Luring Away

In about five minutes, Mu Xiao had another backpack on his back, filled with a mechanical inner armor, a laser pistol, a high-vibration electromagnetic combat blade, and enough nutrient solution to last them. He returned all the way to An Rongru's room. Since the bombs he had planted had not exploded, he used the controller in his hand to deactivate and retrieve them so they could be used again later.

When Mu Xiao opened the door, he saw An Rongru with her back to him, busy drying her damp hair. She was still wearing that black-and-white dress.

"Finished washing up?" Mu Xiao set down one backpack and took out three pairs of shoes—sneakers, canvas shoes, and hard leather shoes—as well as several sets of black armored protective suits. He placed them all on the bed and said, "Pick whichever shoes feel most comfortable. But you have to put on one of these protective suits."

"Mm." An Rongru turned around and replied, "I only washed off the smell of blood, so it didn't take long. I think I'll need time to adapt before I can get used to the bloody days ahead."

After the simple wash, she looked refreshed and radiant, like a gemstone blooming with magnificent light. Her beautiful eyes were moist and captivating. She had also consumed plenty of nutrient solution and high-calorie food to replenish what her body had lost. Her skin seemed nourished once more, regaining its full softness and smoothness. Her jet-black hair still glistened with moisture as it draped lightly over her shoulders, framing her snow-white, elegant face like a blossoming flower—so lovely that it stirred the heart.

"I'll pick something." An Rongru lowered her head to choose from the clothes on the bed. A few damp strands of hair fell over her cheeks, and she casually tucked them behind her ear with slender fingers. That unconscious gesture revealed a refined, mature charm that made Mu Xiao's heart stir. He could not help but sigh. She truly was a beauty capable of stirring a man's primal desires. Unfortunately, this was not the time...

An Rongru handled other matters with clean efficiency. In less than a minute, she had chosen suitable clothes and went into the bathroom to change.

When she came out wearing the protective suit, it looked rather bulky on her. The clothes were already thick and oversized, and with her voluptuous figure and especially ample chest, she had naturally chosen a larger size. Mu Xiao took one look and could not help laughing. "So the saying that beauties are natural clothes hangers doesn't apply to everyone."

"This is a man's protective suit, okay?" An Rongru's face reddened awkwardly. The moment she saw the suit, she knew it would not fit her well, but there was no helping it for the sake of safety.

Mu Xiao did not keep laughing at her. Women loved beauty no matter the circumstances, and she was already being quite reasonable about it.

After An Rongru put on a pair of sneakers, Mu Xiao equipped her with a laser pistol and a high-vibration electromagnetic combat blade, then had her carry a bag of food. The two of them returned to the entrance of the building.

Mu Xiao used his psychic power to scan the situation outside and found that most of the zombies had already left. The corpses on the ground had been eaten clean. On the marble steps, there was only a patch of half-congealed black blood. When Mu Xiao opened the door and glanced down, he muttered, "The zombies ate everything so cleanly. They didn't even leave a single blood bead from the loot I didn't have time to collect."

Earlier, when a large group of zombies had tried to rush into the law firm, Mu Xiao had killed more than ten of them. He had not had time to collect their blood beads, so the other zombies had naturally devoured them, bones and flesh alike, turning them into nourishment for their own evolution.

An Rongru followed behind Mu Xiao as she stepped out once again through the entrance that had previously filled her with fear and unease. Perhaps it was because she had endured a terrifying trial of life and death, or perhaps because Mu Xiao was beside her, but when she looked at the hellish street outside, she no longer felt the same terror as before.

After locking the law firm's front doors, Mu Xiao used his psychic power to create a small area that concealed their presence, only large enough to cover the two of them. Expanding the range would naturally consume more energy. Every bit of strength had to be conserved when fighting outside; only then would they have a greater chance of survival in danger.

This was the conclusion Mu Xiao had reached through countless battles.

"I'll go find us some transportation first. Keep an eye on the surroundings, but no matter what happens, don't make too much noise," Mu Xiao reminded her.

"Mm." An Rongru answered seriously.

Mu Xiao walked slowly beneath the shadows of the buildings, his sharp eyes sweeping back and forth over the fallen vehicles in the street. Before long, he found the little magnetic levitation scooter he had driven here, but unfortunately, a long hovercar had crashed into it and destroyed more than half its body. It was barely different from a wreck.

"Repairing a car would take too long, and it might not even be repairable..." Mu Xiao's gaze moved from vehicle to vehicle, eliminating the unsuitable ones. As long as the transportation could fully deliver speed and he could repair it quickly, it would be the ideal vehicle for them right now.

Before long, a fiery red thermal motorcycle entered Mu Xiao's view. It had sleek lines and a bullet-like shape. At its rear were three small acceleration thermal jets and two large acceleration thermal jets. Its burst speed could exceed a hundred meters per second, fully meeting Mu Xiao's requirements.

However, the motorcycle was located right in the middle of the street. If Mu Xiao and An Rongru walked over, they would definitely draw the attention of the seventy or eighty zombies nearby. If any of them launched probing attacks, there was a high chance of exposure. Moreover, while Mu Xiao repaired the motorcycle, fluctuations in his psychic power would be unavoidable, making it unstable and allowing their presence to leak out.

Mu Xiao's current psychic power had limits. He could not perfectly maintain a stable concealment of their presence while repairing a vehicle at the same time. This was a limitation of his ability being too low-level, and there was nothing he could do about it. He could only find another way to lure the surrounding zombies away.

An Rongru devoted seventy percent of her attention to watching their surroundings and thirty percent to Mu Xiao. Seeing him frown as his gaze settled on the motorcycle in the street, she seemed to understand what he was thinking.

