Time passed between 2169 and 2170, and the land frozen by the cold wave finally welcomed the first ray of warm sunshine.
The snow-melting truck that works around the clock stopped, and the ice on the aerial track completely melted at the end of February, and it resumed operation after maintenance.
Green leaves have sprouted, frozen water sources are flowing again, and everything seems to be moving in a good direction, but the large list of casualties on the screen in front of the Central Building has become an indelible blood and tears.
Investigation team one
Ji Zhan is missing
Jing Sa is missing
…
Qi Huan stood in front of the screen in the Central Building, looking up at the two familiar names in the dense list of casualties.
It has been almost three months and there is still no whereabouts of Jing Sa and Ji Zhan.
After the New Year, Qi Huan was already seventeen years old. He grew taller very quickly. The youthfulness and publicity he had experienced were smoothed away by the cruelty he had experienced, and his shoulders that originally seemed slender began to look more reliable. One year
The baby-faced person who was always laughed at by his teammates before, now gives people a cold feeling even when he doesn't laugh or speak.
The weather has gotten warmer recently and he no longer needs scarves. However, Qi Huan still did not take off the red scarf Ji Zhan gave him. Every time he was not in a good mood, he would unconsciously imitate Ji Zhan's previous habits.
, press your chin and mouth into the scarf.
They completed the mine survey mission, but at the cost of Jing Sa and Ji Zhan's disappearance, and Yu Wu's serious injury.
Yu Wu, who was seriously injured at that time, had already woken up on the way back. She said that Jing Sa had taken Ji Zhan away.
None of them knew why Jing Sa took Ji Zhan away, nor did they know whether Ji Zhan was alive or dead.
At that time, the deputy captain did not allow him and Yu Wu to report the truth to the base. Only the three of them knew about Jing Sa taking Ji Zhan away. Although Qi Huan could not fully understand the deputy captain's intentions, based on his understanding of the deputy captain, the deputy captain
The captain asked them to do this to protect Jing Sa and Ji Zhan.
So in the end, when making the post-war report, Zhao Ziwei reported that Ji Zhan and Jing Sa disappeared after being hit by an avalanche.
"What are you doing standing here stupidly?"
Qi Huan was tapped on the shoulder from behind. When Qi Huan saw it was Zhao Ziwei, he said in a spirited voice: "It's almost the third month."
Zhao Ziwei also had a trace of loneliness in his eyes, and Qi Huan beside him continued: "According to the regulations of the base, if there is no news about the missing person within six months, he will be treated as dead."
Zhao Ziwei said: "The commander is still looking for them. The teams that went out on missions last month all had additional tasks, which was to find the whereabouts of Ji Zhan and Jing Sa. They wanted to see their bodies alive and their bodies dead."
Qi Huan looked at Zhao Ziwei in surprise.
Zhao Ziwei explained: "Ji Zhan is a very important combat force for the base. Jing Sa's decision-making ability is also one of the best in the military department. The commander attaches great importance to them."
After Zhao Ziwei finished speaking, he paused and said, "But so far, there is no whereabouts of Ji Zhan and Jing Sa."
Qi Huan was silent for a moment, and the hands in his pockets were slightly closed and clenched, as if talking to himself, or asking Zhao Ziwei, "Are they still alive?"
Zhao Ziwei said: "If something happens to Ji Zhan, Jing Sa won't survive either."
In their memories, Ji Zhan and Jing Sa were almost inseparable. If one disappeared, the other would no longer exist in the world.
"Let's go, Yu Wu is still waiting for us at the training ground."
"……Um."
…
Night, outer base.
"Whether it's annoying or not, you failed after doing it twice, you just don't have the destiny to be an evolver!"
A down-and-out middle-aged man was thrown out of the district management office by the people from the district management team. The middle-aged man seemed to be still immersed in the bad news that he failed the special physical examination again. He quickly got up and rushed back to the district management team like crazy.
In front of the person, his eyes widened and he said: "There's no way I failed, it's impossible! Are you all playing tricks on me? You don't want me to feel better, right?"
