Chapter 688: When Spring Arrives
“You all had a meeting, so we wandered around outside a while longer.” An Ran closed the door, set Doll on the carpet, walked to Zhan Lian, and asked, “What did the meeting decide? Are we running?”
“The preliminary decision is to move the people outside toward the east.” Zhan Lian lowered the hand he’d been using to clean his ear. His long arms wrapped around An Ran’s waist, one hand resting on her butt, and he continued speaking seriously: “The Jinmen Base likely won’t let this go. A battle is inevitable. Flesh Flower’s crystal core is extremely valuable. We’re going to create a diversion.”
Their plan was to turn the Grand Fortune Hotel into the supposed heart of Flesh Flower—making everyone believe that Flesh Flower’s lifeline was inside the building.
Because Flesh Flower was An Ran’s strongest weapon. As long as Flesh Flower survived, An Ran was invincible on land, and therefore Yaoyang Base would also be invincible.
So once they eventually clashed with Jinmen Base, countless people would try to find Flesh Flower’s crystal core.
Zhan Lian and the others planned to establish layer after layer of misdirection, treating the true location of Flesh Flower’s core—on Level B2 of the Hexi underground parking structure—as a top-level secret.
The first layer of diversion was this: they would tell everyone that Flesh Flower’s core was in the Grand Fortune Hotel. They would create the illusion that the Grand Fortune Hotel had been completely taken over by Flesh Flower, that the entire building was filled with its vines and flesh. Thus: as long as the building stood, Flesh Flower lived; if the building fell, Flesh Flower died.
To maintain this illusion, An Ran had to cooperate. The single Flesh Flower root inside the Grand Fortune Hotel needed to grow massive—ideally as large as the one in Xiang City. To make room for it, everyone would have to move away from the vicinity of the Grand Fortune Hotel and relocate eastward.
Because if war truly broke out—Jinmen Base was coming from the north, the west housed Flesh Flower, and the south was full of monsters—east was the only direction suitable for humans.
They didn’t need to move too far. Just east of the Grand Fortune Hotel, about a few dozen minutes’ drive away, they would plan out a new city. Once the snow melted, they would build walls, construct the ground infrastructure, develop anti-air weapons, and slowly build a life there.
It would be difficult.
While fighting zombies and mutated creatures, they would also have to fight other humans. But to protect what was precious to them, every hardship had to be overcome.
And as the weather warmed, and the snow gradually melted, Old General Chen of the Jinmen Base finally received news about Chen Chaofa.
A group of soldiers rushed into the general’s villa late at night. Not long after, Old General Chen collapsed onto the sofa and fainted.
The servants inside the villa were thrown into chaos. Several doctors were summoned. Cars drove up the mountain, crowding the villa courtyard until it was packed.
In the wide corridor, several uniformed officers exited the old general’s room, followed by Chen Chaogong and Chen Chaoxi.
One of the officers exchanged a few quiet words with the person beside him, then looked at Chen Chaogong with a stern expression and said: “Chaogong, you must remind the old general to take care of his health. We’ll be marching south soon—you can’t let him collapse over Xiaofa’s matter.”
“I understand. I’ll persuade my father to stay calm.” Chen Chaogong’s face was solemn.
He bowed, walked a few steps forward to escort the high-ranking officers out the villa gate, and only after they left did he turn back, the seriousness on his face carrying a trace of grief.