Chapter 24

"He Brother, what are we going to do now? When will we leave here?" While waiting for the tired-looking He Jin to recover, Gong Lixin could not sit still and crawled up to him with expectations.

"The apocalypse was too sudden. It's estimated that all the roads in the city are blocked by cars. Unless the military sends an armored vehicle and clear the roads, we can't get out. Let's wait for awhile and observe the situation first." He whispered with a frown on his face.

Gong Lixin's expectations of returning home shattered, his expression becoming faint. He looked listless as he lowered his head.

He Jin's heart was discomforted by the sight. He pulled the boy beside him, making him sit, and gently patted the boy's back. Softly comforting the boy, he said, "Don't worry, I will send you back unharmed."

He Jin's nickname was "Coffin Face" because of his permanently cold attitude and expressionless face. It was rare to see him happy let alone seeing him being gentle and comforting someone. Wu Ming stared at him with a strange expression, but once he remembered that Young Master Gong was the one who saved his life, Wu Ming no longer thought the scene strange anymore.

"I can protect myself." Gong Lixin still looked stunned. He paused before speaking again, this time his tone was more cautious. "He Brother, this is not a safe place to stay. You can't wait for the army to rescue us. Within fourteen days, these zombies will evolve, their joints will soften, their five senses will become more sensitive and they will be able to jump and climb without any problem. At that time, this three-meter high wall can't stop them."

The broadcast from before the apocalypse showed that the military had a lot of information and that their predictions were extremely accurate. Thus Gong Lixin's words immediately attracted everyone's attention.

Lu Yun shrunk back in fear and mourned. "Fuck! The zombies will evolve. If the military doesn't come and save us, aren't we going to die?"

"What are you panicking for? If the military doesn't come and save us then we can save ourselves. We'll stick to the original plan and send Lixin home within these fourteen days. There is a military passage in the military district that is not open to public and is directly connected to the garrison. The road there is never blocked and we will be able to leave the city from there. If we're lucky, we may be able to meet the army as we journey across. However, I need some time to think about how to safely get to the military compound." He Jin said.

Gong Lixin's delicate brows slightly lifted up, he opened his mouth to say something, but in the end, bit his lip and stayed silent.

Wu Ming had been Lu Yun's bodyguard for seven or eight years. He experienced numerous kidnapping and assassination attempts. He was good at observing others. He could often interpret a person's true thoughts from observing some of their small unconscious gestures.

Seeing Gong Lixin's hesitant expression, Wu Ming had a sudden thought, "Young Master Gong, you don't plan on leaving on your own, do you? Even if you are powerful, it's still very dangerous!"

He Jin eyes sharpened after hearing Wu Ming. After the words were said, he immediately turned to look at Gong Lixin. Seeing the other with a determined look on his face, he became angry and yelled, "Do you want to die? You think that since your skills are better, you can handle them?! How many zombies are outside? You don't know? Sixty thousand! There are more than sixty thousand in the suburbs of North City. Every one of them can attack you!"

Lu Yun also followed up, "Yes! Don't get hurt or you'll turn into one of them. Their smell can also kill you!" Young Master Lu was somewhat of a clean freak.

Wang Tao hadn't spoken, but his expression showed that he too disapproved.

"I won't go alone." Gong Lixin turned and sighed. At first, he wanted to leave with Wang Tao and have Wang Tao give him directions. However, he later found out that just a jump over a three-meter high wall could shock Lu Yun. Seeing their surprised expressions from such a simple act, he immediately dismissed the thought.

If he leaves with Wang Tao and showed his true skill, they would definitely see him as a monster. It was so hard to get everything he had now - freedom, sunshine, family, friends. He didn't want to lose it all. He didn't want to be looked at differently. He was now Gong Lixin, no longer the young master of the Underground Palace.

Of course, such repression of his abilities was only temporary. The ability users would appear one after another and he would be able to show his strength little by little. After all, in this dog-eat-dog world known as the apocalypse, if you had no strength, it would be hard to survive.

Seeing everyone skeptic, Gong Lixin lowered his head and said, "I won't leave on my own…I don't even know the way."

"Pft!" Lu Yun sputtered. He did not expect Gong Lixin to say something so ridiculous. Wang Tao turned away and concealed his twitching lips.

Wu Ming and He Jin glanced at each other, then looked at Gong Lixin. Wu Ming hesitantly asked, "You really don't know your way home?"

"Hn," Pretending not to look at their expressions, Gong Lixin nodded and whispered, "I can't tell the difference between North, South, East and West. There were always people who picked me up and dropped me off every day. There was no need to recognize the way home."

In the 16 years he was confined in the Underground Palace, Xiao Lin strictly restricted what he could do. He was usually in the cultivation room when he was not in his sleeping quarters. The cultivation room was still in the Underground Palace and was just beneath his bedroom. He only needed to open the door and ask someone for directions to the room. What's more, the roads of modern cities were more complicated than a spider's web. Even taxi drivers often didn't recognize the way. [1]

Wu Ming lowered his head and smiled. He Jin looked at the child. Although his expression was serious, and though he looked calm, the tips of his ears were quietly dyed red. Seeing how he was trying to hide his embarrassment, He Jin couldn't help but see how adorable and lovely Gong Lixin was. His heart was troubled and felt itchy, his anger towards the other about going out on his own had long vanished.

It was the same case for Young Master Lu. Lu Yun couldn't let himself hate Gong Lixin, instead, adored him and his chilly heart softened.

