Escape

"Why..."

Song Shiya's voice trembled, tears streaming down her face.

"Why can't I dispel this poison..."

She looked up, tears shimmering in her normally calm, clear almond-shaped eyes, making her look helpless and utterly despairing.

Seeming to realize how distraught she looked, she stifled her sobs, wiped her eyes, and explained:

"I've actually awakened sequence power too. I'm a Sequence 9 Healer... My brother has suffered worse injuries before, and I could still heal him, but now..."

After hearing her out, Shen Ye silently glanced at Song Lei, then shook his head.

If even a Sequence Awakened skilled in healing was helpless, what could he possibly do?

The veteran's face had turned pale, his lips were purple, and his pupils were slowly losing focus. He had little time left.

Honestly, Shen Ye admired Song Lei. Despite the fierce demeanor he put on around the convoy, it was only an act. Otherwise, he would have struggled to command their respect.

Judging by the battle just now, he had fought almost at the very front, all to give one more person in the convoy a chance to survive.

That was not merely a convoy leader's sense of responsibility, but kindness rooted deep in his bones.

Shen Ye knew, deep down, that he could never do the same. In this apocalypse, staying alive was hard enough. How could he afford to care about anyone else?

Unfortunately, the tier-two snake demon's venom contained supernatural power on a higher level than that of tier-one horrors, and it would rapidly destroy Song Lei's vitality. Even the Beastman Sequence's extraordinary self-healing combined with the Healer Sequence's treatment could not withstand it.

Song Shiya bit her lower lip, her eyes filled with reluctance and regret.

She took a deep breath and pressed both hands onto Song Lei's shoulder again.

Even before the apocalypse, she had been an experienced medical professional. That experience soon helped her think of another treatment.

This time, rather than trying to dispel the poison, she concentrated all the white light on the dark green line creeping upward, attempting to suppress its spread through pure healing power.

Sure enough, the dark green discoloration finally spread more slowly, but it still did not stop.

Song Lei struggled to grasp her wrist and reassured her weakly, "Shiya, you've done very well. Let's get out of here first."

Song Shiya also knew this was no place to talk. Putting on a brave face, she wiped away her tears and nodded.

She lifted Song Lei's upper body into the truck, then tossed the water and food she had brought out into the cargo compartment behind him.

Once she had finished, she turned to look at Shen Ye again.

"From now on, I can only use radiance power to temporarily suppress the spread of the poison, but..."

She did not finish.

By then, Shen Ye understood.

Only temporarily.

Unless they found a way to neutralize the poison or advance her to a Sequence 8 Healer, Song Lei was as good as sentenced to death.

Shen Ye said nothing more. He picked up Ghost Head and his backpack, then took the car key he had found out of his pocket.

As he pressed the button with his thumb, the lights of a Volvo V60 flashed.

He hurried over, opened the rear door, and tossed his hiking backpack inside. Then he started the car and followed the Huolala truck ahead.

Behind him, another snake demon's hiss echoed from deep inside the supermarket.

Those things were still stirring in the darkness. If the sunlight had not kept them trapped inside, they would have rushed out to tear the two of them to pieces and swallow them whole.

Of the thirty-odd people who had entered the village, only Shen Ye and Song Shiya remained alive apart from the dying Song Lei.

It was no exaggeration to call this trip to "Snake Village" a bloodbath.

As Shen Ye drove along the main road out of Changchun Village, his far-above-average senses clearly picked up countless pairs of eyes staring fixedly at him from the surrounding houses.

He turned his head to look.

Sure enough, inside a small house with its front door wide open, he saw three eerie, gray-white human faces covered in little green snakes flicking their tongues.

Clearly, Limin Supermarket was no isolated case. Green-Scaled Snake Demons had likely spread throughout Changchun Village, turning it into a true "Snake Village."

At the village entrance, Lin Wanqiu and the others saw the familiar Huolala truck emerge and immediately got out of their cars, eagerly looking toward it.

When it drew closer, they saw that someone else was in the driver's seat-a remarkably beautiful young woman.

These people had never seen Song Shiya's face before. To avoid unnecessary trouble, she usually put on a mask before appearing in front of others.

Still, Lin Wanqiu and the others recognized her by her clothes.

The sun was already sinking in the west, and the outline of the eerie red moon was faintly emerging on the horizon.

Song Shiya did not get out. She rolled down the window and simply said, "Let's go first."

Of the dozen or so vehicles that had followed them into the village, only one had come back out, and Captain Song, who had led them, was nowhere to be seen. The others quickly realized how serious things were and immediately got into their cars to follow.

Darkness fell completely without a sound. Two moons hung separately in the night sky, their mingled red and white light draping an eerie, mysterious veil over the world.

Shen Ye drove his newly acquired Volvo V60 along the highway.

A faint rustling came from behind him, like the sound of some animal crawling.

He glanced at the rearview mirror out of the corner of his eye. Far behind him, a bank of black mist had appeared, and the things within it reflected a familiar green gleam under the moonlight.

Sure enough, the Green-Scaled Snake Demons had come after them, and they were moving extremely fast.

He raised his gaze slightly to the red moon on the horizon, now completely certain of his suspicion.

These horrors seemed able to unleash their full strength at night-no, more precisely, under the influence of that red moon.

Otherwise, he could never have left Changchun Village alive that afternoon.

Song Shiya, leading the way ahead, also noticed the movement behind them and picked up speed a little.

Only in the latter half of the night did they finally manage to shake off the snake demons, successfully escaping their hunting range.

But no one dared lower their guard. Those Snake Demons were not the only things that could threaten their lives in the darkness.

Fortunately, Shen Ye and the others encountered no further danger before dawn.

Only after finding a place with a broad, unobstructed view did they stop their vehicles.

As soon as they stopped, Song Shiya got out, opened the rear cargo compartment, and climbed inside.

Unable to contain his curiosity, Shen Ye followed her over.

To be honest, he did not want Song Lei to die like this.

As a mercenary in his previous life, he knew very well how important a team was. No matter how powerful an individual might be, there were limits to what one person could do.

Especially in this mysterious apocalypse filled with unknown dangers, even with strength far beyond that of ordinary people, he could not claim he would definitely survive.

Song Lei was both a powerful fighter and the backbone of the convoy. The consequences of his death were easy to imagine.

When Shen Ye saw Song Lei again, the dark green poison had already spread to his chest. His face was horribly contorted, clearly wracked by the pain the poison inflicted.

(P.S. Let me explain the ranking system. A lot of people find it confusing, and I admit that it is. Sometimes I get confused myself while writing, but I didn't think it through that much when I first made the outline. Now that I've written so many chapters, I can't really change it. I'd like to apologize to everyone here.

First, on the Sequence Awakened side, the ranks are Sequence 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, and then Sequence 0, advancing in that order. Sequence 9 is the lowest and Sequence 0 is the highest. You can use Cuttlefish's Lord of the Mysteries as a reference.

For the horrors, the ranks run from tier one to tier ten, with one being the lowest and ten the highest. You can think of the monsters in urban martial arts novels as a reference. I designed it this way purely because this book doesn't have much of a mystery element. Most of the horrors' abilities are fairly straightforward, without so many convoluted, brain-teasing mechanics.)