Cannon fodder in the Interstellar

The military training base is located at the foot of Lishan, while the resort is halfway up the mountain. The entire B City Survivor Base combines both the military training base and the resort at the halfway point of Lishan, covering a vast area.

Neither the military training base nor the resort had enough buildings to house hundreds of thousands of people. As a result, the area had been renovated, with caves dug into the cliffs between the mountain’s base and halfway up, and wooden houses built on the flatter areas.

Fortunately, the dense trees provided some cover. While it still didn’t look perfect, it wasn’t overcrowded either.

The perimeter of the survivor base was surrounded by a not-too-thick wall, but there was a wide, deep trench dug around it.

Ruo Manni felt satisfied when she saw the trench. Houses at the foot of the mountain were most vulnerable to flash floods and mudslides.

Lishan had extremely lush vegetation, so mudslides were definitely unlikely, but flash floods were another matter. It all depended on the amount of rainfall.

With this trench, as long as the floodwaters weren’t overwhelming, the base wouldn’t be significantly impacted.

Moreover, during normal times, this trench would act as a defensive moat—if zombies approached, they would certainly fall into the trench and be unable to climb out.

The convoy led by Song Changlong arrived first, with Ruo Manni’s two RVs following closely behind, stopping in front of the survivor base’s main gate. The guards stationed at the entrance naturally noticed the convoy early on. As soon as Song Changlong jumped out of the car, the soldiers at the gate shouted with joy, “Captain Song, Captain Li, you’re back!”

“Captain Song, you didn’t return yesterday, we were so worried!”

“You didn’t follow the plan and come back, we thought something had happened to you!”

“We did run into some trouble, but if it weren’t for the group of young people behind us coming to our rescue, we probably wouldn’t have made it back.” Song Changlong said with a bitter smile.

“We encountered a fourth-tier mutated snake yesterday. We exhausted all our weapons but still couldn’t kill it. In the end, Captain Song had to stay behind to hold off the creature. Fortunately, these young people appeared just in time and killed the fourth-tier mutated snake,” Li Zhongping said bluntly.

First, he wanted everyone to know how loyal and selfless Captain Song was. Second, recently two small mercenary groups had gone out on missions and never returned, disappearing without a trace. This had caused great unrest within the base.

It seemed that some malicious person had spread rumors in the shadows, and now most people in the base knew that a fourth-tier mutated animal was near, and that the two missing mercenary groups had been wiped out.

Now that they knew the fourth-tier mutated animal had been killed, the uneasy atmosphere within the base would quickly settle down, and no further incidents would occur.

Although Song Changlong and the others were no longer as exhausted after a night’s rest, their appearance still looked quite ragged. They clearly had been through a tough battle. Adding to that, Song Changlong was never one to joke about such matters, so the soldiers and onlookers immediately believed it.

The survivors who were even more skilled than Captain Song had arrived at their base, and everyone’s attention was immediately drawn to the two black RVs behind them.

Soon after the military vehicles left, more than a dozen foreign teenagers, all with striking appearances, got out of the black RVs.

These foreign teenagers were wearing matching custom black tactical suits, each carrying specially made swords and backpacks of the same design. Every one of them exuded an air of calm and confidence, walking with a grace that clearly showed their exceptional skills.

Anyone who saw them at the gate of B City Base couldn’t help but marvel at where these “gods” had come from. Not only had they never seen such impressive foreign teenagers in the post-apocalyptic world, but they had never seen anyone like them even before the apocalypse.

Ruo Manni’s gaze briefly scanned the crowd of ordinary survivors and the retreating figures. The expressions on the faces of these two people when they realized that Song Changlong and the others had returned alive were quite revealing. They were clearly in a hurry, most likely to report the news.

Could it be that her suspicion was correct? That Song Changlong and the others’ encounter yesterday wasn’t an accident but something orchestrated? Were these two people rushing off part of the same group she had encountered with the convoy earlier today?

Although Ruo Manni and her group had entered the B City base with Song Changlong, they still underwent the usual checks. Even Song Changlong and his team had been thoroughly questioned before being allowed in. Naturally, Ruo Manni’s twelve-person group didn’t act arrogantly or recklessly.

As for Liu Yang and Wang Miaomiao, they followed closely behind the group of twelve young people, and almost no one noticed them.

—

“What did you say?” Dai Yanping looked at the messenger with an expression of disbelief.

It was impossible. In her previous life, Song Changlong had died yesterday. How could he possibly have survived and returned? “Are you sure you didn’t make a mistake?” Gao Genrong asked, his face filled with distress.

“Captain, I’m sure I didn’t make a mistake. Song Changlong really came back, but from what they said to the guards at the gate, they did indeed encounter a fourth-tier mutated snake yesterday evening. After exhausting all their bullets, Song Changlong stayed behind to cover for them. If no one had saved him, he definitely wouldn’t have made it back alive.”

Dai Yanping suddenly raised her head: “Someone saved Song Changlong? Who was it? Did you see them?”

“It was a group of about ten foreign boys and girls. They didn’t seem ordinary. Each of them was very skilled.”

—

Lin Kexin continued to stare blankly ahead. To others, it might have seemed like she was watching Lin Ruihai train, but if one got closer, they would notice that her eyes were unfocused, clearly lost in thought.

About half an hour later, she suddenly stood up. At that moment, Lin Ruihai also heard the sound of a large truck returning. He quickly hurried off the training field and said to Lin Kexin, “It should be Changlong returning. Let’s go to the warehouse.”

“He’s already gone to your office with people,” Lin Kexin said stiffly.

Lin Ruihai gave her a puzzled look and asked worriedly, “Kexin, what’s wrong? Are you feeling unwell?”

Lin Kexin shook her head, took a deep breath, and tried to calm herself. “I’m fine, Big Brother. Maybe today will bring an unexpected surprise.”

Lin Ruihai didn’t understand, but since his sister didn’t want to talk, he didn’t press the issue. After all, he wasn’t very familiar with her.

Lin Ruihai headed toward his office, and when they arrived, Song Changlong was there, bringing with him a foreign boy and a mixed-race girl.

The pair of young people looked strikingly handsome, and Lin Ruihai couldn’t help but glance at them a little longer. However, when his gaze landed on the girl, he was quite surprised, pausing for a moment. The girl looked very much like Lin Kexin, especially in her eyes…

A strange feeling swept through Lin Ruihai’s chest, and he couldn’t help but want to look more closely at the girl’s eyes. But the foreign boy stood between them, blocking his view.

Song Changlong found it amusing. This Hebrew Adam truly had a youthful nature; he couldn’t even let his crush be looked at by someone else for a moment.

Ruo Manni, upon seeing Lin Ruihai, felt an overwhelming excitement. Although he wasn’t her brother from her world, he was still a brother from a parallel world! She was about to get emotional, but before she could finish, a certain jealous prince interrupted her thoughts.

Ruo Manni couldn’t help but glance at the other version of herself, realizing that Lin Kexin was looking at her excitedly, and her gaze didn’t seem like she was looking at a stranger.