CHAPTER 73: NEW MISSION

Next day.

The sun shone brightly, doing its best to drive away all the doom and gloom in the city.

Life still had to go on.

Those who had lost loved ones, and whatever they owned, woke up and started to pick up the pieces of their lives.

When Lukas woke up, breakfast was ready and waiting for him.

"Morning Lukas, come join us."

The other team members, who were sitting at the dining table, greeted him with their usual candor.

"I didn’t know what you like, hope it’s suitable for your taste," Emma said as she poured steaming hot coffee into Lukas’s coffee mug.

"Thanks. I’m fine with anything," he replied with a smile.

He remembered how he had to survive a few days with a pizza.

And he had to time it correctly so that he finished it before the pizza turned moldy.

Anything other than that was an upgrade.

"Since everyone is here, I’ll brief everyone on today’s mission," Riley said as he brushed his long blue hair and put down his mug.

"The reward for the mission is $100,000.

"That’s the most the Director can offer with his limited budget now.

"We will go out and gather whatever is left of the devices from outside the city.

"Harianto, prepare all the equipment that you need.

"The rest of you, get armed and equipped.

"Stay close together and try not to venture out too far into the red zone."

Riley said and the other team members nodded.

No one objected.

By now it was a personal matter, and the amount for the reward didn’t matter much to them.

After breakfast, Lukas went back to his room and got ready.

His Darkmatter Vault Armor was now torn and had many slit holes from the battles.

Lukas looked at it and frowned as he didn’t realize the damage inflicted on it.

Hope it’s still working, he thought.

He reached into the chest plate armor and fortunately, the storage function still worked.

In his hand, out of nowhere, when he drew it out of the chest plate was an energy bar.

With the confirmation that it was still working, he replenished the water and rations in the Darkmatter Vault Armor.

And after that he went down to the basement to seek Harianto’s help.

In the basement, it was full of electronics and mechanical parts lying all over the ground.

Harianto was assembling something together when Lukas arrived.

"What are those?" Lukas asked and pointed at some devices.

They looked like robots in the form of hunting dogs.

"These are drones that I can control with my ability to sniff and search for the devices.

"There’s more over there," Harianto said, pointing to the far corner, which had robots that had mechanical wings.

When he finished assembling, he stood up, patted the dust off his pants and turned over to Lukas.

"Come, let me help you with that," Harianto said and took the Darkmatter Vault Armor from Lukas that he had in his hand.

"Thanks," Lukas quickly thanked him.

Harianto got to work immediately.

He went over to his workbench and placed the Darkmatter Vault Armor onto the workbench.

His hands glowed and some of the electronics parts that were on the workbench moved and got onto the holes of the Darkmatter Vault Armor.

The electronics changed form and merged with the Darkmatter Vault Armor.

"Here, as good as new," Harianto said as he passed the Darkmatter Vault Armor back to Lukas when he was done.

Harianto then pointed to the drones and said, "Now it’s your turn to help me. I need you to help me load them up onto the armored truck."

Lukas nodded and started moving the drones onto the armored truck that was parked outside of the driveway.

Even though Harianto already knew Lukas’s abilities, he was still astonished at him being able to carry something that was half a ton effortlessly like a paperweight.

Soon, Lukas was done loading everything up onto the armored truck.

After that, he went back to his room, changed into his Darkmatter Vault Armor and joined the team waiting for him at the armored truck.

When he arrived, they hopped onto the armored truck and drove off.

...

Edge of the city, location of the checkpoint.

It was a tough ride getting to the temporary checkpoint.

There had been much more damage sustained in the areas near the wall.

Some roads became inaccessible due to the huge amount of rubble that had blocked off entire sections of the road.

Riley had to drive around the fallen buildings or take a long detour to get to the temporary checkpoint.

When they arrived, Lukas alighted and saw the damage done to the wall.

A portion of the wall that once stood tall was now reduced to a pile of rubble.

Exposing a huge gaping hole in the wall.

Soldiers were excavating the rubble, using bulldozers and excavators, kicking up the dust and making everyone gasp for fresh air.

When the soldiers saw Lukas and the other team members, the soldiers smiled and waved at them.

They still remembered how Lukas and the other team members had fought valiantly alongside them.

"You want to go out there?" The soldier at the temporary checkpoint asked with a worried look, with the ID of the team in his hand.

He didn’t expect anyone daring to venture out into the woods so soon after a beast horde attack.

Riley brushed his long blue hair and replied, "Don’t worry. We’ll be all right."

The soldier at the checkpoint gave out a long sigh and nodded.

What was he thinking?

From what he had heard, Team Riley was the more formidable out of all the awakened teams.

Even the youngest team member fought better than many.

With this thought, the soldier at the checkpoint glanced over at Lukas.

Lukas looked just like a high schooler; who would’ve thought that he was battling with High Tiered demonic beasts earlier.

"You can go now," he said as he passed them back their ID.

Riley thanked the soldier, and they got back onto the armored truck.

Along the way, bodies of the demonic beasts strewn around, giving off a putrid smell.

The armored truck traveled out two miles and stopped.

Riley turned around to Harianto and said, "Time for the show."