Chapter 72

Gong Lixin was surrounded by a cold atmosphere. His delicate eyes that were once filled with affection and peace were now replaced with stoicism and apathy. His every glance and movement displayed elegance and nobility, making it harder for people to approach him.

He was just a teenager, but it felt like he was a god standing tall in the clouds, and they were in two different worlds. The people around him were stunned for a while. Finally, their stunned expression faded and they didn't dare bother going forward.

There were four places left. Who were these four lucky ones? Everyone was filled with dark thoughts towards their neighbor, but at the same time, expectations of hearing their own name became higher.

Seeing everyone retreat, Gong Lixin slowly dismissed the chill surrounding his whole body. With the summer sun shining outside, the temperature immediately rose and Wang Tao and the others, who stayed on the side to avoid it, came up again.

"Boss, the military has ordered each team should at least be ten people. We're still missing four people. Do you have anyone in mind?" Wang Tao asked curiously.

"No." Gong Lixin looked directly at Wang Tao with a serious expression as he gave a straightforward answer.

Wang Tao was stunned by the Boss's answer. Ma Jun and Gu Nan showed similar expressions. Young Master Gong was still the same as before, his temper always straight to the point!

"Young Master Gong, can I recommend a person? He's a wood ability user. Although he doesn't have great strength, he has a good character and is very reliable." Sun Tiantian weakly opened as she held onto Sun Jie's shoulders.

"Yes, call him over and let me see." Gong Lixin agreed without a thought.

Sun Tiantian's face showed her surprise. She opened her mouth and shouted towards a 27-year-old man who was staring at them. She shouted, "Brother Luo, come over here!"

The man had a tall and strong body, and his brows were thick. At first glance, he was not very handsome, but there was a comfortable air around him. He was the ex-policeman who was rescued by Song Haoran with the grandfather and grandson, Zhao Ying. Hearing Sun Tiantian's voice, he groaned then cast his eyes forward and immediately ran over.

The audience's piercing stares cut him like a knife, but there was no fear in his heart. He didn't think that taking care of Sun Tiantian and her brother would help him climb up the social ladder and have the chance of joining Young Master Gong's team fall on his head.

"Young Master Gong!" He stood next to Sun Tiantian, his attitude wasn't humble. His eyes were very bright but he didn't seem like a caring person at first glance.

"I know you. You and I were on the same helicopter on the way back to base." With an unforgettable memory, Gong Lixin immediately recognized the man.

Luo Dahai's eyes brightened even further and the excitement in his heart couldn't be restrained. He didn't expect the other to remember, but even without him saying anything, the teenager could still recognize him. Compared to this teenager, Zhao Ying was completely useless, as he couldn't even remember his face.

"Young Master Gong remembers me! My name is Luo Dahai. I want to say my thanks. My life was saved by Major General Song and Young Master Gong." Luo Dahai's words were overflowing with emotion because of his deep gratitude.

"You don't need to thank me." Gong Lixin waved his hand and then asked curiously, "I heard that you're a wood ability user? How's your current strength?"

Luo Dahai felt embarrassed and honestly replied, "I am indeed a wood ability user, but my current strength is still very weak. I can't even control the plants surrounding me. It takes ten minutes for me to mature a simple vine."

"Oh," Gong Lixin turned his head and seemed to be in thought. After a moment of thinking, he didn't care who was listening and explained, "The strength of your ability can slowly be improved, so there's no need to worry about that. Wood, grass, and trees can be attackers, too. If you're attacked in a mountain forest field, a wood ability user would absolutely be the winner. Moreover, wood and earth are both partners and when combined, their strength would be doubled or even more."

After he finished explaining, Gong Lixin's eyes darted back and forth between Sun Tiantian and Luo Dahai, both of whom looked red in the face, before he continued, "Would you like to join our team?"

Luo Dahai had been concerned about Young Master Gong's opinion, but was surprised to get the crowd's envious stare.

Luo Dahai blinked. He lifted his hand to scratch his ear, but as soon as it was lifted up, he hurriedly brought it back down as he excitedly said, "Willing. Of course, I'm willing."

