On their first day in Legend World, Zhang Tianyuan and his group made a good haul.
They found survivors astonishingly quickly.
They had clearly given up hope before this.
This also made Zhang Tianyuan realize how strong humanity's will to survive was.
Living near a city did not necessarily mean dying at the hands of Darkseekers, but modern people who could not even start a fire would most likely die in the wilderness if they did not stay near a city.
Under those circumstances, what did Darkseekers amount to?
Who knew how many survivors were hiding around the city just to stay alive?
"I reckon there are other survivors around the Imperial Capital besides Ding Jingye and his people."
As they withdrew from the urban area that afternoon, Zhang Tianyuan, Bai Xu, and the others held a meeting in the command vehicle along the way.
Wu Yisi brushed back her hair, her red lips parting slightly. "When I was giving them psychological assessments just now, they mentioned seeing signs of other people's activities on previous trips into the city to gather supplies. They just never managed to make contact."
Instructor Yin said, "Then we need to find some way to locate those people."
Bai Xu nodded emphatically. "If we don't find them, they might be gone one of these days."
Even now, the thought of the hellish scene in the shopping mall still sent a chill through him.
Zhang Tianyuan looked around at everyone. "Then how do you think we should notify the remaining survivors? They might not have a habit of listening to the radio."
Wu Yisi thought for a moment and said, "Let's use those smoke signals we discussed before. Find a few tall buildings, light signal fires on top during the day, and set off fireworks at night."
"Yes!" Bai Xu said excitedly. "That's a good idea!"
Zhang Tianyuan thought it would work too.
"Then let's start tomorrow. Have people look for fireworks and materials for signal fires in the city. Keep this operation going until we start heading north."
He had just asked Ding Jingye about it.
The news they had received was also that the main group had moved to the grasslands to assemble.
The reason they had not gone was that they did not know the way and dared not venture too far from the city.
As mentioned before, they were relatively familiar with the surroundings of the Imperial Capital and were living fairly comfortably, but somewhere else, who knew what might end up killing them?
It was only because Zhang Tianyuan and his people had powerful equipment and ample strength. Otherwise, Ding Jingye and his group might not even have been willing to follow them to the grasslands.
The next day, the advance team began carrying out Zhang Tianyuan's orders. Using flashlights, they took a building and cleared out all the
Darkseekers inside, while also destroying every dimly lit spot. Then they lit a signal fire on the rooftop. A column of black smoke billowed into the sky, visible from over a dozen kilometers away.
Before leaving, they also set up a timer and attached the fireworks they had collected to it, automatically launching them at intervals for several hours.
Over the next few days, the operation expanded at a rate of one new district and one new building each day.
By half a month later, every district in the Imperial Capital had a designated building where signal fires were lit during the day and fireworks were set off at scheduled intervals at night.
Every night, dreamily beautiful fireworks soared into the sky throughout the Imperial Capital.
These fireworks, normally reserved for celebrations, were set off without restraint atop tall buildings by Zhang Tianyuan and his people, creating a beautiful sight unseen before the apocalypse.
To prevent Darkseekers from interfering with the fireworks, Zhang Tianyuan even had several fully charged flashlights placed on the stairs, shining nonstop. Any Darkseeker trying to rush onto the rooftop would immediately feel the power of light.
The operation proved remarkably effective.
By the time Zhang Tianyuan and his people had gathered all the supplies for their journey north, sixty-two people had come to them, including Ding Jingye's group.
They were all survivors scraping by around the Imperial Capital.
Zhang Tianyuan took them all in without exception. If they needed food, there was food; if they needed medicine, there was medicine.
Only after a month had passed, when they had enough supplies and no new survivors had come seeking refuge for five consecutive days,
did Zhang Tianyuan order messages to be painted on the tall buildings stating that the Mutual Aid Society had left the Imperial Capital. Then they headed north toward the grasslands.
This time, their numbers had grown from the 156 who had first arrived to 218.
Besides the vehicles they had brought with them, they had added many specialized vehicles acquired in this spacetime.
They had reinforced their fleet with ambulances, power-generation vehicles, water-purification vehicles, and others.
They also had eight additional cargo trucks, fully loaded with food and medicine.
Behind those were five fuel tankers, driving at the rear of the convoy with iron chains dragging along the ground.
Besides these necessities, they also brought plenty of entertainment supplies: all sorts of books, sound systems and speakers, outdoor projectors, and movie screens...
They brought along practically everything they could find.
Never mind supporting over two hundred people on a trip to the grasslands-these supplies would have been more than enough for a thousand.
Along the way, Zhang Tianyuan and his people kept to their usual style, driving with their loudspeakers blaring to attract survivors along the route.
It was only because the "2012" spacetime
had no Phoenix Legend. Otherwise, Zhang Tianyuan would definitely have played that song about some kind of wind; without it, he would not have felt they were making a flashy enough entrance.
Amid all the noise along the way, they picked up another thirty-five survivors whom fate brought their way.
Only after half a month did Zhang Tianyuan and his people finally push into the grasslands and begin searching for an official organization.
Driving across the boundless grasslands was no easy task. The group stumbled along, searching for a month and a half before finally picking up a radio signal from a gathering point.
Following the directions given in the broadcast, Zhang Tianyuan and the others reached the specified location without trouble.
A vast cluster of yurts and oddly shaped tents appeared before them on the lush green grasslands.
At the sight, Zhang Tianyuan let out a breath of relief.
There were people here.
Because he had seen them.
The people in the yurts saw them too. A large crowd came running out to meet them. At a rough count, there were at least several hundred, all armed guards in camouflage.
"Hello, comrades!" A soldier in camouflage approached and saluted.
Instructor Yin returned the salute, then stepped aside to reveal Zhang Tianyuan behind him, indicating that he was the group's leader.
The two likewise exchanged salutes before Zhang Tianyuan told the soldier that he hoped to meet the leader of this gathering point.
Seeing the strong, well-equipped force behind Zhang Tianyuan, the soldier also felt that something was unusual. In particular, the air of elite troops about these people made him wonder who they were.
Could a big black fish have come ashore, with all these soldiers coming from inside it?
With that question in mind, the soldier reported the news to his superiors and soon received an affirmative response.
Zhang Tianyuan did not even have to go to see them. The settlement's leaders came over themselves.
There were only three of them, all fairly young, looking no older than forty or fifty.
Two men and one woman, all wearing glasses.
"Where have you come from? Judging by your equipment, your background seems rather unusual."
The speaker was Tong Wenshi, the current interim leader elected by the survivors in the settlement. He was also the one who had brought most of the survivors here to settle. Otherwise, there would probably have been less than half as many people here.
On his way over, he had taken a look at the people Zhang Tianyuan had brought, and their specially modified equipment had caught his attention.
Because modifications like these could not have been carried out anywhere in the country.
Zhang Tianyuan smiled faintly and looked at the three people before him.
"We're from the Parallel Spacetime Mutual Aid Society."