"There won’t be anybody to pick you up in the future so you have to learn the directions yourself!" He Jin lips curled up; his voice unprecedentedly soft and gentle. He paused and reached out to pat the boy's head in comfort, "But don't rush to learn, take it slowly. In the meanwhile, He Big Brother will be responsible for sending you back."

"Hn, thank you, Big Brother He." He Jin’s sincere care restored Gong Lixin's mood. His cat-eyes curved and he seemed especially well-behaved.

When the child didn't use his power, his appearance was soft and weak, and people couldn't help but spoil him. In this moment, everyone completely forgot about his exquisite skills from before and exerted effort towards comforting him.

At this time, the homeless man that had been knocked out by Gong Lixin awoke. The man slowly sat up, his expression was somewhat confused. After a long time, he finally recalled the horrible scene before he fainted and screamed, "Do-don't-don't kill me!"

"Shut up!" He Jin frowned and turned towards the homeless man to threaten him, "I will throw you out to feed the zombies if you make noise!"

He Jin looked cold, and the knife wound on his face made him look like frightening and an exceptionally difficult person to deal with. The man immediately shut up and hurriedly shrank towards a corner, his body shaking like a leaf.

'It turned out that it was not a dream, there are zombies!' The homeless man finally got the situation he was in and began shaking even more.

Lu Yun saw that the person retreating into himself. He felt a little uncomfortable in his heart. He looked towards Gong Lixin, who had an indifferent expression, and asked, "Young Master Gong, are you not afraid? I see you killing zombies like you're cutting vegetables without even blinking an eye." For his most worshiped Gong Lixin, Lu Yun naturally used honorifics when he addressed him, not daring to insist on being called Young Master Lu.

Wu Ming and He Jin didn't think it strange at all. Since the military had information for a long time, it was natural that Gong Yuanhang would strictly train his son so that he could survive the apocalypse.

Not waiting for Gong Lixin to answer, Wang Tao took the lead, "Boss Gong said that zombies were not people, they're just a pile of dead meat. Killing them is no different from cutting meat, there's no need to be afraid!"

"Dead meat, dead meat…" Lu Yun repeatedly whispered to himself and felt better. He affirmed, "Yeah, they are just dead meat! There's nothing to fear! Here, give me a weapon, I'll kill zombies and not let myself be protected by all of you!"

It wasn't easy to motivate the arrogant Young Master Lu! Sure enough, there was progress! Wu Ming was so pleased he took out his gun from his waist and handed it over to him. "Hold onto it, Young Master. There are three bullets inside."

The gun was initially full but Wu Ming had fired a few shots back at the school to kill. A young girl was now lying dead. Of course, it was also because the girl suddenly changed into a zombie and wanted to eat Young Master Lu. Later on, they found out it was troublesome to stop a zombie. Nothing but a head shot would truly stop them. Wu Ming immediately decided to save his bullets then and there, deciding to rely on his military knife to carve a bloody path.

"Just three bullets? That's all?" Lu Yun expression was very dissatisfied.

"Here!" He Jin pulled a dagger from his belt and threw it towards Lu Yun. He Jin was always cautious and thus carried a variety of weapons on him just in case.

Lu Yun was a large young man who was not exactly physically fit. His movements were slow so the dagger wasn't caught and fell to the ground. The dull clatter reverberated throughout the unfinished building.

He Jin focused his hearing and hit the ground again with the dagger. He listened carefully to the sound and how far it went. After a while, he said, "The underground drainage pipes has been laid."

Wu Ming heard this and his face brightened, he quickly said, "We can go to the military compound through the drainage pipes!"

Lu Yun and Wang Tao looked hopefully towards He Jin. Only the road idiot Gong Lixin looked confused, obviously ignorant.

He crouched for a moment and waved the idea off: "That method is not feasible. The underground pipeline is hundreds of times more complicated than the roads on ground level, it's practically a maze. We're currently a long way from the military compound. If we rush into the drainage pipes, we won't know which way to go and then we will be lost. And just walking randomly is too dangerous. Even if there's a underground pipeline map, there's no way we can go."

He Jin's words were like a bucket of cold water poured onto their heads. Wu Ming, Lu Yun and Wang Tao's enthusiasm all extinguished, only Gong Lixin remained calm.

Wang Tao was so depressed that his shoulders sagged as he took out his phone from his pocket.

"What? Can you call?" Lu Yun asked. Since the start of the solar eclipse, cell phone signals had been blocked. He had tried no less than 100 times to make a call along the way.

"No." Wang Tao put his phone back into his pocket and buried his head in between his knees to hide his red eyes. How he hoped to hear his parents' voice right now and make sure they were safe.

Lu Yun heard the sadness in his voice, but still took out his own phone and tried to make a call.

As for Gong Lixin, when he went out of the house, aside from the keys to the laboratory, he didn't take anything else with him. Seeing Wang Tao take his phone out, he wanted to borrow it to make a call. But if there was no signal so, there was no need to mention it.

He Jin and Wu Ming couldn't help but take their own phones out to check. Everyone was silent for a while. Gong Lixin sat in silence, not wanting to disturb them. But after a couple of minutes, he heard a sound and whispered: "Two people are coming towards us. It's estimated that they'll be here within five minutes."

What was the hearing range of Gong Lixin? Since He Jin was not clear, he quickly took out a dagger and got into a defensive stance. Others immediately went along and followed Gong Lixin and He Jin outside to check the situation.

[1] AutumnBreeze: I call absolutely bullshit. Taxi drivers too good at directions for me ;-;

CrazedCookies: We have someone new joining our LEW(D) crew! Wuxian is a new editor for LEW(D) and will be helping AutumnBreeze with editing. Welcome Wuxian!