Lonely shadows

"16:28."

Only two minutes remained until four thirty!

The convoy was ready to leave at any moment.

Although plenty of people still objected, the decision to leave could not be changed.

Some survivors began throwing tantrums and acting belligerently, even threatening to lie on the ground and refuse to move.

But none of it could change Chu Che's decision.

Chu Che's expression remained unchanged, as calm as ever.

To the other survivors, nothing could sway Captain Chu's decision.

Quite a few survivors even cursed Chu Che inwardly for being ruthless and heartless.

To all appearances, Chu Che regarded the commotion in the convoy as nothing worth worrying about.

In truth, Chu Che was intensely anxious.

As a Transcendent of the Guide Sequence, his senses should have been exceptionally keen.

He wanted to sense what exactly was happening in Longevity Village.

But right now, he could not do it at all.

Ever since the survivors had entered Longevity Village, some sort of barrier had blocked most of his perception.

He could only vaguely sense countless eerie entities inside Longevity Village.

Chu Che could tell that even the Longevity Village before his eyes was an illusion.

He knew nothing about what was happening in Longevity Village.

Perhaps all the survivors had been trapped in Longevity Village.

Perhaps beneath the illusion before his eyes, the ground was already covered in their corpses.

Or perhaps a fierce battle was raging in the village right now.

Chu Che strained to sense the situation inside.

But he simply could not.

Just then, something changed at the entrance to Longevity Village.

A small mountain broke through some sort of barrier and appeared before everyone with a crash.

It was as though it had suddenly burst into reality from another world.

The small mountain toppled like a collapsing pillar.

As it fell,

everyone finally saw what that small mountain actually was.

It was a giant of a man, three meters tall, with an absurdly large backpack on his back.

The giant was shrinking before their eyes.

In the blink of an eye, his three-meter frame shrank to just over two meters.

A man and a woman collapsed alongside him.

Both were in a sorry state as well.

The woman's face was as pale as paper, her lips grayish white, and her long hair hung in a disheveled, dust-covered mess.

The man was little better off, his clothes tattered and his forehead glistening with sweat and dust.

A flicker of joy appeared in Chu Che's calm eyes.

The sight of the three sent the survivors into an uproar.

The convoy erupted into chaos.

"Uncle Abao, Old Li! They're back!"

"My husband! Has anyone seen my husband?"

"Brother! Brother, are you back?"

"Son, where are you?"

"..."

The scene descended into pandemonium.

Soon, more survivors burst out of the village.

One after another, survivors emerged behind the three.

"Darling!"

When one woman spotted a bedraggled man, tears fell like beads from a broken string, and she threw herself into his arms, sobbing loudly!

A relieved smile appeared on the man's face. He wrapped his bloodstained hands around his wife's shoulders and comforted her with a happy smile.

An older brother stroked his little sister's head, smiling as he told her that he had made it out, so she should stop crying!

Another survivor, carrying a backpack stuffed with supplies, silently walked over to a bicycle and lit a cigarette.

Perhaps his family had long since died!

Quite a few others stood on tiptoe, craning their necks to peer into the village.

But all they could see was a gray haze, without a single figure in sight.

The people they were hoping for had not appeared.

The sisters Zhou Lan and Zhou Xiaoxiao were among those who had survived, supporting each other.

Both sisters were in a dreadful state.

Zhou Lan's neatly tied ponytail had come loose, her long hair hanging in disarray, plastered to her face and neck by sweat.

At some point, she had also lost one of her shoes.

Zhou Xiaoxiao was little better off than her sister.

There were two deep wounds on Zhou Xiaoxiao's thigh and arm. Blood ran down her clothes, soaking half her body.

The dim light in the village had concealed them earlier, but now they were clearly visible.

There was also a large tear in the upper half of Zhou Xiaoxiao's clothes, exposing quite a sight beneath.

Only then did many of the survivors realize that this brash young fellow was actually a girl.

Greed gleamed in their eyes as they licked their lips, practically drooling.

The sisters had faced extreme danger this time, but they had also reaped a rich haul.

Not only had they filled both backpacks they had brought, but they had also picked up another along the way.

Supporting each other, the sisters dragged their backpacks over to their vehicle.

There was little time left.

Chu Che could practically smell the approaching eerie entities.

They had lingered at the entrance to Longevity Village for too long.

Within the range of his perception, several eerie entities had already noticed what was happening and begun approaching.

The convoy moved in an orderly fashion, with people carrying Iron Lion's enormous body into the bus.

Several others stuffed Iron Lion's mountain-sized pack into the luggage compartment beneath the bus.

These supplies would have to wait until they found somewhere safe before they could be distributed.

No longer a novice, Chen Ye also understood that time was running out.

He walked over to the Motor Tricycle and tossed his backpack into its cargo bed.

He took a pack of cigarettes from his pocket and was about to light one.

"Chen Ye, Chu Che sent you this gasoline!"

Uncle Abao walked over carrying a can of gasoline and handed it to Chen Ye!

Chen Ye had used up the last of the gasoline in his tank and had been planning to borrow some from Chu Che.

Chen Ye did not believe Chu Che would have come unprepared.

As one of the convoy's few Sequence Transcendents, Captain Chu would surely lend him some!

He just had not expected Chu Che to be so considerate and send it straight over.

Chen Ye accepted it without fuss. "Thanks. I'll pay him back later!"

Uncle Abao nodded, then turned and left.

In the Fairness Convoy, nothing came free.

This can of gasoline had to be repaid.

The can held only about fifteen liters.

Filling the Motor Tricycle's tank used roughly half of it.

He had never calculated the exact capacity of the Motor Tricycle's fuel tank, but it was probably around seven liters.

When he upgraded it in the future, he would have to increase the fuel tank's capacity. Too small a tank meant too little range.

Insufficient range could sometimes prove fatal in an apocalypse like this.

At the very least, it would be good to find a few gasoline cans to keep in reserve during future supply runs.

Right now, Chen Ye was hurrying to flee with the convoy and had no time to check how many slaughter points he had earned on this trip to Longevity Village.

But he imagined it would be no small amount.

Only a few of the black dog blood crossbow bolts he had brought remained.

Once he had filled his tank, the convoy began slowly pulling away.

Chen Ye lit a cigarette, took a deep drag, and blew a few smoke rings before starting his Motor Tricycle.

A few survivors still stood at the village entrance, gazing inside with hopeful eyes.

As time slipped by, the hope in their eyes slowly faded.

Some kept muttering under their breath, still waiting for those figures to appear.

"Beep, beep..."

The modified off-road vehicle at the front blared its piercing horn, and the convoy began to move.

Beneath the apocalyptic sunset, the dusky yellow light stretched the few curved shadows at the entrance to Longevity Village long across the ground.