Chapter 24 The Plan to Leave
The news broadcast about Dawn Base and other large bases was like pouring a bucket of cold water into a scalding pan of oil, instantly triggering a violent reaction in compartment 7 of Sector B.
Zhou Min almost immediately sprang up from her bunk, her usual calm and rationality replaced by a burning light.
She quickly pulled out the map of the safe zone that she had been handling until it was slightly rough, her fingers gesturing frantically across it as she rapidly calculated in a low voice: "Five hundred kilometers, passing through the ruins of three major cities, two main roads are highly likely to be paralyzed, extremely risky, but official channels, military support..."
She suddenly looked up at the others in the cubicle, her eyes sharp. "This is an opportunity! A truly stable order, restored productivity! We must obtain more detailed intelligence: routes, access conditions, the situation inside the base..." Her reaction was perfectly in line with her persona as an information controller; her first thought was analysis and planning. To her, Dawn Base was a new chessboard full of unknowns but of immense value.
Lin Yan stopped wiping the axe.
She frowned, staring at a point in the air, as if weighing the pros and cons.
Her calloused fingers unconsciously rubbed the axe blade. "Large bases... there are definitely more rules." Her voice was low, with its usual coldness, "But resources, weapons, stronger opponents..." For someone like her who relies on combat and strength to survive, large bases meant a wider hunting ground and more opportunities for advancement, but they could also mean more constraints.
She glanced at her blood-stained axe, then finally snorted, offering no clear statement, but a flicker of ignited fighting spirit rose deep within her eyes.
For her, where she goes is not important; what matters is whether it allows her to continue to grow stronger and fight freely.
The most surprising thing was the hooded woman who was always like a shadow.
When the words "Dawn Base" came on the broadcast, Ruan Ning keenly noticed that the figure under the wide hood stiffened almost imperceptibly, and the cold and aloof aura that had always surrounded her seemed to show a very subtle fluctuation.
Unlike Zhou Min, she didn't act immediately, nor did she show any fighting spirit like Lin Yan. She simply curled up her body even tighter, as if trying to completely hide herself in the shadows.
But that reaction wasn't indifference; it was more like...something had been touched upon, a secret or a wound. Ruan Ning silently noted this anomaly.
After the initial shock, Ruan Ning quickly regained her composure.
She observed Zhou Min's fervor, Lin Yan's weighing of options, and the hooded woman's unusual behavior, her mind racing. She noticed that Zhou Min used "we," clearly indicating that she was already considering the people in the cubicle as a potential small group to plan their journey to the base.
"Ruan Ning, what do you think?" Zhou Min indeed turned her gaze to Ruan Ning, her tone tentative. "Your water-based ability is a scarce resource anywhere. Once you get to a large base, the treatment will definitely be much better than here." She was trying to win Ruan Ning over; a stable water-based ability user would be a valuable asset during long migrations and future life in the base.
Ruan Ning met Zhou Min's gaze, her tone flat and revealing no emotion: "Five hundred kilometers, it's not that easy. There's too much to prepare." She didn't directly answer whether to go or not, but pointed out the practical difficulties.
This aligns with her consistently cautious image and leaves her room for maneuver. Of course, she will go, but she absolutely cannot embark on a hasty journey with a hastily assembled team, each with their own agenda.
She needs control, she needs to ensure her secrecy and safety, and even more so... she needs to have enough power before she arrives.
Her words calmed Zhou Min down a bit, and she nodded: "Indeed, we need to consider this carefully." But the eagerness in her eyes did not diminish.
Lin Yan also glanced at Ruan Ning, seemingly expressing a degree of agreement with her composure.
An eerie silence fell over the cubicle.
The hope and excitement brought by the broadcast were quickly cooled by the distance and danger of reality, replaced by a more complex mix of emotions—longing, fear, calculation, and the difficult choices that had to be made.
