Ah Zhao quickly discovered Lian Ru Meng's where abouts, she was at the refugee camp in the Foshan City.
The reason Ah Zhao was able to find her so quickly was that the place she was staying happened to be the only refugee camp in Foshan City that served both administrative functions and as a shelter for refugees. Due to the involvement of official forces, the refugees there were among the first to be registered.
Ah Zhao didn't even need to cross-check Lian Ru Meng's information to confirm that she was the one Lian Ru Ning was looking for because the two sisters looked so alike! They were so similar that he initially thought the photo on file was of Lian Ru Ning herself!
After Ah Zhao reported this, Hao Jian received a notification in her mind:
> Congratulations, Host, for completing Side Quest 1: Obtain information about the Lian family.
> Reward: 100 experience points, 500 credits.
> Current total: 1664 experience points, 3468 credits.
> Congratulations, Host, for unlocking Side Quest 2: Help Lian Ru Ning reunite with her family.
The notifications came one after another, leaving Hao Jian little time to process them before she was abruptly given Side Quest 2.
Her previous guess seemed correct, these side quests were definitely related to the main storyline and were sequential. However, unlike the main quest, side quests only offered rewards without evaluations.
---
As Hao Jian was still pondering the differences and connections between each quest, Lian Ru Ning asked her why she had asked Ah Zhao to investigate Foshan City and Zhu City. Did she already have a lead?
Feigning deep thought, Hao Jian replied, "Just a hunch."
"...Your hunch is really spot on!" Lian Ru Ning said, clearly unconvinced.
Hao Jian heard the skepticism in her tone and laughed, saying, "Actually, I figured that Ru Meng is a smart kid like you. She had already spent three days on the 24th, 25th, and 26th traveling by public transport. No matter how complicated her journey was, it couldn't be more convoluted than ours. Also, don't forget our earlier assumption that she didn't buy a ticket on the 27th. If it wasn't because of the internet outage preventing her from buying one, then it was because she no longer needed to."
"There are several reasons why she might not need a ticket. One, she had met with an accident; two, she had already returned to Nan City; three..."
"What's the third possibility?" Lian Ru Ning, although no longer as worried since she knew Ru Meng was alive, was still curious about Hao Jian's reasoning.
"The formula is a bit complex, so I'll simplify it," Hao Jian began listing the possibilities that could have affected Lian Ru Meng:
Starting with point one, Hao Jian recalled that the internet outage occurred at noon on July 27th. If Lian Ru Meng wanted to buy a ticket, she had the whole morning, and even during high-demand travel seasons like Chinese New Year, the client-side rarely crashed. So, she should have been able to buy a ticket.
As for point two, those days were when Nanfang City’s government was controlling virus spread, resulting in the lockdown of airports, train stations, and the suspension of bus services. So, not being able to get a ticket to Nanfang City was expected.
However, she still had the option to buy a ticket to smaller cities nearby. Hao Jian had previously asked Secretary Wang about the situation around Xiang City. She said that when the zombie virus first appeared, no one knew about it. On July 18th, an infected individual attacked someone at the airport, which was when the government realized the threat. But because they didn't yet have relevant information, they didn't shut down the airport, they just increased health checks for travelers from India.
By July 19th, symptoms were no longer limited to travelers from India, and the government traced the virus's origins, leading to the shutdown of the airport and suspension of all international flights.
Despite these efforts, the virus spread at an alarming rate because many early travelers were carriers who hadn’t yet shown symptoms. By the time the government tried to contain the infected travelers, it was too late, especially since they hadn't identified that the virus could also spread through sexual contact.
Within just a few days, the number of infected surpassed several thousand. Some were bitten, others infected through sexual contact, and some others through minor injuries that went unnoticed, making it impossible for the authorities to control the virus's spread.
This led to chaos on July 22, with outbreaks in major cities. Nanfang City began closing its railway stations, airports, and bus terminals on the 25th. Although Xiang City didn't have an airport, its trains were stopped, and on the 26th it also stopped its bus service. However, they couldn't stop buses that were already on their way, especially to smaller cities that hadn't yet closed their terminals.
Foshan City, Zhu City, and Xiang City were in similar situations, so applying the same logic, it was likely that Ru Meng's ticket on the 26th wasn’t to Nanfang City but to a nearby smaller city.
Point three didn't require much argument, and point four was ruled out when Ah Zhao confirmed that she wasn’t on Nanfang City's list of survivors.
Point five was linked to point two, leaving many options in nearby cities unless she had already died. Considering all this, Hao Jian asked Ah Zhao to investigate based on the survivor registration information in surrounding areas.
---
Lian Ru Ning was dumbfounded after hearing all this.
Did they even attend the same university? Both had been accepted to Nanfang City's university, and while she wouldn’t call herself a genius, she was at least a top student, right? Yet, this dropout genius Hao Jian still managed to outclass her!
"It must be a matter of expertise, definitely!" Lian Ru Ning reassured herself.
But she still felt frustrated! Claiming to rely on "intuition" was like saying luck was part of one's strength. If intuition was a skill, then she had to admit that Hao Jian was indeed superior.
Recalling her earlier thoughts of giving up on Hao Jian, she quickly changed her mind. It was bad enough to be outdone professionally, she wouldn’t let herself be dominated in other ways too.
Even if it was exhausting, she'd work hard to claim an equal standing!
