Green tea

The closer they got to the city center, the more zombies there were.

The roads were littered with more and more vehicles that had suddenly gone out of control and crashed, ending up every which way.

The Divine Capital had an awful lot of cars. How many? Enough to require alternating driving days for odd- and even-numbered license plates.

On the busiest stretches, the roads were completely blocked by pileups involving hundreds of vehicles.

Without moving the vehicles blocking the road, even a tank would have had no hope of getting through, let alone the heavy truck Chen Luo was driving.

Fortunately, the villa complex where Chen Luo lived was fairly secluded, with mountains and water nearby and little traffic, whether people or cars.

Chen Luo deliberately chose roads with less traffic. He didn't mind taking detours or spending a little extra time.

Whenever he encountered two or three cars blocking the road, Chen Luo simply accelerated and rammed through.

The smaller cars went flying.

After a bumpy journey, he finally made it back to his neighborhood.

Chen Luo let out a breath. That hadn't been easy.

He glanced around and prepared to park the truck by the roadside rather than drive it into the villa complex.

The truck was a beast, but it had its drawbacks. It wasn't maneuverable enough. Some roads could accommodate a small car but not the truck, and turning was a real hassle.

The roads inside the complex weren't wide enough for the truck. He could just about squeeze it in, but getting it back out would be a real ordeal.

The less said about Chen Luo's reversing skills, the better.

Chen Luo said, "Dharma King, get out and lure the zombies away. Then wait for me inside the villa complex."

Chen Luo pointed toward the complex.

Dharma King understood, jumped out of the truck, and started barking loudly.

The twenty-odd zombies drawn over by the truck immediately turned their attention to Dharma King.

Dogs were naturally fast. Surely none of his pals could outrun a normal adult dog?

After awakening his ability, Dharma King had become even faster.

Once he grew powerful enough, Dharma King really would be as fast as lightning.

He wasn't just fast, but agile and low to the ground. Leading the slow-moving zombies around by the nose couldn't have been easier.

As Dharma King's barking faded into the distance, Chen Luo chuckled. Even if Dharma King hadn't had much talent, he would still have been an excellent companion.

At the very least, he would never betray him.

Chen Luo could easily have killed those zombies, but he had Dharma King lure them away instead for one simple reason: he wanted the zombies to guard his truck.

Without the zombies, people might approach the truck. Even if they couldn't drive it away, they could still damage it.

Why let free labor go to waste?

Chen Luo walked to the entrance of the villa complex. When he saw that neither of the two zombified security guards was Su Dazhu, he let out a huge sigh of relief.

Chen Luo had been genuinely afraid that the butterfly effect might have changed things and turned Su Dazhu straight into a zombie. If that happened, there would be nothing he could do.

He took out his stun baton, easily dispatched the few zombies he encountered, and began searching for Su Dazhu.

Chen Luo remembered that when the apocalypse broke out, Su Dazhu had fled deeper into the complex, climbed over the wall of a villa, and hidden inside.

The two hadn't teamed up at the time. Later, after running out of food, they had happened to meet while searching for supplies at the complex's supermarket, and eventually became partners.

How could Chen Luo bear to wait more than a month before joining up with Su Dazhu? Brother, I've missed you so damn much. (The protagonist wasn't gay; his tastes were normal.)

Chen Luo couldn't bear to let Su Dazhu go hungry for over a month, either. Whatever I eat, you eat too.

Besides, Su Dazhu hadn't known about the crystals early on, which had cost him that initial period of growth. Chen Luo had to make up for that.

But Chen Luo couldn't remember which villa Su Dazhu had hidden in, only that it was somewhere on the outskirts of the complex.

That wouldn't stump Chen Luo. He dared to use methods others wouldn't.

Just then, Dharma King came trotting back, shamelessly looking for praise, and Chen Luo smiled as he stroked his head.

Holding his stun baton, Chen Luo called loudly, "Su Dazhu! Where are you?"

Zombies didn't have very good eyesight, but their hearing and sense of smell were exceptionally sharp. Loud shouting would draw them over.

But was Chen Luo afraid of that?

Inside a room in one of the villas, Su Dazhu was hiding with a quiet-looking girl. Hearing Chen Luo's calls right outside, she couldn't help complaining.

"Is that guy out of his mind? Isn't he afraid of attracting zombies? If he gets himself killed, fine, but he'd better not get us killed too."

Su Dazhu, however, couldn't help springing to his feet.

It's Brother Chen.

With Brother Chen's brains, how could he not know how dangerous this is?

Yet he's actually looking for me like this?

We're not close enough for him to do this for me. Even so, Su Dazhu was touched.

Su Dazhu went to the window and, sure enough, spotted Chen Luo. The quiet-looking girl came over too.

Just then, a zombie was drawn over, and Chen Luo calmly electrocuted it.

Both Su Dazhu and the quiet girl witnessed it.

The quiet girl didn't own the villa. She had fled into it with Su Dazhu when the apocalypse broke out.

She was startled. That stun baton is so powerful. With one of those to defend myself, I wouldn't have to fear zombies either. No wonder he's so bold.

Su Dazhu called, "Brother Chen, I'm over here!"

Chen Luo spotted Su Dazhu too, and a smile crept onto his face. My good brother. You're safe and sound, just as I hoped.

But when he saw the delicate, quiet-looking girl, his expression darkened.

Fuck. How did I forget about that two-faced bitch, Chen Jing?

In his previous life, Chen Jing had dragged him and Su Dazhu down badly.

Chen Jing was deeply calculating. When they ran low on purified water, she feared that tap water might be unsafe and turn her into a zombie if she drank it.

So she used Su Dazhu as a test subject.

"Brother Dazhu, have some tea."

Su Dazhu hadn't suspected a thing.

After he and Su Dazhu teamed up, Chen Jing would tell Su Dazhu, "Brother Dazhu, I always feel so safe around you."

With Chen Luo, it was, "Brother Chen, I don't know why, but from the moment I first saw you, I felt so close to you."

Chen Jing always hid part of her share of the food. Then she would pretend to be suffering from hunger and thirst. She never asked for anything outright, just played the victim-fainting from hunger, for instance.

When Su Dazhu gave her some of his own food, she would thank him through her tears, even though she still had a whole backpack full of food.

She had perfected the art of fake innocence and had Su Dazhu wrapped around her little finger.

Remembering all of this, Chen Luo burned with rage. He wanted to slap Chen Jing dead right then and there.

Chen Luo calmed down. He couldn't kill Chen Jing yet. She hadn't started playing her games. If he killed her outright, Su Dazhu, who knew nothing about it, would only become estranged from him, and the distance between them would keep growing.

That was fine. He could use Chen Jing to teach Su Dazhu just how treacherous people could be.

Killing you with one slap wouldn't be very satisfying anyway. Just watch how I make your life hell.

Chen Luo said, "Dazhu, come with me to my place. We can look out for each other."

Su Dazhu nodded eagerly. Two grown men together really could watch each other's backs. Besides, he had a feeling that sticking with Brother Chen couldn't go wrong.

Brother Chen had even warned him that morning, and sure enough, something really had happened.

Chen Jing agreed too. This Brother Chen had a stun baton. Staying with him would keep her safe.