Chapter 40

Lu Yun drove the Hummer H6 towards Xianyang Town. Wu Ming was sitting in the passenger seat. Sun Tiantian and her brother sat together and had a confused expression on their face. Ling Yu was bloody and shivering. Fortunately, the Hummer H6 model had been modified and lengthened. This meant that the three extra people that entered the car; He Jin, Lin Wenbo and Gong Lixin, still had plenty of room to fit in.

Gu Nan, Wang Tao and the others rode in the Ford car behind them.

"Is she hurt?" After introducing Lin Wenbo to everyone, He Jin saw Ling Yu and his brows wrinkled as he asked sharply. If Ling Yu nodded, she would be immediately thrown out.

Lin Wenbo heard this and his eyes turned sharp as he scrutinized every inch of Ling Yu.

Ling Yu's body had gone stiff under their cold eyes and she quickly stammered out, "No, no, this is bat blood, not mine. I did not get hurt. If you don't believe me, you can check."

Her eyes were desperate, eager to please as she reached her collar for fear that the two would throw her out. The collar was lowered and her neckline was wide open, revealing a pure black sexy lace underwear. Her rounded chest was marked with red love marks making for a very seductive image.

"Put your clothes on!" He Jin and Lin Wenbo yelled in unison, their expression turning very ugly. Xiaoxin was still in the car, what is this woman trying to do?! The two men's brows were deeply furrowed as they thought about the other's innocence, but both of them just ignored the ten-year-old Xiao Sun Jie.

Ling Yu was frightened by their expression and cold tone. She immediately covered herself up and held her hands in front of her chest, her eyes shed tears in fright.

Lu Yun sitting in the front row opened his mouth this time and his tone was very urgent. "I've already checked, no one's hurt. Brother He, don't spend your time on her anymore, go check on brother Wu. Earlier, he shot a fireball from his hand and burned the forest. He has no energy and he can't move."

He Jin heard his words and moved forward to check Wu Ming's condition. Lin Wenbo slowly opened his mouth. "Don't worry, it's an ability, fire ability. His powerlessness is the aftereffect of exhausting his ability."

"Ah? A-ability?" Lu Yun looked towards the back seat. His hand holding the steering wheel turned with him and the car almost crashed.

"Hey! Pay attention to driving!" He Jin gave him a cold look and said: "I'm also an ability user. My ability is controlling the wind. He will feel like this after spending his ability and will need rest. It will take twenty minutes of rest for him to recover." He released a small wind blade and cut the 'peace' symbol hanging from the rear-view mirror into two halves.

Lu Yun was shocked and turned back to face the front of the car, stunned. He couldn't speak for a long time and focused on controlling the steering wheel. He could only mechanically drive onward.

Wu Ming's half-finished water bottle fell, the stunned expression on his face slowly faded and he revealed a hint of joy. He curiously asked: "Hey, why do we have abilities? When did you find out?"

"I also just discovered it recently." He Jin whispered, "It's assumed that, just like how people changed into zombies, our body also changed. But this change is in a good direction instead."

"Oh, then, will I get an ability? Young Master Gong is so powerful. Is it because he's also an ability user? What kind of ability does Young Master Gong have?" Lu Yun quickly digested this mysterious fact and asked with anticipation.

Sun Tiantian and Sun Jie also showed curious expression. Only Ling Yu didn't seem to care. She was obviously scared by these vicious men.

"To find out if you have an ability, wait until we return to base. Our base has tools to detect ability users. As for Lixin's ability, we don't know yet. It's probably multiple abilities." Lin Wenbo answered without missing a beat.

According to Gong Xiangyi, her space came with some equipment. There was an uncharacteristic energy stone that could detect whether a person had an ability in their body and which type it was. He also tested himself to know that he was a metal ability user.

Lu Yun was amazed and yearned for the base even more after hearing those words from Lin Wenbo's mouth. He stepped on the accelerator and accelerated towards Xiangyang Town.

"Big Brother Lin, I want to call Dad and Big Brother Song. How do I use this?" The voice of Gong Lixin, who had been quietly poking at the satellite communicator, sounded frustrated. The setting of this thing was very different from that of his mobile phone. His shallow knowledge from his past life couldn't help either since it was too advanced.

"Oh~" He had wondered why Xiaoxin was holding the communicator but not talking, he hadn't thought that Lixin didn't know how to operate it. His ignorant yet annoyed appearance couldn't be described as anything but cute and funny. It was so much that Lin Wenbo laughed out loud.

