Chapter 885: Bound to the Birth System, Becoming a Winner in Life Chapter 886 Global Evolution (46)

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Protagonist:

Shen Yao

The good news was that the appearance of tents further confirmed the temporary camp was nearby; the bad news was that these tents had been actively abandoned, meaning the situation at the temporary camp was even worse than imagined.

The truck stopped, and those inside jumped down, guarding against danger behind them while checking the tents.

Wei Ran had a grim expression: "The temporary camp must have run into big trouble." If before it had been speculation with more hope in their hearts, now they were disheartened; the mess before their eyes proved the problem was severe, possibly even total annihilation.

Liu Mingfeng sucked in a cold breath: "We can't contact the temporary camp, and other squads are probably the same." Since the temporary camp's defenses weren't low originally, for something to happen in the wild meant they really needed to leave quickly.

"Judging by the traces, it happened just a day or two ago," Wei Ran recalled what she had seen and heard when she first came; since there were no tents then, but now there were, it could only prove the temporary camp had never shaken off the trouble behind them.

"Get on the truck, keep moving forward." Finding no useful clues around, not even being able to pick up people, Wei Ran took a deep breath, gathering her changing emotions within her tightly closed eyes.

Liu Mingfeng:...

Seeing Wei Ran like this, even if Liu Mingfeng had a thousand words to say, he couldn't speak them; tacitly closing his mouth, he could only endure his anxiety.

Shen Chengyi sat beside her listening to everything, but she was even more silent than Liu Mingfeng, with an air of minding her own business, after all she had little connection with the temporary camp; the last mission arrangement was seen by Wei Ran and Cheng Nan with the Commander-in-Chief.

There were many ordinary people at the temporary camp, including many wounded; from trucks to tents, nothing did not mark the tragic end of the temporary camp.

The truck stopped for only an instant, like the wind, blowing forward before anyone could catch up.

This time their destination was very clear: to return to the shelter at the fastest speed, reduce survival time outside, and avoid the increasingly cold weather.

The pitch-black sky slowly brightened and whitened, an orange-red sun appeared in the distance, and routes that originally needed vehicle lights could now be distinguished by human eyes.

The quiet inside the truck became lively as more and more people spoke; after the big shots passed the most tense period, they wanted to relax, urgently wanting to vent the panic in their thoughts.

You said one thing about last night, I said one thing about the road; the chattering sounds landing in the ears were piercing yet full of the flavor of everyday life.

Fragrant jerky appeared in everyone's hands; growling bellies needed filling, and the comfort of food greatly eased the atmosphere inside the truck.

Shen Chengyi touched her already shriveled belly, did not take out rabbit meat, but instead switched to special compressed biscuits and Evolution Potions that were more filling.

Last night Shen Chengyi had fought without resting, then drove away, fearing missing everyone so she had to get on the truck.

Although she had eaten a lot of rabbit meat while sitting in the truck, the energy provided by rabbit meat was limited; before long her body would act up again.

Wei Ran secretly stuffed a beautiful five-color Crystal Core into Shen Chengyi's hands; who let Shen Chengyi's ability be strong? The effect of Evolution Potions was barely better than nothing; only Crystal Cores could satisfy Shen Chengyi's body.

Shen Chengyi was not polite; after taking it, she put it in her mouth and chewed it with crackling sounds.

This was a way of eating Shen Chengyi had just invented recently; the benefit was faster than direct absorption, the downside was that teeth not being sturdy could easily break.

Shen Chengyi had always been in great health and ate with relish; let alone gnawing raw Crystal Cores, even gnawing raw mutant creature meat was no problem at all.

Heat nourished the body from inside out; Shen Chengyi turned her head to look at Wei Ran, a pair of eyes revealing silent encouragement.

Wei Ran:...

"I, I'm fine," Wei Ran's voice choked; although wrapped in a Protective Suit, one could still sense her emotional changes; all the previous pressures fell on her; perhaps Shen Chengyi was too reliable, perhaps Wei Ran's spirit could no longer hold on; in short, Wei Ran lost control.

Liu Mingfeng, besides paying attention to himself, was concerned about Wei Ran; seeing Wei Ran's emotions collapse, Liu Mingfeng was frightened and hurried over to comfort her in a low voice, even shielding Wei Ran with his back to other team members while comforting, to prevent the situation from becoming more uncontrollable.

Shen Chengyi:...

"Don't worry, Wei Ran has restraint." Their position was near the edge of the truck compartment; behind them was the outside of the truck where one could turn and jump down.

