Base Being Generated…

Ruan Mobei wasn’t sure if He Songming understood him, but he wasn’t expecting him to understand right away. He Songming glanced at the fire, then at the remaining dry wood, touching it, his eyes reflecting the flickering flames.

No wonder the emergence of language greatly promoted the development of human society—it was incredibly difficult to convey ideas through actions alone.

Ruan Mobei slowly added more firewood. His clothes quickly dried out, and the warmth made him drowsy. He leaned back against the cave wall, barefoot, and before he knew it, he had fallen into his first sleep in this world.

However, his sleep wasn’t peaceful. The fire went out in the middle of the night, and without its heat source, the temperature around him dropped rapidly, waking Ruan Mobei from his sleep.

In the faint glow of fireflies, he barely managed to make out He Songming lying next to him. He was completely naked, but it seemed like he didn’t feel the cold at all, sleeping soundly.

Ruan Mobei envied him. He grabbed a large handful of dry grass and covered himself, curling up to fall back into a shallow sleep, trying to ignore the cold night air.

At dawn, Ruan Mobei was woken by a disturbance.

He Songming was sitting next to him, frowning as he gently pushed Ruan Mobei’s shoulder. When he saw Ruan Mobei stir, he visibly relaxed, as if afraid he might sleep through the whole day.

“I’m still alive.” Ruan Mobei’s voice was raspy when he spoke, startling him. Perhaps he hadn’t drunk enough water yesterday—his throat was sore.

Not having a container for water was such an inconvenience. He had to go to the creek each time to drink. Although it wasn’t far, the dense jungle made it difficult to get there quickly.

He sat up, brushing the dry grass off himself, and suddenly felt a tickle in his nose.

Ruan Mobei opened his mouth, but nothing happened for a few seconds.

He Songming stared at him, also opening his mouth wide and glancing at Ruan Mobei, seemingly waiting to mimic his next move.

“Achoo—!”

“Achoo—!”

Ruan Mobei sneezed twice, rubbing his nose, feeling weak all over. He touched his forehead, and the warmth didn’t feel quite normal.

…Was he running a fever? He felt unusually weak.

He Songming noticed something was wrong with Ruan Mobei. He leaned over, touched his face, and then compared the temperature between his hand and Ruan Mobei’s.

“I have a fever, but it’s not too high. I should be fine after resting for a while,” Ruan Mobei said. He knew that He Songming couldn’t understand him, but the man’s brain seemed fine. Just like a baby, as long as he was provided with enough language, he would slowly begin to understand and learn to speak.

His socks were dry now, and his shoes, which he had kept by the fire last night, were wearable. Ruan Mobei put on his socks and shoes, pulling He Songming’s hand and saying, “Let’s go, get some water.”

At the creek, Ruan Mobei drank plenty of water, the cool liquid soothing his dry throat.

He washed his face, and his stomach grumbled, reminding him that he was hungry and needed to eat. His bladder, however, also insisted on being emptied.

Ruan Mobei decided to find a spot further from the creek to take care of his business, ensuring that he wouldn’t contaminate the water source. He turned to He Songming and asked, “Can you look away for a moment?”

He Songming just stared at him, motionless.

Ruan Mobei grabbed He Songming’s shoulder and twisted him around so his back was to him. “Good, just like that. Don’t move.”

He let go of He Songming, but the man immediately turned back around.

Ruan Mobei twisted him back around again, and He Songming turned back again. This repeated six or seven times, until He Songming finally stood still with his back turned, though he kept twisting his head.

Ruan Mobei………………

He roughly turned He Songming’s head back around, finally unable to hold back, and relieved his tortured bladder.

He Songming, hearing the sound of water, turned back around. He saw Ruan Mobei relieving himself and then moved closer, urinating beside him on the same tree.

Ruan Mobei: “.”

Suddenly, he felt like he was back in elementary school, standing by the riverbank, competing with someone to see who could pee the farthest.

He Songming didn’t feel awkward at all, and the only one feeling strange was Ruan Mobei. He tried his best to ignore it, pulling He Songming to wash their hands afterward.

He Songming, his hands full of water, touched Ruan Mobei’s forehead. After thinking for a moment, he stood up and gestured for Ruan Mobei to follow him.

Ruan Mobei, recognizing that they weren’t heading back to the cave, asked, “Where are we going?” He didn’t expect an answer but hoped to create more opportunities for language development.

He Songming glanced back at him at the sound of his voice, then kept walking, slowing down a little.

The two of them walked for a long time. Ruan Mobei roughly estimated it had to be nearly ten kilometers. It seemed they were heading deeper into the jungle, and with every step, the strange plants around them increased. Ruan Mobei even spotted a mushroom tree as big as a small house. Yes, a mushroom tree.