He took the communicator and dialed Gong father and Song Haoran's phone numbers.

***

After Lin Wenbo had left the unfinished building, they searched along the route back to the Gong family residence. However, because the zombies were everywhere and the roads were blocked, they had to repeatedly stop, making their progress very slow.

Seeing that the sky was getting dark, it was not a good idea to keep searching. Song Haoran's eyes burned with the eagerness to keep searching. In the middle of his forehead, two deep grooves kept increasing as his anxiety increased and his mouth had long since dried out.

"Major General, upfront is the most prosperous section of the northern suburbs - Century Avenue. The place is heavily congested with vehicles. Where do we go now?" A special force's soldier pointed to the cars upfront and quietly asked.

"All squad members, move forward." Song Haoran made a gesture and took the lead, crouching down and crawling under the cars.

The other eight people looked at the endless sea of cars and zombies on the sidewalks. Although their scalps felt numb, they still followed in the Major General's footsteps.

After their group of people crawled for hundreds of meters under the cars, their clothes quickly got worn out before they finally reached a small open space in the middle of the traffic, making for a natural fortress. Song Haoran crawled out from the bottom of a car and stretched his muscles before looking around under the cover of a car. The rest of the people selected their own observation points and explored their surroundings.

"Sure enough, this is the most prosperous area in the northern suburbs. It's full of dead bodies!" Looking at the many zombies that were blocked by cars on the sidewalk, a special force's soldier expressed this in a whispered voice.

Song Haoran's eyes were dark. He pulled up the communicator and called Lin Wenbo's number. The end was connected but no one answered. He put the communicator back and the scowl between his brows became deeper.

Suddenly, there was a cry for help in an alley not far away. Song Haoran, who was an ability user, had sharper senses than the ordinary people. He immediately heard it. Several of the eight people in the same group strained their ears and looked for the source of the sound.

"Someone's calling for help! Go forwards 50 meters in the three o'clock direction! Go!" Song Haoran quickly gestured before crawling back under the bottom of the car. The rest of the people immediately followed him.

Crouched at the bottom of the car, they looked towards the mouth of the alley. There was a small group of zombies at the end of the alley and the cry for help came from beyond the group of zombies. At the same time, many zombies who heard the sound slowly approached the area.

"Let's go!" It was hard to find a living person. Song Haoran no longer hesitated. He rushed out from the bottom of the car. The sharp blade in his hand instantly cut out the heads of several zombies and opened a path. The other eight people were unwilling to be left behind and created a sizzling dance of dagger while creating a bloody path as they headed straight towards the cry for help.

Eight soldiers had dealt with war was now facing a small group of slow-moving zombies. In just a few minutes, all the zombies had fallen and died.

"Thank you! Thank you! You're from the army? The army came to rescue us?" A man nearly 70-years-old cried with joy and eagerly asked. He got up from the bottom of the huge garbage bin and saw the nine people wearing special force's uniform.

Nine people bowed to him and moved the huge iron bins away. They moved them to cover the alley, blocking the narrow road and signaled the old man to kneel down and use the trash cans to cover his figure. The zombies that had gathered from hearing the earlier sound, swayed into the alley but didn't see anyone there nor hear any sound and slowly dispersed.

"Yes, the army has already been sent into the city and will come and rescue you soon." After confirming the current crisis had been avoided, Song Haoran whispered: "We still have a task at hand and have to go to the military compound. It's not convenient to take you with us. Where have you been hiding before, we will bring you back. I will inform the other forces to pick you up."

Song Haoran was currently thinking about finding Gong Lixin and could not take care of others. He knew it was selfish, but he couldn't control himself.

"You can't go, it's dangerous! You come with me first, I will tell you now, if you go, you will die! Believe me!" The old man anxiously pulled Song Haoran's arm and took him to the depths of the alley.

Song Haoran and his comrades looked at each other and saw the deep fear in the eyes of the old man. He decided to follow him first and avoid worsening the situation.

The alley was very deep and very quiet. On both sides were dilapidated houses with a big red circle and the word "demolition" written on it." This was a demolition area. It was going to undergo construction soon so became an uninhabited place, thus had no zombies. It had become a safe area.

The old man silently opened the iron gate at the end of the alley with his key and waved the crowd to follow him. Behind the iron gate, the steps sloped downwards. Because of the darkness of the night, the steps seemed invisible. It seemed quite dangerous and the wind was cold.

Song Haoran and the others unconsciously clenched their weapons in their hands.