"At this moment, my dear junior must be in complete awe of me," Hao Jian teased.
Lian Ru Ning nearly forgot that Hao Jian was unmatched in shamelessness too.
---
Now that they had confirmed the whereabouts of Lian Ru Ning's family, the next step was to plan their route. Lian Ru Ning suggested they find her father first, ensure his safety, and then find a way to reach Haisin Island to pick up her mother and brother.
As for Lian Ru Meng, things were a bit tricky. The Foshan City is in a straight line with the Nanfang city center and the central part of Xiang City. In other words, to reach the Foshan City, one would have to pass through the Nanfang city center.
However, there are still rivers over there, so traveling by boat would be much safer. The only concern is whether An Minghui would try to hold back Hao Jian, preventing her from going to the Foshan City.
In reality, she wasn't in a rush to get to the Foshan City. After all, Lian Ru Meng was currently stationed at a government-controlled area, so there shouldn't be any trouble for now, allowing them to take things slowly.
Hao Jian had truthfully told An Minghui where they planned to go. Although they had information about Lian Qingmiao's whereabouts, it was provided by Shi Gongdui, not An Zhao, who did not reveal his own whereabouts. If they wanted to find Lian Qingmiao, they would need someone's help without revealing their source of information.
They trusted An Minghui quite a bit, and he, upon hearing this, didn't question how they had obtained the information on Lian Qingmiao.
He said, "The island where the University Town is located, along with several nearby islands, are all key areas under complete lockdown. The Science Center there is filled with researchers, and to prevent any scientific data from leaking, the entire place is sealed off. Even I can't enter without a permission. Originally, the university area has now been converted into administrative and military bases, which is where I'm headed."
Hao Jian replied, "As long as we have the chance to get onto the island, that’s enough. It doesn't matter if we can’t enter the Science Center, as long as we can get in touch with Professor Lian Qingmiao."
An Minghui said, "Alright, I'll think of a way to help when the time comes. But I've been marked on the assassination list of 'Wujio,' so we need to be cautious in the open and not expose your identity."
"Mm, thank you!"
Their preliminary action plan was thus set. Of course, this operation wasn't just between them and An Minghui. An Minghui had already been promoted from the squad leader of the Jiang City detachment to a squad leader in the main force, now commanding eight team members.
An Minghui wasn’t worried that Hao Jian would mess up the mission, because even when her shooting skills were still lacking, she was already impressive. Now, her marksmanship had reached their average level, and even while on the move, she had a fair chance of hitting the target. He couldn’t underestimate her anymore.
Indeed, ever since Hao Jian officially joined the "Special Response Team," she had to practice shooting after every meeting and information sharing about organizations like "Wujio."
Training in this place had many advantages, such as numerous targets, the circle of zombies around the government building served as real-life targets, and the way to confirm a successful shot was whether the zombie was shot in the head.
In the past two days, taking advantage of the free ammo provided, she had killed quite a few zombies. Her experience points had increased from 1,664 after completing the mission yesterday to 1,860. She only needed to kill 28 more zombies to reach 2,000 experience points and level up to level 5.
An Minghui even wondered if Hao Jian had previously received firearms training because her improvement rate was astonishingly fast.
Hao Jian smiled and said, "I did learn before, and you were the one who taught me. Did you forget?"
An Minghui was taken aback, then laughed, "You're just showing off your talent. Be careful, having too much talent might make others envious!"
The day before their departure, they even pulled Lian Ru Ning in for a day's practice. Despite not having held a gun for days, she hadn't forgotten the key points An Minghui had taught her.
Hao Jian also focused entirely on her training. Besides practicing shooting, she had to train in other areas like hand-to-hand combat. Although individual zombies rarely posed a threat to her, she hadn't received formal combat training, so facing human enemies could put her at a disadvantage.
A single day wasn't enough to learn much in terms of combat techniques, but Hao Jian at least grasped the vulnerable parts of the human body and how to use leverage to take down someone stronger.
Because she focused on combat training, she didn't spend much time practicing her shooting, leaving her 28-zombie goal with 20 more to go.
Using this opportunity to conceal the fact that she had a system was a good thing, but she wasn't in a hurry to level up. If she appeared too eager or greedy, it could easily raise suspicions, after all, she wasn’t sure if there were other system holders among the thousands of people in this area.
The next day, they were set to depart. That night, Hao Jian and Lian Ru Ning ended their training early.
After not seeing each other for almost a day, Lian Ru Ning thought she looked ragged enough, only to find Hao Jian in an even worse state, with what seemed to be bruises on her knees.
"Are you alright?" Lian Ru Ning borrowed a bottle of medicated oil from Zhao Yuhuan to massage Hao Jian.
"It's no big deal. But, little junior sister, are you confident about handling a gun from now on?"
"Of course." Lian Ru Ning curled her lips in a smile, feeling quite pleased about her progress.
Her light-hearted mood was mainly because they were setting off to find her father the next day. Thinking of reuniting with him, she felt she could finally have a good night's sleep.
However, before going to bed, she went to see Zhao Yuhuan.
Both Zhao Yuhuan and An Zhao had helped her greatly, so she felt it was necessary to repay them.
Although she wasn't sure if An Zhao truly had feelings for Zhao Yuhuan, nor was she confident in her own guess, she could at least share some thoughts on this with Zhao Yuhuan so that she wouldn’t remain oblivious.