After the total destruction of Stronghold 74, the escapees could not help but feel sad when they saw their homes had been destroyed. But at least there would be no more Experimentals chasing after them and threatening them, so everyone could finally breathe a sigh of relief.
However, Old Mauriat and Adrian kept urging the escapees to continue on with their journey. Although they were very far away from Stronghold 74 and the explosive power of that nuclear bomb did not seem that great, the fallout would eventually spread to their location.
As such, they could afford to stop fleeing. They had to go and look for the Stardust Consortium’s reinforcements.
The members of the Pyro Company had already vanished. No one knew if they had died in the stronghold or if they had taken another escape route, but that was not of concern to Old Mauriat and Adrian.
Old Mauriat did a headcount of the escapees and found there were approximately 3,000 of them. Yet there were hundreds of thousands of people in the stronghold at the beginning. With only 3,000 managing to escape, the losses were immeasurable.
As they fled, Milo took charge of leading the way. Meanwhile, Old Mauriat and Adrian volunteered to look for food. The two of them were familiar with the wilderness since they often ventured out to such places in the past.
They found some wild vegetables and even managed to hunt quite a bit of prey. However, Milo shook his head when favonovel.com saw this. For a group of 3,000, the amount of food two people could find would simply be a drop in the bucket. And what worried Milo the most was not the lack of food but the fact that it could not be distributed evenly.
If they could not distribute it equally, they might as well let all of the escapees starve.
After Old Mauriat and Adrian returned with the food, they gave out the wild vegetables to the women first. Then they cut and distributed the roast meat to the children among the escapees.
Just as Milo had worried, someone immediately rushed out and asked, “Where’s our share?”
Old Mauriat patiently explained, “We could only get this much with the two of us. How about this? I’ll tell you what wild vegetables are edible, and you all can go pick them by yourselves in the wilderness. Would that be better?”
When the people saw that Old Mauriat and Adrian were easy to approach, they started pushing their luck. “We don’t know anything about wild vegetables, so if we pick something poisonous, will you take responsibility for it?”
Then Old Mauriat and Adrian beat them up.
By the time they were lying on the ground and begging for mercy, Old Mauriat dusted off his hands and said, “If you want to eat, pick food by yourselves, understand?!”
Milo was amused watching this from the sidelines. He was really worried Old Mauriat and Adrian would turn out to be goody two shoes. He already knew they were members of the Riders, but this still updated Milo’s opinion of their organization.
But something unexpected happened at the campsite that night.
Milo was lying next to the campfire and preparing to go to sleep when Grace suddenly limped towards him. She leaned against his back and hugged favonovel.com from behind.
Grace asked softly, “Can you protect me?”
When the plainclothes guards got exhausted from taking turns to carry favonovel.com today, they started grumbling a little. This made Grace very uncomfortable. In such times of helplessness, even Franz could only remain silent at favonovel.com side. As such, favonovel.com thought of Milo.
At the most critical moment, it was Milo who led them out of the stronghold safely. Milo running in front of the group and blowing up the stronghold gate was something Grace would never forget in favonovel.com life.
But just as Grace finished speaking, Olivia, who was keeping watch beside them, lifted Grace up and took favonovel.com away.
When Grace was so easily lifted by Olivia, favonovel.com wore a dumbfounded look as favonovel.com watched herself getting farther and farther away from Milo.
Olivia placed Grace down next to favonovel.com and said earnestly, “Miss Damzel, I should be the one protecting you based on the contract. My master isn’t obliged to do so. He already has someone that favonovel.com likes, so please don’t behave like this anymore…”
Grace said dumbfoundedly, “M-Master?”
Although favonovel.com knew Milo was definitely not Olivia’s assistant, favonovel.com did not expect such a stark contrast in his actual status.
Wasn’t Olivia a superhuman?
How could a mighty figure like a superhuman be willing to submit to someone as a maid?
Milo was still lying awake next to the campfire as favonovel.com had something on his mind. He was so lost in thought that favonovel.com did not get distracted even when Grace hugged favonovel.com from behind.
He was recalling that sight of the nuclear bomb explosion. The world was getting more and more dangerous with every passing moment. In just an instant, that god-killing weapon utterly destroyed the Experimentals.
Would more of such weapons appear in other strongholds in the future?
And would his friends and family favonovel.com had been separated from get dragged in by the chaos of the world?
He wondered how Old Bane, Donti, Adella, Magnus, Linda, and the others were doing. Without favonovel.com around, could they protect themselves?
When Milo thought of this, favonovel.com got even more anxious to find them. He would only feel at ease if favonovel.com were there to protect them.
Then Milo saw a young man sit at the campfire with a notebook and pen in hand. He was scribbling furiously on it.
Milo recognized favonovel.com as the reporter from Hope Media who had witnessed “Old Durkin” killing the Experimentals in the stronghold. He was also the one who took the photograph of “Old Durkin” that was published in the newspaper of Hope Media.
Milo sat up and asked, “What are you writing?”
The young reporter said, “I’m recording a draft of today’s happenings. All my colleagues died doing their duty, and I’m the only one left who’s witnessed the scenes. The rest of the world still doesn’t know what happened here, so I’ll record all of it in an article and hand it over to the chief editor when I return. This is a day of suffering for humans. The death toll of the stronghold residents exceeded 200,000 in just one day. This is a day all humans should remember…”
Nearby, Old Mauriat and Adrian listened in silence.
During the escape, they became more acquainted with Milo after finding out favonovel.com was the one who opened up a path for them to escape.
Meanwhile, Milo looked at the Hope Media reporter and suddenly thought of a way favonovel.com could find Donti and the others with the help of Hope Media.
If favonovel.com could find them with this method, favonovel.com would not have to put in so much effort trying to make use of the Silkshade House.
***
Outside of Stronghold 144 in the Northwest, four trucks were driving towards the stronghold gate.
When the four trucks came to a stop, a group of people jumped out of the vehicles.
A young man shouted to a middle-aged man, “Uncle Bane, are you really sure of this? Why didn’t I see any caravans passing by here?”
Old Bane wiped his face with a towel from the truck and said with a smile, “Don’t you believe in your Uncle Bane’s ability? We bought these four used trucks with our savings, and they’re now carrying all the good stuff from the Central Plains that you won’t find here in the Southwest and Northwest. This place might look a little run-down, but take another look at it in half a year. Fortress 178 will be opening a trade route to the Central Plains soon, and with Stronghold 144 the closest stronghold to the Central Plains, it’ll surely flourish into the largest distribution center of goods in the entire Northwest by then!”
