The mountains of G City stretched endlessly, with highways winding around vast mountains and rivers. As long as one did not pass through a city, it was rare to encounter zombies on the road.
Unfortunately, where there were mountains, there were also bandits.
To survive, the surrounding villages and towns had spontaneously formed large and small bandit gangs. The food from their fields was enough for self-sufficiency, while all other supplies relied entirely on roadside robbery.
Of course, these bandit gangs knew how to pick their targets.
If a passing vehicle was filled with burly men, well-equipped and carrying ample supplies, they would quietly let them pass. But if it was full of the elderly, the weak, the sick, or children, they would swarm in, looting supplies, stealing vehicles, and in worse cases, even taking people.
Among Su Su’s group, they had two of those vulnerable categories, and they were driving a high-performance modified off-road vehicle—like a child parading with gold through the streets, making them an ideal target for the bandits.
Not to mention, there were two young and beautiful women in the car.
Such a juicy piece of meat—who wouldn’t be tempted? The sight alone could make people drop their guard, fooled by appearances.
Unfortunately, no one had succeeded in taking a bite out of this prey yet.
The mountain road ahead was narrow, leading into yet another sharp turn. Pang Cancan released a few venomous insects to scout ahead. Less than half a minute later, she let out a long sigh.
“Sister Su Su, there’s another ambush up ahead.”
Su Su frowned irritably. “Too many.”
No kidding! They had just dealt with one wave of bandits, barely ten kilometers down the road, and another one was already waiting for them!
“Do they really manage to loot anything at this rate?” Pang Cancan was doubtful. “Shouldn’t the earlier bandits have already taken everything?”
Who knew?
Su Su slowed the vehicle, staying alert for any iron spikes that might suddenly appear on the road. If their tires were punctured in the middle of nowhere, there would be no place to get a replacement.
It would even be hard to wait for another vehicle to pass by.
Just as she was thinking that, Le Rui, who was leaning against the rear window, suddenly exclaimed, “Sister Su Sujie, there’s a car coming up behind us!”
Su Su glanced at the rearview mirror and indeed saw a vehicle approaching from the highway behind them.
“Can you see who’s inside?”
Pang Cancan also climbed to the rear window, squinting for a long time before barely making out that the driver was a man.
Being able to drive a Land Rover in the apocalypse—he was either a foolish rich guy or a ruthless figure.
“How about letting them go first? They can clear the way for us!”
Su Su took the opportunity to slow down further.
The Land Rover quickly caught up, speeding past them at a close distance. She only managed to catch a glimpse of two burly men in the driver and passenger seats.
Vroom! Vroom vroom vroom—
The Land Rover had just drifted around the bend when, without warning, its roaring engine sputtered out, leaving it awkwardly stalled in the middle of the road.
Immediately after, dozens of burly bandits sprang out.
“Hand over all the supplies in the car!”
As expected, furious shouts echoed through the mountains and forests. Pang Cancan immediately perked up. “Is a fight about to break out?”
Just as she finished speaking, miserable screams drifted around the bend.
“Spare us! We won’t dare do it again!”
“Awoo awoo awoo! Stop hitting us! Please let us go!”
On the other side, Guan Zixuan jumped out of the car in a rage, lifting his foot and kicking over the two bandits closest to him.
“Daring to throw spikes on the road! Are you shameless? Huh? Shameless or not?!”
His wind ability surged, sending more than a dozen burly bandits tumbling. The strongest among them were only two Tier 1 ability users, but they were immediately knocked down by Guan Zixuan before they could even put up a fight.
Seeing that if he continued, it would lead to casualties, the man in the passenger seat finally spoke.
“Zixuan, that’s enough.”
Guan Zixuan withdrew his fists at the right moment, his tiger-like eyes glaring at the punctured tires. He both resented these bandits for their roadside robbery and blamed himself for his carelessness.
“Brother Wei, we need to change the tire.”
Wei Yan pressed his temples and sighed helplessly. “What happened to you just now? How could you not see through such an obvious trap?”
Guan Zixuan lowered his head sheepishly.
He… he had been distracted by a beauty. The driver of that off-road vehicle they had just overtaken was an exceptionally stunning young woman. Even with just a quick glance, her beauty had left a deep impression—her face was as pale as porcelain, her lips as red as cherries, and even her jet-black hair was thick and lustrous, making the entire surrounding scenery feel more refined.
