"Who?"
Cao Xianming instantly reached into his coat, his eyes locked on the dark silhouette. His entire body tensed, his vigilance rising to its peak.
Seeing this, the dark silhouette slowly revealed himself, clearly trying to show that he meant no harm.
Seeing that the newcomer was an unfamiliar man, Cao Xianming relaxed his guard slightly at this show of good faith, but the miniature Data Model in his palm kept spinning rapidly without pause.
When the model finished its calculations, a smile suddenly spread across Cao Xianming's face. He raised a hand to invite the newcomer over. "Come, sit down. Have some tea first."
Hunger woke Yang Yong, and by the time he opened his eyes, it was already noon.
Too lazy to fire up his own stove and cook, he headed straight over to Cao Xianming's side, arriving just as the meal was served.
Today's staple was mixed-grain rice, made from the "winter provisions" they had seized from the rats.
Yang Yong strode over without standing on ceremony. "Give me a bowl."
Cao Xianming gave him a sidelong glance, his tone cool. "You can eat, but you'll have to contribute grain."
"Fine, I will!"
Yang Yong ran back to the farm vehicle and brought over a woven sack of mixed grains, dropping it onto the table. "Here. That should cover a few days, right?"
"Just enough for three days' meals."
"You..." Yang Yong instantly flew into a rage.
There were at least fifty jin of grain in that sack, and it would only cover three days?
This old bastard was a swindler!
He was just about to explode when Cao Xianming suddenly stood up with a smile and addressed everyone.
"I'm planning to pick someone from among the survivors to cook specifically for us. From now on, the Transcendents will eat separately, and everyone else will handle their own meals. What do you think?"
"Sounds good!"
"No objections!"
"I reckon that's good too!"
A hearty voice rang out, and everyone turned toward it.
Yang Yong immediately exclaimed, "Holy shit, big guy, you've recovered?"
The newcomer was Zheng Xiaofeng.
"Heh heh."
Zheng Xiaofeng scratched his head with a guileless grin. He really did seem completely recovered, but why did he seem to be getting more and more dopey?
"Big guy, did you advance?"
Wang Ying glanced at Zheng Xiaofeng and instantly noticed that his aura was several times stronger than before, prompting her question.
Zheng Xiaofeng nodded, looking a little embarrassed. "I did. I'm now at Sequence Two of the Armorer Sequence, an Iron Armorer."
He had barely finished speaking.
A cold metallic sheen suddenly spread over his body. Plates of armor slowly emerged from beneath his flesh, as though they had naturally grown inside him, and in the blink of an eye, they completely encased him.
In the end, a steel giant over three meters tall stood before everyone, its cold gleam intimidating.
"Fuck, that's so damn cool!"
Yang Yong stared at Zheng Xiaofeng's iron armor, practically drooling.
Wang Ying's eyes shone with eagerness.
From her expression, Yang Yong knew that if her saber hadn't still been unfinished, she would probably have dragged Zheng Xiaofeng into a spar right then.
Only Cao Xianming remained unruffled, as though he had expected this. He aimed the miniature Data Model in his hand at Zheng Xiaofeng and began scanning rapidly.
All of Zheng Xiaofeng's outwardly displayed data was instantly captured and recorded. The model calculated furiously at over ten thousand operations per second, until a probability of 60% appeared on the light screen.
Sharp-eyed Yang Yong spotted the number immediately and asked curiously, "What are you calculating?"
Cao Xianming evaded the question, his tone carrying a hint of mystery. "Nothing. Don't ask about things you're not supposed to know."
Yang Yong curled his lip and muttered, "Tch, as if I care. That sneaky bastard must be plotting something again."
But as Cao Xianming looked at that 60% probability, he shook his head slightly, his lips moving in a quiet murmur. "Can't fight yet."
After the meal, the convoy continued its migration.
This time, they maintained a steady pace without accelerating sharply again. Presumably, no Eerie nearby had set its sights on this Survival Convoy.
After traveling safely for an entire day, Cao Xianming began looking for a campsite before the sky had even brightened.
It seemed they really had shaken off the Eerie pursuing them this time.
Everyone in the camp could barely hide their delight.
Tonight, they finally wouldn't have to flee for their lives again.
"Thank goodness, we can finally get a decent night's sleep. I've had enough of living with our days and nights flipped!"
"Tell me about it. Running scared every night-now we can finally rest!"
Almost everyone in the convoy wore a relaxed expression. Not one of them could stand those days of fleeing for their lives every night. Now, this peace had become the most extravagant happiness in the apocalypse.
That calm lasted a full two days.
Just as Yang Yong thought they had truly shaken off all the Eerie and could travel safely for a while, a bone-chilling cold suddenly shot up his back, piercing straight through the crown of his head!
"Fuck! Quick!"
Yang Yong barked sharply, instantly summoning the One-Yang God-Sealing Banner.
The Red-Clothed Female Ghost appeared at his call and stood guard beside him. Only then did he whip his head around and scan his surroundings warily.
But there was no one in sight, nothing at all.
The next second.
A piercing scream suddenly came from the bus, shattering the camp's peace. "A ghost! There's a ghost!"
Yang Yong immediately charged over with his saber, with Wang Ying and Zheng Xiaofeng close behind.
The three rushed onto the bus and saw a man collapsed on the floor, clutching a sheet of paper and screaming hysterically.
Yang Yong scanned the surroundings and demanded in a deep voice, "What the hell are you howling about?"
But the man seemed to have lost his mind and could only keep shouting, "A ghost! A ghost!"
He couldn't give a coherent answer at all.
"Goddammit!"
Seeing this, Yang Yong raised his hand and slapped the man across both cheeks in two sharp smacks, but he remained crazed.
He stopped holding back and delivered nearly eighteen slaps in succession, until the man's face swelled up like a pig's head.
Only then did the man finally come to his senses. He squinted at Yang Yong, his voice trembling. "There's... there's a ghost, over there..."
Yang Yong looked where he was pointing, but there was only the empty aisle of the bus, with nothing in it.
The Red-Clothed Female Ghost was guarding his back. Could the man be talking about her?
But Yang Yong immediately changed positions, and the man still pointed to the same spot in the aisle.
Just then, Cao Xianming's voice came from outside the bus, calm and clear. "Have him tell us how he saw the Eerie."
Yang Yong looked at the man.
The man had clearly heard Cao Xianming too. He struggled to steady himself and began speaking haltingly.
"I... I was half asleep, and when I suddenly opened my eyes, I saw a folded piece of paper in front of me. It was like... like the love letters girls gave you back in school. There was even a red heart drawn on it."
"I got curious and picked it up to read... It really was a love letter inside. It seemed... it seemed to be one a girl named Xiaofang wrote to me when I was young."
"I remember there really was a letter like that..."
"But after I read it, I was completely confused. It's the apocalypse now. How could a love letter from back then turn up here..."
Before you continue