Chapter 142 Reunion

Carl saw Zongfang trying to pull Qiao Susu up from the ground, so he hugged Qiao Susu without hesitation and lifted her up. After Qiao Susu came up, she wanted to find a way to rescue Carl. Zongfang had already taken the rope that he had prepared and stretched it down from the hole, and Carl quickly climbed up.

The second after Karl climbed up, the entire ground began to collapse. Zong Fang held Qiao Susu's hand and protected her to run to a safe place, followed by Karl. Every step of the three of them was a race against time with the collapse behind them, and the ground almost followed their footsteps and collapsed quickly.

Finally, the whole earth stopped shaking.

Qiao Susu fell to the ground, looking at the ruins in front of her, gasping for breath, feeling grateful for having survived a disaster.

Karl saw that her knees and arms had varying degrees of abrasions, so he immediately came over to check her whole body, and only breathed a sigh of relief when he was sure that she was not seriously injured.

Qiao Susu first looked at Zong Fang and saw that the man had his back to her, and seemed to be observing the collapsed ground in front of him, as if he was confirming something.

She came back to her senses after hearing Karl’s concerned inquiry and said, “I’m fine, how are you?”

Karl was also slightly injured, but he didn’t even look at it at this time, and said indifferently: “I’m fine.”

After he finished speaking, he noticed that Qiao Susu was looking at Zong Fang's back again, and then she lowered her eyes and pursed her lips.

Karl also looked at Zongfang and called out to him, "Hey, thanks."

Zongfang turned around, nodded and said, "You're welcome."

Karl frowned when he heard this, and looked at him in confusion as if he had seen a ghost. Qiao Suisui was also startled, and was a little unfamiliar with such a kind Zong Fang.

When Zong Fang saw the reactions of the two, a flash of light flashed across his silver eyes very quickly, and then his expression became indifferent, and his tone became as gloomy as before, and he said: "If you have nothing to do, leave quickly, it's not safe here."

Qiao Suisui nodded, looking at the man who had already walked back, with her head slightly lowered. Karl had been paying attention to her state, and keenly caught a trace of loss in her eyes.

"Be good, come up, I'll carry you." Karl squatted in front of her, turned around and looked at her with a smile.

Qiao Suisui waved her hand, pulled him up, and said, "I still have the energy, let's go."

So the two of them followed Zongfang and moved to a safe place.

"You guys take a rest here for a while."

Zong Fang spread out the haystack into a simple bed and let Qiao Suisui sit on it to rest. The hay pricked her a little, but she didn't say a word and quietly leaned on the haystack to recover her strength. It was only when Karl took off his coat and spread it on the haystack for her that she felt a little better.

And Zongfang just silently fiddled with the fire not far away.

Qiao Suisui sat opposite him, her eyes moving back and forth over him, wanting to ask him if he was doing well during this period, but she hesitated because of his strange attitude and did not speak. She felt that Zongfang's behavior today was a little different from the past, and she couldn't put her finger on this subtle change, which made her feel strange.

"Zongfang, why are you there?" Qiao Susu asked in a low voice.

There was no expression on Zongfang's face, only the occasional flash of light in his eyes was hard to read. He did not answer immediately, but pondered for a moment before saying, "I was in charge of patrolling that area. I went over there immediately after hearing the loud noise and found that you were almost buried underneath."

Carl asked: "This level of collapse should be caused by human sabotage. Did you see who did it?"

This time, Munakata answered quickly, saying, "When I arrived, it had already started to collapse. I didn't see anyone, but I saw a blasting device. Someone must have tampered with it from the ground."

"Has anyone discovered us?" Carl frowned in confusion, "And my talent was useless underground just now."

Qiao Susu asked: "What now?" Carl activated his talent, and a black hole immediately appeared in front of the three of them.

"Why is this? It didn't work when we were underground, but it works now." Carl was puzzled.

Zongfang lowered his eyes and poked the fire with a stick, saying lightly: "There is a shield on the southern battlefield, which may have interfered with you."

Karl moved his neck and muttered, “If the shield works on me, then why did I come to give you the things last time?”

Zongfang paused for a moment, then continued to fiddle with the fire as if nothing had happened. The flame was already burning very high and did not need to be made stronger, but he never stopped.

Seeing that he never mentioned the photo of the cub, Qiao Suisui bit her lip and finally couldn't help asking, "Zongfang, are you blaming me?"

Zongfang kept his eyes down, and after a while, he said, "It's all over."

Qiao Suisui was stunned, not understanding what he meant. Karl on the side couldn't stand it anymore and started to scold: "Are you okay? Last time you came, you asked me to tell you that you would definitely return to her. Now she's right in front of you, why are you pretending to be so cool? Are you playing hard to get?"

Zong Fang's eyelids twitched, and then he looked up at Qiao Sui Sui with apology and affection in his eyes, and said, "Qiao Qiao, I'm sorry, I just haven't seen you for too long, and I don't know what to do."

Qiao Suisui shook her head, signaling him not to apologize, and smiled at him comfortingly. The two talked for a while. Zong Fang was no longer as cold and distant as before, and every word he said was obedient, even with some barely perceptible flattery. The familiar feeling between the two of them in the past became very faint, and Qiao Suisui's doubts became deeper and deeper.

There was a silence, and Karl asked Qiao Suisui to go and rest, and he and Zong Fang took turns to keep watch. Zong Fang occasionally looked up at Qiao Suisui and Karl, his eyes seemed to be looking for some kind of confirmation, but it was difficult to ask directly.

After Qiao Suisui fell asleep, Zong Fang suddenly spoke, breaking the silence: "Did you find anything unusual in the laboratory?"

Carl crossed his arms and counted the stars in boredom, saying, "We did find some documents, but the really important ones had already been destroyed. In addition, the incident just happened suddenly, so we were unable to bring the documents out."

Zong Fang nodded, and then he asked: "Did you find the 'black box' this time?"

Carl turned his eyes from staring at the night sky to Zong Fang and asked, "You mean the recorder that only special federal personnel are equipped with?"

Zongfang nodded, "Maybe there are clues in there."

Carl held a piece of hay in his mouth and shook his head, saying, "It's been so many years. If there was any, it would have broken long ago. Besides, only a very small number of people would wear it when they go on a mission. The chances of finding it now are too small."

Zongfang stopped talking and watched the jumping flames in silence.

After dawn, Zong Fang told Qiao Susu about the black box again.

"You mean, if we find this black box, maybe we can find clues? But we're not sure if there's anything important recorded in it, and even if we find it, it's been so long, maybe we can't open it at all?"

Qiao Susu didn't want to bet all her time and energy on an uncertainty. She had now found the experimental base and speculated that the Federation had sent people here to conduct secret live experiments. Was the annihilation of Dudleyne's village related to this experimental base?
"We should investigate further along the experimental base," she said.

If the sudden collapse had not destroyed the experimental base, they would have made progress and obtained evidence by now.

Zong Fang's silver eyes were deep, and he didn't insist too much, but smiled and said: "Okay, I know a place that may have clues."

"Where?"

(End of this chapter)