Chapter 61: The Gap—It’s Just Too Unfair

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Although it was just a minor incident, it had a huge impact on morale. People were abuzz with talk about how even the creatures in the water had mutated. Those who hadn’t crossed the river yet were filled with fear, while those who had made it across felt a lingering dread and lost some confidence in today’s mission.

Yue Li could only sigh and order the “bridge” to be widened, so people would feel safer crossing. But halfway across, all sorts of bizarre mutated fish, shrimp, and crabs suddenly leapt from the water. They looked terrifying and were incredibly strong, splashing water several meters high and nearly scaring a few people into falling in.

Almost every team ran into this trouble. By the time everyone had crossed, each group was missing a few members—some had deserted at the last minute. Yan Changxi’s team was hit the hardest, with only forty-two people left. It was an inauspicious start.

Yue Li’s face was dark as he gave another speech: “Since we’re here, we can’t turn into cowards,” and “There are even greater dangers ahead, so everyone needs to be careful,” and so on. Then he waved his hand and led the group forward.

Not long after, they ran into zombies.

Yan Changxi pulled Lin Rongrong to her side. Because they were being looked after, they were positioned near the middle of the team. There were only three or four zombies up ahead, and they were quickly taken care of, so the two of them weren’t affected.

Lin Rongrong whispered, “That scared me to death just now. Thank goodness I crossed first. If I’d been behind that girl, my legs would’ve turned to jelly.”

“That was actually the first test,” Yan Changxi replied. “That artificial river connects to the outside waterways, so there are more creatures in there. Don’t be fooled by how fierce those fish and shrimp look—they can’t leave the water, which is a good thing. Mutated animals on land are much more dangerous. There are bound to be plenty of rats and cockroaches around here, so watch your step and keep an eye on dark, dirty corners.”

Before she could finish, Yan Changxi felt her backpack suddenly wriggle. She reached back and patted it, and it finally quieted down. As they went deeper, the number of zombies increased, and the two of them had to start fighting.

The team had a set composition. Besides Yue Li’s four soldiers, the remaining thirty-eight included Lin Rongrong, who was a rare spatial ability user, five regular ability users, and two elemental ability users. There were also a fair number of strong, experienced fighters. The group was split into smaller squads, each with plans for how to handle small or large numbers of zombies. Right now, Yan Changxi and Lin Rongrong were teamed up with the Chen father and son, plus another man and two women, facing three zombies.

Yan Changxi had gotten the hang of wielding her axe and had her own method for dealing with zombies. She took on one by herself, while Lin Rongrong, wielding a reinforced, elongated watermelon knife, specialized in sneak attacks from behind, especially targeting the zombies’ legs to throw them off balance. Over the past few days, she’d picked up some basic fighting skills from Qiu Feng and the others, and her movements were getting more agile. Her combat awareness was improving.

Chen Haitao used his speed to dart around a zombie, slashing at it whenever he found an opening. His father would follow up, always rushing in to smash the zombie when Chen Haitao knocked it down, then quickly retreating and leaving it to his son again. The two of them managed to keep one zombie busy.

One of the women had been a martial arts instructor. Wearing protective gear and gloves, she fought fiercely. The other man and woman were average, but the three of them together could handle one zombie. Yan Changxi always finished off her own zombie first, then went over to help them out, making sure everyone got through safely.

Repeating this process, they made steady progress.

Finally, they stopped in front of a pharmacy. Yue Li had someone smash a hole in the rolling shutter, and Su Chensi slipped inside.

Yan Changxi’s eyes lit up. She exchanged a glance with Lin Rongrong, and the two of them snuck in while no one was looking.

This pharmacy looked new on the outside but was old inside, with a long history and a large interior. The shelves and display cases were packed with all kinds of medicines, as if they were just waiting to open for business.

Su Chensi glanced up when she saw others come in. Yan Changxi waved and smiled, “Go ahead, you first.”

After she said it, she felt a bit awkward. Was she being too ingratiating? She could keep a straight face even with Gu Xu, but here she was, acting all deferential to a spatial ability user—just because of a spatial blade?

But then she let it go. She didn’t know what kind of person Su Chensi was. Anyone who could use a spatial blade at this stage was bound for great things if they didn’t die young. Even if they didn’t become friends, it was best not to make an enemy. Being a bit more polite didn’t cost her anything.

