Whether S City would fall—Su Su couldn’t answer that question, but reality provided the answer.
The off-road vehicle continued heading northeast for about a day and had yet to pass through S City when they encountered numerous vehicles fleeing north.
There were even many people carrying backpacks, trekking north on foot.
As the off-road vehicle slowly passed, the survivors on the roadside saw that there were two women inside and immediately rushed forward.
“S City has fallen! Please! Take us with you!”
Where there was one, there would be many. The common stereotype was that women were more soft-hearted and more likely to lend a helping hand.
The car was instantly surrounded by this small wave of survivors, making it almost impossible to move.
Su Su’s gaze swept over every face in the crowd.
Most of them bore the marks of hardship and suffering between their brows, their faces gaunt, their clothes old and worn. They carried many belongings, but the most crucial thing—food—was in short supply.
They looked like refugees fleeing famine.
Even ordinary people had reached the point of fleeing the city. This was enough to confirm that S City had truly fallen on a large scale.
“Please! I beg you! Take us with you!”
“There’s still room in your car! We won’t take up much space!”
“Just give us some food! My son hasn’t eaten in two days!”
“You’re ability users, you can’t just watch us die!”
Cries and pleas seeped through the tightly shut car windows.
Pang Cancan looked at Su Su in distress. “Sister Su Su, we…”
“Do you want to let them in the car, or do you want to give them food?”
Pang Cancan hesitated for a moment before murmuring, “I don’t want to do either.”
Saying this made her feel a bit uneasy, afraid that Sister Su Su would think she was too heartless and indifferent.
But in the apocalypse, being overly sentimental toward others was being irresponsible to oneself.
If they took the survivors on the road, what if some harbored ill intentions?
If they gave them food, what if this many people swarmed them and tried to take everything they had?
These were things that had to be considered.
Fortunately, Su Su nodded quickly, alleviating Pang Cancan’s worries. “I think the same.”
In her past life, she had spent years among the lower rungs of society and had seen far too many betrayals in return for kindness.
With so many people here, if they really tried to help, it might only bring greater disaster.
Beep— Beep—
With a cold expression, Su Su pressed the horn, just about to speak and drive these people away, when from the corner of her eye, she suddenly caught sight of a piece of rubble being raised in the crowd.
It was abruptly lifted and hurled viciously toward the driver’s side window.
She jerked her head around, locking eyes with the middle-aged man who had just raised the stone.
“Move aside.”
Two merciless words were coldly spat from those red lips, instantly silencing the crying and shoving crowd.
The man holding the stone froze on the spot, his face filled with terror.
“Clear the way.” Su Su repeated.
The crowd obediently stepped back, making way for a wide path. Without further delay, the off-road vehicle sped out of the area.
It wasn’t until the car disappeared from sight that the dazed survivors finally snapped out of their trance, exchanging fearful glances.
What just happened?
Why had their bodies suddenly stopped obeying their will?
“Ahhh!!”
The raised stone suddenly slipped from mid-air, and the man who had attempted to smash the car window suffered his own retribution. It struck his forehead, leaving a dark bruise. After days of exhaustion and this fresh injury, his vision blurred, and he collapsed to the ground.
Despair and malice were left behind.
Su Su stared ahead, her heart feeling heavy.
Pang Cancan felt the same. With sorrow in her voice, she murmured, “How could S City have fallen?”
Densely populated cities either fell completely at the very start of the apocalypse—like C City and G City, which they had passed before—or their leaders reacted swiftly, establishing bases early and forming enough power to resist the zombie tide.
S City was clearly the latter. Yet now, more than a year into the apocalypse, why had it suddenly collapsed?
“Hiss—”
Now that they had left the crowd behind, a black snake slithered out of the backpack, flicking its head impatiently.
Su Su glanced at it for two seconds, then suddenly understood. “Perhaps it also experienced the high-tier zombie tide that hit the Southern Base during early spring.”
That night, more than a dozen Tier 4 zombies had appeared—along with one exceptionally powerful Tier 5 zombie.
If it weren’t for Xiao Hei’s intervention, the protective net would have been breached long ago.
As for why this hadn’t happened in her past life, perhaps Lin Weiran and Si Zhezhen, deeply favored by the Heavenly Dao, had ultimately succeeded in obtaining that Grade 5 crystal?
Su Su couldn’t be bothered to think too deeply. “If there were high-tier zombies besieging the base, it wouldn’t be impossible for S City’s base to fall.”
It seemed that ever since the snow disaster ended, zombies across the country had entered a phase of rapid evolution.
For those human bases that had barely managed to survive, facing such a situation meant that all life within could be easily overturned.
Pang Cancan took a deep breath. “Then how many survivor bases could possibly be left across the country?”
In a few more years of the apocalypse, would there even be room for humans to exist?
Su Su still had no answer to that question.
That night, as usual, the off-road vehicle stopped near S City.
Riding on her venomous insect, Pang Cancan circled above the city. Shining a high-powered flashlight downward, she saw an endless, densely packed sea of zombie heads.
They seemed to have sensed the presence of living beings above. Countless decayed hands reached skyward, and zombies with powerful jumping abilities leaped, attempting to drag the humans down from the air.
Pang Cancan quickly called out, “Baby, fly higher.”
The venomous insect ascended another seven or eight meters, reaching its limit.
But that was enough to avoid the leaping zombies.
