Magic Space: Struggling to Survive in the Apocalypse

Upon entering the chicken farm, Evelyn Ford found the ground was wet all over. It must have just been sprayed down, and a faint, almost imperceptible scent of insecticide lingered in the air.

The chicken farm was like a factory assembly line. Hens were kept inside cage racks, which had five tiers. There were water and feed troughs outside the cages, and a net at the very bottom to catch the eggs.

Collecting the eggs was also convenient for the workers; they just needed to carry buckets and gather them from the nets. Evelyn Ford noticed the eggs here were all reddish-brown and pink.

The eggs were also quite large. Evelyn Ford picked one up and shook it. The shell was rather thick, almost like a duck’s egg, leading her to guess it was a specially cultivated breed.

The broiler chickens looked relatively normal. Evelyn Ford then took a look around the garbage room and the warehouse but didn’t find anything unusual. She swiped ten eggs to take back for research. Since there were no problems with the chicken farm, she had to hurry to the next location.

The chicken farm was quite large, with several buildings. Outside stood a massive grain silo. The base had no shortage of electricity, so the grain was transported from the silo into the farm buildings through a system of pipes. Several trucks used for hauling chicken manure were parked nearby, ready to transport it to the cultivation zone. Two drivers were huddled together chatting. As Evelyn Ford walked past them, neither so much as glanced up.

——

Ronan Kendrick’s objective was clear: find the base’s highest-ranking executive officer. After that, things would be much easier.

After parting with Evelyn Ford, Ronan Kendrick immediately headed for the base’s office buildings. Workers getting off their shifts passed by him, looking as if their very life force had been drained. They all appeared listless and sluggish, their faces pale and their eyes vacant.

’Why does everyone look so sick?’

This was not the time to ponder such things. Ronan Kendrick averted his gaze and quickly walked into one of the office buildings.

He had obtained a lot of information on the base during his visit to The Black Dragon Gang. While The Black Dragon Gang was just an underworld outfit, they had access to a wealth of information through the grapevine and had some surprisingly capable people. They knew everything, from the identities of the base’s executive officers down to the number of widows in the refugee camp.

After reviewing the information he had, Ronan Kendrick went straight to the sixth floor. The office of the highest-ranking executive officer was there.

Ronan Kendrick could sense the presence of people inside. The only problem was the two armed bodyguards standing guard outside the door. He took out one of Evelyn Ford’s homemade Smoke Bombs and tossed it at their feet.

After the two of them passed out, Ronan Kendrick emerged from around the corner.

Inside the office, the Commander of The Second Base was still reviewing a report from his assistant. It wasn’t until a dagger was pressed against the small of his back that he turned his head to look at Ronan Kendrick behind him.

Ronan Kendrick remembered clearly. After waking up in the laboratory, all the other test subjects who had been injected with the drug, except for him, had lost their minds. So he hadn’t hesitated, killing them all the moment they tried to lunge forward and bite him.

Yet the man before him was clearly a successful test subject. The face was unfamiliar, but Ronan would never mistake the familiar presence of an experimental subject emanating from him.

"Who are you?"

The man with the dagger at his back looked to be around thirty-five years old. He was handsome with a powerful air, and a pair of gold-rimmed glasses rested on the bridge of his nose, complementing his black overcoat perfectly.

"You’re Rhys Chase?"

The man nodded. He asked again, "Who are you?"

Ronan Kendrick remained silent. He hadn’t expected the other man to be a genetically engineered human like himself. His hypnotism wouldn’t be fully effective on his own kind.

"I never thought I’d live to see another of my kind. Why don’t you put down the dagger first? If we fight, neither of us will come out on top."

Ronan Kendrick sat down opposite Rhys Chase. They both observed each other, neither making a move to speak first.

After about five minutes, Rhys Chase finally broke the silence.

"Why have you come looking for me?"

"The refugee camp."

Rhys Chase raised an eyebrow, somewhat surprised by the answer.

"You live in the refugee camp? Your genes are flawless. I can feel the powerful presence you exude. How could you be in a refugee camp?"

"I’m here to have you resolve the survival crisis in the refugee camp; I don’t live there myself. If you’re willing to cooperate, we can handle this peacefully. If not, we can resort to force. You may look like you’re in your thirties, but you’re actually forty-five, aren’t you? Your genes are degrading—right now, they’re barely a passing grade. If we fight, you are no match for me."

The moment Ronan Kendrick’s words fell, the look in Rhys Chase’s eyes grew profound.

"Eleven years ago, I saw a list of successful test subjects. The list was from the Marris Genetics Laboratory. Of the six successful subjects, only one received a perfect score. So you’re the one."

Ronan Kendrick’s expression was indifferent, and he didn’t respond.

"You mentioned a survival problem in the refugee camp just now. Is something wrong over there?"

Rhys Chase was very busy. He had to manage the entire base. The refugee camp was in Flumen, so it was even more impossible for him to be aware of every single detail.

Ronan Kendrick explained the situation in the refugee camp. Their conversation was relatively harmonious.

"I understand what you’re saying. However, you don’t need to worry about the refugee camp rebelling. I have enough weapons here to suppress them."

If the base commander had been a regular military man, Ronan Kendrick could have used hypnotism to make him obey his orders and immediately issue a command to clean up the refugee camp. But before meeting Rhys Chase, he never imagined the Commander of The Second Base would turn out to be a genetically engineered human.

"If I recall correctly, your designation is Eighteen. Do you have a name now? If you’re willing, you can stay here."

Ronan Kendrick stared at him. "You don’t want to sort out the refugee camp."

"Survival of the fittest. If those ordinary humans die, they die. The base still has hundreds of thousands of people who have retained their civility, diligence, and basic morals. But the people in the refugee camp? They can no longer be called ’human.’ If they all die, it’s just nature and the food chain weeding them out."

Ronan Kendrick felt that what Rhys Chase said made a lot of sense. As a genetically engineered human, he didn’t possess the same capacity for empathy as ordinary people. But he didn’t want to disappoint Evelyn Ford.

He had to help Evelyn Ford accomplish what she wanted to do.

"If a riot breaks out and the one hundred fifty thousand people from the refugee camp flood into the base, the base might not be able to hold them off."

Rhys Chase shook his head. "Those people can’t even get enough food or clothing. What strength do they have to rebel? Some people are bound to die. It’s nothing to be sad about. And as you said, so what if a riot breaks out? I have plenty of weapons."

Ronan Kendrick narrowed his eyes.

"You don’t agree with me? You’ve developed the weaknesses and emotions of an ordinary human, wasting your perfect-score genes. For people like us, the apocalypse is the perfect stage." Rhys Chase looked at Ronan Kendrick’s still-youthful face, his expression complicated.

Ronan Kendrick gave the dagger a light toss. It flipped into the air, and when it came down, the tip pointed downward, embedding itself straight into the wooden table.

"Do you know how I tame beasts?"

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