Chapter 50
One of the cars practically flew in the air as it crossed over to the other side of the river.
Kacha! The surface of the metal bridge suddenly cracked creating a gap while the last vehicle to have left the opposite bank was still five meters away from crossing over.
Xiao Sa’s body was stretched taut. All he could feel was that the energy in his body was getting drained at a very fast rate. His forehead was covered in bulging veins, his fists were clenched tight and the back of his shirt was drenched with sweat.
Upon seeing this, Qin Yi was extremely worried. He suddenly screamed loudly right before a thick layer of ice quickly covered the surface of the bridge, spreading throughout the entire bridge all the way to the other side of the river.
Four meters… three meters… two more cars made it to the other side!
Kacha! The ice and the metal bridge started crumbling once again and it was now on the verge of collapse.
The vehicle that was still on the bridge increased its speed. Then out of nowhere, a burst of energy broke out before two more layers of ice quickly covered the surface of the bridge, making the steel on the bridge seem more refined and sturdy.
Then they heard a loud boom as the metal bridge started falling apart, followed by the sounds of the steel falling through the air before crashing into the water and creating large waves. The zombie fish angrily snapped their sharp teeth as they swam even more ferociously in the water, as if they could barely wait to sink their teeth into some delicious food.
The last car flew in the air to cover the remaining distance to the other side of the river, where it slammed into the back bumper of the car directly in front of it, then kept going for a few more meters before finally coming to a stop.
“Oh shit! That was a close call.”
Fear was still lingering in all their hearts even after getting out of the car, and their faces were fraught with shock. They were very fortunate to have narrowly escaped with their lives.
“I have awakened my powers.” Liu Wei said as he stared around foolishly for some time, a stunned look plastered on his face. He then suddenly started jumping around and laughing crazily, the silly look on his face clearly showing how he felt like he was the king of the world.
“That’s nothing. Elder brother I have also awakened my powers.” Zhou Ji’s face was pale, and even though his body was still trembling, his spirit was very excited. He didn’t expect that he would develop his abilities, but at that time the situation was extremely critical. When he saw the bridge crack, all he could think about was that he really wanted to keep the layer of ice from falling apart, then suddenly an energy broke out of his body right before a layer of ice quickly sealed the gap in the bridge. He could now clearly sense that his spiritual power has risen to a higher level.
Xiao Sa’s was expressionless, his eyes cold and gloomy with a face that did not show even a shred of emotion. No one could tell that there was something wrong as he casually said: “Quickly check the vehicle and then let us leave this place.”
“Right!” Liu Wei responded loudly, the excitement painted on his face showed how eager he was to try out his new abilities. When he had just awakened his abilities he was still in the grips of fear, but now he was itching to encounter a few zombies so that he could vent his anger while also showing off his new impressive powers. Finally, now he no longer needed to feel envious of the others.
“Big brother Wei, big brother Wei, what abilities did you develop?” Everyone was curious so as the re-entered the car someone asked him on behalf of the others.
“Haha, I am also a metal warrior.” Liu Wei was very pleased with this. All he knew was that his elder brother was very fierce and very powerful and his elder brother was a metal warrior. Liu Wei was also a metal warrior so he figured that he will also become powerful. But he wasn’t completely sure since the advancement of one’s powers most probably depended on a stroke of luck and also one’s own knowledge.
“Big brother Wei you’re so awesome.” Someone suddenly gave him a thumbs up.
Liu Wei was so happy that his proverbial tail was wagging endlessly: “That’s only natural. You just have to wait a little bit to witness the full display of my abilities.”
They joked around as the car was being inspected. Because of the modifications, the crash did not cause much damage to the car, so after completing the inspection, they all quickly returned to their cars. Wang Xuebing took over the task of driving from Qin Yi and immediately got the RV back on the road.
Bai Jing helped Xiao Sa to the rear compartment. He was currently feeling a combination of anger and distress. Damn it. If Xiao Sa knew that he couldn’t do it, why did he insist on pushing himself so hard?
