Chapter 175
If you ask a kid about this kind of speculation, you won't get anything out of him. It's better to get some simple information first.
Fortunately, the little brat might have been so depressed because he hadn't spoken for too long, and he also wanted to win the favor of Yu Leng and Lu Jiamu, so he would start a conversation and say something without them asking too much.
The underground pipes become more complex and rugged as they go deeper, and many places have collapsed over the years or are filled with sewage.
The little brat held the spark in his hand and moved skillfully through the complex terrain, all the while talking.
After Lu Jiamu listened carefully to his random chat for a while, he felt that he had some understanding of the composition of the idle people here and their current survival mode.
He looked the little brat up and down for a few times, then said with a childish sense of superiority: "It sounds like you and your teacher are just the weaklings who were abandoned."
The little brat's chattering was suddenly stuck, and he subconsciously retorted: "Teacher, I am not like that. I used to be very powerful."
Seeing that he had spoken to her, Lu Jiamu folded his hands and put on an expression that said, "Really? I don't believe it." "How powerful can he be? If he was powerful, how could he end up in this situation?"
The little brat was unable to hold back his breath when asked, and you could vaguely see that his face was turning a little red.
The little brat didn't know whether Lu Jiamu was trying to take the opportunity to gather some information, because it was natural for the elite group coming from afar to discriminate against them, the rats crossing the street.
He didn't want to be looked down upon, so he snorted and said, "The teacher is not an ordinary person. He used to be a researcher at a research institute, but was later betrayed by others. That's why he looks a little embarrassed now. But the teacher will get all these things back in the future."
After hearing what he said, Lu Jiamu felt that he had a better basic understanding of this "teacher" whom he had never met.
It turned out that this person wanted something from them. That would be easy.
Lu Jiamu's eyes paused slightly, and a slightly fearful expression appeared on his face.
The little brat caught Lu Jiamu's sudden change of mood. Seeing that he had calmed him down, the little brat gradually became slightly proud: "You are really lucky to meet the teacher in such a messy place."
Lu Jiamu asked, "Is it true? Then what is so great about him that he can become a scientific researcher here?"
The little brat said without hesitation: "He is very wise and has a lot of secret knowledge that others don't have."
Lu Jiamu waited for a moment, but after he said this mysteriously, he stopped moving.
Yu Leng had been anxiously alert to the monsters that might launch a sneak attack, and had not said much, but now he understood almost everything in silence.
People can indeed be very intelligent, but when others ask about their abilities and they only talk about their intelligence, it most likely means that they have no other strong means.
Even though the two of them have now fallen into such a weak situation, this "teacher" still seems to be an easy character for them to control.
In the underground pipe, there was already a faint air current blowing past the front, and it seemed that we were almost at the end.
The little brat stopped chattering, groped his way out of a pipe, and entered some remaining main building.
The space suddenly became much wider, and Lu Jiamu saw a group of children of different ages surrounding an old man around a campfire.
The old man supported his body with a wooden stick, with a gloomy look on his face, as if he was lecturing the group of half-grown boys and girls.
The little brat whispered, "This is the teacher."
The old man had also noticed the movement here, so he stopped preaching and turned to look over. The children surrounding him immediately made way for him.
"Teacher!" The little brat immediately shouted happily, ran quickly to the old man, stood on tiptoe and began to whisper in the old man's ear, probably talking about what he had just heard from the two of them.
The old man bent down slightly, and glanced at Lu Jiamu and Yu Leng with a sinister look. After listening for a while, he nodded slowly, waved at the two people, and said in a slightly majestic hoarse voice: "Come over here."
He seems to have a bit of false leadership aura, and he has a very high attitude, which may even intimidate some people who don't know how powerful he is.
Lu Jiamu followed his words and walked over. He glanced at him up and down, then looked up at him and crossed his arms. "I heard that you wanted to see us? What do you want?"
The old man replied: "We are organizing it now..."
But Lu Jiamu didn't seem to want to hear his answer at all. He just looked at the other children frankly. Then, without saying a word, he suddenly stretched out his hand and grabbed the wrist of the boy closest to him.
The boy was caught off guard, and his face showed an expression of fear mixed with surprise.
Before he could react, Lu Jiamu suddenly approached and knocked him to the ground.
The other children were waiting to hear what the two men had to say, but they didn't expect him to suddenly attack them, and they all panicked.
What's wrong with this guy? Is he a lackey sent by the institute? Is he here to fish for people?
Out of fear, a group of half-grown children scattered in chaos and tried to escape.
