Chapter Sixty-Nine: Meeting Ji Wu Again

"Seventeen..."
—
"Eighteen..."
In the underground parking lot, Fu Gaobin’s voice rang out loudly. He wielded Azir’s greatsword, effortlessly slaying one zombie after another with a single blow. The sharpness of silver-grade equipment was beyond question; in just a short time, eighteen zombies had fallen at his hand.
They still hadn’t found a vehicle—mainly, none with keys. But as Fu Gaobin dispatched the nineteenth zombie, Wu Liang finally found a car: a business van, a Volkswagen. The driver’s seat was stained with blood, congealed after several days, evidence that the owner had been attacked right after getting in.
Everything inside was intact, and the keys were still in the ignition. Seeing this, everyone finally breathed a sigh of relief.
“Does anyone know how to drive? Also, collect fuel from the other cars—this one guzzles gas. Gather whatever you can from the others,” Yang Fan said, opening the trunk and finding several empty fuel cans. Since nothing was left, he directed them to collect as much as possible. In the apocalypse, every resource was precious.
“Alright,” Fu Gaobin replied. He had a driver’s license and knew his way around cars, so he immediately set about siphoning fuel. Wu Liang joined in, while the two women stood quietly behind Yang Fan, saying nothing. After a while, Fu Gaobin and Wu Liang returned, each carrying large cans.
Three cans in total—enough to last for a while. They stowed them in the back and sealed everything up. Yang Fan let Fu Gaobin drive, taking the front seat himself, while Wu Liang and the two women sat in the back. The van could easily carry six or seven people and had plenty of power.
“Let’s go.”
“Yeah, let’s go.”
Yang Fan nodded, and Fu Gaobin started the engine. He let it warm up, and then they drove off...
Finding a working vehicle in the entire underground lot wasn’t too difficult—the main issue was size. Now that they’d found a Volkswagen van, their luck was quite good.
They drove out of the garage, the windshield wipers pushing aside snowflakes, windows shut tight. Fu Gaobin turned on the heater, and everyone relaxed a little. Inside, all was calm. At the entrance to the complex, the guardrail was broken, so Fu Gaobin drove straight through, though not fast, wary of flipping the car.
On the way to Clear Jade Lake, everyone finally let out a breath, settling into silence...
“Do you think... humanity will survive in the end?” Suddenly, Fu Gaobin, behind the wheel, broke the quiet, rousing Yang Fan from his thoughts. Hearing the question, Yang Fan fell silent.
“Humanity’s future…” He glanced at the sun in the sky and the snowflakes drifting down, feeling lost. Where was the future of humanity? Would humans be eliminated? What had happened to this world? Why had zombies, mutated beasts, insect swarms appeared? Was it truly the work of gods?
“I don’t know,” Yang Fan replied, taking a deep breath.

The others immediately fell silent, spirits sinking to a low point. Yang Fan was powerless—he truly didn’t know humanity’s future. But... he had experienced glimpses of what was to come: skies filled with insect swarms, devouring everything. Before mutated beasts, humans were as helpless as timid ants. As the zombies grew stronger, each moved with terrifying speed, ready to bite anyone they caught.
Humanity, beset by crisis!
Thinking of this, Yang Fan sighed and stopped dwelling on it, lying back in the van to doze. Fu Gaobin lit a cigarette Yang Fan had given him yesterday; Wu Liang, gathering courage, asked for one. Fu Gaobin glanced at him and handed him a cigarette, filling the van with smoke.
The two women tolerated the smoke. Even if they didn’t, what could they do? In the apocalypse, without strength, perhaps their whole lives would be mere appendages. Still, if being an appendage meant survival, so be it...
Such was their thinking, and so the darkness within humanity grew ever deeper.
“Click!—Click!”
No one knew how much time had passed when suddenly the van screeched to a halt. Yang Fan woke instantly, mind alert, and asked, “What happened?”
“There are people ahead—looks like refugees,” Fu Gaobin said, pointing to a nearby alley where some people were running. Yang Fan looked over and his expression changed, murmuring, “It’s them.”
It was the group they’d first encountered at the school—Ji Wu and her companions...
But now, Ji Wu’s group was much smaller, just five or six people, with three berserk demon rats chasing them. One of their number was wounded.
“What should we do?” Fu Gaobin asked.
“Get out, help them.” Yang Fan opened the door and rushed out without hesitation. He knew Ji Wu and her companions, but even if they were strangers, Yang Fan would save them—so long as the enemy wasn’t too strong. If it was, he wouldn’t risk pity.
—
Ji Wu hadn’t expected a tiny mistake—listening to her teammate and provoking the berserk demon rats—would attract an entire family of them, four or five in all. Most of her group died horribly; only one was seriously wounded and one killed, leaving three rats still in pursuit.
In that moment, Ji Wu regretted her actions... but there was no medicine for regret in this world.
“Xiao Wu, there’s a van ahead! Let’s get inside—we might survive,” cried a handsome young man beside her, swinging his long blade to hold off the rats.
Ji Wu glanced over—sure enough, a Volkswagen van, and living people inside. Joy flashed through her heart, but her face quickly changed. “Don’t drag others down. These monsters are dangerous. If we die, we’ll only bring disaster to them.”
In an instant, Ji Wu foresaw the consequences and urged her remaining companions not to pursue this hope.

“But...” The handsome man’s face darkened. Seeing the only way out before them, he watched Ji Wu abandon it. His expression hardened; he grabbed Ji Wu and the last woman, saying, “Forget it. Let’s go. Maybe the demon rats will go after them instead. This isn’t the old world—if we’re soft-hearted, we’ll die.”
With that, he dragged the two women toward Yang Fan, ignoring the two teammates left behind.
“Charge!”
He shouted, speeding up dramatically, nearly reaching Yang Fan in an instant.
“He Xiao, you bastard!”
“You animal! I treated you to meals every day at school, and this is how you repay us?”
The two remaining men watched their roommate abandon them. With the demon rats behind, their deaths were certain. He Xiao, for the sake of women, had forsaken brotherhood—how could they not be furious?
“Hmph, what are you worth? Let the demon rats catch you and tear you apart, buy us a bit more time,” He Xiao said coldly. Ji Wu was stunned; after knowing him for so long, she hadn’t expected this side of him. He was saving her, but...
“Bastard!”
One man was caught by a demon rat; its claws seized his slight body. With a roar, the rat crushed his skull, blood spraying everywhere—no scream, just a gruesome end...
The last man, seeing his brother killed, felt his mind go cold. He shouted, “He Xiao, you’ll die a terrible death!”
He raised his axe and charged at the demon rat, yelling, “Hell, brother, if we’re doomed, I’ll go down with you!”
With that, he threw himself at the monster. The other giant berserk demon rat watched him coldly, unfurling its claws...
A shrill roar split the air!
A rat’s cry!
(Thank you, Brother Divine King, for your reward... Please collect, recommend, vote—don’t let me down~~ Selling sunflower seeds, acting cute, begging~~)