Forty kilometers away, more than 2000 people safely evacuated from the base, including the ability users and civilians. They were all gathered in the open space of the gas station and looked around. They watched the mountain that had stood tall crack and break into gravel, burying the base. The huge noise was clearly audible even several tens of kilometers away and even the earth under their feet trembled. The smoke in the sky fluttered over the ruin and remained there for a long time.
The power which brought about the sudden changes in heavens and earth was so terrible that the people who witnessed this scene felt like they witnessed it with their whole body. If it was not for Young Master Gong to remind everyone to evacuate, what would happen? They were afraid that they would have already broken their bones and be buried underneath the mountain. When they thought about that, everyone looked towards Young Master Gong, who had an indifferent expression, their eyes were filled with reverence and deep gratitude.
Young Master Gong rescued them from the purgatory city, collected enough supplies for them and helped them clear zombies that threatened their lives while leading them to become stronger and fight to break free from despair, showing them the light and the hope of living. Time and time again, Young Master Gong used his actions to prove that the apocalypse was not a terrible place. Young Master Gong, who had already surpassed the level of a regular human ’being’, had become a more heavy and sacred being to them. Just like faith in any religion, he had become a spiritual pillar. As long as Young Master Gong was with everyone, even if the base was destroyed, they would not panic. They firmly believed that they would be able to survive the storm and live well.
In this situation, when they saw Young Master Gong’s calm expression, the panic in the people’s heart immediately calmed down. They didn’t know who in the crowd started it, but someone cried out, "Long live, Young Master Gong", triggering a certain switch in the crowd as they all yelled out with fanaticism. The sound of worship as they cried out ’Long Live, Young Master Gong’ reverberated throughout the gas station for a long time.
Father Gong and Grandfather Lin looked at each other with deep smiles in their eyes. They thought that this disaster would cause the people of the base to be distracted and that the feeling of panic would spread. But they didn’t expect that, with Lixin there, all these worries became redundant.
After this incident, Gong Lixin’s prestige in the base reached an unprecedented height and to the people, he became the spiritual leader. This made the base more cohesive and brought everyone a sense of belonging.
Gong Lixin was a NEET and, in the face of the crowd’s enthusiasm, he was unable to adapt inevitably. His face still showed an indifferent expression, only his lips were pressed tightly together and his slightly red ears showed his discomfort. Without any trace of moving his feet, he tugged at Lin Wenbo who stood close to him and looked at him with clear and bright eyes that clearly had four big words written in them - what should I do?
For the first time, he had seen the young boy’s panic-stricken expression. He forced himself to calm down. The other looked so pitiful and cute that Lin Wenbo’s heartbeat sped up. He brought up his clenched fist up to his lips, blocking the smile that wanted to take over his lips and whispered, "It’s late and it’s been a hard day. Ask everyone to hurry up and set up camp."
Gong Lixin brightened and raised his hand to signal everyone to be quiet. He used his internal force to send his words out to everyone’s ears and to ease their concern, "Time is not early anymore. Let us set up camp and rest."
"Yes!" The sound of his voice was the same all around, as if Young Master Gong was speaking right in front of them making their adoration peak once again.
"Young Master Gong, the base is gone. Where will we be settling down in the future?" Some people worried about it and went ahead and inquired.
"Tonight, we will hold a meeting to discuss this issue. I will give you an answer tomorrow morning. No matter where we go, I, Gong Yuanhang promise that I will never abandon any of you." Father Gong saw his son being asked this question and quickly replied loudly.
With his guarantee, the crowd’s remaining uneasiness dissipated. The people consciously went to the logistics group to collect tents and set up a temporary shelter in the open space of the gas station. The six district leaders and leaders of various teams and organizations gathered at the gas station. A meeting was held inside to discuss where to go in the future.
"Let’s go straight to the North and go to Xiangshui Bay base. I heard that there were complete facilities and sufficient supplies. They were also recruiting ability users and survivors from all over the country. Going there, the people’s lives will be more secure." The leader of a team was the first to open his mouth after a while.
"No!" Without waiting to give everyone a chance to think it over, Gong Xiangyi screamed and her eyes quickly contained a trace of fear. Xiangshui Bay base was the place where her tragedy began. It was the nightmare that kept bothering her for two lifetimes. She told herself that she would not go there.
"I don’t think it’s feasible either." Lin Wenbo’s glanced at Gong Xiangyi with an unclear look in his eyes before he slowly said so.
"Tell me your reason.” Xiancui Bay base is the base of the Song family. The Gong family and Song family have deep hatred for each other. Gong Yuanhang also felt wrong going there, but didn’t say it. After all, this involved the interests of the people and he couldn’t ignore the people’s interest for his family’s grievance.
Gong Lixin looked around and seemed to be listening to the content of the meeting, but in fact, he had long been confused about what was going on. When it came to this sort of decisions, the wires in his brain were severely knotted together and Young Master Gong, who was a wise and powerful martial artist, instantly degenerated into a short-sighted man from an ancient era.
Song Haoran watched the teenager’s confused eyes and his heart felt funny. He quietly pulled the white and long fingers into his palm to play with. He didn’t care where they went, even if everyone wanted to go to Beijing and to where his second uncle exiled him. Even if they wanted to go to the place where his family resided. As long as this young man was still with him, he would be able to settle down and stay calm anywhere he went.
"Nearly 2000 people have to be collectively migrated and with so many materials, the noise created will be very big. There will definitely be a lot of danger along the way. I’m afraid that we can’t safely arrive at Xiangshui Bay. It is better to find a base that’s closer for more insurance." Lin Wenbo explained.
"Yes! The road to the north is long. With bandits and zombies along the way, it will certainly be very dangerous. It’s best to choose a closer base." Gong Xiangyi quickly opened her mouth to support that reason.
