192 Im giving you an ou (1/2)

News of Stronghold 109 getting destroyed and taken over by the Experimentals had quickly spread to the rest of human civilization under the Alliance of Strongholds.

If Stronghold 112 and 113 were destroyed by acts of nature, there was nothing that humans could do about it. But for Stronghold 109's destruction, the shadow of a nonhuman species challenging the survival of mankind hung over the incident.

That was because Stronghold 109 was not destroyed by an act of nature. This threat came from a new species that also happened to be extremely aggressive.

The strongholds had been standing in this world for hundreds of years now, while some of the most powerful empires in the history of human civilization only lasted 200 years at most. Therefore, humans had almost become accustomed to the safe lives they knew in the strongholds.

But now, the appearance of the Experimentals was telling humanity they had to reexamine this world.

The road from Stronghold 109 to Stronghold 111 was mainly flat. The armored vehicles had already left, leaving only two off-road vehicles speeding their way through the vast wilderness. Behind the off-road vehicles, a large cloud of dust was left in their wake. This was a grand sight to behold from afar.

Qing Zhen sat in the back of the vehicle with his eyes closed and seemed to be thinking of something. Next to him, Luo Lan kept eating. Every now and then, he would say a few words to Qing Zhen.

”Are we really just going back to Stronghold 111 without putting up a fight?” Luo Lan said indignantly. ”Does the Board really intend to kill the donkey the moment it leaves the millstone? We have done so much for the Qing Consortium, yet they're placing us under house arrest just like that?”

Qing Zhen opened his eyes and looked at Luo Lan. ”You can call yourself a donkey if you want, but don't drag me in.”

”Oh, oh, I used the wrong idiom,” Luo Lan corrected himself. ”But you get what I mean anyway.”

”The Qing Consortium is our home. If we don't go back there, where do we go?” Qing Zhen said, sounding bored, ”Since you're going back with me this time, it's going to be safer for you. By placing you in someone else's stronghold, who knows what kind of trouble you'll cause again.”

”I didn't cause trouble for nothing though.” Luo Lan was unhappy. ”Didn't I successfully get my hands on the Li Consortium's research results? But who knew you'd go and give it away just like that? Speaking of which, why'd you give it to that little girl from the Yang Consortium? Even if our nanorobotics tech hasn't had any breakthroughs yet, what if we do get a breakthrough later on? Just think, we're both normal humans, but we can become superhuman with this nanorobotics tech!”

Qing Zhen didn't care to explain. ”I don't like all that fighting and killing.”

”But all you've been doing is fighting and killing.” Luo Lan said, ”Isn't that what everyone thinks you're best at?”

”I'm best at growing flowers.” Qing Zhen said in seriousness, ”I'm warning you. Don't you dare touch the flowers I grew when we get back.”

”Sure.” Luo Lan curled his lips. ”Why would I touch your flowers when I can touch women instead? But anyway, I still find it such a waste that we gave that hard drive away to the Yang Consortium.”

Qing Zhen laughed and said, ”It's not a waste. One of the Li Consortium's strongholds has been destroyed and their research results were even stolen. To resolve their internal conflicts, they'll be sure to pin the blame on an external party. The Yang Consortium will be that target. With our two neighbors fighting, we can rest easy.”

”As if they would start fighting so easily. There hasn't been a real war in such a long time,” Luo Lan said.

Qing Zhen looked out of the window and said calmly, ”That's where the problem is. There hasn't been a war in such a long time among mankind. If we human beings don't start a war, can we still be called greedy humans?”

”Look at you, putting down humanity like that. Well, I dislike wars, but that's just how life works.” Luo Lan said, ”But now that the Saboteurs have discovered your secret base, you should increase the defenses around it.”

Qing Zhen said calmly, ”They haven't found where it is yet. They're only guessing it exists.”

”How do you know that?” Luo Lan was taken aback.