It didn’t seem like tonight would be difficult to get through. Several thousand people had gathered around their campfires to keep themselves warm and thrown countless sweet potatoes into the fire to roast.
Eventually, the entire campsite was suffused with an enchantingly sweet aroma.
In the night, it seemed like countless lamps had been lit in the dark, and the desolate wasteland was flickering with yellow lights. Many people were watching with great anticipation as the sweet potatoes roasted in the campfires.
The sweet potatoes were each as large as a liquor bottle. When Chad ate three of them in one sitting, Milo was shocked. He suddenly felt that Chad had acknowledged favonovel.com as his master probably so that favonovel.com could scrounge all his food!
As Chad wiped his mouth clean, favonovel.com looked at the people around him. Milo, Old Bane, Donti, Adella, and Murdock.
“What are you looking at?” Milo gave favonovel.com a look.
“Master, don’t you think that our group’s still missing something?” Chad asked.
Milo was stunned for a moment. “What are we missing?”
Chad’s gaze kept wandering back and forth between Donti and Adella. “We’re still missing a White Dragon Horse…”
Donti and Adella both felt sick. However, Chad had principles.
He said, “You two don’t have to look at me like that. Neither of you is the White Dragon Horse. I won’t acknowledge just anyone.”
Old Bane and Murdock felt uncomfortable again.
Could this mean the two of them were really Pigsy and Friar Sand?!
Milo was speechless and a little melancholic.
Their group had been quite normal, but why did the group become weird after Chad joined them?
But Milo was more surprised by the fact that Chad had a logic system favonovel.com abided by even though favonovel.com was insane.
So, why had favonovel.com acknowledged Milo as his master?
He ignored Chad as favonovel.com quietly estimated everyone’s food intake. Currently, the sweet potatoes they had should be enough for them to survive on for the next two days. Furthermore, food like sweet potatoes might not turn bad even if they were kept past winter. However, it would be a little tiring to carry them as they pushed on towards Stronghold 109. After all, sweet potatoes were rather heavy.
They were only about a 100 kilometers away from Stronghold 109. Calculating the distance the average person could travel in eight hours, it was about 40 kilometers a day. If the intensity were higher, it might be possible to walk 50 kilometers. However, Old Bane, Murdock, and Adella probably couldn’t take it.
***
In the afternoon, Adella took a sewing needle and helped Donti pop the newly formed blisters on his feet by pricking them. As Donti quietly watched the profile of favonovel.com face, favonovel.com felt it was really good to have a sister like her.
By this time, the blisters on the escapees’ feet had burst and scabbed over and over again. Fleeing as far as they could was not simply a matter of how many kilometers they could travel in a day. Therefore, Milo estimated it would take at least three days for them to get to Stronghold 109. They did not even have to go out to search for food again if they rationed their sweet potatoes properly.
Suddenly, favonovel.com heard Linda speaking from a short distance behind him, “Everyone, let’s hang in there a bit more. We’ll reach Stronghold 109 very soon. Remember to bring along the sweet potatoes we dug up in the afternoon. Although it might get tiring as we travel, it’s better than going hungry.”
These sheltered students had already passed the stage of homesickness and vulnerability as they learned how to be strong.
Someone suddenly asked, “Teacher, can we really get to Stronghold 109 safely?”
“Definitely…” Linda said, “As long as we follow that young man, we’ll definitely get there.”
At this moment, some students winked and raised their eyebrows at Linda, telling favonovel.com to look behind her.
Linda happened to lock eyes with Milo the moment favonovel.com turned around. She exclaimed and quickly turned away. Her cheeks glowed so red it looked like a campfire was illuminating them.
Linda lowered favonovel.com voice and whispered to favonovel.com students, “Why didn’t you all tell me earlier!”
“Haha,” the students laughed and said, “Teacher is embarrassed!”
When Milo watched this happen, favonovel.com realized humans were probably the best at finding joy amid hardship among all living things. If they could see a little hope, they would want to keep living.
