Back to the convoy!

As the Red-Clothed Opera Performer's operatic voice faded, another sight shocked Lin Qi.

Beneath the Red-Clothed Opera Performer's veil, an impossibly dense mass of long white hair came howling out. In mere moments, it wound around the oncoming black hair!

"Drip, drip."

Whether out of fear or something else, rainwater began sliding incessantly off the long black hair. Even the hair itself began trembling slightly.

All of this was because wherever the white hair covered it, the black hair began to be assimilated!

"Since you dared covet my husband, become one with me..."

The Red-Clothed Opera Performer's operatic voice was lilting and rather pleasing to the ear, but her movements did not falter in the slightest.

The long white hair assimilated the black hair at tremendous speed.

Then it forcibly hauled the long-haired woman out of the hood!

The woman's long hair was lifted, and Lin Qi could even see the terror in her eyes!

The terror of a supernatural entity!

How absurd!

The black-haired woman's absurd display lasted only an instant. The assimilation of her long black hair reached its end, and without offering even the slightest resistance, her entire body was completely transformed under the Red-Clothed Opera Performer's encroachment into a white paper figure, standing blankly in place.

Almost everything happened in a flash.

Even after the black-haired woman had been dealt with, Lin Qi still had not quite recovered from his shock.

"My husband, I must wait a little longer before I can join you."

"If you stray, my husband, I would not mind relieving you of a couple of ounces of flesh..."

The Red-Clothed Opera Performer looked at Lin Qi again. The operatic cadence vanished from her words, replaced instead by a hint of gentleness.

Yet a chill soaked through Lin Qi at her gentle words...

"I shall take my leave."

As the Red-Clothed Opera Performer finished speaking, her figure turned insubstantial and vanished. The black-haired woman, now a paper figure, likewise disappeared into the darkness, as though nothing had ever happened.

"Whew. I never expected her to help me."

Coming back to his senses, Lin Qi looked toward where the Red-Clothed Opera Performer had vanished, his expression complicated.

He could even smell the faint floral fragrance lingering in the air...

The Red-Clothed Opera Performer had descended from the heavens.

In that moment, Lin Qi had even felt that she was a deity descending to earth, a living bodhisattva delivering people from suffering!

It was a lovely thought, but only a fleeting one.

He soon remembered the fate awaiting him.

If he could not scrape together enough betrothal gifts, how much better could his own end be?

His previous plan had been to strengthen himself quickly, hoping to gain the ability to fight the Red-Clothed Opera Performer.

But now...

After witnessing her methods, that small, extravagant hope in his heart was fading into nothing.

The Red-Clothed Opera Performer was clearly growing stronger as well.

Lin Qi had never seen her trick of replicating the black hair with her hand last time.

If she had possessed that ability back then, even Niu Wudi probably would not have left Liu Family Village alive.

Lin Qi's body still hurt terribly, though the pain had eased considerably compared to the beginning.

Frowning, he limped back to the SUV.

Perhaps because the Red-Clothed Opera Performer had appeared in time, Xiao Wu had not suffered any injuries and was still lying unconscious in the passenger seat.

"Ah."

Thinking of the Red-Clothed Opera Performer hanging over his head, Lin Qi sighed for no particular reason and drove onward into the darkness again.

Now, along the entire empty, dark road, only the roar of his vehicle rang out, yet there was a little less fear in his heart.

Compared with the Red-Clothed Opera Performer, the other supernatural entities all seemed much more approachable.

Lin Qi drove the SUV, his thoughts racing.

If he failed to gather enough betrothal gifts, he would certainly die.

If he gathered enough, he did not know how things would end, but overall, it would surely be better than dying.

As for fighting the Red-Clothed Opera Performer, he could forget it-unless he was blessed with unbelievable luck and managed to buy something good through an ad.

And by something good, he did not merely mean something that would let him become Extraordinary.

With Extraordinary abilities like Niu Wudi's, he would probably serve no purpose against the Red-Clothed Opera Performer except to be killed instantly.

