Chapter 66 Welcome Home (Part 1)

On the land covered with ice and snow, a large black shadow was moving slowly. As it got closer, the shadow gradually became clearer. A long path with no end in sight was cleared by humans. Tens of thousands of people, wrapped in all their warm clothes, shivered as they moved forward on this vast land.

Everyone's face, wrapped in a scarf, was covered with thick frost. From time to time, someone would raise their hand to wipe their eyes that were about to be covered with frost, and their legs and feet would move instinctively following the person in front of them.

Plop... One person in the team collapsed, unable to hold on. However, the fall did not affect the main force's advance at all. Only the people around him paused for a moment. Someone squatted down to check his breath, then shook their head and stood up...

That small group of people started to move again... one by one, they walked around the fallen person and continued to move forward. The people who followed behind looked at the body on the ground without any emotion in their hearts, and walked around it with indifferent expressions.

People often fall down along the way... Those who can stand up will be taken away, and those who can no longer stand up... will also be taken away by someone.

The large group walked away, and at the end of the group were many trucks. The people in front of the vehicles waved to signal the vehicles to stop. Several people came forward and took off the heavy clothes on the corpses one by one, leaving only a thin layer of clothes inside. Then they took out a body bag and quickly put the person on the ground into it. Someone opened the door of a truck and the body bag was lifted onto the truck.

Looking inside, the carriage was filled with countless identical bags, and the carriages of other trains were also filled with these bags...

They are the corpse collection team specially arranged at the end of the team...

In the face of a harsh natural environment, humans, who stand at the top, are no different from other species. All life is fragile and can be wiped out at any time like ants.

…

N City Base

Due to the extremely cold weather outside, the leader of City N ordered everyone in the base to move to the underground subway tunnel to withstand the cold.

Living in the dark and depressing underground for a long time with supplies in short supply, many people became anxious and even suffered mental breakdowns.

Stealing, quarreling, fighting, killing, even cannibalism... they continued despite repeated bans. The base, which originally had more than 30,000 people, was reduced to only more than 10,000 people in just a few months.

In an abandoned subway car, several managers were arguing with each other, and then someone started fighting and they all started fighting.

At this time, the leader Zhang Jin looked at the secretary fiddling with the tea set in front of him with a calm expression.

The secretary standing next to Zhang Jin picked up the kettle on the stove beside him, poured the water into the teacup carefully, warmed the cup, put the tea in, woke up the tea, and brewed it. His movements were smooth and flowing, and then he handed the teacup to Zhang Jin.

Not affected at all by those fighting.

Zhang Jin took the teacup and blew gently on it. He frowned as soon as the tea took his sip. After taking a sip of tea, he placed the teacup on the table.

"Okay, you've worked hard acting for half a day, take a break."

Zhang Jin's voice was neither loud nor soft. Several managers who were fighting froze up and quickly separated to stand on both sides of Zhang Jin's desk.

"This once specially supplied Rain Dragon Well has become waste tea after being left out for over a year. It's tasteless and a shame to throw it away. But no matter how good the tea is, if it can't alleviate my worries, there's no point in keeping it." Zhang Jin looked at the several managers in front of him, "Don't you agree?"

The managers looked nervous.

"Chief, why don't we cooperate with City G? They have abundant supplies and can always solve our urgent needs." Someone suggested cautiously.

Zhang Jin glanced at the secretary.

With a bang, the manager who was speaking fell to the ground, with blood gushing out from the bullet hole in his forehead. The other managers were so frightened that they dared not breathe, huddled together, and cold sweat ran down their faces.

Zhang Jin watched the blood seep onto the carriage floor, feeling a moment of impatience. He waved his hand and said, "Get out of here! I'll give you three days to figure out how to solve the supply shortage problem and come up with a solution that satisfies me."

Several stewards quickly carried the body away from the ground, brought in water from outside and carefully wiped the blood off the ground, then bent over and tiptoed out.

"A bunch of useless trash." Zhang Jin held the teacup in his hand without drinking it, and put it down heavily after a moment.

The secretary took out another tea cake, brewed it again, and handed it to Zhang Jin. "Chief... calm down. This situation is really difficult to break. I have an idea."

Zhang Jin took the teacup and raised his eyebrows. "Oh? What's your idea?"

"For the base to survive, some sacrifices have to be made. You've toiled so hard for the people here for over a year. It's your grace that they've lived this long. Now that the base is in trouble, it's time for everyone to repay you..."

"Return..."

"The base is currently overpopulated, leading to a shortage of supplies. If half the people were gone, they would take up resources..."

"This... may damage my merits!" Zhang Jin put down the teacup and stroked the Buddhist beads on his wrist.

"Sacrificing oneself for others is the highest virtue!"

"Alas...human life is at stake. Who could be so selfless?"

"I have a way. There will always be someone willing to do it..." In the dim firelight in the carriage, the secretary's face looked particularly ferocious.

Zhang Jin picked up the teacup again and took a sip of the freshly brewed tea. His expression gradually relaxed. "This decades-old Pu'er tea really pleases me."

…

Su Qing slept for a whole day and night.

When she opened her eyes, she was met with darkness. She thought she had not slept for long. When she looked at the time, she found that it was 9 o'clock in the evening of the next day.

