What truly heightened Yu Xi’s vigilance was when she clearly saw what was boiling in the refugees’ camp pots.
It was a human foot, bobbing up and down in the boiling soup.
These refugees—were they eating people?
Whether the contents of the pot were natural humans or Subordinates, it was clear this place wasn’t safe to stay.
Still, since they were already here, Yu Xi wasn’t about to leave empty-handed. She inford Xing Min of the situation. After quietly observing the hover vehicles and their placent, she chose to drive the hover vehicles directly out rather than returning to the armored cars.
The escape calculations favored the hover vehicles—they were faster and more maneuverable. Yu Xi knew their opponents were relying on the fact that the hover vehicles’ crystal fuel reserves were critically low, leaving only a few minutes of operational ti. Moreover, the mobile gate to the outside was locked, making escape seemingly impossible even with the hover vehicles.
However, Yu Xi was prepared for all contingencies, including the unexpected smoke traps.
Once the hover vehicles reached a safe zone, Yu Xi climbed back into the cabin, closing the door behind her. She turned to Cheng Fang, who was still staring at her in shock.
“Contact headquarters,” she said. “The longer we wait, the more ti the supermarket refugees have to scatter.”
Unfortunately, the hover vehicles’ communication equipnt was broken. It took Cheng Fang considerable effort to reach headquarters using his phone due to poor signal strength.
Piecing together their observations and Yu Xi’s information, they reconstructed the situation at the supermarket. Contrary to their initial assumptions, the natural humans controlled the area, while the Subordinates were the oppressed. Similar to how so Subordinates resented natural humans, the refugees here couldn’t tolerate the presence of Subordinates.
The original commanding officer of the shelter might not have been a victim of sacrifice as claid; there could have been other causes of death.
The cannibalism wasn’t likely due to a shortage of food—after all, the shelves on the first underground level still held plenty of supplies. Clearly, they had been seen as prey or “food,” especially Hei Mu and the other Subordinates.
The rest of the truth and finer details would need to be investigated by headquarters. Cheng Fang understood his primary mission was to escort Zhou Zhitong back safely. After reporting the situation, the two hover vehicles sped toward headquarters.
As the sun set, the scorching heat gave way to cooler temperatures. Yu Xi reclined in the back row, closing her eyes to rest.
Under the starlit sky, the hover vehicles traversed vast stretches of Huaguo’s desolate, charred, and cracked landscape. Most areas were barren, devoid of life. Occasionally, they passed migrating convoys, like flocks of birds moving in orderly lines across the wastelands.
Their radar screens occasionally picked up other flying vehicles, but Cheng Fang’s group avoided direct encounters, choosing to detour instead.
After six hours of cautious flight, the vehicles finally reached their destination.
Cheng Fang’s voice, filled with relief, woke Yu Xi. She opened her eyes to see a massive fortress towering under the moon and stars.
The sight reminded her of a scene from a sci-fi movie. The fortress, over a hundred stories tall, consisted of countless silver-black cylindrical structures of varying sizes. Even the smallest was twice the size of the apartnt building she had once lived in. Platforms extended from the cylinders, accommodating various flying vehicles. The vehicles landed and were transported inside via pathways beneath the platforms.
Encircling the fortress was a 40–50 ter high steel wall. Outside the wall, the ground was blackened and scarred, while inside, it was paved with clean, pristine stone slabs.
Cheng Fang explained, “Those aren’t just stone slabs—they’re a new material designed to prevent Red Lotus soft tissue from infiltrating through the soil. They also withstand ice blade disasters and allow for quick cleanup of contaminated water.”
Yu Xi nodded. “And the fortress itself?”
“It’s constructed with this material and another incredibly expensive one,” Cheng Fang replied.
“Floating wood?” Yu Xi guessed.
Cheng Fang looked surprised. “How did you know?”
