CHAPTER 25

Shen Xu's camp was located in the opposite direction of Y City. Last time when the three of them escaped in the middle of the night, they didn't get a clear view of their surroundings. This time, Tang Yu keep an eye on the terrain of the mountain, memorizing the details.

The mountain peaks stretched from east to west, and they headed north, crossing over the mountaintop from a pass. As the first light of dawn illuminated the area, they glanced back and saw their small camp at the foot of the mountain, almost hidden in the dense forest.

The altitude of the mountains here was not low, and from the halfway point up, it was covered with coniferous plants. Pine, fir, and cypress trees were scattered around. Tang Yu stored this information in her mind, excitedly envisioning the future. If the camp grew in size and they needed to expand the houses, these trees would be a good choice.

After walking for seven or eight hours, the signs of logging and human activity gradually increased, indicating that they were getting close to Shen Xu's camp. Xiaoli informed the other two that Shen Xu's camp was called "Beixi [Northern River]," taking its name from the river below the camp. The people in the camp usually referred to themselves as "Beiying [Northern]," which she learned during her captivity.

The farther they went in the direction of the north, the more uneasy Tang Yu felt.

From a distance, they saw thick black smoke rising from above Beixi, which didn't resemble the cooking smoke produced from preparing meals.

The three of them abandoned their thoughts of a leisurely outing and immediately heightened their vigilance.

As they approached Beixi, they crawled on the ground in the dense forest behind the camp, secretly observing the situation.

On the other side of the barbed wire fence, they heard the sounds of commotion and fighting. However, their vision was blocked by the walls, and they couldn't see what was happening inside.

A figure ran out from the only exit of Beixi, pursued by two or three Molotov cocktail-wielding individuals.

The fleeing soldier was hit by one of the Molotov cocktails, causing his body to immediately catch fire. He frantically rolled on the ground, but his clothes and skin were soaked in fuel, rendering his efforts futile.

After a moment, two men, one tall and one short, emerged from the camp and dragged the severely burned deserter back inside.

"Tsk, they're really starting to fight amongst themselves." Tang Yu muttered in a low voice.

She had previously suspected this would happen. Shen Xu and most of the highly skilled vanguard soldiers had died in Y City, so something was bound to happen in Beixi Camp. The remaining survivors would either disband and go their separate ways, or a new leader would emerge to stabilize the situation.

Beixi Camp was clearly the second type, as it didn't seem peaceful at all. A harmonious disbandment was unlikely in this environment, which had been managed by authoritarian rule for a long time.

During transitions of power, conflicts often erupted, especially in places like Beixi, where people had become particularly power-hungry.

Tang Yu speculated that there were probably some survivors with remaining strength who wanted to forcefully take over the camp. However, there were others who were unwilling to submit, leading to factional disputes.

However, Tang Yu hadn't anticipated that the camp would continue to enforce the deadly rule of killing those who tried to leave.

'How dark,' Tang Yu thought inwardly. She appreciated her loving and caring family even more, with each of her little companions being so adorable.

Xiaoli asked in a low voice, "What should we do? It's chaotic inside right now, and we won't be able to find any opportunities."

Tang Yu muttered in the communication group, "No, chaos makes it even better to find opportunities. Look at it now, even the people patrolling outside are inside guarding."

She loved watching the fisherman and the clam fight.

Tang Yu looked at the barbed wire fence, noticing that it was covered in many birds, and even some electrocuted zombies. Perhaps Beixi was too chaotic to spare manpower for cleaning up these corpses, so they just remained there. This also served as a reminder to Tang Yu that the fence was still electrified.

'This is easy to handle!'

The first time they came, Tang Yu and Jin Ye were defenseless. They couldn't do anything about this defense.

But now, she had supernatural abilities!

Tang Yu explained her plan in the communication group and then, in the blink of an eye, disappeared from her original position.

Perhaps determined not to let anyone escape from the camp, the only entrance had been covered with densely packed spikes. However, the previous deserter had broken through part of this defense, creating an opening. Two guards were currently readjusting the wooden spikes.

Tang Yu, using her invisibility ability, gracefully slipped through the opening. She didn't attack the guards since making a move would expose her presence. She had a better method to let her teammates sneak in.

As if no one was around, Tang Yu wandered through the camp, observing the situation in Beixi. The scene inside was worse than she had imagined.

The entire camp was divided into two halves, separated by rows of wooden spikes. Fire pits, remnants of burning bottles, were scattered everywhere. The black smoke she had seen earlier was coming from these fire pits.

On either side of the wooden spikes, two teams of armed individuals stood, glaring at each other. However, there were no signs of them engaging in combat yet. They were still in a state of mutual restraint. But judging from the situation in Beixi, this kind of stalemate had probably been going on for half a month. At this point, any small matter could become a trigger.

However, compared to the vanguard soldiers Tang Yu had seen before, these people were weaker by more than one level.

The open-air stage that was previously used for serving porridge has turned into a gathering place for the wounded. Some disheveled individuals are huddled together, being held at gunpoint, looking like the most vulnerable among the lowest ranks of Beixi Camp. The recently captured deserters are now sitting in the crowd, completely drenched from head to toe.

Tang Yu bypassed the guards on both sides and walked up to the stage, observing from a close distance.

