Chapter Twenty-One: Internal Strife

The research team leader, named Guan Ling, was on the verge of death and undergoing a mutation.

He was unconscious and unable to receive external information. The mutation may not be due to excessive exposure to the source of pollution, but rather because his willpower to resist pollution weakened as his body weakened.

Of course, it's also possible that his survival instinct led him to actively embrace pollution.

Having seen many seriously ill and injured people in the hospital, Qi An had no hope of being cured, so he deliberately caused himself to mutate.

Some do succeed, but many others, with their bodies crippled, simply cannot withstand the intense mutation process and die a painful death.

The polluters practice religious governance, and their highest leader is called the "Source Priest".

Since he is a priest, there must be a deity behind him.

A dying person prays to an evil god, offering their soul in exchange for a chance to live...

It's hard to be too harsh on them; Qi An felt it was just a survival instinct.

“The gunshot wound wasn’t serious; it didn’t damage the spleen. However, the lack of timely treatment led to a severe infection that caused sepsis.” Su Qingran looked at Yang Yuning with her beautiful, sharp eyes.

But she didn't say anything harsh, probably because she was thinking about the terrible state of the car.

"Is there any hope for treatment?" Yang Yuning didn't need anyone to criticize him; his shame and anxiety were palpable as he asked urgently.

"I'm not sure," Su Qingran said frankly, but her hands didn't stop. She opened the field first aid kit and took out a wound cleaning knife. "We need to clean it first. If these granulation tissues don't stop growing, there's no way to treat them."

Qi An sat down on the edge of the bed. "I'll try to purify it."

Su Qingran nodded, and the two exchanged a trusting look.

The delirious murmurs of the patient in the room gradually turned into agonizing moans during disinfection and wound cleaning!

Yu Shuang couldn't stand it anymore and went outside.

Zhao Bohan appeared out of nowhere and pulled her into the woods.

“There’s a military tablet in Yang Yuning’s car. It’s undamaged, has power, and can be turned on,” he said in a low voice.

Yu Shuang was taken aback. "You went into his car and took something?"

"I touched it." Zhao Bohan was not ashamed at all. He first glanced at the tablet before picking it up, in order to confirm Yang Yuning's identity and the truthfulness of his words.

“The sandstorm has stopped now, and communications have been fully restored. If his tablet has power, he should be able to contact his base,” Zhao Bohan said.

Yu Shuang understood.

If Yang Yuning is indeed from the North 1 Base, given the North 1 Base's powerful overall command and dispatch capabilities, it would quickly locate the nearby squads on missions and issue support orders to those capable of supporting Yang Yuning.

They were separated from the cabin by only a river and should have received orders to provide support.

It turned out they bumped into each other by accident.

Was the tablet's communication module broken? Had all of Yang Yuning's communication channels failed? Was he too busy chasing after his mutated teammates to contact the base?

Or is it that Yang Yuning didn't plan to contact the base, or that he didn't have a base to contact?

The two exchanged a serious look.

"Lure him out. I think he's quite strong, but we have Jiu here and Guanling. Let's interrogate him properly, and he'll surely confess!" Yu Shuang made his decision.

It wasn't difficult to lure Yang Yuning out; Yu Shuang simply called out to him.

"Comrade, a stray dog ​​got into your car! Damn! It pooped on it!"

Yang Yuning, who was standing guard at the door of the small house, was taken aback. "Huh?"

He took two steps away, and Jiu immediately appeared silently behind him.

The boy came and went without a trace, but he was already close enough that Yang Yuning noticed him. He cocked his pistol and turned around abruptly.

Since his appearance, Jiu has put his tactical mask back on, and now he faces the gun barrel expressionlessly.

Yu Shuang stood up from beside the car and pointed to a tablet partially obscured by clutter between the front seats. "I misread it, your car is fine. Comrade, can your fingerprint unlock this tablet?"

Yang Yuning frowned and remained silent.

Yu Shuang waited a moment, then her smile disappeared. She said to Zhao Bohan, "Report what just happened to the base and ask the base to contact the North 1 Base to investigate Yang Yuning."

At this moment, Qi An had just finished the difficult purification of the unconscious person and was stunned upon hearing this.

The atmosphere was somewhat tense. Jiu stepped forward, and Su Qingran, who had just finished scraping the granulation tissue, glanced outside.

Yang Yuning said, "If it's a private communicator, that's fine, but the Central Plains Base No. 3 reporting the situation to the North Base No. 1 and initiating inquiries, as well as the specific rescue operation, will probably still fall into the hands of my superior."

That's right!

Everyone present was taken aback.

Yu Shuang realized what was happening and asked uncertainly, "Your superior... won't save you?"

Yang Yuning reached out, indicating that she wanted to cross the flat surface.

Yu Shuang hesitated for a moment, then gave it to Yang Yuning, who turned on the phone and successfully unlocked it with his fingerprint.

"I can't connect to Starlink, as it risks revealing my location."

Our mission consisted of 15 people, including researchers and soldiers providing escort. We didn't encounter any Fallen Insects, but rather a betrayal and assassination attempt by a member of our own team! This assassination attempt is definitely related to my superior, but I'm not sure how deeply involved it is.”

Yang Yuning's voice was cold, but she looked at Yu Shuang with pleading eyes: "When Professor Guan wakes up, you can use his words to corroborate my words."

Yu Shuang's head was buzzing, as were everyone else on Team 2.

Qi An thought of the later part of Yang Yuning's memory and felt a sense of understanding.

In his memory, he and his teammates were hiding in a dilapidated house from a sandstorm when gunshots rang out, leaving him utterly shocked.

He was shocked to find that the shooter was one of his own!

Qi An had already come to believe that Yang Yuning was a soldier from the North 1 Base, but she was shocked to find that they seemed to have inadvertently gotten involved in the internal strife within the North 1 Base!

What does Professor Guan research?

Was the betrayal directed at the research team or the security detail?

"...Saving a life is better than building a seven-story pagoda. We'll help treat Professor Guan and also share some of the supplies Comrade Yang needs," Yu Shuang said with a dry laugh, taking a step back.

After that, everyone went their separate ways and never saw each other again.

Their team has a mountain of unjust debts of their own, how could they possibly get involved in North 1's affairs?

But Su Qingran whispered to Qi An, "I can only give this person emergency treatment. Antibiotics and nutrient solutions can't save him, they can only delay the infection and keep him alive for a while. He needs to go to the hospital."

Although the voice was low, everyone present had enhanced hearing and heard it.

Zhao Bohan had already thought of this, and the atmosphere became tense and silent again.

“Professor Guan is an expert in the field of nuclear physics; he must not die,” Yang Yuning said in a deep voice.

Nuclear physics!

Qi An's educational level was actually average. Although she studied hard at the base, it was only for three years after all. She learned more about common sense and survival skills.

But she also vaguely knew that nuclear physics was in the energy field!

This seems to match Yang Yuning's first memory fragment.

As a basic energy source, insect oil has endless potential problems, and new energy technologies must be supported.

In the 20 years since the apocalypse, humanity has retreated to its bases and lost most of its fire, water, wind, and electricity resources.

Without energy, there is nothing. Is Professor Guan, who was on the verge of death and with graying temples, whom they met by chance on a starry night, actually a promising figure in new energy?