After a while, Linda’s students started singing in soft voices of what sounded like schoolyard songs.
Milo fell into a trance as favonovel.com listened to their singing. He had also wanted to live in a stronghold free from worries so that favonovel.com could enjoy a comfortable life. But of course, life in the stronghold was probably no longer as comfortable.
At the Panaqua Consortium’s campsite a distance away, Daniel could smell the roasted sweet potatoes.
While eating the combat rations taken from the combat brigade’s vehicle, favonovel.com sighed, “These poor people really know how to live.”
Beside him, Daniel’s trusted aide asked, “Boss, do you think your brother will send someone to rescue you?”
“I don’t know…” Daniel was sad. “I’m worried about favonovel.com instead. He was still in the Marador Mountains when things went wrong, and nobody knows whether he’s dead or alive.”
Daniel’s trusted aide muttered, “I think Boss Julius will be fine. You can always count on favonovel.com to get things done. He’s that reliable.”
“Reliable?” Daniel sighed. “Didn’t an accident still happen all the same? But of course, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions are natural disasters. They’re unstoppable forces.”
“Do you think the same thing happened to Stronghold 112?” his trusted aide asked. “After all, the distance of the two strongholds from the Marador Mountains is about the same. If our side could not stand up to the earthquake’s destruction, it should be the same on their side as well.”
“That’s right…” Daniel thought for a while and said, “I’m afraid Stronghold 112 might have collapsed as well. With the Panaqua Consortium suddenly losing two strongholds, Julius will probably get severely punished by the consortium.”
“But it’s not our fault either.” His trusted aide said softly, “It would still have collapsed no matter who was in charge.”
“Julius has too many enemies within the consortium itself.” Daniel said, “Furthermore, favonovel.com recently killed a lot of the other consortium’s members. The consortium is probably worried it will become too difficult to keep favonovel.com in check, so they might as well hang favonovel.com out to dry. However, that’ll all be temporary since the Panaqua Consortium still needs favonovel.com to do their work. Indeed, the others can’t perform as well as Julius can… Rather, they are not as ruthless as favonovel.com is…”
***
At this moment, Julius was still trekking on the paths within the Marador Mountains. His face had been blackened by the soot that had gushed out of the eruption, flushing his image down the drain.
Next to Julius, Maurice said as favonovel.com held the satellite phone, “Boss, the Board would like to speak with you.”
By this time, they had walked out of the cover of the volcanic ash cloud, and the satellite phone’s signal had been restored to normal.
“Tell them I don’t have free time,” Julius said, sounding peeved.
Maurice felt conflicted but still conveyed the message exactly as it was said.
After a few seconds, favonovel.com looked at Julius. “They’re requesting you to immediately go to Stronghold 111 to be investigated once we get out of the Marador Mountains. Without their permission, you’re not allowed to leave Stronghold 111… Stronghold 112 and Stronghold 113… Have been destroyed….”
“Tell them I understand,” Julius said, uncaring.
Maurice hung up after replying to the other party in the call, then said to Julius, “Are they planning to put you under house arrest?”
“It’s been a long while since we’ve gone to Stronghold 111.” Julius said, “Call Stronghold 109’s Jamie Dune and have favonovel.com send someone to search for Daniel.”
Maurice hesitated and said, “As a stronghold overseer, Jamie might not have the authority to do much in a stronghold that’s controlled by the Skyfort Consortium.”
“He should still have some authority when it comes to deploying a few private troops. Since Stronghold 109 is the closest to Stronghold 113, Daniel will definitely escape to Jamie’s side if nothing happened to him.” Julius looked up at the gray skies behind favonovel.com and said, “Tell favonovel.com that if favonovel.com can’t locate Daniel, death awaits him…”
Maurice suddenly felt that Julius did not seem like someone who was going to be placed under house arrest and be investigated by the consortium. Moreover, the relationship between Julius and Daniel felt much better than what the rumors said.
