Chapter 169: Sorrow and Joy

South China War Zone - Li Xiu, First Rank: South China University, welcome survivors to seek refuge, we have ample food, over 40 Awakened Ones! We will become the second safe haven after Long'an Base!

At the South China University sports field, the leading Awakened One gestured for others to follow and send messages together.

As an ambitious person, his First Rank level is rarely seen across the entire chat channel.

Including the words 'Lin An' and 'Long An' in the message was his conclusion after observing for an hour.

After sending a normal message, no one pays attention at all; even if you claim to be a major force, without the system suffix, no one believes it.

But on the contrary, as long as your message contains the words 'Lin An' or 'Long An', private messages will explode.

It seems these two words have already become a hot topic.

"West China War Zone - Zhang Shaoguang, Zeroth Rank: Lord Lin An, why haven't you come out yet? Does anyone know where Long'an Base is?"

"West China War Zone - Zhang Zihou, First Rank: We hope Lord Lin An will step forward to lead us; if you are in our war zone, we will surely follow you."

"North China War Zone - Fang Ping, Zeroth Rank: Lord Lin An hasn't come out; aren't the people of Long'an Base coming out either?"

The same questions flooded the screen densely.

Not only Awakened Ones asked, but even some ordinary people tried to trace Lin An's whereabouts.

After all, Lin An's name now represents the Safe Zone...

In the Apocalypse, what could make people yearn more than the two words 'safe'?

On the returning yellow bus.

Lin An hardly opened the chat channel; with his past life experience, he knew that in the first two days, the chat channel basically contained only useless information.

On the contrary, the people on the bus were enthusiastic.

However, due to Lin An's order, they could only refrain from sending messages.

Zhang Tie came over with a face full of sigh, his eyes full of envy.

"Lin Dui, do you know that everyone looking for you in the chat channel has gone crazy?"

"Goodness, I even saw a bunch of lunatics risking their lives to send messages to get you out."

Zhang Tie was referring to some people who inexplicably regard Lin An as a savior.

These people are mostly ordinary people, and under the leader's guidance, they send messages over and over like fanatics.

All this is just hoping that Lin An will step forward and say a few words.

Many people, after sending just a couple of sentences, had their life force drained by the system, fainting outright or even dropping dead.

Although it sounds exaggerated, upon reflection it's actually quite normal.

With a large population base, all kinds of people appear.

Even those who committed suicide over celebrity worship before the Apocalypse existed, let alone the significance Lin An represents.

"No need to pay attention."

Lin An listened but neither affirmed nor denied.

He has another reason for not sending messages publicly.

He is now the owner of Long'an Base, and sending a message would append a suffix.

Moreover, any player who has sent a message in the chat channel will have an ID left behind.

With that ID, anyone can send him a private message.

Although private messages also consume life force.

But it's obviously foreseeable.

At this stage, at least tens of millions of private messages will bombard his inbox.

Moreover.

Actually, many people are wildly guessing the meaning of the Safe Zone now.

When his strength increases later and the base's power expands,

then,

Even if a batch of cults appears, using his name to recruit followers would be quite normal.

In the Apocalypse, in despair, people will grasp at any straw that could save them.

At that time, if he merely appears in the chat channel, he will definitely draw everyone's attention.

Gao Tian opened the chat channel, sat beside Lin An while watching and sighing, as if he had seen explosive news.

"Brother Lin, I just saw over a dozen messages that got brushed past."

"Several female celebrities are looking for you, and I don't know where they get the life force to send messages..."

"They speak as if they want to kneel and lick you; just listening makes my face flush..."

"With this time, wouldn't it be better to save food or look for family members?"

In the chat channel, the sheer scale of the messages screenshotted by Gao Tian leaves one speechless...

Lin An gave a light chuckle, but he didn't really feel happy.

Seeing Gao Tian somewhat puzzled, he simply asked:

"So what do you think is why they send messages like this?"

"Think carefully—what is the underlying meaning?"

Gao Tian stared blankly; he hadn't expected Lin An to suddenly ask this question.

Meaning?

"What meaning? Isn't it just that Brother Lin is currently being fawned over..."

"These people are risking starvation, consuming food to send messages, all just to come to Long'an Base..."

Zhang Tie heard the voice and leaned in; the trainees on the bus also began to ponder curiously.

