The sun rises slowly over the horizon, illuminating the earth with a lazy dim light.

True, the sun is not dazzling, and the sun is dim and dim behind the clouds, reminiscent of undercooked raw egg yolks. While it's the clouds' fault for the visuals, people always blame the sun

The zone of military control, the fence, the civilian area, the fence again, and then the dense minefields that surround the city.

This has become a common design style in all base cities. Of course, there are still differences between different base cities. It's just a contrast between the height and the heaviness of the walls. It seems that human civilization is retreating, returning to the ancient era of cold weapons.

The white lime line on the perimeter of the minefield was gone, and there was no warning of danger except for a few wooden signs stuck in the dirt. On this piece of land, which is separated from the city walls by hundreds of meters, dense weeds have grown, and yellow and white wildflowers are everywhere. They sway in the breeze, and from time to time you can see bees and butterflies flying in the flowers, and grasshoppers and other small insects often leap high from among the blades of grass, with uncontrollable arrogance and excitement, draw an arc in the air, and quickly disappear into the distance.

The ground was littered with human remains.

There were broken hands and feet, as well as shattered bones and internal organs. Human corpses can be found everywhere between the weeds and the dirt, some fresh, some rotting and stinking. As for the corpses that have been dead for more than half a year, they have turned into yellow-black bones. In particular, the ribs are neatly arranged on the upper body of the human body, and the ribs stretch out like a crescent, and you can occasionally find a matching skull next to it. These bones have long been home to insects and bacteria, and the unnamed larvae crawl in and out of the holes, and the surface of the bones is covered with cobwebs, and from time to time ants or rats pass by, they will always take a keen interest in them, either stroking them back and forth with their antennae, or opening their mouths to bite hard.

In areas outside the minefields, a chaotic community of settlements has formed.

It's full of simple buildings. Old planks, foam, plastic sheeting, and anything else you can find are all materials used to build a shed. Most of them are triangular shacks, extremely rudimentary, barely sheltering from the elements, but they collapse in no time with a slight pull.

The ground was littered with sewage, and there was more garbage and excrement than even rocks and sand. There is a strong stench in the air, and no one can tell where the smell comes from. Through the cracks in the surface of the shack, the darkness that no light can reach is full of frightened eyes. It could be a woman, or a child, or an emaciated old man. They are the most helpless of the civilians, unable to hunt mutated creatures or survive in this cruel and cold world. Occasionally, someone gives alms, but it is just to survive, and endure the torture and pain of life for an extra day.

The shack area has always been lively. Violence and pornography have become the tone of life here———— people are constantly changing the ownership of food or valuables in the midst of looting and killing. It could be a steamed bun, or it could be a silver bone or a spare. The latter, in particular, has become a more precious hard currency than gold and diamonds.

As long as you have silver bones and hedrons, you can enter the base city. They can also be exchanged for guns, ammunition, and food. Of course, the purchasing power of blue coins is just as strong, but they are made of paper after all, and when the national currency, the US dollar and the British pound, loses its value overnight and becomes waste paper, it is natural that people will no longer believe in the colorful paper heads, and will prefer to believe in the treasures found in the mutated organisms.

A convoy of SUVs and three trucks stopped in front of the city gates. The sentry stepped forward as usual and took the documents from Su Hao, who was sitting in the cab, and carefully checked them. When he swept the names, positions, resumes and other items on the documents in order, the young sentry's gaze suddenly became surprised and showed a bit of solemnity.

"It turns out that you are Lieutenant Colonel Su Hao, the commander of the CR team."

The Sentinel's eyes showed adoration and respect, and he unconsciously used the honorific, "I've heard something about the CR team. You've done a great job in the Abandoned City, and you've got the best results in the army hunting mutant creatures. The army headquarters released footage of the battle last week, and I was a little skeptical that the kill figures of up to 1,000 mutated creatures might be fake. The footage is very realistic, and I never thought that I could create traps and manipulate those monsters at will. You're smart, really great. ”

Su Hao looked at the excited sentry and took his documents with a smile: "Xie Lu Xie is glad that you can think so." ”

"Word has spread about what happened to you from your last mission."

The young sentry's tone deepened: "We all hate the guy who escapes. He should have been tried in a court-martial, and he should have been shot on the spot. ”

Huang He, who was sitting in the passenger seat, poked his head over and said angrily, "Don't worry, we all have the same idea." That guy is going to die. ”

The sentry nodded approvingly. He turned around, glanced at the truck following behind, and asked curiously, "Where are you going?" ”

Su Hao put the documents in his pocket, twisted the key to start the car, and the expression on his face was more solemn than ever

"The CR squad no longer exists, and the Eleventh Separate Unit has just begun. We need manpower, we need soldiers. ”

Huang He wiped his stubble's thick chin and added, "To be precise, new recruits are needed." ”

The convoy was parked in a slightly spacious open space outside the north gate of the base city.

