Chapter Ninety-Eight: The Birthday Celebration Base

Chapter Ninety-Eight

After six days on the road, Mei and Ye Jingxuan decided to rest for a day or two at the base before setting out again.

Qingsheng Base was entirely under the control of the regional army.

Everyone who lived there long term had to be incorporated into the base’s ranks, placed under military administration, and assigned work. Even ordinary people were subject to military-style management, and each day they had to earn their meals through labor.

All survivors who entered Qingsheng Base had to undergo a virus screening and an assessment of whether they had awakened abilities. They also had to declare any special skills they possessed, so that future labor assignments could be made accordingly.

Since Mei and Ye Jingxuan only planned to stay one or two days before leaving, they filled out nothing but their names.

Temporary lodging came with many conditions. Not only did one have to pay supplies in order to be admitted into the base, but room, board, and even basic food and drink all cost money. Of course, that money was neither the paper currency of the old world nor the base’s contribution points, but the crystal cores inside zombies.

After spending ten first-tier crystal cores, Mei and Ye Jingxuan finally moved into a tiny thirty-square-meter room in the base. Aside from a single bed, the room contained a blanket that smelled of mildew, a bedside cabinet, two chairs, and a very small bathroom. There was nothing else.

"Ye!"

After scanning the entire room with her psychic power, Mei pointed at a switch on the wall and made a gesture.

Ye Jingxuan immediately understood. There was a monitoring device in the room.

He went over to the switch, examined it carefully, and confirmed that it was only a listening bug. Only then did he relax. He casually rolled up the bedding on the bed and set it aside, then took out the clean blankets they had brought from his space and spread them over the bed before letting Mei sit down.

"It’s fine. We’ll make do here for one night, and we’ll leave tomorrow. Are you hungry? Do you want something to eat?"

"I’m not hungry."

Mei took a tablet from her space, opened the map, and began checking it while asking, "Ye, how far are we from Long Rise Base? Even if everything goes smoothly, won’t it take at least half a month to get there?"

Ye Jingxuan took the tablet and looked at it. The map had already been updated by Mei into the post-apocalyptic version. The markings were no longer the original city names, but the survivor bases that existed now. It was easy to find both their current location and the location of Long Rise Base.

After studying it carefully and estimating the distance between the two places, Ye Jingxuan shook his head. "Half a month probably isn’t enough. Look at these roads. The map shows them in gray. I’m afraid they’re either no longer passable or dangerous. We’ll have to decide whether to detour based on the situation."

"How troublesome." Mei could not help complaining when she heard that. She was suddenly filled with nostalgia for her own world, where teleportation arrays connected cities. Why had traveling there ever needed to be so complicated?

Even when travel by road was necessary, the vehicles in that world were far more comfortable than the automobiles of this world, and much faster too.

Some were pulled by domesticated magical beasts, others powered by energy cores. They were all swift and steady, so people inside scarcely felt any bumping at all. On top of that, the interiors were usually quite spacious, and the luxurious ones were even carved with spatial arrays, increasing the room inside without changing the appearance outside.

Mei happened to have an energy-core vehicle in her space. Hearing that the journey would take so long, she could not help wondering whether she should take it out and use it.

It was only the two of them, after all, so she was not worried about what Ye Jingxuan might think if he saw it. She had already done enough strange things in front of him; one more would not matter.

That was settled then.

On the road ahead, they would use the energy vehicle in places where there was no one around, and switch back to an ordinary vehicle when they encountered people.

After making up her mind, Mei continued to ask Ye Jingxuan, "Ye, do you think Chen and the others have reached Long Rise Base yet? After they arrive and turn in their mission, will they come back looking for us?"

Ye Jingxuan looked at the map again. The route Chen and the others had taken was not only shorter than the one he and Mei had chosen, it was also much easier to travel. At the very least, there were no blocked sections along that route. With so much time having passed, even if they had not reached Long Rise Base, they could not be far away.

As for whether Chen would return to look for Mei, based on Ye Jingxuan’s understanding of him, that was certain.

"If they turn back, I’m afraid we’ll miss each other," Ye Jingxuan said.

"If only we could send them a message. We could have them wait for us at Long Rise Base, and then we wouldn’t miss each other!"

Ye Jingxuan thought for a moment and said, "It should be possible. This base is controlled by the regional army, so they must have contact with the central military. The only question is whether they’re willing to help us pass along a message."

"In that case, let’s go try. If it works, everyone can meet up at Long Rise Base. If not, we’ll think of something else."

If the base refused to transmit the message, then she would simply infiltrate the military communications department and leave one there. Of course, once she did that, the commotion on the other side would certainly be far from small, and after she arrived there she would inevitably attract even more attention. So unless there was truly no other choice, she did not want to use that method.

Because all missions at this base were issued in the form of orders, there was no mission hall. Mei and Ye Jingxuan wandered around for a while before finally heading to the administrative building.

