Chapter 112: All Brought Back

Chapter 112: The Complete Rescue

The superpowered operatives from HSD who were monitoring Feng Jiancheng and the others were completely stunned. They never expected that Gu Jinsheng, who had been in R Base just minutes ago, would suddenly appear in their HSD base within such a short time.

The monitoring team looked around at the local residents crowding the shops, taking photos, and had no idea what to do.

"Should we take action?"

"There are so many people here. If we act, we’ll definitely harm our own."

"Then what do we do? Just watch as Gu Jinsheng takes them away? Commander Charles will kill us!"

At the thought of the hot-tempered Charles, the monitors shuddered. They immediately contacted him. "Commander Charles, it's bad—Gu Jinsheng has appeared in our base!"

"Impossible!" Charles snapped.

Just minutes ago, he had been watching Kobashi Ichiro’s livestream and saw Gu Jinsheng there.

Charles had always assumed Gu Jinsheng had flown into R Base early, and that it was Kobashi Ichiro’s incompetence in managing the base that led to traitors letting Gu Jinsheng slip in.

As for the information Gu Jinsheng posted on the terminal, Charles thought Gu Jinsheng had sent planes to pick people up. So, the entire HSD airspace was on full lockdown, ensuring not even a fly could get in. He had no idea how Gu Jinsheng suddenly appeared inside HSD base.

But now wasn’t the time to figure out how Gu Jinsheng got in. Charles ordered, "Send me the location. I’m heading there now. Before I arrive, you must keep Gu Jinsheng here at all costs!"

"But... there are so many of our base’s residents here. If we act, we might hurt them."

Charles roared, "Whatever it takes, you must keep him here! No matter what it takes, do you understand?!"

"Understood," the monitors replied. Just as they were about to act, one of them suddenly cried out in panic, "Captain—! Gu Jinsheng’s flying car is gone!"

"What?!" The captain looked up—sure enough, the flying car in the sky had disappeared.

Even his phone was still in the middle of the call with Charles, not yet hung up, when the vehicle from the Capital City base disappeared.

"Commander Charles, Gu Jinsheng’s flying car... it’s gone!"

Charles was furious, he exploded. "What the hell are you talking about?!"

"Y-yes. Gu Jinsheng and his team came in a flying car, appeared out of nowhere, and then disappeared just as suddenly."

Charles felt like the monitors in his base had lost their minds—and the monitors themselves felt the same way. What in the world was happening? Someone needed to explain!

---

Inside the hovercar, Feng Jiancheng was bursting with excitement. He looked at Gao Wanli and said, "I recognize you—you’re Gao Wanli! And Commander Gu... You really just came from R Base?"

Thunder Dragon snorted as it flew closer, circling mid-air. Its large red eyes fixed on Feng Jiancheng. "Of course. What’s so surprising about that? You people living in other bases are so clueless, I swear—such backwater hicks."

Feng Jiancheng stared at Thunder Dragon, even more stunned speechless. "It... it’s talking to me?"

Feng Jiancheng and the others couldn’t understand Thunder Dragon’s words, but they could guess from its expression.

Thunder Dragon was an embodiment of Gu Jinsheng’s power—it shouldn’t be able to speak. Ji An cut in, "Do you know where else our people are gathered? We can go pick them up now."

Feng Jiancheng said, "I know there’s a Chinatown in HSD. Many people thought you wouldn’t come, so they didn’t head to the coordinates."

Ji An nodded. "Give me the address. We’ll go there now."

Feng Jiancheng sent the location. Almost instantly, Ji An said, "We’re here." When Feng Jiancheng looked up again, he realized they were already there, in Chinatown.

"How... how was this done?"

Ji An said, "Go down and gather everyone. We'll explain it all together once everyone is assembled."

When Feng Jiancheng appeared on Chinatown Street, his neighbors saw him and remarked dismissively, "Back so soon? Did you realize the Capital Base couldn't make it here in time, so you didn’t even bother going to the coordinates on the terminal?"

Though Feng Jiancheng himself had no idea how they’d returned in the blink of an eye, he feigned composure as if it were nothing unusual and pointed outside. "If you want to return to China, pack your essentials quickly and come with us. The Capital Base’s vehicle is right outside."

"What?" The entire street of Chinese residents came out to look. When they realized it was indeed the Capital Base’s vehicle, they rushed back to gather their belongings.

