Horrible Adventure in the Provincial Capital

In any provincial capital of China, the population went up to ten million. So was the one Yun Che and his team were heading for. The larger the population was, the denser the zombies could be. Beltways were unavailable. Expressways were also crowded with zombies. The Cruiser could hardly move. At this moment, they had just entered the fifth ring.

"We can ride electric bicycles. But the problem is, zombies will also be wrapped in the air membrane. If I make separate air membrane for each of you, it can only last for one minute. It'll exhaust too much energy. So, we have to walk. But as we walk, we must fight all the way there. I don't think we'll be able to make it to the third ring even when it gets dark."

The Cruiser, wrapped in the air membrane, was pulled up at the city entrance of the fifth ring. In front of the Cruiser were cars in jam and wandering zombies. Things were different today. Yesterday, the steel factory was in the suburb. Even if he exhausted his energy, he could find a place to recover, and it was merely a matter of time. In the provincial capital, however, he could find nowhere to restore his strength. If he used up his energy, he would be a burden to his partners. He wouldn't never take such a risk.

Everyone in the Cruiser remained silent. Strong as they were, they couldn't help feeling scared to see so many zombies. Walk to the third ring? The mere thought of it was enough to make them tremble!

"We must walk. But we can't fight at the same time. Or we would lose all our energy before we reach the third ring," said Xing Feng. It took quite a while before he continued, "How about this? We can make a steel passage with gold superfunction, just like a channel. It doesn't need to be too spacious or exquisite. It only needs to be available for us to walk through. Che, you shall wrap the passage with the air membrane. It's nearly the same as driving a car when we keep the zombies out of the passage. But the passage we make doesn't need to go straight on the road. We can go wherever possible, as long as we can reach the destination. In this way, we'll go faster. In one hour or two, we can get to the third ring."

Xing Feng had such an assumption, because three of them had gold superfunction. When they took turns to maintain the passage, the others could stop and renew their strength, however much energy they exhausted. But Yun Che had the air superfunction alone, when no one else could take his place. Compared to other plans, however, this could do the least damage. And they could also be fast.

"Mm, the passage can't be too long. First, if someone attacks us from behind, we'll lose all the steel we collected. Second, no one can guarantee that there's no level-3 zombie of gold superfunction. If he breaks the passage, we'll be stuck in a zombie's nest. It won't be easy to break out of it. The last but the most importantly, if the passage is too long, there'll be more burdens. Think about it when we lose the air membrane. Well, let's make the passage. We'll walk as close as we can. Among three of you who have gold superfunction, one should walk in the front to extend the passage, and one at the back to close the unnecessary part and seal it. You can take turns to do that," added Yun Che, after thinking carefully about Xing Feng's suggestion. In this way, nothing would go wrong.

"I agree. In this way, Che will exhaust less energy."

Zhou Zeyu was the first to agree. The ideas of Xing Feng and Yun Che made a perfect plan that sounded most suitable for now.

"Mm, we agree, too."

The rest of the team looked at each other and agreed on this plan. Xing Feng nodded and said, "I'll walk in the front first. Shen Rui, walk at the back. Haoling, stay with Shen Rui to take back the unnecessary steel. Haixuan, watch carefully and take my place later. I'll take care of the ending part."

What made them speechless was that Lu Haixuan upgraded his superfunction to level-2, only because he was wounded yesterday. When they found out this morning, they joked that they could punch him more often. Perhaps his superfunction would be rocketed! Lu Haixuan was nearly reduced to tears. If possible, he didn't like such a superfunction, either! But he was given it. What could he do?

Well, that was only a joke. Honestly, Lu Haixuan just upgraded his level. Everything was unstable. The ending part of passage was harder than the extending work. Only Shen Rui or Xing Feng was able do it. Besides, neither Shen Rui nor Lu Haixuan had air superfunction. Instead of asking Chu Haoling to go back and forth, Xing Feng offered to end the passage himself. Shen Rui and Lu Haixun, on the other hand, would take turns to extend the passage.

"You'll be exhausted. Don't forget that you'll have to open your space at any time. It's huge consumption of your energy, too."

Yun Che frowned. Other team members also turned to Xing Feng in disagreement. Plans always changed. Who knew what would happen during their trip? They didn't want to lose any of their partners unless there was no other way. Especially Xing Feng, who had the strongest gold superfunction.

"I'll take turns with him occasionally," said Shen Rui.

Lu Haixuan didn't dare to take the responsibility, even though he knew it was all because of his weakness. If he was acted on impulse, they might pay the price with their lives. Shen Rui, on the contrary, had only gold superfunction. He could manage it nearly as well as Xing Feng.

"All right, then. Off we go!"

Xing Feng agreed, instead of being too stubborn. The rest of the team let out a sigh of relief. When the door of the Cruiser was open, Xing Feng walked out first and built a passage at the door. A steel passage that looked like an archway extended from the door. Yun Che, following him, created the air membrane quickly and wrapped the passage. The rest of the team got off the Cruiser one after another and caught up. When everyone was in the passage, Chu Haoling packed up the Cruiser. Shen Rui, in the meantime, sealed the gap at the back of the passage as swiftly as he could.