Xiao Sa sighed. In front of Bai Jing, he could never put on a mask. His brow tightened into a deep frown and drops of sweat formed on his forehead as a burst of exhaustion washed over his entire body. He knew that this was the result of over-exerting his spiritual energy, so plastered a smile on his face as he looked at Bai Jing and said: “Don’t worry, I’ll be back to normal once I rest for a bit.”
Upon hearing this, Bai Jing became even angrier: “Just a moment ago you yourself said that you were aware of all the risks involved in doing this. You already knew that this road was impassable, and in the worst case scenario, we could have taken a different route. Why must you insist on taking risks? How do you expect me to not be worried?”
“I was well aware of the situation.” Xiao Sa said in consolation. He had gone over the idea extensively before coming to his decision, but unfortunately, he had overestimated the steel’s sturdiness and underestimated the weight of the vehicles. He had known that the steel wouldn’t be 100% sturdy, but not that it would start crumbling. Even in that situation, he was still sure that he could help the cars pass to the other side. He also would never have guessed that this risk would lead to two more people awakening their abilities, which was also an unexpected source of joy.
“You’re always like this. There’re still some crystal nuclei left, just absorb their energies.” Although Bai Jing was glaring at him fiercely, he couldn’t hide the concern that was lingering in their depths of his eyes.
Xiao Sa chuckled as he shook his head. He really enjoyed being on the receiving end of Bai Jing’s caring nature. He resisted the exhaustion in his body and forced himself to say in an energetic voice: “Give Qin Yi, he just consumed a lot of his spiritual energy.”
Qin Yi was slightly surprised by these words and his impression of Xiao Sa changed a little bit: “I don’t need it since I didn’t use that much energy. Because it’s what the young master wants, you should just accept them.”
Bai Jing snorted: “My people will naturally not be neglected. Why are you being stubborn, just use them.”
Xiao Sa smiled weakly as he gave in to Bai Jing’s demands. He took out the nuclei and began to absorb their energy. There must always be someone on the team who was exceptionally stronger than the rest so as to avoid any kind of disagreements. This was the end of the world, so even if he was their elder brother, at the end of the day only his strength will matter to them.
He was well-versed on the law of the jungle; no one will recognize a weak chicken as their leader, even during times of peace and prosperity. If he was not a strong leader then how would he protect his men? Not to mention little Jing who still has so many secrets that need to remain hidden. This little man of his, it was important that he made it possible for him to just continue living the life of a young master.
Xiao Sa was fully aware that the responsibilities on his shoulder were very heavy, and that this would be a very challenging mission.
After the broken bridge, they didn’t encounter any more hindrances. Liu Wei who had been full of zeal was disappointed when he couldn’t find a place to unleash it all on. After an entire hour went by without them seeing any zombies, his excitement immediately withered before he irritably closed his eyes and went to sleep. He would instead recharge his energy in preparation for the big fight ahead.
Yu Yue’s intuition was very accurate. The broken bridge was on a major road. In such a small town you won’t find people walking on such a major road and so there were conveniently very few people in the vicinity. This was the same reason why Xiao Sa insisted on using this route. If they had had to take a different route, he wasn’t sure that their journey would’ve been this smooth. They only sporadically met a few zombies that they quickly took care of. If they could not be easily disposed of, Xiao Sa ordered them to ignore them and not zealously continue fighting, much to the disappointment of everyone.
Once the clock hit 11:00 PM, the temperature suddenly dropped. In the dark night, except for the lights coming from the cars, there was no other glimmer of light. The cold wind blowing outside sounded like they were already in the depths of winter, they even had to put on the car heaters. Anyone who stepped out of the car clearly felt the biting cold, making them no longer interested in ‘playing’ with the zombies. They just kept cursing the heavens. Fuck, what kind of awful weather was this?
At twelve o’clock, a light rain started. The combined sound of the wind and the rain made the already eerily silent night even more depressing. And when zombies appeared by the roadside, the rain made it difficult to effectively deal with them. In the dead of the night, the rain acted like a natural cover for the zombies to conceal themselves in.
