The First Order

“Master,” Chen Wudi said as he sat down next to the campfire and stared at it in a daze, “I defeated the King of the Southern Mountains, so why did that woman tell me to get lost?”

Ren Xiaosu kept quiet. He wanted to tell Chen Wudi that human nature was complicated and some people were just not worth saving. But he was also worried that he would destroy Chen Wudi’s innocence.

If there really were a Great Sage in times like these who ended up getting persuaded by Ren Xiaosu to become an ordinary mortal, he wondered if he would have done a good or bad thing.

Ren Xiaosu did not know if it would be a good thing or not if he managed to persuade a real Great Sage to become a normal person in this world.

But at this moment, Wang Fugui chuckled next to him. “You’re too much of a busybody. You would’ve saved yourself a lot of trouble if you adopted the mindsets of ‘none of your business’ and ‘none of my business’ in your life.”

“What do you mean?” Chen Wudi looked up, stunned.

“Look here.” Wang Fugui said earnestly, “Why do you have to poke your nose into this matter for no good reason? If you don’t poke your nose—”

“It’s none of your business,” interrupted Chen Wudi.

Wang Fugui was speechless.

“Hahaha!” Ren Xiaosu, Yan Liuyuan, and Xiaoyu were convulsing with laughter. It was great that Chen Wudi had already mastered the use of the phrase “none of your business.”

As for whether he could learn “none of my business,” Ren Xiaosu felt that it depend on whether Chen Wudi was willing to learn it.

The next morning, Ren Xiaosu and company got up early and roasted some sweet potatoes to eat. A lot of people preferred to sleep for a while longer than to get up and eat. In reality, if they did not eat in the morning during this season, their bodies would remain cold for the rest of the day.

Ren Xiaosu saw that the Qing Consortium’s people had also gotten up. After all, the combat troops were different from the escapees in that they had a certain regimen to follow.

The conditions of the escapees were much better today. As usual, some of them still fell sick and went down with a fever, but it was not that many of them.

When the Qing Consortium started moving off, the escapees followed. Everyone silently and eagerly followed the Qing Consortium as they did not want to lose sight of them.

Ren Xiaosu glanced at the group of escapees and discovered that the “King of the Southern Mountains” who had been beaten up by Chen Wudi last night was lying on the ground taking his last breaths. The woman who was with him had already rejoined the larger group and blended into the crowd.

Lying on the ground with no help from anyone would lead to certain death.

Actually, if what this unfortunate fellow had said was true, that woman not only should have been taken good care of by him in the stronghold, she was also only able to escape the stronghold with his help. But once he was in trouble, that woman decisively abandoned him.

In a world like this, there was no saying who deserved death more.

Ren Xiaosu looked over to the Qing Consortium’s people. The remaining two vehicles were now driving very slowly. Those who couldn’t fit into the vehicles had to keep up next to them on foot.

But Ren Xiaosu was surprised to see Luo Lan walking on foot as well instead of riding in a vehicle!

Why? Was he working out to get fitter?

Then Ren Xiaosu made a careful observation. Just which soldiers were allowed to ride in the vehicles? There shouldn’t be anyone more important than Luo Lan, right?

Ren Xiaosu was stunned by his observation. He saw the bandaged wounded in the back of the military transport truck and in the off-road vehicle. The truck was also half-loaded with firearms and munitions.

The firearms and munitions were definitely indispensable. Even if the soldiers were forced to walk, they would still have to bring those along with them. After all, those were their only means of protecting their lives!

The soldiers had helped Luo Lan force his way through a blockade of the face bugs, so Luo Lan allowed them to ride in the vehicles instead of himself.

The walking wounded still existed, but it was only because the vehicles were filled to the brim with people. Those who could still walk didn’t get into the vehicles.

But the wounded who weren’t in the vehicles were neither depressed nor resentful. It even seemed to Ren Xiaosu like they were chatting and laughing during the march.

Ren Xiaosu had thought Luo Lan would just abandon the wounded and drive straight to Stronghold 109 by himself. But what really happened was a total surprise to him.

