The chase

It was night.

Thirty li beyond the grassland.

Eight vehicles were gathered together, with fires burning in several clearings around them.

The survivors heated their food with expressionless faces.

Inside the cargo compartment of the Apocalypse Heavy Truck.

Elder Qi, Li Yong, Da Hu, Bai Xiaoyu, and Zhao Xing.

Each sat on a bunk.

A table stood in front of them.

The atmosphere was somewhat heavy.

Li Yong broke the silence first. "Elder Qi, we lost fifty-three survivors this time. Fewer than fifty remain."

"We lost three members of the Transcendent Sequence..."

Li Yong's words made Elder Qi's back stoop a little further.

Every death among the Transcendent Sequence was a major loss to the convoy.

Let alone losing three at once.

When they withdrew, all the anomalies had rushed like mad toward the direction Da Sha had been dragged.

There had been no end to the anomalies in sight. Even through sheer attrition, they could wear someone with Sequence Transcendence to death.

As for Clown, by the time they noticed him, he had already disappeared...

"I don't think Lin Yi will die."

Bai Xiaoyu raised her eyes.

Under everyone's gaze, she curled her lip. "The good die young, but a scourge lives a thousand years."

No one answered.

They all understood that Bai Xiaoyu was comforting herself.

Lin Yi had been among the earliest people to join the convoy.

Although they hadn't talked much, they had still formed some attachment to him.

"All right, that's enough of the casualty report."

Elder Qi broke through the gloomy atmosphere. "Our supplies have nearly run out. The nearest town is half a day's journey away. We'll rest here tonight and go gather supplies tomorrow."

After Elder Qi finished giving his brief instructions, everyone dispersed.

Bai Xiaoyu sat on the roof of the modified pickup, her arms wrapped around her legs and her head tilted up, lost in unknown thoughts.

Li Yong and Da Hu silently gnawed on their dry rations.

As for Zhao Xing, he returned to his off-road vehicle, took a large group photo from inside his clothes, and stared blankly at it.

The backdrop of the group photo was a psychiatric hospital.

Xu Zhong wore a white coat, with a group of men and women in psychiatric patient uniforms behind him.

Zhao Xing stood behind Xu Zhong, hands on his hips and mouth stretched in a grin.

Clown crouched in a corner, furtively hiding something.

The other psychiatric patients were each doing their own thing.

The photo was a chaotic mess, but everyone was smiling with exceptional joy.

"Haha, hahaha..."

As Zhao Xing looked at the photo, he started laughing without warning.

He laughed so hard he slapped the seat.

Two trails of hot tears slid from the corners of his eyes, without him even realizing it.

The only happy person in the convoy was a certain old man.

"That disgusting bastard is finally dead."

Red light flickered in the Skinning Ghost's eyes as his gaze darted among the survivors, searching for tonight's target.

Everyone had just finished eating.

Elder Qi's loudspeaker rang out through the convoy.

"Anomalies approaching! Anomalies approaching!"

The moment Elder Qi spoke, no one hesitated in the slightest.

The survivors scrambled into their vehicles at incredible speed and sped off into the distance behind the roaring Apocalypse Heavy Truck.

Lin Yi drove his Jury-Rigged Car. Da Sha had woken up in the passenger seat and was now staring dumbly ahead.

Clown hung upside down from the roof over the rear of the car, swaying from side to side with the Jury-Rigged Car's movements.

He looked like a dangling mascot ornament, though he rather enjoyed the feeling.

"Almost there..."

Watching the contribution points draw closer and closer, Lin Yi sighed in relief.

But his expression soon darkened. "Why are they moving again?"

Not daring to waste a moment, Lin Yi floored the accelerator.

Vroom!

Clown lost his grip and was flung off the car.

He climbed off the ground, looking rather dazed.

"I'm not in yet! I'm not in yet!"

Lin Yi: ...

Clown behaved himself this time, sitting cross-legged on the roof instead of continuing his acrobatics.

There was just a trace of lingering resentment in his eyes...

Lin Yi had kept the Jury-Rigged Car's interference ability active the entire time.

So they hadn't encountered any danger along the way.

But just then, the Big-Headed Anomaly Skull, which had been emitting a faint white glow with interference active, suddenly went dark.

Interference shut off...

Lin Yi tried to activate it, but unfortunately, there was no response.

Soon, he sensed the Jury-Rigged Car's emotions through the steering wheel.

A note after the interference information stated that it lacked energy and needed to be fed anomalies to replenish it.

It could also recover slowly over time.

Lin Yi wasn't particularly anxious.

Because he was gradually closing the distance to the convoy.

Elder Qi had already cleared the way, so there probably weren't any particularly powerful anomalies nearby.

As he drove, he noticed something wasn't quite right.

Despite possessing Sequence Transcendence, he couldn't help shivering.

"Why is it getting colder and colder..."

The Jury-Rigged Car's headlights had been damaged in the collision on the grassland.

Only after driving a while longer in the darkness did he notice that a thin layer of frost had covered the ground at some point.

Whoosh.

Clown slipped into the back of the car, his body trembling uncontrollably too.

"Clown, check whether there are any thick clothes in the back."

Lin Yi had picked up all his supplies along the way, and he didn't know exactly what was in them.

Without even waiting for Lin Yi's instructions, Clown had already begun scanning the supplies.

"N-no, nothing..."

Even Clown's voice was trembling.

The ice outside had grown thicker and thicker, and snowflakes had even begun drifting from the sky.

"Hiss."

Lin Yi drew a deep breath, then exhaled a stale breath.

The change in the weather was too damn bizarre.

The Jury-Rigged Car had already slowed down on the ice.

Lin Yi couldn't help complaining. "What are Elder Qi and the others doing? Why won't they stop and rest?"

After all, the Jury-Rigged Car was something he had cobbled together from bits and pieces. It didn't even have a heater.

All three of them were freezing inside the car.

If not for the robust physiques granted by Sequence Transcendence, they probably would have caught colds by now.

As they moved on, snow had begun accumulating around them.

A freshly opened road could be seen through the snow, presumably Elder Qi's work.

Driving on the ice was slow.

Lin Yi spent an entire night chasing them.

Only the next morning did his eyes finally light up.

The convoy had stopped!