When Lin Zhuoran was seen with Xu An and Zhou Haimei following behind him, the expression on her face obviously sank.
"We should return to the base. Why are they still following us?" Yu Qin's tone was somewhat displeased.
"Xu An and the others want to return to the base with us."
Facing Yu Qin's questioning, Lin Zhuoran's usual good temper also dropped a bit.
"Yu Qin! The base accepting survivors is a matter of course. As long as they pay the entry fee themselves, it's not your place to manage."
Seeing Lin Zhuoran angry, Yu Qin didn't want to add fuel to the fire. She lowered her eyes and said no more.
Xu An and Zhou Haimei followed Lin Zhuoran's steps into the car. Facing Yu Qin's sudden change, Xu An didn't take it to heart.
Zhou Haimei had no objections either. Their goals were the same: to have Lin Zhuoran take them to find that mutated plant.
As for Yu Qin?
She didn't take her into consideration at all. Not to mention that they wouldn't have any shared interests in the future.
Just when that monster arrived, this girl was so scared that she lay on the ground motionless. Zhou Haimei didn't think Yu Qin would pose any threat to her.
The roads were in disrepair due to years of neglect, and car accidents occurred frequently. The highway was littered with dilapidated and abandoned vehicles.
Their path forward was blocked several times, and Xu An and the others had to get out to move the vehicles blocking the road before they could continue.
What should have been an endless expanse of water under the original river-spanning bridge was now obscured by the encroaching fog.
In the few days since descending, Xu An had gradually figured out the patterns of the mist's appearance.
Throughout the day, the fog was weakest at noon, while the morning and early morning were when the fog was densest.
It was now noon. Although the dense fog had somewhat dissipated, their vehicle was still traveling very slowly.
Even so, they still hit many obstacles on the road. Fortunately, their speed was slow, so no significant damage was caused.
The four of them traveled in silence. Yu Qin was clearly not fond of Xu An and the others, and Xu An was too lazy to bother with them, so the journey was uneventful.
Lin Zhuoran's bunker was located in a remote dense forest in the suburbs of the neighboring city.
Xu An and Zhou Haimei did not rush in, but waited for Lin Zhuoran and Yu Qin to return first.
Lin Zhuoran had previously instructed her to go back and explain their situation before coming out to pick them up.
Xu An nodded, indicating no objection.
Combining her past life with her current one, Xu An had never imagined that someone could build a bunker-like base underground.
To Xu An's understanding, this was no less shocking than the first time she learned about the lighthouse suspended in the sky.
"Don't you think there seem to be no zombies here?"
Xu An looked up at this. They hadn't seen many zombies along the way. She had initially thought it was because the giant monster zombie had eaten most of the ordinary zombies, but upon closer thought, she felt something was amiss.
"Could it be that the people in this bunker cleared them out?"
Xu An also stopped sitting at this moment and stood up from the tree stump, her gaze sweeping around.
"Don't you think it's a bit too quiet here?"
Logically speaking, even if the base was built underground, there were no sturdy protective measures above ground. While it could intercept a few zombies, such a large human population would inevitably attract a large number of zombies, yet here it was as silent as a dead land.
"I also think it's too quiet. These zombies act according to the scent of humans. Even if they are buried underground, the scent of humans still remains on the surface, but there isn't a single zombie here."
Xu An stopped for a moment, then looked around again. Seeing the shaky guardrail, Xu An walked over and examined the railing.
After a while, she walked back.
"There have been no zombies here. The surrounding railings only have yellow rust, not a trace of blood. This is not normal."
Zhou Haimei looked at Xu An in confusion, not quite understanding what she meant.
Seeing Lin Zhuoran emerge from the bunker, Xu An said softly, "It's okay, I'll tell you when I figure it out."
She only had a guess in her heart at the moment and it was not good to tell the other party rashly, lest her groundless speculation cause Zhou Haimei more worry.
"I've explained everything to the boss. You can hand over the food to the guards at the entrance and then follow me inside."
Xu An nodded, "Alright, then you lead the way."
Saying that, she followed Lin Zhuoran towards a spot covered by a steel alloy baffle.
Lin Zhuoran stopped in front of a gate-like sliding door, and then a mechanical voice came through.
"Authentication successful."
Immediately, a red light scanned directly across Lin Zhuoran's face, and the door in front of them opened wide.
"Come in," Lin Zhuoran said with a smile.
Xu An and Zhou Haimei's gazes met in the air. After exchanging a look, they followed Lin Zhuoran into the bunker.
"Zhuoran, your place is quite high-tech, using facial recognition?"
"This isn't unlocking, it's facial authentication. The boss will record the facial information of everyone in the bunker into the system. This not only facilitates management but also prevents those who try to sneak in from mixing in."
"And the most important point, this makes management easier. It's clear how many people are accommodated and how many more can be accommodated."
Xu An remained silent, but Zhou Haimei quietly spoke out her thoughts.
"This is to facilitate his own management of you, right?" Zhou Haimei said with disdain.
The owner of this bunker might have some kindness, but definitely not much.
From Lin Zhuoran's description, if only by recording facial recognition could one obtain permission to enter the bunker.
This meant that if the owner of the bunker disliked someone, he could simply cancel their facial recognition, and that person would no longer exist in the bunker.
Lin Zhuoran naturally understood this. She led the way with an awkward expression, passing through a tunnel more than five meters long to reach the true entrance.
She herself knew very well that this was just a means for the bunker to control them.
But now it was the end of the world. Rather than waiting to be eaten by zombies outside or starve to death, they were willing to sacrifice some human rights for a chance to survive.
"Let's keep moving," Xu An said in a timely manner, interrupting the awkwardness between the two.
"But where will we sleep tonight?" Xu An asked.
"You'll live with me. I specifically applied for it. We can get a bigger capsule room."
Lin Zhuoran's face showed genuine joy when she mentioned the capsule room.
"Before you came, I always slept in a shared dormitory with others. There was no privacy at all, it was so stifling."