Three trucks lined up with off-road vehicles, and several heavily armed soldiers stood guard in front of them, armed in hand, scanning back and forth with a vigilant gaze.

It is managed by the Group Army's Supplementary Training Office and is one of the special recruitment sites in the base city. There are three more similar sites near several other city gates. Near the city wall, there is a separate passage connecting it, and around it are guarded towers of tens of heights, as well as reinforced concrete fortifications of varying heights. Except for a special entrance and exit more than 50 meters wide, all sides are separated from the shack area by barbed wire. Still, there were people who sneaked in at night, huddled in the corners of the clearing, and refused to leave.

Their idea is simple, there is only one purpose———— the earlier they come, the better the chance of being selected as a reserve recruit.

The appearance of the convoy immediately caused a sensation among the nearby civilians.

Although it has been less than two years since the outbreak of the virus, people's adaptation to the environment and their sense of smell for survival and opportunity have become very sensitive. Including here, all the vacant land around the base city that was used to recruit recruits has become a new bustling area. Nearby streets are being fought over by different groups; There are more women soliciting customers than in other places, and they are more beautiful; The number of shacks is densely packed, and the approximate building density has reached three to four rooms per square meter.

This limited space wasn't enough to put a bed, but there were still people trying to squeeze in. They work in gangs, some of them go out in search of food, some of them stand in line, and some of them occupy the streets in advance for the rest of the night...... The chaotic approach makes the whole area look like a big garbage dump. No matter how much the soldiers persuaded them, the guns fired to drive them away, or the occasional mutated creatures, they could not shake the people's determination to hold the land to the death.

Everyone wants to have more opportunities than others, everyone wants to be at the top. And so the battle arose. At first, it was scolding, and gradually it developed into violent fighting. Many were beaten to death during the clashes, and the corpses were either eaten as food or stuck directly in the top of wooden poles to warn newcomers who wanted to rush in and compete for reinforcements.

There is blood here every day, and people die every day. However, the military turned a blind eye to this and never asked. Officers and soldiers on duty were also sternly admonished ———— forbidden to engage in fighting between civilians, and violators were punished for treason.

Su Hao stood in front of the car with his hands behind his back, silently staring at the thousands of civilians who stopped two hundred meters away, staring at him through the triangular steel horse.

They were unkempt and dressed in all kinds of clothes that did not match each other, and they were very dirty and tattered...... Since it's summer, many men wear a pair of shorts, and women have an extra single coat, or a quilt or something like that. Others dress more simply, splice together a few towels and barely wrap around their waists, trying to maintain the most basic human covering. But the more this happened, the more uncomfortable Su Hao felt.

In the future realm, he had several contacts with civilians, but it was far less direct than it is now

These people looked like they had nothing, and the clothes on them were pretty much all they had. It's barely okay when it's hot, but what about in winter?

To kill?

Robbing something that didn't belong to you in the first place?

There are always some people who want to die, and those who can survive are only a few......

Su Hao knew that in the eyes of these impoverished civilians, he was playing the role of a rescuer at the moment.

New officer uniforms, varnished leather holsters, weapons with an alluring metallic sheen, and shiny military boots...... It all represents identity and power. Especially in the eyes of civilians, the soldiers of this era are simply a combination of strength and strength. They are fortified people who can deal with terrifying mutated creatures even with their bare hands.

This strong perception of the basis of survival has led to a very unique change in the mindset of civilians———— who have come to like everything associated with the military. Military kettles, military cans, military backpacks...... These things are very strong, the food is caloric and durable.

Overnight, people abandoned beauty and beauty, and instead of choosing objects that meet the visual effect, they thought about things from a practical point of view. It seems that after decades of operation, the world has returned to the red era when soldiers were proud and military uniforms were the most beautiful clothing.

Putting away his complicated thoughts, Su Hao turned around in silence and waved at the Yellow River who was guarding beside him. The latter nodded knowingly and ordered the soldiers next to him to move the barricade. Suddenly, from the middle of the wayway, the flood water poured into a dense and frenzied flow of people like a slope.

The officer on duty stationed at the site is a second lieutenant with extensive experience in dealing with such incidents. He picked up his assault rifle and slammed the trigger at a combination of concrete and hard ground more than 20 meters away from the truck. The bullets slanted into the hard earth, bringing up a trail of dust and gravel that scattered in all directions, and stopped the surging crowd.

"Let's all line up in order, one by one————"

"Don't mess around, keep order."

