But they were too late.
The surface of this place had already turned into ruins, with unrecognizable corpses everywhere.
A white-haired old man sat on a rock nearby, continuously smoking.
Ambulances wailed one after another, arriving beside them.
Familiar faces were on the stretchers.
Jiang Ziqi had a gaping hole in her abdomen, with insects still gnawing at her flesh. Several of her tentacles were broken, dangling limply on her shoulders.
Her face was covered in blood and dirt, her eyes closed as if she were asleep.
Ji Xuanyan was sent up with her. Half of her posterior limbs were severed, and her left forearm was gone.
Many people, their faces indistinguishable, were also loaded into the ambulances.
No one came to comfort him.
Lin Yuan looked at everything before him, blood surging to his head. A feeling of faintness washed over him in waves, and the world seemed to have changed color.
Everything turned black and white, the ground spinning.
A soldier nearby noticed Lin Yuan’s distress and quickly came to support him.
“Comrade! What’s wrong?”
“Comrade, comrade.”
“Comrade, wake up…”
“…”
Under the repeated shouts of “Comrade,” Lin Yuan slowly came to.
Night had already fallen.
Sitting beside him was Ying Tianlong, who had completely turned into an old man. He didn't say anything when he saw Lin Yuan wake up.
He just watched him silently.
Silence was the best answer.
But Lin Yuan refused to believe it. He grabbed Ying Tianlong’s clothes and questioned him, “Where are they! Where is my wife! Where is my child?!” His movements were so forceful that the IV drip beside him fell to the ground, shattering into pieces. The infusion tube on his hand was also pulled out, the needle piercing and then dragging out a large patch of blood.
“They were taken by the Eternal Life Cult,” Ying Tianlong replied, his expression numb.
“What were all of you doing! How could you let so many of them in?!” Lin Yuan clung to him, tears streaming down his face.
“We had no way to detect the people from the Eternal Life Cult this time. Furthermore, she is Isis’s strongest subordinate, possessing the means to control insect eggs!
They disguised themselves as survivors and entered in batches over these three days. Without the equipment, we couldn’t detect them at all!”
“Then how did you let her leave?!” With so many people, they couldn’t have just let everyone go.
“Do you think I didn’t want to capture her?!
In three days, she controlled 6,000 people in the southern district with insect eggs! If we didn’t let her go, she would detonate these eggs! What could I do?! Jiang Ziqi is in intensive care for you all! And Ji Xuanyan, the doctors say she’ll most likely become a vegetable! Our Biu squad has also suffered heavy casualties! Their average age is only 20!!
Besides, Wu Tian willingly went with her. We’ve already killed all but two of them. But these two, they hold the lives of 6,000 people in their hands.
Wu Tian came out of the safe house considering this!
Do you think she would let 6,000 people sacrifice themselves for her and Xiao Jun? Tell me, would she?!”
Ying Tianlong’s hair stood on end with extreme anger. He must have looked like a character from a fury-stricken painting.
It was precisely because of Wu Tian's choice that he felt immense guilt and hated this damned apocalypse.
The detection equipment was only three days late, and as a result, everything was too late.
Hearing these deafening roars, Lin Yuan also snapped out of his almost mindless rage.
“How long have they been gone? Can we still catch up?”
“Hoo, cough, cough.” Ying Tianlong coughed after shouting, his voice hoarse as he said, “They left by helicopter. We can’t catch up. If we pursue, it’s over.”
Lin Yuan gave a wry smile, which grew louder and louder until his anger overwhelmed him, and he spat out a mouthful of blood before sighing heavily.
“Damn it.”
Looking at Ying Tianlong, who was also about to explode with anger, he asked, “How can Zi Qi and the others be out of danger?”
“You don’t need to worry about that. The command center is urgently airlifting the third-generation treatment serum. Along with it, there are two fifth-tier mutated creature neural spheres and sixteen fourth-tier mutated creature neural spheres.
Twenty medical experts are also on the plane. They are using all the mutated creature gel available in the safe zone now. They will be fine.”
“Third-generation treatment serum?”
“It was developed by adding God’s Medicine to the treatment serum seized from HSAC. It’s even better than the current treatment serum. There are only 15 doses in total, and 10 have been transported.”
The sense of guilt in his heart lessened slightly.
The two sat in silence. Finally, Ying Tianlong spoke first, “Don’t rush. This was our mistake, and there will be a way.”
Lin Yuan shook his head and said, “No need, Brother Ying. I don’t want to trouble the country anymore. I want to solve this myself.”
“How can you solve it alone?! Never mind how you’ll fly over the 19,000 kilometers of the Pacific Ocean. Even if you reach it, even if you know the Eternal Life Cult’s headquarters is in the western part of the White Eagle Federation, do you know how vast the western part of the White Eagle Federation is?! Moreover, it’s about to snow there. Once it snows, it will be difficult even to find your way, and even surviving will be a problem.
And ‘solve’?!
How do you solve it?!!” This was what Ying Tianlong feared most. As a father, he would do anything for his child?
“But what should we do next?”
“We need to find someone to discuss this. Don’t act rashly,” Ying Tianlong instructed before going to the balcony to make a call.
Lin Yuan squatted alone on the bed, deep in thought, when he suddenly remembered something – the ceramic vase from the Eternal Life Wine bar in Qing Snake County.
Next to the painting of a child herding cattle, there was a string of English characters. At the time, it looked like an ingredient list, but now, it seemed very much like a place name!
“Minister Ying?!”
No response?
“Ying Tianlong!!”
“What is it?!” Ying Tianlong was extremely irritated. If Lin Yuan hadn’t yelled so loudly, and if he hadn’t thought that he couldn’t defeat Lin Yuan, he would have kicked him away.
“I remembered that when I first went to Qing Snake County on an investigation mission, there was an item in the Eternal Life Cult stronghold. It was a ceramic vase with a painting of a child herding cattle, and there might be clues on it!”
“???” Ying Tianlong wore an expression that clearly conveyed disbelief, “Lin Yuan, are you out of your damn mind?!”
“I’m not crazy, I’m looking for clues!”
“Alright, I’ll call the evidence room of the intelligence department right away.” Since Lin Yuan was so serious, he decided to humor him this once.
A few minutes later.
“The result is out. It did have a string of English characters printed on it, but the translated meaning is ‘Sun and Moon Shine Together’.”
This answer extinguished Lin Yuan’s last hope. Was it over just like that?
Of course not.
Ying Tianlong hadn’t finished speaking: “But at the bottom of the ceramic, there is a manufacturer’s name printed.”
“What?”
“Beikanwei Antique Ceramic Manufacturing.”
What?!
Beikanwei is a small mountain town in New Hampshire, in the northwestern part of the White Eagle Federation.
It was obscure, so Lin Yuan naturally didn’t know about it.
“Is this place the Eternal Life Cult’s headquarters?”
“I don’t know. I need to contact other intelligence departments to see if their evidence rooms have any similar items from the same origin.”
After speaking, Ying Tianlong looked at Lin Yuan seriously, “Are you really planning to go alone?”
“Yes.”
“How many days will it take you to learn to fly a plane?”
“2 days!”
“I’ll get one for you!”
He would help Lin Yuan one last time before retiring.