Yu Xi smiled but didn’t answer. She had used floating wood for her villa, so it wasn’t surprising that soone else had used it for a fortress. Moreover, she recognized the location—behind the fortress lay the mountain range where floating wood had first been discovered. It was unlikely headquarters chose this location for its scenery.
After passing aerial security checks, the hover vehicles landed on a platform attached to one of the cylindrical structures. Cheng Fang explained, “This fortress was under construction even before the apocalypse—it was a military secret back then. No one expected it to beco Huaguo’s hope and sanctuary.”
Thanks to the secretive construction, residents of District 29 were able to evacuate into the fortress quickly when the Red Lotus disaster began. Though the fortress wasn’t fully completed then—with no walls or paved ground—it was sturdy enough to withstand the earthquakes.
Even if the worst had happened and the Red Lotus appeared nearby, the fortress had asures to protect itself. Fortunately, the mountain location and a bit of luck spared it from the disaster’s first wave.
Despite the late hour, Zhou Zhitong’s father, Zhou Yuan, awaited his son’s return. His position at headquarters made it impossible for him to leave, but knowing his son was alive had kept him on edge every mont.
Zhou Yuan had always been a stern father. Like many on this planet, he and his wife had struggled with infertility, finally having Zhou Zhitong in their 40s. However, work consud him, and after his wife’s early death, a rift grew between father and son.
Yet, in the face of life and death, such rifts beca insignificant. Sadly, when Xing Min eventually left Zhou Zhitong’s body, it would return to its near-death state, with no chance of survival.
This truth stirred pity in Xing Min for the nearly 60-year-old man. Though unfamiliar with Zhou Yuan, Xing Min felt a strange sense of connection through Zhou Zhitong’s mories.
When Zhou Yuan embraced him tightly, Xing Min—using Zhou Zhitong’s arms—returned the hug.
Yu Xi quietly observed the person in front of her as the system’s voice sounded in her mind:
[Random Mission: Successfully escort Zhou Zhitong safely to the Huaguo District 29 military headquarters within the main storyline’s ti limit. Task complete. Reward: 1235 star coins.]
Yu Xi woke up in a compact, minimalist, dark gray room.
The room was approximately 20 square ters, equipped with a small bathroom, a narrow window with movable shielding panels, a tal bed bolted to the wall, a simple dining table with chairs, and a built-in electric stove. Small but clean and tidy, the room resembled a cabin from a sci-fi movie spaceship. Despite its modest appearance, this private room was a privilege, awarded only because she was deed Zhou Zhitong’s “savior.”
Most of the general population still resided in crowded dormitories, housing 8, 16, or even more people per room. Hei Mu and his companions, by comparison, stayed in double rooms several floors below—luxurious by the standards of ordinary refugees.
Sitting up on the tal bed, Yu Xi pressed a button on the window panel. The rectangular shield split into two sections, sliding open to reveal double-layered bulletproof glass. Bright, scorching sunlight poured through the window, even making its heat felt through the glass. It seed the temperature had risen again—no doubt, the next disaster would likely involve extre heat.
Fortunately, they had reached headquarters. For now, survival was less precarious.
[Awake?] Xing Min’s voice echoed in her mind.
Yu Xi sighed. …Awake. You’ve been asking
every ten minutes for the past half hour. How could I keep sleeping?
She heard a faint chuckle.
[If you’re up, freshen up, grab sothing to eat, and head to Building C, 20th floor. He Mo has been captured and will be interrogated today.]
Yu Xi imdiately got up, unlocked the bathroom faucet, and spent five minutes washing up. She changed into a clean T-shirt and pants, grabbed a sea salt bread sandwich as breakfast, and stepped out.
In this fortress, access bands were distributed according to room type. These multifunctional wristbands served as room keys, ID cards, al cards, water cards, and communication devices, embedding fingerprint, iris, and voice recognition. They couldn’t be misused even if stolen, though losing one ant a tedious process to replace it.
Yu Xi quickly finished her sandwich, which contained minced beef, scrambled eggs, tomato slices, and lettuce, and went next door to find Xing Min. Together, they took a shuttle to Building C.
