Chapter 1 The Late Arrival

Because Jin Yuan was driving the armored vehicle left behind by Li Chenzhou and his team, he drove straight into the wilderness. This was also why he had the others return; their cars couldn't leave the road and didn't have enough ground clearance.

Jin Yuan was also from Qingcheng, so he naturally knew the location of Qingcheng Prison. He sped along the way until he arrived.

The combat personnel on the watchtower, seeing the familiar armored vehicle, immediately notified Ding Ning, who rushed to the prison gate. However, since the sentry had said that he hadn't seen the person inside the vehicle before, Ding Ning didn't open the gate directly.

"Excuse me, is Ding Ning here?"

Stopping the car at the prison gate, Jin Yuan got out and came to the entrance, asking Ding Ning, who was looking at him through a small window.

"You are...?"

Ding Ning didn't answer directly, but looked at Jin Yuan and asked.

"Oh! My name is Jin Yuan, from the chemical plant base. Li Chenzhou and his team rescued us from the city before and then helped us establish the base!"

Jin Yuan quickly replied.

"Oh! Hello! I am Ding Ning!"

Hearing Jin Yuan's words, Ding Ning finally lowered his guard because Duan Lei had told him about the chemical plant. He quickly introduced himself while opening the gate.

Jin Yuan hadn't originally planned to go inside; he just wanted to deliver the letter to Li Chenzhou. But thinking that the two bases were so close, there was no harm in communicating and getting acquainted. So he waved his hand to signal Hu Zi to drive the car in while he walked straight in.

"Are Li Chenzhou and the others here?"

Jin Yuan asked as he walked.

"No! They left this morning!"

Ding Ning shook his head.

"Ah! I'm still one step late. Do you know where they went?"

Jin Yuan sighed, then asked.

"I don't know!"

Ding Ning shook his head, looking at Jin Yuan with some curiosity:

"Are you looking for him for something?"

"Yes! I'm here to deliver a letter to him!"

Jin Yuan nodded, but didn't elaborate, and instead asked again:

"I suppose you don't know when they'll be back either?"

"I really don't!"

Ding Ning shook his head.

At this time, they had already entered the prison yard. The yard hadn't been cleaned yet, and the ground was still covered in blood and the holes left from erecting poles earlier. The corpses hadn't been buried either.

"What is this...?"

Jin Yuan asked, finding the scene somewhat strange.

According to Li Chenzhou, the prison base should have been established a day earlier than theirs, so why hadn't it been cleaned up yet?

"We had some trouble. Fortunately, Brother Li and the others came, or else our prison base would probably have been completely destroyed!"

Ding Ning didn't hide anything and said directly.

"What happened?"

Jin Yuan quickly looked around. Could it be rat swarms? But looking at the corpses, they didn't seem to have been bitten by rats.

"It was caused by two people, one of whom was a prisoner in our prison, but he suddenly became very powerful!"

Ding Ning didn't hide anything and told him everything that had happened before, and finally looked at Jin Yuan and said:

"According to Brother Li and the others, and what Qing Lang said, the gunman is likely related to the mastermind behind this apocalypse!"

"The mastermind behind this apocalypse?"

Jin Yuan gasped.

Although he had experienced the apocalypse, Jin Yuan hadn't thought about anything like aliens. He hadn't even thought about why the apocalypse had happened, because he was only focused on how to survive.

But now, hearing Ding Ning's words, he understood that this apocalypse wasn't a natural occurrence, but was man-made—and aliens were people too!

"So... our planet is being targeted by alien creatures?"

Jin Yuan asked in disbelief.

The current apocalypse was already difficult enough, but if mysterious alien creatures were added to the mix, then... was there any hope for humanity?

"I'm not sure either!"

Ding Ning smiled wryly:

"But thinking carefully, the arrival of the apocalypse itself is unbelievable, and zombies are completely unscientific creatures. So, it's very possible that the alien invasion that Brother Li and the others mentioned is true!"

Saying that, Ding Ning raised his head and looked at the sky, saying with some emotion:

"The universe is so vast that it's endless. Of course, it's impossible for only our planet to give birth to intelligent life. In fact... the number of planets with intelligent life in the entire universe is countless, but because the universe is too big, we've never met!

"But now, they've finally arrived. To be able to cross distances measured in light-years to find us, their technology must be unimaginable to us. Perhaps the difference is like the difference between people in the Stone Age and us!"

Listening to Ding Ning's words, Jin Yuan also looked up at the sky, feeling that what Ding Ning said was indeed correct. Humans hadn't even measured how big the universe was, and hadn't even rushed out of the solar system. The farthest they had gone was just to visit the moon.

And the technology of alien creatures who could cross hundreds or even thousands of light-years to come here was certainly much more powerful than that of humans.

Furthermore, no matter how they wreaked havoc here, there was nothing humans could do. The strong prey on the weak; this was an unchanging truth. Just like how those navigators slaughtered and plundered the natives of the New World, the weak in the New World had no say in the matter of wealth and resources.

The two of them simultaneously fell into contemplation. After an unknown amount of time, Jin Yuan was the first to react. He reached out and patted Ding Ning on the shoulder, saying:

"Ding Ning, no matter how powerful the opponent is, as long as we're still alive, there's still hope. They haven't really confronted us face to face yet, right?

"Then let's just pretend they don't exist. We should continue to build our base as we were, and as for the future... whether we'll all be slaughtered, we'll talk about it when the time comes. At least, we need to live well in the present!"

"That's right!"

Ding Ning also smiled:

"Anyway, Brother Li and the others are watching over us even if the sky falls. I guess their hurried departure was because they discovered some clues and went to hunt down those masterminds!"

Saying that, Ding Ning pointed to the hill in the distance:

"The gunman previously sniped and killed many of our people in the direction of that hill. Brother Li and the others went over to investigate, and then they never came back. According to my sentry, they saw them go up the hill for a while, then come down the hill, drive around the hill, and then drive all the way to the city! They'll definitely be able to find those guys!"

Ding Ning was obviously full of confidence in Li Chenzhou and the others.

However, Li Chenzhou and the others didn't have as much confidence as Ding Ning, because as soon as they entered the city, they lost track of the gunman. Even Gray Bear was completely helpless...