Could he have somehow crossed into the set of Avatar? Ruan Mobei thought humorously, trying to keep up with He Songming, not knowing where he was being led.

He suddenly felt nostalgic for the previous world, where he was a ghost who didn’t need to eat and couldn’t get sick. Aside from needing to stay near He Songming to recharge, he was virtually invincible.

In the previous world, he had taken care of the sickly, feverish young He Songming, but it seemed the situation in this world had flipped.

Hopefully, he wouldn’t die in the process of being “taken care of” by the wild man He Songming.

Ruan Mobei entertained himself with this thought, and as he pushed aside a palm leaf blocking his way, he looked up and saw a small steel structure standing ahead.

Vines climbed up the walls, covering the cold, dark metal with a thick layer of green, so much so that if it wasn’t for the two tall shielding towers standing ahead, Ruan Mobei wouldn’t have recognized it as a modern building.

It was a base.

How could there be a base here?!

Ruan Mobei was astonished. He had always thought that collecting soul fragments meant traveling to different spatial worlds as the system had hinted, but why was there a base here?

When he stopped in his tracks, He Songming reached out and pulled him, signaling him to follow.

Could this base be on the same timeline as the last world? No, based on the information he knew, in the previous world’s timeline, the natural disasters had stopped over six hundred years ago, and only after the deadly calamities ceased did the engineers and AI take actions to revive the bases.

At that time, most of the data points in the world were still active, but the base in front of him, covered in green vegetation, showed no signs of human activity. It looked like an abandoned structure.

So this was a different timeline?

Ruan Mobei took a deep breath, suppressing his doubts and surprise, and followed He Songming inside.

He Songming seemed to be very familiar with the place. He walked to the small side door of the base, tore away the newly growing vines, opened the left panel, and placed his palm on the hard screen.

The screen flickered weakly, and with a beep, the side door slowly opened in front of them.

The vines were torn off and fell to the ground, and a slightly stale air rushed out from the building, enveloping the area in darkness.

He Songming gently tugged Ruan Mobei’s wrist, signaling him to follow and not be afraid.

Ruan Mobei recognized the door. The exterior structure of the base was exactly the same as the one in the previous world. During the awakening phase, the side door could be unlocked by registering a palm print from either side, serving as an emergency entrance. Every legal resident’s palm print was recorded for access.

Was He Songming from this base? Where were the others? Had they not awakened yet?

If that were the case, how had he gotten out? How long had he been living outside on his own? Even if he had awakened early in the hibernation pod, there was no way he would have forgotten everything, like a blank slate.

Ruan Mobei was full of questions, but He Songming had already walked inside, and he had no choice but to set his doubts aside, quickening his pace to catch up, entering the long-forgotten base.

The side door led into a hallway, with emergency lights near the bottom. The glowing green “Exit” sign pointed toward where they had come from. After a long period without any response, the door automatically closed behind them, leaving them as the only visitors to the base during this time.

He Songming seemed to know this path well. He walked to the end of the hallway, unlocking three heavy blast doors with his palm print. With each door they passed through, Ruan Mobei could feel the temperature drop slightly.

At the end of the hallway was an elevator shaft, but the lift equipment was currently in standby mode and couldn’t be activated.

He Songming crouched in a corner nearby, and under the glow of the “Exit” sign, Ruan Mobei saw several cans stacked in two layers.

He Songming handed him one of the cans, placing his palm on his stomach and patting it, indicating that this was food.

Ruan Mobei carefully examined the label on the can. This might be a can left over from hundreds or even thousands of years ago. Could it still be edible?

Honestly, Ruan Mobei was surprised. He Songming had brought him here just to find food for him to eat. Maybe because of the difference in their body temperatures, He Songming could tell he was sick?

He Songming stared at him eagerly, and when Ruan Mobei didn’t respond, simply staring at the can, He Songming opened it himself.

The smell of meat wafted out, and just by smelling it, Ruan Mobei could tell that not only was it still edible, but it would taste really good.

The can lid he had found near He Songming’s shelter yesterday had probably also come from here. He Songming had somehow gathered these scattered lunch cans and carefully hidden them in this most concealed spot as emergency rations.

For someone like He Songming, who had lived by eating raw meat, having cans with a delicious taste and good texture must be incredibly precious. Yet He Songming had brought him here to share this rare food, just to help him get better.

It was impossible not to be touched.

Ruan Mobei tried a bite. Whatever advanced preservation technique was used, the canned meat tasted nearly as fresh as if it had just been cooked. After finishing half, he felt some relief from the acidity in his stomach and offered the rest to He Songming.

He Songming waved his hand, signaling him not to worry, insisting that Ruan Mobei finish the can himself.