「7:30 AM.」
Gu Ning woke from her dream.
She huddled under the covers and turned on her terminal, squinting to check the time. She wanted to stay in bed a little longer, but then she remembered she was in the wilderness. Wrapping the blanket around herself, she forced herself to sit up.
She had been so exhausted from the previous night’s ordeal. After agreeing with Vine and the others to take turns driving, she had passed out the moment her head hit the pillow.
Remembering that Vine and the others had said they would set off at dawn, Gu Ning wiped the condensation from the window and looked outside.
The sky was just beginning to lighten. The silhouettes of the surrounding ruins were cast against the black-and-blue canvas of the sky.
She had just gotten used to the environment in Zone 19, so seeing these ruins felt a little unreal.
She wondered what had happened here. Even such sturdy buildings had collapsed so severely.
’Was it the Mutant Species?’
Recalling how the Mutant Species had even broken through the thick, high walls of Zone 19, Gu Ning became more certain that they were the ones who had destroyed this place, just like the last supply station.
She pressed her face against the cold window to wake herself up, then snapped a few photos of the ruins. Yawning, she pulled on her clothes.
Just as she finished dressing, Barto opened the car door and climbed in.
A gust of cold air rushed in with him.
"Is the convoy setting off?" Gu Ning asked.
"Not yet. We’ll leave after breakfast." Barto smoothed her messy hair. "How did you sleep?"
Gu Ning zipped up her jacket. "Very well."
As she spoke, she patted the thick bedding beneath her and flopped back down onto it.
For convenience, she had packed light, bringing only toiletries and a few changes of clothes, planning to keep things simple on the road.
She had figured she could just sleep in the car.
And she was sleeping in the car, but it was much more comfortable than she had imagined.
She hadn’t expected Vine and the others to bring blankets. They had spread them out in the back, and with the car’s heater on, it was no different from sleeping in her quarters in Zone 19.
"No sleeping in when you’re out in the wild." Barto pulled her up. He noticed a tear in her jacket and hooked a finger through the rip. "It’s this torn up. Don’t wear it anymore."
Gu Ning looked down and cursed that damn dog in her head. ’He’s the one who ripped it.’
The jacket was warm and waterproof; she had planned to wear it for the entire trip.
"Get some tape. We can patch it up," she said.
’There should be tape in the car.’
"What’s the point of patching it? I brought you clothes."
As he spoke, Barto deftly folded her bedding, placed it back into its dedicated case, and opened a suitcase. He pulled out a new jacket for her. "Change into this."
Gu Ning took it. It was an insulated jacket in a style similar to the one she was wearing.
After changing, she opened the rear hatch.
The biting cold air hit her in the face.
She took a deep breath of the frigid air and pulled up her mask.
"WOOF!" Hearing the noise, Cook ran out from the tent behind the car. He threw his arms around her, nuzzling and licking her like a puppy.
Gu Ning laughed and ruffled the "puppy’s" hair, glancing at the tent he had slept in.
She had originally wanted the "puppy" to sleep in the car with her, but Vine had been dead set against it.
At least he had a tent and wasn’t sleeping out in the open.
"Stop licking her and get over here to pack up the tent." Barto pulled Gu Ning away from Cook and dragged the little pup by his tail to take down the tent.
Gu Ning watched Cook clumsily flatten the tent and get a smack from Barto for it, so she started to jump down to help.
Vine, who was approaching with a kettle of hot water, scooped her back up.
"Wash your face."
Vine poured the boiled water into a washbasin.
Then, he went over to help Barto with the tent. By the time Gu Ning had wiped her face, they had already packed the tent into its bag.
After a quick wash and breakfast, Gu Ning and the convoy continued on their journey.
Cook still rode in Seth’s car, while Barto drove for her.
She had arranged with Barto and the others yesterday; the three captains, plus him, would take turns driving for her.
Leo might not come, and she didn’t want him to.
’Please don’t come,’ she prayed silently.
.
"Chirp." (Windsor, they’re leaving.)
Ah Mo nudged the female who was resting in the corner against the wall.
Windsor opened her eyes and walked to the window, watching the departing convoy.
Ah Mo asked curiously, "Chirp chirp?" (Where are they going?)
Windsor picked up a pair of binoculars and followed the convoy’s path. "Based on their route, it looks like they’re heading for Zone 15."
Ah Mo: "Chirp chirp chirp." (They have that little female with them. They must be escorting her to the Upper District. They won’t be stopping in Zone 15.)
Ah Mo: "Chirp?" (Should we keep following them?)
Windsor looked up at the gray-blue sky. "The King Seed has gone quiet."
Ah Mo sniffed the air. "Chirp chirp." (Those soldiers must have scared it off. It’s badly injured, so it won’t make any rash moves.)
"Chirp chirp." (Zone 19 just cleared out the Mutant Species, so it won’t be able to gather its forces anytime soon.)
Ah Mo spread a wing and wrapped it around Windsor. "Chirp..." (My dear, you should rest.)
Windsor picked up her blade from the corner. "It won’t give up. I can smell its greed on the wind."
.
"CLICK—"
Gu Ning pressed the shutter, capturing the buildings outside the window.
With Barto driving, she felt much more at ease. Since there was no signal, she used her camera to photograph the scenery, documenting their journey and chatting with him from time to time.
The convoy had been driving for two hours, but they hadn’t re-entered the wilderness. Instead, they were navigating through ruins.
Compared to the towering, dense buildings of Zone 19 or the orderly layout of the first supply station, these structures were more scattered and low-rise. They also looked quite old, like Beastman villages and towns from the past.
Gu Ning asked Barto about the ruins as she took photos.
She rarely saw things like this on Pawprint, so she knew very little about this other side of the world.
Barto glanced at the ruins by the roadside and carefully maneuvered around an obstacle on the road. "These towns and villages were abandoned over a hundred years ago."
Gu Ning: "Abandoned? Because of the Mutant Species?"
Seeing her curiosity, Barto figured she was probably from Sky Watch Point and didn’t know much about the outside world. He decided to use the things she was seeing as a chance to tell her about the disaster that occurred nearly two hundred years ago.
"About two hundred years ago, the third recorded genetic disease broke out among the Beastmen. No one was spared, on land or in the sea. A vast number of male Beastmen degenerated and mutated, becoming the Mutant Species. Female Beastmen didn’t degenerate, but their bodies grew weak and they developed various illnesses. They became infertile or had great difficulty conceiving. In just a few short years, the global Beastman population plummeted from several billion to just a few hundred million."
Gu Ning was stunned. This was the first time she had ever heard about this part of Beastman history.
Barto continued, "After several years of fighting back against the Mutant Species, the scattered Beastmen of the world formed the Beast Alliance. They divided the world into twenty large zones, and all the dispersed towns and villages were moved to the nearest zone. That’s how these places gradually fell into ruin."
Of course, many places were breached by the Mutant Species and had to be abandoned, or their inhabitants never had the chance to relocate.
Beastmen are too stubborn. Getting them to unite was no easy task.
Even now, the Beast Alliance only barely manages to maintain a relative peace between the clans of each zone.