The seaside base was already considered a remote city far from S City. After leaving, the chaos caused by the fall of the S City base finally came to an end.
The vehicle speed finally returned to normal.
The group only stopped once along the way for a break. During dinner, Su Su caught a glimpse of the ordinary people crammed into the trucks and buses. They had experienced too many upheavals and had even personally witnessed the deaths of Yu Zhenghong and the others. Their gazes toward Su Su and her group carried both fear and trepidation.
Some had completely run out of food, while others held onto their last pieces of wheat bran biscuits, struggling to swallow.
Su Su took a large portion of the food from the off-road vehicle’s trunk, along with the seafood given by the Sun siblings, and had the venomous bugs transport them onto the truck.
This avoided direct contact while also distributing the supplies.
Seeing this, Sun Zhichun fell silent for a moment. “I wasn’t thoughtful enough. I should have stuffed them with some supplies before setting off.”
“At this speed, we should reach the Northern Base by tomorrow. Once we arrive, things will get better.”
But even reaching the Northern Base… it wouldn’t necessarily be much better.
Sun Zhichun had been there a few times before. He had seen the ordinary people living there, barely surviving at best.
He thought for a few seconds, then stood up. “Since we’ve already done it, I’ll go help oversee the distribution.”
That way, the stronger survivors wouldn’t take all the food for themselves.
Pang Cancan sipped on her plain porridge, eating it with pickled vegetables. It was so bland that it felt like she could spit out feathers.
But at times like this, it wasn’t appropriate to indulge in a feast.
“Sister Su Su.” She carried her bowl and scooted closer to Su Su. “Aren’t you afraid that once these people reach the Northern Base, they’ll expose Xiao Hei’s existence?”
Everyone had personally witnessed what happened outside the city walls.
If they wanted to keep a low profile upon arriving at the Northern Base, this group of people could very well reveal the battle power of the giant python.
Su Su had long considered this possibility.
But she didn’t particularly care. “If it gets exposed, so be it. Xiao Hei’s existence has never really been a secret.”
As long as they were in contact with people, there were no true secrets in this world—only a matter of time.
If she truly wanted to remain anonymous, she should have taken Xiao Hei and disappeared into the vast sea of zombies. With her abilities and Xiao Hei’s spatial hoarding capacity, they could have avoided people and survived for decades.
But since she had chosen to go to the Northern Base, she didn’t want Xiao Hei to remain in the shadows forever.
Thinking of this, Su Su scratched Xiao Hei’s head.
The black serpent, which had been swallowing meat, paused and comfortably rubbed against the female’s palm.
“Hiss~”
It loved her touch the most. It also loved her hugs. Even more, it loved wrapping every inch of its serpentine body around her.
If it turned into a human, would it still have such privileges?
The female would probably find its half-human, half-serpent form repulsive, wouldn’t she?
Su Su had no idea that Xiao Hei had already begun experiencing human-like worries. Meanwhile, Sun Zhichun had brought along a few base ability users who could take turns driving, so she and Pang Cancan didn’t have to take night shifts.
The peaceful night passed by swiftly.
By noon the next day, as expected, the convoy arrived at the Northern Base.
When it came to defense, all bases operated in the same manner.
Thick city walls, entrance queues stretching several miles, and thin base manuals handed out at the gate.
Sun Zhichun first led all the survivors to join the queue for entry. After ensuring they were settled in, he walked alone toward Su Su and Pang Cancan.
“Let’s go. We’ll enter from another gate.”
“Another gate?”
“Yes, the Northern Base has a separate entrance for ability users, but it’s not on this side.”
The number of survivors pouring into the Northern Base every day was overwhelming, and the entry inspection process was complicated. However, ordinary people without abilities rarely left once they entered, so waiting a bit longer wasn’t an issue for them.
But it was different for ability users. They frequently needed to leave the city for missions, so delays were unacceptable.