Su Chensi nodded slightly, then turned and began sweeping up all the prescription drugs, then the over-the-counter ones, cabinet by cabinet, with impressive efficiency. Lin Rongrong stared in shock.

In just a couple of minutes, Su Chensi had cleaned out all the big-ticket items. She sat down in a chair and closed her eyes, unmoving. Yan Changxi figured she was done and signaled Lin Rongrong to get started.

What was left were mostly tonics, traditional Chinese medicine, and miscellaneous ointments and potions—not the most important stuff. Lin Rongrong wasn’t sure what to take first, but Yan Changxi suddenly thought of something and tugged her sleeve. “Start with the Chinese medicine.”

Lin Rongrong didn’t understand, but did as told.

Yan Changxi glanced at Lin Rongrong, then at Su Chensi. She picked up a bottle of American ginseng slices, hid it behind her back, and with a thought, stored it in her own space.

Lin Rongrong didn’t react at all, and neither did Su Chensi.

In theory, the stronger a spatial ability user is, the more sensitive they are to spatial elements. This little test confirmed that Su Chensi couldn’t sense her space at all, which put Yan Changxi at ease.

Not that she planned to do anything—this little pharmacy wasn’t worth the risk. Suddenly, Su Chensi stretched out her hand, and a huge empty cabinet appeared out of nowhere. Yan Changxi raised an eyebrow—so she’d been organizing her loot with her eyes closed? Made sense—tossing out useless cabinets would free up more space.

Su Chensi threw out a few more cabinets, stacking them high, then finally opened her eyes and looked at Yan Changxi for a moment before asking, “Aren’t you a wood-type? You can heal, right? Why do you still need medicine?”

Yan Changxi replied, “Wood-type powers are mainly for external injuries—cuts and bruises. They’re useless against disease or infections. Medicine and doctors are always essential, no matter the situation.”

Su Chensi nodded and said nothing more.

She stood up and wandered around, picking up a few more things that caught her eye. Lin Rongrong had nearly finished scavenging, too. The three of them left one after another. Lin Rongrong, walking last, glanced thoughtfully at the empty cabinets, a look of determination in her eyes.

One day, she vowed, she’d be as strong as that woman.

They continued on. Around ten o’clock, the auto repair shop came into view. Along the way, people kept getting injured, but thanks to the military’s efforts to educate everyone yesterday—especially about the consequences of being scratched by zombies—everyone was wrapped up tightly and extra cautious in battle. As a result, no one was bitten, only suffering minor scrapes and bruises.

They pushed open the gates of the repair shop, which looked like an underground parking garage inside. The sheer number of cars was impressive. Even though they were all used vehicles, there were over a hundred across two floors—a real haul. Yue Li was pleasantly surprised. This was the main reason for organizing this trip: cars and fuel. For the survivors, it was just a drop in the bucket, but still a decent find.

There was no way Su Chensi could take all these cars by herself. Yue Li discussed it with her, then announced to the group, “Everyone who made it here deserves credit. I can’t just give away the cars, but you’ll get priority. If you need a car, pick one here, note the license plate, and register it with me. When we get back, you can trade for it with crystal cores or supplies of equal value.”

This dampened everyone’s excitement—no matter how many cars there were, they couldn’t just claim one for themselves. Still, having priority was better than nothing. With so many people and so few cars, even if you had the resources, you might not get one otherwise.

Most people had come to the new district in buses or even on motorcycles or bicycles, so there was a high demand for “private cars.” After some discussion, people started picking out their favorites.

Yan Changxi saw Yue Li hand things over to his subordinates and then quietly leave with Su Chensi—probably heading for the 4S dealership, where the really good cars were.

She felt a twinge of envy. Cars were essential for escaping or migrating. So far, she only had two fuel trucks and a motorcycle, which were hardly practical when needed—a waste of her huge storage space.

Suddenly, her backpack started wriggling painfully against her back. Seeing no one was watching, she quietly unzipped it. A chubby, round-faced brown rat shot out, landed on the ground, and stretched with a look of utter relief.