"Don't squeeze the people in the back, everyone has a chance, we only need the strongest. Repeat: We only need the strongest ————"

The loudspeakers on the guard tower played words like these over and over again. Regardless of the content or the number of words, many civilians can almost memorize it. The military often recruits new recruits here, and every time the venue is opened, it means a new round of fighting and scrambling. This is not an exaggeration, the people in the back want to get as far forward as possible, and the people in front dream of wearing military uniforms. One wants to fight for the opportunity, the other resists to the death, and the scolding and quarrel directly escalates into a bloody conflict...... At the end of the day, in addition to the people who were taken away by the military, more than a dozen corpses would be left outside the venue

On the concrete floor in front of the truck, a thick yellow and black diagonal line is drawn. The crowd stopped more than five meters away and lined up in a one-line column, waiting for the officer's inspection. From the head of the line to the edge of the field, the line curved and twisted for hundreds of meters, and there were many more people waiting outside the entrance to squeeze in. However, this kind of thought is only a fantasy after all, and the vicinity of the entrance seems to be controlled by a certain group, and once an unfamiliar face is found, the people around him immediately add fists and kicks, and the ferocity is as if it is the enemy who kills his father and kills the sky. It wasn't until the unknown cutter was beaten to the point that he was thrown outside like a dead dog.

The second lieutenant on duty was clearly accustomed to such a scenario. He arranged the soldiers to be responsible for the order in the field, strode over, and assisted the Yellow River in picking people together.

Su Hao leaned against the door of the off-road vehicle, clasped his hands, and scanned back and forth in the crowd with a sharp gaze.

A small, gray-skinned woman came into view. She was dressed in thin clothes, her trousers and shoes were covered in mud, and her shoulder-length hair had not been washed for a long time and had become hard knots. His skin was dark, his hands and face were covered in dirt, and his body was full of sweat and the sour smell of dryness.

If it weren't for the fact that he knew the Tao in advance, Su Hao couldn't have imagined that this woman with a withered expression would be Song Xiaoye, who looked sweet.

She looks like a middle-aged woman in her thirties or forties at the moment, without the slightest sense of youth, even worse than the widows in the family building.

A young man in a coffee-colored coat stands on the periphery. His expression was distressed, and his face looked particularly pale in the sun. Although he is much taller than the average person, his steps are a little vague, probably due to long-term malnutrition.

In the depths of the crowd, there was a middle-aged man with a gloomy expression. He wears a sweatshirt in the shape of "Gong", and the muscles in his chest, neck and arms are unusually developed. The freshly shaved scalp was faintly dark blue, and the head was oozing with oily sweat. The vicious and fierce look frightened many people, so that there was enough room for movement around them.

There was also a man in his thirties, of medium height, with numb eyes, who belonged to the kind of character who was not good-looking, and was inconspicuous in the crowd. He followed the crowd and moved forward, with an honest expression of resignation. It doesn't seem to be thinking about what to fight for, just come and see, you won't be excited, you won't be sad because of something, you will eat if you have it, and you will die if you want to die.

These people have one thing in common———— they don't squeeze into the open space and still linger outside the field. It's not that they don't want to come in, it's that the people guarding the entrance have been refusing to get out of the way.

Those guys were apparently some gang group near the venue.

Without their permission, or without handing over enough benefits, there is naturally no way to enter the queue, let alone be selected.

The "Black Scythe" mercenary group led by Tang Zi has become famous. Su Hao carefully looked at the computer files she handed over to Xinyan, which stored the identity information of as many as three hundred people, from photos to personal information. With Su Hao's incomparably powerful memory, it has already formed an imprint in the depths of his mind.

"Song Xiaoye, Huo Ziwei, Wang Jinlong, Zhang Nanyi, Gao Mingyang......"

Su Hao silently read the list handed over by Tang Zi, and with the photos in his memory, he corresponded to the faces in the crowd and gradually coincided.

He can actually judge it this way.

You only need to search for your thinking consciousness, and you can naturally know who your own people are? Who are the strangers?

They were all assigned by Lao Song to be "worker bees", and they had all been injected with Su Hao's blood, no matter what their appearance was, there was absolutely no problem in terms of loyalty.

According to the news passed back by Su Hao, Lao Song selected a sufficient number of "worker bees" from the "castle". They speak a variety of accents, and their identity indicates that they are civilians scattered in the southwestern part of the continent.

Long before leaving Kunming, Su Hao ordered Lao Song to select a number of refugees from neighboring provinces from the "worker bee" swarms that he was constantly admitting.

The storm of the virus has caused chaos, and under fear and despair, people will gather wherever they can survive. Joining the army is the best way to control power, and Su Hao needs to have a team. These "worker bees" who have been injected with blood potions, but have not taken silver bones, and whose comprehensive strength is maintained below that of the primary strengtheners, are the basis for the formation of the Eleventh Independent Army.

Xu Renjie is very trustworthy. He didn't have a presence in the army. This may be because of Su Hao's trust, or it may be because the Yellow River is still alive. All in all, Su Hao was very satisfied with the current situation, as long as the shelves of the Eleventh Independent Army were built first, any form of personnel dilution would not be effective.

The speed at which the Yellow River picks people is very fast.

This job is much simpler than auditions for variety shows such as "Miss XX". There is no need to be coquettish to the judges, and there is no need to howl at the microphone and other talents, completely by sight and feeling, the casual finger that you like will be called out of the team, there is no obvious physical disability and mental retardation, and the soldiers next to you will take people to the back for a physical examination.