327: Chapter 327 It's not because you saved us

The evening of the fourth day.

About a day's journey from the Rift Core.

Lin Yuan ordered to set up camp.

This was the first time they had set up camp early since the expedition began—for the first three days, they had only stopped when they couldn't walk anymore.

But today was different.

They would reach the core tomorrow.

Once they reached the core, they would have to act.

Before acting, things had to be made clear.

The camp was set up quickly.

Lin Yuan's supplies had everything—

Micro-tents, thermal floor mats, portable heat sources, and even a batch of compressed rations; they didn't taste great, but they had enough calories.

Huo Yan looked at the compressed ration in his hand and took a bite.

He chewed twice.

His expression was subtle.

"What's this flavor?"

The veteran next to him also took a bite and savored it seriously.

"It's like beef jerky, biscuits, and some unknown plant all mashed together, then hammered into a brick with a mallet."

"Does it taste good?"

"No."

"Then why have you eaten three pieces already?"

The veteran looked down at the fourth piece in his hand.

"Because it's filling."

Huo Yan did not argue.

He silently picked up a second piece.

Having lived in the Apocalypse for 60 years, he was long past the stage of being a picky eater.

As long as it filled his stomach, it was fine.

Whether it tasted good or not was a question only those in an era of peace were qualified to consider.

In the center of the camp, Lin Yuan gathered the core members.

Ye Qingxue, Luo Qinghan, Ji Wushuang, Ye Qingyue, and Ling Shuanghan.

The five women sat around a micro-heat source, the orange-red light reflecting on their faces.

Lin Yuan stood opposite them, holding an ice prism—

He had picked it up from the ground to use as a conductor's baton.

"Let's talk about the arrangements for tomorrow."

No opening remarks, no morale-boosting speeches, no nonsense like 'Comrades, tomorrow is the final battle.'

He went straight to the point.

"Once we get near the core, we will first deploy Energy Interference Devices to cut off the Vanguard's energy supply."

He drew a circle on the ground with the ice prism.

"This is the Rift Core."

He drew another large circle.

"This is the Vanguard's energy connection range. We need to deploy 47 Interference Nodes along the edge of this range to form a complete blockade network."

He marked 47 points on the large circle.

"Once all nodes are activated, the Energy channel between the Vanguard and the core will be severed. Without its supply, its strength will decrease further."

He stabbed the ice prism into the center of the circle.

"Then I will go in and take the Energy Body from inside the core."

He paused.

"It's that simple."

Silence followed for two seconds.

Luo Qinghan spoke: "47 nodes over such a large deployment area—how many teams will we need?"

"Seven teams. Each team will be responsible for six to seven nodes."

"And the timing?"

"The Vanguard's Energy Pulsations have intervals; there's a three-minute low point roughly every fifteen minutes. Deploying during that low point will minimize the chance of being discovered."

"What if we are discovered?"

"Retreat."

Lin Yuan said, "Drop the device and run. Don't worry about the exact position; as long as it's within range, it's fine."

Luo Qinghan nodded and asked no more questions.

Her style was always like this—ask the critical questions, skip the nonsense.

Ji Wushuang raised her hand: "How will the seven teams be divided?"

"You, Luo Qinghan, and Ye Qingyue will each lead a team. Then pick four more from the Goddesses to lead the others. All team members will be selected from the female survivors of Blue Star—pick those with good physical fitness who follow orders."

"What about Ling Shuanghan's people?" Ji Wushuang glanced at Ling Shuanghan.

"Perimeter security and logistical support."

Lin Yuan said, "Huo Yan will lead the team to set up three security lines outside the deployment area. If any stray Vanguard clones approach, warn us immediately. Stall if you can, but retreat if you can't. Do not try to hold your ground."

He looked at Ling Shuanghan.

"Your people are good at this. With 100 years of Apocalypse experience, security and retreat are their strengths."

If Huo Yan were present, he would likely have mixed feelings hearing this—

He was being praised, but the praise was for being 'good at running away.'

Though in the Apocalypse, being good at running away was indeed a core competitiveness.

Ling Shuanghan did not pick up on that topic.

She looked at the simple diagram on the ground, her gaze falling on the points on the large circle closest to the core.

"Who will deploy the nodes closest to the Vanguard's main body?"

Lin Yuan looked at her.

"You want to go?"

"Those positions are closest to the Vanguard. If we are sensed during deployment, a three-minute window won't be enough to escape."

Ling Shuanghan's tone was very calm, as if stating a fact.

"We need someone who can complete the deployment within the Vanguard's perception range and then make a clean getaway."

She paused.

"Among those present, other than you, only I can do it."

This was not a boast.

It was the truth.

When the Vanguard descended last night, everyone present had felt that pressure.

Ye Qingxue could stand, and Ji Wushuang and Luo Qinghan could stand.

