The people in the underground parking lot had pale faces. The food and water supplies here were strictly rationed. Furthermore, after a long period without light, Shen Feng's appearance with a flashlight caused many to squint. It seemed like over a month had passed, and they had grown unaccustomed to the bright sunlight outside.
Lu Xian took the opportunity to observe the parking lot and found the crowd to be very disorganized. Everyone looked listless, exhibiting a typical "get by" mentality.
Xu Xing noticed many small children huddled in corners, shivering in the cold. If this continued, the people here were doomed. They would either starve to death or freeze. Although the underground temperature was not as extreme as the surface, and the collective body heat made the parking lot stuffy, prolonged exposure would inevitably lead to illness.
Taking advantage of the moment, Xu Xing looked at the man who had brought her to the parking lot. He had returned to his wife and children and was taking out penicillin capsules from his person, giving antibiotics to his son, who had a fever and cough. A relieved smile appeared on his face; with medicine, there was hope for survival.
"City Lord, if they continue to live here, they will surely die. The air here is too foul. Although there are ventilation shafts, there are too many people. If one person gets sick, everyone else will fall ill," Xu Xing couldn't help but say to Shen Feng.
Although Xu Xing didn't elaborate, her meaning was clear: she hoped Shen Feng would help these people.
Upon hearing Xu Xing's words, Yeluomini's eyes lit up, and she couldn't help but say to Shen Feng, "Lord Fengshen, although I am from Siberia, I have heard of your heroic deeds. You have saved countless suffering people. Now, please save us too!"
With that, Yeluomini knelt directly before Shen Feng. In both Eastern and Western societies, kneeling signifies submission and supplication. Now, Yeluomini had placed her hope for survival in Shen Feng.
Shen Feng smiled wryly and replied, "There are only four of us here? How can we save you all? Do you think too highly of me? I cannot resolve the beast tides and the black dragon outside. To be honest, Northern China is also currently under attack by mutated birds, and we can only fortify our defenses. Save you? How is that possible?"
Shen Feng was well aware of his own capabilities. He could fight his way through thousands of mutated beasts, but resolving beast tides and mutated bird attacks was impossible. Only the army could deal with beast tides and mutated birds. Personal strength was limited, even for ability users. While ordinary people might not be as strong as evolved individuals, when organized into an army, they were an unstoppable force. Beast tides and mutated birds could only be dealt with by the military. However, there was no army in Qiuming. There were only about two hundred people here, and most of them were not combat-ready. How could they save anyone?
Yeluomini thought for a moment and then said, "You don't need to solve our current crisis. Just take us away from Qiuming to a safe place."
Shen Feng shrugged and said, "A safe place? Where in the world is there a safe place? The Arctic Circle is sparsely populated and very safe, right? But you wouldn't be able to survive there, especially with the heavy snow blocking the mountains. You wouldn't be able to make it if you went there."
Shen Feng was speaking the truth. In the current situation, even leaving Qiuming for a more distant city was impossible.
Yeluomini lowered her head and thought seriously. Then she said, "Then could you please bring back the soldiers and miners who went to search for the treasure? As long as they return, we will have hope for survival. To be honest, the treasure they are searching for is merely treants or something similar, which offers no help to Qiuming."
Shen Feng had initially intended to leave. He had arrived in Qiuming, confirmed it was a dead city, and it wouldn't be long before its complete demise. However, upon hearing the word "treants," Shen Feng's interest was immediately piqued. If treants appeared, wouldn't that mean plant hearts also existed?
Shen Feng fell silent, contemplating the so-called treasure. In the apocalypse, what could be considered a treasure? Gold and silver? Impossible. Xiao Sheng and the others wouldn't go on a treasure hunt for mere gold and silver. The treasure must be something of immense value!
"The power source of treants is actually the evolution base. Therefore, as long as we can obtain a plant heart, we can continuously produce evolution bases. If possible, we can also use treants as guards. This is the true treasure: mutated plants!" Shen Feng's mind connected all the dots. He hadn't expected that something of immense value would be discovered all the way in Siberia. This made the treasure hunt undertaken by Xiao Sheng and others very reasonable.
Lu Xian saw Shen Feng deep in thought and assumed he was considering the feasibility of the matter. He quickly whispered, "City Lord, don't forget our purpose for coming here: to check in and return. There are only about two hundred people here. Yuzhou has two million people waiting for you. That's a tenfold difference!"
Lu Xian knew that persuading Shen Feng couldn't rely on words about danger. Shen Feng didn't take many dangers seriously, so Lu Xian used the safety of Yuzhou to remind Shen Feng. He wanted Shen Feng to know that Yuzhou's safety was more important. They had been out for half a month and finally reached Qiuming, only to face such a difficult situation. If they didn't leave now, when would they?
Shen Feng snapped back to reality and pulled Lu Xian and the others aside, patiently explaining, "I also want to return quickly, but I've received some news about treants. Do you recall anything?"
