Stirring Things Up in the Wasteland 152

Chapter 152

The group had wasted another two days. Before, they had been hiding. Now, they couldn’t even find the mutated animals to lure them out.

Logically speaking, with such a large number of mutated animals, not to mention their non-stop advance into the mainland, even if they were hiding, it was impossible for them to be so silent, leaving no trace at all.

There was no other way. Song Xun and Xia Jin discussed it. It was unlikely that a large number of mutated animals would advance into the mainland. The two of them decided to continue to search inward.

Finally, after about three days, their group arrived at the pre-apocalypse Jinghai City, on the edge of the North China region. And not far north of Jinghai City was the famous Mingjiang Lake, also a famous tourist attraction before the apocalypse.

Jinghai City had made its name with this Mingjiang Lake. Among the tourist cities in the country before the apocalypse, Mingjiang Lake was also a top-ranked place.

In other words, there were a lot of people.

And these people were basically the later residents and survivors of the Tiansheng Base.

From where their groups had been attacked at night, it would take at least a day to get here by car at high speed. And now, without a car, and with the group walking under the extreme heat of the sun, it would only take more time.

Logically speaking, if the mutated animals could attack them, as the only base nearby and the only checkpoint, the Tiansheng Base would definitely not be able to hold out. Whether it was Song Xun or Xia Jin, anyone with a brain could figure that out.

But in reality…

The Tiansheng Base was still there. Can you believe it?!

Ji Chao and Zhan Qing had gone out to scout and had come back. When they reported this news, under the twilight of the hill, not only Song Xun and Xia Jin, but everyone else was also taken aback for a moment.

“Are you sure?”

“I’m sure.”

Ji Chao’s expression was animated. “Although we didn’t go too deep, there are definitely people inside.”

Zhan Qing also nodded vigorously. “Right, right.”

Song Xun and Xia Jin exchanged a look.

What’s going on? Could it be that the mutated animals had bypassed the Tiansheng Base to attack us?

“…Then did the Tiansheng Base deliberately let the mutated animals leave!”

In the silence, someone said this in a low voice, and the others looked at each other.

Under normal circumstances, if the mutated animals wanted to leave Mingjiang Lake and advance inward, the Tiansheng Base was the only way.

Everyone had assumed that the Tiansheng Base was already finished. But now, it was still there, seemingly without having had any conflict with the mutated animals.

Then there seemed to be only this one explanation.

One person spoke up, and the others also successively expressed their opinions. Some agreed, and some disagreed.

“Although the Tiansheng Base is a private base, it couldn’t have done this, right? This is too shameless.”

“Are you stupid? If the people of Tiansheng Base had really blocked the mutated animals, how could the base still be intact now?”

“That’s right. They did it to survive, can’t you see?”

“But…”

Some people still didn’t understand. “But even if the Tiansheng Base let the mutated animals pass, how did they communicate? Could the mutated animals just make a deal with them so calmly?”

“Why not? Don’t forget, the mutated beast tide is controlled by a Beast King. To become a Beast King, you must have great intelligence. That’s the minimum standard. Since it already has the thinking ability of an adult, why couldn’t it make a deal?”

“But communication, how did they communicate? Thinking ability doesn’t mean it can speak human language, right?”

“How would I know…”

“…”

Hearing the discussion behind her, Song Xun frowned, drank her ice water, and looked up at the silent Xia Jin. “What do you think about this?”

“I think…”

Xia Jin was silent for a long moment, then she seemed to want to say something but stopped.

But Song Xun already understood what Xia Jin meant. “You don’t agree with this explanation?”

“I didn’t say that.”

Xia Jin was holding a bottle of ice water in her hand, but her face was pale, and she hadn’t drunk it. The ice crystals on the bottle had quickly evaporated, and in her hand, the heat of her palm, combined with the extreme heat, made the water quickly turn warm, then hot.

“…The head of the Tiansheng Base, I know him. He’s not the kind of person who would do this.”

To let the mutated animals pass, although it was for survival, and understandable, it was also a despicable act.

“But this is the apocalypse…”

Xia Jin also sighed. “That’s right.”

This is the apocalypse!

An apocalypse where anything can happen.

Perhaps the person she knew had changed under the harsh conditions of the apocalypse. She could never guarantee the unpredictability of the human heart.

“But no matter what, since this Tiansheng Base still exists, we still have to go and see it.”

“Okay.”

After a night of rest, the next morning, after hiding Guan He, Guan Ling, and the other injured members, the rest of the group set out for the Tiansheng Base.

In case there really was a problem with the Tiansheng Base, Xia Jin and Song Xun—mainly Xia Jin—had concealed their identities. The mountain bikes and other unsuitable items were all put into a spatial storage. Their group would just pretend to be survivors who had escaped from other areas.

After all, the situation at the Tiansheng Base was indeed too strange. It was better to observe for a while first.

On the way, Xia Jin briefly introduced the basic situation of the Tiansheng Base.

