Chapter 149: Hidden Thoughts, Gu Xu’s Change

A group made up mainly of young people, with some middle-aged and teenagers as support, was now surrounded by a massive horde of zombies.

They had gathered quite a lot of supplies, but as the number of zombies kept increasing, they couldn’t hold out any longer. They decided to retreat for now, planning to negotiate properly with the people from Sucheng, and then cooperate to take over the wholesale market together.

But just as they started to withdraw, they realized they couldn’t get out—their group was completely surrounded by zombies!

Facing the ferocious and terrifyingly numerous zombies, fear surged in their hearts. In a city, being surrounded by zombies was the most terrifying thing imaginable. Although this wasn’t a city and the zombies weren’t as dense, there were still a huge number of them. The problem was, too many idiots had come here before, throwing their lives away—none of them managed to take any supplies, and instead, they just ended up adding to the zombie ranks.

A large portion of the zombies in the Hongri Wholesale Market had come about exactly this way—the more you killed, the more there seemed to be.

The Qiao Base was determined to get their hands on this juicy but tough “rib” right at their doorstep. After all, there were so many bases in Sucheng, each with its own territory and sphere of influence. Usually, they only operated within their own areas. The Sucheng Base, though large and powerful, wasn’t the type to bully the weak—otherwise, the military’s reputation would be ruined.

But recently, the Qiao Base had heard rumors that the Sucheng Base was about to disappear, and so many people had defected to Sucheng that they were now running countless construction projects every day. They were running dangerously low on steel and concrete.

Within several miles, the only place with steel was the steel wholesale center at the Hongri Market. If the Sucheng Base came for steel, would they really just take the steel and leave the other, even more important, supplies behind?

So the Qiao Base got nervous, excited, and angry. The leadership held meetings and came up with several plans, gradually advancing on the area. But then, just yesterday, they got word that Sucheng couldn’t wait any longer and would launch an operation soon. In a panic, they rushed to launch their own full-scale assault today. Originally, this operation was supposed to be prepared for a few more days.

But even with all this, they still couldn’t outmaneuver the Sucheng Base. Today, Sucheng sent a large, well-organized force. That was the military—no comparison in terms of equipment, firepower, discipline, or logistics. The Qiao Base tried to block them, planning to pull the rug out from under them by taking all the supplies and leaving Sucheng empty-handed.

Unfortunately, they overestimated themselves and underestimated how dangerous the wholesale market was.

They didn’t get much in the way of supplies, but their casualties were heavy—half of their team was already lost.

At the front, Qiao Wei’s face was grim, his back and hands covered in blood. Luckily, it was only from a zombie’s special ability—if he’d been directly grabbed by a zombie, he’d already be dead.

The drain on his powers, the constant stress, and the sharp pain in his body made his vision swim with white flashes. Worse, the two wood-type ability users in the team had been too slow and were torn apart by zombies.

He’d spent three months training those wood-types—they’d been his trusted aides before the apocalypse. Losing them now was like having a chunk of his heart ripped out.

There were three spatial ability users in the group—one woman and two men—all huddled in the center. Qiao Wei glanced back at them, a murderous glint in his eyes that made everyone shudder.

If it weren’t for these three useless cowards lingering over the supplies and dragging their feet, they wouldn’t have missed their chance and gotten trapped here.

But now, they still had to protect these “useless” people—if they died, all the supplies in their spatial storage would be lost forever. This operation would be a total failure. Most of the people he’d brought were his own trusted subordinates, and so many had already died. If he didn’t bring back supplies, the old man at home probably wouldn’t survive it either. When that happened, their family…

Those people must have predicted this outcome and kept egging them on. They were just waiting for the Qiao family to be wiped out so they could seize power—a bunch of heartless, ungrateful bastards!

He gritted his teeth and asked the person beside him, “Where’s the eldest young master?”

“He just said he was going out to check the situation. He hasn’t come back yet.”

“Damn it!”

Qiao Wei glared at the zombies in front of him, about to give the order to attack, but the zombies couldn’t wait any longer. They lunged forward, claws out and jaws wide.