Plus the inside of the truck compartment was noisy, Wei Ran was wearing a Protective Suit; lowering her voice to cry a few words would only be ignored.

"But Captain Wei" can't hold on herself.

If it were team members collapsing, Liu Mingfeng wouldn't be this nervous, because team members were not the Head of the Caravan; but Wei Ran was different; she had to lead them back to the shelter, she was everyone's leader and pillar.

Liu Mingfeng didn't think Shen Chengyi was incapable; it was just that leaders had weight; when Wei Ran wasn't there, they relied on Shen Chengyi's presence to stabilize the situation inside the building; now that Wei Ran was back, Wei Ran naturally had the obvious advantage and was better.

"I'm fine," Wei Ran had slowly stopped her crying tone; although a trace of tremble could still be heard, because she was wrapped in a layer of Protective Suit, her voice was already distorted; others hadn't seen Wei Ran wipe tears, so they wouldn't associate it this way.

Wei Ran's public persona was strong and resilient; although she occasionally lost emotional control, most of the time she pressed it in her heart; something like today was not common.

Raising her hand to pat Liu Mingfeng's shoulder, Wei Ran told him to hurry back; originally there was nothing wrong, but him, such a big person, coming over made nothing into something.

Liu Mingfeng:...

Fine

Liu Mingfeng obediently sat back in his position, but his pair of eyes still stared tightly at Wei Ran, afraid Wei Ran would encounter something again.

Wei Ran:...

Regarding Liu Mingfeng's concern, Wei Ran politely declined; she turned her head not to look at him, but childishly complained to Shen Chengyi that this person was making a fuss over nothing: "Even for Cheng Nan, I will bring everyone back to the shelter safe and sound."

Cheng Nan; mentioning once hurts once, but cannot not be mentioned.

Wei Ran slightly raised her head and took a deep breath; she said nothing more, as if her soul had left, leaving only this empty shell.

Shen Chengyi helplessly shook her head; she could not yet feel the experience of losing close friends and relatives, but the sadness overflowing from Wei Ran's whole body was not hidden at all.

This was a truly deep wound; perhaps only time could fade the sadness.

The truck drove for a long time before finding a place to stop; the people who had sat in the car for a day all moved their bodies; for safety, they would rest here for several more hours; the ability users began to busy themselves with their abilities.

Metal, wood, water, fire, earth, including Shen Chengyi's lightning, none were idle.

After wandering around as usual, Shen Chengyi finally brought back several fresh mutant Wild Chickens; plucking feathers and cutting them, she placed them on the Bonfire to roast, leaving the Bone skeleton in the pot to stew Chicken Soup; after everyone chewed on plenty of dry Jerky, they finally had a hot Dinner.

Wei Ran's emotions showed no signs of collapse or loss of control; she led people to record the team members' conditions; after the time needing adrenaline burst passed, the team members injured last night began covering their wounds and crying out in pain.

"Hiss, I didn't even discover my hand was fractured."

"Tsk, the leg next door was broken yet still ran; if not for the Healer's vigilance, it wouldn't have been discovered."

"Ouch, my face, is it swollen?"

"My eyes can't see clearly; I can only get treated after returning to the shelter."

"Fortunately it's just a scrape; but the Protective Suit is damaged, and my body is numb from the cold."

"……"

Everyone had plenty of minor ailments, but no major problems; some could be cured, so ability users treated them directly, while others couldn't be cured, so ability users could only alleviate them.

Tonight Shen Chengyi finally managed to rest well, with no disturbances and no noise; she lay in her sleeping bag and slept straight through until broad daylight.

Her previously depleted spirit recovered considerably; even Wei Ran praised Shen Chengyi's complexion, saying compared to the past few days she was practically reborn.

"Right, we still have a few days before we can go back," Wei Ran pointed toward the direction the truck was advancing, indicating this stretch of road had already been cleared when they came, there was no risk in the surroundings, and if Shen Chengyi wanted to try hunting she could.

"I'll truthfully report those previous prey to the officials," although the officials' exchange ratio wasn't low, mutant creature meat has always been priceless; Wei Ran wanting to do Shen Chengyi a convenience was also because Shen Chengyi had been too hard-pressed this period, and using the truck's spacious interior to bring back some mutant creature meat was the only concession Wei Ran could currently make.

Sigh

Who told Wei Ran to be so poor? He has nothing at all.

Shen Chengyi shook her head; her space still held quite a few mutant creature corpses, and besides her points were enough to cover life in the shelter, so she didn't need to sell anything for the time being.

The return journey grew smoother and smoother; although the outside temperature was still very low, everyone had already been infected by the mood of soon arriving at the shelter — cold? Nonexistent.

