107 The grace of dripping water (1/2)

When the off-road vehicles and military transport trucks of the Qing Consortium appeared on the horizon, Ren Xiaosu suddenly thought that this might also be why the wolf pack was not in a hurry to carry out their hunt.

Ren Xiaosu was quite familiar with the logo of the Qing Consortium on those vehicles, having just seen it in the past few days.

The logo of a white ginkgo leaf was visible on the vehicles. According to Mr. Zhang, this world had already gone through hundreds of millions of years of change. However, only the ginkgo tree of all the plants in the world retained its original appearance since the Quaternary glaciation.

This was one of the world's oldest genus of tree, as well as the species with the most powerful ”genetics.”

When Ren Xiaosu first saw the Qing Consortium's logo in the Jing Mountains, he wondered if they had chosen to use the white ginkgo leaf as their logo because they hoped to stay around forever.

The vehicles were roaring as they arrived. But when they approached, Ren Xiaosu felt there were too few of them. They were so few in number there wasn't a need to count them—there were just three off-road vehicles and two military transport trucks.

Didn't Xu Xianchu say that the Qing Consortium's combat brigade had a strength of 4,500 soldiers? Why did so few people make it out then? A single truck could take up to 50 people at least, right? Then did it mean that only about a hundred of them managed to escape from the stronghold?

What exactly happened?

In reality, Ren Xiaosu had underestimated the horror of this disaster. As there were much fewer brick and mortar structures in town, Ren Xiaosu did not consider the consequences of them or even the high-rise buildings collapsing. Most of the structures in the stronghold were made of brick and mortar.

You could say that Ren Xiaosu's imagination had been limited by his poverty.

This earthquake had even caused the land to crack open, splitting the stronghold into two as it forcibly turned the river into a waterfall.

This was the power of nature, and humanity could do nothing about it.

After the brick and mortar structures in the stronghold collapsed, a large number of humans were crushed to death under the buildings. Countless people had died, including those who were from the Qing Consortium.

What was most unfortunate was that the military base was situated right across the fault line, as it got split in half.

Luo Lan was panting in the off-road vehicle. The most embarrassing fact was that he was only dressed in a pair of flowery boxers. When the earthquake occurred, he was still fast asleep. It was fortunate that the barracks he was living in was hardy and strong, and the structure was low to the ground, letting him survive.

As it was winter now, there was heating in the barracks and inside the off-road vehicle. However, there wasn't any in the wilderness.

Right now, Luo Lan was most worried about what would happen if the vehicle ran out of gas before they could reach Stronghold 109. At that time, he might have to get out and hoof it as they made their way towards Stronghold 109!

Thinking of this, Luo Lan said, ”How much gas does the car still have?”

The soldier in the driver's seat said, ”There's still a third left. We can keep driving for about 130 kilometers.”

”Can we make it to Stronghold 109?” Luo Lan asked.

The soldier said awkwardly, ”We're still 210 kilometers away from Stronghold 109. There's definitely not enough gas, but we can actually have the people in the off-road vehicle behind us get out while we siphon the gas from their vehicle….”

”Eh?” Luo Lan's eyes lit up before he sighed. ”Forget it, the people in that off-road vehicle are all injured, and so are those in the transport trucks.”

The soldier was silent for a moment before saying, ”Sir, both you and Mr. Qing Zhen treat us very well, unlike the other big shots of the consortium. We don't mind if we have to suffer a little.”

”Enough, don't bring it up anymore.” Luo Lan waved his hand irritably. ”You're speaking like I'm a good person. I'm not. Don't you know that the good die young?”

”Sir, there's a group of people up ahead running,” the soldier said when he saw the fleeing refugees.

Luo Lan disdained, ”There was also a group behind us just now. What's the big deal? Pass them and make them eat our dust!”

When the refugees saw the convoy of vehicles passing them, they got rather jealous. How great it would be if they also had such vehicles to ride in.