These people crowded together, more or less injured, but none of the injuries seemed fatal. One person holding a gun berated loudly, "Who will do the work if one or two of you try to escape? If anyone attempts to leave the camp again, I'll break your legs."

The people on the ground trembled, clearly understanding that his words were more than just a threat.

Tang Yu furrowed her eyebrows. She hadn't realized that Beixi was in such turmoil before. It seemed calm because there was a powerful person maintaining order. Once this strong individual was gone, these deep-rooted wounds surfaced.

The captured deserters hadn't been killed, probably because the camp was short on manpower. This large camp required labor for meals and electricity. If everyone died, there would be no point in guarding this place.

Another person with a gun was forcing these sick and disabled individuals to choose sides. Tang Yu paused and listened for a while, gaining an understanding of the situation between the two factions.

The leader of one faction was a warrior named Master Ba, currently the person with the highest points and strongest ability in the entire Beixi camp.

The leader of the other faction was a strategist, more resourceful and kinder in his interactions. He used to be Shen Xu's subordinate and was known as Professor Gu.

After getting a rough understanding, Tang Yu lost interest. Leaders who didn't care about the life and death of camp members were not good leaders.

Her gaze fell on a woman. The woman wore glasses and a white coat as she moved among the patients.It was Zhou Zhou.

Zhou Zhou was currently treating a burn victim.

The person with the gun reminded her, "Professor Zhou, just give him some medicine casually, as long as he doesn't die."

"Okay." Zhou Zhou replied calmly, without displaying any forced or voluntary agreement.

Tang Yu withdrew her gaze and walked away from the square, heading towards the westernmost house in the front row. The rumbling sound of a generator could be heard from there, and she guessed it was the power room.

As she passed by the vanguard soldiers' barracks, Tang Yu glanced inside through the iron bars on the window.

In that glance, she managed to gather some information.

Inside the barracks, four people sat across from each other at a wooden table, their faces serious, seemingly engaged in negotiations.

The door was locked, and Tang Yu couldn't pass through walls. She could only lean against the iron bars and listen. However, most of the voices were muffled by the thin glass. After listening for a while, Tang Yu only caught phrases like "take turns" and "one year."

Sitting on opposite sides of the table were the so-called Master Ba and Professor Gu. These two fellows, despite fighting until now, were actually considering taking turns managing Beixi.

Tang Yu snorted disdainfully in her heart. Leaders who were incompatible in temperament, heart, and ideology, taking turns leading the troops. It was obvious that their subordinates would suffer greatly. These two would sooner or later end up fighting each other.

Tang Yu thought, maybe she should lend them a hand.

The concept of "help" in her mind was completely different from its literal meaning.

Tang Yu memorized the appearances of the two individuals, left the vanguard soldiers' barracks, circled around the back of Beixi, and returned to the front row of houses.

As Tang Yu had expected, the power room was indeed on the western side, and it had an iron lock. Tang Yu waved her Jing Long knife a few times and thought, "Attacking a lock shouldn't be considered an attack, right? It won't expose my presence, will it?"

With this in mind, the knife swiftly descended, and Tang Yu reached out and caught the iron lock, which instantly disappeared into thin air.

No one on the tense square noticed as the door to the power room opened slightly and then closed gently.

The management of the large camp was complex, so all the equipment had labels attached to facilitate the identification of the staff on duty. This aspect happened to work in Tang Yu's favor.

There was no one inside the power room, only the machines rumbling. Tang Yu ran her fingers over the equipment and quickly found the switch for the power grid. She raised the corner of her mouth and lightly pulled the switch, watching as the indicator light above changed from green to red.

"Jump over the iron mesh from the rear, I've already switched off the power switch. Everyone is now on the square, and there's no one in the back." Tang Yu informed Jin Ye and Xiaoli in the group.

The barbed wire mesh was quietly cut off from the power supply, and no one in Beixi noticed. They were still immersed in the struggles between factions, unaware that Tang Yu, the cunning angler, had stolen their home.

Tang Yu hurried to the rear to meet up with her teammates. First, she synchronized the current situation in Beixi with Jin Ye and Xiaoli. Then, utilizing her stealth ability, she boldly roamed around the camp.

She familiarized herself with the locations of the food and weapon storage rooms, and with the help of her two companions, they took away ten pistols, three bags of rice, five bags of flour, ten kilograms of potatoes, and two small packets of unidentified seeds.

While others typically use their invisibility abilities for ambushes, Tang Yu used hers for theft.

Using the camp's rear fence as cover, the three of them smuggled the stolen supplies out.

They only managed to steal spare pistols, and the weapon quality didn't seem to be high either. The more advanced weapons were currently in the hands of the people in Beixi, and Tang Yu couldn't get her hands on them for now. Additionally, the large and heavy generator they coveted couldn't be moved at the moment.

Once they had stolen enough, Tang Yu turned her attention to Zhou Zhou. She remembered Jian Wu mentioning that Zhou Zhou's laboratory was on the right side of the camp, right behind the open-air stage.

The laboratory should have medications, and at the very least, surgical supplies such as scalpels, syringes, tourniquets, disinfectant, and anesthetics. After all, when Liang's team captured them before, they mentioned something about "having Zhou Zhou perform cranial research." on them.

These items were exactly what Tang Yu and her group desperately needed. Even if no one in the camp knew how to use them, as they might be necessary in the future.

However, the laboratory was right under everyone's noses, so how to steal from there was still a question.

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