Kingdom of Corrosion

Baldy was very generous, donating 200 handgun bullets and 100 5.56 caliber bullets to support the oil search. After lingering at the base for half a day and making a hand-pumped oil pump, Xiaonv and Xiaoji took a hand-cranked cart with Shana and Lin Wu back to the Railroad Bridge Base.

Xiaoji: Male, 36 years old this year. He used to be a helicopter pilot, but four years ago, due to an injury to his right foot, he transferred to become a ground crew member, making him extremely familiar with helicopters. Helicopter steering rudders are controlled by the feet. Even today, Xiaoji still hobbles, and when the weather changes, his old injury becomes unbearably painful, so he can’t operate helicopters.

Shana, with her delicate thoughts, asked on the way back: "Xiaoji, Xiaonv, you both are among the first members of Veteran Base, right?"

Xiaonv nodded: "Yes."

Being older and more experienced, Xiaoji knew what Shana meant and honestly replied: "We’ve been infiltrated. It’s hard for us now to tell who are the ’wumao’ and who are the traitors." ’Wumao’ refers to people carrying wrong information—though their intentions are not necessarily bad, they are influenced by misinformation, resulting in a lot of dissent within the base. ’Traitors’ refers to those harboring unspeakable intentions.

Xiaoji continued: "The initial intention of Veteran Base was to accommodate veterans and establish our own community. However, whether it’s Little Hu, Baldy, or others, they lack strategic vision. To this day we don’t have our own charter. The core question is: why did we establish Veteran Base? Although the first veterans still hold main management positions, the lack of a charter makes them indecisive when facing choices."

Lin Wu was puzzled: "What charter?"

Xiaonv explained: "Our base and your base are friendly, often interacting. Suppose someone incites us to attack or sever ties with you—that obviously won’t do, because we have basic moral beliefs. Once we step out of these morals, suggestions like the one from Xiongba about base replacement and cooperation make us very uncomfortable."

Xiaonv: "From a benefit standpoint, we should do it. From a spiritual standpoint, many of our comrades died here, we should stand our ground here. From certain angles of justice, Xiongba’s decision to gather survivors and develop the community is correct."