A headless corpse, yet his head was upstairs calling for help?

At Rose's words, everyone brightened and ran into the workshop beside them to look.

Sure enough, oil stains covered the workshop, but there was also quite a lot of finished gasoline nearby.

"Great! There's so much gasoline here!" The survivors, whose spirits had been low just moments earlier, all broke into smiles.

By the look of it, their trip hadn't been wasted after all.

"Yes, this is more than enough fuel to fill that tanker." Looking at all the refined fuel and the refining equipment, Luo Fan finally understood.

This was an illegal refinery, so housing it in an inconspicuous, old, run-down workshop kept it from drawing too much attention.

That also explained why there was a fuel tanker here. Presumably, the refinery used it to transport gasoline.

No wonder the tanker only had a capacity of two tons. This was only a tiny illegal refinery, after all. Everything made sense now.

"Everyone, hurry and load up the fuel!" the survivors shouted at the sight of all the finished gasoline.

"Wait! Everyone, hold on!" Just as the cheering survivors were about to surge forward, however, Luo Fan called out loudly.

At Luo Fan's shout, every survivor's expression changed.

Seriously? He wanted that partially filled tanker all to himself. Could he want all the finished fuel here for himself too?

"Everyone, I'll pay each of you two and a half kilos of food to fill that tanker."

"Once the tanker is full, you'll have another ten minutes to fill your own containers."

"Anyone interested?" Luo Fan asked the survivors.

Having found so much fuel, Luo Fan naturally wanted to fill the tanker completely.

But rather than have just their few Sequence Users do the work, getting all the survivors to help would fill it in the shortest possible time.

As for the offer of two and a half kilos of food per person, Luo Fan didn't believe they wouldn't be tempted.

He wanted to hire them to help load the fuel?!

Luo Fan's words put the survivors somewhat at ease. As long as he wasn't stopping them from taking fuel, that was fine.

"I think that works. Even if we fill our containers, we'll still have to wait for their tanker to fill before we can leave. Why just stand around wasting time?"

"Exactly. With all of us working together, it'll fill up in no time. There's only room for a little over a ton in that tanker."

"Besides, we get two and a half kilos of food. That should last several days, right?"

The survivors didn't deliberate long over Luo Fan's offer and soon agreed.

Then they quickly got to work, taking their containers and filling them with gasoline.

Luo Fan left Niu Dagang to keep watch there and walked out of the workshop himself.

"Xiao Wang, you still haven't started the truck?" Outside, Luo Fan found that Xiao Wang had crawled beneath the tanker. He seemed to be working on some wiring underneath, with only his lower body sticking out.

"Xiao Wang?" Having received no reply to his first call, Luo Fan called again.

But once again, only silence answered him.

Luo Fan's heart lurched. He immediately sensed something was wrong.

Perhaps Xiao Wang simply hadn't heard the first time, but Luo Fan was already beside the truck now. Could he really still not hear him?

Impossible!

"None of you come any closer." Several survivors had come out with their full containers and were heading toward the tanker. Luo Fan immediately barked a stern warning.

At Luo Fan's sharp rebuke, the survivors held their gasoline and didn't dare approach.

Luo Fan nudged Xiao Wang's foot with his own. Still getting no response, he grabbed Xiao Wang's feet and dragged him out from under the truck.

"Aah!!!"

As Xiao Wang's body emerged, the survivors nearby immediately screamed in terror.

Xiao Wang's head had vanished. He was now a headless corpse.

Was this an uncanny entity? No, the sun was blazing, and the whole yard was bathed in sunlight. It couldn't be an uncanny entity. Was it a Fierce Beast?

Luo Fan tensed at the sight of Xiao Wang's missing head. The Twin-Eye Bow he had kept in his Storage Space appeared in his hand. At the same time, he reached back and ushered An Xiaoran, who had been beside him, behind him.

Apparently hearing the commotion outside, Niu Dagang quickly ran out of the workshop as well. His expression changed drastically at the sight of Xiao Wang's headless corpse.

Xiao Wang had accompanied Niu Dagang as his driver, and after spending so many days together, they had naturally grown close.

Now, without a sound, Xiao Wang had died just like that, with no explanation?

Niu Dagang's eyes bulged with fury. Gripping his fire axe, he shouted at their surroundings, "What the hell are you? Come out if you've got the guts! Come out!"

"Dagang, calm down." Seeing Niu Dagang completely lose control, Luo Fan immediately grabbed him.

Having spent several days in Niu Dagang's truck, Luo Fan had gotten to know Xiao Wang fairly well too. His inexplicable death angered Luo Fan as well.

But Luo Fan understood even more clearly that their enemy was hidden while they were exposed, making it all the more important to stay calm.

Being attacked by a Fierce Beast was one thing, but for it to happen without even a sound was truly unnerving.

No wonder Zhao Chunfeng's Divination had specifically warned of the danger of this operation. Their journey had gone smoothly so far, only for this to be waiting for him here.

If not for the gasoline, Zhao Chunfeng would surely have had the Hope Convoy avoid Jiangxin Town, wouldn't he?

"Wait, where's Yilong? Why is he gone?"

"Right, where's Xiao Jiang?"

"Something's wrong. I remember there were thirty-six survivors who followed on foot. Now there are only twenty-eight."

"When did so many people disappear?"

"Th-there's a ghost!"

"No, how could there be a ghost in broad daylight? What on earth is happening?"

By then, the survivors had begun coming outside one after another. Perhaps because they had seen Xiao Wang's headless corpse and his death had been so strange, they suddenly noticed that familiar people around them seemed to have disappeared without explanation.

Hearing this, Luo Fan looked carefully at the survivors.

Sure enough, he hadn't noticed at first, but now that he checked their numbers carefully, the thirty-odd survivors had become twenty-odd. Their numbers had visibly dwindled.

Wh-what exactly was going on? Encountering a powerful Fierce Beast wasn't frightening; encountering something incomprehensible was. And this certainly felt incomprehensible.

"D-Dagang... Luo Fan, h-help me..."

Just then, a weak voice suddenly rang out. It was Xiao Wang's.

Luo Fan and Niu Dagang quickly looked toward it. At a second-floor window of the workshop, they could see Xiao Wang looking their way with pleading eyes.

The window blocked their view, leaving only the upper half of Xiao Wang's face visible. Everything from his nose down was hidden below the windowsill.

A sharp intake of breath...

Xiao Wang's headless corpse was right here, yet his head was at a second-floor window-and still alive?

Everyone sucked in a cold breath, chilled to the core as though a basin of ice water had been poured over them.