Yan Changxi couldn’t help but laugh and scold, “I told you not to come, but you insisted. I told you not to make trouble, but you wouldn’t listen. What exactly do you want?”

The rat squeaked ingratiatingly and tugged at Yan Changxi’s pant leg, trying to drag her somewhere.

After a few days together, Yan Changxi had gotten to know this uninvited, rat-like creature.

Fat, lazy, gluttonous, tough-skinned and hard to hurt, it looked exactly like a rat but loved to imitate wolves with its “awoo awoo” howls. Whenever it saw mutated rats, it would roll its eyes in disdain, but in front of a mirror, it’d mope for a bit before perking up again.

It was especially close to Gu Xu, but indifferent to everyone else—even though Gu Xu had thrown knives at it the first time they met. It also clung to Yan Changxi, acting spoiled and playful, even sulking at Gu Xu and turning its back on him. But with Yan Changxi, it was all cuddles and cuteness. Last night, it had almost crawled into her bed!

She’d been so annoyed she locked it outside, but this morning, she found it sleeping in her bag, clutching an empty milk carton and refusing to let go. She had no idea how it got in.

Yan Changxi suspected it stuck to her because she always had milk in her bag. Annoyed, she named it “Milk.”

In short, this “Milk” rat—probably not a real rat, just looked like one—was fiercely attached to Yan Changxi and determined to follow her on today’s mission.

Yan Changxi had her doubts about its origins, but faced with its shameless, pitiful, teary-eyed look, she just couldn’t harden her heart.

Sigh. Maybe she’d offended this fat rat in her past life, or maybe she’d saved it by accident. Either way, it was a debt she had to pay.

Now, the little thing was dragging her away. Yan Changxi was puzzled. “Where do you want to go?”

Milk let go and scampered a few meters ahead, looked back at her, then ran back, then darted off again—this time disappearing from sight.

Yan Changxi hurried after it and saw it slip into an alley. It dashed ahead, limbs pumping, its fluffy brown fur bouncing up and down like a stretchable pom-pom.

It was both heroic and hilarious.

Yan Changxi couldn’t help but think so as she sped up. She didn’t know what the fat rat was up to, but her instincts told her it wouldn’t make trouble for no reason.

After a sharp turn, she found herself behind the repair shop. Several zombie corpses lay on the ground, each with a fresh bullet hole in the forehead. The air still carried the faint scent of gunpowder.

Yan Changxi frowned. Up ahead, she saw a figure dart past, and the rat chased after them. She quickly shot out a vine to snatch it back. “Shh!”

Holding the struggling fat rat, she crept closer and peeked into the narrow passage where the figure had gone. She spotted several sneaky-looking people.

She leaned against the wall, thinking. Looking down, she saw Milk’s round eyes full of urgency, pleading with her. She sighed and flicked its forehead. “You little troublemaker. If you’re just messing around, you’re in for it.”

“Wuu wuu—”

She pointed to another alley nearby. “Let’s go that way.” The buildings here had been renovated from old structures, leaving plenty of alleys and lanes, many with trees at the entrance—perfect for sneaking around. She let the fat rat crawl on its own and drew the pistol Gu Xu had given her for self-defense, slipping through the alley. Just in time, she saw Su Chensi silently slice through the 4S dealership’s lock with a spatial blade, then slip inside with Yue Li.

Another spatial blade!

Yan Changxi raised her eyebrows. Spatial ability users either had no skills or ones that made everyone else green with envy. The spatial blade was the most basic, but compared to wind or metal blades, it was silent, invisible, and much more powerful.

But there was a trade-off. As far as she knew, spatial abilities consumed much more energy than elemental ones. Back at the river, she’d noticed that Su Chensi could barely manage a spatial blade, but now she was using it again just to break a lock. Odd.

Why not just have someone else help? Yue Li was a fire user—wouldn’t blasting the lock be easier?

She shifted her gaze and saw, crouched at the entrance of the narrow passage, Liu Meng and his group.

Judging by their behavior, they were targeting Yue Li and Su Chensi.

Yan Changxi was shocked. Those two were from the military and highly capable. Was Liu Meng crazy?

But then she reconsidered. No, their target wasn’t the people—it was the 4S dealership.

There are two more chapters coming, just need to polish them up a bit. Will post soon."