It was the second day after Li Tie and his group were picked up from the white house by the National Highway.
Li Yu and his team selected seven or eight vehicles of better quality from those driven by Safe City and brought them back.
The best vehicle among them was an armored RV of the Dongfeng Mengshi model.
Adding the original Unimog, Da Zhangshu Base now had two armored RVs, one riot control vehicle, and several off-road vehicles.
After communicating with his second uncle and others, a unanimous decision was reached to head to Safe City in two days to resolve the lingering issues.
For more than a year since their rebirth, Li Yu and his team had always been fighting against people, against zombies, and against harsh weather.
They had hardly rested.
But to stabilize the base and ensure its safety, they had no choice but to continue fighting.
In this apocalypse, there were always all sorts of problems.
One problem after another, instead of making Li Yu and his team weaker, made them stronger.
Through such high-intensity combat, most people in the base, after being tempered, had individual combat strength no weaker than that of a conscript who had served for two years.
Meanwhile, in Safe City, there was chaos.
Due to the food crisis, some civilians of Safe City left to search for food in more distant places.
They had not waited for Hua Chuanlong and his group to return, and Old Wu also suspected whether Hua Chuanlong would never come back.
It was possible that they had encountered a powerful force and never returned.
But it was also possible that they had obtained a massive amount of food and simply chose not to return.
Both were possible.
Old Wu still prioritized stability; he did not want to send out more people and disperse their strength. Currently, within Safe City, they only had thirty to forty people left.
But the current food crisis forced them to venture out, going further south and west to search for food.
However, the further west they went, they found that some coastal cities in the west, which used to exist, had been submerged by seawater.
Although not much food was found, it was enough to get through this difficult period.
They also found some seeds and planned to designate a portion of Safe City for cultivation.
They realized that relying solely on searching for food supplies was unstable, and these supplies would eventually be depleted. This necessitated a more stable source of supply.
However, the frequent weather disasters throughout the previous year left them with lingering fears, and they wondered if this year's planting would yield a good harvest.
Ke Hanyu had always had relatively abundant supplies, but after such a long period of consumption, he was now feeling the pinch.
Hua Chuanlong's continued absence caused many people in Safe City to lose confidence.
Including him, he sometimes dreamt that Hua Chuanlong had found that force, occupied the granary, and was living a life better than that of an immortal.
But when he woke up and saw the familiar ceiling, he always felt regret. When Hua Chuanlong invited him, why didn't he go along?
So, on this day, he found Old Wu, and Ke Hanyu spoke directly, "Let's go find Old Hua and his group.
Maybe they've already found a granary over there and aren't lacking food now. We can't keep going on like this."
Old Wu looked at him for a long time, then slowly said, "Then Old Tao, who went first, and Old Zhang, who went later, haven't returned either?"
Ke Hanyu said, "Maybe they're in cahoots. Think about it, such a long distance.
For them to run back to report and then transport everything back from so far away, not to mention whether they'd encounter a zombie horde on the way.
From a human nature perspective, people seek advantages and avoid harm. If they found a granary and came back to tell us, there are so many of us here, and they'd have to share."
In business, profit usually comes first. For Ke Hanyu, if he had found the granary, he would definitely not have returned.
Putting himself in their shoes, he deduced that Hua Chuanlong and his group very likely did the same.
Old Wu looked at him and said, "Do you think it's possible that Wang Xiansheng was just lying, that it was all a scam?
Is it possible that Old Tao and Old Hua encountered some accident on their way there?
Is it possible that when they arrived there, they encountered a powerful force?"
Ke Hanyu quickly said, "How could that be?"
Old Wu said nothing, just quietly looked at him.
In that gaze, Ke Hanyu suddenly became alert. He had always been searching for supplies in this vicinity. Although he had encountered some small groups of survivors, in this area, who didn't know that their Safe City was the largest force?
But, nearly 600 kilometers away, there could very well be a stronger force than them.
Ke Hanyu immediately said in fear, "If, I mean if there's a possibility that a force stronger than us exists, and Old Tao and Old Hua haven't returned, then it must be a bad omen.
Given Old Hua and his group's strength, if they haven't returned after so long, it means everyone must have been intercepted.
If that's the case, this force must be stronger than us.
Then, then, if these people from that force come looking for trouble, what should we do?
This, this, this, we must leave Safe City!"
Ke Hanyu said, standing up abruptly from his seat.
The more he spoke, the more fearful he became, and his thoughts grew increasingly firm.
Old Wu watched Ke Hanyu, from initially wanting to go to Xin City in the west, to later being so terrified that he wanted to leave Safe City and find a place to hide.
It was a complete reversal.
Old Wu waved his hand, signaling Ke Hanyu to sit down.
Old Wu slowly said, "What's most important now?"
Ke Hanyu didn't even have to think, blurting out, "Food."
Old Wu then asked, "Do we have it?"
Ke Hanyu then thought, "That's right. We all lack food, even if there's a powerful force over there. But doing anything has a motive; they don't have food, so why would they come all this way?"
Thinking this way, it indeed made sense. Old Hua and his group had been gone for so long; if that force wanted to come, they would have come long ago, why wait until now?
With this thought, Ke Hanyu immediately felt much more at ease.
Old Wu then said, "In such complex situations, anything is possible, but what we need to do now is not to disperse.
Recently, some civilians who left Safe City have not returned.
Old Tao left, Old Hua left, and only us are left. Safe City was built by our own hands; we can't just let it collapse."
Ke Hanyu said with a bitter expression, "But now our food is really a big problem."
Old Wu said, "You've seen recently, we're clearing some new areas within Safe City. We'll plant our own food and be self-sufficient. We just need to hold on for a while longer.
Once the nearby supplies are exhausted, we can go to more distant places."
Ke Hanyu nodded, deep in thought.
He was still contemplating all the possibilities for why Old Hua and his group hadn't returned.
Old Wu saw his expression, knowing he was thinking, and said, "Alright, think it over carefully."
After leaving Old Wu, Ke Hanyu walked with his head down, pondering all the possibilities for Hua Chuanlong's failure to return.
