Chapter 121: Li Han

Guilt, sorrow, and helplessness mixed together in their hearts. For a brief moment, both men wanted to cry.

But Ye Jun refused to give up. He slowly pushed himself to his feet.

Ji Henghua immediately asked, "What are you doing?"

"I won’t give up."

Ye Jun’s voice was weak, but his determination remained firm.

"I’ve learned that there is another branch of this institute. I’ll go there and search for my brother. I’ll tear the entire place apart if I have to. If I die there, then so be it."

He clenched his fists. "But I’ll find my brother."

Ji Henghua stared at him. For the first time, he felt ashamed of his own hesitation.

’If someone else can keep going after suffering this much, why can’t I?’

He slowly stood as well. "Then take me with you."

Ye Jun looked at him. "I want to know more about this branch. Can you tell me where it is?"

Ye Jun’s expression softened, and his shoulders relaxed slightly.

"It’s about a hundred kilometers from this area, near another base. As long as we find the entrance, there’s a good chance our brothers are there."

Ji Henghua nodded. "All right. Then let’s go."

Ye Jun shook his head. "Not yet. First, we should deal with this group."

Ji Henghua’s eyes flickered. "Don’t worry. They’ll be dealt with soon."

Ye Jun looked at him in confusion.

Ji Henghua didn’t explain. He simply continued walking.

The people inside this institute probably believed they had protected their operation well enough.

But by now, too many clues about them had been exposed.

It was only a matter of time before the superhuman ability-user organizations discovered this place and raided it.

They would pay for what they had done sooner or later.

Ji Henghua thought about the children locked inside those cages and sighed.

He wanted to open every cage himself.

But he knew he didn’t have enough time.

For now, he could only leave them behind. Still, he had already thought of a way to rescue them.

As he walked, he suddenly heard a faint sound.

"Meow."

Ji Henghua stopped. He looked down.

The little black cat was awake, its eyes still slightly dizzy. It stared at him as though asking,

’Where are you going? Take me with you.’

Ji Henghua couldn’t help smiling.

He bent down and picked it up. "Let’s call you Xuan Ye."

The cat blinked sleepily.

"You really are my lucky charm. You protected me, so I guess you’re my savior."

"Meow."

The cat gave a weak cry before closing its eyes and falling asleep in his arms. Ji Henghua gently held it closer.

.......................................

By the time Lu Yucai pulled away, Ni Mengxue’s entire face was red. Yet a foolish smile played on her lips.

Meng Xiaoni felt it was particularly ugly.

Li Han was one of Lu Yucai’s subordinates, and he had been debating whether he should stay behind. However, his hesitation had nothing to do with the luxurious things available at the Burning Star Base.

He was enamoured with the flowers and plants available in the base.

Li Han was the type of person who loved collecting flowers, plants, and perfumes. Along the way, he was often the one who would suddenly leave the group to dig up an interesting plant or flower he had discovered.

Eventually, Ni Mengxue convinced him to leave with them.

It wasn’t because she considered him particularly strong. Rather, his knowledge of flowers and plants, combined with his incredible luck in finding rare varieties, was too valuable.

During their journey through the forest, he had repeatedly discovered plants that even Ni Mengxue hadn’t known existed.

In the end, Li Han reluctantly agreed after Ni Mengxue promised that they would stop along the way and let him collect as many flowers and plants as he wanted.

No one would restrict him.

Not only that, Ni Mengxue promised that once they reached Fair Shallow Land Base, she would arrange a special shop for him where he could display and sell his collections.

Li Han didn’t know what kind of connection Ni Mengxue had with Fair Shallow Land Base, but the confidence with which she promised to give him a shop completely satisfied him.

After all, owning a shop in any base nowadays was a huge deal.

Not to mention, Ni Mengxue’s promise had made him feel valued.

He wasn’t the only one Ni Mengxue had tried to retain. There were a few more. However, two people still decided to leave in the end.

Their names were Ren Boling and Tao Sheng.

In the past two days, Mo Beichan hadn’t been silent and had assured all the people in Ni Mengxue’s team that he would give them residency if they left her team.

So they arrogantly stated,

"What’s the use of going to a godforsaken land that has nothing? I will stay in this heaven. Even if that fair, shallow land becomes a heaven later on, I won’t care."

Meanwhile, Ni Mengxue checked the system panel.

When she saw that the population had dropped from forty to twenty-five, she finally realised how serious the situation had been.

Although the zombie tide was something the entire base had prepared for over a long period of time, they had still lost fifteen people.

From Ni Mengxue’s perspective, it was a devastating loss.

More than one-third of her population had died.

As if that weren’t enough, the system had assigned her another task.

[Mission: Promote your base in other bases and recruit new residents. Reward: 10 Merit Points for each recruitment.

Ni Mengxue thought about the smaller bases they would pass on the way, as well as Silent Knight Base, and decided to give it a try.

She was fairly confident about the smaller bases.

Burning Star Base, however, would be difficult to persuade. Its residents were well-fed and were eagerly waiting for the base’s upcoming projects, so they had little reason to leave.

Silent Knight Base seemed much more approachable. Soon, everyone got into the RV and vehicles.

It was time to leave.