By this time, Ren Xiaosu and the others had set off again. They were advancing in the direction of Stronghold 73. Without the threat of the Experimentals behind them, their escape this time was not that tense.
At night, Zhou Yingxue took Li Ran aside, and they spent half the night chatting away. It seemed that Li Ran had a lot to say to Zhou Yingxue due to the setback she had suffered and was in a bit of a vulnerable state.
She told her about her past, from her kindergarten days to her high school graduation, why she became a singer, and the difficulties she faced as a singer. She seemed to be regarding Zhou Yingxue as a confidante now.
Meanwhile, Zhou Yingxue was listening with gusto and even asked Li Ran if she had a chance of making her debut.
In the morning, Ren Xiaosu realized that the plainclothes guards had become unwilling to carry Li Ran anymore. Instead, it was Zhou Yingxue who carried her.
After this disaster, Li Ran decided to cancel her concert tour. Therefore, this meant Zhou Yingxue’s mission was completed.
When Li Ran informed the Anjing House about the completion of the mission, Zhou Yingxue received her reward shortly after.
However, after the Anjing House paid the reward, they hoped to get some detailed information from Zhou Yingxue in regards to Stronghold 74. They wanted to know what exactly happened there.
Zhou Yingxue looked at Ren Xiaosu. “Can we tell them about it, Master?
Li Ran listened quietly but did not say anything. Ren Xiaosu thought for a moment and said, “If we can earn some money from this, why not? It wasn’t us who blew Stronghold 74 up, anyway!”
So Zhou Yingxue conveyed the details of Stronghold 74 being destroyed by a nuclear bomb to the Anjing House and received another million yuan in return.
Ren Xiaosu thought the Anjing House must be really rich since they were actually willing to pay a million yuan for just some intel.
As a matter of fact, Hope Media would publish the entire story of everything that happened at Stronghold 74 very soon. This money was totally theirs for the taking.
While they were escaping, the reporter from Hope Media kept running back and forth within the group. After getting the consent of an escapee, he took a picture of them as they were fleeing to use as a featured image for his articles in the future.
At a time like this, Ren Xiaosu avoided all contact with the reporter. He initially felt it would surely be easier for him to find his family and friends if he appeared in the newspapers, but it would probably also put him in danger.
Old Li ran over to ask Ren Xiaosu if he was the one who caused that small mushroom cloud to appear inside the stronghold. He had seen Ren Xiaosu casually blow up the stronghold walls. Although he did not know how that happened, he got a rather strong impression of it.
Moreover, that mushroom cloud was obviously the doing of a supernatural being. Hence, Old Li linked it to Ren Xiaosu.
Having met once before, the two Riders and Ren Xiaosu chatted for quite a bit along the way. They got to know each other.
But when Old Li asked him about that mushroom cloud, Ren Xiaosu simply feigned ignorance. How could he let others learn about his trump card so easily?
Although he had become more familiar with the Riders, there was no need to reveal everything to them.
On the same afternoon, the escapees were finally able to meet up with the Zhou Consortium’s reinforcements.
When everyone saw the Zhou Consortium troops, they felt like they had reunited with their family members. The Zhou Consortium troops did not disappoint the escapees either, and they immediately transported them away in their military trucks.
The rest of the Zhou Consortium troops continued to advance towards Stronghold 74. After being informed that a nuclear bomb had been dropped on Stronghold 74, they did not head directly to the battlefield. Instead, they slowed their pace and waited for troops from the rear to transport the CBRN[1] suits over.
The escapees rushed for the combat rations the Zhou Consortium troops were giving out from the vehicles. As they had been starving for so long, they were really unable to bear it anymore.
Suddenly, Li Ran looked at Fang Zhi in the truck and asked, “Where are Ren Xiaosu and Zhou Yingxue? Li Yingyun and Qin Sheng have disappeared as well.”
Fang Zhi also wondered, “I remember they got into the truck with us just now. Why have they disappeared all of a sudden?”
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When Li Ran turned her head and looked out the back of the truck, she could only see the scenery that was getting further and further away.
After experiencing all the mind-boggling incidents along the way, the concert was far in the back of her mind. She only remembered the figure of that young man who led the crowd out of the stronghold.
When she thought about how Zhou Yingxue would follow her master to wander the world again, she even felt a little envious and somewhat disappointed.
If anyone perhaps encountered these two again, Ren Xiaosu would likely become Zhou Yingxue’s assistant once more. He was both mysterious and restrained.
Li Ran wondered if she would have a chance to come into contact with that mysterious world again. At this moment, she was somewhat able to understand Mu Wan’ge.
Li Ran looked at Mu Wan’ge, who was sitting beside her, before saying with a sigh, “At some point, I also started hoping I could be his maid and wander the world with him.”
Mu Wan’ge said, “Me too.”
Li Ran was surprised.
…
After arriving at Stronghold 73, the escapees had to undergo a series of radiation tests first before being accepted into the stronghold.
Meanwhile, Zhou Yingxue and the others went into town and bought a new car. Then they headed straight for the Wang Consortium’s stronghold where they did not have to undergo those radiation tests.
As for the Hope Media reporter, he got a lift in their car to Luoyang City.
Three days later, Hope Media’s newspaper caused a great stir across the Alliance of Strongholds.
On this day, Hope Media’s newspapers got sold out in all the various strongholds. As such, Hope Media had no choice but to add another print run of a 100,000 copies of newspapers. However, even that was not enough.
The news of Stronghold 74 being destroyed by a nuclear bomb even overshadowed the Experimentals’ attack. Since the Experimentals were already dead, everyone did not find it necessary to talk about them anymore. Nuclear bombs were the real threat now.
Moreover, civilization and an era had been destroyed in the past because of such weapons. Now that it had appeared again, it was really difficult for people not to think of the worst-case scenario.
As the saying went, a burnt child dreaded the fire.
And to be clear, this was a real fire!
In just a single day, everyone was fervently discussing this matter. Some people claimed that since the nuclear bomb was targeted at the Experimentals and not humans, it was considered as ridding evil for the good of humanity.
But more people believed that something like that should not even be deployed as a military weapon anymore. Besides, what if there had still been survivors inside of Stronghold 74? Then wouldn’t the strike have killed them together with the Experimentals?
Furthermore, with the nuclear strike, no humans could live in Stronghold 74 for the next 50 years. This was something that would still have a very significant impact.
As a result of the nuclear strike, everyone even neglected the Pyro Company issue. Before this, everyone had been denouncing the Pyro Company for creating those monsters.
Humans were simply too forgetful. They tended to forget past pains once the wounds were healed.
At this moment, everyone was curious to know how the various consortiums would react. After all, something so threatening would surely be a great cause of concern for them.
While the other consortiums remained silent, the Wang Consortium suddenly held a press conference.
At this press conference, the Wang Consortium pinned the blame on the Qing Consortium. On one hand, they protested against the Qing Consortium for the nuclear strike. On the other hand, they hoped the other consortiums would unite and hold discussions on this matter with the Qing Consortium. They hoped the Qing Consortium would willingly give up on the further research and development of nuclear weapons. Otherwise, sanctions would be imposed upon them.
Human beings needed to work together to protect the future of mankind, and the Qing Consortium should not turn themselves into a potential threat to humanity. The current Alliance of Strongholds that humanity had was already too fragile.
[1] A CBRN suit (chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear) is a piece of military protective equipment. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NBC_suit