Chapter 168
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Chapter 168: "In the Tall Grass"
Among the crowd, Luke, who was notably tall, did not reveal his special identity.
He blended in like any ordinary citizen of Hope City, his gaze fixed on a few familiar faces in the distance.
Indeed, after the Exploration Plan was restarted, it was Luke’s former teammates who were selected for the first wave of investigations outside the city.
Following his father’s death and his recruitment by Councilwoman Nia, Luke had formally parted ways with his original team.
He never went into detail about his reasons for leaving, but after a farewell dinner, his teammates had a good idea of what was going on.
They had a rough understanding of what Luke intended to do.
When it came to matters of revenge, teammates who weren’t directly involved found it difficult to offer an objective perspective.
Captain Nian simply offered a few words of caution about staying safe, and after that, Luke hadn’t seen any of them again.
Until today.
This superhero team, which had once battled Lin Qingliu in the underground laboratory of the research institutes, now stood in the spotlight with a new member joining their ranks.
Regarding the Exploration Plan, the higher-ups of Hope City had nearly reached a consensus: the plan should not consume excessive resources.
Exploring the outside world was like playing a scratch card—it was worth a try, but betting everything on it was unwise.
Therefore, superpowered individuals who were too weak were not to be sent, as venturing into the dangerous outskirts would be suicidal. Similarly, top-ranking teams were also discouraged from participating, as Hope City couldn’t afford such losses.
After careful consideration, the Nian team, known for their control abilities, brief flight capabilities, and sufficient combat strength, was chosen for this mission.
The fifth member, newly added to the team, was a superpowered individual transferred from the non-combat division, with the ability to accelerate crop growth.
Rumors suggested that this individual had close ties to the councilwoman in charge of the underground pastures, making this operation, in essence, a temporary assignment.
After some time spent adjusting to one another, the team finally stood at the gateway to the outside world.
As they looked out at the cheering crowd, the five superpowered individuals about to embark on their journey felt a surge of excitement.
Soon, the captain spotted a familiar face in the crowd. He smiled and waved, and Luke, standing several meters away, returned the gesture.
The cheers didn’t last long. The heavy gate closed swiftly, and the team, carrying the hopes of humanity, began their exploration.
According to the plan, they were to travel as far as the city walls’ telescopes could observe, then venture deeper into the region where signals were blocked.
Since this was only a preliminary exploration—and the first of its kind—no one wanted the team to fail.
The originally planned ten-day Exploration Plan had been shortened to five days, with no early returns permitted unless unforeseen circumstances arose.
No one had ever successfully returned from such a mission before.
To ensure absolute safety, each of the five individuals’ combat suits was equipped with state-of-the-art Listening Devices and signal amplifiers. Their conversations and decisions would be transmitted back to Hope City in real time, providing critical data for the command department’s analysis.
Outside Hope City, the cheers were muffled by the heavy gate and gradually faded into the air.
“Is this really outside the city? It’s so desolate…”
The male superpowered individual, capable of accelerating plant growth, appeared barely old enough to be an adult, and his demeanor reflected his inexperience.
As he gazed at the countless extraordinary beast carcasses scattered outside the city, the young superpowered individual couldn’t help but voice his astonishment.
“Stay alert. Don’t let your guard down.”
Nian’s expression remained stern. While he trusted the new teammate’s abilities and their coordination with the rest of the team, his countless battles had left him deeply wary of the dangers that lay beyond the city walls.
A group of people advanced in a meticulously practiced battle formation, while telescopes and cameras on the city walls behind them were trained on their every move.
Outside Hope City, the landscape seemed perpetually caught in a cycle of intermittent decay; the ground was not merely bare but mostly blanketed by a thin, sparse layer of grass.
Yet, the grass showed no signs of vitality, remaining in a state of withered yellow, neither fully alive nor completely dead.
The group’s pace gradually quickened; they were still within the city’s observation range, and since the extraordinary beasts lacked the ability to become invisible, they should remain safe until they reached the observation boundary.
As time slowly passed, the towering walls of Hope City transformed from a colossal giant into a mere line stretching across the horizon.
After checking the locator on his wristwatch, the team captain, Captain Serious, declared,
"Prepare to disconnect from the city. From this moment onward, we rely solely on ourselves."
As they progressed, the interference on the display screen on his wrist intensified; the only remaining link between the team and the city was the listening device embedded in their gear, which only allowed for sound transmission.
Meanwhile, the withered grass beneath their feet gradually rose higher; what was once ankle-high now reached their knees, its lifeless color remaining unchanged.
The group seemed to walk into an endless ocean of withered, yellow grass, like doomed souls wading into the sea, allowing the waves to engulf them.
“Captain, this grass is a problem. Let me burn it all!”
Leading the way, Bomb Man, whose abilities included creating flames and explosive fireballs, was the first to sense something amiss. Without turning, he voiced his suggestion, following the prearranged protocol that required the captain’s approval.
“Approved. ‘Quicksand,’ create a safety zone here. ‘Vine,’ document these plants. ‘Gecko,’ keep watch around the perimeter. ‘Bomb Man,’ prepare to ignite the fire!”
“Got it!”
“Understood!”
With the captain’s permission, everyone sprang into action. As for Captain Nian himself, he activated his ability to rise several meters into the air, surveying the endless expanse of grass before him.
Quicksand swiftly completed the creation of the safety zone by causing the soil within a thirty-meter radius to churn, burying the tall grass underground.
The others also completed their tasks. Once safety was confirmed, with a loud shout, seven or eight fireballs expanded and surged outward, landing beyond the circular safety zone and igniting the withered grass.
When sparks fall on dry tinder, they ignite a blazing fire, but the fireballs that plunged into the tall grass were thousands of times more potent than mere sparks.
The fireballs exploded, creating a vast sea of flames that quickly consumed the tall grass, spreading the fire to the surrounding area as if sharing a deadly poison.
High above, Nian watched the spreading flames below, yet he dared not let his guard down.
More than twenty years ago, every superpowered individual who ventured beyond the city walls was an elite of Hope City.
Many among them were not only powerful superpowered individuals but also held other significant positions.
None of those who ventured out survived… Nian could not afford to relax.
Sure enough, just as he thought everything was proceeding relatively normally, anomalies began to appear.
