And so, they left another child behind, though this time they weren't as extreme.
They simply sent the child away and drove off.
Someone in the car wanted to warn the child, but was stopped by the person next to them.
The child walked towards the small river on the side. Before reaching the river, the cars started up one after another and left the area.
The sound of the vehicles starting reached the girl, who turned and looked somewhat blankly at the departing cars, seemingly unable to comprehend why they were leaving without her. But the convoy continued on without stopping.
Some people in the cars, with lower thresholds for tears, perhaps empathizing with the child's plight, began to cry as they looked in the girl's direction.
The first was Lin Yan, the second was this girl, so who would be next?
They held their children tightly, uncertain of their future. They had heard that a base had been established in a city to the south, and wondered if they would finally be safe if they reached it.
The child stared fixedly at the departing convoy, and slowly, a happy smile spread across her innocent face. Her small palm opened, and a screw lay quietly in her oil-stained hand.
Flipping her palm, more screws fell from her hand. More than ten different screws fell out.
"Good luck!" Her smile grew even wider, but it was filled with malice.
After discarding the screws, the girl slowly walked in the opposite direction. She remembered where her sister had been abandoned, and she was going to find her sister.
Even if her sister had turned into a monster, she would still find her. She had no other family left; her sister was the last person who had been good to her, and she had to find her.
Lin Yan had brought back many more people in the past few days, along with more supplies. Lin Yan had cleared out all the zombies in the residential area and then sealed off the two entrances. This area was bordered by four-story buildings with storefronts on one side and a river on the other.
Both these directions were relatively safe, but the other two directions were open flat land. Although they were farmland, they also made it easy for zombies to approach.
So, Lin Yan sealed off the outermost roads. The back walls of the villas in the middle of each row were broken through, creating passage to the front and back.
The passages between the villas in each horizontal row were sealed off on both sides. As for exiting, they used the front storefronts.
People were stationed on the rooftop of the four-story building to act as lookouts, reporting any unusual activity to those below.
In just over ten days, this residential area had transformed into a nascent small base.
Every morning, everyone gathered to practice martial arts, then separated for meals. During the hottest part of the day, they would drive out to search for survivors.
There were more survivors in the countryside than in the towns, but they were more dispersed. Sometimes they had to travel a long distance to find one, but they didn't give up.
In recent days, while the search parties composed of adult men were out looking for people, Lin Yan busied herself with other tasks.
She dismantled solar panels from the rooftops of several hotels and found some solar-powered lights.
Lin Yan brought them back, and the residential area finally had light at night. With light at night, everyone's enthusiasm for learning martial arts grew even higher.
Lin Yan did not dampen their spirits. They wanted to gain more abilities to protect themselves and their loved ones.
During this time, some people also awakened supernatural abilities, but they were very weak. They felt these abilities were less useful than their martial arts practice.
Yes, they also knew that what they were learning now was mere superficial practice compared to Lin Yan.
After searching the surrounding area thoroughly and finding no more survivors, they stopped venturing outwards.
"There are already several hundred people in this residential area. We can consider ourselves a small base now." They gathered for a meeting one evening.
"That's right, I heard on the radio yesterday that several places have established bases. I think we can also be considered a base."
"Then should we also give our base a name?"
"The base to the east is called Azure Dragon Base. The one to the west is White Tiger. It seems they are named after the Four Sacred Beasts. Should we also choose a name like that?"
"I think it's a good idea. Even though our base is small, Lin's martial arts are formidable. Once we all cultivate our internal energy, we can definitely become a large base."
"How about we occupy the center and call it, call it Qilin?"
"That's too chuunibyo!"
Some farmers didn't understand the reference, but they knew they were discussing a new name for their living space.
"I think it should be called Qiming (Enlightenment/Morning Star), the Morning Star brings us light."
"I don't think that's great. How about 'Hope'!"
"Yours isn't great either!"
...
They sat together discussing the name of the base. Lin Yan did not participate in their discussion, but watching them, she felt her actions were not in vain.
She had simply brought them together and given them a direction to strive for, and they were striving in that direction. Striving to survive in this world.
Humans are such resilient beings. No matter what hardships they face, as long as there is a glimmer of hope, they are unwilling to give up.
"Host, actually, calling it Hope is quite good! In such a post-apocalyptic world, if there's truly hope to live well, it would be a very happy thing!" The system was also moved by their enthusiastic discussion.
"Yes, no matter the time, as long as there is hope, there is courage to move forward. But whether it's called Hope or not, it depends on their discussion. After all, this is our base, not just mine."
Although Lin Yan brought them here, Lin Yan didn't feel like their leader. This was everyone's base, and they were all its owners.
"Let's call it Taoyuan (Peach Blossom Spring)!" a child said.
"Yes, let's call it Taoyuan! Tao Yuanming's Taoyuan!" another child chimed in.
They were all junior high school students and had studied Tao Yuanming's "Peach Blossom Spring."
"We will be the Peach Blossom Spring of the apocalypse, a Peach Blossom Spring that all in the apocalypse yearn for!" Wang Cheng also said with determination.
This statement caused many to ponder, and they did not hastily reject it.
Then, these children began to recite "Peach Blossom Spring."
"During the Taiyuan era of the Jin Dynasty..."
Everyone present had received nine years of compulsory education and was familiar with this piece of writing. If they could truly live a life of peace and contentment like the people of the Peach Blossom Spring, then...
"Then let's call it Taoyuan, Taoyuan Base!"