Currently, the abilities of wood ability users were limited by their environment. They could only fight in places where plants were abundant to be able to exert their maximum strength. Without plants, they had to carry the seed themselves to help them fight. This was extremely mentally consuming. The law is often decided not only by the court but also by the people. Therefore, in the base, the wood ability users were the ones just behind the power ability users.

Unfortunately, Luo Dahai doesn't know that by the end of the year, most plants will mutate into horrible carnivorous plants, and their lethality was even more terrible than zombies. When that time comes, wood ability users who could control these plants would become the ace in the hole whenever people teamed up.

Gong Xiangyi had to say that Gong Lixin's decision right then was the correct choice. Even she, who was trying to recruit her team members, secretly groaned at his foresight.

Out of the ten places, seven seats were taken and only three seats were left. The watching crowd felt anxious, but they still didn't dare go bother him.

"Young Master Gong, hello. Do you still remember me?" A handsome man came out of a crowd of 20 young people and took a deep breath before walking towards Gong Lixin. His white teeth gleamed in the sun, his smile very friendly, but one could see that he was feeling very nervous from the fists he had clenched at his side.

The crowd was stunned. From time to time, there was a taunting voice that rang out, questioning why a space ability user who cannot fight still dared to go forward to recommend themselves.

Space ability users are said to be powerful ability users. However, after entering special training, these young people came to realize themselves how truly useful their space abilities were. Without fighting power, he could only collect supplies and could only wait to be slaughtered so who would dare have him on the team? Who would even dare put material they collected with blood and sweat in his space? Everyone would rather work harder than let a space ability user take advantage of their hard work. Even during normal training days, anyone who lost something would always suspect him, and this resorted to him being punched, kicked, and bullied. Yes, it was only half a month, but the youth had already seen and tasted the darker side of the world.

When he saw the teenager on the training ground, he remembered seeing him with a warm smile in the past, and the dead heart of the youth was once again full of hope. Therefore, he took all his courage and came over with a thick face.

"Remember, chocolate." Gong Lixin smiled with true joy and nostalgia in his eyes which made the youth relax.

The young man clenched his fist and slowly stretched them out as he smiled with a hint of embarrassment. "Young Master Gong remembers me. My name is Li Dongsheng, I'm a space ability user."

"Space ability user?" Gong Lixin's eyes brightened and sincerely praised, "Good ability."

The young man shook his head. "It sounds good, but apart from storing supplies, I don't know how to use my abilities. Does Young Master Gong have any thoughts on space ability? Can it be developed into some offensive attack?"

Because of that gift of chocolate, Gong Lixin thought very hard about his problems and hesitated for a moment. "Space ability users are essentially the same as others and should have their own offensive uses. Therefore, I think that if the space ability user is strong enough, he will be able to release the ability outside. That is to say, outside of oneself, then you'd be the master, the king of the surrounding space. Even clouds and rain could be controlled in your space."

His tone was not as determined as before, but it deeply shook the hearts of the two space ability users at the scene. Li Dongsheng felt excited and filled with joy while Gong Xiangyi was stiff and, once again, surprised by Gong Lixin's ingenuity.

If it was not for her long-term observation and investigation, she would've almost suspected that Gong Lixin was reborn from the past life as well.

Gong Lixin said that if a space ability user was strong enough, they could create a field outside. In this field, a space ability user could control everything and have the power that the gods have and thus, can kill and win easily.

In her last life, Song Haoxuan had a five-level high-grade space ability user under his command. He could create a space field of ten meters in diameter. This field was invincible and even Song Haoxuan had to be wary of him.

Gong Xiangyi was still only a four-level high-grade. It seemed to be only a step away from five-level high-grade but because of the scarcity of space zombies, her promotion was harder than anyone else's. Therefore, she was eager to team up with Lin Wenbo to hunt down first-level zombies, because the nucleus of first-level zombie had no attributes and thus, she could also absorb them. Although the energy in them was low, if she accumulated a lot, it would still be very helpful to her cultivation. The moment she gets promoted to five-level high-grade, she no longer has to fear that anyone can hurt her and then, then she can live freely.

