There's no need for us to stay in Qinghe for now. Continuing to fight zombies is a task for after noon tomorrow.

As long as Ye Fan can return before noon tomorrow, everything will be fine. Until then, he has no obligation here.

Since it doesn't matter whether Ye Fan is around or not, he can go about his own business now.

To head towards the Mountain Cave Base, driving is definitely not an option.

The mountain only has winding paths for sheep; there are no roads for vehicles to pass through.

Besides inconvenient transportation, the geographical location of the Mountain Cave Base is actually very good.

Located deep in the mountains, there are naturally no zombies here.

The only concern is mutant beasts, but their numbers aren't high since they haven't yet ventured too deeply into the uncharted wilderness.

Moreover, this base is easy to defend and hard to attack. According to Dark Clouds' observations, it has only a few entrance points, making a frontal assault very difficult.

Ye Fan contemplated ways to deal with the Mountain Cave Base.

If not leaving any survivors was an option, it would be easy—either send demolitions soldiers to blow it up or have flamethrower warriors block the entrances and start a barbecue mode.

However, it's crucial to save certain people here, like his teachers and classmates.

Especially Wu Ting, after learning she has some research on evolution, Ye Fan decided to rescue her.

Through the system, Ye Fan discussed some strategies with Zhongjing.

Zhongjing came up with an idea.

"Sir, solving the Mountain Cave Base is not hard, but we should ensure no concerns about future troubles. It's best to have your teachers and classmates leave there first."

"I think perhaps we can do this, the Mountain Cave Base isn't far from our Dawn City. It's unlikely they've never heard of Dawn City's existence; they just never made contact with us, probably intending to avoid conflict, or maybe they fear us and dare not approach."

"Since they don't wish to offend us, we can use this advantage to display our strength, forcing them to hand over your teachers."

"Just tell me specifically how to do it," Ye Fan inquired.

"Utilize the time before nightfall to drop leaflets!"

*********

Dropping leaflets is an ancient method but very practical.

The leaflets drift down from the sky; their contents can invoke fear while also demonstrating one side's overwhelming strength.

Especially in this apocalypse, not many survivor groups can manage to use planes to drop leaflets.

Ye Fan accepted Zhongjing's suggestion and ordered the mobilization on the base's side.

The Dawn Army has collected a lot during this time, from every kind of life necessity to even equipment like a copier.

"Zhang Kunlin, immediately order the base to print two thousand leaflets. The main goal is to pressure them into handing over people, then have Bi Jinbang fly over and air-drop them."

"Yes, I will ensure the air-drop mission is completed!"

The logistics officer Zhang Kunlin promptly accepted Ye Fan's order, setting the Dawn Army into motion.

Ye Fan didn't bother with leaflet content, as long as the message was clear.

With the leaflets dispersed, Ye Fan also needed to appear in person.

"Notify Tang Yafei to fly over in the combat helicopter and transport us to the Mountain Cave Base."

Ye Fan then looked towards Qinghe's main street.

They had been to this street several times; it was already completely cleared, and the road condition was quite good.

He asked the airborne operation leader Mo Yue next to him.

"Mo Yue, can a transport aircraft take off and land on this street?"

"Sir, it's not advisable within the city. If it's on a straight and smooth road outside the city, a transport aircraft can indeed take off and land."

"Alright, wait outside the city. I'll call the transport aircraft over. Once you're on board, await my orders for where you'll be dropped, and execute immediately when I say so."

"Understood! All paratroopers, follow me!"

Mo Yue and his hundred paratroopers immediately detached from the second battalion and headed for the main road outside the city.

Ye Fan also issued orders to bring over the transport aircraft. In combat within the mountains, vehicles are hard to use, but paratroopers are just right.

About twenty minutes later, the transport aircraft and the combat helicopter appeared in the sky over Qinghe County, with the transport aircraft heading outside the city and the combat helicopter landing on the recently cleared zombie-burning site.

Ye Fan boarded the helicopter.

The armed forces at the Mountain Cave Base are unclear, but their numbers seem significant, so it's necessary to bring some escort forces along.

Guards Zhuge Yunxue, four medical soldiers, Heaven-Suppressing Howl, Dark Clouds and White Clouds, a squad of Three-star Army Soldiers, four snipers, two flamethrower warriors, and two rocket launcher warriors formed the forces accompanying Ye Fan to the Mountain Cave Base.

Saving his teachers and classmates is one goal; another is that Ye Fan wants to understand the Mountain Cave Base's research on evolution.

Moreover, this Mountain Cave Base seems to operate brutally; Ye Fan doesn't want such a group existing under his nose.

The combat helicopter took to the sky, heading towards the Mountain Cave Base.

