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

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Although it was just a minor incident, the impact on morale was significant. People started murmuring 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 already made it over were left shaken and much less confident about 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 out of 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 kind of trouble. By the time everyone had crossed, each group was missing a few members—those who had deserted at the last minute. Bian Changxi’s team fared the worst, with only forty-two people left; not a great start.

Yue Li’s face was dark as he gave another speech: “Since we’re already here, there’s no turning back,” and, “It’s only going to get more dangerous ahead, so stay alert,” and so on. Then he waved for everyone to move forward.

Not long after, they ran into zombies.

Bian Changxi pulled Lin Rongrong close. Since they were being looked after, their positions were near the center of the team. There were only three or four zombies up ahead, which were quickly dealt with, so the danger didn’t reach them.

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 real test,” Bian Changxi replied. “That artificial river connects to the outside waterways, so there are a lot of creatures in there. But don’t be fooled by how fierce those fish and shrimp are—they can’t leave the water, so they’re not too bad. 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.”

She hadn’t finished speaking when she felt her backpack suddenly squirm. She reached back and patted it, and it finally settled down. As they moved deeper in, the zombies became more numerous, and the two of them had no choice but to join the fight.

The teams were organized with a set ratio. Besides Yue Li and his three soldiers, among the remaining thirty-eight people, apart from Lin Rongrong—the little-known spatial ability user—there were five regular ability users and two elemental ability users. There was also a fair share of strong, experienced fighters. Based on this, they were split into smaller groups, with plans for how to handle both small and large numbers of zombies. At this moment, Bian Changxi and Lin Rongrong were teamed up with the Chen father and son, plus another man and woman, facing three zombies.

Bian Changxi had gotten the hang of wielding her axe and had her own way of dealing with zombies. She took on one by herself, while Lin Rongrong stood by with a weighted, lengthened watermelon knife, specializing in sneak attacks from behind and targeting the zombies’ legs to throw them off balance. Over the past few days, she’d picked up some basic combat moves from Qiu Feng and the others, and was becoming more agile, with her combat instincts gradually developing.

Chen Haitao, relying on his speed, darted around one zombie, landing surprise blows, while his father followed up, always rushing in to smash the zombie whenever Chen Haitao kicked it down. When the zombie got back up, he’d quickly retreat and let his son take over. The father and son duo managed to keep one zombie occupied.

The other woman had been a martial arts instructor, and her punches and kicks were fierce. Dressed in protective gear with gloves and knee pads, she fought bravely. The other man and woman were average, and the three of them struggled a bit with their zombie. Bian Changxi would always finish off her own zombie first and then go over to help, ensuring they made it through safely.

Repeating this process, they made steady progress.

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

Bian Changxi’s eyes lit up. She gave Lin Rongrong a look, and the two of them snuck in while no one was paying attention.

This pharmacy was old on the inside but had a new exterior. It was quite spacious, with shelves and glass cabinets full of all kinds of medicine, as if it were just waiting to open for business.

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

After she said it, she felt a bit awkward—wasn’t she being a bit too ingratiating? She could even give Gu Xu the cold shoulder, yet here she was acting deferential to a spatial ability user. But it was just a spatial blade, after all.

Thinking it over, she relaxed. The main thing was, she didn’t know what kind of person Su Chensi was. Someone who could already use a spatial blade at this stage was bound for greatness unless something went wrong. Even if she didn’t try to befriend her, she certainly couldn’t afford to make an enemy. Being a bit more polite didn’t cost her anything.

Su Chensi nodded slightly, then turned and unceremoniously started collecting prescription drugs, followed by over-the-counter meds—one cabinet after another, sweeping them all up. Lin Rongrong was left gaping in astonishment.

In just a couple of minutes, all the big-ticket items were gone. Su Chensi sat down in a chair and closed her eyes. Bian Changxi guessed she was done and nudged Lin Rongrong to start collecting.

What was left were mostly supplements, Chinese medicine, and miscellaneous ointments and liquids—not particularly valuable. Lin Rongrong wasn’t sure what to grab first, but Bian Changxi suddenly had an idea and tugged her, “Start with the Chinese medicine.”

Lin Rongrong didn’t understand but did as she was told.

Bian Changxi glanced at Lin Rongrong, then at Su Chensi, picked up a bottle of ginseng slices, and, with a thought, sent it straight to her farm’s warehouse.

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 the existence of her farm, which put Bian Changxi at ease.

Not that she planned to do anything—one small pharmacy wasn’t worth the risk. Suddenly, Su Chensi reached out, and a huge empty cabinet appeared out of thin air. Bian Changxi raised her eyebrows—so she’d been organizing the medicine with her eyes closed? Made sense; tossing out the 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 Bian Changxi for a moment before asking, “Aren’t you a wood-type? You have healing powers, right? Why do you still need medicine?”

Bian Changxi replied, “Wood-type abilities are mainly for treating flesh wounds and physical injuries. When it comes to diseases or infections, they’re useless. Medicine and doctors are always essential, no matter the situation.”

Su Chensi nodded and said nothing more.

She got up and wandered around, collecting a few more things that caught her eye. Lin Rongrong had also finished gathering what she could, and the three of them left one after another. Lin Rongrong was the last to go, glancing 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. By a little after ten, the auto repair shop was in sight. Along the way, people kept getting injured, but thanks to the military’s efforts yesterday to educate everyone and stress the consequences of being scratched by zombies, everyone had bundled up tightly and fought with extra caution. As a result, no one was bitten—just some scrapes and bruises.