Thus, a special entrance for ability users was created, hidden away to prevent open resentment from the ordinary survivors.
In this regard, the Northern Base handled things a bit more subtly compared to the Southern Base.
Last time, Su Su had disguised herself as an ordinary survivor to enter the Southern Base because it made it easier to blend into the city’s slums and search for old acquaintances.
But this time, she was in a hurry to find an ability user capable of treating Xiao Hei’s shedding wounds. There was no need to wait, nor was there any point in doing so.
The group moved to a smaller, exclusive entrance for ability users.
The individuals passing through here had a much more distinct presence.
There was a scruffy, burly man carrying a two-meter-long steel blade over his shoulder, an open-bed truck filled with ability users, a cold and disciplined team wearing combat uniforms and masks, and a young man accompanied by a long-legged, unidentified canine.
Pang Cancan was amazed. “Is that… a dog?”
She didn’t speak loudly, but the young man still heard her. He immediately turned his head, his gaze locking onto Pang Cancan in the crowd with unsettling accuracy.
“What did you just say?”
His eyes were icy, and his tone was sharp. Pang Cancan felt a bit nervous. “D-Did I say something wrong?”
“My battle pet is a wolf.”
Pang Cancan smiled awkwardly. “I’m sorry, I must have mistaken it.”
Nowadays, animals that evolved past a certain stage could alter their body size in some areas, so it was understandable that she hadn’t recognized it at first glance.
But her apology didn’t seem to satisfy him. His brows furrowed tightly.
“You need to bow and apologize to my battle pet. Otherwise, don’t blame me for being rude.”
What? Bow and apologize?
Pang Cancan’s face hardened. “I already apologized. Don’t push your luck!”
The young man’s expression instantly turned cold. “You refuse a toast only to drink a forfeit!”
He stepped out of the entry queue with his wolf, striding over aggressively.
Su Su frowned, just about to intervene when Sun Zhichun stopped her.
“That’s enough.” He took the lead, stepping forward and revealing his ability. “It was unintentional, and she apologized immediately. There’s no need to take this so seriously, is there?”
He was a Tier 5 ability user, and the other side had a Tier 5 battle pet.
The young man hesitated, weighing his options for a few seconds before returning to the queue with a tense expression.
The conflict dissipated without a sound.
Around them, the watching ability users sighed in disappointment.
Why didn’t they start a fight?
Seeing that the man had rejoined the queue, Pang Cancan let out a relieved breath and patted her chest. “I’m never going to speak recklessly again.”
Sun Zhichun reassured her, “It’s fine. The Northern Base has too many ability users with battle pets. They treat them like family and all have their own strange tempers. It’s easy to step on a landmine.”
When he had first arrived at the Northern Base, he had also gotten into conflicts by accident.
There was no helping it—after the apocalypse, when ordinary people evolved into ability users, their standout personalities were magnified to the extreme.
Su Su patted Pang Cancan’s shoulder. “Let’s get into the city too.”
Even though they were in an exclusive ability-user passage, none of them were permanent residents of the Northern Base. They still had to undergo a series of tedious inspections before finally receiving their identification badges.
As soon as they stepped past the city walls, after walking just a few hundred meters, loud hawking calls filled the air.
“Old district apartments, fully equipped, limited water and electricity supply! Only one Grade 3 crystal per month! Newcomers also receive free daily necessities!”
“Frenzy Battle Team recruiting new members! All above Tier 3, crystals evenly distributed! Join now!”
“Trading supplies for crystals! Any new ability users in need of resources, bring your crystals here for exchange!”
“…”
The entrance was bustling with all sorts of people standing on either side, enthusiastically calling out to incoming ability users.
At first glance, it almost looked like a pre-apocalypse train station.
The only difference was that no one dared to physically block anyone—lest they offend an ill-tempered ability user.
Su Su’s gaze lingered for a few seconds on the sign advertising “Old District Apartments” before turning to Sun Zhichun.
“Should we find a place to settle down first?”