Why did you provoke me?

Yu Meng did not immediately agree. She looked at Xiao Wen, "I no longer belong to the base's Bone Painters, while you still belong to the base's soldiers."

Xiao Wen didn't quite understand. Xiao Niannian added from the side, "What Fourth Sister means is that she wouldn't join a base because of you."

Xiao Wen fell silent. He was a soldier who had come from the Jingchuan base. If he left the base, it would be tantamount to betraying Jingchuan.

Niannian watched him from the side and couldn't help but pout. He wanted to take advantage of Fourth Sister, but he couldn't bear to part with his original master.

"There's no rush. Even if you come with me now, I have nowhere to settle you. Your recuperation would be a huge expense, and I can't afford to support you," Yu Meng said frankly, neither refusing nor accepting.

Xiao Wen nodded. "It was my oversight. But this is my honest thought. If one day we are desperate, I hope you can take us in."

Niannian's lips twitched; they'd really latched onto Fourth Sister.

Yu Meng was actually happy. This group of people were of high quality, and if they were willing to follow her, it would save her a lot of effort in the future. After all, dealing with aliens was not something one person could do alone.

When breakfast was ready, Yu Meng and Niannian ate some with everyone. Then the group sat together to analyze the current situation, but unfortunately, the two little girls and the group of people who had just returned from the battlefield couldn't seem to come up with anything; they had no information to rely on. Finally, Yu Meng and Niannian left to continue practicing their lines and become stronger.

"Captain, did Yu Meng agree to what you just said? If we come back from the battlefield again, can we come here to find her?" Everyone gathered around, eager to know the answer.

"There was no clear answer, only that she couldn't afford to support us."

"Captain, didn't you tell her we had something else?" one of the team members asked hesitantly.

"Are you stupid? If the captain said that, wouldn't that mean we came here with a purpose? Besides, we've already said we haven't eaten for three days, and then we say we have food? Isn't that blatant deception? If you were in that situation, wouldn't you be angry?"

Liu Wei listened to their conversation without interrupting. He knew all about it, but it was Xiao Wen's team's decision, and it had nothing to do with him. He only needed to ensure his loyalty to Meng. He didn't need to expose their ulterior motives. After all, he also thought Xiao Wen's team was decent enough to be competent comrades.

Alien Battlefield.

Looking at the markings on his body, Nangong Tianshou saw a curved blue line, like a human vein, and sometimes he felt that something should be moving inside it.

Teacher Sun used the method Yu Meng taught her to send her lines into the blue line, which almost scared her to death. She felt that her lines were being grabbed by something and pulled to an unknown place.

Fortunately, Yu Meng had told her during her instruction, in case of an accident, that it's best to leave the other end of the thread outside each time you operate it. Otherwise, she didn't know what would happen to her thread.

Qingyuan watched from the sidelines, sweat pouring down her forehead. "What kind of alien is this? How can it be so powerful?"

The skeleton artists at Jingchuan Base gathered together. "This kind of alien isn't even in our minds. We have the lines but we can't do anything about it. Besides, it's growing too fast. I'm afraid we can't hold out for long." Qingyuan rolled up his sleeves. "Look, this is the red line I drew yesterday. It's already a finger longer today."

Sitting next to Nangong Tianshou was an elegant woman in her forties. Her face was calm, and she was carefully reading a book in her hand. Perhaps she had discovered something wonderful, because a faint smile appeared on her lips. She was Li Wenjing, the highest-ranking bone painter in the Tianshou base.

Nangong Tianshou gazed into the distance, paying no attention to those around him. He had already made his point clear; he couldn't interfere with what others did. As long as it didn't affect him, he was free to do as they pleased! Whether they could even get out alive was uncertain; who would think about such trivial matters?

When Nangong Tianshou was young, he was also a regular on the alien battlefield. Back then, he had a fire in his heart. He felt that how could a small alien make him submit? He dared to fight and kill. He went to places that others dared not go without saying a word, just wanting to make that person smile. He retrieved many alien specimens, and his own body was riddled with holes. But he later learned that some aliens had nowhere to be placed. In the end, they were all sealed into his mind by that silly woman.

He only found out about this when he went to the base without prior notice and overheard Qingyuan yelling at the silly woman, "Are you trying to kill yourself by doing this?" But the silly woman smiled and said, "If I don't do this, how long will he live? Right now, he's the only one who has eyes for me. I also want someone to always care about me."

Nangong Tianshou closed his eyes. He was really old now; he still remembered things from so long ago.

Li Wenjing looked up at Nangong Tianshou, the man she had taken a liking to at first sight. Even now, he was unwilling to lie to her. She sighed inwardly. She knew far more than anyone else.

Ever since that person died at the Jingchuan base, it's as if the man's soul has left his body. She both envied that woman's good fortune in meeting such a devoted man and felt sorrow for herself for having met such a heartless man.

She had originally planned to tell him about this, but unfortunately, the man never returned after going to the Jingchuan base. Later, she learned that the young girl that woman had hired couldn't take it anymore and had to leave, so he took over the Jingchuan base.

It would be a lie to say she wasn't disappointed, but when she learned he was going to the front lines to provide support, she actually followed him. She knew perfectly well that coming here might mean never coming back, but she still came. Even now, just being able to quietly stay by his side was enough for her.

Qingyuan watched them from a distance. One person sat in a chair with their eyes closed, resting, while the other sat quietly reading beside them. Anyone who saw them would have remarked, "Such a peaceful and serene life." It's just a pity that perhaps it would have been better in a different place.

Qingyuan's eyes stung a little; she had read about aliens. Long ago, aliens only appeared sporadically in the outside world. Back then, some people simply became strange, but in such a vast world, it was normal for some unusual beings to exist. At that time, there were no bases, only research institutes.

I don’t know when it started, but these unusual people and things started to increase and become more and more uncontrollable, and gradually the research institute turned into a base.

Qingyuan suppressed the bitterness in her heart. If they couldn't get out of here, it really would be as Nangong Tianshou said: they would destroy the base and lose the base that her grandmother had spent her whole life building.

Unconsciously, Qingyuan thought of Yu Meng. If she hadn't left, what would have happened now? After thinking it over and over, she finally sighed. Fortunately, she left, otherwise there would probably be another innocent person here.