Upon Shen Feng's mention, Lu Xian immediately remembered. He didn't know how powerful the treants Shen Feng encountered in Fish Town were, but he often chatted with Guo Pinming and Yang Chang, and from them, he learned about the treants' might. Guo Pinming, who was already a second-tier ability user at the time, was knocked unconscious by a single blow from a treant. Jin Zijue, a third-tier ability user, couldn't withstand it either. It was only when Shen Feng accidentally evolved into a fourth-tier ability user that he dispersed the mist and used ultraviolet rays to kill the treant.
Besides treants, Lu Xian also learned about the Nine Deaths Returning Soul Tree, which was being treasured and protected in the Yuzhou laboratory. This was the plant heart killed in Fish Town. After being killed by ultraviolet rays, it could still revive by absorbing blood. To completely destroy it, it had to be burned to ashes.
If there were treants here, wouldn't that mean plant hearts could also be found?
Shen Feng said in a low voice, "Listen to me. Currently, evolution bases can only be produced on a large scale in Yuzhou. For other people to synthesize evolution bases, the consumed materials are too much. The laboratory synthesizes them artificially, but our Yuzhou synthesizes them biologically. Evolution bases are also Yuzhou's most important resource. If others can also produce them on a large scale, where is our advantage?"
Lu Xian quickly understood and asked, "City Lord, you mean? To seize it?"
Mutated plants could be seized if one had sufficient strength. Lu Xian had no psychological burden.
Shen Feng shook his head and said, "Why seize it? I mean, if we can't get it, we destroy it!"
Qi Lingshan understood and strongly supported Shen Feng's decision. He said seriously, "The value of a pair of antiques is definitely not as high as the value of one antique. Monopoly is the most profitable business. Therefore, City Lord, I strongly agree with your decision to destroy this mutated plant!"
Xu Xing said nothing. She felt Shen Feng's actions were immoral, but she also knew the importance of evolution bases. If others also possessed the ability to produce evolution bases, it would threaten Yuzhou's position. Therefore, Xu Xing did not object.
After discussing with the three, Shen Feng then smiled at Yeluomini and said, "I can try. If I can bring back the miners and soldiers from Qiuming, I will do it. However, if I fail to do so, you cannot blame me."
Yeluomini was immensely grateful upon hearing Shen Feng's answer and quickly said, "God will bless you and bless you with success in bringing them back. The soldiers and miners are our last hope."
Currently, Qiuming only had over two hundred elderly, weak, sick, and disabled people. Very few had combat capabilities, and there were not enough firearms. Food was also dwindling with every bite. In such a situation, the only way to extend Qiuming's hope was to rely on Shen Feng to bring back the strong men who had previously left Qiuming.
However, before Shen Feng went to search for Qiuming's soldiers, there was a very important matter to attend to: finding a base for the survivors to live.
"Do you have a map? I want to see if I can find a suitable place to hide in the city. In any case, it's too suffocating here. If this continues, everyone will get pneumonia," Shen Feng said directly.
No one present had a map of Qiuming. Fortunately, the man who brought Shen Feng to the parking lot was very familiar with the city's layout and immediately began drawing a map. As long as it was usable, it would suffice. Yeluomini introduced this man as Evans, who was usually the only one brave enough to go out and search for supplies.
Beast tides would frequently surge into the city. The city walls outside Qiuming had already collapsed, rendering them useless for defense. Under the repeated sweeps of the beast tides, the number of living people in the city continued to decrease, and only hiding underground was relatively safe.
Shen Feng searched the map for a while and indeed found a good location: the steel mill downstream of the city. The river made a bend here, and the steel mill was built within this bend. It was bordered by rivers on two sides and towering walls on the other two. The steel mill had been built in the last century but was well-equipped. Hiding here would surely allow them to survive.
Next was the transfer to the destination. Evans would lead the way again, as he was very familiar with the city's sewers, which could lead to the large steel mill.
Afterward, Yeluomini and Evans began to mobilize everyone to go to the steel mill, but many were unwilling to go. They feared that venturing outside would expose them to mutated beasts or the black dragon. Rather than risk an unfamiliar place, they preferred to stay where they were, believing their chances of survival were greater.
Shen Feng didn't say much upon learning of their attitude. After all, he was a foreigner to them. It was understandable that they didn't trust him. His goal wasn't to save everyone here anyway. Those who wanted to leave could go, and those who didn't could stay and continue to live like rats.
As they walked, Shen Feng began to inquire, "Yeluomini, after your soldiers discovered the treasure, why didn't they report it? Why did they have to use the city's limited soldiers to search for the treasure?"
Yeluomini was not very clear about this matter. She replied, "I'm not sure about that, but I heard they all wanted to claim it for themselves. It seems that by obtaining the treasure, they could control a powerful army. I don't know more than that."
Hearing this answer, Shen Feng nodded inwardly. The ability to cultivate an army must be related to evolution bases. Shen Feng himself had once cultivated an army of two thousand evolved individuals overnight. Later, when evolution bases could be mass-produced, at least half of the army members were evolved individuals.
"If plant hearts truly exist, they must be destroyed, otherwise, competitors will emerge," Shen Feng thought to himself.