Pang Cancan initially wanted to venture deeper into the city’s core, but before she could go far, her sharp sixth sense suddenly picked up a threat that sent a stabbing chill down her spine.
“Baby! Run!”
The venomous insect’s wings vibrated at high speed, and in an instant, they shot several kilometers away, leaving the terrifying presence far behind.
Cold sweat drenched Pang Cancan.
She had a strong premonition—if they had been even a second slower, she might have been dragged straight into the zombie lair.
“It’s all thanks to my Baby. If not, we would’ve been done for.”
Still shaken, Pang Cancan turned back to look at the towering buildings that blended into the darkness.
Maybe it was just her imagination, but looking at the city now, it felt like a ferocious beast’s den.
She dared not think further, nor linger any longer. “Forget it, let’s hurry back. We shouldn’t make Sister Su Su wait too long!”
The venomous insect quickly flew out of S City, returning to the small forest where they had parked.
The orange flames of the campfire flickered, roasting two lean rabbits over the fire.
The scent of seasoning and roasted meat was strong enough to be smelled from over ten meters away.
Pang Cancan eagerly jumped to the ground. “Sister Su Su! Where did the rabbits come from?”
“Xiao Hei caught them.”
Su Su smiled as she patted the black snake’s head.
Just earlier, while she was sorting things out, she had suddenly seen Xiao Hei slithering out of the forest with two grayish-white wild rabbits in its mouth.
Back when they first met, this creature had always hunted for itself—slipping into the wilderness at will and returning lazily only after feasting on fresh meat.
The snake’s belly would often bulge after a full meal, leaving her alone to chew on the few remaining pieces of dry, shriveled beef jerky.
But now…
It refused to swallow its prey whole. Instead, it insisted on bringing them back for her to prepare, only to have her feed it piece by piece by hand.
How should she put it?
Both the person and the snake seemed to enjoy it.
Pang Cancan found the scene strangely cloying. She shuddered and sat down by the fire. “I just took a look around S City.”
Su Su immediately shifted her attention away from Xiao Hei. “How’s the situation?”
“Completely overrun.” Pang Cancan sighed. “Zombies are everywhere, inside and outside the city. And when I tried to go in deeper just now, I think a high-tier zombie locked onto me.”
Su Su immediately put down what she was holding, her sharp gaze scanning Pang Cancan up and down. “Are you okay?”
Pang Cancan instinctively pulled her jacket around herself. “It’s nothing.”
The more she tried to hide, the more Su Su was convinced that something was wrong.
She was probably injured but didn’t want her to find out!
Su Su abruptly stood up. “Come with me to the car for a check-up.”
“Sister Su Su, that’s really not nece—”
Pang Cancan halfheartedly protested but was still dragged into the off-road vehicle.
The car windows were covered with dark curtains, concealing everything inside from view.
The black snake, which had been calmly eating, suddenly paused.
Its dark green vertical pupils fixed an eerie gaze on the off-road vehicle not far away.
“Hiss.”
Its tongue flickered coldly, tasting the air.
When the two emerged again, Pang Cancan was grinning as she clung to Su Su’s arm. “I told you I was fine! Luckily, I ran fast enough and never actually confronted that high-tier zombie.”
Su Su warned her sternly, “If you ever encounter another fallen city like this, don’t go inside without thinking.”
“Got it, got it.”
Having basked in Sister Su Su’s personal care, Pang Cancan returned to her seat with a satisfied smile—only to see that the two roasted rabbits over the fire had been reduced to half of one.
The remaining portion bore clear bite marks, the kind left behind by a cold-blooded creature.
Pang Cancan’s smile froze.
Su Su also stared in shock. “Xiao Hei?”
Every time it brought back prey, it would keep one for itself while letting her and Cancan share the other. Why today… had its appetite suddenly increased?
Holding the half-eaten roasted rabbit, Su Su pondered for a few seconds. She cut off the portion Xiao Hei had touched, then divided the rest into two halves.
Just as she was about to hand a portion to Pang Cancan, Xiao Hei suddenly darted forward, swallowing the remaining roasted rabbit straight from the plate.
“Hiss~”
It provocatively glanced at Pang Cancan, not even sparing her a shred of meat.
Since this was her own doing, Pang Cancan swallowed the bitter fruit of her actions with pain in her heart. “It’s fine, I’ll just have some porridge.”
Su Su vaguely sensed that Xiao Hei was doing this on purpose.
She stared at it for a few seconds before standing up and walking toward the off-road vehicle. “I’ll get you a can of meat.”
“Mhm!”
The moment the female turned her back, the black snake instantly tore off its disguise. Its tail lashed out, striking the resting venomous insect beside it, sending it spinning like a top.
Pa! Pa! Pa!
The strikes were fast, precise, and ruthless. In just a short time, the venomous insect had been whipped dozens of times.
It let out a pitiful cry, its voice thin and weak.
Pang Cancan couldn’t just stand by and watch her baby suffer. “Xiao Hei, stop!”
The black snake ignored her completely.
Pang Cancan’s eyes darted around, and she threatened, “If you keep hitting it, I’ll tell Sister Su Su that your possessiveness toward her is beyond normal!”
Xiao Hei cast her a disdainful glance.
If she had said this half a month ago, it might have made it nervous. But now… now, what did it have to be afraid of?
Pang Cancan let out a surprised “Eh?”