Chapter 107 Private Base

The car stopped a few kilometers outside of Linfeng City.

Ahead lay no longer wilderness, but rather endless ruins, abandoned factory districts, and low-rise, unfinished buildings. Further away, the outlines of the city center's high-rises were faintly visible.

They didn't dare go any closer.

They found a relatively intact five-story building on the edge of the area, which looked like it used to be an office building. Da Huo went inside to investigate and took care of a few ordinary zombies hiding inside.

The building was in a mess.

They chose a room on the third floor with an outward-facing window and blocked the door with broken furniture. Ruan Ningning quickly rinsed the dust and stains off the floor. Lin Yan checked the window for sturdiness. Zhou Min then used her mental power to carefully scan the floors above and below, as well as the surrounding area, to confirm there were no hidden threats.

Dinner was again snake soup and flatbread, eaten quickly and silently. After taking turns washing up, the night watch was arranged. Ruan Ning was on the first shift, Lin Yan on the second, and Zhou Min on the last.

The fire was raging at the doorway.

Nothing happened that night. Only the occasional unsettling, muffled roars and scattered sounds came from the direction of the distant city.

After daybreak, Ruan Ning sat down by the window and closed her eyes.

Although her third-tier mental ability had not fully recovered, she could already perform rough perception over a relatively large area. She carefully extended her mental power towards the city, like invisible tentacles.

The scene she perceived made her frown.

In the mental "vision," the city is filled with dense, chaotic, and disorderly gray dots of light—those are ordinary zombies.

Mixed in with them were many brighter light spots with stronger energy fluctuations, and there were quite a few level two and three mutants.

What made her heart sink even more was that in a certain area in the north of the city center, there were several particularly dazzling and unsettling dark orbs of light—a characteristic only found in fourth-order mutants, and there was more than one!

The oppressive aura emanating from them made her feel suffocated, even from such a distance.

In addition, there are other places in the city where mental perception has been disturbed or hindered for unknown reasons, which obviously hides other dangers.

She withdrew her mental energy and looked at Lin Yan and Zhou Min with a serious expression.

“We can’t go into the city,” Ruan Ning said directly. “There are too many zombies, and the density is extremely high. There are many level two and three zombies, and there are more than one level four zombie in the city center. There are also many other unknown dangers.”

Lin Yan and Zhou Min gasped. A fourth-tier mutant—they had just experienced the terror of the two-headed snake firsthand. If it weren't for Ruan Ning's desperate use of her special ability, plus a bit of luck, they wouldn't have been able to kill it at all.

There's more than one in the city? Are there a large number of other zombies?

“Take a detour,” Lin Yan said immediately. “Go to the outermost edge of the city, just along the edge. Even if the road is difficult and it takes more time, it’s better than going into the city to die.”

Zhou Min looked at the map: "There's an old bypass road marked on the map, but it's probably been abandoned a lot in the first year of the apocalypse. If all else fails, we can go through these ruins and factory areas on the outskirts of the city and try to stay away from the main building complexes."

“Okay.” Ruan Ning nodded. “Today, let’s explore along the edge and find a relatively safe route. Da Huo will scout ahead, being careful to avoid hordes of zombies and areas with strong energy reactions. If we can’t get around it… we’ll see.”

They quickly packed their things, went downstairs, and got into the car. The fire seemed to sense the danger emanating from the city, becoming extra vigilant and scouting ahead, never easily straying out of sight.

The car turned around and headed directly towards the ring road.

The road conditions were worse than expected; many sections were completely blocked by landslides or wildly growing mutated bushes, requiring drivers to get out and clear the debris or detour through the wilderness. The car moved at a snail's pace.

I walked and stopped, feeling anxious, my eyes constantly fixed on the buildings in the distance towards the city.

Occasionally, dark figures can be seen moving among the ruins, but fortunately, no large hordes of zombies or high-level mutants approach this desolate edge passage.

After leaving Linfeng City, the car bumped along through vast stretches of barren farmland for most of the day. As dusk fell, a cluster of buildings came into view ahead.

It is neither a city nor a natural village.

Instead, it is a private base built on an abandoned logistics warehouse and several reinforced factory buildings.

The wall was made of cement blocks, scrap shipping containers, and barbed wire; it wasn't high, but it looked sturdy. There was a makeshift watchtower at the entrance, with shadowy figures visible on it.

Behind the wall, you can see smoke rising from chimneys and some people moving around.

As Ruan Ning's car approached, a shout came from the watchtower above the base's tightly closed iron gate: "Stop! Private property ahead, toll fee applies!"

A small side door, just big enough for one person to pass through, opened next to the main gate, and four men came out.

They were all armed—machetes, homemade spearguns, and the tall, thin leader even carried an old hunting rifle. Their eyes, filled with scrutiny and undisguised greed, sized up the obviously modified off-road vehicle and the imposing mutated golden retriever beside it.

The tall, thin man pointed his shotgun at the car in a mock toll: "The rules, tolls. Food, fuel, medicine, or crystal cores. Your car looks nice, and you don't see many dogs, so pay a bit more."

A short, stout man behind him leaned closer to the car window. Seeing three young women inside, his eyes lit up, and he whispered to the tall, thin man, "Boss, it's a bunch of women! Just a dog!"

The tall, thin man's gaze swept over Ruan Ning's calm face, Lin Yan's knife-wielding hand, and Zhou Min's wary expression, before finally settling on Da Huo's robust physique and his menacing eyes.

He weighed the options of his four men against the clearly formidable mutated dog on the other side. Should they try to take it by force? They might not come out on top, and could even lose men.

His eyes darted around, and he forced a seemingly friendly smile, lowering his hunting rifle slightly. "Well, you all look like you've been on a long journey, you must be tired. It's getting dark, and there's nowhere decent to rest for miles ahead. Our place is simple, but at least we have walls, hot food, and clean rooms. Why don't you come in and stay the night? The cost is negotiable, consider it making friends." His words carried an invitation, but his eyes flickered, lingering particularly on Lin Yan and Zhou Min for a moment.

His plan was very clear: first, lure people into his territory.

Once inside, with their superior numbers, they locked the door and beat the dog. The three women and the valuable mutant dog were completely at their mercy. The modified car and all the supplies on it were also theirs.

Zhou Min's mental power keenly detected the malice and filthy thoughts emanating from the other party, and a murderous aura began to rise in her heart, but she did not show it on her face.

Lin Yan gripped the knife tighter, her eyes turning icy. Da Huo emitted a low, threatening growl from its throat, its body temperature subtly rising.

Ruan Ning's face remained expressionless as her gaze calmly swept over the walls of the private base and the few people at the entrance.