231: Miao Qingshi

"Corpse Tide?" Tang Ping frowned. "There aren't many people around this village to begin with, so how did a Corpse Tide form?"

"Even if there were Infected before, they should have been mostly cleared out."

"I don't know." He Zhixin shook his head slightly.

"Let's go, we'll check out the situation outside." Tang Ping walked towards the outside of the base.

But immediately, he saw a group of people being driven towards the outside of the base.

"Stop dawdling! Hurry up! If you keep dragging your feet, your wife won't get any food!" A fierce-looking man waved a whip at a group of emaciated people.

"Husband! Wuwuwu! Husband!" A disheveled woman, holding a child, chased after an emaciated man, crying bitterly.

A glimmer of spirit appeared on the man's numb face: "Take the child, live well, live well. Don't follow me. Go back quickly."

"I won't, I don't want to." The woman stumbled, but a whip lashed her leg, and she instantly fell to the ground.

"What are you doing? If you keep causing trouble, I'll send you all up there too!" The burly man snorted coldly, turned, and escorted the group, continuing towards the outside of the base.

Around them, there were not only ordinary people but also many Talent Users. Some Talent Users had indifferent eyes, some showed reluctance, and some had confusion in their eyes, clearly also Talent Users who had just arrived at the base.

"What are they doing?" A newly arrived Talent User asked, puzzled.

"You must be new, you don't even know this. See the backpacks those people are carrying? They're filled with explosives made by our base leader using his Talent. Once detonated, anything within ten meters, even reinforced concrete, will be blown to smithereens. The power is terrifying." A Talent User, who had clearly been at the base for a while, sighed.

The new Talent User next to him seemed to understand something, his eyes wide with shock: "You mean, these people are all going to blow up zombies!"

"Yes."

"Then they, wouldn't they..."

"Of course, they won't come back alive."

The new Talent User clearly hadn't expected to arrive at such a base.

"Don't be afraid. The base only arranges for these ordinary people to do this; it has nothing to do with us." The nearby Talent User clearly saw what the other was thinking.

The new Talent User's face was solemn: "No matter what, I can't stay in a base like this anymore. I'm worried that one night, I'll have my head chopped off in my sleep and my Shelter robbed. This base makes me feel very insecure."

The nearby Talent User sighed: "What can you do? You know what the outside world is like. To be able to come to this base, with great difficulty, is already a blessing. What, are you still planning to leave? Let alone level one Talent Users like you and me, even those second level and Level Three ones wouldn't dare to make such a decision lightly. Those Pollution Beasts and Infected, one by one, can easily take our lives if we're not careful. Do you think you're an A-Rank Talent or an S-rank Talent? As for other bases, within a hundred miles, they are all small bases. They don't even have the capital to fight against Corpse Tides like these. What can you do by going there?"

The new Talent User fell silent. Indeed, he was already very lucky to have come to this base, but he was still uneasy. How could a base that could drive ordinary people to carry explosives to blow up Infected give anyone a sense of security?

"Kid, being alive is already a great fortune. At least we are Talent Users, not them."

"Their lives are not even as good as pigs and dogs."

Tang Ping and He Zhixin, standing nearby, also heard these words.

He Zhixin was silent, wondering what he was thinking.

Tang Ping, on the other hand, was expressionless.

The roadside was filled with a mournful atmosphere. Most of the crying people were relatives of those being driven away, either parents, wives, or children.

And the lives of their loved ones were so cheap that they were exchanged for only a few dozen catties of grain.

Outside the base, thousands of Infected, like agile cheetahs, moved on all fours with nimble bodies. Scarlet long tongues protruded from their cracked mouths, their eyes filled only with brutality and greed. Compared to the zombie hordes Tang Ping had seen in movies, these Infected Corpse Tides made them look like child's play.

This was no longer a Corpse Tide, but a terrifying natural disaster. Ordinary people had no chance to resist it.

And in this world, the fear of the Infected Corpse Tide was truly deeply ingrained.

And right in front of this Corpse Tide, a base was currently driving out hundreds of survivors.

"Hurry up, all of you! If the base is gone, where will we Talent Users go? We'll still live freely and comfortably, but your wives and children behind you will be completely dead. At a time like this, don't hesitate!"

On the city wall, a majestic man in a black trench coat sneered and spoke, his voice clearly reaching everyone below.

"Let's go, Old Tree Root." The man, reduced to a mere skeleton, fumbled in his pocket for a cigarette.

"Want one?"

"You scoundrel, you actually hid such a good thing! If your wife found out, she'd scold you to death!" Old Tree Root next to him also didn't stand on ceremony.

"Whew~~" The man exhaled. "I guess I'll never have a chance to bicker with that old hag again."

"Damn apocalypse, it really doesn't give us ordinary people any way to live." Old Tree Root took a deep drag and strode forward.

As time passed, these survivors and the Corpse Tide drew closer and closer, moving further and further away from the city wall.

Only a few people still stood on the simple city wall, which was merely five or six meters high.

Boom! When the first explosion sounded, the Infected within a ten-meter radius—these Infected who could easily slaughter ordinary people, like crushing chicks—were blown to pieces, leaving no meat larger than a fist.

On the city wall, the Talent Users who had originally been indignant, believing the base's actions were too inhumane, turned pale after seeing the overwhelming numbers of Infected and no longer uttered a single word.

Small mushroom clouds rose outside the base.

Perhaps inside, there was still flesh and blood worth only a few dozen catties of rice.

A Talent User shook his head mockingly: "Who would have thought that the food those people exchanged for their lives, carrying explosives, might not even weigh as much as they did."

Some Talent Users were indifferent: "So what? The weak have no right to choose. It's the same principle in any era."

An elderly Talent User sighed: "What kind of strong people are you and I?"

"Get ready, after they die, it'll be our turn."

"What, you still want to defend this cold base?"

"I'm not defending the base, but protecting myself, because I know that if the base is gone, on this land, it won't be long before I'll die too. I might become an Infected, or worse, perhaps become the excrement of a Pollution Beast."

"Hahaha, that makes sense."

"But I'm not going! I paid rent every day I lived in this city!"

"Exactly! Stop trying to fool us. Who knows how many experience stones the base officials gave you? Anyway, this base isn't ours. I'm just selfish, so what?"

"We paid rent, five experience stones a month. No matter what, the base should send its own troops."

"Brother, it's this era, no one's a fool. No need to trick us. Besides, I still know which to choose between dying now and dying in a few days."

"Hahaha, don't fool yourself too."

"I just saw that young man, he really was about to rush up there, so foolish."

"Still young, indeed."

"So we just watch? Shouldn't we run?"

"Of course not. Just wait. Effort shouldn't be for nothing."

The Corpse Tide approached the base.

"Should we make a move?" He Zhixin asked.

"Make what move? The base itself isn't even in a hurry. Alright, let's go, Sister Xiao Cao is here."