No matter how Thangka and Chu Zhiyun pretended to be cold and mature, they were only a teenager and a girl after all. Faced with the woman who was as dirty as a mother beast, they could barely resist her at all.
"Who — who are you exactly?"
Chu Zhiyun was dazed for a long time. Taking a deep breath, she managed to restore her cold face and said calmly, "Who else is inside? Is it your daughter?"
"Yes. It's just me and my daughter. Nobody else. We were hungry for a long time and did not dare to come out. The adults could hold it back, but the children could not hold it back. I came out to find some food for my daughter.
I found some food for my daughter. "The woman raised her hands and said pitifully," Please spare us. Please spare my daughter! "
She staggered back to the cold room.
Thangka and Chu Zhiyun stared at her with their storm bolters and daggers and approached her step by step.
Inside the cold room, the stench was overwhelming. The frozen seafood that was prone to rot had long turned into dirty and suspicious liquids. Nobody wanted to spend more than half a second in there. No wonder the children were crying aloud.
Hearing her mother's voice, a little girl who was two years old at most crawled out from behind a pile of frozen meat in a corner and smiled through her tears.
The little girl looked completely different from her mother. Even though she had spent a few days in the dark, damp, and stinky cold room, she was still as delicate as a piece of jade. The little girl was still at an age where she did not know how to talk. She only knew how to say "mom" and "hungry". She did not know what kind of dangerous situation she was in. Giggling, she crawled toward her mother on all fours cheerfully.
The middle-aged woman held the child in her arms and kissed her again and again. She couldn't help but shed two lines of hot tears, but she didn't want to scare the child. While crying silently, she squeezed out an ugly smile and whispered in her daughter's ear, "Good girl, it's okay. Mother has brought you food. We'll eat later. Good girl, don't cry, don't cry …"
"Mommy …"
Bulging her big eyes, the little girl stared at Thangka and Chu Zhiyun without blinking. She did not know the ugliness of the world yet and only felt that the clothes that the two big brothers and big sisters were wearing were very nice. "Flower … Flower!"
"Please save my daughter!"
The middle-aged woman begged again. "Please!"
Thangka and Chu Zhiyun both took a deep breath and tried to calm themselves down.
"Who are you exactly? Why are you hiding here? How long have you been hiding? What have you seen?"
Thangka waved her dagger at the woman and pretended to be ferocious. "Tell us everything!"
"Giggle!"
The reflection of the dagger was reflected in the little girl's eyes. The little girl was very interested in this shiny toy. She smiled and reached out to grab it.
Thangka immediately blushed. She put down the dagger at a loss, not knowing where to put her hands.
Thankfully, the middle-aged woman did not notice Thangka's panic and confessed her identity dutifully.
She said that her name was Zhou Xiuyun, and that this was her daughter, Tiantian. The child's father was a low-level officer in the garrison of the Thick Soil Sector. She had come to the Thick Soil Sector with her husband.
Zhou Xiuyun was a woman with a lot of misfortunes. She was born in a certain remote world of the Imperium of True Human Beings. Although she was born in a family of Immortal Cultivators, her spiritual root was not awakened. Also, her family was declining, and she could not find a decent husband. She married two husbands in a row, both of whom were low-level Immortal Cultivators. She had to live a tough life and die one after another.
Thankfully, the Immortal Cultivators were not superstitious about marriage. Although her spiritual root was not awakened, the fact that she was born in a family of Immortal Cultivators proved that her genes were strong enough to make her offspring more likely to be Immortal Cultivators than ordinary people. With that, she found a third husband very soon. Of course, he was not from a noble family but just a nouveau riche who had made great contributions with his courage and luck.
Her third husband was not very bad to her, but his family did not have much influence, and his family could not offer much help. Without a background and influence, he could not be promoted no matter how great his contributions were. Her husband had been working in the local army for decades, but he was still locked by the glass ceiling and could only wander among the few bottom-level posts.
As it happened, the expedition army was recruiting. The Sector Master of Zhou Xiuyun's hometown was also ambitious enough to establish a troop that was half business and half colonization. He intended to share the profits in the frontline and recruit a lot of experienced officers. Such a post that offered both risks and benefits was almost tailor-made for Zhou Xiuyun's husband. He signed up without any hesitation.
It was possible that he would have to stay in the frontline for decades or even his whole life. Most of the officers were the children of poor families who were frustrated in their hometown and did not have many attachments. They simply asked their families to move to Black Castle in the Thick Soil Sector. The officers were stationed in the military bases, and their families became the citizens of the civilian towns such as "New Joy City".
