Chapter 143: Merging In

By the time breakfast was over, Wang Ruijin was naturally stunned to see Zhou Liming’s flushed face.

He racked his brains but couldn’t understand how such an astonishing change could happen in just one day. For injuries like this, among the people Wang Ruijin had treated, it would be hard to even get out of bed without two or three months of recovery. Yet Zhou Liming was already sitting up and moving quite freely.

A person who was sure to die hadn’t followed Wang Ruijin’s judgment, making him wonder if his medical skills had declined.

Since Wang Ruijin had pronounced a death sentence on Zhou Liming the day before, no one else came to visit him except for Wang Lei and Wang Ruijin. Therefore, among the people Zhou Liming encountered, there were only these two. It was clear that Wang Ruijin held significant influence and was highly respected in this small Settlement.

It was easy to understand why. Wang Ruijin seemed refined, but he was very capable, decisive, and bold. More importantly, he was an excellent doctor. In an environment like this, who could guarantee no one would get a fever or a cold? If minor illnesses were left untreated, they would develop into major diseases. Simply being a doctor gave Wang Ruijin a natural advantage.

Many things in the Settlement were no secret.

Wang Lei was straightforward and rarely kept secrets. He was two years older than Zhou Liming and answered all of Zhou Liming’s questions honestly.

“This is the border between Gui Province and Vietnam.”

This answer shocked Zhou Liming. He never expected to have fled all the way from City Yu A to here. Now he finally understood why the trees here were so dense and the terrain was so complex. After wars at the border of the two countries, many landmines were buried, making the area rarely visited by humans. Over the decades, endless forests had naturally formed.

As for this Settlement, it was formed when the second wave of Fierce Beasts landed. It was made up of people from nearby cities and villages.

The Fierce Beasts appeared too suddenly. The evacuation of these cities was too rushed, and only a few people managed to escape. Those who couldn’t escape had no choice but to hide in these endless forests amidst the Fierce Beasts, gradually forming the scale it has now.

“Why did you choose to stay here?” Zhou Liming asked, somewhat puzzled. For nearly half a year, they had survived peacefully, which was truly incredible. Zhou Liming knew best the capabilities of the Fierce Beasts; some could detect prey by scent within hundreds of meters.

Wang Lei said, “Actually, the Settlement has moved several times before and finally settled here. Fierce Beasts also appear in forests, but they rarely come to such dense places. Sometimes Flying Fierce Beasts pass by, but if you hide under the trees, they usually ignore you. As long as you don’t make too much noise, you don’t need to worry about them.”

Shaking his head slightly, Zhou Liming felt this theory was untenable. He knew the Fierce Beasts too well. It wasn’t that they didn’t appear; it was just that the Settlement was very lucky. Imagine if a Magic Ape Beast came; with its size, it could completely crush its way through the forest. If it wanted to attack here, the dense jungle would offer no advantage.

Then there was the Boneback Beast. Its body, two or three stories high, could level even small hills.

Take the Flame Bird, for example. Its Form Skill could turn this entire jungle into raging flames. Any animal or human living here would have nowhere to run.

There were too many Fierce Beasts he could list as examples. Maybe because they were too scattered, they hadn’t found this place yet. But who could guarantee this luck would last? Any slight movement would attract the attention of Fierce Beasts. Especially now that the seventh batch of Fierce Beasts was about to land, the situation would only become more dangerous as they advanced.

The Settlement was somewhat different from what Zhou Liming guessed. There was no management layer.

It was indeed led by Wang Ruijin and a few others who managed the place together and restrained people’s behavior. In fact, everyone here was quite self-disciplined. Having lived together for half a year, they were like a village. Wang Ruijin acted more like a village chief.

The food source for the Settlement was rice harvested secretly from the outside early on, which made it not too difficult to feed a few hundred people. However, from Wang Lei, Zhou Liming guessed that eating into their own reserves, the food supply in the Settlement was running low, and no one knew how long it could last.

For some necessities, they could only risk going to cities and villages outside to find them, such as salt.

Wang Ruijin and their weapons were actually taken from the Armed Police detachments in the outside cities. During the rushed evacuation, these locked weapons were not taken away and eventually fell into Wang Ruijin and their hands. The entire martial power of the Settlement consisted of only four submachine guns and two rifles.

Because Fierce Beasts roamed freely in the cities, unless necessary, everyone stayed hidden in the Settlement.

Through Wang Lei, Zhou Liming came to understand this small Settlement even better.

