Stronghold In The Apocalypse

Chapter 142: New Rules

"Any progress so far?" Leo said as he passed through a PVC strip curtain and walked inside the cave room where the spaceship is parked.

Alastair was the only one who noticed him or it would be more appropriate to say that the others literally ignored him as they just focused at what they are doing and for Leo, he wasn't really bothered about it as long as they are doing their jobs but when the first time he experienced this made him feel like his horizon was broadened as he finally how workaholics scientist and researchers are that they would even ignore their meals if they too much in the zone about their current work.

"None so far, commander" Alastair said feeling helpless as it really frustrated him that a genius like him can't event f*cking open a simple spaceship!

Leo nodded as he understood that it would quite a while before they can access what is inside the ship. After all, the Octopi Race are the only race who has the technology able to be on par when the Gaia Race was still around especially now that five thousand years had already passed since then that they had progressed another level.

[Your thoughts are wrong, Sir. The Gaia Race has the most advanced technology in the entire universe that the Octopi can't even hold a candle to it and that the Octopi Race today is still very far from them]

'Really? Then how do heck did they even lost that only one survivor remained?' Leo smiled like he just heard something very funny.

[Level 10 Authorization is required to access this information] the cold voice of the [System] rang within his mind.

"Wha-? Bastard!" Leo suddenly yelled from out of nowhere that Alastair who is beside him even jumped in surprised and Alastair's team even jumped in fright as they finally noticed that their boss is here due to his sudden shout which they thought that Leo was scolding them for ignoring him.

"Hahaha, don't mind me. Just continue with your work" Leo said while scratching the back of his head as he felt incredibly embarrassed right now then he noticed that Alastair is looking at him in a weird way.

"What are you looking at?" Leo glared at him.

Alastair shrugged his shoulders as his eyes moved left and right.

Leo snorted and turned around and when he left the cave room, all they heard was a loud yell coming from the other room.

"Dammit!"

Mark and the other researchers and scientists looked at each other confused then they turned their heads towards Alastair with an inquiring gaze.

"Don't look at me. I'm just as confused as you guys are" Alastair bitterly smiled as he really didn't know just what the heck happened just now.

After that little episode, they enthusiastically immediately went back to work on cracking the ship open.

*****

"What do you mean by that?" Leo murmured while walking through to the brightly lit tunnel.

[...]

The [System] did not reply so Leo just recalled out all of the things he learned.

'If what the [System] said is true then the Gaians didn't lose because they were outnumbered because numbers in front of superior or military technology is almost useless' Leo thought as he felt that the there is another thicker fog shrouding the mystery behind the war of the two races that even he can't now see through it.

Leo kept thinking and thinking as he replayed all the scenes in his memory about the war that he saw before that he didn't even noticed that he had already exited the place and had already walked two hundred meters away from the military post.

He had already walked very far away but he still can't figure what is missing.

'I'm sure that the answer is in that replay that I saw before' Leo thought as he kept replaying the scenes of the war in his mind.

A couple of minutes later, Leo finally burst in madness!

"Ahh! Goddammit!" Leo yelled in rage as he started running and punching all of the trees in front of him!

*BOOM!* *BOOM!* *Thud!* *Thud!* *BOOM!* *BOOM!* *Thud!* *Thud!*

Over one hundred trees all got destroyed in two pieces in a single punch and no trees were spared in the massacre of these trees.

If those activist about protecting the forest hears about this, they would probably lead a protest against Leo for destroying the trees.

Sadly, they are already dead. Probably eaten by a zombie or a mutated beast, maybe even at the hands of a fellow human at that.

"My god. I thought today is gonna be a great day knowing that I'll become a Dad soon but this...f- aak!" Leo didn't even finish his sentence when a nearby tree suddenly fell down on his back, resulting on him face planting the ground.

Leo moved his now dirty face to the side as he started spewing the mud that got inside his mouth.

"I'm so done about this shit" Leo said as he laid there on the ground and let the tree flatten him even though he can't really feel the tree's weight at all.

A few moments later.

"Okay, I finally calmed down" Leo said as he easily stood up even with that abnormally huge tree weighing on his back.

*Boom*

Leo then started dusting himself off and then around and saw the devastation that he caused to those poor trees.

Leo whistled at the sight before him and sai, "I wonder how many oxygen was just lost?"

Then he shook his head and sighed as he started putting the fallen trees inside his Inventory while muttering, "They can still be use to make furnitures or just turn them into firewood"

Half an hour later.

Leo was finally done storing all of the broken trees and he was even lucky to find a small patch of carrots and sweet potatoes earlier which is somewhat surprising for him because the two kinds of vegetables are really big, three times the size from their regular size.

"It seems we'll have sweet potatoes later" Leo smiled and this time he planned to ride his very first mount that he acquired before, the [Dual-Horned Boar Mount]!

Leo then opened his Inventory and pulled one of them, like he is holding something in his hand if he's seen by someone and then he tossed it in front of him.