Because of that moment of distraction, he had failed to slow down and check the road ahead, resulting in their tire getting punctured.
“Forget it, get out and change the tire.”
There was a spare tire in the car.
Wei Yan and their other female teammate got out as well, but instead of helping, they simply stood to the side, watching the careless and frustrated Guan Zixuan struggle to replace the tire.
“Sigh.”
Guan Zixuan sighed dramatically as he worked, even glancing behind him from time to time.
Wei Yan frowned. “What are you looking at?”
“That car behind us—why hasn’t it come over yet?” He still wanted another look at that beauty.
Wei Yan had also noticed the modified off-road vehicle earlier, but after a few glances, he had withdrawn his attention.
“They probably heard the commotion and didn’t dare to come closer.”
That made sense. After all, the ruckus he had caused just now was quite loud. That delicate-looking beauty was probably staying put in the back, observing the situation.
Guan Zixuan quickly finished changing the tire, but before getting back into the car, he regretfully cast a couple more glances behind him.
Seeing his lovestruck expression, Wei Yan’s brows furrowed slightly. “Let’s go.”
Tsk, their captain really didn’t understand romance.
Guan Zixuan stepped on the gas, and the Land Rover’s engine roared back to life, speeding off down the highway in an instant.
They had guessed correctly—at this moment, Su Su had parked the car a few hundred meters away, waiting for the conflict ahead to end.
A little caution never hurt.
“They seem to have driven off?”
“They definitely drove off.”
The off-road vehicle started up again, slowly moving past the bend. The iron spikes on the road had long been swept into the mountains by the wind ability, leaving the path clear and unobstructed.
More than a dozen bandits lay scattered on the ground in various twisted positions, some unconscious, others injured. None of them were in any shape to get up and resume robbing anytime soon.
Su Su glanced over the group before her gaze suddenly fell on the nearby fields.
“Cancan, is that bok choy?”
Following her line of sight, Pang Cancan looked over and spotted a small patch of bok choy growing in the field.
They hadn’t lacked supplies on this journey, but fresh vegetables were hard to come by. To maintain their nutrition and health, they had been forced to scavenge for wild greens in the roadside forests every now and then. It had been far too long since they last saw cultivated green vegetables.
“It’s bok choy!”
The two exchanged a look through the rearview mirror. The first tacitly stopped the car, while the second tacitly got out, grabbed a backpack, and headed straight for the field.
Before long, Pang Cancan returned, her backpack stuffed full of bok choy.
“Finally, some fresh greens!”
Their blatant behavior made it hard to tell who the real bandits were. The only two Tier 1 ability users among the bandits were so enraged that they struggled to get up from the ground.
“Put that down! That’s our crops!”
Pang Cancan let out a mocking laugh and boldly tossed the backpack onto the car.
“I’d say they’re just wild greens growing by the roadside! Do you have any proof that you planted them?”
Wild greens? Bok choy? What nonsense!
The two ability users had just been beaten black and blue, but seeing that the one before them was a woman, their confidence surged once more.
They walked over with dark expressions. “Damn bitch! Since you won’t take the easy way, don’t blame us for teaching you a lesson!”
“You bastards! You dare curse at me? Well, I’ll show you what it means to fight fire with fire!”
Just as Pang Cancan rolled up her sleeves, dozens of apple-sized hailstones suddenly whizzed past from behind, mercilessly pelting the two ability users, sending them scrambling to cover their heads.
She turned her head to see that it was Le Rui who had acted.
That once-gaunt little face, now finally carrying some flesh, was tightly tensed. Even the voice that came out carried a sharp and threatening edge.
“If you dare come any closer, I’ll kill you!”
A Tier 2 ability user!
The two men exchanged a terrified glance, their feet immediately freezing in place. They dared not make another move.
Inside the car, Su Su looked at Le Rui approvingly. “Well done.”
Receiving praise from the sister he admired, Le Rui’s face instantly flushed bright red. “I… I just don’t like people who curse at others.”
“That’s right! Their cursing was way too vulgar!” Pang Cancan climbed into the back seat and solemnly instructed the little one, “You absolutely can’t learn from them. Swearing is the lowest of the low!”
She conveniently ignored the fact that she had just cursed herself.
