Who hid My Corpse!

"Congratulations, Yuri, you are not contaminated."

The heavy helmet was removed, and a somewhat dazzling light flooded into view, clearing away the darkness.

Yuri squinted his eyes and waited until he had fully adjusted before looking at the person in front of him—this was Hogney, sent from the rear to check for pollutants. He looked very amiable, always wearing a smile on his face, but this smile was quite out of place with the overall atmosphere of the camp.

After all, speaking broadly, Hogney was here to judge life and death.

To judge the life and death of this team.

Once their level of contamination was confirmed to be excessive, the outcome would be self-evident. So, normally, these pollution inspectors would have a team of elite troops with them, ostensibly to guard against the various unpredictable dangers of the Pollution Zone, but everyone knew what they really were for.

But this time, it was just Hogney alone.

He seemed completely unconcerned about this team, which was very likely to be fully infected; he even greeted everyone with a friendly smile when he entered the camp—his protective measures were minimal, as if he wanted everyone to see the teeth he bared when he smiled.

Then, he began to conduct contamination checks on each member of the team.

The results were consistent.

No one was infected.

Everyone was healthy.

And Yuri, as the captain, was the last one to be checked, and now he, too, had received the same result.

But unlike the other team members who showed faces of relief that were either tearful or laughable, he just looked at the portable detection device that had just been on his head, a new product from a year ago.

Seeing Yuri's expression hadn't changed much, Hogney allowed his smile to grow wider; he joked lightly, "Is it my imagination, or do I sense that you, Yuri, are somehow regretful that you haven't been contaminated?"

"Of course not," Yuri said. "No one wants to be contaminated, I'm just curious."

"What?"

Yuri pointed at the portable detection device. "With the potential pollutants we might face, can such an instrument really detect everything?"

"Oh, Yuri, if I may be so bold, you shouldn't doubt technical innovation," Hogney said. "You should know, it's the latest model. What those older models could do, it can do too, and it's even more portable; I could bring it here all by myself, something the other models can't manage."

Hogney's explanation posed no problems.

After all, Devil's Army was always at the forefront of innovation, and all the emerging technologies were being used on them.

Clearly, this time was no different.

But Yuri still harbored doubts, yet before he could speak, Hogney spoke again: "Of course, you could also go by the old rules and let us conduct a second check on your team, to do it like before, or use the instruments you trust more. It's all the same to me, just another trip, only..."

Hogney paused, then turned his head to look outside the tent at the camp.

"That would not be so quick, at least a week's time... Are you sure you want your subordinates to go through another prolonged wait?"

Yuri fell silent.

He knew Hogney was speaking the truth.

Today alone, he and his teammates had experienced too much, enduring successive pollutant attacks, watching comrades have their heads severed by emergency devices, and possibly being contaminated themselves, waiting for a verdict from the rear-end checks, most of the team members' stress had already reached its limit.

But that changed when Hogney arrived.

From receiving the news to reaching them, Hogney took only half a day and had completed the checks for all team members, letting them know they were not infected.

This undoubtedly gave the team members, who had hit rock bottom, a tremendous boost.

And now, as the captain, if Yuri were to tell them the test results were inaccurate and needed to be redone, requiring another week's wait, he wasn't sure if his team members could withstand it without breaking down completely.

This kind of extreme emotional rollercoaster lasting a week seemed a bit too harsh.

After such contemplation, Yuri realized that all he could do was nod.

"I understand," Yuri said, "If there's no contamination, then there's no contamination; that's good news.

"Yes, everyone is uncontaminated; that's the best news," Hogney smiled. "It seems you've accepted the test result, then please sign here."

Hogney handed over a confirmation document that had been prepared earlier.

This was also part of the process, as long as the team leader was alright, all test results needed to be reviewed and signed by the team leader.

Yuri wasn't signing the confirmation for the first time, but this time, looking at the words "Test completed and results accurate," he hesitated.

However, ultimately, he signed his name on it.

Seeing this, Hogney smiled again: "Although unexpected, the result isn't bad, at least it didn't extend to more people, Captain Yuri, you can relax a bit, smile a little."