As the saying goes, when in Rome, do as the Romans do.
The Fog Zone Base was a peculiar place. Even if a person did absolutely nothing, no one would stand by and watch them starve to death.
The people here were exceptionally warm. Whether they knew you or not, if they could help someone in any small way, they wouldn’t be the least bit stingy with any of their supplies.
In their first few days here, Chai Yuening and Chu Ci did practically nothing, eating at one house after another, as if all the several hundred people in the entire base were their own relatives, making no distinction between “yours” and “mine.”
The people of the Floating City or the Underground City Base usually had clearly defined roles that matched their abilities. Most of them repeated fixed tasks day after day at their posts in exchange for the money needed for survival.
The people of the Fog Zone Base were different. This place was like a primitive, small community. There was no currency for purchasing goods; most transactions were done through barter or resource sharing, and there were almost no conflicts of interest between people.
To prevent this small base from grinding to a halt, everyone here spontaneously contributed to the base, using their strengths as much as possible in areas where they were needed.
Some were skilled at planting, some at weaving, some at forging, and some at medicine.
Having come here, Chai Yuening felt too embarrassed to do nothing.
She and Chu Ci began to go out with An De and An Li for sampling and hunting, a division of labor that was relatively suitable for them.
Before their first outing, they received weapons from the Fog Zone Base.
They were also a type of gun, but the bullets inside were vastly different from what Chai Yuening knew.
They were high-voltage electric energy rounds. The projectile heads were polished from the bones, claws, or hard scales of high-level mutated beasts, possessing a penetrative power stronger than metal. After hitting a target, they could trigger a secondary detonation, paralyzing various mutated beasts from within with electricity. Even if it couldn’t secure a kill, it could effectively slow a beast’s mobility.
Of course, against an excessively large creature, the electricity compressed into such a small bullet wouldn’t have much effect.
After leaving the base, An Li gave each of them one of those candy-like pills from their first meeting.
It wasn’t until she ate it for the second time that Chai Yuening learned it wasn’t just something to be eaten for fun. It also had a certain effect of concealing one’s aura. It wouldn’t make them completely imperceptible to mutated beasts, but it could at least prevent humans from becoming a beast’s primary target.
Dr. Yi Shuyun from the Floating City had said that preying on humans was an instinct for every mutated beast.
This statement was once again confirmed in the Fog Zone Base.
“When there are no humans, mutated beasts prey on each other according to their habits. But once humans appear within their hunting range, humans become the primary target,” An De explained to the two newcomers in the back seat as he drove. “Mr. Shi Wenlin believes this is the new ecosystem’s demand for intelligence. What they want to hunt isn’t human flesh and blood, but human genes. In the eyes of mutated beasts, human genes are likely a superior type of gene, with great value for absorption. The beasts may not know what makes human genes superior, so errors in the direction of fusion can occur during consumption. But over the years, their ultimate goal has become increasingly clear: to acquire intelligence through human genes. That is far more desirable than physical strength.”
“Some giant beasts clearly have no brains, eating whatever they see. During the fusion process, they want this and they want that. In the end, they get bigger, but they can hardly become a dominant power. Because its body structure is fundamentally unstable, if it encounters a pack of beasts daring enough to risk their lives against it, it will be devoured completely.” As An De spoke, he chuckled twice. “I’ve seen one that stupid. It was enormous, but during fusion, to protect a soft spot, it grew a membrane that covered its eyes. Its vision was like someone with extreme nearsightedness; it could only rely on smell and sound to identify prey. An Li and I ran circles around it with our guns, and eventually, it ran into a pack of beasts and was devoured.”
Hearing this, Chai Yuening couldn’t help but ask, “But isn’t the ultimate goal of a species’ evolution to grow a black-vine-flower-like organ to absorb black vine energy?”
An De: “You mean the kind of mutated beast that feeds on black vines to replenish or repair itself when it can’t find prey or is injured?”
Chai Yuening: “Yes!”
An De: “You people outside think this ability is the final form of evolution?”
Chai Yuening: “Isn’t it innate?”
“That’s really hard to say, but what’s certain is that for medium-sized or larger mutated beasts, if they grow that kind of organ that can consume black vines, it’s definitely not evolved, but stolen.” An De carefully organized his words for a moment before explaining, “The Fog Zone has many small mutated beasts with that thing. We call it the Black Vine Flower Mite. It’s an insect that feeds on black vines. The base first sampled it thirteen years ago. We studied it; it’s not very useful, but it tastes good. High protein, very tender.”
An Li nodded in agreement. “Next time we find some, I’ll cook them for you to try!”
A fist-sized insect actually tastes good…
The corner of Chai Yuening’s eye couldn’t help but twitch.
