Chapter 33: Hard to Bear

Not bringing Niu Boyi along was indeed because of Xing Tianyang; the way that kid looked at Niu Boyi from the very first moment wasn't right, just like someone who hadn't eaten meat in months suddenly seeing a braised pig's trotter, making Liu Mu want to go up and give him a pair of 'sunglasses' for his peepers.

As for the other reason, she still couldn't stop worrying about the two people at home; rats, whether before or after Mutation, were very troublesome things, and her past life had left her with indelible psychological trauma, so it was better to be careful in this life.

By the time she returned, the Special Action Team had already packed up and was preparing to set off again.

After Liu Mu explained the general location to Tan Ziyan, she sat in the vehicle with Luo Sanlin and the others.

The target she pointed out was not the Steel Rolling Mill, but another place previously captured on surveillance video. Compared to the Steel Rolling Mill in the neighboring county, this location was closer and was where Liu Mu had originally wanted to go.

In her past life, the mutated creatures from the sea came ashore at that place, gathering together to form one of the human forbidden zones.

Of course, Liu Mu couldn't directly state the exact location, so she led the convoy on a detour and finally entered a village by the sea.

The village was gone now; the moment the Giant Sun fell, the mountains were blasted open, the village houses toppled in the same direction, the high temperature directly petrified the soil and stone, not a single flammable object in the village was preserved, and there wasn't even a drop of water, perfectly illustrating what a scorched earth was.

"It should be here," Liu Mu said, pointing into the distance, "We were picking up scrap in that area before, and a big rat suddenly popped out, it was terrifying, right in that patch, you can still see it today since the wind is strong."

The coastal village was on the mountainside, and the high terrain allowed one to see the small town in the distance, and further away, submerged in smog, was the county where Liu Mu lived.

This distance was neither close nor particularly far, and she had often come here when she pedaled her tricycle to collect scrap.

"When I was just loading seawater, the dog ran a circle on this mountain, and when it came back, its face was covered in something like red powder, I thought it had eaten some wild game, but it grew bigger that very night."

Liu Mu's explanation didn't have any holes; after all, after the disaster, everyone was looking for food and water everywhere, and walking toward the seaside naturally meant finding water, a common sense no one doubted.

"Alright then," Tan Ziyan could basically guess the situation in the village and immediately assigned personnel to begin the operation.

Liu Mu and Luo Sanlin's squad were left behind; those few wounded had already been geared up, and Liu Mu silently raised a paw, "Big Brother, can I say something?"

Tan Ziyan hooked his finger at her, signaling her to speak.

Liu Mu immediately said, "I'm uneducated, so I might be wrong, but maybe these big brothers shouldn't go. Look at my Gouzi, it didn't have any wounds or illnesses and still ended up like that, won't they turn into little giants?"

Her words made those few people stop; they didn't look at Tan Ziyan, but instead looked at Xing Tianyang at the same time.

Tan Ziyan, "Doctor Xing, what do you think?"

Xing Tianyang didn't care about these people's lives at all, but before setting out, he had been strictly forbidden from conducting human experiments without reporting them, otherwise all the research projects he had on hand would be terminated, "You all don't go."

If they really mutated, the old fogies at General Command would definitely blame him.

The team set off, and Liu Mu stood with Luo Sanlin, whispering as they watched the team cross the rocky mountain and enter the canyon a hundred meters away.

"You kid, are you not telling the truth?" As soon as Luo Sanlin saw Liu Mu's expression, he knew this fellow was hiding something, "There wouldn't be any danger, would there?"

"No, what danger could there be?" Liu Mu was too lazy to even explain, and instead asked about the current situation at the Base, "How often does your Base replenish supplies? Where does the water source come from, and is the groundwater still drinkable now?"

Believe it or not, these were all questions Luo Sanlin knew the answers to, and they weren't important matters, so he answered offhandedly.

According to him, ever since he was rescued from the underground parking garage, he had been following the army to rescue people everywhere. Since the army brought supplies here, they hadn't replenished them yet, and the water was just filtered and disinfected groundwater.

"That well must be dug really deep, huh? Hey, why don't they transport water from the sea to purify it, was the water plant burned down too?"

"It was broken long ago, the water in the water plant evaporated until there wasn't a drop left," a soldier from the Special Action Team nearby poked his head over to join the conversation, "Boss Liu, thank you for speaking up for us; if you hadn't said anything, we wouldn't have thought about the issue of wounds getting infected."

It wasn't that they hadn't thought of it, it was clearly because they had some hard-line mission, and Liu Mu didn't expose him, "Brother Lv Ping, don't say that, I just have experience from collecting scrap metal and fearing tetanus. Hey, you say the water plant is gone, the groundwater is deep, and the water has all evaporated into the air, and the air is full of heavy metals, what if there are a few heavy rains, can the groundwater still be drunk? Won't even the seawater be unusable?"

She herself had equipment to purify water; although it wasn't big, she had considered the issue of water pollution, but these people...

The two fell silent at the same time, their expressions grave; yes, without a water purification system, would there be no water to drink in the future?

"What do you mean by that?" Luo Sanlin had experience from before the disaster, and at this moment, he couldn't help but dig a little deeper into Liu Mu's words, "Is there something..."

With soldiers nearby, he cut his words short, only feeling that the future was bleak.

"Nothing, isn't what we common folk worry about just food, clothing, housing, and transportation? I'm just worried that if these thick clouds all turn into rainfall," Liu Mu said this, and her worried expression suddenly relaxed, "Wait, no, I have a water purification system there, it should be able to hold out for a while. We've been purifying seawater these past few days, and it seems like no problems have come up."

Once she said this, Luo Sanlin understood what she was going to do, but the soldiers beside her didn't know, and the latter hurriedly asked, "Boss Liu, your water purification system wouldn't happen to be salvaged too, right? Do you have any extras?"

Liu Mu slowly revealed a smile, "Your Base didn't prepare? I still have a few sets. Don't worry, I'll go back with you later and have a chat with Chen Shu, it's not a problem."

"Really? That's great, Boss Liu, you don't know, life for us soldiers isn't easy; when we were carrying out missions in the old, deserted mountain forests before, quite a few brothers sacrificed themselves because there was no clean drinking water."

As soon as the soldier Lv Ping said this, the few others holding guns nearby crowded over, "Who's to say not? The portable filtration devices we carry have limited purification capacity, even if we don't get seriously ill, we still end up with diarrhea for a few days."

"It's tough..."

"It will pass," Liu Mu couldn't bear to see iron-willed men lamenting the difficulty of the road ahead, but she couldn't say that life would only get worse, "As long as everyone is united and still has the country to rely on, there won't be any major problems."

She felt guilty even saying these words herself, and just at this moment, a scream that didn't sound human suddenly came from the canyon in the distance, followed by intermittent gunfire.

Had the sea monsters come ashore?

Liu Mu dashed out almost instantly, not forgetting to shout, "Two good hands come with me to take a look, get your protection ready, the rest of you prepare for support!"

The few soldiers who had been chatting lazily just a moment ago instantly followed her out, "The rest of you, do as Boss Liu says."

Taking advantage of no one blocking him, Luo Sanlin also followed, and by the time his Captain came to his senses and looked for people, he could only see a back, "You kid, what combat experience do you have to be going there? Get back here!"

Liu Mu heard that shout too, but she had already climbed up one side of the canyon using her hands and feet. Because of the temperature difference with the sea surface, the wind in the canyon was strong, the dust that could be blown away had long since been blown clean, and visibility was very good.

And precisely because she could take in the situation inside the canyon at a glance, Liu Mu, lying on the high ground, lost her nerve.