The lingering warmth of hope brought by the broadcast had not yet dissipated when a colder and more pressing reality, like a leech, clung to the mind of everyone with a modicum of foresight—supplies.
Air raid shelters, these temporary refuges, have their inherent flaws magnified over time with the continuous influx of people.
It is essentially a huge consumption point, not a production point.
Ruan Ning's experience working in the logistics department gave her a clearer view of this precarious balance than most people.
Every day, she watched as Lao Chen and the logistics personnel worried about the dwindling supply list; she listened to the cooks complaining that the food reserves were running out and they had to cook the porridge thinner and thinner; she noticed that the medical team's disinfection supplies and bandages were being strictly reused and even rationed.
The supplies brought back by the search and rescue team were more like a drop in the ocean.
The resources that can be safely accessed in urban ruins are dwindling, and every outing is accompanied by a higher casualty rate. What is brought back is often only a delay in the pace of collapse, rather than a fundamental solution.
"Relying solely on data collection without open-source content makes long-term operation impossible." This statement, seemingly uttered by someone, quickly became a consensus among the high-ranking officials of the safe zone and well-informed individuals with supernatural abilities, casting a shadow over their minds like a dark cloud.
Air raid shelters are ultimately not a long-term solution.
This realization cast an even deeper layer of anxiety and urgency over the already agitated public following the news of the "Dawn Base".
For ordinary people, this meant intensified despair. Powerless to change the situation, they could only watch helplessly as their daily rations dwindled and their living space was further compressed, as if they were awaiting a slow and inevitable death sentence.
For military administrators, this is a tremendous pressure and a difficult choice.
Should we hold our ground and wait for reinforcements, but where are the reinforcements and supplies? Or should we organize forces as soon as possible for a large-scale, high-risk migration? Either choice comes with an unbearable cost.
For superhumans like Ruan Ning and her roommates, this was a clear signal—they had to leave as soon as possible!
The atmosphere in cubicle number 7 of section B was even more somber than before.
Zhou Min was no longer just keen on gathering information; she began to plan more specifically: "We need a high-performance car, enough fuel, weapons, maps, and at least enough food and medicine for half a month..." Every item on her list was considered a luxury in the apocalypse. "We don't have enough contribution points, so we must find a way to take on missions with higher rewards, or..." Her gaze swept over the others, the meaning of which was self-evident—they needed to take risks and compete for resources.
Lin Yan sharpened her axe even more frequently, the fierce glint in her eyes almost tangible. "Damn it, this godforsaken place is doomed sooner or later. If you're going to leave, leave now. Are you just dawdling and waiting to starve to death?" Her logic was simple and direct: power was the only truth she believed in, and staying meant the weakening of her power.
Even the hooded woman who had remained aloof tensed almost imperceptibly when she overheard Zhou Min and Lin Yan discussing the supplies needed for their departure. The instinct for survival seemed to have overwhelmed her desire to conceal the secret.
Ruan Ning saw all of this.
She knew all too well that the countdown to the depletion of supplies in the air-raid shelters was invisibly accelerating the course of everyone's fate. It forced people to make a choice: to stay and struggle in the increasingly brutal competition, or to embark on that perilous migration route towards the unknown "dawn."
For her, this was also an opportunity. Chaos and migration meant a temporary collapse of order, but it also meant she could move more freely, accumulate strength more easily along the way, and even... have the chance to "encounter" the person she had been searching for on the road.
“Preparations are necessary,” Ruan Ning finally spoke, her voice calm yet carrying an undeniable determination. “But not blindly. We need more detailed intelligence about dangerous areas along the route, possible supply points, and the movements of other safe zones.” She looked at Zhou Min, then glanced at Lin Yan. “Individual strength is limited; cooperation might increase our chances of survival.”
Her words both pointed out the reality and expressed the intention to cooperate.
In this safety zone on the verge of collapse, a temporary, like-minded alliance may be the wisest preparation one can make before embarking on that death-defying migration.
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