Lu Jiamu took advantage of the crowd and quickly knocked over three people in succession. In the process, no one dared to come out to stop him.
The survivors gathered here are even weaker than expected, and not a single one of them can fight.
"A mob." Lu Jiamu clapped his hands, sneered, folded his arms again, and looked up at the old man. "What's the point of you organizing such a mob here?"
He looks extremely unruly.
Several children had picked up stones and other tools nearby and gathered around the old man, staring at Lu Jiamu and looking at the old man constantly.
They were like little kids waiting for their parents to back them up. But if Lu Jiamu still wanted to hit someone, the old man couldn't really do anything about it.
He was given a slap in the face right at the start, but instead of getting angry, the old man's eyes lit up.
In this kind of world, kindness, courtesy, humility and modesty are all empty words, and what matters is knowing how to treat your people differently.
The old man then revealed a kind smile, reached out and touched the head of the child beside him, and his tone softened: "No matter what happens, we still have to find a way to survive here. Only by uniting together can we obtain the most resources in this environment."
But the fact is that after all his efforts in uniting, he has not been able to gather even one adult with high fighting capacity. He is only supported by a group of skinny half-grown orphans, which makes his polite words seem a bit too superficial.
As if he noticed Lu Jiamu's gaze, the old man added: "You young people are the future."
Lu Jiamu did not expose him directly on this point, but said: "Time is tight, let's communicate briefly and quickly. Let's talk about the situation here first."
The old man twisted the wooden stick in his hand slightly, as if thinking, and said slowly: "The situation is just as you see."
Perhaps the question just now was indeed a bit general. Lu Jiamu thought for a while and then asked: "Can you tell me what research results your base has achieved that led to the current situation? In exchange, you can also ask us some questions."
Hearing that the information could be exchanged, the old man was immediately cheered up and his attitude became much more positive.
He dispersed the children who were surrounding him, and asked them to do their own things. Then he stretched out his old finger and pointed in a direction: "Do you see the black tower over there? That is the result of our research. The current situation is caused by this. They want to clear out all the ghosts near the black tower as much as possible and create a vacuum area so that they can monopolize this result."
This black tower must be the spire they had briefly glimpsed when they were on the surface. As the only intact building left in the ruins, it was obvious that it must have condensed the wisdom of their base, but they didn't know what kind of wisdom it was.
From what the old man said, the Black Tower seems to be an integrated achievement. The lack of a detailed introduction may be because he is waiting for them to exchange information with the outside world.
Lu Jiamu asked back, "Clear?"
The old man continued, "You should also know that although ghosts cannot be completely eliminated, they can move and will chase after living people. Haven't you noticed that you have hardly seen any ghosts since entering our base?"
Lu Jiamu asked: "So you mean, you expelled us just to make us bait?"
"That's right." The old man nodded, his brows slightly relaxed. "After a period of research, the institute suddenly released a list half a month ago, dividing all the legal residents of the base into two groups according to their abilities and contributions. One group is useful people, and the other group is useless. Those who are considered useful will receive an invitation letter to enter the Black Tower, and the others must leave the institute within the specified time. This is sacrificing some people to help others."
"Once the deadline is up, no one except the staff can be alive between the Black Tower and the outermost fence of the institute, otherwise they will be attacked indiscriminately. A large number of residents have either failed in their resistance or formed teams to leave on their own initiative, taking many ghosts with them. There are not many people in this area now."
"If you leave, you will have to face the unknown world outside. If you stay, you will have to face the mutants and thermal weapons in the base. Both situations basically mean death. There seems to be no difference except for the different ways of death." The old man seemed a little proud when he said this. "Before, some strong and capable young people had never seen the outside world. They thought it would be more terrifying to face the dogs in the institute and their chances of survival would be even lower. They chose to leave and were unwilling to learn from us to linger here. What a short-sighted person."
The old man snorted coldly, "But as a former researcher, I know how bad the situation is outside. All other large bases and small gathering points we have observed in history have been destroyed. Even the mobile convoys formed by survivors have not been seen for many years. How much of a splash can a bunch of waste abandoned by the institute make? They sank as soon as they left. It's as difficult as climbing to the sky to come back. On the contrary, if we stay here stubbornly, we may have a glimmer of hope. We can only have a future by relying on this land. They don't understand."
“Is it like this already?”
"Yes." The old man examined the two people. "You are strangers. We have never seen you before. But we haven't seen outsiders for many years. There shouldn't be a human base outside. So I'm curious where you are from? Were you not observed when you came?"
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