Our people!

"I'm not joking!" Seeing that Karpov didn't believe him, Jackson couldn't help getting worked up, his voice loud enough to draw the attention of Kate and Gordon, who had been chatting about women's topics not far away.

Realizing he'd gotten a bit carried away, Jackson smiled apologetically at Kate and the others, then turned back to Karpov. "I'm not kidding around. You've seen his power too, haven't you? He claims to be from a parallel universe. When he crashed into our plane back then, his body was indeed a black armored freak! It was truly shocking!"

Reminded so solemnly again, Karpov was already half-convinced. He hadn't seen Li Wei turn into a black alien, but he had seen Li Wei's strength. Putting away his joking expression, he nodded slightly.

Seeing Karpov nod, Jackson felt a sense of validation and grew even more excited, starting to rattle off Li Wei's various feats—arms turning into giant blades, crushing tanks with bare hands, a whole torrent of exaggerated claims—with the main focus being the virus Li Wei himself had mentioned.

He took the story of the Blacklight Virus that Li Wei had told him and embellished it for Karpov, spinning a vivid tale. The literary skill of a novelist became his capital for bragging, leaving his former boss stunned, his expression shifting multiple times.

He painted Li Wei as a fallen angel-like figure, carrying a terrifying virus capable of destroying the world, yet doing good deeds that would put angels to shame.

While brainwashing Karpov, Jackson was also brainwashing himself, the manic state he'd had when buried in his novel-writing days taking over again.

Kate, who had been talking about Jackson from a distance, glanced at him and instantly understood—he was "high" again.

The blonde Tamara was curious about Jackson's current state and gossiped to Kate, "Was he always like this?"

"More or less..."

Kate didn't want to talk much about Jackson, so she brushed it off casually, especially since Gordon was right there.

The plane flew over mountains and seas. Because Li Wei had steered clear of the Hawaiian Islands' volcano in time, the plane's engines held out until they reached the airport on the high mountain range, and they landed successfully, arriving at this luxurious human-built ark shelter.

Li Wei let go of the controls, let out a long breath, then patted Sasha, who was dozing off beside him. "Wake up, big boy. We've arrived."

"Huh?! Ah, sorry, I fell asleep!"

Sasha, jolted awake, realized he'd nearly dozed off. Luckily, they'd made it safely to the Ark Hope Base. He felt ashamed of his negligence.

When they went down to the cabin, the others had already woken up and packed their things, ready to leave the plane. But they all unconsciously looked toward Li Wei as he came down from the cockpit.

Seeing everyone staring at him, Li Wei asked in confusion, "What are you looking at? I've been flying this plane for so long—do I have to open the door myself?"

After his words, Jackson, who had nearly brainwashed himself into being Li Wei's fanboy, rushed to the cabin door, opened it, lowered the ladder, and flashed Li Wei a friendly (sycophantic) smile.

Karpov looked at Li Wei, patted his two sons on the back, and said gruffly, "I thank you on their behalf!"

Then Gordon raised his hand and sincerely said, "Thank you."

Hearing their thanks, Li Wei's steps faltered slightly, but he shook his head and replied as he walked down the plane, "Just settling a debt."

There was also the factor of the small plane showing up just in time—that was why he could safely reach the Ark base. Bringing them here was just a convenience, referring only to Jackson and his group.

After Li Wei left, the others filed down the ladder one by one.

The Ark base, built between mountain ranges, was extremely spacious. The airport here had dozens of planes parked, all of them government aircraft from various countries.

Only theirs was an unplanned arrival, even occupying the runway without landing clearance. After getting off the plane, Li Wei saw from a distance two airport off-road vehicles with five-pointed stars driving toward them.

Li Wei stood still, observing the surrounding buildings while waiting for the two off-road vehicles to arrive.

Jackson and the others, who had come down after him, also stood in place, waiting for the vehicles to approach.

Six heavily armed soldiers drove the base off-road vehicles up to their group. The children were too scared to speak, but Li Wei calmly stepped forward and used a preemptive strike!

"Hey, brothers, we're on the same side! Any room on the ship? They're people I rescued along the way—arrange them however you need to."

The soldiers got out of the vehicles. One of them first glanced at the foreigners behind Li Wei, then one of them replied amiably, "You guys made it just in time. The cabins close in about thirty minutes. Since you're a fellow countryman, get in the car. Chen Xiang, take these foreigners to their area. The rest of you take this vehicle. The airport will close soon!"

Two soldiers from the other off-road vehicle jumped out and got into the other one.

Then the soldier who seemed to be the team leader hemmed and hawed for a moment, then said to Li Wei, "I don't speak English. Have them all get on that vehicle. Tell them the soldiers will take them to their big ship."

Jackson and the others, who couldn't understand the Chinese-encrypted conversation, looked confusedly at Li Wei and the soldiers communicating, standing there awkwardly and anxiously.

Karpov turned to his bodyguard Sasha and asked, "Do you speak Chinese?"

Sasha looked troubled and said apologetically, "Sorry, boss. Chinese is too hard to learn!"

"Hmph!"

As their exchange ended, Li Wei turned around and conveyed the team leader's message to them.

Hearing that they could go to the big ship, Jackson and the others were overjoyed, saying "thank you" over and over.

Then the whole crowd squeezed into the off-road vehicle that could only seat six, heading toward the direction of Ark No. 4. Meanwhile, Li Wei got into the other vehicle, heading toward China's boarding area.

Li Wei chatted with the soldiers about the base's situation. The team leader gave him a general overview of the base and the big ship.

Crowded, exclusionary, food shortages, dense population, lack of medical supplies...

To sum it up in one word: grim!

The vehicle dropped Li Wei off at the boarding area and left. The boarding area was somewhat noisy, with anxiety written on everyone's faces.

Many staff members were using megaphones to maintain order. The people in line weren't just Chinese—there were also blond-haired, blue-eyed Europeans and dark-skinned Africans.

The checkpoint at the line was mainly to check if they had any dangerous items and to visually inspect for obvious signs of disease, which was why it was slow. Over a dozen doctors in white coats were frantically busy.

Li Wei looked around and saw that there were only a little over a hundred people in line, and he was truly the last one.

He was a civilized person, so he didn't cut in line but honestly joined the queue.

But when the line had advanced to about half its original length, the staff member who had been using a megaphone to shout orders in several languages suddenly opened the barrier and urged loudly, "Everyone enter in an orderly fashion! Follow the soldiers' guidance to board the ship! Don't crowd! Don't push!"

After shouting this, the line's pace suddenly shot up. The people who had been waiting anxiously for so long were overjoyed. Already frantic, they ignored any order and charged forward with their belongings!

The dozen or so doctors and nurses also dropped what they were holding and started running...