He has no scales around his eye sockets, and his teeth are neat and white, making him a pure human through and through. But he had a peculiar sense of poise that made it easy to associate him with the word "chief." Therefore, when that look of doubt appeared in his eyes, Li Zhen was also a little surprised.

Because the other party's doubts do not seem to be due to the possibility that they were "sent by the central government", but for some other reason.

The problem is that he is now disguised, which is very different from his original appearance, and no one should be able to recognize him.

Just after a few seconds, the masked man turned his head and spat out a word: "Okay." ”

Neither of the other two objected, and it was clear that this one had a considerable degree of prestige.

Li Zhen leaned back in the chair again: "Then, I will follow you." Looks like you have something to do - I'm just watching, not asking. ”

The man beside him shifted in dissatisfaction and tossed the gun aside.

In fact, now Li Zhen is more interested in these two people - the man next to him, and the woman who drives.

He knows a lot about what xenos look like. Although the creatures were alienated humans, the bones in their bodies had undergone some form of reorganization. It is important to know that the body structure of humans is not the best structure suitable for sports and fighting, and the vast majority of wild animals do better than humans in this aspect.

As a result, xenomorphs exhibit certain wildlife-like traits – such as longer arms, thicker joints, and stronger sternum and vertebrae. These characteristics make them seem alien to human aesthetics.

But the problem is that the silhouette of these two people seems to be ordinary humans. It's just that the figure is taller and slender. Such a man and a woman were indisputable supermodel figures in the past.

But they also have the distinguishing features of xenomorphs - tiny scales on their faces and sharp teeth.

So now Li Zhen took a closer look and realized that this had become another thing that could successfully arouse his curiosity: Who are these two people?

They have a sense of reason and emotion that xenomorphs don't have, but they're not evolutionaries either—the kind of biochemical warfare weapons that come out of the ground in the southern and northern bases. Compared to those people, the physical characteristics of the two in front of them were even wilder, full of primitive strength and beauty.

If he really wanted to weigh the two, he could only say that these two people were between artificially cultivated "evolutionaries" and "aliens", and they were beings with both strength and intelligence.

The man seemed to be a little dissatisfied with his scrutiny, but considering the skills that Li Zhen had shown before, he only glared back at him with his eyes.

And the masked man looked at Li Zhen in the rearview mirror for a while. Move your lips. Didn't say anything.

In fact, the atmosphere is a bit weird, and the attitudes of both sides are quite abnormal.

In the eyes of the other party, Li Zhen may be a mysterious person who has not yet figured out the depth and threw himself into the net, but he shows quite strong self-confidence.

However, in Li Zhen's opinion, the recognition of him by these three seems to come too quickly. He would have liked to use a little more rhetoric and even show force. But the masked man actually said a "yes".

So he realized. The other party also seems to have some secrets that he can't see clearly. Perhaps the current situation is the best interpretation of the phrase "each with a ghost".

Li Zhen once again looked at this masked man carefully. But the other party's physical features are too prominent. It was really hard for him to associate this man with anyone he had ever seen.

He looked up through the frost on the car window and looked ahead. In front is a crowded street with a bustling crowd of people. It may not be appropriate to use such words to describe a city in Siberia in the aftermath of the Holocaust, but it is indeed Li Zhen's first impression. Huge numbers of people are pouring into the city. And make all sorts of noises.

The crowd ranged from the solitary hunter-gatherers he had seen before, to survivors who had arrived from small settlements.

Survivors, that's what they call themselves. This year's winter came early, and snow covered the field in the summer. In the past, such weather anomalies might not have had much impact other than psychological anxiety, but in today's era of shortages, sudden cold often means death.

And the reason why these people were able to survive was not only by their own tenacious will, but also by the assistance of the local garrison.

He had figured out from a few people the other day what had happened in the recent period.

In fact, the cold has been going on for six months, or rather, last year's winter has hardly ended, intermittently until now. There may not be a shortage of fuel in such places, but the source of food is a serious problem. After an initial period of famine, the population of the small settlements began to decline, and people everywhere began to migrate south. And the junta, after the initial inaction and inability, almost unanimously shouted the slogan "labor for food".

