Xie Chiyuan was in the medical room, his cold gaze sweeping over the man in front of him, his tone devoid of emotion: "Where's the person on duty? Who let him out?"
Yu An is still young; leaving him to survive alone outside would likely be extremely dangerous.
The inspectors had just been to the monitoring room, and he hurriedly replied, "Sir, I checked the surveillance footage and found that your family member left the room at five o'clock this morning and hid in the back of the transport vehicle."
“At eight o’clock in the morning, the transport truck did not find him when it left, and took him with it.”
The inspectors were afraid of Xie Chiyuan, so they did everything they could before coming to explain to him.
He forced himself to continue, "I called the truck driver, and he said... he's no longer in the back of the truck."
Xie Chiyuan remained silent, his expression somber.
Tang Xin couldn't stand it anymore and asked Xie Chiyuan, "Brother Xie, did you and Yu An have a fight? Why did he leave so suddenly?"
Xie Chiyuan didn't know the reason either.
He frowned, trying his best to recall: "Last night, he was circling around my door, but I didn't let him in."
Tang Xin sharply seized on the key point: "You two are still sleeping in separate rooms?"
Xie Chiyuan hummed in agreement.
He knew Yu An had feelings for him, which was why he hadn't let him in at night. In the middle of the night, if the little guy went astray and tried to do something wrong, he didn't want to actually take advantage of him.
He is a staunch non-marriage advocate and has never considered dating in the current environment.
He couldn't think of any other way to deal with it besides avoidance.
Tang Xin's eyes sharpened instantly: "The case is solved. It must be because you wouldn't open the door for Yu An. He felt his pride was hurt, so he ran out of the base early this morning."
Xie Chiyuan's expression tightened, but he did not deny it.
Indeed, he lacked consideration.
He didn't accept Yu An's advances, but he implicitly agreed that Yu An could live next door. For a young boy like him, it was naturally shameful to have to keep seeing him even after failing to win his heart.
Xie Chiyuan thought it over and finally attributed the reason for Yu An's departure to himself.
"Brother Xie, do you want to go and bring him back?"
"You go about your business, don't worry about me."
Xie Chiyuan ignored Tang Xin's words and walked straight out of the medical room, not knowing where he was going.
Tang Xin glanced at the inspection personnel responsible for patrolling the base and reminded them, "Why don't you go and check again more thoroughly? If someone else manages to sneak out again, what will become of the base's order?"
"Yes, I'll go and check again right away."
Tang Xin saw the others off and returned to his temporary research lab to continue studying the four crystals. The number of these four crystals was still too small to support further speculation.
Meanwhile, the base is once again undergoing strict inspections.
Outside the base, Yu An, who had secretly jumped out of the vehicle and escaped, was completely unaware of what was happening.
He carried the little white mushroom and tried his best to find the way to the ruined old city of Yu. The ruined old city of Yu was originally called the ruined city of Yu, but later a new city of Yu came into being, and this city was called the old city.
"Xiao Jiu".
Yu An touched Xiao Jiu's umbrella and earnestly comforted her: "Xiao Ba Zai Zai is just a little bit fond of fighting, you don't need to be so afraid of him."
Little Nine and Little Ten get along well, and Little Ten complained about them in his diary—
The little cub always strangles him with its tentacles.
It's obvious that the relationship between these two kids and the bully Xiao Ba isn't very good.
Yu An's immediate priority is to find Xiao Ba Zai Zai. Before finding Ba Zai Zai, he needs to appease Xiao Jiu and prevent Xiao Jiu and Xiao Ba Zai Zai from becoming too estranged.
"Big brother, if I and Xiao Ba fall into the water, who will you save?" Xiao Jiu suddenly asked Yu An this question, having learned it from somewhere.
Yu An: "..."
Yu An choked, then tapped Xiao Jiu's umbrella and asked, "Have you forgotten? I can't swim. I remember you and Xiao Ba can swim, so I don't need to rescue you."
Little Nine was still very unhappy.
But the eldest brother wanted all the children to get along well, so he rubbed against his brother's finger and accepted his brother's coaxing.
The man and his child hurried along the road. They encountered other people from time to time.
There are people, and there are zombies.
Survivors who did not move into the base either lived alone or in pairs.
