Lin Weiran and the others drove away in a van.
The six ability users squeezed inside for the night, and finally, as dawn broke, they re-entered the highway.
“Damn it, we wasted so many days and only got two boxes of instant noodles and twenty jin of rice! We would’ve been better off heading to a nearby village from the start—our harvest would’ve been much greater than this!”
The one driving, Lin Weiran, tried to soothe Zhao Zhenyu’s frustration. “It’s fine. This food is enough to last us a few days. Once we get past this stretch of the highway that’s been completely looted, we’re bound to find supplies in time.”
“Besides, we also got a bunch of crystal stones! Si Zhe, distribute the bag of crystals among everyone.”
Si Zhe, who had been resting against the seat to recover from his injuries, opened his eyes and pulled out a cloth bag filled with crystal stones.
First, he took out five Grade 2 crystal stones and ten Tier 1 crystal stones. Then, he casually tossed the bag toward the back.
“These are for Weiran. The rest, split among yourselves.”
As for himself, he had already taken the Grade 3 crystal stone, so there was no need for him to participate in dividing the spoils.
Lin Weiran hadn’t expected Si Zhe to still be thinking about her at this moment. She instinctively turned her head.
Just in time to meet Si Zhe’s gaze.
As their eyes met, a warm current surged in Lin Weiran’s heart.
——Thank you.
She silently mouthed the two words at Si Zhe, and her right hand quietly left the steering wheel to grasp the man’s hand.
——How’s your injury?
Si Zhe quickly returned the squeeze.
——I’m fine. I can hold on.
This kind of affectionate exchange between them had happened more than once or twice. But for some reason, this time, it particularly irked Zhao Zhenyu, who was sitting in the back.
He had also been given five Grade 2 crystal stones and ten Grade 1 crystal stones.
But at his current stage, these crystals were useless to him.
The other three Tier 1 teammates, on the other hand, were thrilled. With the Grade 2 crystal stones in hand, they would soon be able to advance to Tier 2 ability users.
And him?
He had been among the first batch of people to reach the Tier 2, yet now, he was gradually being overtaken by others.
He had initially joined this team because he believed it had great prospects. Now, there were no supplies, and his abilities had stagnated.
The painstakingly acquired Grade 3 crystal stone hadn’t even been up for discussion before Si Zhe took it for himself. And then he had the audacity to act generous afterward.
The value of that Grade 3 crystal stone was far greater than the few extra low-tier crystals thrown his way!
Zhao Zhenyu sat there with a dark expression, completely out of place amidst the others’ joy.
This time, no one came to comfort him.
The van drove another several dozen kilometers before finally stopping for lunch. Compared to the rich meals of the past few days, the plain porridge they had now was tasteless. It was so bland that it felt like even the birds in his mouth would fly away.
Until someone inadvertently glanced into the distance, their body suddenly froze.
“Look quickly! Isn’t that a zombie horde?!”
A single sentence stirred up waves.
Si Zhe and Lin Weiran abruptly stood up. After staring intently for a few seconds, their faces changed drastically.
“It’s a zombie horde! Get in the car! Drive back!”
Everyone hurriedly got into the vehicles, except for Zhao Zhenyu, who was holding a bowl of white porridge and frowned. “Why are we running again? Haven’t we encountered enough zombie hordes? Just kill them one by one, isn’t that enough?”
Si Zhe suddenly turned his head, his gaze chillingly cold.
“If you want to die, go ahead on your own. Don’t drag us down.”
The merciless reprimand made Zhao Zhenyu’s face turn alternately pale and green.
He stood there stiffly for a moment before finally climbing into the van.
By now, the zombie horde ahead was drawing closer and closer. They were only one or two kilometers apart, and everyone could see the dark mass behind them, stretching endlessly.
A rough estimate suggested tens of thousands of zombies—nothing like the small-scale hordes of dozens or a hundred they had encountered before.
Lin Weiran turned the car around and slammed the gas pedal to the floor, yet she couldn’t help but glance back anxiously.
“What’s going on? Why are there so many zombies on the highway?”
“And why are they gathered in such a massive swarm?! Where did they all come from?!”