Wei Ran was also surprised by everyone's enthusiasm; the atmosphere in the truck compartment grew better and better; although ahead was still snowy white, everyone knew that once they crossed these snowdrifts, the shelter was already right before their eyes.

"We've arrived, arrived, look ahead!"

The abrupt shout startled awake the vast majority of team members sitting in the truck compartment.

Wei Ran raised his hand to peel back the cloth used to block wind and rain, leaning more than half his body out.

Shen Chengyi worried Wei Ran would tumble out, and hurriedly reached out to pull him back.

Wei Ran turned back with a beaming smile and nodded at Shen Chengyi, "It's really arrived!"

Heaven knows how anxiously she'd waited for this moment; every extra day the truck drove back, her heart rose one more day; to completely set her heart at ease, unless all the burdens on her own body were handed over.

Wei Ran had long since had enough of this torment; he retracted his body that was shrunk outside, then clapped his palms, raised his volume, and told the other team members in the compartment that they had already reached the shelter's perimeter, and the safety index had greatly increased.

The erupted cheers seemed like they would pierce everyone's eardrums; Shen Chengyi raised her hand to cover her ears, unusually not feeling irritated.

Inside the shelter

Shen Chengyu and Shen Chengning ran back early; the reason naturally was news of the external team.

"Mom, Big Sister is definitely inside."

The ability users at the Ability User Center had all gone to the main gate; the two of them originally still wanted to go, but considering Shen Yao was still at home, they simply ran back to notify her, and then the three of them went together.

"Mm, let's go over," it had already been a very long time since they'd seen Shen Chengyi; despite the system saying in her mind several times that she was safe and sound, she still had to see the true person to be at ease.

Shen Yao picked up her own clothes and hurriedly put them on, and went downstairs with Shen Chengyu and Shen Chengning.

Others making the same movements included other people; practically the entire building had been roused.

After all, the people living in this building were mostly ability users, both official and unofficial, but quite a few had been selected for this team to go out on a mission; family members had stayed in the shelter worried and fearful for a long time, and now they could finally learn the outside situation — no matter what, they had to see them first.

The three of Shen Yao were originally not that nervous; the probability of Shen Chengyi having an accident was too low; looking at the surrounding crowds of other people dragging their families along, Shen Chengyu couldn't help gulping repeatedly, "Tsk, this many?"

Are they really here to find people or to watch the spectacle? What if not many people come back? Can the officials suppress the scene?

Shen Chengyu's worry wasn't without reason; the shelter cannot withstand large-scale casualties; this isn't an ordinary person's problem, but rather the number of ability users or ability powerhouses is too few, which in turn affects the shelter's safety.

Shen Chengning raised her hand and tugged Shen Yao's sleeve; her little face was drawn tight, and her eyes held not a trace of a smile.

Shen Yao raised her hand and patted both their shoulders; the mother and daughter wore thick heavy clothes, unable to even lift their arms normally.

"Let's go, check the situation first."

If she were the officials, she would strictly control the number of people at the main gate, and strictly prevent crowds from gathering.

"Stop, stop, halt ahead!"

Official personnel set up a long barricade to intercept them; they didn't violently expel them, only saying the returning team needed medical examinations and wouldn't show their faces for a short time.

Won't show their faces for a short time? Then how do they know if their own family members have returned or not?

Protest voices arose from the crowd: why won't they let them go see their people?

"Quiet, quiet!"

Seeing this, official personnel continued shouting for calm; they naturally understood everyone's anxiety, but the officials themselves were also very worried — nothing compares to the post-holiday migration; that concerns the life and death survival of the entire shelter.

The two sides deadlocked, neither willing to retreat a step, causing the crowd outside the barricade to grow larger and larger, with a faint risk of losing control.

The three of Shen Yao had also arrived; they stood in the middle section of the queue; Shen Chengyu and Shen Chengning stood on tiptoe, wishing they could squeeze in to confirm the situation.

Shen Yao: ……

"Don't rush, the officials will step in," with many people, uncontrollable things easily happen.

"Will the officials let Big Sister and them go home?" Shen Chengyu finished speaking and shook her head again, "They can't," they'll definitely have to finish reporting the outside matters first, who knows how long it'll be delayed.

Shen Yao merely smiled without speaking; the officials, seeing they couldn't block them, definitely had a backup plan — most likely deceiving the public.

What deceiving the public? It's letting the returning team show their faces before the crowd, using the barricade to obstruct, making them go back and forth a couple of times to make the numbers appear increased, to cope with the immediate crisis first.