As expected, the passage, under the control of Xing Feng, kept extending forward. To make more space for their operation, Yun Che expanded the air membrane accordingly. Zombies ahead of them moved away because of the extending passage. The passage, however, wasn't completely sealed. It was just like a frame. As they walked along, they were very close to the zombies. Even if they knew the zombies couldn't hear them because of the air membrane, they still held their breath cautiously, in case zombies would rush up.

"Haixuan, it's your turn."

Xing Feng couldn't be distracted. Twenty minutes had passed, and they entered the fifth ring. Yun Che hastened to let Lu Haixuan take Xing Feng's place.

"I'm on it."

Lu Haixuan nodded and came up to assist Xing Feng with gold superfunction. Soon, he took over the work of extending the passage in Xing Feng's place.

"Oops, Shen Rui. Hang in there for another ten minutes."

Xing Feng took a deep breath when Yun Che passed him a bottle of water. Xing Feng felt something special as soon as he took a sip. He raised his eyebrow and asked, "It…"

"Shut up and just drink it. Why do you bother to ask? Take your time and absorb some crystal nuclei for replenishment."

Yun Che glared at Xing Feng, giving the latter no chance to ask about anything. At last, he also took up a bottle of water, faced upward and swigged it down. Not much of his superfunction was exhausted, but he couldn't extend the usage of superfunction without intermittent replenishment.

Realizing the water was another secret and it wasn't the right timing to ask, Xing Feng no longer said anything. He swigged half of the bottle of water and threw the bottle into his space. After that, he took out two crystal nuclei and absorbed them. Ten minutes later, he nearly recovered. Naturally, he replaced Shen Rui again. Chu Haoling squeezed his way to the front and offered steel to Lu Haixuan. Yun Che and Xing Feng went to the back of the team.

The less superfunction they exhausted, the faster they could recover. Consequently, Shen Rui and Lu Haixuan changed shifts every twenty minutes. The one who was off duty would try hard to replenish his own energy. After two or three rounds, Shen Rui would also change shift with Xing Feng for ten minutes. Yun Che always gave the latter some water after he finished the last bottle. With good teamwork, the team tried to make as few mistakes as they could. They advanced, mostly as fast as they usually walked. Two hours later, they finally made their way into the fourth ring, which was closer to the destination.

"Don't worry. No matter if your parents are still alive, we'll figure it out."

Zhan Yafei was trembling slightly with nervousness. Yang Huaien, walking beside her, thought about it before he reached out and wrapped his arm around her shoulder.

"Sure."

Zhan Yafei nodded, and didn't push him away. She even moved closer to his chest. An old saying went that a man felt anxious when he came nearer to his hometown. It was probably how Zhan Yafei was feeling. The closer she approached, the more scared she turned. Right now, she really needed the warmth from her partner.

"Damn it! Several level-3 zombies ahead of us! Shen, change our route. Turn left. We must take a detour. Two level-3 creatures are right ahead. One is a zombie while the other is unknown. A zombie animal, I guess."

Nearly an hour later, they came to the center of the fourth ring. Yun Che suddenly cursed in a low voice. On the way, he kept staring at the control panel. Just now, several dots representing level-3 creatures popped out near them. Under such circumstance, they couldn't fight these zombie creatures. They had no choice, but to avoid them and take another route. Fortunately, Yun Che had the control panel, which could help him quickly pick a new way without level-3 zombies.

Without the least hesitation, Shen Rui controlled the passage to another direction and barely kept away from level-3 zombies. After they reached the other route, they suddenly realized that their backs were all wet. All human beings got scared in case of danger. They were no exception. The difference only lay in the way of facing danger.

"Wow, if the doomsday ends, I won't ever live in a city. Seems like it's the best to live in the countryside."

Getting out of threat, Yun Che let out of a sigh of relief loudly.

"Remember to take me with you. I'll follow you all my life."

Seeing not many zombies on the street and the team were too nervous, Zhou Zeyu teased him. But it sounded romantic. Yet he didn't feel it. Xing Feng's subordinates, however, glared at him! How dared he snatch Xing Feng's honey! He must be looking for a fight! After they went back, they would teach him a lesson.

"Uh… what's wrong?"

Zhou Zeyu, who didn't understand what was happening, wondered what mistake he had made again. Yun Che and Leng Yehan rolled their eyes, speechless. As a naïve bobblehead, he could end up dead someday just because of his nonsense.

"Ahem, be serious. Fuck… Fuck it! I'm seeing level-3 zombies again! Are we in their lair?"

Yun Che cursed again. Accidents were the last thing they expected.

"Do we need to change another route?"

Theoretically, with the help of the air membrane, even level-3 zombies couldn't find them. It would be no problem even if they were extremely close. However, theory was one thing while the fact was another. Who could assure that they wouldn't have shaky hands as they approached the zombies? Any mistake, big or small, was likely to expose their location. What was worse, it wasn't as easy to kill level-3 zombies as they killed zombies at lower levels.