This time, none of Huaxia Base and its allies attained anything. Huaxia Base lost face while Sky Fire Base and Mongols Base went home empty handed. Unlike those bases, Heilong Base left in the middle of the plan and brought home a batch of food, becoming the biggest winner. That was only a small batch of food, but at least Heilong Base people wouldn't need to worry about food for the next two to three months.
"Things have already ended up like this. We should get back and make some further plans. But now, the most pressing problem is the food crisis in our bases. Sea City Base refused to make any deals with you again, but they are still willing to trade with us. Would you like our help?" Li Zhengye said with a smile.
Wei Haichao looked at him with narrowing eyes and sneered in his head, but responded with a smile, "Not for now. We still have some food in stock. We will not forget about your base when we really need help. Perhaps, we'll develop the soil remedy before that."
Li Zhengye nodded and said, "Good then. I'm not joining you for the journey back, as I have some other work to do. We should say goodbye here. I'll see you around."
"See you," Wei Haichao responded quickly.
After saying goodbye to the Huaxia Base people, Li Zhengye and his people took a detour toward All Beings Base.
"This base is doing good now. Sea City Base let it grow like this. I have even started to think that this base is built secretly by Sea City Base as its subsidiary base. Currently, a lot of survivors from Hidden Cloud City Base and Earth Dragon Base have been joining Sea City Base and All Beings Base. The All Beings Base must be stronger than it looks, or it wouldn't be able to take in so many people." Li Zhengye had his eyes on All Beings Base since long ago. He had sent many people to the base to gather information, but no useful information was found. Even Gu Yikang had disappeared after arriving near that base.
"This All Beings Base is a little weird. Some of our people have gotten in, but they don't dare to make any obvious move yet. Not long ago, they dealt with a group of people who attempted to cause trouble in the base. I told our people not to do anything and settle down first," Li Zhengye's assistant looked at him and said.
Recently, a large number of people had joined All Beings Base, so it was easy for their people to make a way into the base. But after that, All Beings Base people would check their backgrounds. Therefore, to avoid catching attention, Li Zhengye's assistant ordered his people to stop gathering information.
"Be patient. A watched pot never boils. It's already great that they made their way in. Tell them not to do anything for the time being," Li Zhengye gave a small smile. Apparently, he approved what his assistant did. "The leaders of All Beings Base aren't stupid. They are certainly having their eyes on the new residents in their base. Our people would surely expose themselves if they caused trouble once they got in."
The assistant nodded in response.
At that moment, Yuan Tianxing, Lin Feng, and some others were having a meeting in All Beings Base. Xie Dong had turned and told them about Lin Qiao's situation. As a result, the base was left under their management temporarily.
Lin Feng returned to the base not long ago. He ran into Lin Hao in the medical department and learned that Lin Qiao was gone missing. Now, knowing that she was fine, he was finally relieved. As for why she suddenly went to Sea City Base, he didn't think much about that.
He was never able to figure out what she was thinking anyway. He only needed her to be okay.
"Those creatures are afraid of the sunlight. They don't come out during the daytime, and only leave their nest to search for food at night. They don't have superpowers, but they are especially strong. Their mutations are the same as the animals on the ground, but a level-one underground beast can bite a level-two beast on the ground straight to death, and has a chance to break even with a level-three one. More importantly, they are able to boost their strength without losing control of themselves," Lin Feng shared what he found out about those underground creatures with a serious look.
The last part of his information surprised Yuan Tianxing. "Are you saying that they can go crazy at any time they want, without losing their mind?"
Lin Feng nodded and said expressionlessly, "That's why a level-one underground beast has a chance of winning against a level-three beast on the ground, no matter how large its opponent is. Those creatures look like gorillas without hair. Their bodies are covered by a cuticle-like skin. They are muscular and very strong. Their claws are sharp, and can cut iron as easily as cutting butter. They have strong teeth too, even stronger than the teeth of those mutated rats. But, they don't have eyes. They detect the surrounding environment with their noses, ears, or some other organs."
Yuan Tianxing pictured an extremely ugly, eye-less creature in his head based on Lin Feng's description.
"Every night, they'll swarm out to find food and crawl back into the underground cave before dawn. They like eating living animals. They usually hunt for mutated animals at night. They won't eat their prey on the ground. They always bring them back into the underground cave," said Lin Feng.
Yuan Tianxing furrowed his brows and asked a question, "How large is their scope of activity?"
Lin Feng responded, "They will choose a different direction to go every night. For now, they go no more than one mile away from their nest. Wherever they reach, all living creatures are caught by them, and not one can get away. Their sensations are very sharp. Not even the birds on the trees can fly away from them."
In the areas visited by those underground gorillas, no survivor was found.
Yuan Tianxing looked at Lin Feng and asked, "How did you observe them then? Didn't they discover you?"
Lin Feng shook his head and said, "My men and I didn't approach them. Three and Four did that."
Three and Four were zombies, so those underground creatures ignored them completely. They had no interest in zombies at all.
Yuan Tianxing nodded knowingly and said, "Ah, I see. What is the highest level of those creatures?"
Lin Feng stayed silent for a few seconds, then said with a deep voice, "Seven. During the time we were observing them, more than one level-seven members led the group every night. They take turns to come out. Every two or three days, they'll switch to a new batch of members to come out."
Yuan Tianxing slightly widened his eyes and said with disbelief, "Are you saying that we don't know how many of them are at level-seven?"
Level-seven mutated beasts were no longer rare, but still not seen everywhere. Level-seven mutated beasts were highly territorial. Normally, two level-seven beasts couldn't possibly act together, not even of the same kind.
If more than two level-seven beasts were seen together, it would mean one thing—there was a level-eight being controlling them.
"I've seen more than twenty of them. Those level-seven creatures can be as strong as a level-eight mutated beast when they boost their strength up," Lin Feng said, then gave a long sigh.