Chapter 108: Chapter 100: Off to a Bad Start

"Have you ever thought about looking for the child’s father?" Tang Mo asked.

As one of the three superpower users in their original team, Lin Wan had a stronger will than most people.

"I’m not going to. Maybe he just didn’t like me. He left so quietly, so why should I go and make things difficult for him?"

There was a touch of resignation in Lin Wan’s eyes as her gaze drifted into the distance, fixed on nothing in particular.

In the apocalypse, there was no such thing as three meals a day. It was already a struggle just to secure two.

Like everyone else, Tang Mo was eating Basic Nutrition Pills. These pills could be exchanged for Exotic Beast Meat.

Of course, without Exotic Beast Meat, a single Basic Crystal Core could also buy ten tubes of these nutrition pills.

The five bodyguards were naturally eating the same thing. Wang Er and his men sat on a large rock, grumbling and cursing as they ate.

But no one paid them any mind.

Having something to eat was already a blessing; many people couldn’t even get their hands on nutrient solution.

"Why are you all so desperate to get back to B City?" Tang Mo asked Lin Wan.

She had gotten to know Lin Wan a little better now. She hadn’t asked Uncle He at the time because she figured he wouldn’t have told her the truth even if she had.

"We’re all from Yunshui Town, right next to B City. We’ve always had the desert at our backs. Sometime after the apocalypse began, everyone was starving and had no other choice, so the town mayor led a group of us who were willing to venture out to find food. Later, we were taken to S Base by the military."

"Is S Base no good?"

These people weren’t living well at S Base, but they were surviving, supported by their few superpower users and the base’s fundamental welfare benefits.

"We can survive, but it’s not home."

Lin Wan’s eyes were filled with determination, a look shared by the dozen or so people with her.

"Back then, we really couldn’t survive anymore, so we thought we’d come out and see if we could find a way for our families to live. But now we have superpower users, and the plants have started growing again. As long as we can get home, we can figure something out. We can survive. Nothing is better than home."

Tang Mo nodded. Of course, she could understand Lin Wan’s way of thinking.

No matter how good a base was, it never gave you a sense of belonging. It’s hard to leave one’s homeland. If there was even the slightest chance, people would naturally want to go home.

That night, everyone slept in an open field.

Tang Mo, with her Hunter’s Sleeping Bag, had nothing to worry about. The others weren’t so lucky. They all unrolled their bedrolls and slept on the ground.

Although it was an open area, it was surrounded by grasslands and jungle. Insect bites were a given, but the greater danger was the mutant beasts that could appear at any moment.

"The four of us will split the watch, two people per night. Zhou Jian, you’re so strong, you can just take one whole night by yourself."

Wang Er didn’t consult Zhou Jian; he just gave him a direct order.

When it came to his own interests, he seemed to have a temporary case of amnesia, forgetting how Zhou Jian had snapped a tree with his bare hands.

Fortunately, Zhou Jian didn’t argue and just nodded. It was actually easier for him to be alone than with them. Besides, for a former soldier like him, staying up all night wasn’t a big deal.

The watch for the first night was assigned to two brothers from Wang Er’s group. One was tall, the other short, and both were incredibly skinny.

To Tang Mo, both of them looked a bit dazed and not too bright.

Even so, Tang Mo slept soundly, confident that her Hunter’s Sleeping Bag wasn’t bought for nothing.

Tang Mo was woken by a commotion the next day.

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Amid the clamor, she thought she heard someone say something had been lost.

She got up, packed her things, and pulled Lin Wan aside to ask what was going on.

It turned out a child from the group was missing!

There were three children in this group; Uncle He had told her that from the very beginning.

Children were difficult to raise, but they also represented hope.

Tang Mo could see that Uncle He cherished every child, giving them the best of whatever the group had.

’But how could one go missing?’

"I heard the child’s mother woke up this morning and found that her child, who had been sleeping right next to her, was gone. She searched the immediate area but couldn’t find her, so she started to panic."

Lin Wan hugged Mao Tou tightly, a look of fear on her face. She could barely imagine how she would feel if it were her Mao Tou who had gone missing.

"What about the night watch?"

If there were people on watch, they should know what happened to the child.

"Those two on watch slept straight through until this morning. They only opened their eyes when the child’s mother went to question them."

Lin Wan was grinding her teeth in anger. They were all from Yunshui Town and had a strong sense of community, with most of them being related in some way. When something like this happened, all dozen or so of them were worried sick.

"You can’t blame us! We walked all day yesterday and were exhausted. What was I supposed to do if I accidentally fell asleep?" Even now, the two bodyguards were still trying to shift the blame.

Uncle He’s face was pale with anxiety. He truly hated himself. ’Why was I in such a rush to leave? Why didn’t I vet these men more carefully before making a decision?’

"You’re all bastards," a man from the group said hatefully, his fists clenched.

He was one of the superpower users, and his attribute value had already reached 350, so Wang Er and his men kept their mouths shut.

"We’ve been searching all morning. A mutant beast must have snatched the child away. There’s no point in waiting around any longer. Let’s just go."

Wang Er was getting impatient. ’What kind of world is this, anyway? Is one kid really worth all this fuss?’

’Even if the kid wasn’t taken, there’s no guarantee they’d survive in the long run.’

"You..."

Uncle He’s expression turned even uglier. Even Tang Mo had the urge to kick Wang Er.

However, Uncle He had to admit that after a whole night, the child’s chances were slim. After a moment of silence, he could only resign himself to the decision to pack up and leave.

The child’s mother was sobbing too hard to stand, crying her heart out that she had to find her daughter.

Tang Mo remembered the child. She was a little girl, about the same age as Mao Tou.

She was a sweet, timid little girl with a round face who was very likable.

Things like this happened all the time in the apocalypse. Now that humans were back at the bottom of the food chain, the survival of their young had become difficult once more.

In this era, raising a child to adulthood was no easy task.

Even Tang Mo, who had grown accustomed to death, couldn’t help but let out a deep sigh when it came to a child.

Hopefully, this incident would serve as a wake-up call for the people of Yunshui Town. It was impossible to rely solely on those bodyguards; everyone had to raise their own vigilance.

The road to B City still held far too many dangers in store for them.

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