"Excuse me, if we want to entrust a task, where should we go?" Mei asked the soldier standing guard at the door.

"Go in, turn left, and take the third door. Someone there is in charge of that." The soldier looked at Mei, then sized up Ye Jingxuan for a while before answering.

"Oh, thank you."

Mei held Ye Jingxuan’s hand, and the two of them went inside. Following the soldier’s instructions, they found the office.

"What brings the two of you here?" asked a middle-aged woman wearing glasses. She looked up when someone entered, and quickly fixed her gaze on the tall, handsome man.

"May I ask whether we can send a message to another base from here?" Mei asked as she walked over.

At her words, the woman withdrew her attention from Ye Jingxuan and looked at Mei with some impatience. "No. Our base has not established a communications network with other bases, so we can’t send messages."

"Uh, not even to Long Rise Base? The person I need to contact is Major Ling Feng of Long Rise Base. It’s official business. Couldn’t you make an exception?" Mei asked stubbornly, refusing to believe what the woman was saying.

When the woman heard the rank of major, she visibly froze, her face showing a doubtful expression.

"You say it’s official business. Do you have proof?" If Ye Jingxuan had said it, she might have believed it a little more. But coming from Mei, she clearly did not.

What kind of official business could a little girl possibly have?

That was probably the most direct thought in most people’s minds.

Seeing the other woman’s skepticism, Mei shook her head helplessly. "I don’t have proof."

"No proof? Without proof, how am I supposed to know whether what you’re saying is true or false?" The woman’s look of don’t-make-trouble-if-you-have-nothing-to-do immediately darkened Ye Jingxuan’s expression.

"Then forget it." Mei did not bother arguing any further. She caught Ye Jingxuan, who was about to lose his temper, and led him out.

Mei felt that she had miscalculated. The other person was obviously just a civilian employee hired by the military. What real authority could she possibly have? Talking to her had been nothing but a waste of time.

After leaving the office, Mei stood in the building and casually stopped a man in uniform.

"I want to contact Major Ling Feng at Long Rise Base. Who here can make the decision?"

The man was clearly stunned by her words. After a brief hesitation, he said to them, "Please follow me, both of you."

The uniformed man led Mei and Ye Jingxuan directly to the third floor, then knocked on the door of an office. Only after hearing the person inside say, "Come in," did he open the door and step inside.

"Commander, these two would like to contact Major Ling Feng of Long Rise Base through us."

The commander sitting behind the desk looked up in surprise. "Where are they?"

"At the door."

"Let them in."

Only then did the uniformed man walk back to the door and say to the two waiting outside, "Please come in. This is our commander, the highest-ranking person in the base. If you have any questions, you can speak to him."

Once inside, Mei studied the commander of Qingsheng Base.

He appeared to be in his fifties, but he was still very vigorous, his gaze sharp. At a glance, one could tell he had been to the battlefield and killed before. He was not like Ling Feng, who had more of a strategist’s bearing, but his temperament was also different from Yang Hao’s. He seemed more restrained, without the latter’s overt sharpness.

While Mei was studying him, the commander was also studying them.

The man’s identity was easy to guess. He was either an assassin or a mercenary, because ordinary people did not have that kind of presence—calm, yet guarded; indifferent, yet with killing intent hidden beneath the surface. As for the other little girl, she looked much more normal. Her eyes were clean and clear, carefree in a way that was appropriate for a child her age. Yet because of that, she seemed somehow even more unusual. In this apocalypse, how many people could still live so carefree?

What was more, both of them were dressed very cleanly and neatly. Anyone who could survive for nearly half a year in the apocalypse like this could never be ordinary.

"Young lady, what are you looking at?" the commander asked first, though he did not immediately bring up the matter at hand. Instead, he spoke in a conversational tone.

"I’m looking at how a senior colonel, a major, and a lieutenant differ," Mei replied honestly.

"Oh? And have you figured it out?"

"You seem more restrained and steady than Yang Hao, and you have a sharper edge than Ling Feng. Are the other commanders like you too?"

"You even know Yang Hao?" The commander was somewhat surprised.

"Yes. Do you know him too?"

"Of course. He’s a famous stubborn one. Once he sets his mind on something, even nine oxen couldn’t pull him back. Come to think of it, he was transferred out from under me. How did you come to know him?"

At the mention of Yang Hao, the commander could not help shaking his head. His expression was somewhat helpless, but mostly pleased.

"We met at Moonlight Base, and later we went together to Longyang Base. He should be with Major Ling Feng now."

Yang Hao was skilled. Although he was not a power user, as a strength enhancer his attack power was stronger than that of most ordinary ability users. So long as nothing unexpected happened, he should not die.

"He’s with Ling Feng? That I didn’t know. I heard you wanted to contact Ling Feng. What is it?" The commander seized on her mention of Ling Feng and smoothly moved on to the main topic.