After exiting the side door of Barracks 9-004, Xu San San stealthily wandered around the perimeter of the 9th District.
By some miracle, the 9th District was nearly deserted at that moment—likely because the morning’s sudden incident she had caused had disrupted the Guard team’s normal workflow.
She smoothly located a row of neatly lined-up handcarts tucked away in a corner.
Were these used to transport bodies to the Crematorium…?
Ahem…
No time to worry about that now. Xu San San grabbed one of the handcarts and headed back toward the side door of Barracks 9-004.
The cart was too large, and with her left arm useless, relying solely on her right hand made it hard to control. The cart veered left and right along the way, but after much stumbling, she finally managed to get it through the side door.
She first pushed the cart against the wall, then mustered all her strength to drag the young man by his collar onto the handcart.
At this point, she couldn’t afford to worry about whether moving him would worsen his large wound.
With one foot already in the Crematorium, what did a little extra injury matter?
It took over ten minutes of strenuous effort, leaving her panting heavily, before she finally managed to haul the young man onto the cart.
Completely drained, Xu San San was gasping for air, her right hand trembling uncontrollably.
“Sigh, you really shouldn’t tempt fate like that. Now I feel like giving up, but I’m afraid karma will come back to bite me later.”
Sighing in resignation, she continued pulling the cart forward.
Yes, pulling—not pushing.
Because she simply didn’t have the strength to push anymore.
Now, she could only brace her whole body and grit her teeth as she dragged the cart along.
By the time she finally reached the entrance of Barracks 8-006, it was already 08:11.
Yes, this was still the Refugee Camp—just moved from the 9th District to the 8th District.
If the 9th District wasn’t welcoming to the living, then leaving it should guarantee temporary safety.
At least, that was Xu San San’s current assessment.
According to the map, the nearest non-9th District barracks from the side door of Barracks 9-004 was Barracks 8-006.
Xu San San pushed open the slightly ajar side door of Barracks 8-006 and was met with a scene of elderly people lying all over the floor—men and women, dressed in rags, emaciated, their eyes vacant.
Only a few near the door lifted their heads slightly at the sound; the rest seemed completely unaware of the disturbance, continuing to lie still as if nothing had happened.
An oppressive, eerie atmosphere washed over her. If not for the occasional twitches or blinks from their hollow eyes, she might have thought she’d stumbled into another pile of corpses.
She quickly scanned the room: everyone was thin, with varying degrees of Deep Spots on their exposed skin.
Fortunately, there were no signs of festering wounds. The air was stale but lacked any putrid or particularly pungent odors.
They didn’t seem to be carrying infectious diseases…
More importantly, they were all breathing, all still alive…
Well, the safety rating here was clearly higher than the corpse-filled 9th District.
Xu San San nodded to herself and headed straight for an empty spot against the wall. After another Herculean struggle, she finally succeeded in unloading the young man.
She checked his injury again—the abdominal wound had started oozing blood from all the moving, but it didn’t look too serious.
Xu San San crouched in the corner, silently observing for several minutes, confirming that the elderly lying here were merely quiet and numb…
They shouldn’t cause any additional harm to this severely injured young man.
So she pulled the flatbed cart and quickly stepped outside.
How unfortunate—she still needed to return the cart!
Who knew if this bizarre world had installed some kind of locator on the cart? If so, a team of uniformed personnel might suddenly appear before her, catching her red-handed. Then she’d truly be finished.
Admittedly, Xu San San’s imagination was wild, but she had actually guessed half of it correctly.
Every flatbed cart in the refugee camp’s guard team was considered base property, so each cart was indeed equipped with a positioning system. The location markers were shared with every guard team member.
However, due to the limited number of carts allocated to each district, inter-district borrowing was common.
Therefore, as long as a district’s cart didn’t leave the overall range of the refugee camp, the guard system wouldn’t automatically trigger an alarm.
The guard team members didn’t pay much attention either, as long as the total number of carts remained correct and each cart was within locatable range, ensuring that their district’s team could always find and use a cart when needed.
By the time Xu San San reappeared in Barracks 8-006, it was already 08:30 in the morning.
She checked the young man’s injuries again and found that the previously bleeding areas had scabbed over once more. Relieved, she couldn’t help but marvel inwardly at his remarkable physical condition. Despite such severe injuries, delayed treatment, and the earlier rough handling, his condition actually appeared stable.
Truly unbelievable.
“Tsk tsk, what kind of world is this anyway!”
There were monsters with gaping bloody mouths trying to eat her, mutated creatures, Gene Reagents, and that transparent concentrated liquid she drank in the morning…
Xu San San’s mind was a whirlwind of thoughts.
Suddenly, a rumbling roar of machine engines echoed from the distance.
Followed by a clamor of footsteps, she hurried to the side door and cautiously peered through the crack.
In the distance, beyond even the 9th District, a large oval-shaped machine resembling a sci-fi aircraft was parked amid billowing dust.
Crowds of people from all directions queued up, entering the machine one by one.
From the barracks closer to the base city wall in the refugee camp, people gradually emerged, hurrying toward the parked aircraft.
Though their clothes weren’t bright—in fact, they looked travel-worn—they appeared physically unharmed. Some were middle-aged, others even teenagers, each carrying bags, baskets, or burlap sacks, jogging forward. They were nothing like the hollow, feeble elderly in Barracks 8-006 who lay there “waiting to die.”
Perhaps the closer to the base city wall, the healthier the people in the barracks…
Xu San San ventured a bold guess.
About 20 minutes later, after all the queued people had boarded, the hatches on all four sides slowly closed.
The aircraft’s underside suddenly emitted a blue glow, and with a roaring sound, it swiftly ascended into the sky, gradually heading into the distance…
Truly the era of black technology!
Xu San San felt a surge of excitement, clearly stunned by the scene before her.
Thus, she gained a deeper understanding of this world’s technology.
After watching the excitement, she returned alone to the corner and discovered that the young man on the ground had unknowingly opened his eyes.
Xu San San was delighted and explained:
“This is Barracks 8-006. I’ve already performed initial treatment on your wounds, but you really shouldn’t move right now, so I’ve temporarily placed you here. It feels relatively safe…”
She somewhat guiltily rubbed her nose, because in truth she didn’t know the specific situation in the 8th District, but at the moment, she really had no better alternatives.
So she steeled herself and continued: “Well, I have matters to attend to today and need to leave. To thank you for that tube you gave me this morning…”
Xu San San abruptly stopped, suddenly realizing she didn’t know what that transparent liquid was actually called. To avoid exposing herself, she could only offer an awkward smile: “Hehe, to express my gratitude, I’ll come back here before nightfall to check on your condition. I still have a few doses of anti-inflammatory medicine here, and I’ll administer them based on your situation then.”
“Alright, your condition isn’t particularly good right now, so you should focus on getting more rest.”
After speaking, she nodded in self-affirmation, gave the young man an encouraging fist gesture, and then quickly disappeared through the side entrance of Barracks 8-006 under his intense, persistent gaze.
What’s going on?
Did I actually feel a trace of reluctance?
After exiting, Xu San San shook her head, clearing the chaotic thoughts from her mind. She activated the map function on her Bracelet and decisively headed toward Foundation South City Gate.
After all, she still needed to check out the rental house today!