The world seemed to have been thrown into chaos overnight.
The sudden flames of war engulfed more than a hundred countries. The international treaties were completely torn apart. The powerful countries crossed their borders willfully and invaded the smaller countries around them without any warning, launching blitzkrieg attacks without holding back.
There were many theories about the cause of the war. The most common theory was that a certain galactic civilization had arrived and brought knowledge that could overturn the world. However, other than that, the people did not know any details.
The attitude of the more than ten superpowers when they started the war was so resolute. It was as if they wanted to shatter an old era and reshuffle the cards.
In just a few months, sixteen small countries were destroyed. Countless people on Blue Star became refugees. Some lost their homes, and some were taken over by the enemy country's army.
As a small country, Gollan did not have much of a chance to choose its fate when it was bordered by Raylan. Faced with the full force of Raylan's military, Gollan was completely defeated within a few months. It lost all its organized armed forces and was at the mercy of Raylan.
The city was devastated. Charred buildings and ruins were everywhere. Deep pits were formed on the ground from the explosions. Black smoke was still rising from some places, and sporadic gunshots could be heard from time to time.
The refugees of Gollan wandered in the ruins in groups of twos and threes. Some of them had a numb expression like the walking dead, and some of them had constricted pupils like frightened birds.
Sean followed a group of refugees to look for resources in the ruins. He moved his body with difficulty. His entire body was covered in dust and mud. He had not washed for many days, so he was dirty and unkempt. He was as thin as a stick, and his eye sockets were sunken. He was extremely haggard, and his expression was numb.
Raylan's invasion came without any warning. They only sent out ground troops after the bombardment and eliminated the armed forces of Gollan step by step.
During this period, the importance of settling down the refugees in Gollan was not high. There was a limit to the number of refugees in the refugee camp. The Raylan troops spent most of their energy on cleaning up the resistance forces. They only locked down the city and did not have much energy to accommodate all the refugees. At most, they would occasionally airdrop some resources to allow the refugees to survive in the locked down city.
Sean was lucky enough to survive the initial round of bombardment, but he had been separated from Mago and the others in the chaos. During this period of time, he could only work together with another group of refugees, searching for supplies in the ruins or fighting with other refugees when Raylan airdropped aid. He was like a walking corpse, trying to survive as long as he could.
However, over the past few days, countless refugees had ransacked the city over and over again. There were almost no resources left in the ruins, and it was getting harder and harder to survive. Sean and the others walked through the ruins and saw the corpses of refugees who had died of starvation, thirst, and illness. Most of them had died in the past few days.
After rummaging through several ruins, there was still nothing to be gained. Xiao En was so hungry that he was seeing stars. He sat down against the wall and panted. He felt that his body was incomparably heavy, as if he was about to sink into the mud.
"Are you okay? Can you continue searching for supplies? "
Frank saw him sit down, so he leaned over and asked while panting.
He was a new friend that Sean had made in this group of refugees. They had taken care of each other over the past few days and had become familiar with each other.
"I'm so hungry … I don't have any strength …" Sean's throat was so dry that it was almost on fire.
"Hurry up and get up. Otherwise, you won't get a share of what the others find."
Frank tried to pull Sean's arm, but he was also exhausted. With a pull, his body tilted and fell to the ground. He panted, and the breath he exhaled blew away a small piece of dust.
"Let me rest. I'm starving too …"
Frank did not have the strength to get up, so he simply leaned against the wall and leaned against Sean.
Sean's body tilted and he almost fell, but he did not have the strength to push him away. He could only close his eyes and hypnotize himself to relieve his hunger.
At this moment, Frank suddenly spoke, his voice low and dejected.
"Sean, do you think our army can still come and save us?"
"They definitely can." Sean opened his eyes with difficulty. His voice was weak, but his tone was firm.