If only Qiao Wei had given the order a moment earlier, but he’d been too caught up in his anger and missed the critical moment. As a result, before morale could be rallied, the exhausted and wounded team was thrown into chaos by the zombie charge.

“Hold the line!”

“Aaah—!” Someone was already in danger.

Seeing the team on the verge of collapse, Qiao Wei was frantic. He hurled ice spikes desperately while shouting, “Fighting is our only chance—if you try to run, you’re dead! Don’t panic!”

Before he finished speaking, the head of the nearest zombie suddenly exploded like a watermelon.

Everyone froze. Who could be so powerful?

Zombie skulls were tougher than steel. Even stranger, wisps of smoke curled up from the remains, clearly charred inside.

While everyone was still in shock, a second zombie’s head exploded.

Then a third, a fourth—one after another, bang bang bang, like the trumpets of death, like a call from hell. The zombies fell with no resistance. One even hit the ground so hard its crystal core popped out.

Someone trembled all over. “Someone’s here to save us! Is it the eldest young master?”

Qiao Wei snapped out of it and shouted, “Don’t miss this chance! Let’s kill these monsters together!”

His mind was in turmoil. It wasn’t his big brother—first, his brother didn’t have such a powerful weapon. The Qiao Base probably didn’t even have a gun that could blow open a zombie’s head like this. Second, the bullet trajectories were coming from above. With his brother’s bull-headed, charge-straight-ahead style, would he really climb up high to provide cover fire?

Besides, the shooter was only firing, not calling out or signaling. That suggested they weren’t an ally, or couldn’t reveal themselves.

And another thing—the bullets weren’t ordinary; they seemed to contain some kind of energy. And the marksmanship was terrifyingly precise.

Even now, the smarter zombies realized they were being targeted and started moving erratically, dodging and weaving. But still, zombies kept getting shot in the head, one per second, as if the shooter had calculated everything perfectly.

He glanced up, but there was nothing on the building—no sign of anyone.

On the rooftop of a six-story building, Bian Changxi crouched, watching the ice-type leader below, who was already at the end of his rope. She shook her head—he could shout all he wanted, but he had no real strategy. He couldn’t make decisions at critical moments, and even now, he had time to glare at others.

She recognized him—this was the second young master of the Qiao family, a highly respected figure in the Qiao Base. He’d represented the Qiao Base in negotiations with the Sucheng Base and was a powerful ice-type user. In her previous life, after Sucheng fell, all the bases went through a second wave of mass migration, and he became the sole leader of the Qiao Base. Later, he did quite well at the Tengyang Base and even earned Gu Xu’s respect.

In her past life, she’d been a nobody and looked up to all those famous figures with awe. But things were different now—her vision had broadened, and she could see things she couldn’t before. Now, this second young master of the Qiao family didn’t seem all that impressive.

She couldn’t help glancing at Gu Xu beside her.

He was half-crouched, long fingers steady on his sniper rifle. His posture was textbook-perfect, and the thin combat uniform couldn’t hide the explosive lines of his broad shoulders and back. He was like a lion lying in wait on a rock in the jungle—relaxed and graceful, yet ready to spring into deadly action at any moment.

His eyes were languid yet sharp, barely aiming before pulling the trigger. Each bullet was infused with his fire ability, burning through the air with terrifying power.

Bian Changxi stared at him in a daze. The Gu Xu in her memory was strong and cold, his gaze always frosty after suffering blow after blow. He acted with calm, lightning-fast precision, always methodical even when relaxed. That lazy, elegant air was something she’d never seen in him before. But now, he exuded a quiet confidence and ease from the inside out. His hair fell across his brow, softening his strong, handsome features with a touch of grace.

Suddenly, he put away his gun and turned his head. His dark eyes swept over her, and Bian Changxi snapped back to herself, blinking. Her expression changed instantly, and she gave him a natural, admiring thumbs-up. “Your marksmanship is amazing!”

Gu Xu stared at her in silence for two seconds. Bian Changxi felt her heart was about to leap out of her chest—a powerful sense of being caught red-handed left her flustered, as if her deepest secrets had been exposed. Her left hand, hidden behind her back, dug hard into her palm, but her face didn’t betray a thing.

