8:00 PM/Wilderness/Integrated Sports Temporary Camp
The Battle of Dragon Gate was over, and the integration movement under Mephistopheles also came to an end. Just as they had abandoned Chernobog and Dragon Gate, the Integration Movement was now abandoned by their leaders. Dragon Gate did not send anyone to kill them all, nor did Tallulah from the core city of Chernobog send reinforcements. They seemed like children who had gotten into trouble without their parents around - their eyes were full of confusion.
But confusion is always short-lived. Before truly desperate, people will always move towards places where there may still be hope. For these integrated movements, they either returned to Tallulah or changed directions and struggled to survive in the wilderness. Obviously, the former is more tempting, and this is the result that almost all members of the integration movement came to.
Except for a few people.
Anfiya was sitting next to her sleeping bag, listlessly pulling on the bonfire in front of her. The golden firelight shone on her face, making her look like a girl who had just lost love and was unhappy. Of course she couldn't have had a heart-wrenching relationship in just a few hours because of the two guys on the other side of the campfire.
"Hey, get your stuff out."
A middle-aged man with short turquoise hair and a beard looked around, and after making sure that their position was not noticed, he lightly bumped into the Integration Movement soldier next to him and deliberately lowered his voice.
"what?"
The soldier who was hit looked confused. He shook his head and said that he didn't understand what the middle-aged man was talking about. As a result, he received a slap in the face.
The force was not heavy, it hit the head. It looked like an elder was lecturing a disobedient junior. Anfiya ignored these two guys and sat aside and continued to play with the bonfire.
It had just darkened and she was not yet sleepy, so she thought about what to do next.
The man who beat him was Leonid, the man known as "The Viper" in Qicheng. In the Integration movement, his pseudonym was Lev, which had the same meaning as "lion" like Leonid. During that war, Mephisto's soul shock covered the entire city. Although it only lasted for a few seconds, it failed the interception plan and almost killed Leonid: W's bomb destroyed half of his face. His long hair was burned off, and he was just a little away from death.
But Leonid is a ruthless character after all, and his mental toughness is extraordinary. He came to his senses a little earlier than others, and it was this small difference that allowed him to save his life.
The moment he was about to fall into the abyss of death, Leonid understood what he should do. Before W got close to him, he used his Origin Stone skills to forcibly "freeze" his heart and blood vessels. He controlled the amount of bleeding and lay on the ground in a state of suspended animation, betting that this demon woman would not be able to whip the corpse.
Facts have proved that he was very lucky. W didn't even care about Leonid who was lying on the ground pretending to die. He led his troops directly into the city without leaving anyone to clean up the scene, and gave him a rare opportunity. Escape opportunities.
Later, things turned out to be simple. Leonid froze his wound to stop the bleeding, picked up a uniform of an Integration Movement soldier, put it on and entered the city. Those tragic events did not put much psychological pressure on him, allowing him to lurk in the integration movement. In the process, he killed several lone soldiers who abused the Checheng people, and participated in the encirclement and suppression of Valentin Theresa and The Battle of Longmen has been lurking until now without being discovered.
After all, half his face was ruined and a lot of hair was lost. Even if he said he was Leonid, no one would believe it...
The young soldier's name is Yefim, which means he is kind-hearted, and his actions are indeed worthy of this name. During the Battle of Checheng, they did not persecute a single citizen of Checheng. They also participated in the patriot team and established a shelter. Later, when they went out to help the refugees find food, they were made trouble by thugs and Leonid ran into them. These two talents Got involved. So that day Yefim brought back a lot more food than usual, Qicheng lost a few scumbags, and Leonid also gained a younger brother.
Since then, Yefim has been hanging out with Leonid, from the core city of Chernobog to the branch city and then to Longmen, and finally to the wilderness, without even a good place to sleep. Even the food that I secretly hid for dinner was forced to be shared...
"Give……"
Yefim covered his head with his left hand and held several energy bars in his right hand. He stared at the food in his hand with a look of reluctance. Leonid glanced at Yefim's face that was about to cry, blinked his eyes, and seemed to feel that he had gone too far...
Then he opened Yefim's fingers and pulled the energy bar over.
In this environment where you can’t even get enough to eat, is shame useful? Is conscience useful?
Can it keep people fed?
This is a team of refugees, composed of Integration Movement and Longmen refugees, and the leaders are the phantom crossbowmen. Not long ago, those guys asked everyone to hand over their food, and then distributed it to everyone based on the number of people. The old, weak, women and children received the most food, while the ones who ate the least were men and young people in their prime like Leonid and Yefim.
At this time, the younger brother is still hiding the food. Instead of sharing it with the hungry older brother, he is going to eat it alone. Is this okay?
In fact, if Leonid asked nicely, Yefim would take out the food, or wake up the sleeping Leonid and give him some while he was eating. However, his character is very abrasive and careless. If he talks to himself or takes the initiative to take out food, he is likely to be discovered by patrollers. The worst result is that he will be forced to contribute food to others. He is still Be hungry.