"Alas, you madman, get out of here! Do you think anyone is qualified to become an evolver?"
The middle-aged man was once again kicked off the steps by the people from the district management team. The people from the district management team stood on the steps, and their shadows fell on the middle-aged man, like a heavy mountain. The people from the district management team warned
: "If you dare to come to the district management office and go crazy again, don't blame me for arresting you and putting you in jail next time."
"Leave him alone, it's time to change shifts, hurry up and leave." The colleague next to him urged.
The two turned around and entered the District Office, ignoring the downcast man sitting alone outside, but they could still vaguely hear them discussing the man's affairs.
"Ever since his wife and child froze to death in the cold wave, this man has not been mentally normal."
"Why are you still freezing to death? The fire source stone bag has never been cut off in the outer base."
"He froze to death before the fire source stone bags were distributed. It can only be said that his wife and children did not survive."
"Tsk..."
The voices of discussion gradually faded away until they disappeared.
The downcast man sitting on the steps lowered his head, his expression hidden in the darkness, and he seemed to be mumbling something.
If you get closer, you can hear his words:
"Why...why it still doesn't work? I've obviously swallowed two, why..."
The dejected man sat at the door of the district office for a few minutes, then got up and left.
When the people on duty at the two district offices just came out after their shift, they saw the door was empty and couldn't help but feel relieved.
But what they didn't know was that after the down-and-out man left, the place he went to was the underground black market.
The destitute man used his last savings to buy the third crystal core.
Monster crystal cores began to circulate in the black market, but people who bought the crystal cores were subconsciously afraid of this kind of thing, so even if someone wanted to take the risk of eating the crystal cores in an attempt to pass the evolutionary physical examination, they would at most
I only dared to swallow two.
At this moment, the down-and-out man who was obsessed with becoming an evolver and living in the inner base bought the third crystal core, hid in a dark alley, and then swallowed the turbid crystal core in his hand.
Go down.
Since this year, the number of people who have passed special physical examinations and been successfully injected with KP-26 and become evolvers and entered the inner base has more than doubled compared to previous years.
Moreover, 90% of the evolvers used to be young people between 16 and 20 years old, but a large part of the new evolvers this year are people outside this age group. This is a very puzzling thing, but inside
The upper base has not yet given a clear answer, and the people in the outer base do not need an answer. They just want to use various methods to make their lives better.
After swallowing the crystal core, the middle-aged man lay on the ground in pain and pinched his throat.
The skin all over his body seemed to be on fire. He wanted to call for help, but something seemed to be blocked in his throat. He squeezed his throat hard and drew blood, but it did not make him feel any better.
The dim lights outside turned on, and the shadow of the man strangling his neck was reflected on the wall of the alley, and the shadow became more and more ferocious...
With a "chi" sound, the man's struggling movements suddenly stopped. It can be seen from the shadow on the wall that his head has become strangely deformed. Although his limbs still maintain human form, they look like a human.
Like a zombie.
It smells so good...
The man smelled a fragrance that was irresistible to him. His mouth full of sharp teeth drooled, and he began to follow the scent.
Ordinary people in the outer base rarely choose to go out at night, so once it gets dark, except for some homeless people, there are no pedestrians on the messy streets.
The man followed the scent to a relatively peripheral area of the outer base. There were very few people living here, and without the interference of other human smells, the scent became more and more obvious to his sense of smell.
The man walked up to a locked bungalow, raised his hand and smashed it hard, and a hole was made in the wooden door. The bloody hand healed in the blink of an eye, and then deformed into a tentacle, and the hole was broken through the door.
Reach in and unlock the door.
After removing the wooden bed in the room, he found an entrance to the underground.
And the source of the fragrance he smelled came from this.
"Dip, beep, beep..."
The sound of medical instruments sounded regularly, and a woman wearing an oxygen mask slept quietly on the operating bed. Her skin was whiter than snow, and her hair was as long as waterfalls, just like the Sleeping Beauty in the fairy tale.