Chapter 26: Accompanying

“Someone’s there!?”

At that moment, it wasn’t just Chen Chong on the other side of the wall. Besides the team leader who spoke, all the other Scavengers were suddenly startled and jumped to their feet, shouting in unison:

“Who’s there!”

In the ruins, the wind howled, and the atmosphere became extremely heavy and tense. But Chen Chong held his breath in the darkness, not moving a muscle.

One second, two seconds, three seconds.

Then he heard the team leader speak again in a calm tone:

“Friend, do you think I’m bluffing? If you don’t come out, I will have to force you out.”

Chen Chong’s eyes flickered. With a crash, he stood up, pushed aside the concealing cover, and openly stepped over the half-collapsed wall, walking out.

Chen Chong swept his gaze around. He saw seven men with weathered faces, wearing tattered leather clothes made from some unknown animal hide, with machetes at their waists. They held crude, locally-made firearms, standing in an extremely guarded stance facing him. In their center, a lean young man with sharp, piercing eyes sat calmly beside some bundles, looking at him.

“Which gathering place are you from? Where are your other accomplices? Where are they hiding?”

Seeing Chen Chong step over the wall alone, the standing Scavengers raised their guns and shouted harshly, their faces full of vigilance and shame.

This was the kill-ridden Wilderness. Someone had been hiding so close without them noticing. For men who walked the line of death every day, this was undoubtedly a colossal mistake, a joke with their own lives!

“Everyone, there’s no need to be so nervous. Before we arrived, this friend here was probably already here first.”

However, before Chen Chong could answer, the Scavenger team leader seemed to have already figured something out. He waved a hand at the other members, then looked at Chen Chong and said calmly:

“My name is Qiao Jun. Which gathering place are you from? Why are you here? I hope your answer is clear enough, for the sake of your own life.”

Chen Chong narrowed his eyes, assessing the eight people present, calculating in his mind.

From the earlier conversation, he knew the sitting man, this Scavenger team’s leader, was a genuine Awakener. He had no idea what level of strength the man possessed, and he posed the greatest threat. The other Scavengers were likely ordinary people. But even as ordinary people, they had spent years struggling in the danger-filled Wilderness, and with their locally-made guns, they probably wouldn’t be easy to handle.

The thought only flashed through his mind. Facing this team, with a miraculous item like the Senzu Bean as his backup, Chen Chong showed no fear and slowly spoke:

“I… am from Dawn Gathering Place. For certain reasons, I got separated from my companions in the Wilderness and had no choice but to come here…”

“You’re lying!”

The seated team leader, Qiao Jun, turned cold-eyed and abruptly stood up.

“We are from Dawn Gathering Place, yet you don’t recognize us! There aren’t that many Scavengers, and none of my teammates have ever seen you! Who are you really, and why are you lying!”

Swoosh swoosh swoosh!

Amidst Qiao Jun’s sharp yell, the other Scavengers’ eyes were filled with killing intent. They all aimed their gun muzzles at Chen Chong’s head, as if they would blow his head off if his answer wasn’t good enough!

“You’re all from Dawn Gathering Place?”

The situation was tense and on the verge of erupting. Yet, facing these eyes full of killing intent, Chen Chong was not alarmed, but pleasantly surprised.

“Then you should know a man with a scar on his face, named Lin Kun?”

The Scavengers present were stunned for a moment upon hearing this name, and Qiao Jun’s brow furrowed deeply.

“We certainly know Lin Kun. He had some reputation in the gathering place. But his team seemed to have been completely wiped out in the Wilderness two or three months ago. Not one returned alive. What does that have to do with you!?”

Actually, such things were far too common in today’s world. Not only Lin Kun’s team, but they themselves could also encounter an irresistible danger during a Wilderness exploration. Everyone had already prepared themselves to be buried in the Wilderness.

Chen Chong, no longer wanting to probe back and forth with these people, sneered and said directly:

“What if Lin Kun and his team weren’t wiped out, but were captured by some external force and used as lab rat research subjects?”

External force? Research subjects?