After being together for such a long time, Leonid had a thorough understanding of his kind-hearted but somewhat naive little brother. Instead of letting him take the initiative in the end, it would be better for him to be stronger and finish eating early so that he could feel at ease.
Leonid stuffed the energy bar into his arms and hugged him tightly, turning his head to look at his surroundings. There were many bonfires in the wilderness, and they were all people fleeing from the Dragon Gate. The phantom crossbowmen patrolled among the bonfires. Only a pair of eyes were exposed under the white masks, making it difficult to see clearly.
This team of refugees is a mixed bag. If there is not a strong enough team, they may start fighting soon after leaving the dragon gate. Because of food and equipment, etc., the presence of the phantom crossbowmen just suppresses those with bad intentions. After making sure that the crossbowmen were not paying attention here, Leonid took the food out of his arms, threw two energy bars to Anfiya, and returned the rest to Yefim.
Unlike him, Anfiya did not eat dinner because her food was divided and given to two Longmen children, voluntarily. The same goes for the food Yefim was given. When Anfiya told the children who were following her that there was no more food, he took the initiative to share his dinner with them, leaving only a piece of bread that he had already bitten. .
"Aren't you going to eat?"
Yefim took Leonid's food with a blank look on his face. His hand holding the food stopped in mid-air, as if he was hesitating whether to take it all.
"I do not need."
Leonid pushed Yefim's hand and motioned for him to take it back quickly. It's past the time for food distribution, and most people have begun to sleep. If someone sees it, it may cause some unnecessary trouble.
When these two people were showing off their kindness just now, Leonid just sat aside and finished his dinner slowly without even looking at them. Now he still has something in his stomach. Maybe he will be hungry soon, but it will be better than these two children.
Time always flies by at night. The night sky is still full of stars, but the people under the sky have already fallen asleep. Longmen finally ushered in a rare peace, and those people no longer slept with the same fear as in the first few days. Rhode Island was pitch dark except for some offices, and even the lowest-level assembly line workers were sleeping particularly soundly at this moment.
On this land, it is probably the integration movements wandering in the wilderness that have the hardest time sleeping.
Anfiya was lying in her sleeping bag, looking at the stars in the sky, still not sleepy at all. The bonfire beside her had dimmed a lot, and it seemed that even the flame had fallen into sleep. On the other side of the campfire, Yefim rolled his lips, seemingly still savoring the mellow sweetness of the energy bar not long ago.
"Still not asleep?"
A deep male voice sounded in Anfiya's ears, and the source was from the other side of the bonfire. She sat up from her sleeping bag and saw Leonid, still wearing a thick robe, sitting by the campfire.
The orange firelight shone on the face that was disfigured due to burns, making it look particularly ferocious in Anfiya's eyes. But Anfiya was not afraid of this man, because he was the one who got the bullets from the police station to help her train her handgun shooting.
Moreover, if you ignore the burned area and just look at the other half of his face, you can see that this uncle is quite handsome and his voice is nice. At least Anfiya doesn't dislike him.
As for why Leonid got involved with Anfiya, it was entirely because this little girl reminded him of his own daughter, who was equally quiet and didn't like to talk, but was extremely serious when doing things. It has been two months, and he has no idea whether Vera is safe. He only has a hint in his mind that "Vera will be safe if she follows Valentin" he once got in a dream.
But now that guy Valentine has put on the uniform of Rhode Island, his daughter must have joined that company, right?
Although Leonid still doesn't know what the real situation is, at least the big stone that has been hanging in his heart is lighter and no longer as heavy as usual.
Anfiya did not respond to Leonid's concern and turned her head to look at the wilderness in the distance. Leonid chuckled, understanding why the little girl was angry with him.
Not long after they left Longmen in the afternoon, the Phantom Crossbowmen gathered all the integration movements together to discuss what to do next. Because of Mephisto, the crossbowmen must go to the core city. It depends on what the remaining people choose.
After this battle, many people saw through Tallulah's true face, but they were afraid of the dangers of the wilderness, so everyone was silent at this time. Everyone inevitably slipped into a situation that they did not want to accept but could only Such direction. Anfiya noticed something was wrong in the atmosphere and wanted to say something, but Leonid stopped her.
"You think we shouldn't go back?"
Anfiya didn't respond.
"But the truth is we have no other way to go but to go back."
"We can go to the wilderness and other places, why do we have to go back to the dragon girl?"
As if she was venting the pent-up anger in her heart, Anfiya turned her head and looked at her friend and teacher, with obvious anger in her voice.
Leonid stretched out his hand to signal Anfiya to lower her voice, and at the same time looked around.
Very good, no one was awakened, and the phantom crossbowmen's attention was not here.
"Then have you ever thought about how so many people can survive in the wilderness?"
He leaned forward and lowered his voice just enough for Anfiya to hear.
"We can hunt, we can gather food, we can even build houses out of wood and build a village."
The idea was good and what he said was reasonable, but Leonid understood that this little girl had no idea how troublesome the operations she was talking about were.
"Let's not mention how difficult it is for you to talk about these people." Leonid pointed at the sleeping soldiers not far away: "Do you really think they will obey your orders obediently?"
