Transcendents, Sunward Village

After an unknown stretch of time, a heavy black pickup braked hard and stopped at a fork in the road.

Its tires left black skid marks on the pavement.

The vehicles following it hurriedly stopped, afraid of crashing into the lead truck.

A few seconds later, the pickup's passenger door opened, and a man around thirty stepped out.

He stood tall and straight, dressed in practical, close-fitting clothes, his expression grave.

What stood out most was the strip of pure white cloth covering his eyes, gleaming in the midday sun.

Chen Mo knew this man. He was the convoy's leader, and everyone called him Captain Lin.

He was said to be a Perception-type Transcendent who only removed the white cloth over his eyes at night.

The convoy had only survived safely this long because this Transcendent had led them from one hiding place to another, steering them clear of areas thick with horrors time and again.

"Captain Lin's stopped again... Is there something nasty up ahead?"

"Shut up and follow him. Do you have a death wish?"

"We're ordinary people. If we want to stay alive, we have to do as we're told. Got it?"

Murmured conversations rippled through the convoy, but soon died down.

Lin Lu stood at the fork, turning his head back and forth between the two roads, as though listening-or "looking" at something invisible.

After a long while, Lin Lu returned to the truck without a word. No one knew what he said to the man driving, but the truck accelerated down one of the roads.

The convoy immediately followed.

"We're still going? My legs are about to give out!"

"I can't do this anymore. Somebody give me a lift. I can come to his car tonight, and we can talk about our dreams."

"Can't you spare a thought for those of us without cars? How are we supposed to keep up on bicycles?"

"Stop fucking whining. Fall behind, and tonight will be your seventh-day funeral rites!"

The people walking at the rear grumbled under their breath, but all they could do was grit their teeth and drag their heavy feet onward, desperately trying to keep up.

Everyone knew how steep the price of falling behind was.

Chen Mo was no exception. He hurriedly pedaled after them, glancing at a rust-covered road sign before he left.

Sunward Village, 1 kilometer ahead.

A little over ten minutes later.

"A village! There's a village up ahead!"

Someone shouted, and excitement instantly swept through the convoy.

Even the walkers trailing far behind regained a spark of light in their eyes when they heard.

A village meant food, water, and hope of staying alive.

The convoy had gone three straight days without finding a safe place to resupply, and most people's supplies had already run dry.

Chen Mo was even worse off. Even his last half a biscuit was gone. If he couldn't find supplies soon, he probably wouldn't last more than a few days.

Everything he owned consisted of the little yellow bicycle beneath him, a change of clothes tied to its crossbar, and a small piece of carpet to keep out the cold.

After the Tide Cry, the more populated a city was, the more horrors gathered there, and the more terrifying they became. It was an ironclad rule the survivors had paid for in blood.

A tiny village like the one before them was undoubtedly the best place to resupply.

Even if there were horrors in the village, they most likely wouldn't dare roam freely under the harsh midday sun.

Yet no one dared move.

Everyone stared fixedly at the lead truck, waiting for the Transcendent's orders.

In a world like this, anyone who had survived this long was no fool.

For ordinary people, the most important rule of survival was to obey. Otherwise, they might become food for the horrors the very next second.

Creeeak-

The heavy pickup's passenger door opened again, and Lin Lu lowered his head to give his assistant, Xiao Liu, a few instructions.

Xiao Liu immediately picked up a tin megaphone, turned toward the convoy, and shouted:

"The whole convoy will rest here for three hours! You may enter the village to gather supplies!"

"Attention! No one is allowed near the supermarket at the village entrance!"

"I repeat, stay away from the supermarket! Otherwise, you'll bear the consequences!"

"You're free to explore everywhere else. The convoy leaves in three hours sharp. We won't wait for latecomers!"

The moment he finished, a burly man over two meters tall, with a gleaming bald head, leaped out of an off-road vehicle.

Muscles bulged along his arms. His frame was massive, and his arms were nearly as thick as a woman's thighs.

"Fuck, I've been cooped up long enough! Anyone too scared to go can stay here and wait to die!"

Clutching an enormous burlap sack, the burly man stretched his long legs into a stride and charged into the village.

Chen Mo knew him. Everyone called him Big Niu, and he was the convoy's only other Transcendent besides Lin Lu.

Big Niu's charge seemed to ignite everyone else's fighting spirit, and they hurried after him as though terrified of falling behind.

"To hell with it! Starving kills you just as dead as getting bitten by a horror!"

"Who the fuck is shoving me? You looking to die?"

Like floodwaters bursting through an open gate, the crowd surged into Sunward Village, howling and shouting.

Chen Mo had already started moving the moment Xiao Liu finished speaking.

He drove his legs hard, making the little yellow bicycle creak beneath him as he streaked forward in a yellow blur, leaving everyone far behind.

Chen Mo was afraid of dying too, but he had no choice. If he didn't risk his life now, he would probably starve to death in a few days.

"You on the yellow bike! Are you in a fucking hurry to get reincarnated?"

"Hope you're the first one the horrors eat!"

"What's the rush? Is your mom giving birth again?"