The shuttle, which operated as a ferry between “cylinders,” saved significant ti—walking from Building G to Building C would take over an hour.
Although it was still early, the fortress was already bustling. Here, anyone aged 14 to 65 was assigned daily work tasks, including Subordinates, regardless of whether they had masters.
Traditional currency from the pre-apocalypse world was obsolete in the fortress. Labor hours were now the standard currency, exchanged for goods every two weeks. Work performance was periodically reviewed through surveillance caras installed at all workplaces. Laziness resulted in penalties, such as downgraded living conditions (e.g., moving from an 8-person dormitory to a 16-person one), reduced al options, limited access to clean water, and restrictions on grocery exchanges.
While upgrades to living conditions were possible, the criteria were stringent, so most refugees, natural humans, and Subordinates alike, diligently completed their tasks.
The effects of the Subordinate rebellion seed minimal here. With everyone treated equally in this safe and resource-rich fortress, only the foolish would stir trouble. Those who did were publicly executed, ensuring strict adherence to laws and order.
He Mo’s Story
He Mo’s life changed when he was tasked with escorting dical supplies and winter materials to the supermarket shelter. At the ti, he was an ordinary squad captain. The turning point ca when news of the Subordinate rebellion reached him.
He had a daughter working in a Subordinate factory district several cities away. Brilliant and precocious, she had graduated college at 16 and beco a senior engineer in Subordinate research. After the apocalypse began, she refused He Mo’s attempts to bring her to headquarters, fearing the risks of travel.
Determined, He Mo took on arduous missions to accumulate rits, hoping to form a well-equipped team to retrieve her. But before he could act, contact with her was lost following reports of a rebellion in the factory district.
At the supermarket shelter, tensions were already high between the original residents and the refugees escorted by the military. The original residents resented the wealthier newcors, who brought nurous Subordinates and used supplies the locals considered their own.
When the Subordinate rebellion fractured the military’s unity, the locals began plotting. He Mo, consud by desperation for his daughter, was an easy target for manipulation. Alongside a few other officers who harbored animosity toward Subordinates, they orchestrated the elimination of pro-Subordinate personnel.
The resulting purge left He Mo as the shelter’s new leader, presiding over a community reshaped by violence and division.
At first, they only killed the Subordinates who fiercely resisted, imprisoning the rest and their wealthy masters without much thought to other matters.
Later, as ti dragged on and fresh at beca a rare luxury, so began secretly cutting pieces of flesh from the dead Subordinates to cook. Even the simplest sliced and roasted portions released an aroma that attracted other refugees to fight over it.
In the following days, with low temperatures persisting, desperate refugees sneaked to the body disposal area on the first underground level to carve frozen chunks of at to bring back to their tents.
As the practice spread, it gained acceptance, especially for soone like He Mo, who harbored deep hatred for Subordinates. To him, Subordinates weren’t human—they were manufactured entities, akin to pets like cats or dogs. For a “pet” to rebel and kill humans was an unforgivable cri.
Since people wanted to eat, he allowed it. The holding cells were still full of Subordinates, and for those who hesitated to eat, the food was forced upon them later.
Occasionally, new refugee teams passing by the supermarket uncovered hints of this atrocity. However, they were lured with promises of hover vehicles, drugged in the warehouse with narcotic gas, captured, and subjected to the sa fate.
As for the original natural human residents of the supermarket who tried to escape or resisted “eating,” they were accused of betrayal and executed. Their corpses, along with those of Subordinates and other dissenters, were hung in the woods near the supermarket as a deterrent to those thinking of fleeing.
Outside the interrogation room, Yu Xi listened to these accounts, finding them deeply disturbing. A chill ran through her as she heard the horrifyingly nonchalant confessions.
Inside, the interrogation continued. He Mo, injured during his capture and missing a leg, was pale and shackled to the interrogation chair. Despite his condition, he still wore a sinister smile that unsettled everyone present, including the senior captain, who furrowed his brows.
