After Xia Yixin finished her meeting, she was busy with various things. It wasn't until she heard that the maintenance team had returned that she realized it was time for her appointment with Lu Yan. However, she didn't see Lu Yan at the maintenance team.
"Team Leader Xia, Commander Lu parted ways with us two days ago. He didn't say where he was going when he left, so we..." the maintenance team leader explained.
It's impossible for Lu Yan to suddenly leave the team without a reason when they are near the base.
Where did you two part ways?
Xia Yixin learned from the maintenance team leader where they parted ways. Before leaving, she instructed him not to reveal Lu Yan's situation to anyone else at the base, and to only say that Lu Yan had gone to complete another task.
She did this because she was worried that the news of 'Lu Yan's disappearance' would trigger other chain reactions.
After making the arrangements, she immediately left the Dawn Base to search the surrounding area.
She channeled her internal energy, and her lightness skill made her move much faster than any means of transportation. In the blink of an eye, she arrived at the place they had mentioned where they would separate—a wasteland.
There was nothing there. She spread her mental energy and could clearly see the situation within a hundred miles around, but there was nothing there except for zombies.
Finally, she discovered something amiss in a dilapidated town within a three-kilometer radius. There were many dead crows and bloodstains scattered in the town's small square.
Judging from the reddish color of the bloodstains, they shouldn't have been there for too long, but she still couldn't confirm whether they were Lu Yan's.
Gradually, it got dark.
Even with her mental energy pushed to its limit, Xia Yixin still couldn't detect Lu Yan's aura. Unconsciously, her fingers stroked the black jade ring, and the ominous premonition in her heart was amplified without limit.
She knew Lu Yan wouldn't abandon the convoy; he must have discovered something, and he was confident he could resolve it quickly, but perhaps he had encountered a tricky problem.
Could it be a mutated zombie? Impossible. If it were a mutated zombie, there would be signs of collapse nearby, and only a flock of dead crows on the ground.
She checked each crow and found nothing unusual.
Everything seemed very strange.
The system, which had been feigning death for a long time, finally spoke up quietly, "Host, don't worry too much. Your Lu Yan is so capable, he won't get into trouble. Maybe he'll be back in a while. You still need to focus on doing the mission."
Xia Yixin keenly sensed something was wrong with the system. "System, answer me honestly, is it the main system interfering again?"
"Host, that's impossible. The main god has already been taken down. The main system will only take action if you do something that violates the entire system."
Xia Yixin forced herself to calm down, and suddenly she thought of a question, a point she had never thought of before.
"Why does the main system keep blocking me and Lu Yan? If it's simply for the mission, didn't you say that everyone in each dimension is just code or numbers, like a computer? As long as I achieve the final result, the process doesn't matter. Is it just because Lu Yan is considered a 'computer virus'?"
Her question stumped the system. After a long pause, it replied, "Host, all the programs were set up from the very beginning. The programs started running the moment you entered this system."
Whether it was her imagination or not, Xia Yixin felt that the system's voice was a mixture of a childish voice and a mechanical voice, a mechanical voice she had never heard before.
And she suddenly grasped the fleeting inspiration from before.
"The 'program' you're referring to isn't the impossible 'Xia Xia Rolls Up Her Sleeves and Works Hard System,' which is the program that makes the male supporting character happy, because that program couldn't possibly know that Lu Yan would become a 'virus.' What kind of 'program' are you referring to?"
"This system is not authorized to answer this question from the host." The mechanical voice grew stronger.
There was definitely a problem!
After a while, the system reverted to its original childlike voice: "Host, you are indeed very smart, but I will say it again: I have never betrayed you. Please believe me, if you are eliminated, I will not survive either."
Just as she was about to ask more questions, Hong Feng's hesitant voice came through her communicator.
"Team Leader Xia, we encountered people from P Base at the border. However, they split into two groups. One group was heading towards K Base with goods, while the other group seemed to be heading towards our base." Hong Feng had originally led the special operations team to the border to stand by, and coincidentally, she saw the people from P Base entering the country.
"Who led the P-Base team?" The P-Base team came with such a clear purpose; are they friend or foe?
"It's Chen Zhe and Chen Qian."
It's different from the original story. In the original story, the Chen brothers only appeared after the first batch of "healing water" arrived and the efficacy was confirmed, and when they cooperated with K Base again the following year, although the original story only described the time as "one year later".
Spanning two provinces, the city lord of P base came in person, making Xia Yixin feel that the Chen brothers might not have simply "come to visit."
That is indeed the case.
The Chen brothers, Chen Zhe and Chen Qian, came with a specific purpose.
Before the apocalypse, the two brothers held official positions. Both were third-generation members of the Chen family. Although they were five years apart, their contrasting temperaments—one cold and the other warm—made them get along well, and they were leading figures in the official ranks.
After the apocalypse, relying on the original official team base, they established Northwind's first, and currently largest, official base.
However, five years have passed since the apocalypse, and the concept of a nation has changed. P Base is also facing problems such as a shortage of resources and personnel losses, especially as the level of zombies has increased, their abilities have become stronger, and even large zombie beasts have appeared.
Thus, the first collective meeting of the seven major bases took place.
The "healing water" from Base K gave hope to all seven bases, and the Chen brothers decided to take the risk of cross-provincial cooperation, just like the other seven bases.
Unfortunately, before they could even set off, they received a message from the convoy that delivered the "down payment"—a riot had broken out at K base, causing heavy losses, and even more than half of the search team had left.
People at other bases also received the news.
The Chen brothers weren't fools; would an ordinary riot cause such great losses?
Unlike other bases, the squad leader of the convoy they sent out to deliver the "down payment" witnessed the entire process and even followed Xia Yixin and her group afterward, seeing firsthand the scene of them eliminating the "scavengers".
Thus, they learned a familiar yet unfamiliar name—Xia Yixin, and three teams, along with the background and consequences.
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