But 'standing' and 'being able to operate precisely, complete a task, and then evacuate safely under that pressure' were two different things.

Ling Shuanghan had lived under that level of pressure for 100 years.

She hadn't just stood there and endured it.

She had fought, hidden, retreated, and survived under that pressure.

For 100 years.

This was her advantage.

It was also the only place where she could prove her value in this team.

Lin Yuan looked at her for a few seconds.

Then he nodded.

"Fine. You take the six closest nodes."

Ling Shuanghan was stunned for a moment.

Not because he agreed.

But because of the way he agreed.

No hesitation, no 'are you sure,' no 'it's too dangerous,' and no unnecessary nonsense.

He simply assessed her ability, judged that she could do it, and then agreed.

For the first time in 100 years, someone had treated her this way.

Not treating her as an Empress who needed protection.

Not treating her as a leader who needed to be enshrined.

But treating her as someone who could get things done.

A combatant of the same level.

A teammate who could be trusted.

The corners of Ling Shuanghan's mouth curled up slightly.

It was very slight, almost imperceptible.

But Ye Qingxue saw it.

Ye Qingxue said nothing, merely shifting her gaze back to the diagram on the ground.

The task distribution continued.

Lin Yuan explained everyone's positions, routes, time windows, and retreat plans one by one.

There were no fancy tactics or complex coordination—just splitting up to do the work and retreating once finished.

Simple, direct, and efficient.

After listening, Ye Qingyue raised her hand: "I have a question."

"Speak."

"What happens to the Vanguard after you cut off its energy supply?"

"Its strength will drop further, its clones will largely become inactive, and gaps will appear in its patrol network."

"And then?"

"Then I'll walk through a gap and take the Energy Body."

"And after you take it?"

"The Vanguard will lose its target and naturally retreat."

Ye Qingyue blinked.

"So... there's no fighting part?"

"Preferably not."

"So we prepared so many people and trained for so long just to... set up a few devices and watch you go in and grab something?"

Lin Yuan thought for a moment.

"Pretty much."

Ye Qingyue's expression was a bit subtle.

She turned to look at Ji Wushuang.

Ji Wushuang shrugged: "You'll get used to it."

Ling Shuanghan noticed something.

In Lin Yuan's entire plan, there was no 'combat' phase.

Cut the energy supply.

Take the Energy Body.

The Vanguard retreats naturally.

No one needs to risk their life throughout the process.

In her world, every operation required preparation for sacrifice.

They would count heads before setting out and count them again upon return; the difference in between was the price.

She had grown accustomed to this price.

Accustomed to the point of numbness.

But in this man's plan, the word 'price' never appeared from start to finish.

Not because he was avoiding it.

But because it simply wasn't needed in his plan.

"In my world," Ling Shuanghan suddenly spoke.

Everyone looked at her.

"Every operation requires preparation for sacrifice."

Her voice was very calm.

"We write suicide notes before leaving and burn them after returning. I've written them for 100 years and burned them for 100 years."

She looked at Lin Yuan.

"Your way... is different."

Lin Yuan pulled the ice prism out of the ground and tossed it aside.

"If possible, no one will die."

Six words.

They were light, as if he were stating something that was a matter of course.

But Ling Shuanghan heard the weight in those six words.

It wasn't 'try not to let anyone die.'

It wasn't 'hope no one dies.'

It was 'If possible, no one will die.'

The premise of this sentence was—he had the ability to make it happen.

And he truly did.

After the meeting ended, everyone went back to rest.

Tomorrow was a big day, and they needed to conserve their energy.

The camp grew quiet.

The wind on the ice plains howled, and the silver light on the distant horizon flickered in and out—

The Vanguard was still there, patrolling its territory.

Ye Qingxue walked to Lin Yuan's side and handed him a piece of compressed ration.

Lin Yuan took it and took a bite.

He chewed twice.

"What's this flavor?"

"It's your own supplies, and you're asking me?"

"I haven't eaten them. I just distributed them directly before."

Ye Qingxue glanced at him.

"So you've never even tasted the food you give to over five thousand people?"

"...Yeah."

"Does it taste good?"

Lin Yuan chewed twice more.

"No."

"Then why are you still eating it?"

"It's filling."

Ye Qingxue couldn't help but smile.

She sat down next to Lin Yuan.

The two of them sat together, gnawing on the unappetizing compressed rations while watching the silver light on the distant ice plains.

"Will tomorrow... go smoothly?" she asked.

"It will."

"You say that every time."

"Because it does every time."

Ye Qingxue did not speak again.

She moved a little closer, her shoulder almost touching Lin Yuan's arm.

But they didn't touch.

There was a gap of about one centimeter.

Lin Yuan didn't move.

Ye Qingxue didn't move either.

The two of them just sat there with that one-centimeter gap between them, gnawing on the bad rations and watching the distant silver light.