"It's been so long. Do you really believe it?" Frank panted and said in a hoarse voice, "Raylan is coming aggressively. Golan can't even take care of himself. How can he have the time to come and save us? Instead of hoping for Golan to send reinforcements, why don't we count on Raylan to take in refugees on a large scale? That way, we can at least survive …"
Sean gritted his teeth. "How can we count on the enemy … When we met other refugees, didn't they say that Raylan was purging refugees? Occasionally, they would send ground troops to capture a group of refugees in the city. Some people even said that they saw carts of Raylan refugees being transported out of the camp to be cremated. Who knows what's going on?"
Frank said weakly, "As long as you can give me a mouthful of food, I'll do anything …"
At this moment, a faint noise sounded not far away. The refugees who were searching the ruins with Sean and the others gathered over, as if something had happened.
A few of their slightly better refugee companions walked to the two of them, pulled Sean and Frank up, and asked.
"How are you? Can you still walk?"
"I'm okay …" Sean wobbled and leaned against the wall. He asked in confusion, "What's going on over there?"
"We've run into another group of refugees. Let's all go over, in case they think of stealing our supplies."
The few of them replied and rushed over with Sean and Bohr.
There were too many refugee groups struggling at death's door in the city. Most of the refugees huddled together to help each other and prevent others from robbing them. Even though they were all refugees, some of them couldn't care less when they couldn't survive. People who were on the verge of death wouldn't let go of any life-saving straw. It was not uncommon for them to rob each other and kill each other.
Sean and the others quickly arrived at the back of the crowd and saw that there was another group of refugees opposite them. They were also skinny and haggard. The two sides were facing each other and looking at each other vigilantly. In the middle of the two groups of people were the more prestigious representatives of their respective groups, and they were negotiating with each other.
Sean glanced at the opposite side and suddenly froze. A stunned expression appeared on his face.
In the other group of refugees, he suddenly saw the figures of Mago and a few of his best friends. Although their clothes were ragged, he still recognized them at a glance.
During these days of hiding, Sean didn't miss his best friends. Because the city ruins were too big, and all kinds of communication signals were blocked by the Raylan, his search had been fruitless. He had always been worried that Mago and the others had met with misfortune. He didn't expect to meet them by chance today.
"Mago … Mago!"
Sean was pleasantly surprised. He didn't care about anything else. He raised his arm and shouted Mago's name with a hoarse voice.
Because of his weak body, he couldn't shout too loudly, but it still attracted the attention of some people.
Mago's ears twitched. He looked over in confusion, trying to find who was shouting his name.
But at this moment, the ear-piercing roar of an engine suddenly sounded from afar.
"Tutututututututu-"
They saw an armed Raylan convoy rampaging on the heavily damaged streets of the city, heading straight toward them. It seemed to have locked onto their position.
"Raylan!"
"Run!"
The two groups of refugees were scared out of their wits. They fled in panic and scattered.
Sean's voice was suddenly covered by the commotion. Mago and his best friends didn't see him. They turned around and ran. Although Sean wanted to chase after them, he panicked when he saw the Raylan convoy approaching quickly. He could only run for his life with the refugees on his side.
At this moment, the Raylan convoy rushed over. Teams of fully armed Raylan soldiers got out of the vehicles and chased after the refugees.
At the same time, the armed convoy turned on the loudspeaker and shouted at the fleeing refugees.
"Stop running, stop resisting. We will take you to the refugee camp. As long as you are obedient, Raylan will provide you with resources to ensure your survival!"
Some of the refugees had had enough of this kind of life. They had already reached their limit. When they heard the words, they simply fell to the ground and stopped running. They were held down by the Raylan soldiers behind them.
There were also some refugees who didn't believe in Raylan. They continued to run, but their bodies were too tired to outrun the Raylan soldiers. They were caught like rabbits. One by one, they fell to the ground and couldn't get up.
Using the refugees behind him to delay the Raylan soldiers, Sean used almost all of his strength to run into the ruins. However, his body had reached its limit. He knew that there was no way to escape if he continued to run like this. Suddenly, he saw a gap formed by the debris of the building. He simply chose one and hid in it, praying that he could avoid it.