But since they hadn’t prepared in advance, having lived there for seven years, they found themselves overwhelmed by the sheer amount of possessions they couldn’t possibly pack in time.

At this point, Kong Zhongcheng spoke up, "We can help you pack everything—including your furniture—but we’ll need a small fee. Just 1,000 credit points per household."

After inquiring about the exchange rate between Capital Base credits and supplies, everyone found the price reasonable and agreed.

Kong Zhongcheng and a dozen superpowered operatives from the Capital Base swiftly packed up the residents’ homes.

Sun Qiang was among them. He had expected fierce battles upon arriving at R Base and HSD Base, never dreaming they’d actually make a small profit on the side. They worked like movers on steroids, not even bothering to ask the homeowners before stuffing everything into their spatial storage devices—they nearly took the mice too.

By the time they left, the neighbors came to inspect the scene and gasped—it looked like the houses had been dismantled, right down to the missing doors.

Afterward, Ji An piloted the hovercar to all the marked coordinates, picking up every Chinese resident they could find—including the Godfrey family.

At first, Godfrey hesitated, but Ji An persuaded him, "You secretly disabled the base’s protective shield to let me in. Charles will find out, and your whole family will be executed."

"Come to the Capital Base. I promise you won’t regret it."

Godfrey asked, "Tell me the truth—are the technologies mentioned online real...?"

"Even more incredible than described, never less," Ji An replied. "Just look at the hovercar we’re using today. You’ll see how advanced the Capital Base’s technology is. I guarantee you won’t regret joining us—the Capital Base will only keep growing stronger."

"Alright." In the end, Godfrey was convinced and followed Ji An to the Capital Base. For the rest of his life, he would never cease to be grateful for this decision.

Ji An and Gu Jinsheng also visited other small bases in the U.S. to evacuate people. Those bases seemed to have already seen the online broadcasts—the moment Ji An arrived, they respectfully escorted all their Chinese residents out.

Some base commanders even expressed interest in purchasing the legendary tech mentioned online, but Gu Jinsheng politely put off the discussions to a later date.

The entire evacuation mission went so smoothly it almost felt like a joke.

Charles himself had been outmaneuvered by Gu Jinsheng, his fury with no outlet. After executing a few of his trackers, he sent a video call request to Dewitt.

When Dewitt saw Charles’ call, he couldn’t suppress a shudder.

Still, he didn’t dare refuse and eventually answered.

Charles was like an erupting volcano, his rage practically burned through the screen, his spittle seemed to spray into Dewitt’s face.

"Incompetent! You swore this plan was foolproof! How did it fail? How did Gu Jinsheng take all the Chinese away?!"

Dewitt was indignant. Sure, he was incompetent—but wasn’t Charles the one who let Gu Jinsheng extract the Chinese from HSD Base?

He couldn’t help retorting, "Commander-in-Chief Charles, you know the Chinese from HSD Base were taken too! This was an unexpected development—who could’ve guessed the Capital Base had another hovercar, and one so fast?!"

Charles, already seething, exploded at Dewitt’s defiance, taking it as an insult to his competence.

In a fit of rage, he fired his superpower mid-call. Fortunately, it was just a video—only the phone was destroyed. Had they been face-to-face, Dewitt would’ve been a dead man.

Still shaken, Dewitt ended the call and turned to his assistant. "Have we heard from Kobashi Ichiro yet?"

The assistant said worriedly, "Not yet. From the livestream, it seems Kobashi Ichiro was psychically implanted by a commander from Jingshi Base. It doesn't look good for him."

As they were speaking, the assistant's holo-screen suddenly showed an incoming call. The assistant exclaimed joyfully, "Commander Dewitt, Kobashi Ichiro might still be alive!"

Commander Dewitt replied, "I knew it. The Chinese couldn't possibly have a psychic superpowered with such strong mental abilities. It must be their own staged act."

Just as Commander Dewitt finished speaking, the call connected, and Kobashi Ichiro's face appeared on the screen.

Commander Dewitt said, "I knew it was all just a trick by Jingshi Base. No matter how useless you are, you're still a peak-level superpowered. They don’t even have a single peak-level superpowered there—how could they possibly implant psychic commands on you so easily?"

"Kobashi Ichiro, I order you to go live online right now and tell everyone that Jingshi Base is a fraud. They never took control of your mind!"

Suddenly, Kobashi Ichiro in the video smiled at Commander Dewitt—a strange smile that sent chills down Commander Dewitt's spine.

