"Yes! Let's form a battle team alliance, with Captain Tang as the盟主 (méngzhǔ)!"
Hearing this suggestion, everyone cheered in unison.
Tang Li, however, exchanged glances with Peng Yue, Zhong Heng, and Lin Xi, knowing that this proposal absolutely could not be accepted.
They had split up the "United Battle Team" precisely to allay the authorities' suspicions.
But once a battle team alliance was formed, and they became the 盟主 (méngzhǔ), it would be akin to expanding their battle team. Not only would it fail to dispel official doubts, but it would also invite greater vigilance.
After all, although the "United Battle Team" held the top spots on all the mercenary guild rankings and claimed the first-place rewards, the rewards for ranks 2nd to 20th were still left for other battle teams. Similarly, rewards from other tiers on the battle team power ranking lists were available for other teams.
Many battle teams relied on these rewards for their survival, which was why they hadn't joined the "United Battle Team."
However, if the smaller battle teams that had originally been part of the "United Battle Team" were to break away again, they would undoubtedly re-dominate all the rankings.
Furthermore, all battle teams that participated in this operation would receive discounted prices at the "Apocalypse Mall," which would squeeze out the smaller battle teams that had not participated, leaving them with no room to survive.
If this battle team alliance were to be formed, it would essentially mean they would be dominating the entire mercenary guild!
Immediately, Tang Li demurred:
"Let's not form a battle team alliance; I don't want to be in charge. If it weren't for the insistence of the vice-captains, I wouldn't even want to be captain.
"Moreover, there's no need to form a battle team alliance now. From now on, everyone should head to more distant locations and continue to eliminate criminal gangs, apprehend criminals, and rescue victims.
"Especially now that the R-country nationals occupying City D have been eliminated, you can go further east to City C, City B, and so on, to eliminate the criminal gangs there and rescue the victims there!
"If large criminal gangs like the R-country nationals in City D appear in the future and require our combined efforts, then it won't be too late to form a battle team alliance."
Although Tang Li refused, she didn't completely close the door.
After all, the future was long, and there might be times when these battle teams would be needed, requiring them to unite and act again.
At this moment, Tang Li did not expect that time would come very soon.
After the gathering, everyone dispersed.
Lin Xi, before the team leaders of each combat group, distributed the points and weapons from the logistics group of the "United Battle Team" based on the number of people in each group. She then allocated the spoils from the City D operation to each team according to the number of participants, a task that kept her busy for an entire afternoon.
Besides Lin Xi, others were also not idle.
Tang Li knew that the major earthquake would begin tomorrow.
Therefore, all assets in City D had to be dismantled and loaded onto vehicles today, and transported back to Jiangcheng overnight.
As the sun set, the entire City D became busy once again.
Tang Li also followed the convoy escorting the evidence of the R-country nationals back to Jiangcheng.
This evidence included the Z-country nationals in City D who had been implanted with invasive brain-computer interfaces, the longevity organisms used by the R-country nationals to manufacture their life-extension elixirs, and the living dead who had been converted into bio-robots.
Among them was Xu Xinyue.
Tang Li had originally intended to put these living dead to rest immediately.
But upon further reflection, she felt that even for vegetative patients, families were often willing to care for them.
Although these living dead were not vegetative patients and would never awaken, they could still act like living people.
Many of them still had family members.
Tang Li believed that the decision of whether to end these individuals or allow them to continue their "lives" should be left to their families.
Therefore, she kept them and brought them back to Jiangcheng.