Le Rui nodded earnestly.
Watching this so-called lesson, Su Su fell silent for two seconds but ultimately chose not to say anything.
The vehicle continued forward.
Pang Cancan, already impatient to have a plate of stir-fried bok choy with vinegar, picked up the map and started studying it.
“If we drive another ten kilometers or so, we’ll pass through a small county town. How about we stop for lunch before entering the town?”
“Sounds good.”
The rest of the road was surprisingly clear—no more bandit ambushes.
They soon found a suitable riverside spot with a water source. Pang Cancan started a fire, Le Rui collected firewood, while Su Su walked toward the river pool.
The clearer the water, the harder it was to judge its depth.
Su Su stared at the surface for over ten seconds before suddenly turning to the black python that had been slithering at her feet.
“Xiao Hei, can you swim? Can you go in and catch some fish?”
Surely, it wasn’t a land snake, right?
They were already standing close to the water’s edge, and the black snake’s tail had dipped into the river. Its eerie vertical pupils fixed on her.
Su Su had long understood—Xiao Hei was a snake that only moved when there was a benefit. And the only things that could tempt it were crystals and abilities.
She pulled out a few crystals.
The snake’s tongue flicked out and swept them into its mouth in an instant.
But under Su Su’s expectant gaze, it remained motionless.
“Not enough?” She took out a few more, simultaneously releasing her ability. “Is this enough?”
The black snake accepted everything without hesitation but still refused to move.
After a long standoff between human and snake, Su Su’s expression gradually shifted from expectation to confusion. “You don’t want to?”
If it truly didn’t want to, she wouldn’t force it. But how could it just sit there, taking all her crystals, only to do nothing? Just as she was starting to feel a bit resentful, the black snake suddenly reared up.
The lower half of its body coiled on the ground, supporting itself so that it was at eye level with her.
“Hiss~”
Su Su’s chin was suddenly rubbed fiercely, and then her lips were heavily licked for several seconds.
Meeting those deep green vertical pupils, for once, she couldn’t decipher its thoughts.
“Xiao Hei?”
The black snake, unhappy that it didn’t get the response it wanted, grew visibly colder. Without hesitation, it turned to slither away.
“Wait!”
Suddenly struck by inspiration, Su Su reacted quickly, wrapping her arms around the black snake just as it was about to leave.
The thick, muscular body once again sank into her soft embrace.
Warm pink lips landed lightly on the tip of the black snake’s head in a soft kiss. “Is this what you wanted?”
As it turned out, that was exactly what Xiao Hei wanted.
It got angry easily, but it was just as easy to appease. In no time at all, it plunged into the bottomless depths of the pool.
Su Su remained where she was, subconsciously touching her lips.
For some reason, a strange feeling stirred inside her—an inexplicable sensation she couldn’t quite place.
Splat!
A few half-kilogram river fish were tossed onto the shallows, flopping and struggling on the ground, quickly drawing the attention of the other two.
Pang Cancan excitedly ran over. “Where did the fish come from?”
Su Su pointed at the river. “Xiao Hei caught them.”
Just as she spoke, the three-meter-long python broke through the water’s surface, a hefty three-kilogram river fish still clamped in its jaws. In the blink of an eye, it swallowed it whole.
The way it ate was nothing short of savage.
Su Su had never found it frightening before, but when it swallowed the fish whole and turned its cold, vertical pupils toward her—an involuntary chill crawled up her spine.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
Her heartbeat pounded like war drums.
The python sliced through the water, swimming toward the shore, droplets rolling off its sleek scales, its obsidian-black body catching the sunlight and reflecting a rare rainbow sheen.
Pang Cancan was already gleefully gathering the fish.
Only Su Su remained standing by the riverbank.
It wasn’t until Xiao Hei slithered up to her feet and flicked its damp tail against her pants, leaving a large wet stain—as petty and vengeful as always—that her heartbeat finally began to steady.
It was just an illusion.
Su Su stroked Xiao Hei’s head, both to soothe it and to calm herself.
Otherwise, why had she, for just a split second, felt like she had become its prey?
She shook her head violently, casting out all unnecessary thoughts.
Yes, it had to be an illusion!
Xiao Hei just looked a little terrifying, but it was still a good snake. She couldn’t let its appearance make her feel fear.