Read Novel Full Chapter 603: Retreat Plan
Chapter 603: Retreat Plan
Years passed in the blink of an eye, and life and death became distant.
How many family members and friends never had the chance to meet in their entire lives?
Jiang Ning felt fortunate that she had been drifting on the sea for years, traveling the globe searching for supplies; otherwise, she truly wouldn’t have had the chance to find them.
Perhaps this was the opportunity given by heaven.
Zhang Chao, in a daze, asked, “Anning, is this the Hall of Yama?”
Jiang Ning couldn’t help but laugh. “Yama doesn’t want you; you don’t have enough meat on your bones.”
She fed him another spoonful of sugar water. After seeing that he was feeling a bit better, she briefly shared what had happened. “After the land rose, I found the Fengcheng base by chance. Later, I joined a salvage team in the military, drifting around, collecting supplies. “I never imagined I would encounter all of you here.”
She didn’t let him say much to save his energy. “You’ve come back from the brink of death, so rest well.”
Zhang Chao, too weak to speak, couldn’t even open his mouth to talk. He fell into a daze again, drifting into a light sleep with a faint smile on his lips, as if he were having a pleasant dream.
Just before dawn, Lu Yu also woke up. “Wifey.”
Zheng Weili smiled at him, looking like she was about to cry.
“Don’t cry, I’m not going anywhere. I’m still here, gonna be with my wifey.”
Tsk, tsk, tsk. After all these years, his sweet talk never changed.
No wonder Zheng Weili was so smitten with him.
Hearing a laugh from the side, Lu Yu struggled to turn his head, his pupils widening. “Anning?”
No way, was this a dream or a hallucination?
Zheng Weili, relieved, spoke in a hoarse, choked voice. “Anning is here, and she’s the one who saved you and Zhang Chao.”
No, it had to be a dream. They were like old rags, but Anning still looked like a little fairy. She barely changed at all.
Lu Yu believed Jiang Ning was living well, but he couldn’t believe they would meet again in this life.
Zheng Weili explained, “Anning came out to find the fire seed containers. We almost had a misunderstanding and nearly fought each other…”
The joy of reunion hit Lu Yu like a shot of adrenaline, and he started to feel better. “What about Brother Shen and Doudou? How are they?”
“Brother Shen went out to scout the oil fields. Doudou’s running a farm at the Fengcheng base.”
Fengcheng—was that their hometown?
Doudou was so capable, she had even started a farm.
It sounded like something between hell and heaven.
On one side, a wasteland of dust and ruin. On the other, a green farm. It felt like a dream.
Seeing that Lu Yu was doing better, Jiang Ning briefly explained more about Huacheng and Fengcheng. “They’re both military-run bases. Huacheng is a national-level new home base, and Fengcheng is a base established by the southern military.”
Maybe they had arrived on land too early, or maybe they hadn’t run into a team from the Huacheng base searching for survivors. Either way, they ended up settling on this wasteland, accidentally becoming neighbors with the Americans.
There are small clashes every three days and bigger ones every five days.
It wasn’t clear if the American main base was too arrogant to take them seriously, or if they were occupied with other matters, or maybe they lacked enough slaves. For some reason, they hadn’t sent a large army to wipe them out, which had given the camp a chance to breathe.
In the morning, two scouting teams returned safely.
After resting, Zhang Chao and Lu Yu were feeling much better.
They were all from the southern military base, and Xu Kaitai was the chief instructor of the submarine team. Upon seeing him, the three of them felt admiration and respect. “Chief Instructor Xu.”
Xu Kaitai nodded in approval. “You’ve all worked hard.”
With just five words, they almost cried on the spot.
To be honest, the three of them didn’t expect to make it this far.
Drifting on the sea felt like being a walking corpse, always wanting to do something, to hold on to something, just to keep going.
Lu Yu couldn’t hold back anymore. The tears he had cried dry as a child came pouring out like he was a little kid again. “Captain Xu, the Fire Seed Container… we haven’t lost it. It’s still here with us.”
Yes, the submarine they were on had 19 people at first. Now, only seven remained. They had been through countless life-or-death situations, but they never broke the connection to the Fire Seed Container.
Maybe that was the reason they’d lasted this long—because they held on to that hope.
Everyone was stunned. Were they all out of their minds? The ocean was full of danger. It was a miracle they hadn’t lost their lives already.
Xu Kaitai’s face was serious. After a long pause, he asked, “Where’s the submarine?”
Zheng Weili replied, “It’s out at sea.”
There were seven submarines in total, and two Fire Seed Containers left. They were all hidden in a secret bay.
And yes, there were still hundreds of people there. Their job was to guard the submarines and fish. Meanwhile, they had oil fields where they could make fire. They were confident they could turn the wasteland into an oasis.
The idea sounded great, but unfortunately, it was too close to Americans.
Xu Kaitai’s expression became even more serious. He patted the shoulders of the group. “You’ve all done well. Truly, you’re all worthy of being called soldiers.”
That sentence made Zhang Chao and Zheng Weili start crying too. They couldn’t stop, no matter how hard they tried.
It had been so tough. They had barely escaped death countless times. Looking back, it was all just painful memories, like shards of broken glass.
After crying, it was time to face what came next.
It was a coincidence that they met, but now they had to solve the problem.
Huo Yishen spoke up, suggesting they have a sit-down with the camp leadership and the special team.
The special team’s goal was clear. They wanted to take the Fire Seed Container and leave, no matter what, not even the Americans could stop them.
But before any fighting broke out, they needed to decide whether the camp was leaving or not.
Who didn’t dream of a better life? But the camp had over a thousand people, and more than a hundred had been captured. They couldn’t just leave them behind, like it was no big deal.
Huo Yishen’s goal was clear, “If you choose to leave, we’ll help you rescue the captives. If you choose to stay, we’ll take the Fire Seed Container and leave but be prepared for retaliation from them.”
This concerned over a thousand people, and it couldn’t be decided with just a few words.
Zhang Chao thought for a moment. “We need to discuss it.”
So, the special team waited outside.
Half an hour later, the camp had made up its mind. They were willing to leave.
Huacheng belonged to the China National Base, but they came from the Southern Military, and their mindset leaned more toward that.
Years of experience told them that even though Huacheng might seem like the better option, Jiang Ning had made a choice for a reason. There had to be something behind it.
They knew following her decision was the right call.
Whether for personal or public reasons, they leaned toward Fengcheng Base.
But the team was large, and many people still preferred Huacheng. In the end, though, the leaders all chose Fengcheng, so everyone else followed suit.
After all, they’d been through so much together. It made sense to stick together when they got to the new place. If they went to Huacheng alone, what would they do? They didn’t know anyone there.
So, everyone agreed to head to Fengcheng.
Now that the decision was made, they had to figure out how to evacuate quickly.
Excluding the captives and the branches out at sea, there were still hundreds of people in the camp. They only had seven submarines, and even if they packed them in like sardines, they could only fit about 400 people.
The more they overloaded, the greater the risk.
But what about the remaining 600+ people? What would they do?