Chapter 175: Grinding, grinding and more grinding Part2

Shortly afterward, Lu Chen returned back to their underground camp even though he had just stepped out. 

And the first thing he did after coming back was to look for Guan Ye and Alex who were the strongest fighters in the group apart from him.

"We need to talk." He dropped the zombie's corpse in front of the two and then tore its neck apart to reveal the unusually big mana core. 

The size and thickness of this core were definitely several times higher than the zombie mana cores they had previously collected.

"What the hell?" Alex exclaimed in surprise and Guan Ye was also visibly shocked.

"So they grew stronger? Did you have trouble killing this one?" Alex had already begun scanning Lu Chen for any injuries.

"No. There was only one, so I managed it easily." Lu Chen shook his head.

"That's good then." Alex nodded. She couldn't help but imagine a horde of these stronger zombies and that thought was frightening.

Lu Chen could tell that she was thinking about the same thing as him and smiled bitterly. "If a horde of these come, then… even with little white… there might be many casualties."

"Yes. Definitely." Guan Ye agreed as well.

"So what are we going to do now?" Alex asked, kicking the dead body with her legs to see how strong its physical defenses were.

"What else? All we can do is become stronger. We need to improve our strength and grow more than them. It's all a race now." Lu Chen ruffled his hair. 

"It looks like we are going to be staying here for a while, so we might as well start heading out in groups and hunt actively for these zombies and mutated beasts."

"We can split into two groups and one group can stay in the base, absorb and recover using the mana ore veins, while the other group fights outside." He explained.

Both Alex and Guan Ye nodded. They agreed with Lu Chen as well. 

"And if something unexpected happens at the base, we can use the flares in our possession to notify. This should give us enough diameter to move around."

"Flares? When did we get those?" Alex was surprised.

"Ahem. Ahem. Little white got those. I don't know where she got it from." Lu Chen chuckled wryly. 

They not only had this but also a truckload of military-grade weapons but he didn't want to take these out just yet as they might get found out for using the stolen goods openly. 

After all, the party they had stolen everything from was right beside them.

Guan Ye had a look of realization but Alex couldn't figure it out, but she didn't care where the dog had gotten the flares from. They were extremely useful for communication and for sending distress signals. 

So as long as it was available, it was good. She then quickly moved on to the topic of splitting groups. 

After discussing for a while, Alex, Luo Zu, and Xu Meilin ended up being on one team and Lu Chen and Guan Ye on the other. 

Other than this, they also selected other fighters, leaving behind only the two elderly seniors who were more than 65 years old, Bing Che who had lost both his legs, the three young kids who were below 13 years old, and lastly the sleeping beauty.

It didn't take long to organize everything and the first group set out soon, a few minutes later.

Since it was day time still, the weaker of the two groups with Alex, Xu Meilin, and Luo Zu stepped out first and Lu Chen and Guan Ye stayed back.

Also, before starting out Lu Chen did not forget to ask Xu Meilin how she felt. The young woman was quite confused and she couldn't help but blush at the extra attention she was receiving.

"I am feeling good, brother Chen." She shyly replied.

"Good. Good. As long as you feel alright." Lu Chen smiled and gave her a thumbs up. He hadn't yet told her about the ability and he wasn't planning to either. Something like predicting the future was very unreliable. 

He didn't want anyone to focus on that ability, especially Xu Meilin, as the ability was not even fully developed yet and it was something more complex, unlike his ice magic or Alex's fire magic.

Good days were fine, but what were they supposed to do on bad days? Not step outside? 

In the worst case, it would end up causing mass hysteria and panic in the group and bring down everyone's morale. And the prediction might come true just because everyone believed it.

So at least until they were strong enough or Xu Meilin realized it on her own, he didn't want to meddle with it.

"Boss, don't worry. I will protect everyone." Luo Zu assumed that Lu Chen was worried about 'his women' and quickly stepped forward to give him some assurance. "I swear to protect them with my life boss!"

"Sure you will. Alright, can we go now?" Alex rolled her eyes at this totally unnecessary exchange and then the group finally left. 

Lu Chen and Guan Ye climbed up to the ground surface and sat atop the rubble from the collapsed hospital building and watched their figures disappear.

"Are they really going to be alright…" Lu Chen shook his head. He had already given everyone adequate instructions and supplies but it was still worrisome. 

However, in the end, there was only so much he could do. Everyone's lives were ultimately in their own hands.

As he and Guan Ye were leisurely chatting about the rampant growth of the trees, plants, and vegetation around them, another set of footsteps echoed.

"Huh? Back already? They encountered some strong beast?" Lu Chen exclaimed loudly and the two of them immediately became alert. 

They shot up and ran towards the source of noise, but it was not Alex or Xu Meilin, rather it was a small group of their friendly neighbors.