The battle lasted only a short time.
In the previous minute, gunfire echoed nonstop, but in the next second, peace returned as if nothing ever happened.
Wang Zhou and another survivor were gasping for air after their brush with death.
The other survivors, who were lucky enough not to have wandered far, received the notification and immediately hid back in the villa area.
At this moment, they listened to Wang Zhou as he recounted his harrowing experience.
It was mostly Wang Zhou speaking. Although his companion had recovered, his face remained pale. In contrast, Wang Zhou, who looked like he was about to cry earlier, now wore an expression of excitement. The others looked at him with odd expressions.
"You don't know, those people had menacing looks, with gun barrels pointed right at my head. I was fearless, though, perfectly calm."
"At that moment, a master fighter appeared beside us like the wind, cutting our bonds with a swift motion. Those blocking enemies were instantly brought down..." Wang Zhou suddenly paused, "It seemed like there were two master fighters, maybe twins, but that's not right—both wore helmets, so I couldn't see clearly. But the master fighter was amazing; those seemingly powerful people were just paper tigers in front of him, completely vulnerable..."
The more Wang Zhou talked, the more excited he became, and the others listened spellbound.
Although they hadn't seen what happened, they could imagine the prowess of the master fighter.
This group had so many guns and weapons; just hearing the gunfire made them pale.
Yet, the master fighter was able to move through such a hail of bullets freely.
Having such a master in the Sanctuary was truly, so fortunate!
......
Tang Yu propped his face, assuming a contemplative stance.
The battle came suddenly. Though the enemy was defeated, he reflected on the shortcomings in the skirmish.
He still lacked some vigilance.
Had the enemy not deemed these two survivors valuable, they might have already been terminated.
He hadn't expected to suddenly encounter such an outside Awakener team.
In the apocalypse's wilderness, various survivor teams generally remained wary but not hostile. Not everyone was relentless and vicious; even with interests at stake, it warranted careful consideration—a strike would inevitably lead to losses.
These people, however, acted rashly, without even a quarrel, and so they met their doom. This experience taught him the virtue of caution and humility; one must not be too arrogant.
Tang Yu found this reasoning sound, as he had always conducted himself with modesty.
"Territory development needs to accelerate, especially in defense matters. They got too close to the territory border this time, which is very unsettling..."
He mused, "This group, being significant, went missing here, which could stir up trouble. Luckily, not everything was troublesome; the yields were substantial."
Han Jing's group had casualties and injuries following the clash.
Most were killed by No. 1 and No. 2, as these Puppets executed with extreme violence, leaving no chance of survival when directly hit by their might.
Tang Yu had joined the combat, taking out a rampaging Awakener with a shot.
It was his first time killing a person.
He felt no discomfort.
He used to hear that killing a person could cause nausea, vomiting, and weak knees.
He realized this wasn't true. Having undergone a month of apocalypse, he witnessed no shortage of bloody scenes; he merely lacked final practical exposure, which was now complete.
Regarding the survivors, Luo Zhe extracted information from them.
"The Source Crystal Mine, no wonder..."
Tang Yu was very eager about this Source Crystal Mine.
He understood better than anyone the value of Source Crystals; exploiting the mine would undoubtedly propel the territory into rapid development.
The prospect was delightful, but reality was harsh.
The territory had only a handful of people—a couple of cats, metaphorically speaking; there weren't even enough hands for hauling, let alone miners existent! Furthermore, the Source Crystal Mine, though nearby at three or four kilometers, was still out in the wild, in the forests, a place of great danger...
"So, we can only look at, not mine, this Source Crystal Mine?"
Tang Yu felt dejected.
Wait...
Suddenly, he remembered Wang Tai, the former Sanctuary Director, whom Chen Haiping recognized at the end.
Wang Tai seemed resolute, presumably aware that he had no chance of survival, so he committed suicide before an interrogation was even carried out.
However, Wang Tai's two direct subordinates weren't as decisive. Luo Zhe immediately had them watched, denying any chance of self-destruction. Subsequently, under skilled interrogation, the two subordinates divulged even the color of their underwear.
They revealed that Wang Tai came here not just to guide Han Jing and locate the Source Crystal Mine but also had his own purpose.
He apparently wanted to retrieve a cache of essential supplies.
