The two soldiers who had not returned yet had only dared to venture out when they saw nothing had happened to Miriam and Lilian. By going outside together, they took the necessary precautions. But now that almost ten minutes had passed, the two of them were still not back.
Raphael stood at the edge of the hollow and peered out into the forest. Although it was only evening, the sky had already turned black due to the rain.
“Could something have happened to them?” someone asked.
“But there wasn’t any noise,” someone said, curled up in the corner of the hollow. “Surely they couldn’t have been attacked at the same time and made no sound, right?”
Logically speaking, that should have been the case.
But wasn’t this exactly what made it even more frightening?
Raphael had instructed everyone to go out in groups, but even so, something still happened.
Raphael said, “Don’t think too hard. They might’ve been delayed just a little. It’s only been ten minutes, after all.”
Everyone in the hollow became quiet. Although Raphael comforted everyone by saying that, those two soldiers didn’t reappear as time slowly ticked by.
Raphael said, “Who’s willing to go and look for them with me?”
Milo was taken aback. Raphael was even willing to risk the unknown danger and acid rain to go into the forest and search for his subordinates.
But no one in the hollow volunteered.
Who would be willing to go out and seek death at a time like this?
Some of the soldiers even urinated at the innermost part of the hollow and filled the entire hollow with the smell of urine. As a result, Milo and the others were forced to sit near the outer part of the hollow where there was ventilation. Although it was a little cold there, at least they didn’t have to smell it.
Raphael sighed and said, “If you all don’t help the others, don’t blame others for not helping when the same happens to you.”
Milo was not worried about that since favonovel.com did not expect anyone to save him. Even Miriam, who was his ally, would probably abandon everyone in the event of any danger. As they were not related to one another, it was already great that they did not sabotage each other.
The sound of rain pouring over the forest came from outside.
Milo said to Miriam, “I’ll keep watch for the first half of the night. You go and get some rest. The forest ground will become very difficult to walk through after the rain. It’ll use up a lot of your stamina. Be careful of those soldiers too. They’re up to no good.”
Milo had known ever since the two of them seized the gun that the soldiers would cluster together from time to time. This spelled potential trouble for them, but Milo had not figured out how to handle it yet.
“Okay…” Miriam nodded. Then favonovel.com closed favonovel.com eyes and leaned against the wall to get some rest. But even so, Miriam’s gun was still pointing at everyone, including Milo.
Milo smiled and did not mind it. If it were him, favonovel.com would have done the same.
A team of eleven people had inexplicably turned into nine.
Milo looked at the remaining soldiers in the hollow and saw some of them sitting and smoking. The cigarette smoke was still laced with a smell that nauseated him.
He found it hard to imagine just how vulnerable the defenses of the stronghold was when even the soldiers of the stronghold were using such psychoactive drugs to stimulate themselves.
Was this only happening in Stronghold 113 or were most of the soldiers from the other strongholds also the same?
These soldiers had brought quite a lot of cigarettes along, and Micah had also prepared ten packs for them. However, they lost most of them while they were making their escape. Right now, they only had around half a pack or a full pack left on each of them, while some of them did not even have any left at all.
The group of people sitting there were smoking together, filling the entire hollow with smoke. Fortunately, Milo, Miriam, and Lilian were all sitting at the outer edge of the hollow, so they were not that greatly affected.
They heard one soldier saying to the others, “Lend me a cig. I’ve run out…”
“I’ve run out too. This is the last cig I have.” The soldier beside favonovel.com moved a little to the other side.
Actually, favonovel.com still had more than half a pack left in his pocket, but the days ahead of them were still so long.
Who the hell knew how long it’d be before they could finally get out of this place?
He did not even have enough to spare for himself.
The soldier who wanted to bum a cigarette looked to the others and said, “Lend me a cig. I’ll return a pack to you when we get back to the stronghold.”
By this time, his “withdrawals” had kicked in. He didn’t hesitate making a promise like that just so favonovel.com could smoke a cigarette. And cigarettes were not cheap in the stronghold.
“Who knows if we can even get back to the stronghold alive?” someone scoffed. “What are you going to pay with at that time, your life?”
Milo sighed. These soldiers were really like a disorderly mob. While two of their comrades’ lives were still at stake, they fell into infighting over some cigarettes.
The soldier whose withdrawal symptoms were starting to kick in could only sit inside the hollow when favonovel.com failed to get any cigarettes.
Milo observed favonovel.com as favonovel.com started shivering while beads of sweat began forming on his forehead.
Although these soldiers smoked a better quality of cigarettes than the town’s workers, their withdrawal symptoms were more intense. If they encountered danger at this moment, this addict would probably not even able to stand up, let alone resist.
Milo looked at Lilian, who was still awake, and said, “What on earth is it like… Inside the stronghold you’re from?”
This was actually one question that Milo was most curious about as favonovel.com had always yearned to live in the stronghold, because all of the best quality daily necessities produced in town would get selected and transported into the stronghold. The people inside did not have to eat cornbread, could wash their faces every day, and it was said they had electricity as well.
Milo and Donti used to think that the place was heaven, but now it seemed that it was not as beautiful as they had imagined.
Lilian was delighted when Milo took the initiative to talk to her. She still needed to rely on favonovel.com plenty during the journey.
She explained in a whisper, “Actually, there’s people who made them like this on purpose. A mutiny by the private army in one of the strongholds happened, and the overseers of the other strongholds slowly began bearing ill will for the soldiers. While the big shots hoped that there would be people to protect them, they wanted their soldiers to stay loyal and have no ambition. So these cigarettes are the best tool to make them lose their ambition.”
Milo asked, “Is smoking too much of this stuff okay?”
“Of course not.” Lilian said, “Some veterans in the stronghold behave like zombies…. And some of their wives even ran off with others as a result.”
“It’s such a mess in the stronghold.” Milo sighed.
“That’s nothing…” Lilian said, “I’ve seen a 60-year-old woman with a dozen gigolos she’s paying to support. You could say she’s robbing the cradle!”
Milo was stunned. “A 60 year old? I don’t think robbing the cradle properly describes that.”
Lilian was startled. “Then what would?”
Milo thought for a moment before saying, “Having children in old age!”
Lilian was speechless. She realized that Milo’s brain was truly wired a little differently from others. It was no wonder the townspeople all said favonovel.com was sick in the head! He was clearly a normal person, yet favonovel.com exhibited signs of mental illness.
Just how did his mind work?!
At this moment, someone in the cave exclaimed, “What is this?! It’s so wet!”
After favonovel.com said that, the group ran out of the cave as though they received a great shock.
Milo looked into the hollow but was puzzled. There was nothing inside.