Whenever Yu An encountered these people, he would always tell them, "These days, even if a zombie is shot in the head, it might come back to life. You can come and live in the base."
The base is guarded, and the base walls are being continuously thickened and raised.
Living in the base is better than living outside.
Some people, after hearing Yu An's words, asked him how to get to the base. But others had the same goal as Yu An: "I need to go out to find people; I can't stay at the base."
The sudden outbreak of zombies caused many people to lose contact with their loved ones.
They abandoned safer bases and risked being bitten to death by zombies at any moment in order to find their beloved family or loved ones.
Yu An did not interfere with other people's choices.
After a polite greeting, he would simply ask, "Do you know how to get to the old town of Ruoyu?"
“Go straight along the road.”
Someone who knew the route told him, "I heard that city is very chaotic. You'd better go somewhere else."
Yu An did not change.
He thanked the passerby and continued walking with Xiao Jiu. On the way to the abandoned elm city, Yu An made a detour to Base No. 5, wanting to see the children wearing overalls.
"Brother, there's a high chance that Base 5 has already fallen."
The little white mushroom sat on Yu An's shoulder and talked to him.
Yu An thought about the trucks at the base gate a few days ago and knew that the situation at Base No. 5 was probably not good.
He was mentally prepared: "Let's just stop by and see if they're all alright."
Xiao Jiu didn't care about the lives of the humans at the base, but he knew his older brother loved cubs.
Whether it's a human baby or a furry animal baby, the eldest brother loves them all.
"Evolved zombies have appeared in that base, how could there possibly be any hope of saving it?"
Little Nine snuggled up to her older brother's ear and started whispering to him.
Yu An patted him on the shoulder and said optimistically, "Zombies can evolve, and so can humans."
"But there is no human evolution now."
Xiao Jiu points out the truth. Nowadays, zombies have crystal cores in their heads that represent evolution, but there has never been any evolved form among humans.
They encountered zombies on the road, and Yu An, suppressing his nausea, dug out a crystal.
The crystals are purple.
Yu An didn't kill the zombie; he just picked it up along the way. He kept the purple crystal, not daring to let Xiao Jiu eat it indiscriminately, wanting to figure out what it was before making a decision.
The current state of zombie evolution poses a tremendous danger to human survival.
They walked at a leisurely pace. Yu An wasn't too pessimistic. He said slowly, "I think humanity will definitely evolve."
As he spoke, he couldn't help but touch his head again.
He wondered if a crystal nucleus had also grown inside his head.
"Little Jiu."
Yu An called out to the little white mushroom on his shoulder, "Do you really want to eat the crystal core?"
"Um!"
Xiao Jiu admitted it without hesitation, snuggling against his older brother affectionately: "Big brother, I'm so hungry. Can you give me that purple crystal core to eat?"
Yu An didn't answer that question. After hesitating for a while, he decided not to keep it from his son and told him something else.
He took the little white mushroom off and placed it in his palm.
"Xiao Jiu, there's something I need to tell you."
"Huh? What do you mean, brother?"
Yu An freed one hand and rolled up his sleeve.
Then, he pointed to his arm and confessed without warning, "I... I was bitten by a zombie."
Xiao Jiu: "???"
Xiao Jiu lost her balance and fell straight out of Yu An's hands.
"Grunt—"
Whether it was because the fall was too painful or the blow was too great, Xiao Jiu couldn't get up for a long time after falling.
Yu An lovingly picked up the baby and carefully wiped the dust off him.
Xiao Jiu stood there blankly as her older brother wiped her.
A long time passed.
Xiao Jiu finally managed to find his voice. His little voice trembled as he asked, "Big brother, when were you bitten?"
"Before I find you."
Yu An recounted how she was bitten, and Xiao Jiu flew into a rage, yelling, "How dare someone treat you like that! I'm going to eat him!"
Yu An: "..."
Yu An looked at Xiao Jiu, who was always gentle and weak, and paused for a few seconds before she came back to her senses from the contrast of her little one's character about to be ruined.
"That person should have returned to Base 5; we're having trouble finding him."
Yu An tried to calm Xiao Jiu down after about ten minutes of persuasion.
This time, Xiao Jiu didn't object to going to Base 5.
He holds grudges.
He's going to eat that man!