Xie Xuan's team's progress is already half a day slower than other teams.

After completing the mission at the first sample collection point, their team continued to move forward along the route. If all goes well, they will reach the C7 base tomorrow.

While sending Song Zhixian to his destination, they were also able to replenish their supplies. After driving for another day, the RV's energy would almost run out.

"Route 16 and beyond is the responsibility of C7 Garrison Point, routes 1 to 7 are C5, and routes 8 to 15 are C6," Song Zhixian said. "In previous years, the Development Department had many more members than it does now, and at its peak, we could expand to 25 routes. But this year, only you and Team 16 will be heading to C7 Garrison Point."

Ding Qiaoyun asked, "Is it because the infection situation inside the wall has become more serious, and the number of people joining the Development Department each year has become smaller and smaller?"

"That's part of the reason," Song Zhixian said. "But the more important reason is that with the establishment of the outposts outside the wall, some of the Reclamation Department's functions have been transferred to the outposts."

Xie Xuan nodded thoughtfully. "According to what you said, the outpost outside the wall can completely replace the function of the Development Department, right?"

Song Zhixian shook his head. "That's not true. The ultimate goals of the missions assigned to the Development Department and the Garrison are different. The Development Department needs to collect samples from outside the wall for research, while the Garrison's mission is to search for anomalies."

"Abnormal?" Yang Jiayue asked doubtfully, "What is considered abnormal?"

"It's difficult to define this in a few words. Different teams at the base have their own criteria."

Song Zhixian coughed and explained, "The starting points of the garrison and the development department are completely different. For example, the development department is working hard to save money in the hope of buying a house one day, but the garrison is like buying a lottery ticket, hoping that one day you will suddenly win the jackpot and buy a big villa."

"So the development department and the garrison are for risk diversification. If we invest a little in both methods, at least we won't go down the same path to the end?" Xiao Yao asked.

"That's right." Song Zhixian nodded.

The carriage was briefly silent for a few seconds, and Xie Xuan couldn't help but ask a question that everyone was curious about, "So, has the lottery ticket been found at the base now?"

"Obviously not." Song Zhixian said without hesitation, "Let alone the first prize, we haven't even won a small prize so far."

This is also the expected answer. If the garrison had really achieved some phased results, they would not be here now.

Everyone in the car chatted for a long time, until the sun set.

Because the six people in the car came from four different forces, the ecological organization, the Sixth District Ecological Bureau, the outpost outside the wall and Noah Technology, plus Xie Xuan, who seemed to be involved in everything, the information they had was different even if it was about the same thing.

Even if I just share what can be said, it would be enough to talk about for a long time.

They didn't encounter any bad luck during the whole afternoon. Occasionally, some minor incidents occurred, but they were not a big deal given the powerful force of Xie Xuan and his men.

After nightfall, although Xie Xuan and his team fell far behind in progress, they still had to stop and rest as required and continue their journey the next day at dawn.

With the lessons learned from the first day, they also knew that night was the most dangerous time. Even if they stopped and camped, danger would still come to them.

After parking the car, Ji Lan conducted an inventory as usual. Everyone's progress was relatively smooth during the day. Except for Xie Xuan and his team who first encountered an A-level fungus species and then encountered a swarm of locusts, the other teams were only seriously injured at most, and there were no casualties.

Before ending the call, Ji Lan told everyone to be careful and that she would take another inventory tomorrow morning.

It was Chongming's turn to keep watch. He set up the protective shield device, and after everyone else lay down on the bed, the lights in the car dimmed.

Xie Xuan's condition today was actually not very good. After over-consumption of her supernatural powers, she still hadn't fully recovered.

Her special abilities are a little different from those of other people. After other people's special abilities are used up, they will slowly recover over time, but she can't.

If she used up all her powers and had to wait for them to recover, she might have to wait for a year or two.

The two insect feasts she had this morning and at noon were just enough to fill her stomach. She didn't notice it while they were happily chatting in the afternoon, but now she started to feel hungry after lying down.

This kind of hunger was certainly not stomach hunger, but she did feel this way because she wanted to eat.

For Xie Xuan, the most ideal midnight snack should be a realm built with vitality, just like the high-level realm within the wall.

But thinking about the pitifully little vitality in the area outside the wall and the effort required to infect creatures without consuming much vitality, Xie Xuan gave up the idea of ​​getting up and hunting for a midnight snack.

After forcing herself to sleep, Xie Xuan quickly fell asleep due to hunger.

The dream was black, but was soon replaced by a bright white.

Xie Xuan opened her eyes and found herself standing in a vast open space, surrounded by a mushroom forest.

Outside the wall, except for the original city ruins, most places are actually very similar mushroom forests. They also choose similar open spaces to camp every day, so it is difficult for Xie Xuan to judge whether she is continuing the dream of the first day or standing at their camp today.

She raised her head, and the moon above her head was still dazzlingly bright.

The last time she saw a crescent moon, but this time the moon seemed a little rounder than last time.

And this time, just like last time, the crescent moon began to become fuller under Xie Xuan's gaze. When it was about to become a full moon, it suddenly shattered again.

The moon shattered into countless pieces, and these pieces began to fall towards her.

Xie Xuan did not try to escape this time because she knew she could not move.

She began to do the opposite and tried to awaken the superpowers in her body, but strangely, her superpowers were still there in her dreams.

Black mist quickly dissipated from her body, and all the falling fragments fell into the black mist.

The fragments that fell in quickly dissolved like snowflakes falling into ink. What was even more strange was that Xie Xuan actually felt a tremendous vitality from the fragments.

The vitality swallowed by the black fog flowed into her body like sweet spring water, and Xie Xuan's hunger disappeared just like that.