Star Sea Shelter.

In the dark underground shelter, the generator was humming and the white energy-saving light bulbs were flickering, just like everyone's mood at the moment.

From the afternoon, when Xia Runrun had just left the shelter, no one felt much. No matter how bad the opponent was, she had two mutant beasts by her side, a powerful mutant cat that could run away if she couldn't win, and a flying starling mutant beast that could run back to report to them at worst. Although she was just a little girl of three or four years old, her combat power was far stronger than those ordinary survivors.

One against ten is no problem at all.

So everyone picked out the debris and grass scraps from the rabbit fur, cleaned the rabbit fur, and sat in the shelter waiting... But as they waited, they realized something was not right. The time slowly passed to four, five, and six in the afternoon... The whole city was pitch black. Because of the heavy snow outside, even the moonlight and stars could not be seen. The other party had not returned yet!

In the past, most of the people who were unable to return to the shelter at night were most likely in trouble.

When they thought of this, many people who had seen Xia Runrun and thought this little girl was particularly cute suddenly felt distressed, especially Han Zhou and Huang Haichao, whose expressions were extremely ugly.

"Brother Yang, what's going on? Why hasn't that little girl come back yet?" Huang Haichao was anxious and paced back and forth in front of the shelter door. The Husky, sensing his owner's emotions, also paced back and forth, looking at a loss, although he didn't know what was going on.

"I don't know... maybe I was held back by something else..." Yang Fan took out a cigarette from his pocket irritably, sniffed it but couldn't bear to smoke it, so he put it back into the cigarette box.

"Do you think something happened to that girl? It's already past six in the evening, almost seven..." Huang Haichao stared at the dark intersection, as if he was looking at a monster about to eat people. "Do you think that girl was attacked by a ferocious beast? But why didn't the starling come back to report it? Could it be because it just came to the shelter yesterday and the starling hasn't memorized the way yet?"

"Alright... stop walking around here... go back to sleep... you have to get up early tomorrow to go out on patrol." Yang Fan sighed. "It's pointless to speculate here. It will only add to the fear... Just like the day before yesterday when Xiao Han and the other two didn't return to the shelter. Everyone thought something had happened to them, but didn't they return safely yesterday?"

"That little girl was able to tame a flock of angry rabbits with ease, which shows she's quite capable. I heard from Xiao Han that she only spent less than half a day to find those two mutant cats and the mutant bird... This shows that despite her young age, she's quite skilled at taming mutant beasts... Maybe she just encountered a suitable mutant this time and went to tame it..."

Yang Fan thought about it and said a few more words. In fact, no one knew whether he said this to comfort Huang Haichao or to himself.

Although Xia Ruanruan was very powerful, and even listening to Han Zhou and the other two people would make one think that her ability to tame mutant beasts was beyond real, the little girl only looked about three or four years old. They not only had to worry about the little girl encountering other ferocious mutant beasts and fierce beasts when she went out, but also had to worry about whether she would encounter bad people.

At the age of three or four, their minds are not fully developed and they are easily deceived.

Yang Fan scratched his head in annoyance, and for a moment he didn't know whether his previous thoughts were too naive.

In Yang Fan's view, children without parents should mature early. Even if the other person is only three or four years old, possessing a mutant beast makes them far more powerful than other ordinary survivors. Therefore, they should be given more training. Mutated beasts evolve and their intelligence increases. Cats are already highly intelligent animals, and with the mutations caused by the virus, scientists say that the IQ of adult mutant cats is comparable to that of 17 or 18-year-olds.

It was precisely because of this that Yang Fan boldly let the little girl leave the shelter alone. Even when she left, she did not take the initiative to ask to go out with him.

Nowadays everyone has their own things to do, and he can't follow the other person for the rest of his life.

Only now...

Yang Fan looked at the dark sky and then at the pitch-black streets on both sides. He began to doubt whether his previous decision was too hasty.

When dealing with a child like this, shouldn't he first help him familiarize himself with the area around the shelter before letting him move around on his own?

The man's brows were tightly furrowed, and his expression met the eyes of the big golden retriever next to him. The dog stretched out its big head and rubbed its master with heartache.

…

Chu Hang, who had been locked in the room, was also worried like Yang Fan and Huang Haichao.

As a white cat, its size is only the size of an ordinary cat before the disaster.

Chu Hang was locked in his room by Xia Runrun that day. The little girl got up early, put out the food bowl, water bowl and simple cat litter box, and wanted Chu Hang to stay in the room to recuperate that day.

As a white cat materialized from a spirit, Chu Hang does not need to eat, and he would not feel bored even if he stayed in the room alone for the whole day to recuperate.

It was also reassuring to see the little girl go out with other survivors in the shelter.

even……

As someone with emotional indifference, Chu Hang didn't think there was anything wrong with this arrangement. He felt it was both reasonable and appropriate. With his current body, going outside without a fight would only cause trouble for the girl.

But as time went by at night, there were other noises next door. With his sharp ears, he even heard the man named Yang Fan next to him whispering with others, which made Chu Hang unable to sit still.