Kobashi Ichiro said, "Commander Dewitt, take a good look. Who do you think I am?"

His tone was completely different from before. The old Kobashi Ichiro had been Commander Dewitt's sycochant, fawning over him. But now, there was no trace of flattery—only what seemed like barely contained hatred.

Commander Dewitt scrutinized Kobashi Ichiro's face in the video. It looked exactly the same as always, with no discernible difference. Annoyed, he snapped, "Kobashi Ichiro, I don’t have time for your games!"

Kobashi Ichiro continued smiling, but the expression was unnervingly wrong. He said, "Commander Dewitt, take another good look at my face now."

Suddenly, Commander Dewitt noticed Kobashi Ichiro's face seemed to change—gradually growing younger, his features shifting slightly.

Commander Dewitt rubbed his eyes in disbelief. When he looked again, the person in the video had completely transformed into a much younger face—one Commander Dewitt recognized. He had once ordered Kobashi Ichiro to send a clone with this exact face to Jingshi Base to seduce Ji An.

A primal dread ran down Commander Dewitt's spine. "Y-you're a clone?"

Kobashi Ichiro in the video laughed again, and suddenly, multiple identical faces appeared beside him.

Kobashi Ichiro said, "Commander Dewitt, let me formally introduce myself. My name is Wang Dazhi, a clone. From now on, I am the Commander-in-Chief of R Base. This will be a clone-exclusive stronghold—no organic humans allowed!"

"You're welcome to visit R Base, Commander Dewitt. But do guard T Base and M Base well, because soon, they'll become our second and third clone strongholds."

Only after the call ended did Commander Dewitt realize he was drenched in cold sweat, his shirt soaked through as if he'd been submerged.

The assistant looked equally horrified. "What do we do, Commander-in-Chief? It seems R Base has completely fallen to clone forces!"

When they first created the clones, Commander Dewitt had never imagined that one day, they would be killed by the very lifeforms they had engineered.

Meanwhile, Charles at HSD Base remained unaware of R Base's situation. Still fuming over failing to truly harm Commander Dewitt, his fury consumed him so intensely that his lone eye grew crimson, as if it might bleed.

Remembering Commander Dewitt's words, Charles opened his terminal to check online discussions—only to find the entire internet buzzing about the hovercar.

Videos of Gu Jinsheng retrieving people had spread like wildfire.

Now, everyone knew Jingshi Base possessed a hovercar—one so fast it could cross continents in an instant, seemingly capable of circumnavigating the planet in no time.

M-country netizens spammed every forum, demanding to know what kind of vehicle it was and whether M had anything comparable.

For years, M had suppressed China online, constantly denying the validity of Chinese innovations. M-country netizens had mocked the Chinese as liars and grandstanding frauds.

But this time, Jingshi Base had deployed its hovercar fleet without warning, breaching R Base and HSD with impunity, rescuing all their people while the bases couldn't mount a defense.

Even the most dense commenters sensed something was wrong. They blitzed HSD's social media, demanding to know if M had such advanced vehicles—and if so, why they weren't being used.

The truth was, M had nothing like it. Before this, Charles hadn’t even known hovercars existed.

His fury boiled over, driving him to execute a whole department of staff before he finally regained his composure.

When Sun Qiang set foot on the land of the capital base, he still felt a surreal feeling, as if he hadn't woken up from a dream.

As he walked toward the headquarters, he bumped into the friend to whom he had entrusted his suicide note before leaving.

The friend was shocked to see Sun Qiang and asked, "Sun Qiang, why are you still at the headquarters? Didn’t you go? I saw online that Commander-in-Chief Gu and the others seem to have already reached R Base."

Sun Qiang remained expressionless and extended his hand to his friend. "Where’s the letter I gave you?"

The friend was baffled, unsure why Sun Qiang was acting this way, but he still returned the precious letter he had kept in his coat pocket.

Then, Sun Qiang tore the letter apart—even eating some of it.

His friend stared at him like he'd lost it. "Have you lost your mind?!"

Sun Qiang thought the version of himself who had written that maudlin suicide note was the real lunatic. If anyone had seen that letter, he would have *died* of embarrassment.

All that talk of risking life and death, of fighting desperately—it was all just his imagination. He had merely gone out for a flying car stunt!

