Everyone, don't stop."
In the forest, Luo Men led the way, taking everyone with him as they ran.
At this moment, everyone carried a backpack and ran behind Luo Men.
"I can't, I can't run anymore."
At the back of the group, a young girl gasped and cried out.
Luo Men looked at the group of panting teenagers and girls behind him, thought for a moment, and said, "In that case, let's stop and rest by the stream up ahead."
At this point, they had already ventured a considerable distance into the forest on the western slope of the Nevada Mountains.
They had roughly done their zero-cost shopping at the mall around noon, and by the time they abandoned the school bus and trekked into the Nevada Mountains, it was around two in the afternoon.
The sky was somewhat dim now, looking like it was five or six o'clock.
Since leaving the laboratory, they had basically been in a highly tense state, without any proper rest. There happened to be a small stream ahead, so a temporary break here was not a problem.
The girl who said she couldn't run had the ability to accelerate plant growth. She ran at the very back mainly to clear everyone's footprints, to prevent easy tracking. The use of her ability naturally couldn't be without any consumption; it still consumed physical strength or other energy, so her physical exertion was also the greatest.
"Now let's divide the tasks. Everyone, first find wood to start a fire. Those with pots in their backpacks, take them out to boil water. Those with food, take out some to await distribution."
Although everyone grew up in the laboratory, they were not completely devoid of common sense. Occasionally, there were some entertainment activities like watching anime and movies, so they weren't completely ignorant, but they weren't far from being a blank slate either.
After stopping, Luo Men immediately assigned tasks to everyone; otherwise, no one would know what to do.
Previously at the mall, everyone had freely done their zero-cost shopping, and Luo Men didn't know what exactly everyone's backpacks contained. However, Luo Men had consciously arranged for people to take some daily necessities.
The seventeen people present ultimately took out five medium-sized stainless steel soup pots. Luo Men immediately arranged for these few people to fetch and boil water.
Although stream water was flowing water and relatively cleaner, drinking it raw was not an issue. However, for safety, boiling water was the lowest risk, and they currently had no medical means.
After lighting several bonfires and arranging for people to boil water, Luo Men also took out a compass to determine direction and ponder his next plan.
When he managed to get a phone earlier, he searched for a lot of information.
The most important was about Mutant. Finally, in a small forum, he found fragmented information. Because officials had, over ten years ago, developed a type of genetically modified food that could suppress the X-Gene, Mutant were currently largely extinct. As for the X-Men, they were generally considered to be fictional characters from comics.
Besides the situation with Mutant, Luo Men also searched for Super Heroes, such as Captain America and Iron Man. It was currently 2015, and three years ago, in 2012, humanity also faced an alien invasion, specifically the Chitauri led by Loki, during the Battle of New York.
This meant that this world was the Marvel Cinematic Universe, or MCU, and it also incorporated the world view of the Mutant film universe from the new timeline after Days of Future Past.
"I remember, 2015 seemed to be the time for Avengers 2, is the Ultron event coming?"
After thinking for a moment, Luo Men shook his head and stopped thinking further. Regardless of the situation, it had no significant connection to him. His current priority was to first help everyone survive, then try to expand the team and strengthen his own power.
After determining the direction, Luo Men had a general idea in his mind.
He didn't have a particularly detailed plan because conditions were limited. The goal was only to get as far away from human activity areas as possible, so moving northeast was best. Then, ideally, they needed to find a hidden area with abundant resources to serve as a base, which would take time.
As for the later plans, Luo Men had nothing much to say, but the goal was to become stronger. If he had the strength of a human god, who would dare to mess with Mutant experiments? What military, what capitalists, he could mold them however he wanted.
Of course, being overly ambitious was not possible now.
Soon after distributing some food and a few sips of hot water, and resting briefly, Luo Men immediately led everyone to continue moving.
Constantly traveling was quite monotonous and tiring, but no one complained of being tired or wanting to stop.
They had gained freedom, and although it wasn't as easy as they imagined, it was very comfortable.
Moreover, Luo Men, who had unknowingly gained everyone's unanimous trust through his charisma, led by example, taking everyone away and enduring greater pressure. Since he didn't say anything, there was no need for others to say more.
When it got completely dark, Luo Men led everyone to a flat area, set up a temporary camp, and arranged for everyone to take turns on watch. As an example, Luo Men took the first half of the night.
In the Nevada Mountains, there were indeed dangers.
Dangerous creatures such as black bears and cougars lived in this mountain range, so they naturally could not relax their guard easily.
They continued to travel for several days, finally stopping in a valley, preparing to develop it as their base.
This place was nestled against the mountains and by water, as expected. There was an existing cave that could temporarily suffice, and Luo Men could later expand the cave further.
Currently, Luo Men felt that living in a cave was a good option compared to building wooden houses outside.
Because building wooden houses, not to mention their basic lack of carpentry skills, if too many were built, the risk of detection was also somewhat high, which was not stable enough.
However, one cave would certainly not be enough for a group of people to live in. Later, they would still need to build wooden houses and stone houses. At that time, building houses against the mountain, and using moss and other things for camouflage, would also pose less risk. This would be discussed after understanding the surrounding situation.
"Alright, we'll settle down here for now. Lisa, I'm leaving this place for you to arrange." Luo Men said to the girl who could control plants to accelerate their growth, then turned to two figures, one fat and one thin, and said, "Buck, Kenli, and Martin, come hunting with me."
During these events, besides finding a base, everyone had chosen a name based on their preferences, as they originally only had numbers and no names.
Buck was the chubby one, with a tank-type ability, one of the best fighters among them.
Kenli, on the other hand, had an excellent sense of smell, capable of tracking prey, making him very suitable for hunting.
As for Martin, he could eliminate everyone's movement sounds, preventing animals from being easily alerted.
With Luo Men, who had basically mastered Thermal Energy Absorption, hunting was almost always successful.