The team's destination was an abandoned factory. At first, everything went smoothly. They didn't encounter any zombies or mutated creatures, but they also didn't collect any useful supplies. They wondered if the factory had already been looted by others.
Liu Fang looked dejected. "Boss, did we just make a wasted trip today?"
Angie stretched and said, "You can't blame me for this. I always have bad luck when I come out with others. I guess I'll just give up next time."
Lozen quickly looked around and made a decision. "Let's go back the way we came. If we can get back before dark, we can change direction tomorrow. It's not safe at night. Don't linger in unknown areas."
As the backbone of the team, Lozen's decision was naturally met with no opposition. However, as they walked, everyone realized that something was amiss.
Liu Fang tremblingly tugged at Luo Ze'en's sleeve and whispered, "Boss, are we stuck in a maze?"
Lozen's eyes narrowed, and he gently patted Liu Fang's hand to let him know. He was the first to notice something was wrong. Based on their speed when they arrived, they should have been able to see the general outline of the encampment by now, but the surroundings were still an endless expanse, as if they had been going around in circles.
"Angie, see which way to go." Lozen stopped in his tracks; continuing forward now would only be a waste of energy.
“Okay.” Angie’s tone was nonchalant, but he silently squatted down, closed his eyes, and placed his palms on the ground.
As a superhuman with the ability to control earth, Angie's power is crucial at this moment.
Everyone waited quietly for Angie to reach a conclusion. Under everyone's watchful eyes, Angie slowly opened his eyes and said, "Walk two kilometers to the southwest, then walk three kilometers to the east."
"Let's go!" Lozen immediately ordered.
Following Angie's instructions, the group hurried southwest, but their attempt to escape the "ghost wall" state was clearly not so easy, as several bolts of lightning suddenly struck their path.
Everyone paused, dodging the thunderclaps. But the anomalies didn't stop. Suddenly, vine-like plants sprouted wildly from the previously empty ground and attacked the team as if they were sentient, seemingly trying to bind them.
"This is the West Gate Encirclement Formation, a hunting formation commonly used in the South Base." Lozen gritted his teeth and said, "Split up and run!"
"Yes!" The team members exchanged glances and dispersed.
The West Gate Encirclement Formation is a hunting formation improved by the South Base based on ancient formations and combined with the base's elite superhumans. It can completely surround the prey. The most powerful feature is that it can automatically change formations at will. The center forward is the Heaven and Earth Three Talents Formation, and the two sides backward are the Four Gates Encirclement Formation.
However, every formation has its weaknesses or flaws, and this formation is no exception. It's just that as a hunting formation in the South Base, its solution is simple: the formation will automatically stop once it captures its prey.
But whether they catch one prey or several is hard to say, which is why Lozen made everyone run separately—it's better to be caught by one than to be wiped out.
Although it wasn't a good idea to think that way, Lozen was very confident in his strength. His physical strength and superpowers were top-notch, so he felt that he was definitely not the one who would be caught. So when the vines wrapped around him, he was still somewhat incredulous and tried to cut the vines off with the sharp blade hidden at his waist.
But the vines instantly released a smoke-like gas, and Lozen fell into a coma in the blink of an eye, then was tightly bound by the vines.
The strange occurrences around them stopped, and the few members of the team who had been fleeing stopped and began to use their compasses to study the route back to their base.
...
When Lozen woke up, his limbs were tightly bound. He was lying on a bed that looked like an operating table, with several metal detection strips attached to his body, and several machines were operating around him.
Damn it! That was Lozen's first thought. This place was obviously a laboratory of the South Base. Given his conflict with the South Base, he estimated that he was probably in grave danger.
With a creak, the door was pushed open.
Gu Qingqiu, dressed in a white lab coat, walked in with her hands in her pockets, stopped next to Luo Ze'en, and looked down at him.
This wasn't the first time the two had met; they had seen each other countless times in videos. But this was the first time Lozen had seen the mad scientist up close.
Gu Qingqiu herself looks serious and unsmiling. Her short, ear-length hair makes her look very capable. Her thick glasses cover her slightly dark eyelids, but her skin is very fair. She looks like someone who has never struggled to survive outside.
While Luo Ze'en was sizing up Gu Qingqiu, Gu Qingqiu was also sizing up Luo Ze'en.
In fact, Gu Qingqiu had been observing Luo Ze'en for a long time while he was unconscious, but Luo Ze'en with his eyes closed and Luo Ze'en with his eyes open gave people completely different feelings.
When Lozen closes his eyes, he looks like a naive college student with thick, long eyelashes, a high nose bridge, and a great figure with broad shoulders and a narrow waist that is the envy of many.
When he opened his eyes, the wariness and ruthlessness in them told Gu Qingqiu that this was a person who could become the leader of an organization in the apocalypse, and that one should not judge a book by its cover.
"Heh." Seeing that Gu Qingqiu didn't speak, Luo Ze'en laughed first, "Old woman, you're lucky. Now that you've caught me, you can kill me or do whatever you want with me."
“I’m thirty years old this year, not old,” Gu Qingqiu said calmly. “However, in the apocalypse, very few people can live to thirty, and you probably won’t live that long either. I’ll just take that as you envying me.”
Luo Ze'en's expression was not good. Gu Qingqiu's words implied that she wanted to use him for human experiments. He sneered, "Let me die knowing why. How exactly did you capture me?"
Gu Qingqiu didn't speak, but her gaze shifted to Luo Ze'en's wrist.
Luo Ze'en followed Gu Qingqiu's gaze and saw the grass bracelet on his wrist. His heart skipped a beat. This was the bracelet Shen Yiting had given him. He hadn't taken it off. Could it be...?
Gu Qingqiu mercifully explained, "This is not an ordinary grass, but a mutated crane grass sprout, which has the effect of repelling mosquitoes and wild animals in the wild. It must have been given to you by your girlfriend. She said it was to keep you safe, and that's not wrong."
However, this ironically became an aid in locating Lozen at the South Base. In the thermal images of the scattered fleeing individuals, one person was surrounded by almost no traces of mosquitoes or wild animals, which could not have been due to luck.
Thinking of this, Luo Ze'en felt a wave of sorrow. His last bit of concern for Shen Yiting vanished. He clearly realized what it felt like to be betrayed by someone he once trusted. His lingering nostalgia and reluctance became his burden. If he had cut all ties in time, if he had torn off the bracelet and thrown it away, would he have been able to escape this calamity?
If he weren't still of use to Gu Qingqiu, he might be dead by now.
"Besides this broken bracelet, do you have any other tricks up your sleeve?" Lozen asked, but he already had the answer in his mind.
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