About ten minutes passed.

Footsteps came from behind.

Ling Shuanghan.

She had changed into a lightweight tactical suit, her ice-blue eyes exceptionally bright in the night.

Ye Qingxue discreetly moved two inches to the side.

That one centimeter became ten centimeters.

Lin Yuan didn't seem to notice.

Or perhaps he did but didn't care.

Ling Shuanghan sat down across from them and got straight to the point.

"If tomorrow is a success, I want to lead my people to join your faction."

Lin Yuan looked at her.

"Reason?"

"It's not because you saved us."

Ling Shuanghan's tone was very direct.

"It's because by following you, my people can live longer."

She paused.

"I've led them through 100 years of the Apocalypse. Every decision I've made in those 100 years was to ensure more people survived. Now, I have made a new decision."

"What decision?"

"To follow you."

Lin Yuan fell silent.

But he wasn't considering whether to accept her.

He was considering how to phrase his next sentence.

"Your 800 people, the elites who survived 100 years of the Apocalypse, are very useful to me."

Ling Shuanghan nodded slightly—this was the answer she expected.

Then Lin Yuan said the next sentence.

"But I have a rule."

Ling Shuanghan's movements stiffened.

"My base only accepts women."

The wind on the ice plains blew past, kicking up a flurry of fine ice crystals.

Ling Shuanghan did not speak immediately.

She thought she had misheard.

"...What?"

"Only women."

Lin Yuan repeated, his tone as calm as before.

"Men are not accepted. This has been the rule of my base since the day it was established; everyone knows this."

Ling Shuanghan's expression changed.

It wasn't anger.

It wasn't dissatisfaction.

It was a complex, unspeakable silence.

Most of her 800 people were men.

Veterans who had followed her for decades to a century, comrades-in-arms who had faced life and death together, brothers who would trade their lives for hers.

Huo Yan.

The adjutant who had followed her for 60 years.

Those men who counted rifts, burned suicide notes, and held shields until their arms were sore on the ice plains.

If he only accepted women—

There were fewer than a hundred female members in her team.

What would happen to the remaining seven hundred-plus men?

Ling Shuanghan was silent for a long time.

"Why?"

She wasn't asking 'why not accept men.'

She was asking 'why set this rule.'

Lin Yuan did not explain.

"A rule is a rule."

Ye Qingxue listened quietly from the side without interrupting.

Because this truly was Lin Yuan's rule.

It had been from the very beginning.

The female survivors in the base were strictly forbidden from contact with outside males; this wasn't a whim, it was an iron law.

Ling Shuanghan lowered her head, looking at the diagram on the ground that had been blurred by the wind.

She was thinking.

The 100 years of the Apocalypse had taught her many things, the most important of which was—

When making a decision, one cannot only look at what is right in front of them.

If she joined with fewer than a hundred women, what would become of her seven hundred-plus male subordinates?

Leave them to survive on their own? In this microscopic world, without Lin Yuan's supplies and equipment, how long could they last?

Let them follow along but not join?

What would that be?

Living under someone else's roof?

Her people were not refugees.

They were elites who had followed her for 100 years.

She could not abandon them.

But she also knew clearly—what Lin Yuan said was a rule, not a suggestion.

This man's word was final.

He said 'If possible, no one will die,' and indeed, no one had died.

He said 'only women,' and he truly only accepted women.

There was no room for bargaining.

Ling Shuanghan stood up.

She didn't say 'then it's settled.'

Nor did she say 'I'm not joining.'

What she said was—

"I'll think about it some more."

Then she turned and left.

Her pace was neither fast nor slow, as steady as when she had arrived.

But Ye Qingxue noticed that her fists were clenched tight.

Her knuckles were white.

Ye Qingxue watched Ling Shuanghan's departing back and was silent for a while.

"You're right."

Lin Yuan glanced at her.

"A rule is a rule."

Ye Qingxue folded the wrapper of her compressed ration and put it away.

"Something set from the beginning cannot be changed for anyone."

Her tone was calm, as if stating a fact that required no discussion.

Lin Yuan stuffed the last bite of compressed ration into his mouth.

"She'll figure it out."

Ye Qingxue nodded.

She didn't ask 'figure out what.'

Because there was no need to ask.

If Lin Yuan said she would figure it out, then she would.

As for what choice Ling Shuanghan would ultimately make—

That was Ling Shuanghan's own business.

The wind on the ice plains gradually died down.

The silver light in the distance was still flickering, but it was dimmer than last night.

The Vanguard was consuming energy.

It didn't know that its energy supply would be cut off tomorrow.

It also didn't know that someone had already seen through its weaknesses clearly.

In the camp, 5,769 people gradually fell asleep.

No one wrote a suicide note.

No one made a final farewell.

Because the man leading the team had said—

If possible, no one will die.

And what he said, went.