Rocksolid Convoy, First Meeting

Driving Red Hare Two, Chen Mo followed the boy and slowly joined his convoy.

It was a small convoy of a dozen or so vehicles, including sedans, SUVs, and even a delivery truck up front.

There were fewer than twenty people, too.

Half of them were actually elderly people and children. They sat inside the vehicles, curiously studying Chen Mo, the "outsider."

At the sight, Chen Mo relaxed a little.

The presence of both old and young suggested that this convoy still had some humanity left.

It wasn't a band of raiders made up entirely of cutthroats.

But those were only outward appearances. In the apocalypse, people's hearts were hard to fathom.

Chen Mo still didn't dare let his guard down in the slightest.

"Hey, I'm Gu Xiaoshi. Our convoy is called the Rocksolid Convoy."

Gu Xiaoshi was clearly something of a chatterbox. As he guided Red Hare Two along, he introduced the convoy to Chen Mo as though they were already friends.

"My older brother is our leader, Gu Chenshan. He's really strong-a Transcendent!"

"And there's our deputy leader, Shen. He's a great guy, too!"

Chen Mo nodded in acknowledgment of Xiaoshi's words.

He continued surveying his surroundings.

Finally, Gu Xiaoshi slowly stopped in front of a somewhat worn delivery truck.

Gu Xiaoshi excitedly called out toward the truck's cargo compartment.

"Brother! Shen! Someone's here!"

A dozen seconds later, the compartment door slid open, and a burly, dark-skinned man jumped down.

The man bore some resemblance to Gu Xiaoshi and looked twenty-seven or twenty-eight. He was packed with muscle, thick cords of it coiling across his body.

Just standing there, he gave off an air of dependability.

Chen Mo narrowed his eyes as he studied the man.

This had to be Gu Chenshan, leader of the Rocksolid Convoy.

Gu Chenshan also scrutinized Chen Mo warily, then glanced over the Dump Truck he had been driving.

He turned toward Gu Xiaoshi and asked a question.

"Xiaoshi, what's going on?"

Gu Xiaoshi gave Chen Mo a sheepish smile before turning to Gu Chenshan.

"Brother, this guy escaped from Prosper City!"

"I ran into him, so I brought him back."

Gu Chenshan nodded and walked toward Chen Mo, forcing a smile that wasn't exactly warm.

"Hey, I'm Gu Chenshan. What should I call you?"

"It's cold outside. Come into the truck and warm up."

"Chen Mo."

Chen Mo didn't refuse. Suppressing the chill coming from within his body, he pushed through his weakness and opened the door.

He followed Gu Chenshan into the delivery truck's cargo compartment.

A small brazier burned inside, keeping the compartment reasonably warm.

A scholarly-looking man wearing glasses sat inside. He appeared to be twenty-seven or twenty-eight. Seeing Chen Mo enter, he stood up with a smile.

He held out his hand.

"Shen Qinghe. And you are?"

Chen Mo extended his right hand, which had only three fingers left, and answered again.

"Chen Mo. I escaped from Prosper City."

Shen Qinghe was sharp-eyed and immediately noticed something was wrong with Chen Mo.

"Are you hurt?"

Chen Mo managed a smile. "A bit of a fever. Nothing serious."

Shen Qinghe adjusted his glasses, a faint glimmer flashing in his eyes.

"Oh? A fever?"

"I used to be a doctor, so I know a little about these things. How about I take a look?"

"No need. It's an old problem," Chen Mo refused outright.

Shen Qinghe seemed inclined to press further, but Gu Chenshan interrupted him.

"All right, I'll have Xiaoshi bring him some medicine later."

Gu Chenshan stepped in to smooth things over. He pointed to a spot beside him, motioning for Chen Mo to sit.

"My brother said you escaped from Prosper City?"

Chen Mo replied, "Yeah."

Gu Chenshan wasted no words and got straight to the point.

"Our convoy was planning to head into Prosper City for supplies. Could you tell us what it's like in there?"

Just as I thought.

Chen Mo slowly laid the Mountain-Cleaving Blade in his left hand flat.

He gathered his thoughts and began an account that mixed truth with lies.

He left out his and Red Hare's battle in the mall, saying only that his previous convoy had been fairly large, but had suffered a terrifying attack by an anomaly in Prosper City.

