Chapter 142

The tattooed man exchanged the items with Chuzheng half-believing and half-doubting, and when the Crystal Core was in hand, they still found it somewhat incredible.

Had they encountered a fool?

So the tattooed man invited the fool to their team base.

In the town square, with roads extending in all directions, setting up camp here meant that if they encountered zombies, they wouldn’t be trapped.

The team consisted of around a hundred people, each one tattooed, burly, and seemingly having a slogan behind them saying, ‘I’m a societal figure, don’t mess with me or the consequences will be dire.’

The tattooed man let Chuzheng rest on the outskirts of the team’s site and then, with a low snicker, took some people with him further inside.

“Will they turn on us?” Brother Bao asked, a bit worried. They had produced so many Crystal Cores—if the others suspected they had more, what would they do? Simply rob them?

“They won’t,” Chuzheng stated with certainty.

“Why not?”

“A cautious team wouldn’t make a move without understanding your full strength first,” she replied.

Brother Bao looked towards Lu Ran in the back seat.

The young man had woken up at some point and was peering through the car window, surveying the outside scene.

Sensing Brother Bao’s gaze, he pressed down on his hat and his lips curled into a polite but distant smile, “Did I say something wrong?”

Brother Bao looked at Chuzheng, who tacitly agreed with the young man’s words.

“Have you awakened your Special Ability?” Yi Xiao asked Lu Ran.

Lu Ran shook his head, “Still very dizzy.”

Yi Xiao reached out to touch Lu Ran’s forehead but found his wrist seized by Lu Ran. In that instant, Yi Xiao felt as though his hand was about to break.

The seemingly non-threatening young man now appeared like a wary and ferocious wolf.

“I… I just wanted to check your temperature,” Yi Xiao said, stammering a bit.

“Thank you,” Lu Ran replied, releasing his hand and shifting aside to refuse Yi Xiao’s intention with his actions.

Yi Xiao rubbed his wrist, aching. How could he be so strong?

Lu Ran was still feverish, Yi Xiao concluded from the firm grip on his wrist.

And Lu Ran fell asleep again in minutes, confirming Yi Xiao’s guess.

–

The tattooed man brought some food and water, showing a very friendly attitude.

Of course, these items were not trusted by the cautious He Cheng, fearing that they had been poisoned with the intent of taking action against them.

Yi Xiao verbally expressed that they seemed nice and probably wouldn’t do such a thing, yet made no move to take anything.

Chuzheng: “…” What kind of peculiar team is this?

The tattooed man’s entire team had discipline; even though some people were looking over at them, none dared to approach under the man’s intimidation.

An hour later, a car drove in from a street in town.

Before the car got close, the people on it began waving at them.

“Get in! Get in! There are zombies!”

As he shouted, a crowd of people followed by countless—uncountable—zombies surged from behind the vehicle.

“Damn!”

“On the car, get on quick!”

The entire team immediately grabbed their belongings and jumped into the vehicles.

Chuzheng’s car was already at the edge, and as soon as the zombies were spotted, Brother Bao started the car without delay.

Zombies crawled out from everywhere upon hearing the sound, their numbers so dense it made one’s scalp tingle.

Brother Bao showcased his skill in driving at high speed, managing to maneuver the car out of the area before the zombies could swarm around it.

Chuzheng observed the zombies in the rearview mirror.

The zombies gave up on the cars that had broken away and instead closed in on the people still in the square.

“This is messed up,” Brother Bao cursed quietly. “What’s with these zombies?”

Normally, zombies would follow sounds and chase them,—yet while most would be drawn to larger noise sources, a few would always give chase.

Why were all of today’s zombies pouncing inward?

He Cheng murmured softly, “Have these zombies become conscious?”

Yi Xiao: “That can’t be, right?”

Brother Bao: “Can’t rule it out—they’re not chasing after any of the cars or people that got away.”

Yi Xiao, terrified: “If zombies start hunting humans like this, do humans even have a way to survive?”

No one spoke again.

The zombies today left them feeling extremely uncomfortable.

After driving a distance and seeing no more zombies chasing them, they stopped the car.

The tattooed man’s team had lost a number of people.

With a gloomy expression, the tattooed man stared at another group of people.

That group had more people than the tattooed man’s team, but their quality was mixed, including men, women, old, and young.

“Damn it,” someone charged at that group, “It was you bastards that drew the zombies here!”

“I’ll kill you all!”

Chuzheng lay expressionless against the car window watching the other team; the tattooed man did not stop his man as two people stepped out amid the chaos.

One of them wore a military uniform and negotiated with the tattooed man’s people.

However, the thugs from the tattooed man’s side were highly annoyed by the sight of the military uniform and started fighting after only a few words.

“Wow!” Yi Xiao leaned out the car window as a dragon made of fire whipped through the air, “This man’s fire Special Ability is so powerful.”

Chuzheng’s gaze wasn’t on that man.

It was on the girl who had stood up with him.

That was Ning You.

The man’s Special Ability was powerful; the thugs were no match for him and quickly lost the fight.

Only then did the tattooed man step forward to intervene.

The two sides talked about something and eventually found common ground.

“Everyone, be on alert. You take a few people back to scout the area, and the rest will rest here. We set off in half an hour!”

While giving orders, the tattooed man walked towards his own team.

As he passed by Chuzheng, she called out to him.

“Miss Chuzheng?” The tattooed man still looked upset, “Are you all right?”

“Mhm,” Chuzheng handed him several Crystal Cores, “What did you talk about with those people just now?”

Receiving several Crystal Cores all of a sudden, the tattooed man was speechless, “…”

Is she Doraemon?

Can she just pull out Crystal Cores like that?

Before the Crystal Cores, the tattooed man’s demeanor softened quite a bit, “We agreed to go together. They’re also heading to Qingan Base. Those zombies earlier were a bit unusual, so I agreed.”

Chuzheng nodded and closed the car window.

The tattooed man: “…” Aren’t you going to ask anymore? I’m still here to answer questions!

The people the tattooed man sent to the town to scout quickly returned, reporting that the zombies were still gathered around the plaza.

Clearly, everyone had noticed something off about the zombies.

But survival was the priority now, so everyone agreed it was best to leave immediately.

The tattooed man’s team had lost members, and their cars now had plenty of space. Ning You’s group somehow made an exchange and received a few vehicles.

Chuzheng’s car followed behind the tattooed man’s team, with Ning You’s team behind them.

–

Night fell.

The team found a relatively safe place to camp and rest.

Yi Xiao, who had been holding in his need to urinate for a long time, dashed out of the car as soon as it stopped.

“Wait for me!” He Cheng called out softly and chased after him like a monkey.

“Did those two little rascals sneak off to drink water?” Brother Bao got out of the car warily, surveying the people around.

Chuzheng ignored him, and Brother Bao didn’t dare to say anything more.

The tattooed man and the team at the back were clearly divided, with Chuzheng’s car stopped in the middle, making it somewhat conspicuous.

Chuzheng glanced at Lu Ran behind her, who was sleeping like a pig with no sign of waking up.

Chuzheng stepped out of the car to get some fresh air, and Brother Bao handed her water and food.

“Miss Chuzheng, those zombies today were too strange. I have an uncomfortable feeling in the pit of my stomach.”

“The zombies are evolving. What’s so strange about that?” Chuzheng’s tone was cold.

“Evolving?”

It wasn’t the first time Brother Bao had heard this word. Ever since Crystal Cores started appearing in the zombie’s heads, people had been saying that the zombies were evolving.