After a moment of thought, the third district leader hesitated a bit before opening his mouth. "You say that, but we have a lot of people. Which nearby base would dare to take care of us? If we try to bring the people there, they will think that we are taking advantage of them. I’m afraid that we will end up with bloody conflicts and more losses."
"That won’t be an issue. Let’s negotiate before we resort to violence. First, we can offer part of our resources in exchange for letting us stay in the base. If they reject, we’ll open fire to pry open their gate and take the base ourselves. However, we must recover and wait till we can stand on our feet before we can carry out this strategy." Song Haoran kept scratching and poking the other’s palm, calling him back to pay attention. Gong Lixin understood this and simply said to the others his plan.
What he learned from his childhood was to violently kill and never to succumb to others. In his view, it was the best policy to rely on and it would solve their problems once and for all.
The six district leader went dumb after hearing Young Master’s words and didn’t know what to do. On the other hand, the leader of several ability user teams were stimulated by his words and their morale were high. In troubled times, strength was superior. Which man didn’t participate in a scuffle and dream of being recorded in the history books of Qing Dynasty? Young Master Gong’s words were quite tempting for them. At the same time, their understanding of Young Master Gong deepened. Don’t look at Young Master Gong as a young boy, his killing ability was incomparable! Sure enough, the hero is this teenager!
Father Gong and Old Lin looked at each other and smiled. They watched the little boy grow up step by step into the courageous and brave young man today. The pride in their hearts could not be expressed with words.
Lin Wenbo was already accustomed to the surprises brought up by the youth and he simply smiled. He and the youth looked at the map and towards the small island nearby and pointed in unison, "Let’s go there."
Everyone took a closed looked and it was Long Snake Island Prison that was more than 500 kilometers away. If they walked day and night, it would take them only three or four days to arrive.
Long Snake Island Prison was located in the inner sea of southern Fujian. It was the largest prison near the border of the four provinces and could accommodate more than 70000 prisoners at the same time. The entire Long Snake Island was surrounded by a high-voltage grid and only a narrow single-lane street led in and out of the prison. It was because of its isolation and security that allowed some of the island prisoners and prison guards survive in the apocalypse.
Long Snake Island Prison adhered to the principle of ’labor reform’ and transformed the fertile soil on the whole island into large chunks of farmland, allowing prisoners to cultivate day and night as a form of self-cultivation as well as making them self-sufficient before the apocalypse. There was no need to worry about food problems and there was no need to worry about zombies either. Only the surviving prison guards and prisoners on the island were extremely reclusive. They never accepted outsiders, so it wouldn’t be easy to convince them.
After listening to the opinions of the people, Head of Gong waved his hand and made his decision. "It doesn’t matter, let’s go and try. Just like Lixin said, let’s try exchanging for goods first. If Snake Island is not short on food, let’s exchange for arms. The prison guards and prisoners will always want firearms. Eventually, as long as there is a gap between the two factions there, we will have the opportunity to drill in when we negotiate. Nothing else. No use of gunfire to open the door by force."
Father Gong made this decision and everyone nodded, showing relieved expressions. When the base was destroyed, the pain and pressure in their hearts were not small. But now that everyone was so closely united and worked together, the fear and anxiety had long vanished since, leaving only hope for the future.
Gong Xiangyi clenched her fist, her nails biting into her flesh to the point of pain, but she seemed to ignore it. No one noticed how distorted the expression on her face became when Lin Wenbo mentioned Snake Island.
In her last life, the troops led by Father Gong first went to Long Snake Island Prison. There was indeed enough food and safety, but it was not a long-term settlement. They were going to leave sooner or later and would eventually head to Xiangshui Bay. She deliberately tried her best to avoid the tragedy of her last life, but the God of Destiny seemed to like playing jokes on her and invisibly pushed her towards her original path. She was afraid, afraid to die!
"No, you can’t go to Snake Island!" Gong Xiangyi yelled and suddenly slammed the table.
"Where should we go? Xiangshui Bay?" Lin Wenbo asked Gong Xiangyi and her shoulders trembled. The reason why he asked was because he saw that Gong Xiangyi had an inexplicable fear of Xiangshui Bay. It was very likely that she was lost in her mind and couldn’t extricate herself. In order to find the true heart of Gong Xiangyi, he had to speak out.
"No! You can’t go to Xiangshui Bay!" Gong Xiangyi’s face paled and stood up as she shouted.
Father Gong also knew that her daughter had a psychological problem. Seeing her face was not right, he waved his hand and dismissed everyone. Gong Lixin and Song Haoran looked at each other and followed the crowd to leave. Gong Xiangyi was sick again and they didn’t want to be poisoned by the sound of her shrill voice.
Gong Xiangyi made a loud ruckus and repeatedly predicted that Snake Island would become the habitat of fire crows. It was not suitable for human habitation, but it was rejected by Father Gong. If they didn’t go to Long Snake Island, they had nowhere else to go. So many people needed to find a place to settle down as soon as possible. It would be too late to settle down in the future. The fire crows were mutant birds, and there might be a way to deal with them.
After a while, seeing her father not changing his original intentions, Gong Xiangyi also knew that she couldn’t control the decision of everyone. She pushed Father Gong and Lin Wenbo away and ran away alone.
Looking at the tired and bitter face of Lin Wenbo, Father Gong felt speechless and could only pat his shoulders in a show of comfort.
After all, his daughter was raised with his own hands. He was inevitably selfish and wanted to find a good and reliable man to take care of his daughter for the rest of her life. Lin Wenbo was his candidate he was most satisfied with. Even if he knew that his daughter had really wronged this child, he could only turn a blind eye. He hoped that his daughter could understand things and not let fate and feelings between the two disappear.