The convoy returned to the Monster’s House for a third time without ceremony.

Even if a monster didn’t live there, it was becoming such a headache for Commander Li that he really wished he had never stepped into it in the first place.

As far as he was concerned, there was no need for urgency or speed, so there were no lights, no sirens, and no attempt to announce authority through noise.

The vehicles approached in controlled formation, slowing as the house came into view once more.

"I am beginning to hate this place," sighed Corporal Sun Ming as he looked over at Li from the driver’s seat. "At least now we have the rest of our people here to see just how creepy it is. They didn’t believe me before."

Li snorted as he nodded his head in silent agreement. But all he said was "A house is a house."

Now it was Sun Ming’s turn to snort. "Yeah, until it’s the house of a monster. My money is on the one making the popcorn. It takes a psychopath to make popcorn during a home raid."

Commander Li hummed in agreement as he stepped out of the truck. His boots hit the ground with quiet certainty, and his attention moved immediately across the perimeter.

Looking over his shoulder, he watched as his ten men followed in sequence, forming positions without needing to be directed, their spacing precise, their movements efficient.

"Perimeter," he said, all traces of amusement completely gone from his face as he gave the order. They couldn’t afford to be distracted. Not here. Not now.

The order was acknowledged without hesitation and Wang Junjie and Tan Wei broke off toward the edges of the property, taking positions that allowed them to monitor the surrounding approach.

The rest of them remained near the convoy, forming a controlled line between the vehicles and the house.

They were so focused on what was in front of them that it wasn’t until Sergeant Liu Zhenyu notified them of another vehicle approaching.

When his men looked at him in confusion, Li simply shrugged. "Our... backup." It was as good of an explanation as any.

A woman stepped out of the lead truck, her uniform fitting her a bit tighter than was proper, and her brown hair was tied up in a loose bun. Nothing about her was up to regulation, but the men who gathered around her, their rifles at the ready, didn’t seem to care.

The woman walked right up to where Li and his men were standing without looking at any of them. She shared some features as the man in the meeting room, and suddenly, Li understood why this team was chosen.

He was willing to bet his rank that this woman was his daughter.

She continued to stare at the front door, not acknowledging the formation of soldiers or the structure of the operation unfolding around her.

Her team followed her out without waiting for instruction.

Li had never seen any of these people before, but that didn’t mean much. They were probably brought here by that man whose name he still didn’t know. Just because they wore the uniform and knew how to handle a gun didn’t automatically make them military.

Especially not in this world.

Not one of the five men spoke, they simply flanked the woman like she was the center of their universe and didn’t move.

Li watched them for a brief moment before turning toward the house. "And you are?" he asked, his voice turning to ice. He didn’t care who she was or who had the power to put her with him. If she caused a single one of his men to be injured, he would kill her himself.

The woman turned her head slowly and studied Li like she was looking at a bug that just crawled out of a pile of shit. Yeah, she and the other man were made out of the same cloth.

"My name is Jiang Meilan. This is my operation, you are just here to assist."

Li raised an eyebrow as he felt all of his men’s eyes on him. But he didn’t argue with her. In fact, this turned out to be perfect.

If he was just there for support then it wasn’t his operation, it wasn’t his responsibility.

"Of course, Miss. Jiang," he replied, his voice turning warm.

She didn’t correct him, which told him even more about her. She was more comfortable with the title of ’Miss’ than any military rank she might have had.

She was a civilian through and through.

One of her men sent Li a glare like he understood the difference, but he didn’t speak up, didn’t point out where she went wrong. Blind loyalty like that was just asking for death. Li shook his head and stepped back, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

He let out a low whistle and Wang and Tan returned a look of confusion on their faces.

"We aren’t in charge here," Li told them. Outsiders might not be able to see it, but his team could easily see the smile on his face. Their commander was happy to be forced to take a back seat, and for the life of them...

They understood.

All the tension released from their shoulders and they turned, as one, to face the other team.

"I am Jiang Meilan," the woman announced for a second time as if her name meant something important and everyone should know it. "These are my men: Shen Kaiyang, Tao Jun, Lin Cheng, Gou Renwang, and Huang Zedong. My father, Minister Jian Guowei is the Minister of Civil Security. He has deemed this house to be under government authority and is allowing us to take it over as our base. Anything that is found inside immediately belongs to us. The people in there will be kicked out. If they don’t want to do, they will be beaten and left for the zombies. Any questions?"

She said the last part like she knew no one would say anything against her.

When Commander Li and his men simply nodded, she smiled brightly at them.

"Let’s go take what is ours," she purred, looking at the five men around her. The nodded and the six of them went up to the front door and started banging on it.

Their team’s medic, Luo Xin looked at Li. "Are you just going to let that happen?" he asked, somewhat incredulously.

"You only say that because you’ve never been here," Tan Wei sighed. "Trust me. You do not want to be the one knocking on the door." 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Before anyone could say anything else, Li heard the door open and, with a loud screech that would attract the attention of all the zombies nearby, he heard Meilan ask:

"Shen Rouxi?!? Is that you?!?"