As time passed, the Raptor's engine roared through an intersection, and the sound never came again.
Warm liquid trickled from just left of Hao Ren's brow. The delayed pain hit him, making him grimace.
" Hiss... We lost it! My luck's been rotten lately, like someone cursed me. You okay?"
"Just a broken bone."
Su Nian had suffered worse than Hao Ren. The dented door had not only broken his bone, but driven sheet metal straight into his flesh. The blood had soaked his trouser leg and shoe.
But he had just spent 200 points to heal his injuries.
Spending points to upgrade his constitution could only restore lost stamina, not heal injuries.
"Didn't know you were such a tough guy. Not even a scream."
"Just a little hardship," Su Nian said calmly.
After surviving the ordeal, he suddenly felt as though the past had all blown away on the wind. At that moment, there was no apocalypse, only the cool evening breeze... And suddenly, he felt like showing off.
"Isn't there even a pack of tissues in here?" Hao Ren glanced around, then simply raised his sleeve and wiped his forehead. "Two supports took down a Class C Wraith tonight. Nobody would believe it."
"I'm serious, though. Try to rein yourself in. Don't let your Sequence toxin lead you around by the nose."
"Sequence toxin?" Su Nian was puzzled. What was that supposed to be? As he asked, he lowered his head and used the Sin-Cleaving Butcher Knife to cut away the sharp pieces of metal. They made sitting uncomfortable.
"Awakening a Sequence comes with a few little drawbacks. Haven't you noticed anything wrong with yourself?" Hao Ren asked.
"What could be wrong with me?" Su Nian sounded unconcerned.
"You want to kill Wraiths. You're hooked on the thrill of it. Does that seem normal to you?"
Su Nian really had looked a little unhinged earlier, with that look of satisfaction on his face as he dismembered the Wraith.
When he had faced the Shadow-Seam Wraith just now, he had still recklessly wanted to charge in, even after being caught in its killing rule.
Su Nian pressed his lips together and pulled a bottle of water from behind him. "I'll try!"
He unscrewed the cap... and drank.
Now he conveniently had a Sequence toxin to cover for his Wraith-killing. Killing Wraiths really was abnormal.
He had originally planned to invent some grand ambition to save the world. Apparently, that was no longer necessary.
He had never expected awakening a Sequence to come with drawbacks like these... Spending points to level up really was more reliable.
Slow and steady.
"Don't I get a drink?" Hao Ren asked plaintively.
Su Nian grabbed another bottle and passed it over, then asked with some curiosity.
"What are your drawbacks?"
"Secret!" Hao Ren gave a mysterious smile. "But I can tell you Gong Qing's."
Hao Ren drank the mineral water, gulping audibly.
"What is it?"
"Hair loss. He used to be handsome. When we first met, he told me he was Shanghai's most devoted lover. Now he's a greasy guy with a bald crown. Probably won't be long before he's completely bald."
"Now he's Shanghai's most troubled man."
The Raptor had only sped down the road for a short while before they spotted the main group. The survivors walking at the rear immediately parted to let the vehicle through.
Su Nian sat in the passenger seat with one arm resting on the window ledge. It was covered in fine white stitches, their regularity unsettling. His exposed neck and half his face looked the same, like a fusion of doll and flesh.
Many people looked terrified at the sight. As the vehicle rolled past, the crowd closed together again.
Even the newest survivors in the convoy had been there for over a week. They had all seen Wraiths, and killing rules were no exception.
"He's been caught in a Wraith's killing rule!"
"Isn't that obvious?"
"Is he going to die?" a woman in her thirties asked sourly. She had arrived in the same batch of survivors as Su Nian.
While she was still walking, going hungry and sleeping poorly, someone else had already become an awakened, high above them all.
And Su Nian had never even thought to look after the others who had arrived with him and shared his hardships.
Selfish!
"Maybe. Even a Sequence Transcendent is fragile in front of a Wraith. He might not make it."
"The shortest-lived awakened."
Many people began gloating behind his back. None of them wanted Su Nian to do well. Even the vast majority of the survivors he had saved yesterday did not want him to do well.
Watching an awakened fall gracelessly from his lofty perch made for quite a spectacle.
Liu Yan's mother, Zhang Yun, gripped the steering wheel tightly and glared hatefully at the rear of the Raptor. Why couldn't Su Nian have just died?
Her daughter had only said a few words, yet Su Nian had ruthlessly killed her. The other awakened had clearly seen it happen, but had not even offered an explanation.
The convoy's rules were nothing but empty words. They did not consider the survivors' lives worth anything at all.
Then her car came to a stop. The engine stalled, and the steering wheel became extremely heavy in her hands.
She was out of gas!
Zhang Yun's expression immediately darkened. She had thought she could last until tomorrow morning.
There were still more than four hours until dawn.
She hurried out of the car and called for help.
"Can anyone lend me some gasoline?"
But no one answered.
"Sir, could you lend me some gasoline?" Zhang Yun ran toward a red sedan.
"Get lost! Lend you gas? Could you even pay it back?"
"Miss, could you lend me some gas?" Zhang Yun approached Su Yue.
"No!" Su Yue said coldly. She looked at the half tank of fuel she had left, her brow furrowed. She was out of supplies, too.
Looking at the gray fog beside her, she stroked her belly, feeling lost and helpless. After the baby kicked, determination appeared on her face.
Zhang Yun ran to the front... to the awakened's fuel truck.
"Captain, I'd like to trade for some gasoline. I'll bring the supplies to pay for it tomorrow."
In truth, Zhang Yun had no supplies left. She planned to say this first and find some way to get supplies later.
"The gasoline is shared property belonging to all the awakened. I have no authority to trade it."
Hao Ren looked straight ahead, his expression indifferent and his tone flat.
All the convoy's supplies belonged jointly to the Sequence Transcendents. To keep things fair, each awakened could only support one driver, and supplies and gasoline were distributed equally.
The personnel on the other supply and medical vehicles were also fixed. When one died, someone else filled the vacancy. Like a company, everything operated under an orderly system.
No one person called all the shots. If every awakened could do whatever they wanted, and one of them happened to be a bleeding heart who wanted to hand out relief, no amount of supplies would ever be enough.
"Su Nian..." Zhang Yun looked hopefully at him.
"No trade!"
Su Nian's attitude was cold. They had no relationship whatsoever, and he had no reason to do her a favor.
Zhang Yun stopped. She desperately wanted to say that they had just found so much gasoline, and trading her a little would not make any difference... But she did not dare.
The awakened held absolute authority in the convoy!
Why hadn't she awakened? It was so unfair.
With no other choice, Zhang Yun asked another four or five people, but none would lend her any. Those farther back were all riding pedal-powered vehicles or walking. Overcome with a sense of injustice, she began to cry.
Tricycles and bicycles slowly passed her, followed by the people on foot... Every one of them gloated.
They had long resented the people with cars.
Now things were better. Everyone could walk together. That was what fairness looked like.
As Zhang Yun kept crying, everyone around her disappeared. She hurriedly shouldered the supplies from her car and set off on foot.
She walked and cried.
It was easy to go from hardship to comfort, but hard to go back.
Before you continue