Saying this, Vance looked at his right hand for a while. Then he threw the kettle aside and lay on the pillow. His eyes were still looking at the top of the car and he finally got back on track, answering An Zhe’s initial question. “They would rather kill by mistake than let one go. If a heterogenous really mixes into the base then they will definitely be found. It has been a whole year since an incident of a heterogenous attack occurred.”

In order to hide his uneasiness, An Zhe closed his eyes and rubbed his eyes with his left hand.

Vance told him, “Kid, go to sleep.”

An Zhe lay next to him. No matter what happened tomorrow, at least tonight was safe. There were no monsters and no Horsen. There was only Vance, who was good to him.

Before going to sleep, he held the bullet cartridge and looked at the door at the end of the aisle. If—If he now quietly opened the door, got out of the car and left, returning to the monster wilderness, he could still live. He wouldn’t face trial and wouldn’t be killed on the spot. He didn’t know how long he could live in the wilderness but it would definitely be longer than tomorrow.

Was the spore more important than his life?

—Yes.

For the creatures in the Abyss, death was the most trivial thing. In just a short day outside the Abyss, he witnessed Anthony’s mutation and Horsen’s death. Human life wasn’t precious. An Zhe closed his eyes. He knew he had to go to the Northern Base.

Early the next morning, they continued to drive towards the base. Since only Vance was driving and he lacked energy, their rest time became irregular. From the afternoon, they started to rest and continued to drive north at midnight on the third day. Once the aurora dimmed and the sky looked white, Vance stated, “We’re almost here.”

An Zhe looked forward and a circular city gradually emerged on the horizon, covered in the grey fog of the morning.

‘City’, he knew this word. Humans congregated in cities, just like mushrooms gathered in the rainy season.

The armoured vehicle continued forward. After the early morning mist gradually dispersed, more details in front appeared. The circular city had grey steel walls, the height of the tallest mushroom. 20 people could be stacked on top of each other, one person’s feet on the other person’s shoulder, and they might not be able to go over the wall. Steel fangs and thorns protruded from the wall, sharp and cold, like winter rocks and soil.

The edges of the city walls were covered with surveillance equipment and laser devices. Any intruders would be found immediately. Out of the two city gates, one could only enter and one could only exit. They were now heading for the one that could only enter.