Chapter 25

Heloise and Hong Qi Hua prepared food while the others tended to their own things. The place that their bungalow was at was surrounded by vast open plains illuminated brightly by the sun. Everybody started to relax in a place like this, and felt like all their troubles were things that had happened a long time ago. Bai Yi carried Momo and stood beside the car, enjoying this moment of warmth and serenity.

“AH!” All of a sudden, a fleeting scream came from Yu Han’s side and very quickly became a wail of death.

“Sit in the car and don’t move.” Bai Yi told Momo and made sure the car doors and windows were completely shut before running over.

There were already a lot of people gathered when Bai Yi arrived.

“What happened?” Bai Yi asked, but nobody answered him. Bai Yi smiled mockingly at himself and then turned around and walked out with Hong Qi Hua. Apparently, Yu Han’s group did not like having him around. It was only because they had the same goal that they were moving together for now.

“Something unknown appeared from the toilet bowl. I could only see that it was black, long, and around as thick as my arm. It suddenly appeared from below and bit through Agatha’s stomach.” Yu Han felt that at this time he should appear more magnanimous.

Ning Xue also nodded her head in fear at the side. Apparently the sudden appearance of the monster shocked her badly. Initially it was her who was preparing for a bath, but then Agatha said that she had a stomach ache, so she let her relieve herself first. She never dreamed that something like this would happen. Seeing a gaping hole in the lower part of Agatha’s body and the blood gushing out from it, Ning Xue was shivering uncontrollably.

Yu Han gently used his left hand to hug Ning Xue, letting her body slowly calm down.

Bai Yi looked at Agatha’s corpse. Her original delicate face was now warped in fear, from the looks of it she never expected that she would meet her end this way in this place. Bai Yi nodded his head to acknowledge Yu Han’s words and then left with Hong Qi Hua.

“We are going to change our location; this place isn’t safe anymore. It would be best if we could move to an open space. If there are any evolved lifeforms, we can discover them earlier as well.” Bai Yi said.

“Just what were those things? What do you guys know?” Heloise asked.

“I intended to tell you everything over lunch. Since we’re not that tight on time anyway, let’s make something to eat first.” Bai Yi told Heloise.

“Woolf, see if you’re able to move the gas canister outside, and then make a simple stove on an empty patch of land. The taps in the kitchen are also connected to the sewers, so it’s best if we seal off all of them.” Bai Yi said.

“We’re not leaving this place?” Woolf asked in confusion. Since there was something so dangerous here, shouldn’t we be leaving this place?

“To where? We still have to cook and eat. Unless you want to go to the forest and chop down trees for firewood? Do you think it will be any less dangerous there?” Bai Yi questioned back.

Woolf thought for a while and then finally understood. The black shadow that Yu Han and Ning Xue saw was obviously an evolved lifeform that got infected by activated cells. Since such a monster appeared in the sewers, then there were probably numerous other monsters in the forest as well. Going to the forest now to cut down trees for firewood… God knew what they would encounter.

……

At this time, Yu Han and Qin Kai Rui brought Agatha’s corpse out, dug a hole, and gave her a simple burial. Behind the two of them, the girls were all delicately hiding and avoiding the corpse, afraid to go close to it.

“If it were me, I would intentionally let the girls be the ones to handle the corpse.” Bai Yi said.

“This is why you are so unpopular.” Hong Qi Hua said. Bai Yi and Hong Qi Hua then turned to look at each other and laughed.

What Bai Yi meant by intentionally letting the girls handle the corpse was not to be mean and bully them but to train them. In the present New Zealand, the girls couldn’t carry on being the delicate flowers that they were, or else the next ones to die might just be them.

However, just like Hong Qi Hua said, people like Bai Yi would sometimes draw the loathing of people, just like in the battle that had broken out at the edge of the city.

……

Although somebody died just now, nobody lost their appetites and were all wolfing down their food frantically. The unimaginable hunger and appetite during the binging phase kept gnawing away at their minds. Not to mention people dying, if it were any later, eating people wasn’t impossible as well.

“Can I ask why you chose my side?” Bai Yi asked Heloise while eating.

Although it wasn’t explicit, it could be seen that the team has split into 2 parts. On Bai Yi’s side were 1. Bai Yi 2. Momo (Pet: Sharpei) 3. Hong Qi Hua 4. Woolf 5. Heloise. Yu Han had more people on his side 1. Yu Han 2. Qin Kai Rui 3. Dai Yu Yao 4. Ning Xue 5. Khina 6. Bella 7. Meilin. As for the last person Martin, he did not explicitly join any team but floated around both groups.