"I don't want to order others, I just want everyone to work together to survive, and at the same time no longer be used by Tallulah."
Valentine's words and the outcome of the Battle of Dragon Gate made Anfiya see through the true face of the so-called integration movement, and she was already disappointed with Tallulah.
"But they don't think so."
Leonid's voice was cold.
"Maybe in your eyes, they are not thugs who persecute ordinary people. But if there are no phantom crossbowmen standing up to maintain order at this time, this team of integration movement soldiers and refugees is leaderless. Do you think it will be so quiet at this time? ?"
"There will definitely be people who persecute others in order to live a better life for themselves. Those refugees in Longmen don't have weapons in their hands, and some of them carry a lot of things. A lot of the food we receive comes from those people. Conscripted from human hands.”
"In this place where there is no order, if no one comes forward, what do you think will happen to them?"
Anfiya was stunned, she didn't know how to answer.
"And do you think those Longmen people are really willing to hand over food to everyone, including everyone in our integration movement? If we don't come, Longmen will still be like that. At least they still have a place to live and a job to change. Come in with money and food.”
"As a result, our presence displaced them..."
Leonid raised his head and looked at the night sky, remembering the time when the integration movement opened the gate to Qie City.
"Although it may be the phantom crossbowmen, it's already good that they didn't cause trouble at this time."
If there were no phantom crossbowmen and no force strong enough to suppress the entire team, then this wilderness would become the former Chernobog slum, the same place of despair that set Leonid on the road to revenge. Exactly the same place.
By then, I don’t know how many more people’s blood will be shed in this wilderness.
"As for your thoughts, even if someone really goes to the wilderness with you to survive, it may end up becoming a new hell."
“You can be generous when treating others, but you must be prepared for the worst.”
People's hearts are separated from each other, who knows what other people are thinking? The story of the farmer and the snake will never go out of style. One-sided trust will always be the most unstable relationship in the world. Betrayal happens every minute and every second.
Now the only people Leonid trusts are Yefim and Anfiya. If he really agrees with Anfiya's wilderness survival plan, then the team can only have three of them, and one more will not work.
Anfiya did not respond, as if Leonid's words stunned her. After a few seconds, she lowered her head slightly and spoke again: "Then we will go back obediently and continue to be used by Tallulah?"
Leonid's persuasion was very effective. At least Anfiya had given up those childish thoughts, but she still felt uncomfortable about returning to the core city, and her voice was much lower, with obvious disappointment.
At first it was the anger at Tallulah's betrayal, but now it's the helplessness and pain of knowing that there is only one way to go, and this road is almost a dead end.
"The person who let you go was a staff member of Rhode Island, right? You can go to Rhode Island to try your luck."
Going to Rhodes Island is the only way out that Leonid can give, other than returning to the core city.
In fact, he still hopes that Anfiya will go to Rhode Island, so that he can quickly know whether Vera is in Rhode Island, and she may still get along well with his daughter. As for Yefim, this guy had better go too. There are too many guys with evil intentions in the integration movement. Simple guys like these two had better leave as soon as possible, otherwise they will die without knowing how.
As for Leonid himself, he will not leave this organization. In the mind-computer integration sport, probably only Tallulah and W can beat him, and the others are all rookies. If Lady Luck is still willing to look at Leonid, maybe he will be able to find a chance to kill Tallulah at some point in the future.
He is most familiar with the matter of lying on the ground and tasting courage.
"I won't go."
Anfiya rejected this path almost instantly.
"I want to stay here, I don't want them to fall like this..."
She wanted to say something else, but Leonid stopped her with his hand.
The surroundings were quiet, the wood in the campfire was crackling, and Yefim was snoring. It was not too noisy.
After a few seconds, Leonid stared into Anfya's eyes and sighed.
"Why do I only meet some crazy guys..."
Valentin used to be like this, his daughter was like this, and Anfiya is still like this now.
"I understand what you mean. I also heard what you said to that guy in the interrogation room during the day..."
At that time, he and Yefim had broken free of the rope and left the room, but instead of running away directly, he stopped outside the window of the interrogation room and listened.
"I really didn't expect you to stay, stay in the ranks of Integrated Sports."
"But this at least proves that what you said is true."
Leonid recalled those words Anfya had said that sounded like jokes to his ears.
“If you want to change the status quo of the integration movement, you need to unmask Tallulah.”
"And this time we go back, it's our chance."
He looked at this girl who was similar to his own daughter and made a promise, as if he had gone back to the time when Valentin wanted to start a gang war.
"I'll help you."
"It may take a long time, but the longer it takes, the better it will be for us."
If there is really an opportunity to kill Tallulah in the future, those at the grassroots level of the integration movement will not let it go.
And Anfiya is the best way.
The conversation ended quickly, and Anfiya felt a lot better. When she rejected Valentin's proposal to stay, she thought about how difficult the road ahead would be. She couldn't regret it now, and she wouldn't regret it either.
Even if her brothers and sisters still have to part ways in the end, she hopes that these infected people can have a good ending, at least no longer be so confused.
