Chapter 24: Rescue—No Further In

Before long, Bian Changxi began to feel a tightness in her chest and a bit dizzy. Without stopping to think, she hurried out of the farm. Outside, the sky was already completely dark. The rooms in the suite were pitch black, but fortunately, people with abilities had much better night vision than ordinary folks—at least she could still see her hand in front of her face.

How strange. She’d only been in the farm for a few minutes…

Suddenly, she remembered something. She took out Gu Xu’s two watches and checked the time. She discovered that while a minute passed inside the farm, more than five minutes had gone by outside. She gave a wry smile—she’d forgotten that the flow of time in the farm was also tied to its level. Until she could upgrade the farm, she couldn’t enter so casually anymore, or it would take a toll on her body. But on the flip side, when time inside the farm was slower than outside, she could stay in there, gain extra time, and her body would benefit as well.

But how could she upgrade it?

Researching farm upgrades had always been Qu Yi’s job. Zhu Yunhua, citing how complicated and tedious it was, never let her get involved and always gave her loads of other work to keep her busy. Thinking back, Zhu Yunhua had clearly been guarding against her, the true owner of the farm, all along.

Bian Changxi curled her lip in disdain. Did they really think she wouldn’t figure it out?

Upgrading, in the end, just required energy. In the apocalypse, there were three main sources of energy: first, the early-stage ones like petroleum and coal; second, solar and wind energy; and third—the most common and long-lasting—crystal cores produced in the brains of toxic zombies.

In her previous life, except when she was being experimented on, she always wore the jade bracelet. She’d discovered that as long as she didn’t throw the crystal cores into the warehouse, but left them elsewhere, they would disappear after a few days, and the farm would undergo subtle but welcome changes.

So, one of her next goals: kill zombies, collect crystal cores.

Bian Changxi stretched her limbs. Her stomach growled loudly, so she hurriedly turned on the flashlight she’d bought and rummaged through the food scattered on the floor for something to eat.

A little earlier—

Gu Xu hung up the communicator, drew his pistol from the holster at his waist, and raised his arm—each shot a perfect headshot, taking down the staggering zombies closing in. At the same time, his left hand wielded a knife that flashed like streaks of light, each strike felling another zombie.

Brains splattered, zombies fell one after another, but more kept emerging from around the corner, as if they were flies drawn by the scent of blood—endless and infuriating.

“Shadow, I’ll cover you—go steal a car. We can’t stay here any longer.”

Before he’d even finished speaking, a black shadow darted from the building behind them, instantly reaching a gold-gray van across the street and slipping a long wire through the window.

Suddenly, a zombie with yellow fluid oozing from its mouth lunged from the other side of the van. Shadow didn’t even blink—he conjured a compact fireball and blasted the zombie to the ground. The next moment, he pried open the car door, climbed in, checked things over, fiddled with something, and soon the engine roared to life. He swung the van around, knocking over several zombies as he drove it over.

Gu Xu didn’t look back. “Get those people in! Qiu Feng, you drive this one!”

From the second floor behind Gu Xu, a group of people thundered down the stairs. Leading them was a refined, handsome young man with a gun—Qiu Feng—and a student about eighteen or nineteen. Behind them were three more male students and a dozen or so men and women, young and old. It was clear the adults were split into two groups, each family belonging to one of the students.

“What’s going on? Where are we going?”

“It’s already dark—shouldn’t we stay here?”

The group was panicked and terrified. Faced with so many disgusting zombies, their legs were weak and they could barely walk.

Qiu Feng, the refined young man, shot them a cold glare, the killing intent in his eyes silencing them instantly. He glanced at the two vehicles—a van with eight seats and an SUV with six, which Qiu Yun was leaning against. He pointed, “Zhao Cheng and your family, take the van. Guo Ziyue, you and your family take the SUV. Move!”

No one dared argue. They quickly got in—Zhao Cheng’s family plus himself made six, Guo Ziyue’s side had seven, filling both vehicles to the brim. Qiu Feng turned to the eighteen-year-old student beside him. “A Pei, you two get in the van as well.”

Gu Pei nodded and led the last single male student into the van. Once everyone was seated, Qiu Feng jumped into the SUV and started the engine.

Qiu Yun stepped aside from the SUV, cradling a sniper rifle in his injured arm, face flushed and panting hard. He cursed, “Damn it, do we really smell that tasty? For every one we kill, two more show up. When will it end? I’m almost out of bullets!”

Even as he spoke, he took out two more zombies with impressive efficiency.

Gu Xu glanced at him. “Qiu Yun, you get in too—take the van.” Then he turned to a burly man who was smashing zombies with a steel pipe, occasionally sending out clumps of yellow earth that pinned zombies to the ground. “Old Wu, go help Qiu Feng in the SUV.”

“Got it!” the big man replied heartily, fighting as he retreated, then jumping into the SUV and slamming the door. He switched to a compact submachine gun and stuck it out the window.

Both vehicles started up, the sturdy SUV leading the way, the van following with its door wide open. Qiu Yun called, “Boss, get in, quick!”

Gu Xu waited until the vehicles had picked up speed and the zombies behind them were no longer a threat. Then he broke into a run, leaped lightly, and landed in the van as gracefully as a swallow. With a bang, the door slid shut.

The eight-seater van was crammed with eleven people. The cramped space was filled with heavy, mingled breathing that hurt the ears. Shadow, in the driver’s seat, asked in a low voice, “Which way?”

Gu Xu was silent for a moment.

They were now on the edge of the city center. They’d found a place to rest, planning to search for the third of Gu Pei’s classmates’ families the next day. But unexpectedly, the street they’d already cleared suddenly swarmed with zombies again.

He’d already noticed that after dark, zombies’ sense of smell and hearing became much sharper. But tonight, they seemed even harder to deal with than yesterday—almost as if they were evolving. Could zombies really be getting stronger?

That girl’s words echoed in his mind—new-type zombies?

They couldn’t go any further into the city center.

Watching the deepening twilight outside the window, he spoke in a low voice, “Head north, toward the new development zone. We need to get out of the city as soon as possible.”

Shadow didn’t object, relaying the message to the SUV ahead via their wristwatch comms.

Qiu Yun, however, looked surprised. He glanced at Gu Pei, who kept his head down in silence. The classmate whose family hadn’t been found yet turned pale and cried out anxiously, “Captain Gu…” Then he pleaded with Gu Pei, “Are we retreating? Aren’t you going to help me find my family? A Pei, say something! Please, help me—just help me one more time!”

He was on the verge of tears."