Gao Yue immediately followed Huang Wei once he had finished.
Gao Yue suggested, "Officer, Su Chen is at that repair shop owner's house."
"They seem to know each other. Should we go over?"
Gao Yue could not think about much else. All she wanted was to deal with Su Chen.
Something was wrong with Changcheng.
So what?
Huang Wei's head hurt even more when he heard that!
He happened to be looking for the village chief.
He could deal with Su Chen's situation while he was at it, then ask where the village chief was.
With that in mind, Huang Wei agreed. "Let's go take a look!"
Inside the police car.
Before Huang Wei got in, Zhang Xiaomeng suddenly spoke.
"Senior, there's news!"
Zhang Xiaomeng meant news in the work group chat.
The Changcheng Police Bureau's group chat, that was.
Huang Wei immediately took out his phone.
But he saw a message he did not want to see.
In the work group chat.
The chief's last message.
-@everyone, there is danger all across the country. Most cities are in danger. Everyone, try to escape Changcheng, do your best to survive, and remember your mission!
Something had happened to Changcheng's police bureau too.
They were telling him not to go back!
Huang Wei was a police officer, but without that uniform, he was an ordinary person too.
He had relied on the uniform he wore to force himself to keep handling things.
This message told him he was about to lose his organization entirely.
It felt as though his spine had been pulled out.
He sank into a daze.
Huang Wei wanted to turn around immediately and go back to Changcheng to look.
Without going back to see for himself.
How could he accept it?
His parents were in the city too.
Although their nagging about marriage had annoyed him before, they were still his parents, and he was afraid something would happen to them.
"Senior, what do we do?"
After Huang Wei read the message, Zhang Xiaomeng could no longer hold herself together either.
She had received the news earlier and had been waiting for Huang Wei to finish handling things.
Huang Wei was the only person she had left to rely on.
They had attended the same police academy, and Huang Wei had been her senior.
That was why the bureau had assigned Huang Wei to mentor her.
She was also an only child.
Her parents were still in another city.
The last message in the group chat had crushed her completely.
"Sigh!"
"Let's deal with what's in front of us first."
Huang Wei sighed and started the car.
It was his duty.
No matter what, he would finish dealing with the matter at hand first.
After that.
He would take things one step at a time.
Huang Wei started the car and followed Gao Yue's vehicle.
The cars drove away.
And beneath the banyan tree, the corpse that had been placed there moved.
At the Yang family's home.
Candles had been lit on the dining table.
There were five or six stir-fried dishes.
They were all dishes commonly found in the countryside.
Pork stir-fried with peppers, stir-fried seasonal vegetables, and stir-fried chicken giblets.
A free-range country chicken.
Half had been stir-fried, and half had been stewed into chicken soup.
It smelled incredible!
Yang Defa brought out some good liquor.
Su Chen did not drink much.
Drinking was an even worse idea during the apocalypse.
Su Chen declined. "I don't drink!"
"Then let's not drink. In a situation like this, we can't let alcohol get in the way."
Seeing that Su Chen would not drink, Yang Defa put the liquor under the table.
"Drinking really can get in the way."
Yang Defa made a rueful remark.
Seeing Yang Defa's attitude, Su Chen began to ponder it.
Yang Defa was copying him.
Su Chen did not think the system had been exposed.
All he could say was that Yang Defa had his wits about him.
At the dining table, everyone introduced themselves properly again and began chatting.
The conversation soon turned to the red fog.
Wang Xiumei described what she had seen of the red fog.
Everyone, including the two elderly parents, paled a little.
"It's been ages since the village had a power outage!"
Yang Defa's father remarked.
"I've never seen a red moon like that in my life!"
Yang Defa's mother added.
The world was about to change!
They all shared that feeling.
Yang Defa began serving Su Xi food, then looked at Su Chen. "Young man, what do you think things will be like from now on?"
Yang Defa did not ask why he had known in advance that disaster was coming.
That might be Su Chen's secret.
He asked about the future so he could make plans early.
Having accepted his hospitality, Su Chen felt obliged to him, and he also needed Yang Defa's help installing solar panels.
He also needed to obtain some things from the village.
With that in mind.
After pondering for a moment, Su Chen shared an important piece of information.
"In twelve hours, something will come to Banyan Tree Village."
Twelve hours?
Hearing the precise twelve-hour timeframe made Yang Defa even more certain that Su Chen had some sort of ability.
Was that why.
He had known about the red fog in advance?
"Will the red fog come to the village?"
Yang Defa continued asking.
"Those things are afraid of sunlight right now. The red fog just makes it easier for them to move around during the day."
