After leaving Jiangxue Ferry, Ye Fan's mood wasn't particularly great either.

This time, he narrowly escaped being schemed against, despite successfully robbing Rikov of his money, making Ye Fan more vigilant.

Logically speaking, this trip was confidential, and the deal with Rikov was only decided not long before it happened.

How could Rikov have reached a cooperation with Guo Zhun in such a short time?

Could it be that Rikov contacted Guo Zhun proactively?

This idea lingered in his mind for a while before Ye Fan dismissed it.

Rikov and he hadn't had any direct conflict, so there couldn't be such deep animosity. If there was contact, it must have been Guo Zhun who reached out to him.

But how did Guo Zhun know about his travel route?

Ye Fan thought about the places he'd passed through and suspected those places had Guo Zhun's insiders, who provided information on his whereabouts.

This made him a bit worried; it seemed Guo Zhun's hidden influence in Divine Dragon Province was much larger than he imagined.

He had been plotting to become the boss of Divine Dragon Province for quite some time.

If it weren't for having the spy satellite, or an undercover in Hai Shan Wei, and the advanced communications, they truly might have failed this time.

However, having thwarted Guo Zhun's plot this time, Guo Zhun would have to think twice before making another move against him. At the very least, these underhanded tactics would no longer be effective.

Ye Fan left Jiangxue Ferry and headed to a remote base deep in the mountains near the border of Rakshasa in Lin City.

This base was extremely hidden, with hundreds of kilometers around it being desolate, occupied only by scattered zombies and mutant beasts. If it weren't for the spy satellite, it would have been difficult to find this place.

When Ye Fan's helicopter arrived here, he was very much astonished.

This base was in an outdoor tourist area of Lin City, surrounded by mountains, fields, and even a water source—there was even a hot spring here.

Moreover, there were hardly any threats around, making it a veritable paradise in this apocalyptic world.

The arrival of Ye Fan's helicopter startled the people in the base, and soon, a large group of people emerged voluntarily.

This group was predominantly women, led by a speed-type Level 2 Mutant.

Upon seeing Ye Fan and the group of heavily armed soldiers, the woman became both anxious and hopeful. Ye Fan understood their mindset; they worried that his group had come to raid them, yet they hoped they were the regular army of the Empire.

"Excuse me, sir, may I ask who you are...?"

The woman proactively inquired of Ye Fan, recognizing him as an officer.

A Level 2 Mutant is almost the pinnacle of strength among the current survivors, and this woman's strength was almost on par with Ye Fan's.

Ye Fan smiled and replied, "We are from the Dawn Army, and I am the leader, Ye Fan."

"Oh! You are Leader Ye?"

The woman, upon hearing this, seemed quite delighted and came over to shake hands with Ye Fan proactively: "Leader Ye, hello, I've long heard of your renown. I am Lin Xiaona, the leader of the Hot Spring Park Base in Lin City."

"Oh, you've heard of me?"

Ye Fan shook hands with Lin Xiaona, noting that her hand was soft and slightly cool, making it feel quite pleasant to hold.

Lin Xiaona laughed, "Of course, a few months ago, we even listened to your battles against the zombie sieges on the radio, and we even broadcasted once; perhaps you don't remember."

Ye Fan chuckled, "It's generally hard for broadcasts to be heard across cities. You could broadcast across cities a few months ago, that's impressive, but why was there nothing from you afterward?"

Lin Xiaona looked a little embarrassed, "To be honest, we have quite a few people here, but mostly women, lacking self-protection power in the apocalypse. After broadcasting, there were many inquiries about our location. We sensed danger and unanimously decided to cut off the broadcasts and stopped trying to restore TV programs. We've been living here, counting each day as it comes."

Ye Fan nodded, sharing a common sentiment of many survivors during the apocalypse.

With the ability to grow food, access water, maybe even hunt wild game and fish, living self-sufficiently here sounds satisfying enough; avoiding contact with the outside is also a form of protection.

At this point, Lin Xiaona expressed some curiosity, "How did Leader Ye find our location?"

Ye Fan naturally wouldn't mention the spy satellite, pointing to his helicopter: "Passing by, happened to notice, so I came to check it out."

Lin Xiaona's face showed a hint of worry, "With helicopters, I guess our base won't remain secret for long."

Ye Fan did not further this topic, instead asking Lin Xiaona if she wanted to buy any weapons or mutant beast meat.

Usually, no survivor could refuse such offers; Lin Xiaona immediately showed interest and invited Ye Fan inside for detailed discussions.

During this process, Ye Fan also got a sense of the base.

There were 23,000 people, nearly 20,000 of whom were women.

However, the overall force was weak, and there was a sense of aimlessness among the people here.

This sparked an idea in Ye Fan's mind, hoping these women would migrate to Dawn City.

Ye Fan chuckled heartily, "Leader Lin, is there a feeling of fame not meeting the reality?"

