?
Liu Yang continued walking toward the base exit with the beautiful girls.
At that moment, a group of little girls came skipping over hand in hand.
One little girl ran right up to Liu Yang, looked up with her big, adorable eyes, and said, "God Liu, God Liu, where are you taking all these big sisters?"
Liu Yang smiled, pulled another large bag of snacks from his storage space, and handed them out. "I'm taking them back to where I live, of course."
Receiving the snacks, the children were thrilled. The girl asked again, "God Liu, isn't the place you live the Heavenly Palace? Does that mean these sisters are going to turn into fairies, too?"
Liu Yang chuckled and patted the little girl's head. "Of course! Anyone who comes with me gets to become a fairy."
"Then I want to go with you too! I want to go!"
"God Liu, take me with you!"
"Me too! Me too!"
"I want to become a fairy too!"
...
Listening to the children chirping enthusiastically around him in their innocent voices, Liu Yang couldn't help but laugh.
"You all need to eat well and grow up fast," he said. "When you're all grown up, I'll bring you over to visit my villa."
Hearing that, the kids cheered in excitement.
"Yay! That's awesome! When I grow up, I can go with God Liu too! I'm going to grow up super fast!"
"I'm going to eat all my food so I can grow up quickly!"
"Once we're grown up, we get to be fairies!"
...
Watching the children skip away into the distance, Liu Yang smiled warmly.
Just as he was about to lead the girls out the main gate, a dense crowd of hundreds of survivors suddenly appeared outside.
Every single one of them was covered in dust and travel-worn, looking as though they had just completed an exhausting trek.
Fatigue was written across their faces, but the moment they saw the base's main gate, their eyes lit up with hope.
Scarface Mouse and his crew were caught off guard. "More survivors coming to seek refuge at our base?"
Liu Yang ordered the Tier 3 zombies guarding the entrance to open the gates, allowing the wave of survivors inside.
As soon as they entered, the man leading the group fixed his eyes on Liu Yang. Out of everyone present, Liu Yang possessed an imposing presence that radiated power-an aura so distinct that even non-ability users could feel it immediately.
The man approached Liu Yang with utmost respect and bowed slightly.
"Are you the leader of this base, man? We're survivors looking for a place to stay. We'll follow every single rule you have-please, take us in!"
Liu Yang glanced over the group and estimated there were at least five hundred people. A group that size could easily establish its own survival base. Why travel so far to join someone else's?
Besides, traveling with such a massive group without any ability users meant they were basically a walking zombie buffet if they ran into Tier 2 or Tier 3 mutants.
Making it here alive was no small miracle.
Liu Yang asked, "Where are you coming from? You look like you've been on the road for days. With this many people, you could have set up your own base. Why trek all the way here?"
The leader answered honestly, "We used to belong to a base about thirty kilometers from here. But three days ago, four of our five leaders were killed-and all of them were powerful ability users!"
"They were wiped out in an instant before anyone could even react!"
"It was clear our base was being targeted by an insanely strong enemy. None of us dared to stay, so we ran as far as we could. After three days of walking, we finally spotted your base."
Liu Yang frowned. "Four out of five ability users were killed, yet you regular civilians made it out alive?"
The man shook his head helplessly. "We don't know what those attackers were after. They only killed ability users. They didn't touch civilians, and they didn't take any supplies or resources."
"Nobody even saw what they looked like or whether they were human or zombies. Fighting an unknown enemy like that was terrifying, so half the base fled."
Liu Yang's brow furrowed deeper. "They only targeted ability users, spared the civilians, and ignored the resources? Are you sure?"
The man nodded vigorously. "Positive! Every word is true!"
After a moment's thought, Liu Yang made his decision. "We can take your people in, provided you follow our rules. But you're coming with me to show me your old base."
The man shook his head frantically. "No way, man! I spent three days through hell and high water to get here. I'm not going back! That place is suicide!"
Liu Yang said casually, "Don't panic. I'm plenty strong."
"No, no, no," the man insisted, waving his hands. "The enemy might be even stronger. I barely escaped with my life; I'm not walking back into a deathtrap."
Liu Yang sighed. "Lead the way, and I'll give you a hundred pounds of rice."
The man's eyes instantly lit up, and his expression turned dead serious. "Alright, let's head out right now! It's not about the rice, mind you-I just really miss my old buddies back there and want to pay them a visit."
In the apocalypse, a hundred pounds of rice was a fortune worth risking one's life for.
"Great. Show me the way," Liu Yang said, stepping up to the burly man and grabbing him by the collar.
The man panicked. "Wait... what are you doing?!"
Before he could react, Liu Yang launched into the air, carrying him straight into the sky.
"AAAAAHHHH!!!"
High above, the muscular, bearded thirty-something mercenary screamed like a terrifyingly high-pitched high school girl.
The five hundred newly arrived survivors watched the scene in utter shock.
"Holy shit! What just happened?!"
"He straight-up flew away?!"
"Is the leader of this base seriously that powerful?!"
"Sob... With a god-tier powerhouse like him around, we're definitely safe now!"
...
Meanwhile, a minute later, Liu Yang arrived at the abandoned survivor base.
Flying at top speed, Liu Yang could reach 580 meters per second. In five minutes, he could cover 174 kilometers-thirty kilometers took him just sixty seconds.
He slowed down when carrying his women, but he certainly didn't bother offering that luxury to a burly man.
Subjected to supersonic speed, the former mercenary was so dizzy and disoriented that he collapsed onto the ground the moment his feet touched down.
Though he was a trained ex-mercenary who could handle tanks and jets, supersonic flight was well beyond his physical tolerance.
Liu Yang's sudden arrival sparked immediate panic inside the base, sending the remaining survivors scrambling for cover.
Moments later, a burly man flanked by several tough-looking survivors stepped out to confront him.
The leader was none other than Lin Dong-the base's sole surviving ability user.