Lu Chen calmly watched as the entire group of fifteen men started discussing among themselves in hushed voices. He simply continued observing with amusement and made no effort to clear up any misunderstanding.

Perhaps if the government setup was on a much larger scale and more reasonable, he would have considered working with them, but now he had no such intentions.

Why work as a slave for someone else still following the old hierarchy when the whole world literally just went through an insane upheaval?!

Lu Chen waited around for some more time, seeing if Qin Hua needed any help but after a few minutes he, Alex, and Guan Ye walked back over to Xu Meilin and the rest of the survivors.

Geming and Fang Yuan had already returned back to the group. So there weren't any outsiders.

"Sis! You are alright!" Xu Meilin rushed forward first and hugged Alex tightly. Even though at the beginning the two of them barely got along, now they were thick as thieves.

Of course, comfortably nestled in her hand was a small chunky tabby cat.

"Coco, can you heal sis please?" Xu Meilin extended the cat so that the beast could reach over and touch Alex with its dainty paws.

Qin Hua as well arrived at the scene and this was the first thing she saw. 

She couldn't help but roll her eyes at the innocent lucky feline creature. The thing had even somehow managed to remove its poison status while she was still bleeding health because of it.

[Woof! Maybe there is a herb somewhere around here? I should go search until these idiots leave.] 

She glanced at the team of military men scouring the battlefield and went around here and there hiding in the darkness.

Others as well were more or less doing the same thing. They applied bandages, cleaned their wounds, and lined up to receive heals from Coco.

Lu Chen observed this and loudly announced. "Everyone needs to cough up a mana core in the future to get healing treatment from the cat."

His words sounded completely ridiculous but before anyone could object he added. "It doesn't have to be a high grade core. Just a normal zombie's core would do."

"Remember. There is no such thing as a free lunch."

After hearing his words, the few people who wanted to say something also quieted down. 

They knew that this was more than reasonable and besides if the cat improved its healing abilities it was better for everyone as a group.

So no one raised any objections. Only Xu Meilin's timid voice rang out.

"Ah… Bro Chen even me?"

Alex wanted to facepalm at the girl who couldn't read the mood and the atmosphere. Lu Chen, on the other hand, was too tired and ended up smiling.

He flicked Xu Meilin's head and replied. "Yes, you too!"

While this group of people was chatting and relaxing, the military team finally finished their scavenging. 

And instead of leaving the scene of battle, they instead walked towards Lu Chen and the others, with ugly expressions on their faces.

"Who did this? Stand up and admit your crime." The leader stepped forward and muttered in a threatening tone.

"Who did what?" Lu Chen responded, casually standing up. The rest still remained seated as they were yet to recuperate fully.

"Someone from your group has absorbed all the mana cores of the beast. Please refrain from lying. Only both of our men are here. If we didn't take it, then it has to be you. There is no one else here."

Lu Chen rolled his shoulder and stretched his arms, his lithe figure contradicting the stern and rigid mannerisms of the leader.

"We have been sitting here from that time. How could it be us? Weren't your people the only ones searching the whole hospital grounds? We are too tired to even stand up. Look for yourself."

Hmph! The leader loudly harrumphed as if he didn't believe Lu Chen's words at all. Nevertheless, he still gave a glance at everyone and they indeed looked tired and weary.

"Listen. At these perilous times, I really do not want to go overboard and treat my fellow human countrymen like this. So please let's end this peacefully."

"Just hand over the cores."

"Sir, you seem to be missing the point. Even if we took the cores, they are all gone by now. How can anyone return them? Why don't you take all the beast meat lying around?" Lu Chen shrugged.

The leader this time did not respond and looked sternly at Lu Chen. Young fellow, you don't have the age or experience to go up against me! He sneered inwardly.

Taking a deep breath, he stopped addressing Lu Chen. There was clearly no longer any point in talking to him. 

He instead looked at the group of survivors sitting behind him and mouthed slowly, enunciating every word. 

"You all have survived so far, clinging to your life by tooth and nail. But you can rest and relax now. The government has set up a camp not far from here." 

"All your food, clothing, water, and medical requirements will be taken care of there."

"Everyone is free to come, even you." He turned to look at Lu Chen and paused. 

"But there is just one condition. One of you has to come forward and tell me what happened to the mana cores of the centipedes."

"This is not a dictatorship. I hope you can all understand why what we are trying to do here. We are the troops from the army. Only if we are strong and steady, we can protect you guys."

"We are offering you everything in return. You can almost go back to the world, the way it was before. Within this week, we are confident of clearing this entire city and the neighboring cities."

"In one month, we should be able to clear this whole district."

"And then, you can simply go back to your old life, the way it was before."