NOVEL NEXT Chapter 451: Great Ambitions
"They shouldn't have found us, right?"
"..."
"They're heading this way!"
"..."
"They're knocking on the door! We've been discovered!"
"They're going to break the door, hurry and open it! If the door breaks, we'll freeze to death!"
"..."
Watching the group of people trembling with fear, Wang Tao looked at them with a half-smiling expression.
"You seem very afraid of us? Do you know who we are?"
"..."
The three of them exchanged glances, none daring to speak.
"Not talking means you agree."
Wang Tao quickly drew his conclusion, the man in the middle opened his mouth as if to say something, but Wang Tao interrupted, "What are you doing inside?"
"...Taking refuge!"
The man on the left quickly spoke.
"What are you cooking?"
"...Soup! It's roots and expired food inside..."
The man on the right answered.
Wang Tao asked questions, and all three men answered, although their responses clearly did not satisfy Wang Tao.
Looking at the three men shivering with cold, Wang Tao said:
"It's so cold outside, won't you invite us in?"
"This…"
Upon hearing this, the three men's faces instantly showed great difficulty. They obviously did not want to let Wang Tao and his people in, but they dared not refuse directly.
Although the three ordinary people couldn't discern the strength of Wang Tao's group, nobody's a fool, to be active in such ice and snow must mean they are capable, right? Not to mention, standing behind Wang Tao was a half-human half-mechanical "monster," clearly equipped with various firearms!
For ordinary people, the oppressive feeling of firearms might be stronger than that of Ability Users, after all, "bullets can kill" is deeply ingrained in many people.
While the three men were somewhat troubled, a weak voice suddenly came from inside.
"Please, let the guests in! Cough cough..."
The three men quickly stepped aside.
Wang Tao gestured to the people behind him, some stayed outside, while the others followed him in.
Although Wang Tao had already used his spiritual power to scout the interior, when out and about, one can never be too vigilant.
The basement was not as dim as imagined, for there were three large pots cooking something dark, and the fires beneath were blazing, illuminating the entire space.
Several yellow-faced, lean people, dirty all over, huddled together, both men and women, and even a child of about ten years old.
Seeing Han Rui and several other beautiful and clean women, they seemed quite amazed, but they dared not stare and lowered their heads.
Wang Tao and the others instinctively covered their noses, the smell here was somewhat unpleasant, not the scent of the people but of what was cooking in the pots.
A skinny middle-aged man with sparse hair came forward.
"Cough cough, hello! My name is Zhan Xing..."
"I'm Wang Tao."
Wang Tao briefly shook hands with him.
Zhan Xing was the only Second-order Superpower Owner in the basement.
"Please forgive my companions' rudeness. I know you're not those thugs and you won't harm us. But you know how it is nowadays, we're very afraid of strangers..."
Zhan Xing seemed to be apologizing to Wang Tao but also subtly subjected him to a "moral bind." Of course, this sort of thing obviously wasn't very effective, but it was better than nothing...
"Surviving in such an environment is truly no small feat!"
Wang Tao looked around and sighed.
Now, not only are there zombies but also this cold weather. Wang Tao originally thought anyone outside would likely have frozen to death by now, but surprisingly there were still people surviving. And although these ordinary people looked to be in terrible condition, their HP was actually very healthy. It was only their sole Ability User who was at Half Blood.
"Indeed, it's not easy!"
Zhan Xing also sighed.
Then he looked at Wang Tao, somewhat apprehensively asking:
"I wonder if there's anything Mr. Wang needs us to do? As long as we're capable, we won't refuse!"
Zhan Xing was well aware that against such a group of Ability Users, they had no power to resist, so it was better to be proactive and see what these people really wanted to do.
These people were almost all ordinary with nothing of value here, the only thing of value might be what was cooking in the pot... that shouldn't be of interest, should it?
Wang Tao didn't answer directly but instead asked back.
"Do you know who we are?"
It was a question he had just asked before.
Zhan Xing immediately said:
"You all must be from Changhe Base, right?"
He was also a bit puzzled, in this environment, Changhe Base was still letting people out?
"Knowing we're from Changhe Base, yet you still fear us so?"
Wang Tao asked again.
He could feel that these people were truly afraid of them, not just afraid, but also held great hostility towards him!
Because before opening the door, Wang Tao had used his spiritual power to probe, he actually saw despair on the faces of these ordinary people, and even heard whispers among them about perishing together.
This confused Wang Tao; Changhe Base's reputation couldn't be that bad, could it? Even if they feared Changhe Base, they wouldn't think of mutual destruction upon meeting, would they?
Could it be Changhe Base's purging of the Dusk Church from within the base was exposed, igniting these Dusk Church supporters' collective animosity?