These two brothers, Qing Zhen and Luo Lan… it was no wonder that even a supernatural being was willing to die for Qing Zhen.

In reality, Ren Xiaosu did not know the deceased supernatural being was not hired by Qing Zhen but was originally a soldier within the ranks of Qing Zhen’s combat brigade. After awakening his power, he instantly became Qing Zhen’s bodyguard and remained loyal and devoted to him.

That night, Ren Xiaosu felt an inexplicable sense of unease. Even Xiaoyu noticed his perturbation. Xiaoyu asked, “Xiaosu, what’s the matter?”

“It’s nothing.” Ren Xiaosu looked at the campfire and shook his head. “I just feel like something’s off.”

But he couldn’t figure out what was wrong…. It felt like he was back at the extremely dangerous Jing Mountains.

The night was pitch black, enveloping them like a prison cell.

“Let’s go.” Ren Xiaosu extinguished their campfire with his feet. “We can’t stay here any longer tonight.”

After much deliberation, he still believed his intuition, because his intuition had saved him on more than one occasion.

Zhang Jinglin had once said that scientists from before The Cataclysm proved “gut feelings” were real.

When Ren Xiaosu stood up and extinguished the campfire, the escapees around them stared at him with puzzled looks on their faces. Jiang Wu reacted the quickest to it. Before the others could figure out what was going on, she was already urging the students to follow suit.

Although she didn’t know what was going on, she knew that there was no wrong in escaping with Ren Xiaosu!

Someone wondered, “Has that young man gone crazy?”

“I have no idea.”

“Bro, where are we going?” Yan Liuyuan asked.

“I don’t know.” Ren Xiaosu said, “We’ll talk after we get out of here.”

But just as they separated from the group of escapees and were about to bypass the Qing Consortium’s campsite, Ren Xiaosu heard from behind him the sound of chains being dragged across the ground!

Furthermore, the sound was closing in!

“Run!” Ren Xiaosu yelled in a low voice. He was probably the only person among the countless escapees who knew what was coming from behind them!

When he saw a pack of Experimentals making a rush at him in the Jing Mountains, he instinctively retreated and fled. He didn’t even hesitate knowing that he would have to turn around and face the Qing Consortium instead! At that time, Ren Xiaosu could not determine exactly how many Experimentals there were. He only knew that if he did not run, he would surely die there!

Ren Xiaosu had been worrying about the wolf pack and Experimentals for the past two days. His worries would not dissipate until the day he got to Stronghold 109.

He had hoped that the destroyed stronghold would attract the Experimentals and wolves to it. But now, it seemed like all hope was lost. They could only make use of whatever time they had left to escape!

Although, Ren Xiaosu was a little confused by this. The Experimentals had only been active within the perimeter of the forest. Why had all of them come out now?!

Wang Fugui and the others did not know why Ren Xiaosu told them to run, but they had already started trusting him.

“What about the sweet potatoes!” Wang Dalong shouted as he ran.

Wang Fugui turned around and smacked away all the sweet potatoes in Wang Dalong’s arms. “How can you eat the sweet potatoes when you’re dead?! Quickly follow Ren Xiaosu!”

The sound of the chains coming from behind the escapees was growing louder. When everyone turned to look back, they saw the Experimentals scampering across the ground like spiders as they approached. They looked like demons!

It wasn’t until this moment that the escapees started screaming in horror before fleeing for their lives!

But the size of the escapee group was too large. The people at the front were still unsure of what was going on, while those at the rear were already running madly for their lives. As a result, a lot of people were knocked down as they collided into one another!

Terrified screams could be heard at the back of the crowd. Hundreds of Experimentals had rushed into the group and started hunting and killing maniacally!

Once they killed someone, they did not hesitate to pounce onto others. It was as though they wanted to finish off all of the escapees!

When Ren Xiaosu looked back, he noticed another Experimental walking upright behind the maniacal Experimentals. It was staring at them coldly.

Ren Xiaosu realized someone else might be controlling these Experimentals. They had not yet lost all of their intelligence.