She did not need to tell them what happened later. Thangka and Chu Zhiyun knew it too.
Under the pressure of the Holy League's fleet, the garrison of Thick Soil Sector on the Imperium's side collapsed immediately. Even New Joy City was cleaned out by the Holy League in only three days. Most of the civilians were captured and taken away.
However, in such a large town, there were rows upon rows of skyscrapers and underground pipelines that extended in all directions. It was not surprising that there were a few fish that slipped through the net.
Zhou Xiuyun told Thangka and Chu Zhiyun that she was an employee of the supermarket in the first place. When she heard the explosions in the suburb, she hurried to find her daughter and run away.
At that time, most of the civilians wanted to run out of the city, and the main roads were packed with people. Zhou Xiuyun also wanted to escape out of the city, but she fell down halfway and broke her leg. She couldn't walk, and in a panic, she could only escape back to the supermarket she was most familiar with and hide in the cold storage.
She had moved a lot of food from the shelves to the cold room, but she forgot to bring water in her panic. Also, the milk powder and rice paste that the child ate could not be dissolved with cold water alone. Also, the environment in the cold room was extremely harsh, and the child was showing signs of illness. After a few days in the cold room, she could not take it anymore and risked coming out to get a few heaters and some medicine. She did not expect that she would run into Thangka and Chu Zhiyun.
Thangka and Chu Zhiyun looked at each other in bewilderment, not entirely convinced.
"Even if we are willing to let you go, this place is surrounded by the army. Where can you go? Do you want to hide in this cold room for the rest of your life?"
Chu Zhiyun narrowed her eyes and asked coldly.
"No, no, I was planning to run out of the city after my leg was healed."
Zhou Xiuyun pulled up her pants and showed her leg injury to the two boys and girls. There were indeed signs of fracture on her leg, but it was firmly fixed with gels and dressings. Under the effect of the bone cell accelerator, it was almost healed.
Zhou Xiuyun told Thangka and Chu Zhiyun that the Imperium's army had an enormous shelter outside the city, which was specially equipped for emergencies. Only the families of the officers knew that it contained abundant supplies and had a complete air and water circulation system. Not to mention three to five years, it was not a problem to hide in there for thirty to fifty years.
She should have hidden in the shelter a long time ago, but on the one hand, her leg was inconvenient, and on the other hand, she did not know what was going on outside. Therefore, she had delayed it until now.
"It's true. What I said is true. Look if you don't believe me!"
While talking, Zhou Xiuyun took out a piece of magical equipment that looked like a compass from her pocket. "I have a map. I have a map that will lead me to the shelter!"
Thangka and Chu Zhiyun looked at each other. Thangka took over the 'compass' and groped for a moment, but she did not know how to open it.
"Ah. This can only be opened with my fingerprints. Only the fingerprints of the family members of the army can open it."
As Zhou Xiuyun spoke, she pressed her middle finger on the back of the 'compass'. Immediately, a 3D light beam rose from the top of the 'compass', outlining the terrain of the town that looked like a 3D maze. It also pinpointed their location precisely and planned the most reasonable route in the blink of an eye.
A zigzagging red line led them out of the town to a certain place in the depopulated area.
The distance was not very close, but it was not very far away, either. It was within the range that they should be able to reach after a long journey with sufficient supplies.
If they could find some vehicles, it would be even more convenient. They could reach the destination in one day.
"What do we do?"
Thangka asked Chu Zhiyun in a low voice. The latter was looking at the glittering shelter on the map, deep in thought.
"Monitor, we should … report to the mentors, shouldn't we?"
Seeing that Chu Zhiyun was silent for a long time, Thangka asked tentatively again.
"No!"
Zhou Xiuyun raised her voice, her face full of fear. "Please, let us go. We are just civilians. We don't know anything. We don't know anything."
"Mommy, mommy!"
Seeing that her mother was panicking, the delicate baby became nervous, too. Her face was wrinkled, and she burst into tears again.
Chu Zhiyun's eyes were shining mysteriously. Looking at the crying child, she was in a daze.
"How strange."
Chu Zhiyun suddenly said something inexplicable to Thangka. "The children of the Holy League seem to have stopped crying a long time ago."
"Huh?"
Thangka did not understand. "Monitor, what are you talking about!"
"Give me the map."
Chu Zhiyun bit her lip and said, "Let them stay in the cold storage and give them the heaters and medicine."
"This …"
Thangka said with some difficulty, "It doesn't seem to conform to the 'purification process'. What if we are discovered?"
"Stop talking nonsense. I find that you are becoming more and more disobedient."
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