All the Scavengers, including team leader Qiao Jun, were stunned.

Chen Chong yanked up the filthy prison uniform on his chest and said coldly to the people before him:

“Truth be told, in a river valley dozens of kilometers from here, there’s an underground base, full of white people from who knows where. They have superior numbers and excellent equipment. Every month, they capture quite a few Scavengers from the Wilderness to use as experimental subjects for researching human potential. Who knows how many have died on their experiment tables!

Lin Kun and I were captured and imprisoned there for three whole months. Due to an experimental accident, my brain was damaged, and I lost most of my earlier memories. I survived only because of sheer luck! Just today, Lin Kun and the others, along with me, planned a jailbreak. We were lucky and successfully escaped that hellhole. But on the way, because of pursuit by the base guards, I got separated from the others. I could only grope my way forward alone. Thanks to luck, I managed to get here!”

Then, without paying attention to the Scavengers’ reactions, Chen Chong swiftly omitted some information related to his own secrets and gave a detailed account of the base situation and the perilous escape process.

The hidden underground base, the mysterious organization, the white people from who knows where, the cruel human experiments, Diris, the guards, the armed squads…

Hearing Chen Chong’s account, most of the Scavengers were dumbfounded, finding it somewhat unbelievable. Their expressions grew more and more grave, especially when they heard about the whites’ cruel human experiments on the prisoners. A faint flame of anger rose in their eyes.

As the team leader, Qiao Jun stared intently into Chen Chong’s eyes, his brow furrowing tighter and tighter, digesting this information while also seeming to judge its truth.

Although the Earth’s geography had changed beyond recognition after the Cataclysm due to violent continental plate movements, the appearance of other races near a small gathering point like theirs still felt utterly unbelievable to him.

After listening to the account of Chen Chong leading the prisoners in a breakout charge from the base, the other Scavengers’ eyes held a hint of satisfaction and admiration. The tense atmosphere loosened considerably. They all turned their gazes to Qiao Jun, waiting for him to speak.

“A white people power… how could it appear here?”

Long after Chen Chong finished speaking, Qiao Jun still couldn’t figure out this matter. But Chen Chong’s details were very thorough, with almost no holes, which forced him to believe it.

After pondering for a long while, Qiao Jun said:

“If everything you said is true, then do you still remember the specific location of this underground base?”

Chen Chong looked Qiao Jun up and down, shook his head, and chuckled wryly. “What? You want to go check the truth of my words? It’s not that I look down on you all, but with your strength and equipment…”

Qiao Jun was not angered and said calmly, “Friend, you misunderstand. I just need enough information to verify whether what you say is true or false.”

Chen Chong spread his hands and said directly:

“Actually, the simplest way to verify the truth of my words is to let me follow you back to your gathering place, isn’t it? There’s still a chance that Lin Kun and the others will make it back alive. When they return, just cross-check what I said with them, and it’ll all be clear, won’t it? Besides, I have some ability and won’t be a burden on the way.”

Completely not expecting Chen Chong to proactively request to follow his team, Qiao Jun was slightly startled, deeply surprised. His eyes flickered as he quickly considered the possible gains and losses of this matter.

After thinking it over, Chen Chong was just one person. He posed absolutely no threat to his entire team. Even taking him back to the gathering place wouldn’t incur any loss. On the other hand, the underground base Chen Chong mentioned seemed like something that could be exploited. But the specifics would have to wait until they returned to the gathering place.

Finally, Qiao Jun took a deep breath, raised his head to look at Chen Chong, and uttered one sentence:

“Fine! We’ll set out at dawn tomorrow! But along the way, you must obey orders. Any abnormal behavior, and don’t blame us for being merciless!”

The surrounding Scavengers slowly lowered their guns, and the situation completely relaxed. Chen Chong couldn’t help but reveal a smile:

“No problem!”

Without needing to engage in pointless slaughter, he also felt a slight relief in his heart, and his spirits lifted.

Because once he reached the survivor gathering place, it would be the moment his grand cultivation plan began!