They knocked down the repair shop’s main gate. Inside, it looked like an underground garage, packed with cars—mostly used, but with two levels full, it was still impressive. Yue Li was pleasantly surprised; this trip was worth it. The main goal was always the cars and the fuel, and there were over a hundred vehicles here. While it was a drop in the bucket compared to the number of survivors, it was still a decent haul.

There was no way Su Chensi could take all these cars by herself. After discussing with her for a bit, Yue Li turned to everyone and said, “Getting here was a team effort. While I can’t just give away the cars, you all have priority. If you need a car, pick the one you want and note the license plate. Register it with me, and when we get back, you can exchange it for an equivalent value in crystal cores or supplies.”

This announcement instantly deflated everyone’s excitement—no matter how many cars there were, they couldn’t just claim them as their own. Still, having priority was better than nothing; otherwise, with so many people and so few cars, even if you had the resources, you might not get one.

Most people had come to the new settlement in buses, or even on motorcycles or bicycles. The demand for private cars was high, so after some discussion, people started picking out their favorites.

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

She was itching to go too. Cars were essential for escaping or migrating. So far, she only had two fuel trucks and a motorcycle, which were hardly useful when she needed them—such a waste of her farm’s huge storage space.

Suddenly, her backpack started squirming painfully against her back. She checked to make sure no one was watching, then quietly unzipped it. A chubby, round-headed brown mouse shot out, landed on the ground, and stretched as if it had been cooped up for ages.

Bian Changxi was both exasperated and amused. “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 mouse squeaked ingratiatingly and tugged at her pant leg, trying to drag her somewhere.

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

Fat, lazy, gluttonous, thick-skinned, and tough as nails—it looked like a mouse but loved to mimic wolf howls. Whenever it saw mutated rats, it’d roll its eyes in disdain, but after a round of self-pity in front of the mirror, it’d bounce back full of energy.

It was especially close to Gu Xu and ignored everyone else, even though Gu Xu had thrown knives at it the first time they met. It was also very attached to Bian Changxi, often sulking at Gu Xu, giving him the evil eye, or turning its back on him, but with Bian Changxi, it was all cuddles, cuteness, and shameless begging. Last night, it had almost crawled into her bed!

She’d locked it outside in a fit of anger, only to find it sleeping in her bag the next morning, clinging to an empty, flattened milk carton, impossible to pull out. She had no idea how it got in.

Bian Changxi strongly suspected it only stuck to her because she had a lot of milk in her bag. Annoyed, she’d named it “Milk.”

All in all, this mouse—well, probably not a mouse, just mouse-like—called Milk, had made it clear it was devoted to Bian Changxi and determined to tag along on today’s mission.

Bian Changxi had her suspicions about where it came from, but faced with its shameless, pitiful, teary-eyed look, she just couldn’t stay mad.

Sigh. In her past life, she must’ve either offended this fat mouse or saved it by accident. Either way, it was a debt.

Now, the little guy was dragging her away. Bian Changxi was puzzled. “Where are you trying to go?”

Milk let go and darted several meters ahead, looking back at her, then running back, then dashing off again—this time disappearing from sight.

Bian Changxi hurried after it and saw it dart into an alley. It was digging at the ground as it ran, every leap and landing full of agility, its fluffy brown fur bouncing up and down like an expanding and contracting pom-pom from behind.

Its heroic and comical sides were on full display.

Bian Changxi couldn’t help but laugh as she chased after it. She didn’t know what this fat mouse was up to, but her instincts told her it wouldn’t mess around without a reason.

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

Bian Changxi frowned. Up ahead, she caught a glimpse of a figure, and the mouse was already chasing after them. She quickly sent out a vine to snatch it back. “Shh!”

She hugged the struggling mouse and crept closer, peeking into the narrow passage where the figure had gone. She spotted several sneaky-looking shadows.

Leaning back against the wall, she thought for a moment. Looking down, she saw Milk’s round eyes full of anxiety, 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. “Go that way.” The buildings here had been renovated from the originals, leaving plenty of big and small alleys, with trees planted at the entrances—perfect for sneaking around. She let the mouse go and drew the handgun 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 and slip inside with Yue Li.

Another spatial blade!

Bian Changxi raised her eyebrows. Spatial ability users either had no skills or, once they did, had the kind everyone else envied. The spatial blade was the most basic, but compared to wind or metal blades, it was silent, invisible, and many times more effective.

But there were trade-offs. As far as she knew, spatial abilities consumed much more energy than elemental ones. Back at the river, she’d noticed that Su Chensi was barely able to use the spatial blade, yet here she was using it again just to open a door. Strange.

Why not have someone else help? Yue Li was a fire-type—wouldn’t it be easier for him to blast it open?

She shifted her gaze and saw three or four people crouched at the mouth of the narrow passage—it was Liu Meng and his gang.

They seemed to be targeting Yue Li and Su Chensi.

Bian Changxi was shocked. These were military people, and quite capable. Was Liu Meng crazy?

But she quickly dismissed that thought. No, their target wasn’t the people—it was the 4S dealership.

PS:

There are two more chapters coming, just need some editing. Will post soon."