It was already afternoon when the six lucky people climbed out of the tunnel. Although the tunnel was only a few kilometers long, the closed gates along the way still caused them a lot of trouble.
Every gate had to be opened manually, and it was unknown who had done this. Zhang Linhai was the only one in the mining team with that authority. Could it be that he wanted everyone to be buried with him?
Fortunately, among the few survivors, there happened to be a professional locksmith. The gates were just a little harder to open, but they didn't actually have much of a blocking effect.
Compared to the quiet mine, the surface is extremely lively.
Looking up, I could see a constant stream of aircraft flying through the swirling clouds. Those wing-shaped or triangular craft seemed to be fighting for territory, their eyes clearly fixed on a bloody battle.
It was snowing and visibility was not very good.
"Can anyone tell me what's happening outside?"
Qin Le shouted loudly through his protective suit. He stopped beside the steel tripod of an ore conveyor and stared at the flashes of fire that occasionally flashed in the sky.
"There's a war."
Li Xiang hung a bag of supplies on a bolt of the steel tripod, and the people around him began to sort out the equipment they needed from the bag according to his instructions.
"When did it start?"
"About three days ago, maybe earlier. The network went down a week ago, and all you can see now are mirrors of the site."
"Invasion? Counter-invasion? Local conflict? All-out war? Or..."
"civil war."
Several people stopped what they were doing, looked at each other, and then turned their heads to Li Xiang at the same time.
Li Xiang shoveled a handful of snow from the ground and put it into a portable purification device. He fumbled behind himself for a while, then placed his terminal on the wooden box they used as a table.
"I've downloaded all the useful content, you can take a look at it yourself."
"The local army and local forces withdrawn from other places are fighting with some little devils who are trying to split the country. I don't know how far they are at now, but I guess the actual casualties have not yet begun."
"Where in war is there no death?"
"The past was the past, and the present is the present. Before the drones decide the winner, no one will die. After the drones decide the winner, the losing side will surrender, and no one will die."
"You're too optimistic."
Huang Lun sat down, his expression changing as if he were thinking of something else. He placed the terminal back on the wooden box, looked at the green text on the screen, and continued, "There are no casualties in war because there are always ways to retreat. Do you want to take another look? They're fighting for survival! Surrender means death!"
Huang Lun's words were powerful and shattered everyone's fantasy about war.
Even through the protective suits, they could feel the others' blood run cold. They fell silent, each considering their own way out.
A hand covered in snow emerged from the gap between the crowd, bringing with it a lot of cold wind. Qin Le was already tired of the battle in the sky, and he returned to the temporary resting place of the crowd in due time.
"Why are you guys silent? By the way, which side are we on?"
Li Xiang wanted to reply, "We're on the winning side," but the words stopped on his lips. He coughed and didn't continue. Clearly, the situation was extremely chaotic, and they were blind and deaf, isolated for dozens of days. Choosing sides too soon would likely lead to their deaths.
"Those are not important. What's important is that we survive first."
Huang Lun broke the silence. He pulled a roll of blueprints from his waist bag and spread them as flatly as possible on the wooden box. It was a topographic map, with countless curved contour lines covering the plastic sheet.
"We're over ten kilometers from the nearest station as the crow flies. I've looked around and think this is the best route for us. We don't have many supplies, so we can only reach them in time by taking the remaining roads from before the war. If we're lucky, we might find some supplies along the way, or even a working vehicle."
He marked their current position with a screw and then laid out their planned route on the map with a piece of wire.
"Are you sure you want to take the road? You'll be spotted by drones and turned into a pile of minced meat in seconds."
Li Xiang had served in the military and fought in wars, so he knew firsthand how powerful drones were. A few years earlier, during World War II, his comrade had been blown to pieces by a palm-sized Hunter-Killer drone simply because he had a shiny piece of plastic on him.
"They probably won't massacre civilians. I've analyzed it. They want the right to survive, which inevitably requires exploiting civilians. Otherwise, they wouldn't be able to survive without production. As long as we don't pose a threat to them, or even bring benefits, they definitely won't shoot at us."
"You're willing to be enslaved? I can't do that!"
"That's different! They're also from Country Z. How can one enslave one's own family? At least they won't openly call you a slave! These days, just being alive is good enough..."
To be or not to be, that is the question. As ordinary people, if they want to survive, they will inevitably be exploited and oppressed. They can only take one step at a time and try to find a more relaxed place to live.
Qin Le didn't say much about their topic. He was just a homeless wanderer. His hometown was abandoned, so it didn't matter where he went.
"Then let's go."
Considering the need for this surface trek, they left most of their prospecting equipment behind, as it was too heavy. They only had one exoskeleton left; the rest were permanently left in the mine. Li Xiang, of course, wore the exoskeleton, and he also acted as a porter, with most of the supplies in the box behind him.
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