Si Zhe stared at the map for a long moment before finally coming up with a theory. “This section of the highway is near C City. They likely surged out from there.”
This north-to-south highway passed through two densely populated provinces—one was W City, the other was C City.
They had managed to detour safely around W City, only to run into trouble at C City.
“Captain! There are over a dozen zombies catching up from behind!”
A teammate sitting in the last row was pressed against the rear window, staring in horror at the dozen or so zombies in the lead.
Their speed was vastly different from the massive horde behind them—they were fast enough to chase down a speeding car.
As he watched, his voice trembled. “They’re Tier 3. They’re all Tier 3 zombies!”
The moment these words fell, the entire vehicle plunged into panic.
More than a dozen Tier 3 zombies—if they caught up, they would tear everyone to pieces!
Lin Weiran’s heartbeat instantly accelerated. At this point, she didn’t even dare look back anymore, afraid that a single distraction would slow her driving.
“Si Zhe, what do we do?!”
“Weiran, keep driving at full speed. Zhenyu and I will climb onto the roof and slow down the Tier 3 zombies.”
“Once we gain enough distance, we’ll switch drivers, and you’ll join us on the roof to help take them down!”
“Got it!”
With the gas pedal already floored, Si Zhe opened the window and agilely flipped his upper body outside.
With a stretch and pull of his arms, Si Zhe was already standing on the roof of the vehicle.
A bolt of lightning-type ability shot toward the nearest Tier 3 zombie.
Zhao Zhenyu followed closely behind, flipping onto the roof as well. No matter what he thought in his heart, at this moment of life and death, they had to work together to eliminate the biggest threat before them.
Water spheres shot forward, hitting each zombie with precise accuracy.
Though the attack lacked significant damage, when combined with Si Zhe’s lightning ability, several zombies were instantly charred into blackened husks, successfully slowing down their advance.
It seemed they were close to escaping, but… something caught Zhao Zhenyu’s eyes, and his pupils suddenly contracted in horror.
“Si Zhe, doesn’t that zombie look different from the others?”
At first, when more than a dozen Tier 3 zombies were sprinting together at high speed, it was hard to notice any distinctions. But as more zombies fell behind, a particularly petite female zombie became increasingly visible.
While the other zombies relied on running, she relied on jumping—each leap spanning ten meters, launching her forward like a cannonball.
Not only that, but she was also exceptionally agile, effortlessly dodging Zhao Zhenyu’s water spheres without a single drop touching her.
As a result, she completely avoided Si Zhe’s conductive water-lightning combo attack.
Watching the approaching female zombie, a deep sense of foreboding surged within Si Zhe’s mind.
A net of lightning descended from the sky. The female zombie seemed to sense the danger and let out a furious roar—
“ROAR!!!!!”
Invisible wind blades slashed the lightning net into shreds.
She then nimbly dodged all the remaining fragments, pausing for only a few seconds before launching forward again.
“Tier 4! She’s a Tier 4 wind-type zombie!”
Zhao Zhenyu’s shout reached inside the vehicle, instantly sending everyone’s nerves into overdrive.
“A Tier 4 zombie?! How is that possible?!”
Upon hearing this, Lin Weiran felt her entire body go weak.
Si Zhe had only just reached Tier 3—there was no way he was a match for a Tier 4 zombie… They had to run, immediately!
But where could they run?
Even if they could push their exhausted bodies to the limit, enduring a full day and night of high-speed pursuit, these two average-performance vans might not even hold out.
If they broke down halfway… The thought sent a chill through Lin Weiran. She gritted her teeth and shouted, “Si Zhe, hold on for twenty more kilometers! I’ll take the exit back to last night’s highway entrance and switch to the national road!”
Having fought together for so long, Si Zhe instantly understood Lin Weiran’s plan.
If the zombie horde didn’t follow them off the highway onto the national road, then that would be ideal. But if they were relentless in their pursuit… then the nearest town by the highway exit would become the perfect bait to lure them away.
“Got it!”
The Tier 4 female zombie remained hot on their heels. In just the blink of an eye, she had already closed the gap to about 800 meters behind the van.
