Later, Luo Yuan discovered a pile of branches lying on the ground. It was obvious that this was a trap, but the question was… Were these created by intelligent creatures? Were there humans living here?
The ground was blanketed by yellow grass and dried leaves. Luo Yuan had not seen traces of footprints but instead, knew from experience that the scent he could smell came from an evolved human. It had a very strong odor which was very similar to burnt rubber.
Luo Yuan looked to be deep in thought and after some pondering, he decided to run swiftly towards the source of the smell. Luo Yuan's expression quickly changed after running for only a few minutes as he was shocked to find that there were signs of humans living in the area! There was a broken metal spear, numerous rusty bullet casings, and even human bones!
Based on the degree of corrosion on the spear and bullet casings, these items were probably left here for less than a month. Luo Yuan then ran even faster to survey the area to find out if there were any survivors. After 10 minutes of circling, he chose a rock that lay on the higher ground to squat on and looked into the distance.
There was a base located on the hillside, covered by growing vines and moss. Luo Yuan predicted that it was probably a military base before the apocalypse as there were rusted metal fragments of a helicopter visible in the vicinity. For the sake of security, the main entrance was reinforced with many layers of thick and heavy wooden boards. There were also a few small holes at the side that Luo Yuan believed to be the actual entrance to the base.
The sky was all dark by now. There was complete silence in the surroundings and it was pitch black. Luo Yuan took this opportunity to quietly maneuver into the small holes on the side of the base. The path was quite obscure and he had to hunch his body slightly as he walked along the winding path. The path to get there was around 1.8 meters high and the surface of the two sides of the wall was rough and uneven. People who walked along this path had to be aware of the sharp canine teeth embedded into the wall for protection.
This was obviously a man-made cave. It must have been a huge project seeing that it was done without the use of machines. After venturing a further 10 meters, Luo Yuan found that his path was blocked by a thick board. Luo Yuan pushed the board with brute force but it did not move at all. He immediately knew that something was behind it.
He knocked on the board and shouted, "Please open the door!"
"Are you trying to get yourself in trouble? Why are you coming back so late?" Someone responded from the other side in an angry tone.
"Just open the door. Don't even bother saying anything else." Luo Yuan answered coldly.
The entire place went silent. After a long pause, a person could be heard mumbling but Luo Yuan had no idea what he was talking about. He then heard chains being loosened followed by the sound of gears turning. It took a good 10 minutes before the door was eventually opened.
Due to his impatience, Luo Yuan entered the cave abruptly even before the door had completely opened. He looked around and it was not dark at all. A few rows of lamps lit the place up and cast a light on the walls of the cave.
"Who are you people?" Luo Yuan asked. He was greeted by mumbles again.
There were four men wearing animal skin around their waist and holding an old rifle. They looked extremely tense when they saw a foreign figure in their midst. The men looked like cavemen and the resemblance was so striking that Luo Yuan even wondered if the rusty rifles they were holding were still usable. They were not wearing any other clothing besides the animal skin around their waist.
Luo Yuan was curious about the texture of their skin which seemed to be coated with a thick layer of translucent gel. Besides their faces, their entire body was coated with a kind of gel that seemed to have a strong and pungent smell. Luo Yuan was intrigued by their attire as it looked exactly like they used to be a group of civilized people who went back to living like a primitive tribal society.
These people were frightened at the prospect of an unknown 'civilized' man being in their presence. They suddenly noticed that there was a streak of light in the air and before they were able to identify what was happening, they felt pain at their throats. They subconsciously touched their throats and realized that there was blood on their hands. They were frightened and their faces turned dreadfully pale.
"Stop spewing nonsense and answer my questions! You won't be so lucky next time if I'm not satisfied with your answer." Luo Yuan said in a deep voice.
The four of them stood there silently and felt their limbs go numb.
"Nod your head if you understand me!" Luo Yuan said coldly.
The four men nodded their heads immediately.
"Well… How many people are there in this base?" Luo Yuan sat on one of the rocks and questioned them.
One of the guards took a look at the rifle that he was holding and glanced at Luo Yuan. He subconsciously gulped and before he was able to act, Luo Yuan stared at him. He was shocked and almost dropped his rifle on the floor!
"You, answer!" Luo Yuan screamed at the man.
"Around… two hundred!" He replied.
"How many evolved men are there? You, answer me!" Luo Yuan pointed at another person this time.
"Around… 15?" One of the guards answered cautiously. Luo Yuan raised his leg and gave him a kick. The man flew and crashed against the wall. He coughed up blood and slowly slid down to the floor.
"Here is another chance for you to be honest. How many evolved men are there in this base?" Luo Yuan smiled coldly as he walked towards the guard who was still coughing blood.
"Please, don't kill me… Please, don't! There are 18… 18 evolved men!"
In order to save time, Luo Yuan used his abilities to get them to speak the truth every time he asked a question. Soon, Luo Yuan could briefly understand the military base's operations.
The facts all seemed to align with Luo Yuan's predictions. This was initially a military base situated on the cliff. After the apocalypse, the conditions had gotten worse and most of the troops and weapons were pulled out of these areas. With the gradual fall of Guizhou, this military base with a strong defense had become the sanctuary for the humans here. It provided temporary shelter for 50,000-60,000 refugees. Many people had undoubtedly died due to hunger, disease and the threat of the mutated beasts. The scariest part was any internal strife that occurred which eventually led to humans killing each other. The population numbers decreased drastically to the point where they are left with less than 300 survivors.
The people here were divided into three forces. The leaders of these three forces were Li Wang, Cao Cao, and Xie Ziliu. Among the three of them, Li Wang had the most evolved man under him whereas Xie Ziliu was the strongest and Cao Cao managed most of the weapons and recruited most of the regular people that were under him.