The two knew only as much, mostly inferred from Wang Tai's usual behaviors and habits.
Wang Tai had a habit of stashing supplies.
Tang Yu felt this highly plausible. Wang Tai fled recklessly back then, having no time to take supplies with him, which the two subordinates confirmed.
Once their usefulness was exhausted, Tang Yu handed them over to Luo Zhe to deal with.
Releasing them wasn't an option.
This group was still too much of a threat to him. As for the big shot behind them in Lindong, Tang Yu wasn't overly worried; his current concern was over Wang Tai's supplies.
"Where could they be hidden?"
......
In the villa area, the west zone.
Unlike the east zone, this was also the core area of the entire mountain resort. Previously, Wang Tai lived in villa No. 1 in the west zone.
He had searched this villa before but hadn't found anything of value; he hadn't thought much of it at the time, but now it seemed abnormal... How could Wang Tai's residence lack valuables? He was in too much of a hurry to pack while fleeing!
Putting himself in Wang Tai's shoes, Tang Yu thought about storing things at his residence, like the castle, which had a small storeroom filled with collected Source Crystals.
Wang Tai's items might also be in the villa he lived in, though surely hidden away.
The villa covered a large area. After circling it once, Tang Yu felt there were two promising spots: either in the villa's small front garden or in the basement.
The basement was empty at that time, previously having stored some food, which Tang Yu had taken.
"No. 1!"
The Puppet Guard appeared beside Tang Yu. He pointed to the basement walls, directing, "Smash these walls, but watch the force. Don't bring the place down."
With a rumble, No. 1 turned into a humanoid bulldozer. In the blink of an eye, the once relatively neat basement was reduced to rubble, surpassing the damage caused by demonized beasts outside.
Amid the wreckage, one hollowed-out space stood out.
"Indeed, there is a deeper basement!"
This basement was smaller in area, but what met the eye were all supplies. Not just the basic food, but luxurious items like tobacco and alcohol, even a great batch of weapons, all sorts of dazzling goods...
"This is a jackpot!"
The basement contained a lot of food. Tang Yu also noticed a refrigerator hooked up to a diesel generator still running.
Inside, he found a variety of vegetables and different kinds of meats.
At this point, he didn't care how long these meats had been stored or if they were fresh. Merely considering the variety of ingredients, it wasn't any less abundant than before the apocalypse!
Wang Tai, that rascal, certainly knew how to enjoy life.
Fortunately, all these goods were now his. Tang Yu felt grateful for Mr. Wang's selfless contributions.
Food occupied a large part of the basement, a small part was household items, and the rest were mostly firearms.
Ordinary handguns and rifles no longer impressed Tang Yu much, yet he found pleasant surprises in this stockpile of military supplies.
Two light machine guns greatly enhanced the defense setup of the Sanctuary.
Although currently, the territory had nothing akin to a decent defense setup.
"However... just these items wouldn't justify Wang Tai going through so much trouble to secure this cache, and these items take up considerable space. If Wang Tai wished to evade Han Jing's notice, he couldn't move this many things."
"The most valuable items should be in..."
Tang Yu looked toward a corner where there was a safe.
A secret room, items stored in a safe—Tang Yu didn't need to think hard to know there must be precious items inside.
It was a high-end safe, boasting strong protective features, at least pre-apocalypse. Now, it easily got busted open.
Inside awaited a heap of shiny Energy Crystals.
Tang Yu held his breath, it was his first time seeing so many Energy Crystals.
Just how many were there? A thousand units, two thousand, or even more?
"The system detected 5,255 units of Energy Crystals."
The system's cold voice sounded in his mind, yet Tang Yu found it extraordinarily pleasant at that moment.
From now on, he was wealthy… a person with Source Crystals.
Thank you, Wang Tai.
Besides Energy Crystals, the safe contained some rather advanced demonized beast materials, like sharp claws, thick fur, and others.
Some things seemed to be exclusives of the apocalypse; Tang Yu couldn't identify them at first glance.
Like a crystal, the size of a basketball, pure white and transparent throughout.
Like a brick-sized metal piece, indistinguishable from ordinary bricks.
Tang Yu examined each material, one by one, before placing them back in the safe. In the end, he decided to just take the entire safe.