Escape

Ever since the supernatural horrors first appeared, humanity had never defeated them.

The horrors could not be killed.

Only Sequence Transcendents could contend with them.

Yet everything Chen Ye had just witnessed cast a shadow over his heart.

Devil Muscle Man had certainly been powerful, but even he had been unable to deal with Scissor Woman.

Before the white-clad Scissor Woman, Devil Muscle Man had been like a child.

Chen Ye pedaled his tricycle furiously, fleeing toward the entrance to town.

By now, the sun had sunk far into the west.

The shadows cast from both sides of the street covered four-fifths of the road.

Out of the corner of his eye, Chen Ye could see countless pitch-black, eerie figures standing in the shadows, staring venomously at their group.

Everyone was racing against time.

A dark figure flashed across a nearby rooftop.

Chen Ye glanced over and saw a girl with a sword strapped to her back.

Like a swordswoman out of legend, she lightly tapped her toes against the signs on either side of the street, sweeping against the flow like a gust of wind toward the supermarket where the fighting had broken out behind them.

Another... Sequence Transcendent.

Why were there so many Sequence Transcendents in the convoy?

He had no time to dwell on it. Chen Ye had already reached the entrance to town and raced beneath its gatehouse.

No sooner had Chen Ye and the others passed through the town entrance than they were surrounded.

A large crowd surged toward them.

"Brother, what happened?"

"Honey! Honey, are you back?"

"Where's my brother? My brother! Where are you?"

A large crowd had gathered at the town entrance.

Most of them were women.

There were few elderly people or children.

In the apocalypse, elderly people and children had relatively little stamina, making it difficult for them to escape when they encountered supernatural horrors.

Adult women, on the other hand, were only somewhat weaker than adult men in stamina and physical fitness, making them more likely to survive.

Quite a few people crowded around Chen Ye with questions as well.

Chen Ye gave no answer. He simply gripped his hand crossbow warily and squeezed through the crowd.

A man stepped out of the modified off-road vehicle at the head of the convoy.

He was dressed rather strangely, wearing a hooded sweatshirt and loose joggers, but no shoes.

His expression was solemn and cold.

The man bent down, scooped up a handful of sandy soil, and tossed it into his mouth to taste it.

He looked like a chef sampling a dish he had just made.

Then his expression changed. "Go! If we don't leave now, it'll be too late."

At those words, the expressions of the people gathered around him changed too.

They scrambled desperately back to their vehicles.

It was as though something terrifying was about to descend upon them.

"What about Nana and Iron Lion?"

Someone asked.

"Don't worry, they'll catch up! Move, and stop wasting words!"

The other survivors soon noticed the sudden activity around those vehicles.

Were they... leaving?

Of course. It was already past five in the afternoon.

It would be dark soon.

They were so close to town that once night fell and the horrors inside came out, everyone in the convoy would die.

"No! My husband hasn't come out yet! You can't leave!"

"Please, my brother hasn't come out yet! You can't abandon us!"

Some people panicked and even tried to block the convoy.

"If you want to die, stay here and wait. Get out of the way!"

The modified off-road vehicle ignored everyone trying to stop it and sped off with a stomp on the accelerator.

Chen Ye's expression changed too. He was just about to pedal after it.

A middle-aged woman grabbed his tricycle's handlebars.

"Young man, you can't leave! You have to take us with you. We're getting on in years. If you don't take us, we'll never survive!"

Chen Ye frowned, a flicker of irritation passing through his eyes.

He found the middle-aged woman's behavior utterly repulsive.

Before the apocalypse, retired women like her had pensions that were practically higher than his wages.

They had always been full of energy, either dancing in public squares or scrambling for eggs at supermarkets.

Now she was using her age as an excuse to demand a ride on Chen Ye's tricycle.

"Get lost!"

"Young man, don't you know you're supposed to respect the old and care for the young..."

Thud!

Chen Ye kicked the woman straight into the ditch beside the road, refusing to indulge her demands for deference.

He stomped down on the pedals and raced after the convoy ahead.

A stream of curses rose behind him.

Perhaps the apocalypse had come too quickly for people's own good.

Like the woman in yoga pants, many people had yet to fully adapt to the rules of the apocalypse.

The off-road vehicle ahead had abandoned its usual leisurely pace and was now moving exceptionally fast.

Survivors without vehicles soon fell behind.

Fortunately, Chen Ye's tricycle had an effort-saving mechanism. Even with its cargo bed full of supplies, he could just barely keep up.

Just then, a bus lurched out of town.

Chen Ye recognized it. It belonged to the convoy.

Earlier, the bus had been packed with people.

Now, looking through its windows, he saw that it was much emptier.

A survivor tried to stop the bus, only to be struck and sent flying, his fate unknown.

As though its rear were on fire, the bus floored the accelerator and chased after the convoy ahead.

Chen Ye stood up and pedaled his tricycle frantically too.

After overtaking several bicycles, his tricycle trailed far behind the motorcycles.

At that moment, Chen Ye's desire to upgrade his tricycle to an electric one reached its peak.

Perhaps it was time to switch to a four-wheeled vehicle.

Even if refueling or charging it was a hassle, it would still be far better than this.

The tricycle continued racing down the road.

Thanks to the massive infrastructure projects of recent years, the road was in fairly good condition.

Even the occasional pothole had little effect on Chen Ye's tricycle.

Chen Ye did not know why the people ahead were fleeing as though they had gone mad.

But he knew that if he failed to keep up with the convoy, he might well die tonight.

Only today had he learned that there were actually two Sequence Transcendents in the convoy.

Perhaps those Sequence Transcendents were the reason the convoy had remained safe until now.

"Huff... huff..."

By now, sweat covered Chen Ye's head, and his clothes were soaked through.

His lungs spasmed violently, as though scorched by fire.

Without the effort-saving mechanism, he would probably have fallen behind already.

Even so, the convoy ahead had dwindled to mere pinpricks of light in Chen Ye's vision.

Heavy breathing came from a short distance behind him. Clearly, a few cyclists were keeping close.

As for the survivors traveling on foot, not a single one was in sight.

He had no idea how much time passed.

At last, Chen Ye saw that the tiny lights ahead seemed to have stopped.

A flicker of hope kindled in his heart.

Half an hour later, Chen Ye finally caught up with the convoy.

The people in the vehicles had already gotten out and begun pitching tents.

Chen Ye even saw a burly man two meters tall being carried onto a nearby patch of open ground. His left arm had been severed at the shoulder, and his blood stained the grass red.

A girl with a sword strapped to her back stood beside the burly man.

There was also a barefoot man.

At Chen Ye's arrival, they glanced back, seemingly surprised that the first person to catch up was riding a tricycle.

Once he had brought his tricycle to a stop, Chen Ye toppled straight onto the ground and gulped down air.

His chest heaved with every breath.

About five minutes passed before Chen Ye's breathing steadied a little. His entire body felt as though it were falling apart.

He struggled up from the ground and sat against one of the tricycle's tires, then pulled a Chunghwa cigarette from inside his clothes and lit it.

The flame illuminated Chen Ye's face.

"Phew..."

He exhaled a long plume of smoke, feeling the nicotine ease some of his exhaustion.

Only then did Chen Ye feel a little better.

He brought up the system and discovered that his slaughter points had already risen to over twelve hundred.

Recalling his desperate struggle earlier, Chen Ye now had only one plan: replace his tricycle with an electric one.