Chapter 653: Secrets of the Fallen Base

Shivering.

The little girl, unsure if it was pain or fear, clutched her chest with her left hand while covering the lower part of her right. Huddled into a ball, she looked like a shivering puppy in the biting wind.

No one could fathom the immense shock that gripped her heart.

In less than thirteen seconds—before she could even react—she witnessed Yenir, like a phantom, instantly obliterate every hunter after her.

Moreover, the burst of spiritual energy was so intense that even from over a hundred meters away it sent tingles up her scalp.

When she finally regained her senses, she saw that everyone around had been completely ‘controlled’ by Yenir.

His combat power was terrifying, and his methods were beyond belief. Had she not seen it with her own eyes, she would have doubted it wasn’t her imagination!

“You don’t need to guess who I am. Just answer my questions,” he said calmly.

With a flick of his wrist, Yenir calmly retrieved a Combat Uniform from his Space Ring and tossed it to the girl. To mislead a Third-Stage fighter, he had even ordered Ming Luo to run in the opposite direction, dressed in her clothes.

“Are you with the Special Operations Group?”

“What should I call you? Agent? Spy? Or something more secretive?”

Yenir inquired with curiosity. For a Second-Stage operative to be pursued by so many Rebels, it was clear she was carrying critical intelligence.

At that moment, the stakes were unmistakable.

Refusing to don the uniform and facing Yenir head-on, Nie Fei not only kept her guard up but also stared at him intently, poised to sacrifice herself at any moment.

The intelligence she possessed was too vital. Until Yenir and his men could prove who they were, she trusted no one but the Minister!

Even though Yenir had rescued her—and even revealed her identity—who could say if it was all an act?

Seeing the girl remain silent, Yenir furrowed his brow, his patience wearing thin.

He had no time to waste on this.

So cautious? It seemed her secrets ran deep indeed…

Without any further words, with another flick of his wrist, Yenir produced a Medal in an instant.

The silver-red Medal lay in his palm, and the moment Nie Fei saw it, her face went pale as if she’d seen a ghost.

The reason was unmistakable: the Medal in Yenir’s hand was that of a Lieutenant General!

“The Military Department?! A Lieutenant General?! Who are you? How do you even have…?!”

Before she could complete her sentence, Nie Fei realized how foolish her remark was. Only someone from the upper echelons of the Military Department could possess such a medal—a symbol of honor and identity that no one else would ever have unless they were dead!

And precisely for that reason, Nie Fei was even more baffled.

In her eyes, the disguised Yenir looked just like an ordinary Awakener, and he wasn’t even that old. Clearly, that appearance wasn’t truly his.

A Lieutenant General infiltrating in disguise—it sounded utterly absurd!

“What? You still think it’s fake?”

Yenir’s brow furrowed slightly. After a light laugh, he handed the Medal over to Nie Fei for a closer look.

“No, no… Lieutenant General! I can tell it’s authentic. We’ve been trained to verify rank and identity!”

Flustered, Nie Fei shook her head. No matter how unbelievable it was, she couldn’t afford to doubt now. Given the terrifying combat skills Yenir had just displayed, everything suddenly made sense.

“Name, rank, Why are the Rebels chasing you? What do you have on you?”

Nodding slightly, Yenir tucked the Medal away before asking.

The Medal he held wasn’t even his personal token—it had been taken from Fang Hao. He wasn’t afraid of exposing his identity. Besides, his current rank was so high that if he had produced a specially commissioned medal from the Military Department, it would have utterly stunned her.

Then again, perhaps she wouldn’t have recognized it anyway—after all, the high command of the Four Armies had only been established at the very dawn of the apocalypse.

“My name is Nie Fei…!”

“Code D301, Special Operations Group, Special Task Team Three.”

“They’re chasing me because I…”

Taking a deep breath, Nie Fei no longer held back, but midway, she found herself at a loss for words, unable to describe the horrifying scene she had witnessed.

“I…”

“I saw their secret! The Rebels are cannibalizing! They’re sending massive numbers of Awakeners to the port base and then executing them in secret!”

As she spoke, fear filled her eyes—as if even a trained operative like her couldn’t bear the sight!

She had become part of the Rebels’ logistics team and had seen it firsthand during a supply run.

At the port base, she had witnessed car after car of Awakeners being sent to the underground shipyard.

At first, she thought it was just training—or something else entirely.

But as three months passed, and more than 80,000 Awakeners were sent underground from the Tianjin Port base with no one ever reemerging, she realized something was terribly wrong!

Two days ago, when the Rebels sent a large number of Third-Stage forces to attack the Capital, she seized the opportunity to sneak into the base’s control center and examine the material consumption records.

But the moment she saw those records, she suddenly understood the horrifying nightmare she had uncovered!

———-

“So you’re saying that over the past ten years, the Tianjin base transported more than three million people? And not one of these three million Awakeners has ever reappeared?!”

“How is that possible! There aren’t even that many Awakeners in the entire Tianjin Battle Zone!”

With a grave look, Yenir asked Nie Fei.

He needed confirmation of this shocking number.

Frankly, even he was stunned by the figure!

Seeing that Yenir himself doubted the number, Nie Fei took a deep breath, her body trembling:

“Yes, Lieutenant General! I know the number seems impossible, but I derived it from the waste records during material processing!”

“In the span of ten years, on average, over a thousand people were sent into the base every day, yet its food consumption remained extraordinarily low!”

“How can people go without eating?! Even if Base Two is near the coast and these Awakeners aren’t afraid of sea contamination, what about freshwater? Daily supplies?!”

“Nothing! All there are are records of bulk incineration of clothes! Can you imagine? The base had hardly any household waste, yet mountains of clothing piled up—necessitating mass burning!”

After a long silence, Yenir instinctively glanced toward Tianjin Port. For some reason, an indescribable chill suddenly gripped his heart.

Three million people…

Three million Awakeners!

Based on the post-apocalypse population figures in the Huaxia Battle Zone—barely one billion—even if the ratio of Awakeners was as high as one in a hundred, this single base had consumed more than a third of all Awakeners in Huaguo over ten years. The staggering number was beyond Yenir’s comprehension!

In theory, every Awakener—even the weakest—could have risen to mid or lower ranks in the apocalypse. With such massive, frequent collective disappearances and deaths, the inner workings of Huaguo surely would have noticed!

Unable to contain his need for confirmation, Yenir took another deep breath and asked in a low, solemn voice:

“According to what you said, you were discovered accessing those records, which triggered the pursuit. But if you truly uncovered such critical information, let alone a handful of Second-Stage fighters or a scattering of Third-Stage ones chasing you, the entire Rebel faction would stop at nothing to eliminate you!”

“Moreover, you learned of this intelligence as early as the day before yesterday, didn’t you? Then why didn’t you transmit the message through the System instead of running away? Aren’t you afraid it wouldn’t get through?”

A cold glint flashed in Yenir’s eyes as he subtly gathered his spiritual power, prepared to strike the moment Nie Fei faltered.

It was inevitable.

The intelligence in Nie Fei’s words was too horrifying, and that very message was subtly urging Yenir to investigate Base Two!