Xiao Sa had already finished absorbing the energy from the nuclei. He had even absorbed the energy much better this time around since he had severely exhausted his spiritual energy. Therefore, he was currently full of energy and was focused on watching the road ahead. As the leader of the group, they naturally drove in the front, and although Yu Yue was still giving direction, on a night such as this they had to be extra vigilante.
“There are some vehicles coming towards us”. Yu Yue suddenly said while frowning. He had seen many zombies in this past couple of days and he had also experienced many thrilling situations, so instead of being afraid, this time he was more concerned about his powers. Why couldn’t they have been as cool as those of elder brother Xiao Sa, ah!?
“How far?” Wang Xuebing asked quietly.
“500 meters ahead, three cars.”
Yu Yue barely finished speaking when they heard the sound of a horn ringing.
Bai Jing frowned as he asked: “Who is this fool, isn’t he worried that he will attract zombies.” Bai Jing was not concerned with the well being of the other people, he was only worried that since they were going in opposite directions, who knows whether the group of people coming towards them were being followed by zombies or not, and what would happen once they met.
“Don’t worry about it, just keep driving.” Xiao Sa said indifferently. They had weapons and at the moment zombies were not difficult to deal with; they only needed to be wary of mutated zombies.
From a distance, they heard the voice of someone in one of the cars coming towards them shouting in the rain: “Hey brother! Don’t go in that direction, that county town is full of the living dead. Oh by the way, how are you doing over there?”
Wang Xuebing opened the window letting in the bone-chilling cold – which instantly cooled him to his core – along with some rain which freely gently poured into the vehicle: “Fortunately, there were not many zombies on the road. Where are you coming from?”
The young man finally stopped his car when he was about five meters away and stepped out. His pallid face could now be clearly seen as he said: “We came from Lin County, but we all met each other on the road. You mustn’t continue on, there’re monsters biting people everywhere over there. I have awakened and ability, are you interested in traveling together? We would be much stronger since we’ll be more people.”
Wang Xuebing looked at Xiao Sa and saw that he just remained silent, so he could only shake his head and say: “Thank you, but we’re headed for L province so we’ll be taking different roads. Make sure that you keep your guard up. Yesterday experts reported that the virus is infectious, so under no circumstance should you allow anyone that is injured to remain by your side. And also remember to not drink tap water. Just now we passed by the river, and it was full of zombie fish, which were very terrifying but luckily the fish cannot fly, otherwise, none of us would have survived.”
“Get lost and stop talking nonsense, the virus is not infectious. My mother just suffered a minor injury.”
The moment Wang Xuebing finished talking, people started shouting and cursing loudly, suddenly chaos had broken out in the three cars opposite them. They only heard a woman scream: “Ah… you’re going to become a monster! Get out of the car! Go away, go away!”
Over the sound of all their voices, another person was heard saying: “Hurry up and take a hike! You mustn’t also infect the rest of us.”
“Nonsense, I’m not going to turn into a monster.”
“Ah… his face has already turned green! Quickly just get rid of him.”
“You see, his wounds have also darkened.”
“You’re talking nonsense….”
“Get away! Don’t come near me.”
“Ah… that really hurt my feelings, but I will still stick by you at all costs.”
The young man was suddenly at a complete loss of what to do.
Wang Xuebing felt very awkward. He had just wanted to warn them out of the kindness of his heart. It was rare to meet people on the road, and this young man’s whole face was brimming with integrity and it also seemed that he had a good heart. Because the young man had taken the time to warn them of the danger ahead, Wang Xuebing also wanted to return the kindness with kindness by offering up information of his own. He had never anticipated that things would turn out as they had.
Bai Jing just looked at him indifferently; this was also a good learning experience for Wang Xuebing.
Cao Lei had long been awake. This lover of his ah, he has always been this kindhearted. It was only that Cao Lei wasn’t sure that other people would receive this kindness well. Cao Lei was helpless. There was nothing he could do since even in the face of all this, he still loved this man.