Chapter 32: The Girl on the Steps

The squad members stayed in a dormitory where the inner and outer rooms were connected, with the men occupying the outer room and the women the inner.

Although they were incredibly curious about North Base 1, they restrained themselves, only wandering around the military camp until Yang Yuning came to find them. The camp itself was already an eye-opener; with its multiple food stalls, a canteen serving fluffy white rice, and a cool training ground equipped with VR holographic simulators, it was far superior to their own dilapidated East Camp!

By the evening of the second day, when Yang Yuning arrived as promised to take them out of the camp for a meal, the squad's curiosity and excitement had reached their peak.

However, Yang Yuning did not look well; there was evident exhaustion between his brows. The group couldn't help but express their concern. After a moment of hesitation, considering that the squad could be considered well-informed, Yang whispered:

"Professor Guan was targeted by an assassination attempt again last night. It was poisoning; he was just brought back from the brink."

"What?" the squad members exclaimed.

"No, this is just too..." Zhuang Xiao was shocked, unsure whether to describe the assassins as rampant or the Professor as exceptionally unlucky.

"Is Professor Guan definitely alright?" Yu Shuang asked, then added with a mix of lingering fear and confusion, "Why didn't we encounter any assassination attempts on the way here?"

The desolate wilderness would have been the best time to strike; they could have killed everyone and buried them, and no one would ever find the remains! Could it be that they thought the squad was too strong?

"Professor Guan is fine; he has already been placed back under protection," Yang Yuning hurriedly reassured them, adding, "Only a very small number of people knew about our itinerary at North Base 1. My family and friends, as well as the Professor's, were only notified when we were nearly there."

"There was some turbulence among the base's upper echelons this morning..." He spoke vaguely, "Anyway, there will be an official announcement in a few days."

This meant it was a power struggle among the top brass. The faction protecting Professor Guan was retaliating, and in a few days, there would likely be announcements of removals and reassignments of high-ranking officials?

Everyone fell silent.

The sunset remained gentle and magnificent, with the glass curtain walls of the city center's skyscrapers shimmering in golden light, but the group felt a bit numb. The city's schemes ran deep!

"The key to ensuring Professor Guan's safety is to make his research findings public to all bases, but considering the possibility that higher-intelligence insects could invade the network and steal the knowledge..." Zhao Bohan frowned in thought.

"Let's not talk about that." Yang Yuning tried to adjust his mood and flashed a white-toothed grin: "I took the memory card you gave me to a friend. He said there is a possibility of recovering it using his laboratory's equipment, but it will take about a month."

At this, Yu Shuang and Zhao Bohan were reinvigorated!

The memory card Yang Yuning mentioned was the drone's video storage card, which contained concrete evidence of Team 1's cowardice and desertion. The act of Team 1 throwing pulse grenades at them to destroy the evidence could even be considered treason. If this evidence could be recovered, Team 1 would be finished!

North Base 1 lived up to its reputation! The city might be full of schemes, but the high-tech gadgets were wonderful!

However, Yang Yuning's friend quoted a price of 1,000 contribution points, and that was supposedly a "friends and family" discount...

The various bases across the country had not yet unified their currencies, and there was even a premium on the conversion of North Base 1's contribution points compared to their small base's...

Yu Shuang put up all the supplies they had scraped together before leaving—which had practically emptied their coffers—along with a new mobile phone, dried lamb, a specialty of the Central Plains Base, and pure grain liquor, only then managing to get that friend, who was waiting right outside the military camp, to nod in agreement.

With Yang Yuning acting as the intermediary, the supplies were left with him. If the friend failed to recover the video, he would only take the dried lamb and liquor, and Yang Yuning would find a way to return the phone to the squad.

The transaction complete, everyone—especially Yu Shuang—felt lightheaded. The supplies had been pooled by the squad (excluding Qi An), and seeing them flow away like water truly drained their spirits.

Yang Yuning hurriedly swiped on his phone: "I'll take you to the East City. There's a restaurant there that's serving live fish and fresh shrimp today!"

