."
"That's true." Zhao Jiayan felt relieved.
Even though the military is no longer as selflessly public-spirited as before, no matter what, they remain the stronghold in the hearts of the people of Earth.
If this stronghold were to fall, most people's beliefs would likely collapse.
"Boom!" "Boom!"
Yang Yuan shot and killed two exotic creatures charging toward them once more.
Zhao Jiayan was puzzled upon witnessing this scene.
Even before Jiang Yiyi had a chance to warn him, Yang Yuan turned and fired his gun as if he had eyes on the back of his head.
In fact, it was the radar function of the second-level Power Armor, which scans exotic creatures as soon as they enter within a hundred meters.
"Rumble——"
Suddenly, the ground in front collapsed, and many Superpower Users running ahead fell into it.
Immediately, numerous creatures with bodies like armadillos rushed out, pouncing on surrounding people or emerging from underground to attack those on the surface.
"Oh no, it's Earth Crawlers..."
"Everyone, be careful!"
A team in front turned pale and hurriedly unleashed their powers or used firearms to attack the Earth Crawlers.
"Big brother, there are monsters underground..." At this moment, Jiang Yiyi also turned pale, quickly pointing at a location.
"Boom!"
Yang Yuan pulled the trigger, directly piercing through an Earth Crawler that had just emerged from the ground.
"Under our feet..." Jiang Yiyi screamed.
Yang Yuan quickly led the two women to dodge swiftly.
"Puff..."
An Earth Crawler emerged from the spot where they had just stood, but in the next moment, it was blown up by his bullet, and the Spirit Monster Core was blasted out.
"That guy named Yang Yuan, let's cooperate!"
Suddenly, the three Superpower Users, who had conflicted with Yang Yuan yesterday, ran over, one of them shouting nervously, "We'll bring out the Earth Crawlers, you take them down!"
"No problem!" Yang Yuan didn't reject this mutually beneficial cooperation, quickly reloading his handgun.
In the face of life-and-death terror, yesterday's minor conflict was trivial.
"There are more coming..." Jiang Yiyi shouted in terror.
The three Superpower Users looked at Jiang Yiyi in surprise because they sensed it too, but through the tremors of the earth.
Without any hesitation, the three hurriedly stomped together.
"Boom——"
The nearby ground shook like an eight-magnitude earthquake, and apart from the six of them not being affected, a huge amount of dirt and rocks were blown into the sky by a force from underground.
In the next moment, five Earth Crawlers were shaken out from the ground near them.
Yang Yuan hurriedly fired.
"Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom..."
The five Earth Crawlers were successively blown apart, with fist-sized holes appearing in the middle of their bodies, and the Spirit Monster Cores were blasted out.
Even if the Spirit Monster Core wasn't directly blown out, just hitting it would cause the Earth Crawlers to disintegrate into a pile of dirt.
The remaining Earth Crawlers seemed to realize their nemesis was here and turned to attack others.
"They're running!" Jiang Yiyi breathed a sigh of relief, her face pale from the scare, as she had sensed the overwhelming number of creatures underground.
Zhao Jiayan quickly took the opportunity to pick up the fallen Spirit Monster Cores on the ground.
The three slightly delayed Superpower Users were dissatisfied and hurried over to grab them, but being a moment slower, they only got one core.
Yang Yuan quickly reloaded his gun while keeping an eye on those three Superpower Users.
"Yang Yuan." Zhao Jiayan excitedly handed all six Spirit Monster Cores she picked up to Yang Yuan.
Yang Yuan accepted them, then tossed two cores to the three Superpower Users: "Let's split the spoils."
The three Superpower Users looked at Yang Yuan in surprise.
"Alright, you're a good person; our Earthquaker Trio has high hopes for you!"
The hostility on their faces disappeared, and they then created some distance.
Although the short-lived first cooperation was very successful, they didn't trust the three of Yang Yuan entirely.
Recklessly trusting others in the wilderness is irresponsible for one's life.
"Let's leave this place quickly; below here should be the Earth Crawlers' nest." Yang Yuan quickly said.
"Okay."
Neither side had any objections, hastily speeding up their pace.
After moving forward several hundred meters, the Earthquaker Trio's expressions changed, and they suddenly stomped.
"Boom!"
Three Earth Crawlers were launched out of the ground.
"Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!"
Yang Yuan fired three successive shots, killing those three Earth Crawlers.
One of the Earthquaker Trio hurriedly picked up the three Spirit Monster Cores, tossing one to Yang Yuan: "We contributed more, so we take an extra core."
He didn't consult Yang Yuan.
But Yang Yuan didn't mind, as it was an easy kill on the way without much effort.
In such temporary cooperation, truly dividing the spoils equally is nearly impossible; avoiding internal conflict is already good enough.
The six people continued advancing, killing their way through, and any approaching Earth Crawlers were quickly shaken out by the Earthquaker Trio and then killed by Yang Yuan.
Other areas were mired in desperate fights; only their side had it relatively easy.
However, the Earth Crawlers' nest range was enormous; they ran nearly seven or eight kilometers before finally getting out of its territory.
By this time, daylight had fully broken, and even the sun had come out, causing the temperature to soar crazily.
The temperature was already over thirty degrees at dawn, and now it's directly risen to over forty degrees, causing everyone to sweat profusely.
"Seems like there aren't any more!"
"Finally, they're gone?! Damn!"
"I'm so exhausted, damn it!"
The three sat on the ground haphazardly, gasping for air.
Zhao Jiayan and Jiang Yiyi also squatted on the ground, panting heavily, drenched in sweat.
Only Yang Yuan, because he was considerably stronger than an ordinary person, though exhausted, wasn't at the point of collapse.
However, with the temperature so high, he was also soaked in sweat; the third-level Power Armor couldn't solve the sweat problem and even became a burden at such times.
"Yang Yuan, right? We'll part ways here! We are the Earthquaker Trio; I'm Da Zhen, that's Er Zhen, and the blonde one is San Zhen. This cooperation was enjoyable; hopefully, there will be more opportunities in the future!"
The Earthquaker Trio got up after a short rest, said a sentence to Yang Yuan, and quickly left, evidently still wary of him, not intending to continue the cooperation.
Yang Yuan was pleased with this as he was equally wary of the trio.
The Earthquaker Trio's abilities were peculiar; his Power Armor grade might not be enough to fend off their surprise attacks.
With no more Earth Crawlers, they had no basis for continued cooperation.
"We should keep moving too; the temperature keeps rising. I have a bad feeling," Yang Yuan said.
"Mhm, can Yiyi still walk?" Zhao Jiayan looked at Jiang Yiyi.
"I can." Jiang Yiyi, though extremely exhausted, replied resolutely.
The three continued moving forward, during which Yang Yuan checked the Spirit Monster Cores and unexpectedly found there were twenty-three.
This prompted a thought; out of the Earth Crawlers killed along the way, he took only forty percent, with the Earthquaker Trio taking about sixty percent.
Since he killed all these Earth Crawlers, then experience from the handgun...