Apocalypse: After Being Reborn, I Stocked Up on All Supplies-Chapter 208 - Hiding in the Mall

Chapter 208: Chapter 208: Hiding in the Mall

Chapter 208 -208: Hiding in the Mall

Song Qian paused, turned his head, and glanced back towards the entrance of the base, his eyes dark and unclear as he said,

“Most likely, they all went to the entrance of the base to confront the mutant rats. The military strength of Xiangcheng is actually not as strong as we imagine.

The core troops had already evacuated. Those who remained were either following the higher-ups or stationed at the entrance of the base. It seemed formidable on the surface, but in reality, both their strength and numbers were insufficient.”

Jiang Yan gave him a sidelong glance, “So, is it because of this that they are controlled?” Her words carried a double meaning.

Previously, Sun Jingtao had mentioned that the base was segmented by various forces.

And among these, the most baffling part was that the control of military power was not in their own hands.

However, in the eyes of Jiang Yan, whether it was Song Qian or Sun Jingtao, what they said was merely a point of reference.

After all, they too were relying on second-hand information, the accuracy and credibility of which were questionable.

“There is no such thing as control or lack of control; a warrior’s duty is naturally to obey orders and protect our homeland,” Song Qian said and then fell completely silent.

Even he felt conflicted saying this.

A warrior’s duty indeed was to obey orders and protect the homeland.

But here, they simply became pawns arbitrarily manipulated by some powers within the base.

Before the mutant rats arrived, they were the upholders of the authority of the base’s forces.

When the mutant rats came, they became the first to be sacrificed.

As all the civilians were kept in the dark and obediently followed the base rules, a group in power within the base had quietly used the information they controlled about resources to assemble teams and evacuate in advance.

“These bastards, I hope their planes run out of fuel mid-way and they meet a horrible end at the hands of those rats!” Kong Wu muttered a curse under his breath as he looked towards the direction of the airport.

Sun Jingtao and Ye Qing remained silent, their eyes vigilantly scanning the surroundings.

Su Dai was sitting on the ground, face flushed red and gasping for air.

Among them all, she carried the least supplies but her physical strength was also the poorest.

They had been rushing along the way, and wearing masks made their breathing difficult. Now that they had stopped, she felt unusually tired.

The group hardly exchanged a few words when suddenly, the lights near the rear door of the base flickered rapidly for a few moments and then went out.

“There’s a situation,” Ye Qing was the first to notice something was wrong.

No sooner had his words fallen than they felt a gust of wind, carrying a strong stench, rush towards them.

Su Dai, who had just stood up, was blown off balance and nearly fell over.

Jiang Yan quickly reached out and grabbed her.

At the same time, not far behind them, the sound of tank treads and metal colliding could be heard.

In the dense fog, it seemed like there were car lights appearing.

Judging from the halo, there were quite a number of vehicles.

“Bang!”

“Ratatat!”

“Boom!”

Different sounds of gunfire, artillery, and even explosions came from near the convoy.

Looking at the location, it seemed to be near the football field they had passed recently.

Most likely, that convoy had encountered the rats.

“We can’t stay here, we need to hide. It smells like a large number of rats!” Jiang Yan furrowed her brow.

This smell was much more intense than the one they had smelled before.

Hua Bao had not issued an alert, possibly because the other party was still too distant.

Song Qian removed his mask, smelled the air, and his face paled.

He looked around, recalled for a few seconds, then said, “Let’s go this way.”

The situation at the base’s exit was unclear, with rats ahead and a convoy behind.

The group had no choice but to quickly follow him and move towards the side of the road.

They had not walked far when a dark, dreary building appeared before them.

It looked like a shopping mall.

An abandoned shopping mall.

It was only about three or four stories high.

The mall must have been ransacked before, as all the glass was shattered, leaving shards all over the ground.

Fortunately, the density of the black fog inside was not as high as outside.

With night-vision goggles, their vision became much clearer inside compared to outside.

The group casually found a street-facing storefront and darted inside, then swiftly proceeded to the second floor.

Upstairs was a large boutique clothing store. On the part of the store that faced the street outside, a few glass display windows were opened.

As usual, the doors were damaged, and items like clothes, curtains, and metal clothes hangers were long gone.

Only a few bare, limbless mannequins and heaps of trash remained.

One could only wonder who came here for clothes and left in a bad mood or something.

Those plaster mannequins were scattered all over the place, their heads and arms broken off and strewn about.

Su Dai nearly screamed when she saw the silhouettes of those mannequins.

In the middle of the night, they seemed like they were walking through a foggy labyrinth.

Those mannequins were covered in a layer of black ash at first glance, and it looked like charred corpses.

The sound of the convoy grew nearer.

The “Ratatat” of tank treads also became clearer.

Sun Jingtao listened for a moment, then frowned, “They even have tanks, and a lot of them.”

“It seems there are also excavators,” Song Qian added.

Jiang Yan: “…”

Kong Wu cautiously said, “Could it be that the convoy I saw just now was just the vanguard?”

“We cannot dismiss this possibility.”

After saying this, Song Qian and Jiang Yan, along with Sun Jingtao, cautiously approached the window, holding their weapons and warily looked outside.

Soon, the dense, dark fog, lit by faint lights, became increasingly visible.

And it covered a rather large area.

Clearly, the arrangement was substantial.

Judging by the lights’ trajectory, the convoy was moving very slowly, only about twenty yards away.

“Jiang Yan, here,” Song Qian suddenly pulled out a neatly folded piece of paper from his chest pocket and handed it to her.

Jiang Yan took it, “What’s this?”

“Map of the base and surrounding area. Take a look while we have time. After you’re done, show it to Brother Sun and the others,” Song Qian said, then pulled out a flashlight and a piece of red cloth.

The red cloth seemed to have been torn off some clothing, with frayed edges at the tear.

“Cover the flashlight with the red cloth while you look. It can protect your eyes and the light won’t be easily seen by others.”

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“Alright,” Jiang Yan took them and squatted down.