The squad members, except for Qi An, had grown up in the Northwest and, apart from very long-distance missions, had never really eaten fish or shrimp. They perked up again, eager to agree, but then remembered the cost.

"It's fine, it's not expensive." When talking about contribution points, Yang Yuning had the air of a young master, very nonchalant. "If you want to eat, let's go!"

But even a young master in this apocalypse didn't have his own transport. North Base 1 was so large that it required public transit, so they took the bus to the East District.

Qi An had truly never ridden a bus before, let alone seen what the textbooks called a "subway." She felt she had learned more about the world that existed before she was born and longed for it even more!

The East District was the former university town, now a hub for scientific research and high-precision manufacturing, adjacent to the military and political center of the North City.

They strolled through the streets in the sunset glow. The buildings they passed were tall and pristine. Yang Yuning chatted and introduced them along the way:

"That is the Institute of Mutant Plants. They are the ones who cultivated wheat with a yield of 3,000 catties per acre, which alleviated the great famine of '45. Next to it is the Institute of Mutant Animals... The three-story building behind it seems to be the Nanomaterials Research Center, and underground is the Black Tide Virus Research Institute, and there's also..."

They walked to the very center of this street of research.

Hundred-year-old plane trees were budding, their branches intertwining with the buildings and an independent courtyard surrounded by iron railings. Outside the courtyard, the greenery was lush and the winding paths secluded, but inside, the square grey buildings and the flat, seamless, ash-grey floor tiles looked hard and imposing.

Yet, on the wide steps connecting the building and the courtyard, a girl sat with her chin resting in her hands.

In a bright red coat, her thin frame looked small, as if she were not on the same layer as her surroundings, but upon closer inspection, she somehow fit perfectly, impossible to separate.

Qi An couldn't help but stop in her tracks.

For a moment, she was dazed, as if a scene from her memory had suddenly manifested in reality; she was that girl.

But it wasn't so. The girl’s gaze, which had been wandering aimlessly toward the sky, suddenly fell upon Qi An.

Her small brow furrowed, and she blinked. During the half-minute they locked eyes, her expression shifted from boredom to surprise, and then to sparkling curiosity.

She stood up and ran toward the main gate, wearing piglet slippers.

There were guards at the gate, both inside and out. The guards inside were startled by the girl's sudden dash and hurriedly shouted to stop her.

"Tan... don't run, be careful not to fall..."

Two people, a man and a woman, also ran out of the building, racing toward the girl and grabbing her!

The squad members outside were all startled. After being caught, the girl struggled fiercely, even biting the woman who held her, but the woman did not loosen her grip on the girl's arm in the slightest, whispering soothingly: "Let's go back, it's time to sleep."

She half-carried, half-dragged the girl back.

Was this catching a child or apprehending a fugitive?

Qi An couldn't help but stride forward, even breaking into a run, approaching the courtyard!

But before her hand could touch the iron railing, the guards at the gate and Yang Yuning grabbed her one after the other!

"There's high-voltage electricity!" the guard and Yang Yuning shouted simultaneously.

Yang Yuning's pull made Qi An stumble, nearly falling into his arms.

She regained her balance, feeling shaken.

The top of the railings was lined with sharp iron spikes, entangled with thin wires. She didn't know the intensity of the high-voltage current, but if it were industrial grade, it could electrocute a person on the spot!

In the distance, the thin girl in the red coat had already been taken up the steps by the man and woman, about to be led into the building's entrance.

The girl wasn't struggling much anymore, but she still turned her head to look back at Qi An.

After one last glance, she was ushered inside, half-pushed and half-guarded by the two, and her figure disappeared.

The tension in the guards at the gate eased slightly. Qi An even saw the soldier who had stopped her wipe away cold sweat.

He said to Qi An very sternly: "This is a restricted research area. Trespassing without authorization can result in criminal detention!"

Yu Shuang stepped forward, shielding Qi An behind him: "We didn't break in, we were just looking out of pure curiosity!"