The Crowd 018

"Brother Li, what do you think he means?" Gu Ran turned his head to ask the military officer behind him. Brother Li shook his head and smiled, "Before, I didn't believe there was anyone in this world who would rather have leisure than power, but now I've seen it."

"This protagonist does seem reliable," Fang Zhiyi said as he walked. "He's quite handsome, too."

"That's true. In the original plot, he was the one who ended the apocalypse. The light of humanity, after all," Little Hei floated behind him. "But aren't you being a bit too hasty, just running away like this?"

"God knows how long I've waited for this day. The year before last, I thought they would come looking for me, but they didn't. Last year, they should have come, right? Still didn't. This year they finally came, so how could I hold back?" As Fang Zhiyi spoke, he suddenly noticed a hidden small hole in the wall ahead. This Zhao Hu was indeed reliable; he told him to leave a back door, and he really did.

Fang Zhiyi struggled to shove his bundle through the hole, and then quickly squeezed himself out right after.

"Boss, where are you going?" Fang Zhiyi braked hard and slowly turned his head. Over a dozen people, led by Zhao Hu, were squatting there. Beside them were the two water-damaged cars from the base.

"I... I'm just going for a walk to clear my head, do you believe that?"

Zhao Hu shook his head. "As soon as that Young Master Gu said you ran away, I immediately guessed you would come out from here. Boss, where are you going, leaving us behind?"

"Uh..." Fang Zhiyi looked at Zhao Hu and his girlfriend behind him—no, his wife. Last year, they held a group wedding. Chen Rui and his partner, Zhao Hu and his partner, and quite a few other young men and women all got married.

The car door was pushed open, and Chen Rui poked his head out. "What are you standing around for? Let's go together."

"You guys..." Fang Zhiyi felt a bit of a headache.

"I've already left all the handover work on the desk. Whether it's the criminals, the population records, or the blueprints for that well, it's all there." Chen Rui finished speaking and looked at Fang Zhiyi again. "You know, when we first met, I told you that my wife and I both love outdoor activities. Since you're leaving, why not go out and take a look together?"

Fang Zhiyi was pushed into the car by them, and the two battered, overloaded cars drove off into the distance.

Gu Ran's head throbbed as he faced the crowd of people pressing forward for an explanation. What was he supposed to say? Tell them their boss suddenly ran away? Only a ghost would believe that!

Fortunately, some of the older residents who had been there a long time stepped forward to calm the crowd's agitation. Gu Ran breathed a sigh of relief, but when he saw the representatives walk through the door, he knew things were bad.

"Tell us, where did you take our leader?"

At this moment, Gu Ran truly admired Fang Zhiyi. He wasn't sure about the man's personal strength, but the attitude of all these people explained everything. Gu Ran could only take out his military walkie-talkie and report the current situation in full detail.

The other end fell silent for a long time before suddenly bursting into laughter.

"I really want to meet this young man now..."

Fortunately, a letter left by Fang Zhiyi managed to soothe the crowd. According to his words, he was off to save the world. Gu Ran watched those who were earnestly comparing the handwriting to Fang Zhiyi's, feeling an inexplicable wave of nervousness. No one would actually believe such nonsense, right?

"They believed it?" Gu Ran was bewildered once again.

At this moment, his curiosity about Fang Zhiyi rose to another level. These people actually believed their leader could save the world? Wasn't this utter nonsense?

But when he saw the brand-new machinery Fang Zhiyi had stored in the warehouse—items Fang Zhiyi had pulled out of Bai Haomin's spatial ability and left behind because he had no use for them—Gu Ran felt his brain take another heavy blow. What if what he said was true? Just what if?

With the intervention of military forces, the Hope Base took off once again. In just five years, the city reconstruction plan began. During these five years, Fang Zhiyi returned only once, with hundreds of people trailing behind him. He dumped the people on Gu Ran and ran away again.

According to the soldiers responsible for guarding him, Fang Zhiyi just turned a corner and they lost him.

Gu Ran smiled bitterly for a while. He had absolutely no way of dealing with this eccentric man. He didn't even have the time to present the medal he wanted to award Fang Zhiyi. Since he had so many things to keep him busy, he could only put the matter aside.

As for those criminals, they thought life would get better once Fang Zhiyi left. But they didn't expect Gu Ran to be even more ruthless. Based on the records of their crimes, Gu Ran directly judged them using a more comprehensive legal system. Many criminals who had managed to survive for years were crying as they were escorted to the gallows. Those with lesser crimes still had to participate in labor, and while the physical intensity wasn't as harsh as before, more tasks were added, such as writing a three-thousand-word letter of repentance every day.

Bai Haomin was finally released. No one knew why he was arrested in the first place, but everyone tacitly agreed that if Fang Zhiyi locked him up, he must have done something to harm others.

Fortunately, Gu Ran wasn't entirely unreasonable. After verifying Bai Haomin's past, he let him go.

But Bai Haomin was already broken. Long-term forced labor had left his body hunched and his eyes dull. He just kept muttering crazy words about spaces and things like that.

The last time someone saw him, a woman recognized him. The woman frantically rushed forward and tore at Bai Haomin's sparse hair. Luckily, the patrolling guards arrived in time to stop her. After that, Bai Haomin seemed to evaporate from the base.

By the time he was found again, he was not far from the water source. He lay there, lifeless, facing the heightened enclosing wall. The military had discovered the miraculous nature of this spring and specially protected it. No one knew why Bai Haomin appeared there, and he was simply buried hastily.

Some said Fang Zhiyi fled because he had a lot of blood on his hands and feared being put on trial. But this was quickly refuted. To survive in the apocalypse and save so many people, how many of those he killed could truly be innocent?

But no matter the speculations, Fang Zhiyi never appeared again.

Decades later, a white-haired Gu Ran sat in a pavilion by the sea, watching a few children playing and running across the beach. The children turned their heads and called out, "Hello, Grandpa Fang!"

Fang Zhiyi nodded in response.

"Why are you haunting me? You're this old and you still found your way here?" Fang Zhiyi was also puzzled.

Gu Ran pointed to the sky. "Our satellites reconnected thirty years ago."

Fang Zhiyi felt helpless. "No, you used a satellite to find me? Do you have too much free time?"

Gu Ran smiled. "Unless you tell me what that endless spring water really is. You definitely know."

"I don't know shit!" Fang Zhiyi snorted.

"Then about your hero medal..."

"Step aside, don't disturb my retirement." Fang Zhiyi looked up at the azure sky. "Hero... I was never a hero. I'm just thanking my lucky stars that I wasn't put on trial."