Moments later, Mo Ling suddenly spoke in a clear, cold voice:

"A bunch of idiots."

"Someone must be controlling them behind the scenes."

"The chat channel will display player information."

"Compared to ordinary people, even Awakened Ones send messages."

"This group of celebrities who had status, position, and fame before the apocalypse naturally attracts more attention than ordinary people."

"They've survived to now and are ordinary players; that must mean there are Awakened Ones behind them..."

Zhang Tie, upon hearing Mo Ling's answer, suddenly realized:

"Damn! No wonder they speak so directly; I see on that message, it's both about accompanying sleep and being willing to be a maid!"

"Feelings have long been caught!"

"Well, if there's someone Lin Dui used to like inside, I can't help but contact the past..."

Gao Tian glanced at Mo Ling with some surprise; this was the first time he'd heard Mo Ling speak up on his own.

"Yeah..."

"So many people want to find Lin Ge and reach Long'an Base; if we could use them to lure out..."

"No, even saying... it's just wanting to befriend Lin Ge purely."

"Being able to achieve this goal with them is indeed worthwhile."

Lin An glanced over and then crouched again in front of the windshield inside the car where Mo Ling was.

He was somewhat surprised.

The little loli actually could think of these.

The reason he thinks this way is because in his past life, this method had been used to death.

Using celebrities, idols, or even a whole idol group to send messages is just to be more conspicuous.

Many factions will raise a batch of good-looking 'people' to serve as tools for releasing information.

In the middle of his past life, the chat channel would even see a kind of blood offering.

Many ordinary people, even Awakened Ones, in order to join the Safe Zone or gain the favor of important figures,

They would repeatedly send private messages requesting to join, until the other party agreed.

If not, they would exhaust themselves to death.

Thus, by the later stage, this phenomenon became widespread.

Prove loyalty, prove that you truly want to join us.

You can, send messages, over and over. Let the system drain your vitality to prove you have this determination.

This is similar to early triads, where many organizations would require members to chop off fingers to show their determination to join.

Gao Tian sighed, then pondered for a moment and continued asking Lin An:

"Lin Ge, the chat channel has been up for almost two hours. Why haven't we seen Huaxia officials speak yet?"

"I haven't even seen many who claim to be from the military..."

He was a bit worried, looking out the window at the overgrown weeds.

"Our country... has it perished?"

As soon as Gao Tian's words fell, they drew the attention of the students in the car.

"Yes, Lord Lin An. What about those people above in our country?"

"Why haven't they shown up yet..."

"I've seen many factions openly claiming to have seized a territory."

"Where have all those big shots gone?"

"The apocalypse has only been going on for half a month."

Many people deep down still feel that the country still exists.

The military will surely appear, just as in past disasters.

But right now communications are cut off; have any official messages appeared in the chat channel?

This makes them feel somewhat uneasy.

Lin An pondered for a moment, then spoke directly:

"The true major powers, or the military region, or the officials—they will at least speak up six hours later."

"Actually you've also noticed, the chat channel is now in complete chaos."

"Sending a message now is undoubtedly like throwing a stone into the sea; it's easily swept away instantly from the chat box."

"To release important information, one must surely mobilize many people and send it after this period of peak message traffic."

"Otherwise, even if you just sent it out, even if tens of thousands sent it simultaneously, it would disappear in about a second."

After hearing the explanation, everyone suddenly realized; they hadn't thought of these things just now.

Lin An tapped his fingertips and let out a light sigh.

He wasn't sighing about something else.

But rather, sighing for those poor people.

Those who think the chat channel is their only hope for seeking help from the outside world... those poor people.

Those who believe they can find family, wives, and children in the channel... those poor people...

They only have one chance to send a message.

Then.

Then they can no longer afford the cost of sending messages.

The messages in the chat channel have never stopped.

Parents searched for the child with their last breath.

The girl, full of hope, sent out a plea for help.

The Awakened Ones ambitiously recruited manpower.

The man trapped in the car desperately uttered his last will, the powerful, enjoying their feast, chatted and laughed merrily, the hungry boy, after speaking two words, was instantly turned into a desiccated corpse...

Someone used their life to speak their final words to the world.

Someone wantonly wasted food merely to flaunt their strength.

Lin An calmly turned off the light screen, gazing at the fields outside the window.

Human joys and sorrows are sometimes not shared.