“This thing’s initial form is only the size of a fist. It eats nothing but black vines, and its fusion-evolution efficiency is very low, but it gets preyed upon by other creatures.” An De was clearly a veteran sampler, rattling off details about the “old friends” in the Fog Zone as if they were family treasures. “The Black Vine Flower Mite has a low infectivity and mutation rate. In the eyes of higher organisms that lack intelligence, their genes are very inferior and have no value for absorption, so the probability of a higher organism retaining its traits is particularly low. It’s precisely because most small and medium-sized mutated beasts look down on it that large and giant mutated beasts with this trait are so rare.”
An Li nodded. “These things aren’t common. Running into one is major bad luck. Without enough firepower, it’s impossible to kill.”
Chai Yuening fell into a thoughtful silence.
It seemed that the human bases outside knew very little about this brand-new ecosystem.
They were too far from the truth, so far that they regarded a species the Fog Zone Base had discovered and studied thirteen years ago as humanity’s last hope, constantly trying to make Chu Ci fuse with it.
Looking back now, it was all too laughable.
But on second thought, it made sense. Whether it was the Underground City Base or the Floating City, they were all trying to distance themselves from the Fog Zone, from any place with mutated beasts.
They wanted to seek stability, so they hid underground or flew into the sky, but this was undoubtedly just a form of escape.
Perhaps it was because they had never faced it head-on that they had never been truly forced by necessity to find the most suitable “way out” for humanity in this ecosystem.
And the reason the people of the Fog Zone Base could survive in such a dangerous place was that they had experienced the deepest despair and had clawed their way out with all their might. They let go of the old rules and, bit by bit, felt their way toward the new ones.
Although, according to that old gentleman, these so-called new rules could be broken again at any time, they had at least adapted to this cruel world one step ahead of the humans outside the Fog Zone.
As he spoke, An De asked curiously, “You people outside, have you ever seen highly intelligent mutated beasts?”
Chai Yuening snapped back to reality. “Ah, what?”
“It’s not easy for the mutated beasts in the Fog Zone to hunt human genes, but we heard from Lan Yi that in places outside the Fog Zone, humans often die at the hands of beasts.” An De spoke patiently, repeating his question. “Over these years, have any highly intelligent mutated beasts appeared out there?”
Chai Yuening frowned, sinking into a brief, deep thought.
She thought of the mutated being in the Underground City Base that had breached the Fifth District’s beast control center from within.
No, not just that one, but that group.
Those mutated beasts could climb ventilation shafts, launch organized attacks on the city defense center, and sever the communication systems.
That batch of mutated beings had not only mostly retained parts of their human appearance but also a degree of human-like intelligence. Even if it wasn’t high, it certainly wasn’t low.
Just as she was about to bring it up, Chu Ci answered the question for her.
“Yes,” Chu Ci said. “They’ve appeared in the Underground City Base. They know how to lie in wait, can systematically destroy human communication systems, and attack major human defensive fortifications.”
Hearing this, An De wasn’t surprised.
He just sighed softly. “Mr. Shi Wenlin’s guess was right after all. In terms of real danger, the areas outside the Fog Zone might be even more dangerous, not less.”
An Li turned around, her eyes filled with pity. “The people outside… must have a hard time dealing with them, right?”
Chai Yuening said, “The Underground City Base had a population of nearly three million. After that beast tide invasion, fewer than six hundred thousand remained…”
An De: “…”
An Li: “…”
The off-road vehicle drove silently through the jungle overgrown with black vines.
After an unknown amount of time, An De let out a sigh.
He said, “It’s a pity we’ve never been able to get the news out.”
Even if they could build an airplane, they didn’t have enough fuel.
They had electrically powered vehicles, but the distance they could travel on a single charge was far from enough to get them out of the depths of the Fog Zone.
The research of the Fog Zone Base, all their methods of survival, were trapped in this corner of the world by the vast fog.
They were like a true isolated island. The humans outside didn’t know of their existence, and while they had heard of the outside world and yearned for it, they had never truly been there.
Because they didn’t know the exact location of the existing human bases outside the Fog Zone, nor did they have suitable transportation to carry the news out from the depths of the Fog Zone.
“If only we could fly,” An De said.
“Once Uncle Liu dares to fly, we’ll be able to get the news out!” An Li was also hopeful about this.
Some people, clearly in dire straits themselves, were still always thinking of helping others.
But Chai Yuening thought it was better for them not to leave here.
People like them would likely be dead at the hands of humans before they even entered a human base.
After all, the human bases outside always prioritized whether someone was infected. They had seen all kinds of infected people trying to plead for their lives—yelling, crying, talking nonsense, or even lashing out violently.
Situations like that were far too common; they now only trusted that cold infection detection scanner.
If someone told them, “Don’t kill me, I know how to fight the mutation!”
They would definitely think that this infected person before them, in order to survive, had started spouting mindless nonsense.
This information was destined to be silenced by the sound of gunfire, with no chance of ever reaching the ears of researchers.
But the people in the Fog Zone didn’t understand any of this.
As Chai Yuening thought this, her gaze unconsciously shifted to Chu Ci beside her.
Chu Ci seemed to be pondering something again, silently and seriously, never telling anyone what it was.
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