Why did you provoke me?

On the way back, Nian Nian looked at Yu Meng curiously. "How could Fourth Sister know people like that? They're fierce!"

"They are a group of warriors fighting on the alien battlefield. That place will also be our battlefield in the future." Yu Meng did not hide anything.

"Should we go with them? I noticed they were all listening when you were talking. They seemed to be treating you very well," Niannian continued to ask.

"They are all warriors who have been parasitized by the Xenomorph, which is why they can enter the Xenomorph battlefield. If one day you can also pull the Xenomorph out of a Xenomorph warrior's mind with lines, then that warrior will be your Xenomorph warrior."

Niannian shook her little head. "Fourth Sister, I don't quite understand."

"Let's not talk about this anymore. You'll understand when you experience it for yourself. Right now, you should think about how we're going to explain this to Mom when we get back so late." Yu Meng had a bit of a headache. Her mother was becoming increasingly strict with them.

Niannian and Yumeng floated forward side by side. "Just say you ran into someone you know, stop and greet each other."

"I've never had any friends in this place since I was a child, and there's not a single acquaintance I can stop and spend this much time with." Yu Meng objected to this reason.

"What should we do then? How about we say we went too far and got lost on the way back, and only just found our way back?" Niannian came up with another idea.

Yu Meng nodded, "This one will do. Anyway, we're both kids, so getting lost is normal." Most importantly, the responsibility for this should be shared equally between the two of them.

Niannian's lips curled up slightly, "Fourth sister, even if all the blame is placed on you, Mom won't say anything."

"We're together, how can I shoulder all the responsibility? That's not fair to you."

Yu Meng's words always contained some twisted logic, and Niannian didn't want this fairness. She was an acquaintance of Fourth Sister, and she hadn't said anything wrong. But seeing Yu Meng's smile, Niannian still changed her reasoning.

The reason she came up with was good, but when she got home, she still got a lecture from her mother. What could her mother do? She was a well-behaved girl and didn't like to talk much. There was nothing she could do but let the matter pass.

The next morning, Yu Meng and Niannian brought a lot of steamed buns and returned to their old house in the countryside.

"There's a vegetable garden behind the house. Go find some vegetables to make soup. Here are some steamed buns for you." Before Yu Meng could finish speaking, two young soldiers came over, took the things, and brought them into the house.

Yu Meng led Xiao Wen and Liu Wei to sit on the stone bench in the middle of the courtyard. "Tell me what exactly happened?"

Xiao Wen organized his thoughts before speaking, "We don't know why, but suddenly there are so many more people on the battlefield. The strangest thing is that there are also many Bone Painters. Bone Painters are the backbone of a base. Why would they come to the Alien Battlefield? I still can't figure it out."

"You don't know any of those people?" Yu Meng asked. Xiao Niannian nodded in agreement.

Xiao Wen and Liu Wei both shook their heads. "I don't know any of them."

Yu Meng suddenly remembered a question. "Is the alien battlefield you're talking about one place, or are there multiple ones?"

Xiao Wen and Liu Wei were both surprised. "You didn't know?"

Yu Meng nodded. "I haven't paid attention to that." When she was at the Jingchuan base, the materials she looked at were all the cultivation insights left to her by Granny Hua, as well as some applications and conjectures about skills.

Xiao Wen nodded, no longer dwelling on the issue. "There are four alien battlefields in total. For soldiers like us, the general principle for going to a battlefield is proximity. However, if you want to go to other alien battlefields, you can do so as long as the base issues a pass."

"Are you close to the alien battlefield of the Fourth Base?" Yu Meng asked.

"Those are two directions. We won't go to that alien battlefield unless there are special requirements," Xiao Wen replied.

"Do you know about the Fourth Base?"

Xiao Wen and Liu Wei exchanged a glance. "We came here right after leaving Jingchuan. We haven't heard anything about the Fourth Base. If you want to know, we can go and inquire."

"No need. The Fourth Base has already been taken over by the aliens. Even if you go to inquire, you probably won't get any information." Yu Meng rubbed her forehead with her hand.

"How is this possible?" Everyone reacted the same way upon hearing Yu Meng's words.

"This is what Secretary Wu said. Jingchuan Base also sent a rescue team. Nangong Tianshou, Qingyuan, and other Bone Painters all went. Now it seems that even Fu Ke went. I know this because Secretary Wu and Xia Xuan told me this when they were chatting. Where did they go after that? Secretary Wu never said anything again. Our contact was also lost."

Xiao Wen remained silent for a while before speaking in a low voice, "According to past practices, these people should have been sealed into the alien battlefield. However, there's been no news of rescue efforts, which is unusual, unless..."

"Unless they've also been parasitized by that alien," Yu Meng continued, picking up where Xiao Wen left off. "And for now, there's no cure for that alien."

This conclusion silenced everyone. Finally, Yu Meng broke the silence. "Following the principle of proximity, even if the people from the Fourth Base were sealed inside the Alien Battlefield, it wouldn't be able to affect our Alien Battlefield. What's with the extra people you mentioned?"

"We spent almost every day in the Alien Battlefield, except for rest periods. So we don't know everyone there, but we're fairly familiar with their faces."

However, when we emerged from the depths of the battlefield this time, we encountered many unfamiliar faces. To our surprise, there were even many bone painters among them.

Yu Meng looked up at Xiao Wen, "How can you be sure those people are bone painters, and not just ordinary women?"

"Ah, why would ordinary women go into the alien battlefield? They probably don't even know this place exists," Xiao Wen said, puzzled. "Besides, what could they possibly do inside? The environment in the alien battlefield is extremely harsh."

Yu Meng sighed. "The aliens that the Fourth Base attracted are beings that can even parasitize Bone Painters. These aliens are completely unafraid of the Bone Painters' lines. This is just my deduction; otherwise, there's no way to explain why those Bone Painters haven't sent back any news. That day, Aunt Qing's communication bell only uttered the word 'I…' before cutting off, and we haven't been able to contact her since."

Xiao Wen looked at Yu Meng cautiously, "If you knew Chief Nangong's address, would you go to rescue him?"

"How much do you know about his situation? If I go there, will I be able to come back safely?" Yu Meng looked at Xiao Wen earnestly. "If I can save him, I will definitely do so, but if it costs me my life, I'm afraid I won't go."

"I just wanted to know your thoughts, I absolutely didn't mean to force you to save people," Xiao Wen hurriedly explained. "The situation is a bit complicated right now, and I don't quite understand it. Since returning to Jingchuan Base this time, I feel like something has changed, but I can't quite put my finger on it."

"When we came here, you examined us for the aliens without even negotiating any terms. This is the first time I've encountered something like this in all these years. Now that Grandma is gone, if our future income is only enough to hire a bone-drawing artist to remove the aliens, we want to give you the proceeds."

Yu Meng was stunned. "Aren't you your mother-in-law's subordinates? I promised her I would take care of you."

"But how long can you take care of us? There's an unwritten rule at the base that if a Bone Painter passes away, the warriors to whom she belonged can transfer to another Bone Painter, as long as both parties agree."

Yu Meng narrowed her eyes. Even Qing Yuan hadn't told her about this.