The white cat paced back and forth in the room, wagging its tail in annoyance. Guilt was like ants crawling from the soles of its feet to its heart.

Chu Hang felt as if his soul was torn in two.

Half of her told herself that Xia Runrun's parents were the scum in the Pearl Shelter. What did it matter if they died? It was what they deserved, and she didn't need to feel guilty at all.

The other half told herself that since Xia Runrun's parents were dead, and death was like the extinguishing of a light, any hatred that had existed in the past would have vanished into thin air. Besides, the child was innocent, so she should go find the other party directly now, as the city was too dangerous at night.

Two completely different emotions were tearing back and forth in his mind, and the white cat's red and blue mandarin duck eyes were full of struggle. The whole process lasted about three or four minutes, just when the alarm clock hanging in the shelter base rang "dong dong dong" seven times.

The white cat jumped onto the bed, curled its tail, and closed its eyes.

…

Northwest District.

Move to the 12th floor underground of the white laboratory building that appears to be completely destroyed from the outside.

There was no sound in the dark floor, as if even cockroaches and rats didn't want to come to such a place.

The smell of various formaldehyde and medicines drifted back and forth in the dark room. The surroundings were quiet and seemed lifeless.

“Snap!—”

Suddenly, a crisp sound of unlocking a door echoed throughout the entire underground 12th floor.

“Clatter!—”

It seemed as if some liquid poured out like a flood along with the sound of unlocking, instantly reaching every corner of the -12 floor.

“Swish, swish, swish, swish——”

The sound of unlocking and liquid pouring was like a switch being suddenly pressed. All the lights on the -12th floor turned on, and the pale white light illuminated the originally dark space.

The bodies, soaked in formaldehyde, had become hideous. Some had the upper torso of a leopard and the lower body of a human, some had a human body with a fish tail, and some had eagle wings extending from their backs. Regardless of the type, each corpse's expression was distorted with pain, as if they had endured severe and cruel torture before death. In addition, the room was filled with various other corpse organs, both animal and human.

A man with long black hair down to his waist, completely naked, and with a cold and distinguished temperament, walked out of a nutrition chamber barefoot and expressionlessly.

Perhaps because he had been soaking in the nutrient chamber for too long, the man's skin was pale. Through the refraction of the overhead chandelier, one could even vaguely see the purple blood vessels under his skin. His brows were cold, and his deep eyes seemed to hide a dark abyss. Just standing there, one felt that this man was like a thousand-year-old ice, so cold that one wanted to be conquered, but also wanted to stay away from danger.

Chu Hang walked out of the nutrition cabin with an expressionless face, picked up a white coat from the shelf at random, and wiped the nutrient solution and wet black hair off his body.

Walking under the cold light of the -12th floor, putting on the clothes of a basement laboratory worker, he disappeared into the dark stairwell of the -12th floor...

…

A dark night with wind and snow.

The entire Xingyue City was silent. Apart from the occasional barking of dogs and meowing of cats, no one could even hear any sound other than the wind and snow.

Night is dangerous for humans.

No one dared to wander around the city at night.

Chu Hang walked on the street, not afraid of the dark night at all.

As a genetically modified laboratory experiment, not only had his mental power mutated, but his body was also different from that of an ordinary human. As long as he didn't want to be exposed, his presence was like a drop of water splashing into the ocean, almost invisible to anyone or any mutated animal, like a chameleon. Even ferocious beasts would simply ignore him, yet he could clearly see objects five or six hundred meters away in the dark.

If not for this, he probably wouldn't be able to get out of the laboratory alive.

…

Xia Runrun had no idea that someone would come looking for her late at night.

After eating the grilled fish, she sat listlessly on the big black back, holding a thick illustrated book, and followed a group of stray dogs back to their residence for the past few months.

The reason why the stray dogs occupied the previous pine forest was not only because of its excellent geographical location with rivers and lakes, but most importantly, they found a large natural cave here that could shelter them from wind and rain, making the entire winter more bearable.

The cave was very large and so dark that Xia Runrun could not see what was inside at all. However, Brother Chen directly lit the lighter in his hand, and with the faint light, Xia Runrun could barely get a general idea of ​​what was going on.

This cave was probably formed naturally. It was about thirty or forty meters deep, and was tall and wide, enough to accommodate Dahei's group of stray dogs. Even if there were twenty or thirty more dogs, there would be no need to worry about having no place to sleep.

No wonder stray dogs choose this place.

"Go to bed early tonight. Tomorrow, Latiao and I will take you back..." Ever since Latiao, the dog, was willing to be Brother Chen's companion, Brother Chen walked from the fish-roasting campfire to the cave. He was unable to close his mouth, which was almost grinning from ear to ear, even for such a long distance.

Xia Ruanruan blinked, knowing that the man in front of her was particularly excited, but she did not expose him. Instead, she nodded and smiled obediently: "Then uncle, go to bed early. I will get up early tomorrow."

Brother Chen:!!

Woohoo! How could he have thought such a cute kid looked like the scumbag who cheated on him? Surely his eyes weren't very good before!

Such a well-behaved, sensible and considerate child who even lets him go to bed early, how cute!