Borl, who was following behind, saw Shawn's actions. In his panic, he followed suit and hurriedly hid in the gaps between the ruins of the building.
Sean only revealed half of his face. He looked at the situation outside in shock. He saw the refugees outside being held down one by one. Some of them struggled too hard and were directly knocked out by the Raylan soldiers.
As he looked around, Sean suddenly saw the figures of Marg and his buddies.
He saw that Marg and his buddies were finally caught up. Several Raylan soldiers rushed up and hit Marg and his buddies on the cheek with the butt of their rifle. They were knocked to the ground and quickly subdued.
Sean was scared and anxious. He wanted to think of a way to save them, but his mind was in a mess. He looked at the fully armed Raylan soldiers. Fear gripped his heart. His legs trembled. He didn't have the courage to step out. Instead, he shrank into the depths of the gap. He didn't dare to breathe.
In the end, he could only watch as his buddies were dragged into the vehicles by the Raylan soldiers, leaving a few winding blood trails on the ground.
Sean's lips were white and trembling.
There was never a moment when he hated himself so much. He couldn't do anything.
Not long after, the refugees who didn't have time to hide were caught by the Raylan soldiers. Soon, a group of soldiers with weapons came to search this place.
Sean didn't have time to worry about others. He subconsciously covered his mouth and didn't dare to breathe.
At this moment, Frank, who was also hiding in the gap not far away, walked out with his hands raised. He was trembling and knelt on the ground. His expression was a mixture of fear, uneasiness, and hope.
"I... I won't resist!"
The Raylan soldiers didn't say anything and went up to subdue Frank.
Frank was in pain and subconsciously turned his head to look in the direction where Sean was hiding.
Sean's brain went blank. Before he could react, the footsteps outside quickly approached. A big hand suddenly reached into the gap, grabbed his clothes and pulled hard.
He couldn't compete with the strength of the Raylan soldiers and fell out. His clothes were still grabbed by the strong arm. He was so scared that his legs were flailing like a fish. He subconsciously struggled.
But at this moment, another Raylan soldier quickly came forward. The butt of the rifle quickly enlarged in Sean's eyes.
Dong!
Sean's vision turned black and he lost consciousness.
...
After an unknown period of time, Sean's brain gradually restarted. He only felt a splitting headache and a burning pain on his forehead.
Sean opened his eyes with difficulty. He only felt that everything in his vision seemed to have double shadows, like a flower screen.
He endured the dizziness and looked around. He realized that he was in a moving carriage. Around him were some refugees who had been captured. Their faces were filled with distress. There were familiar faces from the same group as well as unfamiliar refugees from Mago's group. However, Mago's best friends were not in this carriage.
"You're awake?"
Frank was also in the carriage. He quickly came over.
Hearing the familiar voice, Sean turned to look at him. His eyes became quite complicated.
"You... forget it."
He originally wanted to ask why Frank took the initiative to expose himself. But before he spoke, he had the answer in his heart. So he didn't ask and just sighed.
However, Frank lowered his head and murmured, "You know our situation. It's impossible to escape. And if we continue to wander outside, we will definitely starve to death. It's better to be taken away by Raylan..."
"Say no more... My head hurts. How's your injury?" Sean was flustered. He didn't want to talk about it anymore and changed the topic.
"It's swollen here, but it's okay. It's not a serious injury."
"That's good."
Sean sat up and took a deep breath. He struggled to get to the window and looked out.
He saw that the convoy had already driven out of the city ruins and arrived at the original suburbs.
A continuous stretch of temporary camps appeared in the distance. It was one of the refugee camps set up by Raylan. But in Sean's eyes, it was like a ferocious beast waiting for its prey to arrive.
"We can survive, right?" Sean's tone was uneasy.
Perhaps it was because there was no other choice, Frank seemed to have grasped at the only life-saving straw. He only had blind faith in his own choice and nodded vigorously.
"As long as we are obedient, we will definitely survive."
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