As dawn approached, Li Ke still hadn't received any rescuers. She looked at the people kneeling in front of her and said, "You really are worthless. Do you think they can just throw away so many people like that?"

The kneeling men were already exhausted. The others had fewer tasks and were given food and drink after they finished. But these five men had been driven to work hard for four hours by guns. After finishing without food or drink, they still had to kneel under the guns in fear. Their condition at this time was hardly energetic.

One of them replied weakly, "We were just lowly henchmen to begin with. The only thing we did was find something to eat for those people waiting to die. If we were to come here to rescue them and incur some losses, they would probably just abandon us. Anyway, we'd all die out there with nowhere to go."

There's another base, Yaocheng, a hundred miles above Tianhe Base, and another, Chunyu Base, to the southeast. These bases are also recruiting and capturing people. So, without certain skills, ordinary people like them might be captured by the other two bases even if they escape from one base.

Li Ke tossed the keys to them and pointed to two of them: "You two unlock the lock yourselves, and now go back and tell them that I can join them, but my status must be equal to that of the three of you leaders. If they agree, then come and pick me up."

The two people who were called out removed their handcuffs and shackles, hurriedly nodded and bowed in agreement, indicating that they would definitely pass on the message, and then ran away impatiently.

The people who were resting not far from Li Ke changed their expressions after hearing her words and seeing her let the two people go. The silent atmosphere instantly stretched the distance between them to an infinite distance.

"Is this brother taking us back?" a woman asked.

Li Ke: "I'm all alone, how can I support such a large group of you? I'll send you back home, where you'll have food, drink, and a place to stay, which will be more convenient."

Those people dared not look at Li Ke, but only at the large, interconnected puddle in front of them, teeming with strange fish, its surface shimmering with light, and the sun about to rise in the distance. But all their hopes had been extinguished by Li Ke's words.

The women's eyes turned ashen again. The woman who had spoken earlier paused for a while after hearing Li Ke's reply before speaking again: "If you want to send us back, can you let us catch some sea worms now? The people in the base's death row and those who are dying and can't get out are all waiting for a mouthful of earthworm mud."

Li Ke glanced at the biscuits in their pockets: "You can exchange fish for biscuits."

The woman shook her head: "The cookies won't even get into their mouths, and why should we give them the cookies? We're struggling to make ends meet too. Getting them some earthworm meat is already a huge effort. Of course, we should keep the good stuff for ourselves."

The woman's words were somewhat resentful. After saying them, she seemed to realize that her attitude had been a bit too obvious. She glanced at Li Ke cautiously, but the other was wearing a full-face helmet, making it difficult to discern even his gaze. She couldn't see anything.

"Will you let us keep the cookies?" the woman asked cautiously again, clutching her pocket.

Li Ke: "These are what you got in exchange for your labor, so you can keep them. If you're worried, you can eat them now. Go catch some sea worms if you want. I've almost finished catching my fish too."

The people stopped talking, picked up their tools, and slowly dispersed to search for food on the beach, their steps becoming unusually heavy once again.

After watching the people pass on the information to each other, some of the people who were still looking for fish angrily poured the fish out of their buckets back onto the beach. Li Ke found this rather cute, and thought that such behavior made them seem much more lively.

Qiu Ling came running over, carrying a bucket, and asked incredulously, "They said you're going to send us back and have us join the Skyco base, is that true?"

Li Ke nodded, and Qiu Ling's eyes glistened with tears: "I don't believe it, you're not a bad person."

Although Qiu Ling was young, she trusted her instincts. After learning that he was a girl, the man was noticeably more tolerant of her, even though it wasn't very obvious. She just could feel it.

Many people, upon seeing her unattractive appearance and learning that she was a girl, would only ridicule her even more.

Li Ke said emotionlessly, "Go find some sea worms. There are still people at the base waiting to eat them."

Qiu Ling stood still, tears streaming down her face, leaving two lines that were anything but beautiful.

After a moment, she seemed to have convinced herself and said, "Actually, it's good that you joined the base. You'll definitely be better off than them, and maybe things will be better for us in the future."

Without daring to look at Li Ke for any reaction, Qiu Ling ran off again. The iron chains under her feet made her run very difficult, but she never looked back.

It's unclear whether she was speaking to herself or to Li Ke.

Amidst the radiant glow of the sunset, Li Ke stood up and said to the three kneeling men beside him, "Kneel properly and keep an eye on my fish. If your two brothers hadn't brought anyone with them, you would have had to lead the way."

Li Ke went to the highway, looked around for a while, found a secluded corner, put a box truck out of his space, and drove it onto the highway.

The temperature rose, so Li Ke told everyone on the beach to stop what they were doing, pack up their tools, and get into the car. After everyone was in the car, just as Li Ke was about to close the door, Qiu Ling couldn't help but say, "You don't need those fish at all. You just want to give us some food, right? You're such a good person."

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!