Lin Dongsheng doesn't have the same ambition of Gong Xiangyi. As long as he knew that his ability was not completely useless, it was enough for him to regain his confidence and smile more cheerfully.

Flushing red, he nervously asked, "I believe in Young Master Gong's judgement. I will try to make progress towards that goal. If Young Master Gong isn't disappointed with me then, I, I would like to join your team. I would never steal your supplies, please believe me!"

In the end, not only the young man's cheek, but also his eyes were flushed. Obviously, he was often accused and questioned and was often hit hard.

Gong Lixin turned his head and looked straight into the young man's bright eyes. After a long while, he finally opened, "Do you still have some chocolate?"

"Ah?" The young man opened his mouth, looking confused. Wang Tao and others also had a weird look at they stared at Young Master Gong, as if they didn't understand how the topic suddenly changed like this.

"Do you still have chocolate?" For the sake of food, Gong Lixin went to the trouble to repeat himself.

"Oh, yes, yes!" The young man was in a flurry before he opened his palm and produced a box of chocolate out of thin air.

Last time it was a small tablet, this time, it was a whole box with more than forty pieces of chocolate in it. It could be eaten for more than a month when one piece a day was eaten. Gong Lixin couldn't wait to open the lid and seriously counted the pieces with a gentle smile on his face.

"Okay, you will be my team member in the future." Gong Lixin put back the cover and held the chocolate in his arms as he generously declared this.

The young man happily shouted and thanked him again and again. Wang Tao and the others looked at their boss with disappointment: This was a real sugar-coated bribery! Young Master Gong, you're not being fair to the people!

Seeing his blatant blackmail behavior, Lin Wenbo slammed his palm to his head and pressed his lips together, desperately suppressing the laughter that rushed to his lips. How could the youth be so straightforward and so cute? Looking at his cheerful expression from afar, Lin Wenbo felt the sweetness in his mouth, in his heart, and even in the air he breathes, as if it all had been covered in a thick layout of chocolate.

Song Haoran held his arms out far and wide and couldn't help but laugh. He wanted to go forward and reprimand him, but finally stopped in his footsteps. He was selfish as he thought that he would collect more chocolates in the future and feed the little cat.

Seeing that Li Dongsheng's method was so simple and was able to move Young Master Gong, everyone in the crowd became more confident. They had all figured out what they had to do to get on his good side. At the same time, the whistle signaling the end of training went off, and the people rushed to Young Master Gong's side.

Gong Lixin used his internal force once again to shake the crowd. Waving at Da Liu and Ling Yun, he said, "Da Liu, Ling Yun, you are my last two team members. Come back to my room with me, I have something for you."

"Yes!" Da Liu and Ling Yun were ecstatic knowing that Young Master Gong was going to teach them a knife technique and quickly pushed through the crowd to keep up.

The crowd was left stunned. They didn't expect Young Master Gong's eyes to be so unique when it came to choosing members for his team. The strength of his team members was weaker compared to almost everyone. In the end, he actually picked two ordinary people. Sure enough, masters did not take the usual path!

In the end, Young Master Gong's team had no space left so they had to give up and join other groups. Leaving the crowded training ground, Gong Lixin said goodbye to Wang Tao and the others and went to his room with the excited Da Liu and Ling Yun.

"Young Master Gong, do you really want us in your team?" Ling Yun held her face with a dreamy expression.

"Hn, if you two get well-trained in the knife technique, both your strength will not be weaker than Wang Tao's. However, your physique is not good, so I will help you improve it later." Gong Lixin said with his lips curved up into a smile.

"Thank you, Young Master Gong! We will work hard!" Da Liu and Ling Yun bent over and expressed their gratitude and determination at the same time. When they looked up, they saw the smile on Young Master Gong's mouth, and somehow they suddenly felt a chill in their hearts.

An hour later, the two of them were carrying a knife in their pockets and walked out of the door in a spirited manner. However, the smudges on their drenched clothes and on their skin looked embarrassing, and looked as if they had been rolling on the ground.