*********

At the Mountain Cave Base, the survivors were still at work.

Life for survivors in the apocalypse is like this; not working isn't an option, and barely doing so isn't enough either.

Their primary task was to gather firewood for the winter.

This task wasn't easy; with sudden snowfall, finding usable firewood was a challenging job.

However, under the orders of the leaders at the Mountain Cave Base, everyone must work unconditionally.

The leader here is named Ren Yuquan, a man with formidable personal strength.

Countless survivors have tried to resist him, only to end up dead without exception.

To strengthen his control over the Mountain Cave Base, Ren Yuquan has increased security to prevent survivors from escaping.

He knows that surviving in this world is no easy feat.

Though he considers himself invincible alone, surrounded by strong adversaries, he can't hold his own against others.

For example, the Survivor Alliance and the Dawn Army.

His greatest fear is that one day one of them will discover their base and launch an attack.

So he must do everything possible to increase his strength and strive to become a Level 2 Evolver as soon as possible.

But what he feared came after all.

A sudden commotion arose among the survivors outside.

The sound of rumbling echoed in the sky outside, and sheets of paper fluttered down like snowflakes.

The survivors working outside began to exclaim continuously.

"Ah! The Dawn Army!"

"Those students and that teacher... what a curse, why must we be involved in what you've done?"

"Drive them away, drive them away!"

Ren Yuquan heard the commotion and immediately ordered his men to go out and see what's happening.

He would not easily leave this cave; there's only one main entrance to the cave. As long as he stays inside, no matter how many troops are outside, it's difficult to attack in.

Soon his men returned, holding a sheet of paper in their hands.

"What is this?"

His subordinate turned pale: "Leader... it seems there's trouble."

Ren Yuquan took the paper handed to him by his subordinate and read it out loud by the light of a torch.

"Listen up, people of the Mountain Cave Base. I am Ye Fan, Commander-in-Chief of the Dawn Army. You really have a lot of nerve to shelter the teacher and classmates who bullied me during school! I wished to slice them into a thousand pieces, but couldn't find them anywhere, and thought they were no longer alive, yet you've been hiding them!"

"I'll give you a chance: within thirty minutes, throw these people over to the creek in the valley. One minute late, and the Dawn Army will level your Mountain Cave Base to the ground. This will be the grave for all of you!"

Ren Yuquan's face turned pale.

What was destined to come has come at last.

But he never imagined it would happen in this way.

How did Ye Fan find this place?

Right, it must have been today's pursuit that exposed their location, making him resent Wu Ting and those people even more.

"How did the Dawn Army drop the flyers?"

"Fly... they dropped them from a helicopter."

Ren Yuquan felt a chill in his heart. No wonder he's been hearing the Survivor Alliance and Dawn Army curse each other back and forth. Even a power as big as the Survivor Alliance doesn't dare to challenge the Dawn Army easily. They truly have strength.

Without a doubt, the Mountain Cave Base doesn't have the capacity to resist.

But Ren Yuquan is not a fool; he can't just take Ye Fan's words at face value.

"Go get Wu Ting and those students for me."

Someone brought Wu Ting and the students in front of Ren Yuquan.

In a cold tone, Ren Yuquan asked, "Do you know Ye Fan?"

Wu Ting nodded: "Among my students, there indeed is one called Ye Fan."

"What kind of person is he?"

Wu Ting recalled: "Not a good student. I often had to discipline him during school."

Ren Yuquan also had the seriously injured Zhou Bingtian brought over.

This guy has a rather impressive physical condition, taking a bullet and surviving, almost having the body of an Evolver.

"You're the class monitor. Do you know Ye Fan? What kind of person is he? Is there any grudge between you?"

Zhou Bingtian was taken aback, then suddenly said resentfully: "He's a bastard, always stealing my thunder in school. Leader Ren, have you captured Ye Fan? If you have, let me beat him up."

Ren Yuquan snorted coldly: "Capture my ass! You lot are nothing but troublemakers! Ever since bringing you along, nothing good has happened!"

Zhou Bingtian dared not make a sound despite being scolded, having barely escaped death and not wanting to court it again.

Ren Yuquan paced restlessly inside, unsure of how to handle this matter.

He doesn't fully trust the Dawn Army's words. It's possible Ye Fan wants to deliberately remove Wu Ting and the others before dealing with him, but that's not the main issue.

What matters most now is the vast difference in strength between the two sides.

He can listen to a radio via a generator here and knows Ye Fan is not a good person. If he doesn't hand them over, will he provoke the Dawn Army into starting a fight?

This is the impact of the power gap: knowing full well the other side may not mean exactly that, yet he cannot bring himself to refuse decisively.

One wrong choice, and disaster may strike.

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