Most people think that this is just a helpless move – in any case, as a local government, you have to show some clarity and take action at such times. They did not expect this "assistance" from the local garrison to last long, nor did they expect to be paid commensurate with the labor they put in.

But the results were unexpected, and the food paid for by the military was an adequate amount of fresh meat.

The abundance of meat attracted more people to the junta-controlled areas, and these populations rebuilt the bustling cities and supplemented the attrition of troops from successive conquests. Even after the earth-shattering nuclear explosion farther north and many people chose to go south, the number of people who remained here was still considerable.

But Li Zhen thinks it's not that simple. He always felt that there was something wrong with the pay paid by the military.

If they had had sufficient reserves and would not have made such a decision after the famine had lasted for several months, even the imperial government, which had been criticized for its inefficiency, would have done better, let alone such an authoritarian military junta?

In his view, the situation is more like the military used to have little stock, but suddenly got a batch of windfalls, so they began to "open warehouses for food relief" in an attempt to save the few remaining people in their jurisdiction.

The point is that there are more than a dozen military governments, large and small, in the vicinity of the Siberian Northern Naval District, and these dozen junctuaries have made such decisions almost simultaneously.

This means that aid - the aid that the junta receives from somewhere is coming at the same time. That is, there is the same "supplier" who supplies them at the same time.

In fact, there was another rumor before this. Some people in more remote areas say the military is handing out human flesh. This may sound horrifying, but it is not uncommon in history to change children and eat during famine years. However, this claim has not been supported by too many people, and even conspiracy theorists like Li Zhen think it is nonsense.

for though he had not eaten that kind of meat, he had seen it.

What he saw was a very large patch, the size of a millstone. The muscle fibers are thick and rough, and they definitely don't look like human flesh. He thought it was either whale meat or a large creature like an elephant.

Unfortunately, whales have long been a thing of the past - they were slaughtered and exterminated by the Japanese in the seventies. And elephants, probably, do not appear in such a place as Siberia.

So he thought it might be some kind of artificial meat, the product of genetic engineering. for he had never seen the skin attached to the piece of flesh. It was as if it had been cut from a larger mass of flesh, and even the thicker veins could not be seen.

But it was this kind of thing that helped the people of this cold northern land survive this difficult time. So whatever the political stance of these juntas, there is nothing to say about it.

And what he wants to know more is who is the boss behind the scenes.

The SUV they were riding in was carried by the crowd and slowly moved towards the city. The three people in the car didn't seem to be in a hurry to leave, their expressions were calm and composed, as if they had planned to come here.

Li Zhen looked at the tightly wrapped people outside the car window for a while, the snow-covered eaves, street corners, and telephone poles, and asked in a low voice, "So you were going to enter the city?" ”

So he saw the masked man smile in the rearview mirror: "Yes." But with you, we can't do anything. ”

The other person's attitude became softer. The other man and woman seemed a little surprised by his attitude. Even Li Zhen frowned slightly, thought for a while, and spread his hands: "We've seen it before?" ”

He did feel that way - this man had a rather strange attitude towards himself. It's like two people who have known each other but have been apart for too long, becoming strangers to each other, and they can't recognize each other when they see each other. He became more and more sure of his reasoning, and if it weren't for that, the other party wouldn't have accepted his almost unruly demands so easily—especially when the enemy was not clear.

In fact, he felt this way himself. Not only because of the name "Fir and Eagle", but also because of the way this masked man looked at him.

The masked man grinned. The smile was a little distorted by the half of the mask, but Li Zhen could see that the other party seemed to find it amused by his words.

"Perhaps?" He said, "There are so many things in this world that you can't think of. Maybe one second they were enemies, and the next they became friends. ”

He paused, as if he didn't intend to continue the conversation at this point. Therefore, he said: "If you are still going to come with us, remember one thing. When you're in the city, don't eat meat—don't eat meat here. (To be continued......)