"There are a lot of anomalies and monsters in Prosper City."

"Hordes of Snow Corpses..."

"Frost Cicadas that blot out the sky."

"And the anomaly that scattered our convoy."

"...That thing was an enormous white Cold Cicada. Absolutely terrifying."

"Our leader reckoned it was at least a level-four anomaly."

"The entire convoy was scattered, with heavy casualties. Two of our Transcendents died, too. I only escaped by sheer luck."

"I don't know where the survivors went. I only heard our leader shout something about Camel City."

When they heard Chen Mo mention a level-four anomaly,

Gu Chenshan and Shen Qinghe exchanged a glance.

Their eyes were full of gravity.

A level-four anomaly.

That was already far beyond anything they could contend with.

"Ah... Qinghe, thank goodness we waited a day. Otherwise, the consequences would've been unthinkable."

Shen Qinghe nodded in agreement.

"With our perception blocked, we were stumbling around blind. We nearly made a disastrous mistake."

Gu Chenshan let out a heavy sigh and patted Chen Mo on the shoulder.

His tone sounded genuinely sincere, rather than feigned.

"Since your convoy is gone, why not stay with our Rocksolid Convoy for now?"

"We're planning to go to Camel City. We can look out for each other along the way."

"We're all human. In the apocalypse, we ought to help one another."

But Chen Mo didn't dare take him entirely at his word. He still managed a smile.

"Then... thank you."

Gu Chenshan called outside.

"Xiaoshi!"

Gu Xiaoshi immediately poked his head in.

"Brother, what is it?"

"Go get him some fever medicine, then find him a parking spot so he can get some proper rest."

"Sure thing!"

Gu Xiaoshi readily agreed. Soon, he brought over a few pills and a bottle of water and handed them to Chen Mo.

Chen Mo looked at the fever medicine and smiled bitterly to himself.

Looks like I have to take it, whether I want to or not.

So, right in front of them, he swallowed the pills and drank the water.

Once that was done, Chen Mo excused himself on the grounds that he wasn't feeling well and returned to his Dump Truck.

The moment the window rolled up, Chen Mo slowly slumped into the driver's seat, gasping for breath.

The Rocksolid Convoy...

Gu Chenshan... ability unknown.

Shen Qinghe... probably a Perceiver, like Lin Lu.

If they're really as peaceful as they seem, traveling with them to Camel City for now wouldn't be out of the question.

"Ah... I'll just take it one step at a time."

The most urgent thing right now was still to cure the silent extinction cold poison.

According to the words Red Hare had left him,

He had a little over a month at most. If he couldn't cure the poison...

Meanwhile, inside the delivery truck's cargo compartment,

Gu Xiaoshi had returned to the truck as well and looked at his older brother.

"Brother, is this guy all right?"

Before Gu Chenshan could answer, Shen Qinghe laughed beside him.

"Xiaoshi, you still have a lot to learn. Didn't you notice anything different about him?"

Gu Chenshan looked at Xiaoshi and began his analysis in an unhurried tone.

"First, he's driving a Dump Truck with its bed welded in place. It's clearly been modified. It's cumbersome, but it has a high carrying capacity."

"Anyone who owns a vehicle like that definitely wasn't some nobody in his previous convoy."

"Second, he mentioned a level-four anomaly and all sorts of other anomalies, describing them in convincing detail. He probably wasn't lying."

"Third, his left hand never left that Mountain-Cleaving Blade."

"That's an instinct developed through prolonged combat. An ordinary survivor would never be that vigilant."

"This man is no ordinary survivor. What our convoy needs most right now is young, able-bodied people who can fight."

Gu Xiaoshi listened in bewilderment and scratched his head.

"You guys are overthinking this... I just saw him and figured another person meant another pair of hands."

Gu Chenshan rubbed Xiaoshi's head, his eyes full of affection.

Once Xiaoshi had gone some distance away, Shen Qinghe walked to the compartment doorway and looked at the pitch-black window of the Dump Truck nearby.

A sharp gleam flashed in his eyes behind his lenses, and he spoke slowly.

"Did you sense it? There seems to be a fluctuation of transcendent energy coming from him."

"Should we..."