Snake Village

"Clang! Clang! Clang..."

"Wake up, everyone. Time to get moving."

A little past two in the afternoon, the piercing clang of a gong rang through the camp.

Steward Huang had found a gong somewhere and was banging it while shouting at the top of his lungs.

Shen Ye rubbed his sleepy eyes. Only after confirming that no one had rummaged through the backpack beneath his back did he get up and walk over to Song Lei's truck.

Once everyone had gathered, Song Lei took a map from his pocket and explained their escape route for the afternoon and evening as he studied it.

This was to ensure that even those who drove slowly could keep up without falling behind or losing their way.

Almost every convoy had the same ironclad rule: no one could fall behind!

After a quick cleanup, everyone started their engines and set off behind Song Lei's truck.

Bringing up the rear was Shen Ye on his bicycle.

Without Qin Shuwen weighing him down, Shen Ye could easily keep pace behind the convoy even on a bicycle, thanks to his sequence-enhanced body.

Besides, it was daytime, so few supernatural entities were roaming around, and the vehicles ahead were driving slowly to conserve fuel.

After they had driven for a little over an hour, Song Shiya frowned in the passenger seat and murmured, "Something's wrong."

"What's wrong?" Song Lei glanced sideways at his sister as he drove.

"At this speed, we should have reached the next village by now." She pointed to the route on the map and explained quietly.

Looking at the lush woodland beside the road, Song Lei couldn't help frowning too.

He had traveled this route several times while making deliveries for a freight service. Even without a map, he vaguely remembered a township in this area.

Yet now, there wasn't even a single modern building in sight, let alone a township.

He shook his head and reassured her, "I'll drive a little farther and see."

About another half hour later, a road sign finally came into view:

Changchun Village, 5 km

The sight of the sign swept away the siblings' earlier doubts.

Song Lei was quite familiar with this village. He had made a delivery there two years ago.

The place also had another name-Snake Village.

Most of the locals raised snakes, making it one of the larger suppliers of snake meat in Xiangnan Province.

He had even tried snake soup here two years ago, and its flavor remained unforgettable.

Before long, all dozen or so vehicles stopped at the entrance to Changchun Village.

After getting out, no one rushed inside.

Song Lei, who was leading them, first took out the strange-looking bronze disc, then bit his index finger.

A drop of blood landed on the bone-white bead on the bronze disc.

The entire disc seemed to come alive. The blood vanished instantly, as though it had been swallowed.

Then the patterns around its face began glowing red.

At the same time, Song Lei felt his sense of smell and taste vanish completely.

He couldn't smell anything, and his tongue could barely taste a thing.

No one found his actions strange, since he had done exactly the same thing when they passed a village shortly after setting out.

This time, however, the white bead didn't flash with a deep red light as it had before.

The sight delighted both Song Lei and his sister, as well as Steward Huang.

The three of them knew better than anyone what it meant when the white bead didn't light up.

Soon, Song Lei slipped the bronze disc into his pocket and called to everyone, "This village is safe. Anyone who wants to look for supplies, follow me in."

With that, he got back into his truck and drove slowly deeper into the village.

Even with him taking the lead, the others in the convoy hesitated for quite a while before driving after him.

Before long, only four of the dozen or so vehicles remained outside the village.

"Boss, are we really not going in? We're out of food too."

"Yeah, boss. If we don't find something to eat, we'll be going hungry."

Beside a pickup truck, two young men with dyed blond hair looked at a middle-aged man whose left arm was covered in tattoos.

The middle-aged man said nothing, his expression deeply hesitant.

Under pressure from his two underlings, he steeled himself. "Let's go. But if anything goes wrong, don't blame me for leaving you behind."

Once their boss agreed, one of the blond-haired underlings immediately climbed into the driver's seat and started the engine.

As the pickup drove in, another black sedan followed.

Now, only a black BMW SUV and a white Camry remained at the village entrance.

Three women sat inside the BMW, with Lin Wanqiu at the wheel.

In the back seat were two women in their early twenties, Zhao Qian and Li Shu. Before the apocalypse, both had been Lin Wanqiu's assistants.

On the night the supernatural outbreak began, they had also been working overtime. It was their help that had allowed Lin Wanqiu to escape from a supernatural entity.

That was why she had let Zhao Qian and Li Shu ride in her car.

The earlier idea of trading with Shen Ye for supplies had come from Li Shu.

"Are we really not going in to take a look?" Zhao Qian asked quietly.

"What would we go in for? Those entities just don't dare show themselves in sunlight. Going in would be like walking into a lion's den. Besides, Curator Lin traded for so much food this morning that we have enough for several days," Li Shu replied.

"But..."

"No buts. Go by yourself if you want to. If you're looking to get yourself killed, don't drag Curator Lin and me into it." Seeing that Zhao Qian wanted to continue, Li Shu cut her off, sounding somewhat impatient.

After a moment of silence, Lin Wanqiu nodded too. "Li Shu is right. There's still half a case of bottled water in the car. If we ration the instant noodles and compressed biscuits, we can last a few more days. There's no rush."

Inside the Camry.

A woman about Shen Ye's age stared deep into Changchun Village, her expression terrified. Her hands gripped the steering wheel tightly, as though she would start the car and flee without hesitation at the slightest disturbance.

Unlike an ordinary person's, her eyes were currently giving off a faint purple glow...

Meanwhile, under Song Lei's lead, the others arrived at the largest supermarket in the village center.

Once they stepped out of their vehicles, everyone could clearly sense the deathly silence.

The once-bustling Snake Village was now utterly soundless, as though no one had ever lived there.

After the rolling shutter was pushed up, everyone could see the goods inside through the supermarket's tempered glass.

Though they were all itching to get in, no one dared take a step forward. Instead, they turned to Song Lei, waiting for him to open the unlocked glass door first.

Song Lei knew perfectly well what they were thinking.

Having come this far, he was in no hurry. He took the bronze disc from his trouser pocket and checked that nothing was wrong before saying, "There's no danger. Go in."

After everyone else had entered, Shen Ye, who had been bringing up the rear the entire time, stopped at the entrance instead of rushing in.

He noticed what looked like a thin film on the glass door, something easily overlooked without a close look.

Just as he was about to reach out and investigate, a voice suddenly sounded behind him.

"Shen Ye, aren't you going in? Wait any longer and they'll grab everything inside."

The voice belonged to a white-bearded old man whose smiling face looked very kindly.

This was Old Yang, who was well liked in the convoy.

"Thanks for the reminder, Old Yang. I'm going in now." After answering, Shen Ye gave it no more thought and entered the supermarket, carrying the Ghost Head wrapped in a rag in one hand.

The moment he stepped inside, a wave of cold, damp air washed over him, carrying a nauseating odor.

As a Delta mercenary in his previous life, Shen Ye was all too familiar with that smell.

Although it was mixed with many other odors, he could clearly distinguish the stench of rotting corpses.

The smell immediately set alarm bells ringing in his mind. His sequence ability wasn't the only reason he had survived this long.