Gu Xu looked away and said calmly, “It’s my job. Of course I’m accurate.”

He set down his gun and lifted an unconscious, wounded man from the ground. He paused—if he wasn’t mistaken, this man, who looked so much like the one below, must be the eldest young master, an important figure in the Qiao Base. Saving him might bring trouble. Who knew if he’d seen Bian Changxi, or would remember her?

But at this point, there was no choice but to save him. Gu Xu whistled, the sound unrecognizable, then used a fire chain to lower the man down.

Below, Qiao Wei and the others, having just escaped the zombies, saw a figure falling from the rooftop. Instinctively, they prepared to attack, but Qiao Wei shouted, “It’s big brother!”

Everyone froze. The eldest young master fell from the sky?

But they quickly put away their powers and lowered their guns, scrambling to catch the falling man. Gu Xu watched as they caught him safely, silently dissolved the fire chain, then turned to Bian Changxi and said, “Let’s go. We’d better get back before they start fighting.”

Bian Changxi understood what he meant. “They” referred to the people below on one side, and the approaching Sucheng military on the other.

Everyone had seen the two of them leave the base. If they showed up here and the supplies were missing, it wouldn’t take a genius to figure out who did it. This wasn’t just a matter of who got there first anymore—it was escalating into a conflict between two bases. If they wanted to avoid trouble, it was best to play the part of innocent bystanders.

She said, “Let’s stick to the rooftops. There are too many zombies below—it’ll just slow us down. Once we grab what we need, we’ll head back.”

She was getting excited. “Don’t we look like we’re up to no good? Sneaking around, taking advantage of the chaos… Hey, does this ruin your image?”

Gu Xu handed her the sniper rifle, interrupting her, “Let’s go—time to do some bad things.”

Bian Changxi pouted and followed him.

Running across rooftops would be tough for most people, but for two who both had long ropes (fire chains and vines) and good skills, it was no problem. If there was a big gap or height difference, Gu Xu would help, and Bian Changxi could cross easily.

Soon, they reached the area above the wholesale market.

The wholesale market sprawled out from a single street, selling all kinds of goods. Many big markets, supermarkets, and stores came here to stock up. The two of them looked down from above, picking out the most important supplies first.

For example, there was a wholesale shop for cooking oil. The storefront was wrecked, and the goods were all exposed—barrels and barrels of golden oil. Bian Changxi stood still, flicked out her vines, and in the blink of an eye, the whole area was cleared out.

Gu Xu raised an eyebrow. It was his first time seeing Bian Changxi collect supplies in action. This method was…

He looked at her and said, “Very convenient.”

No need to run up to each item, pick them up one by one. The efficiency was on a whole different level.

Bian Changxi mimicked his raised eyebrow, but hers was more smug. She swept up another pile of oil. “Let’s not take everything—it’d be too obvious. What should we grab next?”

Rice, flour, beans, meat, drinking water, medicine—food was crucial. Cigarettes and alcohol were luxuries, but they took a good amount. Furniture, tiles, tires, pots and pans—they took a bit of everything. Bottled gas was important, so they stocked up. Petroleum was even more useful—if they had fuel, they should get more vehicles too.

Clothes and fabric weren’t a priority, since new tech clothing was available now. Ordinary fabric wasn’t obsolete, but it was out of favor. Quilts, though, were important—winter was coming, and people could freeze to death. They went straight to the warehouse for those.

And then there were toiletries—shampoo, soap, toothpaste, toothbrushes. No matter how tough things got, nobody wanted to live like a caveman. And tissues—those were absolutely essential. Compared to being dirty, using leaves for… well, you know, was even more unbearable.

What else, what else?

As they moved across the rooftops, Bian Changxi muttered to herself, while Gu Xu offered suggestions, broke open doors and windows, and Bian Changxi played the part of the bandit, busy and delighted. In the end, she even excitedly cleared out an entire warehouse of snacks and certain sanitary products right in front of Gu Xu.

Gu Xu almost laughed.

“How did you manage not to make a move back in that supermarket?”"