*BAM!*

Then a ferocious looking massive boar dropped from three foot from the air to the ground causing a slight tremor and the moment it appeared. Leo heard a notification inside his mind, telling him that the beast had been added as a Tamed Beast and can be given or hand it over to someone as their own mount.

The boar was as big as the largest horse ever recorded in the world, Sampson. The boar is standing in height of two hundred twenty centimeters from head to toe. It has two sharp and massive horn that extends forward on its forehead like a Triceratops and its fur is glistening black and it is already equipped with saddle and reins.

Then this massive beast slowly walked towards Leo as it softly nudge him with its snout.

Leo's lit up when he saw how huge the beast was. It was at least almost as big as the leader of the boar herd that he had killed before on that huge forest.

Then he suddenly of something stupid, 'Don't tell me people would call me Boar Knight if they see me riding one of these, would they? Maybe worse even Pig Knight! God! That would be super embarrassing!'

"From now on, I'll call you Black!" Leo smiled as he scratch the side of the boar's head.

*Grunt* *Grunt* *Grunt*

So in the end, Leo still decided to ride it as he jumped up and perfectly landed on the saddle and then he took the reins and shook it as he guided it towards the direction of Hope 101.

"Wahh!" Leo suddenly screamed as he didn't expect that his mount would move so fast as he calculated in his head that the mount is speeding for seventy miles per hour!

"This thing is going so fast like a motorbike! Awesome~!" Leo held the reins in one hand and his other hand is raise in the air as he yelled in excitement!

*****

"Haa~ I'm so bored right now" one of the two guards armed with machete on his back and an AK-47 said while standing just outside the gate of Hope 101 while yawning.

"This is already better than risking life your life going outside to hunt those small mutant beast or looking for food in the forest" the other guard said as he reprimanded his companion.

This two men are guarding both side of the gate and twenty meters in front of them was a newly constructed watchtower made from wood and there's another two men manning inside it.

Then suddenly, the small gate within the larger gate or commonly known as wicket gate slowly opened as a group of five armed people, two women and three men walked out.

"Oh Max, going out to hunt again?" the guard who was yawning earlier said the moment he saw them.

Max and his companions greeted the guards before he turned to the guard that asked him and said, "Not today, we almost died yesterday so today we are planning to some place else" his reply was a bit vague as he didn't plan to elaborate where they are going.

"Tsk, tsk. I already told you guys to just join the army or the garrison instead of risking your lives outside" the guard said while shaking his head, after all this group of hunters are only armed with melee weapons such as one machete, two fire axes and two hatchets and they only have three pistols with them which is truly pitiful compared to them who are armed heavily.

"Nah, we don't want our actions restricted by joining either the two" one of the women said while shaking her head.

Then the guard suddenly chuckled as he gestured them to come closer to him with his hand.

Max and his team was a bit unwilling because their destination is also somewhat far and doesn't want to waste talking with him but because he is a friend of theirs, they still walked over to him.

"What is it Noah? You know we're short on time, right?" Max said a bit irritated.

Noah just laughed and said, "Don't be like that because what I'm about to tell you guys is important"

Max seemed intrigued by what he said, "Really? Then spill it out and don't keep us waiting"

"Gee, so impatient" Noah said chuckling then he continued in a soft voice, "There's gonna be a new rule from now on and that is, that every survivors that could fight and lives here is required to join the army or they would be immediately kick out of the camp if they don't" he said as he laughed out loud when he saw their faces filled with shock and disbelief.

"No way! That can't be true!" one of the men can't help but raised his voice and it immediately attracted the other soldiers attention in their direction.

Max glared at him and said, "Keep your voice down Luke or else they will think that we're causing trouble"

"But you said, is it true?" a woman called Zoe asked worriedly.

This time it was actually Noah that got dumbfounded as he asked them, "Wait, don't tell me you guys doesn't know?" he felt confused, after all he only wanted to mess with them earlier.

"What do you mean by that?" this time, it was Max's turn to be confused as he felt like he just missed something crucial today.

Noah didn't immediately answered him and pointed at the bulletin board just a few meters away from him with his thumb and said, " Look, It was just posted a few minutes ago. Why don't you guys go read it?"

They finally noticed there is something new posted on the bulletin board today.

Max rubbed his temples and said, "Just tell us the gist of it Noah"

"It's actually not that worrisome. You guys just need to go and enlist yourselves and the management are not that irresponsible so they at least gave you guys two options and that is to become a Reservist or to immediately join the Gaia Training Camp and received an official rank after your training ends. Make sure you guys do it if you don't want to live outside the walls as you guys knows full well how dangerous it is to live outside this walls" Noah said, not in the mood to tease them anymore.

"Alright, we will do just that but we'll only do it after we finish our plans for today" Max said helplessly as they really don't have much of a choice because they know fully well the difference of living inside and outside of Hope 101.

But just as they turned around just forget what they learned today and resumed their journey. They suddenly felt the road beneath them shaking a bit.

"Prepare for battle! A mutant beast is heading this way!" one of the tower guards inside the watchtower yelled with excitement!

"Alright~!" Noah yelled in joy when he heard that a mutant beast is heading their way!