(Episode 12 has ended. Episode 13 will begin tomorrow.)

Song Muyuan looked at me, opened his mouth, but didn't say anything.

I looked at him and asked, "Can't you tell me?"

Song Muyuan shook his head and said, "It's not that we can't tell, it's just that it's useless to tell. Even if you knew, what would you want to do? They outnumber you and have a lot of influence. You can't fight against them at all, okay?"

I said, "When did I say I was going to deal with them?"

"Then why are you asking this?"

I chuckled and said, "I just wanted to know. You said it yourself, they outnumber and outgun us. Do you think I'd be foolish enough to provoke them?"

"maybe."

"..."

I said, "Alright, stop wasting time, just get to the point!"

Song Muyuan said, "Are you going to let me go after you finish speaking?"

I said, "Do you think that's possible?"

Song Muyuan glanced at him and said, "Then I won't say anything."

I really want to beat him to death, what should I do?

Song Muyuan said, "Anyway, you won't kill me. If I don't tell, I might live a little longer. Who knows if you will keep your word after I tell you? What if you still kill us in the end?"

I sneered and said, "You won't talk, huh? Fine, no problem. It doesn't matter if you don't talk. The three of you will just stay here obediently today. There will be no lunch or dinner later."

After we finished speaking, the three of us left the isolation room.

I heard three people cursing behind me.

After they came out, Sister Jing asked, "Xiaonan, is it really a good idea to keep them like this? After all, they are raiders. What if they do something bad?"

I said, "Don't worry, they're not crazy. They just want to make a living. Let's starve them for two days, and they'll talk then. We need to find out about those raiders who discovered us. Otherwise, if things remain unclear, what if they come after us one day?"

Fei Lichao said, "Yes, this kind of thing cannot be ambiguous."

I said, "Old Fei, could you please keep a close eye on them today? Try to get as much information out of them as possible."

"I understand."

...

Around nine o'clock in the morning, the little girl who was sleeping in got up.

As soon as she got up, she ran outside to find me.

"Brother Xiaonan!" She came to my side with a smile and took my arm.

I asked with a smile, "How did you sleep?"

The little girl said, "It feels so comfortable, Brother Xiaonan. I want to go for a walk around the area. Will you come with me?"

I laughed and said, "Okay, let's go out for a stroll then."

After spending some time with the little girl outside, I returned to the research institute.

Fei Lichao continued to keep an eye on Song Muyuan and his group, without making any move.

Lu Yun accompanied Wen Guochao to Mingzhu City in the morning, seemingly to find some equipment, though it was unclear what it was. Wen Guochao was currently preoccupied with the water diversion problem; he wanted to bring drinking water from the river to the east to the research institute, which would solve the institute's drinking water issue.

After I returned to my room, I took out the voice recorder from the drawer. I had already listened to quite a few recordings, and I didn't know how many diaries were left.

So I plan to listen to it today and find out what the results were back then.

I sat down in the chair, pressed the switch on the recorder, and after a burst of noise, a familiar voice came from the recorder.

Xu Qing's voice sounded tired:

(Diary Entry 45)

"It's 2 AM on the 15th now. The survivors are all asleep. We didn't bother with the missing supervisor. Lin Zijie and I discussed it and decided to leave now. I don't know if we can get out safely, but honestly, I really don't want to stay here any longer. Lin Zijie and Shou Tianfeng are packing their things now. There are zombies outside. We have to be prepared to survive. We don't know if we'll survive this time. We can only pray. I hope everything will be alright. Maybe this diary entry will be my last. If I die, it doesn't really matter. I'm just a drop in the ocean among countless beings. In this life-and-death struggle, all I can do is try my best. Of course, I really want to live because I want to find my parents and my girl."

After Xu Qing uttered the last word, the recording pen stopped, and there was no sound.

At first I thought the voice recorder was out of power, but after pressing a button I found it still had power, so I continued playing, but then there was no more content.

I asked in confusion, "Could it be that it's gone? Is this the last diary entry?"

I listened to it again, and there really wasn't anything after that.

It seems this is indeed the last entry in my diary.

Therefore, the fact that the recording still didn't reveal what happened at the research institute afterward, or why everyone inside died, remains a question.

Moreover, it is quite clear in this last diary entry that Xu Qing planned to leave with Lin Zijie and Shou Tianfeng, but they ultimately did not seem to leave the research institute.

Lin Zijie died in the basement, and Xu Qing's recording pen was still in his room, which means he did not leave the research institute. If he had left, he would definitely have taken the recording pen with him, and I would not have been able to hear his diary.

As for Shoutianfeng, he's probably dead too.

I thought I could get some useful information from this voice recorder, but this is the result, which makes me a little unwilling.

There's nothing we can do about it.

I put the recorder aside, went to the archives, and continued flipping through the files.

...

The next three days passed peacefully, and nothing happened.

As for Song Muyuan and the others, after three days of hunger, they couldn't take it anymore and decided to speak up.

I took a few packets of instant noodles to the outside of the isolation room. The three of them lit up when they saw the noodles. They pressed their faces against the thick glass, their eyes fixed on the noodles in my hand. Wherever my hand moved, their eyes followed. Fu Chen was already drooling.

I laughed and said, "If you want to eat it, just say so, and I'll make it for you."

Song Muyuan struggled in his eyes, but finally gave in and said, "I'll tell you, I'll tell you. Their leader is called Ye Qian. He's thirty years old and a very capable person. He has about thirty people under him. When I met him before, he told me that there was a research institute here."

I asked, "Do you know where they are now?"

Song Muyuan shook his head and said, "I don't know, but it seems they were going to Ninghai before. They knew about the situation in Ninghai and wanted to go and have some fun, so they went. I don't know if they really went."

My brows furrowed, I went to Ninghai!

Could it be that the person who attacked Ninghai before was this Ye Qian?

(End of this chapter)