Dismissing the other team mbers, the captain turned off the room’s surveillance system and placed a retractable screen in front of He Mo. Activating it, he brought up a blurry video still.
“This footage was taken three days ago by a team conducting a covert mission in the Subordinate factory district. Since you went silent after heading to the supermarket shelter, we assud you were dead. When we received this footage, there wasn’t ti to inform you.”
He Mo kept his eyes closed, but the captain pushed the screen closer. “Take a look. Your daughter is alive.”
He Mo’s eyes snapped open, bloodshot and fixated on the magnified image. Even with its poor quality, a father’s instinct allowed him to recognize his daughter instantly.
“She’s in the factory district, living among the rebellious Subordinates. She was once a senior engineer there, and one of her creations—her lover—is also a Subordinate. Perhaps she didn’t want you to bring her here because she didn’t want to leave.
“She holds a high position among them. We even suspect she orchestrated the Subordinate rebellion herself.”
“That’s impossible! No! Impossible!” He Mo shouted, shaking his head in denial. “You’re lying to ! This footage can’t be from three days ago. The rebellion started ten days ago—she’s already dead!”
“Believe what you want. It doesn’t matter anymore. Your actions alone are enough to condemn you tenfold. Whether your daughter is alive or involved in the rebellion won’t change your fate. I told you this only to let you see how absurd and laughable your cris have been.”
The captain retracted the screen, turned the surveillance system back on, and added coldly, “This afternoon, you will face the highest level of execution. Whether she’s alive or not, you’ll never see her again.”
He called in other team mbers, who gagged He Mo with a tal muzzle to prevent him from biting his tongue in an attempt to escape execution.
Struggling against the restraints, He Mo was wheeled into a small, dark cell to await his death under constant surveillance.
The senior captain stared at the closed cell door for a long ti before instructing his team to bring in the next person for interrogation.
The atrocities reported at the supermarket shelter had drawn imdiate attention from headquarters. Knowing that it would take hours for a team from District 29 to arrive at full speed, they coordinated with nearby shelters in District 18 to surround the supermarket area from air and land. All involved were eventually captured.
He Mo and the other ringleaders were transported to headquarters overnight for interrogation and public execution.
Standing outside the interrogation room, Yu Xi and Xing Min had overheard everything, thanks to their heightened senses.
He Mo’s descent into madness and vengeance for a daughter he believed killed by Subordinates, only to learn she was alive and possibly the rebellion’s instigator, was the ultimate irony.
“In the apocalypse, the greatest threat isn’t the disasters themselves,” Yu Xi said as she turned and walked away.
The overwhelming negativity in the room suffocated her, and she had no desire to linger.
If it were possible, she wanted to save these worlds. But as Xing Min had told her, she needed to complete more missions in other worlds.
What frightened her most was the thought that by the ti she gained the ability to save these worlds, their inhabitants might already have destroyed themselves with greed and selfishness.
On the fourth day of their arrival at headquarters, the temperature remained unbearably high. Despite slight drops at night, dayti temperatures soared to 45°C—unseasonably hot for February.
Across the planet’s shelters, people were collapsing from the heat. While many suffered only from heat exhaustion and recovered with rest and hydration, so cases were far more severe.
A number of individuals experienced extre fever, with temperatures reaching 42°C. dications failed to suppress the fever, yet the patients remained alive, showing no signs of seizures or convulsions—only prolonged unconsciousness.
In areas with inadequate dical facilities, comprehensive examinations were impossible.
Headquarters fared better, with temperature control systems installed within the fortress. However, the massive fuel consumption required to maintain cooler temperatures ant not all areas could be kept at optimal levels.
So zones still reached over 35°C, while others faced system malfunctions, creating unbearably stifling conditions worse than the heat outside.
Yu Xi had been shopping for supplies on the 10th floor of Building I with Jian Shou and Xi Yuan when she received news that Yin Yin had collapsed.
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