Gou Zi probably knew that Su Qing was very tired, so he endured the hunger and didn't make a fuss. When he saw her wake up, he looked at her with a resentful face.

“Gurgle…”

Su Qing's stomach also protested, so she quickly got up and fed the dog more food. Then she washed up and took out a bag of bread and a bottle of water from her backpack.

I was sitting at the table, eating while checking the group message on my bracelet. It was sent around 5pm.

Li Yi: We are still dozens of kilometers away from the Shuguang Base and expect to arrive there early tomorrow morning.

Gu Yan: We'll probably need another three to five days.

Fang Qing: The base is ready and waiting for your arrival.

After eating, Su Qing was no longer sleepy. She reviewed the base again and quickly filled in any gaps. Soon it was past 3 a.m.

The bracelet vibrated, it was a message sent by Li Yi in the group.

Li Yi: It is estimated that another kilometer is needed.

Li Yi: We can already see the walls of Dawn Base from afar! We'll arrive in 5 minutes.

Seeing this, Su Qing quickly put on his warm clothes and came to the gate of the base through the teleportation array.

At this time, the main gate of the Dawn Base was brightly lit. 500 meters away from the gate, there were two large bonfires burning on both sides of the road at a distance. Dozens of bonfires raised the temperature around them a lot.

The gate of the base was wide open, and Fang Qing, Dong Wen and a group of managers were standing at the door looking out.

Su Qing walked over quickly.

"leader!"

"Hello, Chief!"

Everyone greeted Su Qing.

Su Qing waved, then stood beside Fang Qing and asked, "How long have you been here?"

"As soon as I received the news, I organized people to light a bonfire." Fang Qing saw that Su Qing looked clear-headed and the dark circles under his eyes had faded a lot. She couldn't help but smile, "Did you get enough sleep?"

Su Qing raised her hand to adjust her hat, her face flushed a bit, but luckily her scarf blocked it from others' view. "Ahahaha... I overslept because I was too sleepy."

"You've been out there for so long and you're exhausted. You should take a good rest and recuperate." Fang Qing heard the embarrassment in Su Qing's words and quickly comforted her.

"I'm fine. I've recovered after a good sleep."

"Hey! Is it coming?"

"It's true, they're here!"

Someone suddenly spoke from behind, interrupting their conversation. Su Qing and Fang Qing looked along the path illuminated by the campfire, and saw rows of people moving quickly towards the base.

Li Yi and his group of several thousand people saw the tall city wall illuminated by the bonfires from afar. As they were about to arrive, people shook off the stiffness and numbness on the road and walked forward eagerly. Some people even ran.

Near the city gate, the road seemed to be emitting heat from the bonfire.

Li Yi walked at the back and watched Su Qing and a group of people coming to meet them. The people in the Dawn Base took off their scarves and smiled happily, and warmly hugged the people in the S City Base.

At this moment he felt that everything was worth it.

"Welcome to our new home!" Su Qing came to Li Yi and extended his hand to him with a smile.

"Sister! That's great! Really... it's great." Li Yi hugged Su Qing tightly, his voice choked with sobs.

Su Qing was stunned for a moment, then reached out and patted Li Yi on the back, "The suffering is over. Bring your people and move forward with me into a new life."

"Hey, Li Yi, are you crying?" Zeng Li came over and looked at him curiously. "It's so cold, let's stop being so pretentious and go inside first."

"Right! It's freezing cold, let's go inside." Li Yi stood up straight, roughly wiped his eyes with one hand, and shouted to the excited crowd, "Come on, come on! Comrades from S Base, organize your team and follow our new leader Su Qing with me to join our brand new home!"

Zeng Li looked at Li Yi walking away and shook her head helplessly. She turned to face Su Qing, took a step forward, and gently hugged her. "Su Qing, no, I should call you leader. Thank you."

Su Qing also patted her and said, "Welcome to our new home."

Zeng Li's tears immediately flowed down. She suddenly understood why Li Yi, who always had a tough guy image, had red eyes. She really hadn't thought about the word home for a long time. This was the place she and they had never dared to touch since the end of the world.

Even at the S City base, where I was exhausted and struggling to survive every day, the place I lived in was more like a temporary refuge...

"Be good and don't cry. What if your face gets frozen?" Su Qing patted Zeng Li slowly and comforted her in a soft voice.

Zeng Li burst out laughing. She let go of Su Qing and smiled with red eyes, "You are younger than me. Why are you coaxing me like a child? Come on, let's go over there too."

Su Qing and Zeng Li walked to the city gate and stood with Fang Qing and the others.

"There are a total of fifteen managers here. I need you to divide your personnel into fifteen groups and follow them into the base. An area in the base has been designated for you to stay temporarily for free. After dawn, we will explain the internal affairs of the base in detail. After that, how to live here depends on your personal choice." Fang Qing explained the personnel arrangements to Li Yi clearly.

Li Yi nodded to indicate that it was no problem, and then called a subordinate to convey Fang Qing's words.

Soon the team split up into fifteen small teams, and then walked over in columns. The managers of the Dawn Base standing at the door led the teams into the city gate one after another.

Su Qing led the others and said to each team with a smile:

“Welcome home!”

“Welcome home!”

“Welcome home!”