Chapter 302: Wasteland Edition: Lurking and Searching

There were originally three people under Pei Shao. When they went out to collect information for the first time, Su Mo added another three.

So there were seven of them in total.

For a village of only 150 people, it was more than enough to put seven people to work on intelligence.

If Zhong Qingshu, the outcast, joined them, it would be eight in total.

Even if they had no prior experience, how could there be no trace of a huge army of possibly twenty thousand foreign race creatures at all after careful scouting?

However, the fact of the matter was that, after Su Mo spoke, it was not only Pei Shao who was silent but, Zhong Qingshu, who was an expert at information collection, also had a look of contemplation on her face.

"Not hundreds, not thousands, but twenty thousand of them!"

"It's a whopping twenty thousand. Their daily consumption of resources would be in the hundreds of units, but you can't find this huge team?"

Seeing how Su Mo was a little furious, Pei Shao could not stand the pressure anymore and spoke with an awful look on his face:

"Leader Su, it's not that our people didn't search well and nor were we infiltrated by the foreign races. We've driven Earth Tiger and traveled all over the area within a 200-kilometer radius for the past few days."

"…I even secretly withdrew some supplies and bought a voice recorder and put it in the car, but I didn't find any issue with our people."

"…there's really no sign of the foreign races within these 200 kilometers. Not to mention any creatures, even the food scraps left behind after their march were nowhere to be found."

After he spoke, Pei Shao immediately took out a huge map from his storage space and spread it out on the table in the conference room.

The map illustration placed the Underground Shelter at the center and had mapped out all the terrain within a range of 200 kilometers.

From the ups and downs of the terrain to the iconic landmarks; all the places in the north, south, east, and west were marked clearly.

Even if a layman stood here and looked at this map, he would be able to see how much effort had been put into it.

Besides, there were dozens of route lines marked with arrows on this map.

Those lines were the routes the intelligence team had traveled over those days, and they basically covered all locations within 200 kilometers.

"Leader Su, I've personally driven over to see all the locations marked on this map. I can assure you that there's not even a single feather spotted there!"

As if afraid that Su Mo would not believe him, Pei Shao continued elaborating. He provided detailed accounts of the surrounding terrain, beginning from the nearest 30 kilometers, and stated what he had seen and heard.

Since receiving Su Mo's request for a survey mission eight days ago, all other work in the intelligence organization had been put on hold.

There were foreign races near the village!

Their numbers might be around twenty thousand!

Those were Su Mo's original words. After hearing that, Pei Shao would have been scared to the point of peeing his pants on the spot were he not an old soldier.

Hey man, a large number of foreign race creatures have gathered around us. What was the point of collecting other intelligence now?

If they could not figure out where the enemy was within that day, it was possible that their enemies would already be standing in front of their houses the next day.

For this reason, after Su Mo granted them the right to use Earth Tiger, the intelligence team drove the car around and began surveying the surrounding 100 kilometers around Hope Village.

They took turns driving for three days.

Apart from the necessary mealtimes where everyone would stop to eat some dry rations, the rest of the time they were either back on the road or carefully looking for any traces on the ground.

Pei Shao was an old intelligence soldier who had been professionally trained, hence he knew the importance of time in this situation.

Therefore, the seven of them in the intelligence group did not sleep or rest more than what was necessary. They hung around the wasteland for four days and four nights, and surprisingly surveyed the entire 100 kilometers on wheels and their feet.

But the result was…

Nothing!

Not to mention traces of the twenty thousand foreign race creatures, not even one of their scouts could be seen.

However, what allowed the intelligence team to go beyond the 100-kilometer radius and continue their investigation was not Su Mo's determined tone, but the "unusual" factors that were outside the norm.

Although no trace of the foreign race creatures was seen within those 100 kilometers, similarly the ordinary animals and mutant creatures seemed to have disappeared too.

Ever since Su Mo notified them of the presence of the foreign races' army, apart from the fact that there was still life in the basin, the rest of the place looked dead and eerily quiet.

On the fifth day, after spending half a day reporting all their findings, the intelligence team slept for a long time during the day and set out in Earth Tiger again, taking advantage of the night.

This time, it was not only the seven of them. Zhong Qingshu joined the team and the eight of them expanded their exploration range from 100 kilometers to 200 kilometers.

With the experience they gained, the exploration speed was much faster this time.

In just three days