Take Tang Rui, for example. He used to be a police officer and was quite good with a gun. But he wasn’t the best. The best shot was Li An, an ordinary-looking man. A veteran soldier who found a job as a security guard, he became a supervisor in just one year due to his excellent personal abilities. Li An was responsible for all the watchposts in the Settlement.

After talking for a long time, the topic seemed to turn back to Zhou Liming. Wang Lei asked curiously, “What about you?”

Zhou Liming gave a bitter smile and said calmly, “Like you, I escaped from the jaws of Fierce Beasts and kept running. Um, I came from Yue Province. But as you can see, my luck seemed to run out. A few days ago, my companion and I were attacked by Fierce Beasts. Only I escaped with serious injuries. You know what happened after that.”

Yue Province borders Gui Province. Although it was incredible to flee to here, it wasn’t impossible.

As for Zhou Liming’s identity, he was naturally a migrant worker sent to Yue Province, working in a factory. His hometown was City Zhe B, which was the truth. In short, his identity was very ordinary with no loopholes. Often, too many lies require more lies to cover them up. Zhou Liming understood this principle, which is why he gave such a simple answer.

Wang Lei didn’t suspect him at all. In his view, in the Fierce Beast Era, people had to help and unite with each other; only in this way could they resist the Fierce Beasts.

There wasn’t much to do in the Settlement, and sometimes a few hundred people seemed bored.

“About the food shortage, my uncle originally wanted to organize everyone to clear wasteland to grow some grain, but you know, this isn’t realistic. Fierce Beasts can easily detect changes on the canyon, and we dared not take this risk. Also, we have contacted the government many times, and everyone is hoping for rescue,” Wang Lei said helplessly. “In fact, no one likes it here. There is no entertainment at all; it’s like living in a primitive society.”

Zhou Liming could understand this point. People accustomed to modern life couldn’t adapt to leaving all that behind in a short time.

“Waiting for rescue?” Zhou Liming said with some self-mockery. He had been in X Squadron for over four months. As a member of X Squadron, he knew upper-level information very quickly and extensively. The upper levels had no intention of putting energy into rescuing these survivors. Perhaps saving a few dozen or a hundred people would require sacrificing many more soldiers, losing more aircraft, and so on.

The coastal areas had fallen, and seventy percent of the industry was in the Fierce Beast Occupied Area. Heavy weapons like Fighter Jets had become exceptionally precious. Each one lost was gone for good. With only a few aircraft manufacturing plants remaining and no parts suppliers, the production output was pitifully low.

Under these circumstances, the government had no plans to launch a rescue operation.

Furthermore, the Grand Rear was now overcrowded, with every city bursting with people. A series of problems were already enough for the leadership to deal with. Who had time to worry about these survivors?

Waiting for rescue was just a bit of fantasy that the country gave all the survivors.

Zhou Liming didn’t expose the truth because he didn’t want to offend hundreds of people at once. Moreover, once exposed, the fabricated identity he created would collapse. He was currently accused of treason and crimes against humanity. Violating any of these was a capital offense with no chance of survival. Hiding somewhere was what Zhou Liming needed to do most.

After pretending to be sick for three days, Zhou Liming finally got out of bed and walked, which delighted Wang Lei greatly.

Wang Ruijin examined Zhou Liming’s injury and couldn’t help but look at the wound with surprise. Only a faint scar was left. He let out a startled scream as if he had seen a ghost, and after a long while, he said, “Damn it, is this even human? I really don’t know what your body is made of. This kind of wound actually healed in just three days.”

Fortunately, Wang Ruijin didn’t seem to want to investigate further. He just looked at Zhou Liming with a strange, ghost-haunted expression every time they met.

The Settlement had people of all ages, with a higher proportion of adult men and women. Since there was no entertainment, most of their lives were spent bragging and chatting in the cleared forest areas. Only a few were weaving crafts using vines. Some people chose to stay in grass houses in the Cave, either sleeping or staring into space; no one knew what they were thinking.

The lake in the center of the canyon was not allowed to be entered without permission. Aside from the fear of attracting Fierce Beasts, all the settlement’s daily water came from here, which was also a very important reason.

In just a few days, Zhou Liming had merged into this Settlement.

“In such an environment, once people lose their goals and spiritual support, and when a food crisis appears, unnecessary problems are likely to arise easily,” Zhou Liming thought. In his view, without a strong leader, or a leadership layer, such a Settlement could not withstand any wind or rain or tests.