Xi Qing

A black sedan was driving continuously toward the outskirts of the town, the road piled high with various wrecked vehicles, with a few monsters appearing between the cars from time to time.

Inside the black sedan sat two young women; one of them was the daughter from the pair of father and daughter who had been attacked in the supermarket earlier.

However, no one else could be seen in the car.

This daughter was covering her face, weeping incessantly.

The other young woman looked to be just over twenty, wearing her hair in a sharp bun with a single strand hanging down and the rest flowing loose. She radiated an indescribable temperament, her eyes fixed intently on the road ahead as she steered the vehicle to avoid the wreckage and the monsters that appeared.

The corners of this young woman's mouth were slightly upturned, appearing as if she were smiling, but the sorrow in her eyes was plain for all to see.

"Since the event has already occurred, and we are not yet out of danger, this is not the time to cry. You must be ready to abandon the car and flee at any moment."

"Do not let your father's final efforts go to waste."

"By the way, I am Xi Qing. What is your name?"

"Su Mo. I know I shouldn't be crying, but I truly cannot help it." Su Mo wiped her tears continuously, her voice trembling.

Xi Qing sighed slightly and said, "It will take about two hours to reach the Xingyan Group base. I cannot be certain if the road is safe, nor am I sure of the current situation at that base, though according to the information I received, the probability of them surviving should be quite high."

Su Mo continued to wipe her tears, but she had straightened her posture, her eyes looking forward, bloodshot as she spoke in fits and starts: "If they have been overrun as well, what will we do? I doubt the fuel in this car will last until we reach the county, and I am not sure if the gas stations on the way are safe."

Xi Qing smiled bitterly and said, "If that is the case, we will have no choice but to bite the bullet and drive to a gas station to refuel, then find a way to lure the monsters away."

Su Mo asked, "Just like when you saved me? Using one cell phone to call another?"

Xi Qing smiled and said, "That was merely one method; the specifics will depend on the actual situation when the time comes."

Su Mo wiped the tears from her hands onto her clothes and feigned strength, saying, "Fine, let's set that aside for now. But how do you know that the Xingyan Group might have survived? We still had police in our town, and they had guns, yet they didn't hold out."

Xi Qing said, "My mother works for the agency that oversees enterprises in the county, so she knows a bit about the situation of all the major companies there."

"Xingyan had been collecting supplies for several days and building defensive structures like walls; they are the most likely in our vicinity to have fended off those monsters."

"In truth, those large enterprises were all making preparations to some degree; it was just a matter of how much."

"If I could, I would certainly prioritize going to the county, as their preparations would be more thorough, but for now, we must settle for the next best thing: reach Xingyan to rest and regroup, then set off for the county."

Su Mo nodded repeatedly as she listened to Xi Qing's explanation, saying, "I hope everything goes smoothly."

Several hours earlier, in the monitoring room of the Xingyan Group base, Lin Chenxing and the others had rushed to the room immediately after receiving the alarm. Everyone watched the herd of beasts gathering and prowling outside the northern wall on the monitors, their hearts filled with anxiety.

After contacting the county, they learned that there was no place left in peace; the entire country, and indeed the world, had fallen into chaos. Every place was struggling to look after itself, and there was no possibility of sparing manpower for rescue efforts.

Many towns and villages had been completely overrun, leaving only a few survivors hiding in places difficult to detect.

But hiding was only a temporary measure. The sense of smell in animals like dogs and pigs was already keen, and after their mutations, the olfactory senses of certain canines and swine had been further enhanced. It was likely that within a few days, those hiding would be found one by one.

"This won't do. Our current wall can likely only stop monsters mutated from animals that weren't particularly powerful to begin with. While I don't know if there are any bears, there are certainly wild boars. A few more charges and it will likely collapse. We cannot just sit here and wait for death," He Qishun said with a furrowed brow.

Gao Zheng grunted in agreement and said, "We have been training for the past few days, and we have also used our production lines to make some simple explosives. Distribute them and have everyone throw them outside the north wall. Though the power is average, we should kill as many as we can."

"Also, distribute the sharpened knives and axes we prepared earlier to guard against the herd breaking in."

Li Yueqi immediately took out his phone, made a call, and relayed the orders.

About ten minutes later, the herd outside the northern wall had reached over eighty in number, including a dozen or so birds.

All the monsters had blood-red eyes, clearly visible even in the night. It was as if there was some constraint among them, as even animals that were mortal enemies did not fight one another.

At that moment, with a "bang," a ball of fire erupted within the herd, dust scattering everywhere. The herd began to panic, and several monsters that had long been unable to restrain themselves charged forward, slamming repeatedly against the wall.

However, under the continuous barrage of explosions, the herd began to suffer casualties. The monsters slamming against the wall no longer had the focus to continue, and a large number of them began to charge blindly, causing even greater casualties among themselves.

Yet, at the sound of a wolf howl in the distance, all the monsters seemed to receive an order. They stopped their panicked movements, turned back toward the base wall, and began to charge at it like madmen.

The wall was struck repeatedly, beginning to tremble as cracks that were invisible at a glance began to appear.

Those inside the wall began to throw explosives even more desperately, hoping to inflict greater damage on the herd.

Damage was indeed inflicted. Aside from a few monsters that had just arrived, by the time the wall was teetering on the brink of collapse, the number of monsters outside had dropped from over eighty to just over thirty.

When large cracks appeared in the wall, with the exception of the few employees and directors remaining in the monitoring room and those stationed at other walls, all capable employees rushed to the northern wall, preparing for the onslaught that would follow the wall's breach.

By this time, Gao Zheng and Lin Chenxing had also arrived outside the wall, standing among the crowd with the weapons they usually practiced with.

Sensing that the wall could no longer hold, Gao Zheng raised his long blade and shouted, "The herd is about to break through our wall and charge into our sanctuary. Our families are behind us. To ensure they survive, we must grip our weapons tightly. Even if it costs us our lives, we must stop them here!"

"Kill them all!"

It was unclear who shouted it first, but the crowd began to repeat the cry, their momentum surging like a rainbow.

"Kill them all! Kill them all! Kill them all!!!"