"With all the thick vegetation in the village, they'll probably come even without the red fog, won't they?"
"There are fewer people in the village. Maybe things will be a little better."
Su Chen's words were half information and half conjecture.
The system had not mentioned red fog.
Then it probably was not the red fog.
On the other hand, the village was full of shady trees interspersed with bamboo groves. It looked dangerous.
"If I stay in the village, what should I watch out for?"
Yang Defa still wanted to stay in the village.
"You mustn't go near the banyan tree or the graveyard."
"Actually."
"If you really want to survive, you'll probably have to keep running!"
Su Chen revealed the only way to survive.
He could tell Yang Defa was probing for information, but he did not particularly mind.
It was the apocalypse.
Ultimately, he could not manage alone, especially with a disabled younger sister in tow.
If he could get some help, nothing could be better.
The graves and beneath the banyan tree?
Once Yang Defa learned the specific locations, his Adam's apple bobbed.
He realized it too.
If they did not run in time, they might not be able to escape.
Yang Defa looked at his parents. "Dad, Mom, why don't you come with us in the car?"
His father shook his head and said firmly, "We're staying in the village."
At the end, he added an explanation.
"I know it's dangerous. I just don't want to leave."
While cooking earlier, his father had learned that there were inexplicable entities out there.
In fact, elderly people were already more inclined to believe in things young people considered superstition.
But he was old!
He no longer wanted to go wandering around.
"Dad!"
Hearing his elderly father's words, Yang Defa could not help raising his voice.
But he knew all too well.
He most likely could not change his father's mind.
He could only settle for the next best thing.
"Su, is there anything that can keep my dad alive in the village?"
"I'll do whatever you ask!"
Finally, Yang Defa looked at Su Chen and pleaded.
Su Chen fell silent.
If he had that ability, why would he be running away?
"Brother!"
Su Xi had barely spoken along the way, but now she could not help calling out too.
She was fifteen, just the age to be in high school.
She was somewhat naive and inexperienced in the ways of the world.
But she could clearly understand a matter of life and death.
If Yang Defa's parents stayed in the village, their fate would be death.
Yang Defa's parents had treated her very well.
Su Xi did not want to see them end up dead.
So she began pleading with her brother.
In Su Xi's eyes, her brother could do anything.
"I can't guarantee they'll survive, but there are a few ways to preserve their lives."
"Black dog blood, glutinous rice, and incense ash from the ancestral hall can hold those things off a little."
Su Chen looked at Yang Defa and explained each one.
"Oh, right."
"Do you know a Butcher Yang in this village?"
"I want to buy a pig-slaughtering knife."
Su Chen recalled an entry about a pig-slaughtering knife in the system's intelligence.
"Butcher Yang?"
Hearing that, Yang Defa's father couldn't help chuckling.
"That's me!"
"You want my pig-slaughtering knife?"
Su Chen froze, too.
He had come straight to the man himself?
"Never mind, then!"
Once Su Chen heard that the knife was in Yang Defa's father's hands, he no longer asked for it.
This family must have realized the knife was something good, too.
"I'll give you the knife and teach you a Pig-Slaying Knife Technique, too."
"But you have to promise me one thing: save my son and my daughter-in-law once each in the future."
Yang Defa's father offered the knife of his own accord.
Hearing this, Su Chen glanced at Yang Defa and Wang Xiumei in turn.
The old man had hidden depths.
Why "once each"?
Those words were meant for Yang Defa and Wang Xiumei to hear.
First, he had treated them equally.
Second, if the couple got along well and refused to abandon each other, it would amount to two shared chances to have their lives saved.
Three times was the limit.
No favor was greater than saving a life.
Asking someone to save lives twice was already very greedy.
Save them separately.
That made it sound like just once.
Su Chen suddenly felt that even if Old Yang stayed in the village, he might still survive.
"Dad!"
Wang Xiumei called out, somewhat touched by his words.
"Dad, wouldn't it be better to keep the knife?"
Yang Defa wanted his father to keep the knife.
Perhaps his chances of surviving would be greater that way.
"You don't understand."
"Good things need to be in the hands of someone who knows how to use them, and they need to be passed down."
Old Yang shook his head at Yang Defa, then looked at Su Chen again.
He was waiting for Su Chen's promise.
"I promise!"
Su Chen agreed to that condition in exchange for the knife.
Old Yang stood up and turned to fetch the knife from the inner room.
"Woof, woof, woof!"
Just then, Black Dog began barking urgently.
Everyone's heart tightened.
It was like hearing a knock at the door while watching a horror movie.
Yang Defa even looked toward Su Chen.
Hadn't he said...
There were still twelve hours left?
Before you continue