"You want to use that motorcycle?" An Rongru asked softly.

"Mm." Mu Xiao nodded. "It's just too far away. Going out there might attract the zombies' attention, and I'll need some time to repair it."

"Why not choose one of these magnetic levitation vehicles nearby? The distance would be more favorable for us..."

An Rongru did not understand that the mechanical components contained the negative ion virus and could not be started at all. They had to be repaired with a "mechanical ability." Mu Xiao briefly explained it to her before saying, "If we can lure those zombies away for a while, I can repair that vehicle's power system. Too bad you don't have Mechanical Mastery..."

"Then I'll go lure those monsters away." Somehow, An Rongru found the courage. Fear showed in her beautiful eyes, but so did firm resolve.

Mu Xiao looked at her in surprise. He suddenly realized that this woman was actually quite useful at critical moments. She was not as weak or timid as he had imagined. But very soon, he understood why she had such determination.

"If anything happens to me, I hope you can help take care of my daughter." An Rongru forced a calm smile through her sorrow, as though she were entrusting him with her final words.

"Are you an idiot? I never told you to lure anything away. And that line was ridiculously melodramatic..." Mu Xiao said flatly.

An Rongru froze for a moment, then gave a bitter smile. "Of course I don't want to go die. But I finally worked up the courage, and after you said that, I started hoping for luck. If we run into other dangers on the road, I don't know whether that's good or bad."

"Don't worry. If there really is danger on the way and only one person can survive, you won't get to decide. I'll just leave you behind," Mu Xiao said indifferently.

An Rongru smiled lightly. She could vaguely tell that although Mu Xiao appeared cold-blooded and ruthless on the surface, he still had principles and boundaries deep down. At least he had added the condition of "if only one person can survive." Besides, his straightforwardness without schemes or tricks was easier to accept than someone plotting to send others to their deaths.

I don't have the right to live and die alongside you...

An Rongru felt a vague sense of loss and helplessness in her heart.

"If you want to protect your daughter, you shouldn't entrust her to a strange man like me. As a new human, you already have the right to change your own fate."

Mu Xiao's casual words struck directly at what An Rongru had been thinking, causing a favorable impression of him to arise in her heart.

"Is that your way of encouraging me?"

Even beneath the shadow of the buildings, her soft and graceful face could not be hidden. Those bright, rippling eyes held a distinctive charm.

"I suppose so. Actually, what I meant was that if you had Mechanical Mastery, I could save a few grenade bombs." Mu Xiao had no time to admire the mature charm of the beautiful woman beside him. He swiftly set down one of the backpacks, took out several high-explosive grenades, and said, "There aren't many of these high-damage grenade bombs. Every one we use is one less we have. Especially now—we're not using them to kill monsters, but to lure them. That's a waste on top of a waste."

Mu Xiao muttered like a miser, and An Rongru amusingly realized that he had a more human side too.

Next, An Rongru understood exactly what Mu Xiao meant by "luring monsters."

Mu Xiao opened the metal cap on a grenade and violently pulled out the safety pin. The muscles in his arm bulged as tremendous force erupted. In an instant, he hurled it with a fierce gust of wind, and the high-explosive grenade in his hand vanished without a trace. Only when an explosion suddenly sounded in the distance did An Rongru realize in astonishment just how far he had thrown it.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Five or six high-explosive grenades produced earth-shattering blasts. Especially in the silent streets, the deafening explosions rolled through every direction like thunder. The moment the blasts subsided, countless shrill howls rang out in the distance. Zombies everywhere let out savage roars, as though calling to their own kind nearby.

Sure enough, the zombies scattered across the street in groups of four or five surged toward the source of the explosions like unleashed beasts, while shrieking responses to their distant companions.

"It worked." An Rongru watched in delighted surprise as every zombie on the street disappeared. It felt as if a heavy, oppressive stone had finally been lifted from her heart.

"I hope we didn't draw in anything big." Mu Xiao wasn't particularly optimistic. There was a great deal of risk in doing this. While it could lure away zombies that had no intelligence and acted only on instinct, if there were mutants nearby, they could very likely track down the source of the disturbance. That would be no small trouble.

"At least we can safely prepare to leave now." After hearing Mu Xiao's words, An Rongru couldn't help becoming tense again, despite having just relaxed.

"Mm. Keep this bag of grenades on you. Use them if anything happens." As Mu Xiao watched for any remaining zombies in the area, he explained how to use the high-explosive grenades and proximity bombs. An Rongru picked it up quickly; after all, grenades and bombs weren't especially difficult weapons to master.

At the same time, Mu Xiao charged up the Thunderbolt Cannon's activation energy, just in case.

After the small number of zombies hiding in the buildings had left, Mu Xiao shot forward like an arrow. He quickly stopped in the street and pressed both hands against the front of the thermal motorcycle. A faint soft glow lit up, and strands of light seeped into its power system as he began repairs.

"Is that a mechanical ability?" An Rongru ran over a few steps behind him. Seeing his hands glowing and threads of light emerging from them, she couldn't help finding it miraculous.

"Stay alert," Mu Xiao reminded her. He focused completely on the repairs, accelerating the removal of the virus from the power system.

An Rongru put away her curiosity. She hugged a large pile of grenades and bombs to her chest and held a laser pistol in one hand. Burdened with all that bulky equipment, she looked somewhat comical. Especially for an elegant, mature beauty like her, the contrast was particularly jarring.

Yet her expression remained serious as she watched the surroundings, doing her best to learn to adapt to everything. That determination inspired admiration.