Suddenly, Sun Qiang’s friend heard a commotion outside. Peering down from the headquarters, he saw Gu Jinsheng, Ji An, and many unfamiliar faces receiving cheers from the entire command center.

Only then did Sun Qiang’s friend seem to realize something. He asked dumbfounded, "Wait… did you just return from a mission?"

Sun Qiang replied, "Haven’t you checked your terminal?"

His friend said, "I was working just now. I only just finished, and then you came to find me."

In the command center’s square, everyone was screaming, buzzing with excitement, cheering.

Red flags fluttered in the wind, and the rousing national anthem played across the square.

"Hail China! Long live the capital base!!!"

"Hail China! Long live the capital base!!!"

"Hail China! Long live the capital base!!!"

Everyone was shouting, the fervent atmosphere inevitably infecting the newly returned Chinese. Their eyes welled up as they joined in the cheers, praising their homeland!

Gu Jinsheng and Ji An exchanged glances, just as swept up by the passionate scene.

Ji An tightly grasped Gu Jinsheng’s hand and shouted, "Jinsheng, the capital base will only get better! One day, everyone will know that being Chinese is our greatest pride and fortune!"

Gu Jinsheng looked back at him. "I believe in you. You are the capital base's savior, the hope of humanity! With you here, China will surely develop better and better!"

As for the evacuees, after a seven-day quarantine and identity registration, they were released and allowed to move freely around the base.

Only then did they realize what kind of paradise they had arrived in.

The capital base was just like before the apocalypse. Food stalls lined the streets, selling all kinds of goods. But that wasn’t the most surprising part—the most shocking thing was—the majority of customers at these stalls were minors.

Gao Wanli exclaimed in astonishment, "How do these kids have so many credit points? Isn’t it a problem for them to eat and drink like this? Won’t they get scolded by their parents?"

The stall owner, clearly used to such questions, replied directly, "You just came from another base, didn’t you? Stay here long enough, and you’ll understand. Our base is different—no one here goes hungry."

Gao Wanli and the others’ jaws dropped, thinking the stall owner was exaggerating. We're in the apocalypse—if there was no hunger, how could it still be called the apocalypse?

The stall owner, however, looked at them strangely. "Why do you seem so skeptical? You do know the supplements, which are impossible to buy outside, go for just a few or a dozen credit points per dose here? Even a monthly dose is just a couple hundred credits.

But nobody touches that stuff unless they’re going on missions outside."

Feng Jiancheng swallowed hard and asked, "So all those things said online are true? We have healing methods that can cure leg injuries even healing superpowerers can't heal, and spatial storage devices that ordinary people can use with larger storage capacities than space-type supers?"

"Of course," the vendor said, looking at Feng Jiancheng and the others strangely. "What base are you from? How could you ask such basic questions? Didn’t you join our base because of these technologies? Or do you actually believe that BS on foreign sites? Everyone knows those foreigners deliberately smear our base online just to suppress us. Joke’s on them—our base keeps leveling up."

Gao Wanli, Feng Jiancheng, and the others who had just been brought back from abroad finally realized at this moment that their homeland had developed to an unimaginable level in the mere seven years they had been away.

The vendor continued, "Didn’t you see the livestream? When our base went to R Country and HSD to pick people up, that flying car Commander-in-Chief Gu drove—Zoom! Gone in a flash! It reached multiple bases in the blink of an eye. Have you ever seen anything that fast before? A car that can fly?"

The vendor beamed with pride. "What more needs to be said? That flying car alone represents our base’s technological prowess."

Gao Wanli, being a researcher, had heard Ji An briefly explain the flying car—no, the hover-car.

The hover-car’s technology originated from the spatial superpower of space-type supers, utilizing space-jump tech.

Gao Wanli had been utterly confused at the time, but after someone else explained, he learned that Ji An had even used a space-type super’s spatial teleportation ability to rescue Luo City Base.

He also discovered that, aside from storing items, a space-type super’s spatial superpower had other applications.

Gao Wanli sighed, "Only after returning home do I truly understand what it means to be a hick in the big city!"

Feng Jiancheng also marveled, "Thank goodness we came back. If we’d waited any longer, our country might have already entered the interstellar era by the next time we returned."

Gao Wanli said, "I’m going to start documenting life in Jing City Base right away—to show those still buying Kobashi Ichiro and Charles’s lies just how advanced our base’s tech has gotten. M Country couldn’t touch us even with rockets."