Therefore, when Luo Lan gave the order to pack up, the Qing Consortium soldiers prioritized retrieving the tea set and some other valuable items.
Although they did not know why their boss seemed to be in such a hurry, they could only follow his orders as they were just soldiers.
But while they were packing up the items, they heard Luo Lan say anxiously, “Why are you all putting that crap away? Do you not want to live anymore? Just take whatever food we have. There’s no need to get water since Zhou Qi can conjure that up with his power!”
Zhou Qi raised his eyebrows. Since when did he become a provider of drinking water for others?
One of the Qing Consortium soldiers looked at Luo Lan. “Boss, this is the tea set you like a bunch.”
“Is the tea set more important than our lives?” Luo Lan handed his belongings to a soldier. “Come with me. Don’t bring any unnecessary things. We have to travel light. Quickly get the Hope Media reporter and bring him with us as well!”
With that, Luo Lan rushed out of the room and headed straight for the stairwell. He did not even take the elevator for safety’s sake as he was afraid something would happen.
In the end, Luo Lan really did the right thing. When they got down to the third floor from the seventh floor, a blackout hit the entire hotel!
“Don’t mind me saying this, but why are you running?” Zhou Qi wondered. “If the Wang Consortium really wants to kill you, you can’t escape.”
Zhou Qi thought Luo Lan was trying to avoid the Wang Consortium, but he heard Luo Lan say, “What do you know? It might not be the Wang Consortium coming to attack us. For all we know, it might not even be human!”
Honestly speaking, Luo Lan had been through much in life. When the Experimentals attacked so many of the strongholds, he was always there at the scene. When he saw the reaction of the Wang Consortium troops, he initially could not figure out what they were doing. But he quickly realized their reactions were more or less the same as the Li Consortium garrison troops back then.
Before this, Luo Lan was standing at the window and observing the situation. The more he watched, the more it felt familiar. This strong sense of danger impelled him to hurry downstairs. No matter what might be happening, he had to find a safer place to be!
First of all, it would be best if they could escape from the stronghold. If they could not get away, they would have to choose the safest place to hide and wait for the Wang Consortium troops to rescue them.
This stronghold was at a critical geographical position for the Wang Consortium. Even if it were the Experimentals attacking the stronghold, the Wang Consortium could definitely take back the stronghold, so all they needed to do was stay low for between ten days and a fortnight.
But this was not right! Didn’t the Experimentals get blown up already? What else could cause the Wang Consortium troops to panic like this?
When they got downstairs, some chaos had already broken out in the stronghold even though the creeper vines had not spread to the hotel yet. Vehicles were driving by frantically from time to time, but the pedestrians on the streets were clueless about what was going on.
When the group of protesters seated downstairs saw Luo Lan come out, they started to surround him.
Luo Lan said impatiently, “Step the fuck aside. I don’t have time to waste with you people.”
Then the Qing Consortium soldiers formed a wedge formation in front of Luo Lan and forcefully broke up the protester group. They quickly led Luo Lan away and evacuated from the place.
Some of them wanted to take the vehicles to get away, but one of the soldiers discovered that some terrible person had punctured the tires. That group of sit-in protesters were probably the culprits. Since they could not lay a finger on Luo Lan, they could only resort to this kind of petty trick like a child throwing a tantrum. It was hilarious.
When Luo Lan saw the condition of the tires, he turned around decisively and ran off in the opposite direction of where the Wang Consortium troops were moving.
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If it were anyone else, they would probably take some time to grumble and complain from next to the damaged vehicles. However, Luo Lan felt there was no need to waste any time here since what was done was already done. If they tarried for another minute, their fate could be disastrous.
When the group of protesters saw Luo Lan running away, they got even more excited. “He’s getting scared now, let’s chase after him!”
“Yeah, don’t let up on him!”
The Qing Consortium soldiers could not take it lying down after hearing those words. They wanted to turn around and take the opportunity to teach these people a lesson. However, Luo Lan immediately shouted at them, “Why are you getting angry at them at a time like this? Just keep running!”
Zhou Tao, the reporter from Hope Media, wondered, “Luo Lan, why are you running away in such a hurry? Are you really scared as they said?”
“I can’t be bothered to explain everything to you right now, so shut up! You can get cramps easily if you keep talking while running!” Luo Lan said, then shut his mouth and ran madly without saying another word.
Although they didn’t encounter any danger so far, Luo Lan firmly believed his own judgment of what was going on. If he did not even have this bit of judgment, he could not have survived all those past dangers!
The Hope Media reporter, Zhou Tao, was a little puzzled. It did not look like Luo Lan was trying to avoid the protesters either.
A moment later, an alarm suddenly rang out in the stronghold. The ear-piercing sound was so pressing and loud it made everyone panic.
Only then did everyone realize something bad had happened in the stronghold!
Zhou Tao suddenly looked at Luo Lan, who was in front of him. He could not comprehend how Luo Lan had predicted this.
As they continued running, Luo Lan felt he should be able to escape with his life intact since he was trying really hard to flee. But as he ran, he was surprised to see someone running towards them.
If someone were fleeing in the opposite direction, that meant there was also danger ahead of Luo Lan and the others!
Luo Lan changed directions without saying a word and started running south. But before he could get far, he realized people were running away from the south as well.
“What the hell is going on!” Luo Lan despaired a little. “Why is everyone running towards the center of the stronghold? What on earth could possibly cause the stronghold residents to be so afraid?!”
Luo Lan pulled one of those people aside and asked, “Why are you all fleeing?!”
The person who was fleeing for his life wanted to curse out loud, but when he saw about a dozen or so tough-looking Qing Consortium soldiers standing around Luo Lan, he immediately took retracted his swearing and said, “I heard the creeper vines in the stronghold are crazily trying to catch people. It’s already blocked the stronghold gate and is spreading towards the center of the stronghold. Someone said the creeper vines have already surrounded the entire stronghold!”
Luo Lan was stunned on the spot. To be honest, there were quite a few plants that had mutated since The Cataclysm occurred. However, those plants did not actively seek to attack humans. Luo Lan had really never heard of something like that happening before!
It was not only him, but most people had not heard of something like that either. No one had ever thought the plants would attack humans!
99.99% of the people in the world would think this way other than the few who had come across Brambles and Potato Shooters. That was why Wang Zhongrui only found it a little weird when he first saw the creeper vines and did not think a plant could pose any threat to him.
Meanwhile, those who encountered the Brambles and Potato Shooters before were basically all dead, so no one could have warned about such things beforehand.
It was precisely this mismatch in mindset that led to the tragedy of Stronghold 61 today!
Luo Lan shouted at the Qing Consortium soldiers around him, “Since we can’t escape from this enclosed environment, we have to find a place to hide!”