Si Zhe and Zhao Zhenyu took turns attacking, and after half an hour, they had only managed to slow her down by another 400 to 500 meters.
Just as the two were about to deplete their abilities, the vehicle finally exited the highway.
“Si Zhe, Zhenyu, hold on for ten more minutes! Just ten more minutes!”
Lin Weiran drove the van like a racing car, speeding through obstacles at a breakneck pace. The vehicle wobbled precariously, as if it might break down at any moment.
Finally! The outline of the town appeared in her sight!
Lin Weiran hesitated for a few seconds but gritted her teeth and drove onto the regular road leading to the nearby town.
There were still many ability users in that town, and hadn’t the mayor been wanting high-tier crystal cores?
This was as good as handing him a Grade 4 crystal core for free—whether he could catch it was up to him!
A ruthless glint flashed in Lin Weiran’s eyes as she skimmed past the edge of the town.
Compared to dealing with these troublesome ability users, the town next door was teeming with the aura of thousands of living humans. As expected, the pursuing female zombie hesitated.
Her footsteps slowed, and her blank eyes turned toward the direction of the town.
Slurp.
It almost sounded like she was swallowing saliva. A few seconds later, she finally made up her mind.
Before changing direction, she still remembered the two ability users who had stalled her for so long. Though her mind was no longer intact, she could still feel something akin to resentment.
Whoosh!
A massive wind blade slashed toward the van’s roof. After releasing this final strike, the female zombie left without hesitation, leaping toward the town.
As for that wind blade… Zhao Zhenyu, who still had some energy left, managed to dodge it—only for it to head straight for Si Zhe!
As the main force against the Tier 4 zombie, Si Zhe had exerted himself the most and was already on the verge of exhaustion. When he saw the wind blade, he barely had time to dodge the vital areas.
The wind blade finally struck his waist.
A streak of blood arced through the air like a “blood arrow.” In the next second, Si Zhe’s vision went black from excessive blood loss, and he completely lost consciousness.
“Si Zhe!!!”
A teammate had already taken over Lin Weiran’s spot as the driver. She jumped onto the roof just in time to catch Si Zhe as he collapsed, letting out a heartbreaking cry.
Seeing Si Zhe’s miserable state, Zhao Zhenyu felt a moment of guilt—but he quickly buried it.
“Weiran, the zombie has been lured away. We need to leave now!”
If even that town couldn’t stop the Tier 4 zombie, the longer they stayed, the more danger they would be in.
Lin Weiran pressed down on Si Zhe’s wound, silently shedding tears for two seconds before finally making a decision.
“This highway is no longer an option. We’ll switch to the national road and detour to X City. Si Zhe needs a lot of medicine!”
—
Meanwhile.
Su Su was driving an off-road vehicle, having been on the national road for half the night and the entire morning.
With memories from her past life, she knew that highway was absolutely impassable.
This situation, in a way, had something to do with the mayor.
He had sent people to sweep several nearby service stations for supplies, leaving no provisions for the survivors who later took that route. Desperate, they risked heading into C City in search of resources.
But their luck was terrible—not only did they fail to find supplies, but they also ended up luring a massive, well-organized zombie horde onto the highway.
At that time, Lin Weiran and her group had left the town earlier and were parked on the highway, cooking and resting. Meanwhile, Su Su was alone in a small sedan when she faintly heard the roar of approaching cars and the desperate cries for help from a crowd.
She had fallen behind them, but she was the first to turn her car around and flee in the direction she had come from.
Later, Lin Weiran consumed the second Grade 3 crystal core she had obtained from the mayor, advancing to a Tier 3 ability user. She then joined forces with Si Zhe to defeat the Tier 4 zombie.
Although it was a hard-fought victory, they managed to obtain an extremely rare Grade 4 crystal core.
This was both the protagonist team’s trial and their opportunity.
However, since the next stretch of the highway was blocked by nearly ten thousand zombies, the group had no choice but to switch to the national road, detouring through X City to continue south.
Thinking back on that life-and-death escape, Su Su still felt lingering fear.