Dawn City had completed its expansion and was exactly at a stage where a mass influx of survivors was needed.

His trip this time had two purposes: one was to sell goods, and the other was to recruit people.

Especially women. In this post-apocalyptic world, due to physical reasons, more men have survived than women, making women a scarce resource.

Because of the drastic population decline, Ye Fan had long realized that what this world needs most in the future is newborns.

But ever since the apocalypse began, no one has gotten married or had children.

When people can't even eat, they have no mind for those things.

When you're full and warm, then you think about desires. First, you need to be full and warm, then think about the rest.

However, the timing is about right now. Over at Dawn City, some men and women have already started living together, and some even held small banquets; it's just that there's no concept of marriage certificates now.

Once this big group of women arrives, Dawn City's marriage registration office can be opened up.

But Lin Xiaona was still somewhat hesitant, hoping to think it over and discuss it with everyone first.

Ye Fan didn't push her and completed the trade with Lin Xiaona as usual.

He believes that sooner or later, people like Lin Xiaona will realize the situation; in the apocalypse, there's no true paradise, and if you don't take the initiative to step out, you'll eventually be found.

This deal was quite satisfactory for Ye Fan. Most of the tens of thousands of people here are women, and many of them possess jewelry. Moreover, they had heard the Dawn Army's broadcast before and had deliberately collected items, contributing a total of two million in funds to Ye Fan.

Ye Fan also sold them crystal cores, weapons, and mutant beast meat, helping them to strengthen their forces.

As he was about to leave, Ye Fan told Lin Xiaona that Dawn City always welcomes them.

It was clear that Lin Xiaona was tempted, but she didn't immediately agree.

Ye Fan left the Hot Spring Park Base, once again embarking on a journey around the Divine Dragon Province.

In the following two days, Ye Fan didn't gain much. The bases he passed by all had poor communication, and many people didn't even have the awareness to collect gold and silver.

He initially planned to venture beyond the spy satellite's range, but two days later, he had to halt his steps.

Because just two days after he left, the Hot Spring Park Base in Lin City suddenly came under attack!

Over at Hai Shan Wei, Rikov dispatched a field brigade to invade the Divine Dragon Province, reaching Lin City and capturing everyone in a survivor base!

Lin Xiaona and her team bravely resisted, but the disparity in strength was too great. Even though Lin Xiaona was a Level 2 Mutant, it was to no avail since the other side had even more Level 2 Mutants.

Even though they had armed themselves with weapons purchased from Ye Fan, they were caught off guard by the enemy attack before they could even complete their training, and were no match at all.

After a battle, more than a thousand people at the Hot Spring Base were killed, and the rest were captured and taken on a journey to Rakshasa.

Since the incident happened so suddenly, by the time Ye Fan learned of it, Rashana's side had already begun their march home, nearing the Shenlong River.

After all, the spy satellites are not omniscient; they can only observe that there are survivors here but cannot see if a battle has occurred.

Once the Rakshasas left with the people from the Hot Spring Base, soldiers at the radar station noticed something was amiss and reported it.

Later, they dispatched a War Hawk for reconnaissance and confirmed the information.

Ye Fan saw the video footage from the War Hawk's reconnaissance and knew it was too late to intervene.

The Rakshasa had dispatched a five-thousand-strong force, well-equipped and accompanied by numerous anti-air weapons.

Though the Hot Spring Base in Lin City was within Qin Han's borders, it was very close to Rakshasa, making it too late for self-rescue.

Besides, the main forces of the Dawn Army are currently outside fighting zombies and establishing safe zones, with no manpower available for rescue.

Seeing this unfold, Ye Fan immediately realized that there must be a traitor within the Hot Spring Base.

Otherwise, Rikov from abroad couldn't possibly know the exact location of such a hidden place.

After all, the Hot Spring Base has ceased communicating via radio or television, leaving them with no means of obtaining this information.

Remembering the incident a few days prior where he was ambushed, Ye Fan immediately thought of Guo Zhun.

"There's no need to think twice; it was that bastard who provided the location!"

"This incident might even be related to me; it could be Guo Zhun's payment to Rikov."

Ye Fan didn't hesitate to harbor such malice towards Guo Zhun. Now he has a new understanding of this person's lack of integrity.

To even betray his own fellow citizens, causing more than twenty thousand people to become prisoners, many of whom are women—this person's evil has reached a despicable level.

Ye Fan gritted his teeth and decided to handle this situation.

Ice City Base and Hai Shan Wei Base—he was already planning to deal with one of them, and now there's no choice; he must deal with Hai Shan Wei first to completely resolve external threats.

But Ye Fan never underestimates his enemies, so he decided to first ascertain the true strength of Hai Shan Wei.

Looking at the group nearing the Qin Han and Rakshasa border, Ye Fan immediately issued an order.

"Have the plane take Director Shen of the Military Intelligence Bureau to the border to infiltrate that captured group. I have an important mission for him!"

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