"Gather the betrothal gifts!"

In the end, Lin Qi gritted his teeth and chose the option that seemed most promising.

As for how to gather them...

A sharp light flashed in his eyes.

The scenes of the Red-Clothed Opera Performer's appearance rapidly replayed in his mind.

He soon spotted an enormous opportunity!

The Red-Clothed Opera Performer was clearly more hostile toward female supernatural entities. Perhaps that was also one reason she had appeared.

The Corpse Tide earlier had been so terrifying, yet she had never appeared.

"What if... what if I robbed female supernatural entities..."

A fierce gleam began flashing in Lin Yi's eyes.

Now that he had the Red-Clothed Opera Performer behind him, why should he not take advantage of her?

She was both the butcher's blade poised to take his life and a sharp blade he could wield!

Since he would have to hand everything over to her to buy his life anyway, surely there was nothing unreasonable about using her to steal Ghost Cash?

The more Lin Qi thought about it, the more feasible it seemed.

He was even getting impatient to provoke a female supernatural entity and test the waters.

Sometimes, the world was just that strange.

The more Lin Qi wanted to encounter a supernatural entity, the less he saw even a ghost of one along the way.

After he had driven for an unknown length of time, light finally began to appear ahead.

It came from the headlights of a cluster of vehicles.

It was the convoy that had fled ahead of him, resting there.

"I didn't find any supernatural entities, but I found the convoy instead..."

For a moment, Lin Qi actually felt inexplicably disappointed. "Looks like I'll have to find another chance later."

The SUV's arrival immediately drew the attention of the convoy's survivors.

While the survivors watched the SUV, Lin Qi was observing them too.

After their escape through the rain, the convoy had lost nearly a third of its people.

Lin Qi was not surprised that Scarface had made it back to the convoy.

What surprised him was that Bo Gang and the other two had actually survived as well.

Lin Qi had only just driven the SUV into the convoy when Wang Feng hurried over. "Lin Qi, I'm sorry. Earlier..."

His face was full of apology. Clearly, he felt bad about abandoning Lin Qi earlier.

"It's fine. If I were you, I would have made the same choice."

Lin Qi did not blame Wang Feng. In truth, the man had already done enough for him. Under those circumstances, he could not possibly have risked snatching someone from a supernatural entity's jaws for a survivor he had met during the apocalypse.

"Thank you for understanding, Lin Qi."

Seeing that Lin Qi was not angry, Wang Feng breathed a sigh of relief.

Only now that Lin Qi had come back to his senses did he feel a slight chill washing over his body, followed immediately by intense pain.

Although the pain from crashing the vehicle along the way had eased somewhat, it still brought cold sweat to his forehead.

"Wang Feng, find me some clothes."

Lin Qi handed Xiao Wu over to Wang Feng. "There's nothing wrong with him. Take him away first."

"Oh, sure."

Wang Feng also noticed that Lin Qi was wearing nothing but a pair of boxers. He quickly took Xiao Wu away and brought back a tracksuit, along with a first-aid kit for Lin Qi.

"Thanks."

Lin Qi thanked him, took the first-aid kit and clothes, and began sorting things out.

He did not care whether someone had worn the tracksuit before, or whether it had been stripped off a dead body. He pulled it on in a few quick movements.

The pain throughout his body seemed to restart. Once he relaxed physically and mentally, it began assaulting his brain relentlessly, making his face twist.

Looking at the first-aid kit packed full of supplies, Lin Qi was momentarily dumbfounded.

He had never handled these things before. All he had were scattered memories of seeing them on television.

"I'll just go by feel."

Lin Qi was in too much pain to bear it. Rather than trouble Wang Feng, who had already left, he began searching for items he still vaguely recognized.

Just as he stared helplessly at the first-aid kit, a surprised voice sounded outside the window. "Whoa, you're pretty badly hurt! Time for this girl to work her magic!"