“Your side?”

“You know about the battle at the city edge right, because of my decision 3 people in the team died.” Bai Yi asked curiously.

“You made the right choice!” Heloise’s eyes lit up for a moment.

“Why?”

“I also encountered those scum with my husband, guess what happened in the end?”

“Your husband handed over your food and other resources to those people, but they weren’t satisfied with that and seeing your beauty they wanted to have you as well. Your husband for the sake of his own safety didn’t dare to resist. He probably was unwilling but after getting beaten up he chose his life over yours.” Bai Yi said calmly yet with cruel bluntness.

“Hahaha, you really are special.” Heloise laughed. She definitely suffered greatly after being captured by those people, but Heloise now did not feel inferior or ashamed. Talking about her own matters she appeared extremely calm and undisturbed.

“Actually, I hoped that he’d resist even if it meant dying together there.” Heloise said in a low tone. Her voice was calm but contained a deep sorrow. Apparently, the calmness was just on the surface, and inside she was still in pain and suffering over it.

“Let me tell you about the reason why New Zealand turned into this state then.” Bai Yi didn’t try to console her. Heloise still seemed extremely rational. Since she could still show such calmness then she did not need his consolement. Moreover, they were just strangers, so he did not think that his consolement would be of much use.

“En, ok, I’m really curious as to what happened in this country.” Heloise went along with Bai Yi’s change in topic.

Bai Yi explained everything to Heloise, and on the other side Yu Han also gave his explanation to Bella and Meilin. When Heloise heard about everything she was just as shocked as Bai Yi and the rest were when they’d heard the information. The 2 women on the other side weren’t much different, but with Martin stepping in to explain and everybody’s transformations as evidence, there wasn’t much of a reason to doubt them.

Activated cells – the cause of everything!

“Truly a bunch of lunatics.” Heloise said clenching her teeth after understanding everything.

“There is no meaning in talking about this now. We found out from Martin that there’s a research facility in Tongariro National Park that may have a drug that can let us retain human forms, so we’re headed there now. The situation just now was quite dangerous, so we just brought you along with us, but now I need to ask – what plans do you have?” Bai Yi asked Heloise.

“None at all. I’ll follow you guys.” Heloise shook her head.

“Then welcome to the team.”

“Thank you, I hope that I don’t create trouble for you guys.” Heloise nodded her head.

Woolf and Hong Qi Hua did not have any objections as well. Somebody cool-headed like Heloise should be well-suited to acting in a team. Moreover, with the way that Woolf was looking at Heloise… he’d probably already fallen in love with this beautiful lady. Sadly, with Woolf looking like a dog now, it was unlikely that there would be any results.

On the other side, Bella and Meilin also chose to stay with the team. Other than following the team, Bella and Meilin didn’t know how they would survive in such a world alone too. The thing that a team could give was not only a sense of security.

……

After eating, everyone set off again with heavy hearts. When the sky turned dark they finally saw Otorohanga in the distance, and Bai Yi held the phone in his hand, worrying in his heart. Not long ago he was on the phone with Sara, but now the signal was lost so he didn’t know about her situation either.

“Bai Yi, they stopped!” Woolf said.

Bai Yi looked over and saw that the cars from Yu Han’s group stopped by the roadside, and they slowly got out of the car. Woolf also stopped and stretched his head out of the car.

“Hey! what are you guys doing?” Woolf asked.

“We are not planning to enter the city. Now that the sky is dark, Yu Han says that rather than entering the chaotic city it would be safer to find a place to stay in the outskirts.” Khina explained, seeming apologetic and down. Her place in the team now was rather awkward, she was originally Yu Han’s girlfriend, but now Yu Han and Ning Xue were behaving intimately with each other. She felt that the atmosphere in the team now wasn’t right but she didn’t want to make Yu Han angry either.

“Bai Yi, what do we do?” Woolf asked.

Hong Qi Hua and Woolf both knew that Bai Yi had a friend waiting for him in Otorohanga. At this time, Yu Han also came over and told Bai Yi his decision personally and waited for his reply. If Bai Yi chose to enter the city then undoubtedly the team would truly split apart.