The Tiansheng Base was built near Jinghai City. The base leader was named Huang Jiaxing, about forty-something, a male Alpha, also from the military. He knew both Xia Jin and even Song Ye.

Before Xia Jin and Song Ye had enlisted, this Huang Jiaxing had almost been forced to retire due to an injury, so their interaction was not much. After he retired, Huang Jiaxing had been transferred to work at the Jinghai City Police Department.

Compared to Song Ye, who had only met him, Xia Jin’s relationship with Huang Jiaxing was a little deeper.

“Old acquaintance?”

“Not really.”

Xia Jin shook her head. “But there is some camaraderie from our time in the service.”

The Tiansheng Base was just a private base and had no national or official background. But because its founders were from the Jinghai City Police Department and a very famous security company, it was quite famous among the private bases and belonged to the upper-middle tier.

According to the First Base’s previous intelligence, the number of survivors in the Tiansheng Base was between 50,000 and 70,000, which was quite a lot. Most of them were original residents, as well as those who had been traveling there when the disaster suddenly came and were unable to return.

But this information was from a while ago, and who knew if it was still accurate?

The group set out in the morning and, by forced march, arrived at the entrance of the Tiansheng Base just before noon. The ruins of the city had been mostly eroded by the three years of disasters, but unlike other bases’ outposts, the main gate of the Tiansheng Base was wide open, and there was not a single person on guard or patrol.

But as they got closer, the group could gradually hear the sound of a bustling crowd, very noisy.

Before, Ji Chao and Zhan Qing’s scouting party had only come to the entrance to take a look and hadn’t gone too deep. But it wasn’t surprising. With such a strange scene, who wouldn’t be wary and hesitant to step in easily?

But the sound coming from inside was indeed human voices, there was no mistake.

Mutated animals can’t speak human language.

But this scene…

No one in the group said anything. Song Xun and Xia Jin exchanged a look and, without hesitation, led the group in, pretending to be wandering survivors, stumbling towards the open gate.

The group had no idea that just as they entered, about a minute later, the solid, cracked ground under their feet suddenly began to shift like sand in an hourglass. Egg-sized small holes silently appeared, from which dozens of red, ant-like insects crawled out.

Each one was about the size of a quail egg, their sharp teeth gnashing up and down, silently watching as the group stepped through the gate of the Tiansheng Base.

The gate of the Tiansheng Base was made of iron, but it was clearly a patchwork of iron sheets, probably salvaged from the city ruins.

Many places were rusted, looking tattered and covered in a dark reddish color.

The group—excluding the pre-arranged seriously injured and the non-combatants like Guan He and Guan Ling—consisted of about twenty people who entered in a single file. As the last person entered, he accidentally touched the iron gate, and it immediately made a “creak creak” sound.

Soon, the two sides of the iron gate, which had been open, suddenly collapsed like fragile icicles.

Bang—

A cloud of choking dust was kicked up.

“Captain, I really just accidentally touched it…”

The Beta from the First Base said with an embarrassed expression. Xia Jin’s gaze turned to the iron gate on the ground. Before she could say anything, a series of footsteps suddenly came rushing over.

The bustling sound of the base suddenly fell silent. An uncountable number of human survivors densely blocked the group at the gate.

They were indeed human survivors, that was certain.

There were men, women, old, and young, of all genders. The Tiansheng survivors were all silent, their faces expressionless, their clothes ragged, and they were holding knives and sticks, as if they would attack at the slightest disagreement.

The crowd directly blocked the front of Song Xun and the others, and behind them was the collapsed gate of the Tiansheng Base.

This atmosphere is definitely not right.

But as for what was wrong, no one could quite say.

Soon, a gap opened in the crowd that was directly blocking them, and a stooped figure slowly walked out from among them. He was old and gaunt, and his tattered winter cotton clothes carried a foul, stale smell. When the extremely hot wind blew, the fabric rustled.

“Who are you? Why have you come to our base?”

The old man’s voice was low, so low it was stiff, with a certain hoarse discomfort.

And, “base”?

What era’s term was that?!

Xia Jin’s eyes flickered. “Hello, old man. We are from the Qianyan Base near Jinjing City, out on a mission. We were chased here by a group of mutated animals. This should be the Tiansheng Base, right? I saw it written on the stone outside. I wonder if you could let us rest here for two days.”

The old man didn’t speak.

Song Xun stepped forward. “Don’t worry, old man. We can pay for accommodation and food. We won’t take up the base’s resources.”

In this stage of the apocalypse, with mutated animals rampant, it had already become common for bases and survivors to exchange food and crystal cores for payment. Although the specific rates had not been unified, basic protocols were already in place.

In the fourth year of the apocalypse, everything was starting to fall into a new kind of order.

The old man’s narrowed, cloudy eyes flashed with a hint of red. He seemed to be thinking about something, and after a long moment, he slowly nodded.

“Okay. For one person, two jin of grain and meat a day, or for one person, three crystal cores a day.”

Isn’t this just robbery?

The price is far too high.

But as the leaders, Song Xun and Xia Jin did not hesitate and nodded in agreement.

“Okay, deal.”