"This was an air-raid shelter that was built before the war. It was later converted into an entertainment venue in the summer by the neighborhood committee. Don't mind the broken doorway, just go in." The old man whispered as he walked.

Sure enough, after turning a corner of black lacquered aisle, a few orange lights lit up in the shelter. It was warm and quiet. The ventilation in the underground facility was good and not loud. There were a few mats on the floor and there was even a table of unfinished mahjong game in the corner. If the apocalypse hadn't come, it was a good place to come and relax.

"Grandpa, have you found something to eat?" From a dark corner, a fifteen-year-old boy rushed to the old man and looked through his pockets. Because he was too hungry, he even ignored Song Haoran and the others who came in with the old man.

"No." The old man shook his head. Because he hadn't eaten for two days, even tiny movements were hard to do.

"Nothing? Why are you so useless? Can't you go out a little further? There's a lot of food outside!" [1] The teenager's face was extremely pale and his black eyes were covered with a single eyelid, making his delicate appearance look a bit gloomy. It was even more unsightly because of his anger. He said that while pushing the old man, his attitude was somewhat hysterical and it was estimated that he had been driven by despair and hunger.

"You are a young man. You don't look for food yourself, but ask your grandfather to go, have you no shame? If you can complain, then go and see if you have the ability to get food! Did you know that your grandfather was almost eaten by zombies?" Song Haoran put his dagger back into his waist and walked up to the teenager. He picked up his clothes and scolded him.

"Who are you?" The young man saw Song Haoran and the others. His eyelids parted to reveal wide eyes. "You're soldiers? Did you come to save us? Come, let's go! We haven't eaten for two days. Give me something! I'm going to starve!" He clung to Song Haoran's arm and cried like he was going to die. The boy's voice was very sharp and echoed in the narrow bomb shelter, making it annoying to hear.

"You shut up." Song Haoran yelled, his heart not tolerating this young man. "These are compressed biscuits. You should eat it first." Song Haoran took out two bags of compressed biscuits from is bag and handed it to the two of them.

The boy immediately stopped crying and ripped open the biscuit bag. The old man tried several times to open the package. He looked at his grandson who was looking at him and sighed helplessly. A special force's soldier on the side opened his bag with eyes full of pity. It's sad to live with such a selfish and self-interested relative. [2]

Song Haoran also touched his dagger and thought of Gong Xiangyi's actions. He unconsciously squeezed the handle in his hand. If Lixin had an accident, he didn't know what he would do to Gong Xiangyi.

The old man ate a few mouthfuls and slightly patted his stomach. He slowly said: "You should not move forward. Up ahead is the most prosperous area in the northern suburbs. There is a railway station in the middle. There's a provincial place in the East. The zombies roam around that area. People don't dare to go. Moreover, three very powerful zombies appeared yesterday, they can run and jump and can even find you even if you hide at the bottom of a car. They can hear you breathe if you breathe heavily, from ten meters away. One was wearing a plaid skirt, a little girl, one was not tall but wore a white coat and one was a two or three-year-old devil. The little devil was the most powerful one. Its actions were faster than lightning and you can't push him away once he's bitten down on your flesh. After he's bitten you, in half a minute, the person would be eaten whole and turned into an empty shell."

The old man stopped as a chill ran down his body. After a while, he suppressed his fear and continued to explain. "We had eleven people staying in this shelter and they were all here yesterday. Eight of them were eaten and I am left with my grandson and a policeman. He went out to find food, but he still hasn't come back. Do you understand now?" The old man sighed.

"Eight people were eaten?" He didn't expect the evolutionary zombies to appear so quickly or on the way to Lixin's home. Song Haoran's heart tightened and he took out his wallet from his pocket and asked with a trembling voice. "Did you see this child?"

The old man took the opened wallet and looked at the picture for a moment. He shook his head. "I haven't seen him. I have never seen such a handsome child."

Song Haoran recovered. The wallet was put back with twitching fingers as his insecurity lifted. How afraid he was to hear an affirmation from the old man's mouth.

A fellow comrade from the same group saw his violent reaction and walked up to him and patted his shoulders in comfort. He worried: Major General's reaction was quite big. He even carried photos of him. It showed how important Gong Lixin was to him. I hope Gong Lixin is safe and sound, otherwise, if he becomes violent, who would stop him?

[1] AutumnBreeze: Mind me killing this piece of useless shit?

CrazedCookies: People were raging about the twin sisters but honestly, this kid is LOT more hateful. For many reasons to come.

[2] Autumn Breeze: nods vigorously