The First Order

When Ren Xiaosu first heard of the term “The Dawn of Gods,” he felt that the Saboteurs had decided on using this name too hastily.

Most people would inextricably link the term “The Dawn of Gods” to “The Twilight of Gods,” but that made it sound a little inauspicious. But that raised the question of how it should be named to make it sound better.

By calling it the “The Early Morning of Gods”? That sounded really unsuitable.

“The Noon of Gods”? Didn’t sound right either.

And what comes after “The Twilight of Gods”? “The Latter Night of Gods”?

When Ren Xiaosu and Yan Liuyuan first started discussing this topic seriously, they were still operating a clinic in Stronghold 109 while Luo Lan was scurrying around in the sewers.

When Yan Liuyuan heard Ren Xiaosu say those words back then, he almost died from the hilariousness of it. But now, the young man who used to crack lame jokes with Yan Liuyuan remained unconscious on Jiang Wu’s back. He did not even have any awareness of where he was.

Yan Liuyuan led the group and blended in with the fleeing crowd as they left Stronghold 108. Now that Ren Xiaosu was in no condition to lead them, it was only natural that he, as his younger brother, would step forward.

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They had to leave since the Li Consortium’s forces in Stronghold 108 had not been completely wiped out yet. Currently, the Li Consortium and the Yang Consortium’s nanosoldiers were fighting each other out in the wilderness. The Yang Consortium’s troops had wanted to withdraw after completing their mission, but it was not going to be that easy.

But if they waited here until the battle was over, they might end up having to face a pursuit by the reorganized Li Consortium forces.

Ren Xiaosu had not held back when he used his shadow clone in battle. Therefore, there was the danger that some of Ren Xiaosu’s secrets might have been exposed. After all, some of the nanosoldiers managed to flee from the scene.

Of course, Ren Xiaosu was covered entirely with the armor and did not even show his face when they were fighting. It would still be justifiable if they said it was Xu Xianchu.

Although he had reformed the entire armor into a shield at the end, the Li Consortium had no time to pay any attention to who Ren Xiaosu was amid the chaos, nor did they have any visual references to identify him with.

Furthermore, the Li Consortium’s nanosoldiers that participated in that battle might not have survived. When Yan Liuyuan and the others fled from the scene, the Yang Consortium’s nanosoldiers arrived and immediately engaged in battle with the Li Consortium’s nanosoldiers.

Of course, that was only what Yan Liuyuan thought. Whether anyone discovered Ren Xiaosu’s secret was still yet to be confirmed. But for now, the most important thing that Yan Liuyuan had to consider was not Ren Xiaosu’s secrets. What he needed to think about was how to stabilize Ren Xiaosu’s injury and lead everyone to safety.

As the truck had broken down, they could only travel north on foot with the other escapees. Along the way, Yan Liuyuan was also hoping to get his hands on a vehicle, but any vehicles that they found by the roadside were damaged and could not be operated.

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Without Ren Xiaosu leading them, they did not even have enough food prepared this time. It was quite different from the previous times when they were always prepared for their escape. This time, Yan Liuyuan and company were just as pathetic as the other escapees.

Even though Xiaoyu had made a lot of preparations, they had six members, including Ren Xiaosu, who were wounded. Just taking care of the wounded was enough to overwhelm them, but they even had to take turns to carry them as well. Therefore, they abandoned some of their supplies along the way and only kept some basic food and necessities like matchsticks for survival in the wilderness. It was not to say that those supplies were not essential, but they felt that their lives were more important.

Yan Liuyuan wore a pair of gloves and concealed himself everywhere below the neck. That was because the entire group would have to rely on Yan Liuyuan’s nanomachines in case they fought with the escapees.

Wang Fugui, Li Qingzheng, and Xiaoyu had no combat capabilities at all, so they could only rely on their handguns for the time being. As for the rest, needless to say, all of the nanomachines the few male students had were even less than what Yan Liuyuan had.

Furthermore, they would still experience a delay of about half a second when trying to control the nanomachines. If they got in a fight, their opponents’ fists would have already landed onto their faces before the nanomachines could even react.

However, Yan Liuyuan was quite talented at controlling his nanomachines. He could even gather the nanomachines to cover specific parts of his body. As long as he wore gloves while fighting, the silvery strands would not appear on his face.

Previously, Ren Xiaosu was always the one responsible for leading the way within the group of escapees. This was to ensure that the rear of his group would not get lost in the crowd. However, Yan Liuyuan became the person to lead the way this time.

“Liuyuan,” Wang Fugui said, “why don’t you rest for a while? Li Qingzheng and I will take over from you.”

Yan Liuyuan looked back and said, “There’s no need to. However my brother did it in the past, I’ll do the same as well.”

The group of escapees continued heading north. As it was a cold winter with snowdrifts on the ground, they could not travel far in a day.

But they did not dare to turn back around. Who knew if those terrifying Experimentals could still be following them? Although the commotion in the stronghold was rather big, most of the escapees who fled did not even know what actually happened there, nor did they know who saved them.

A minority knew the monsters might have been driven away by someone, but wasn’t that person dead? What if those monsters came back again?

On that same night, the escapees stopped at a spot that was not too far north of the stronghold. They stared blankly into the distance at the destroyed stronghold.

Yan Liuyuan headed into the wilderness alone with a pot, a rope, and some dried buns brought by Xiaoyu.

They only had enough food to last them two days. If they wanted to survive longer, Yan Liuyuan would have to go hunting like Ren Xiaosu. Moreover, Ren Xiaosu was injured and needed meat instead of only dried food.

Yan Liuyuan recalled that Ren Xiaosu only taught him how to catch sparrows. That was because catching sparrows was considered the most basic hunting skill.

Sparrows were not migratory birds. So some sparrows would have already run out of food for some time by winter. That made this the best time to catch them.

But after Yan Liuyuan set up the trap with the large pot, he did not even see any sparrows coming to peck at the crumbs below the pot after lying in the snow for four hours.

During this time, Yan Liuyuan did see several sparrows land on the snowy ground. But each time there was a slight change in his breathing, the sparrows would get frightened off.

Birds were one of the most alert animals. After The Cataclysm, the birds became even more alert to their surroundings.

But Yan Liuyuan was not discouraged as he readjusted his breathing. In the past, Ren Xiaosu would always share with him how easy it was to catch sparrows after he got home. But now that it was his turn to try, he realized Ren Xiaosu had only pretended it was easy.

It was extremely tough for a person to lie in the snow like this. Keeping his body hidden in the snow, the bone-chilling wind penetrated through the gaps in his clothes and cut his skin like knives.

Furthermore, with no one around him out in the wilderness, he could not talk to anyone, nor did he have any forms of entertainment. All he had was the feeling of loneliness.

Throughout the night, Yan Liuyuan laid prone in the snow without moving until his hands and feet went numb.

One time, when a sparrow did come and peck on the crumbs under the pot, Yan Liuyuan wanted to pounce on it only to realize that he had lost his ability to move. By then, the large sparrow had already tipped over the metal pot and flown away.