Strange Transcendents

This also made Chen Fan aware of a problem with the convoy.

Qian Lei could only tell whether a "direction" was dangerous. He couldn't tell whether the danger came from the eerie or from humans.

And when Qian Lei "stopped taking orders," his ability was effectively switched off, leaving the convoy without a means of sensing danger.

Chen Fan couldn't keep the Myriad Souls Banner active all the time either, using the ghost Old Zhao's ability to sense danger.

Transcendent abilities consumed mental power, and at his current stage, he couldn't handle it.

Perhaps upgrading himself later would solve these problems.

Chen Fan had originally planned to figure out how to use the newly acquired origin equipment to improve his strength once they stopped to rest.

But they had barely stopped before another convoy arrived.

A convoy of more than twenty vehicles, carrying several hundred people, came driving toward them in force.

Judging by their slow pace and the good condition of the people in the convoy, they probably hadn't encountered the fog.

A Jeep led the way, stopping more than fifty meters from Chen Fan and his group.

A man of around thirty was the first to get out.

He was tall, with a buzz cut, sharp features, and bright eyes. He wore a pair of round, lensless glasses and a somewhat unusual outdoor jacket.

The upper half looked like an outdoor jacket, while the lower half resembled an ancient-style skirt.

Chen Fan recognized it as a branded Embroidered Uniform Guard outdoor jacket. Before the apocalypse, he had often seen it while scrolling through Douyin.

Besides the strange outfit, the man also had a vine tied around his waist.

Two gourds hung from the vine, one red and one orange. Each was a single solid color, without a trace of any other shade.

As the man got out, several people emerged from the vehicles behind him and came to his side.

One was a young woman with slightly wavy hair gathered into a bun atop her head, a curl hanging over her forehead. She looked spirited and valiant.

She wore a red hoodie and black wide-legged pants, with a black stab-proof vest over the hoodie.

What stood out was the seven swords she carried.

Three were fanned out across her back, while two more were strapped in an X on each side of her waist.

Every sword was a different color.

There were red, blue, purple...

On the other side of the young woman stood a woman in a tight, dark-blue dress.

The woman had thick, naturally curly black hair that fell to her waist, and her close-fitting dress perfectly outlined her voluptuous figure.

She also wore a black cloak over the dress, its hood pulled over her head. Shadows covered a small part of her face, giving her a somewhat dark, mysterious appearance.

On the other side of the bespectacled man stood...

When Chen Fan saw that figure, he thought his eyes were playing tricks on him.

He looked several more times before confirming he hadn't seen wrong.

Standing to the bespectacled man's left was, astonishingly, a panda man.

And an extremely tall, muscular panda man at that.

He was over two meters tall and built like an iron tower.

He had a humanoid body but a panda's head.

His whole body was covered in panda fur, too.

The fur on his torso was white, while that on his limbs was black.

The panda man wore a gray sleeveless shirt, with a black stab-proof vest over it.

The biceps on both his arms were exceptionally developed.

His arms were literally thicker than thighs.

He wore brown cargo pants and tactical boots on his lower half.

The panda man kept bringing a long, thin, black object with ridges to his mouth.

His beastly mouth opened and closed incessantly, his fearsome fangs chewing away...

The corner of Chen Fan's mouth twitched. If he wasn't mistaken, the thing in that guy's hand was rebar...

Judging by how the four carried themselves, they were probably the transcendent leaders of the convoy.

There were four transcendents, more than on their side...

As Chen Fan sized them up, they were sizing him up as well.

By this time, Li Yuanyuan had moved to Chen Fan's side.

Qian Lei hesitated before coming over too, but he stayed half a step behind Chen Fan, hiding behind him with only half his body visible.

There were four transcendents, and Chen Fan roughly estimated that the convoy had four or five hundred people.

Overall, it was even larger than his previous convoy.

Never mind now, when they had only five people on their side.

Although Chen Fan was confident that his own transcendent abilities were nothing to scoff at, their side had lost out in presence, at least.

At that moment, the bespectacled man called over to them.

"This safe area is plenty big. We can each take a side and keep an eye out for each other. No problem with that, right?"

Chen Fan understood. The other party had probably sensed that this was a suitable place to stop and rest too.

"Sure, make yourselves comfortable. But it would be best not to get too close, so we can avoid any unnecessary misunderstandings."

The bespectacled man replied, "Of course."

They then turned around and began arranging for the convoy to rest by the road.

Several hundred survivors got moving, making quite a scene.

By comparison, Chen Fan and his group looked awfully lonely.

They had only one large van, one small electric scooter, and five people.

Watching the bustle on the other side, Chen Fan turned to look at his own group.

"Let's cook too. We can get some rest early after we eat."

Qian Lei and Li Yuanyuan nodded.

Meanwhile, Sun Hong and Yan Kuan had already picked up some dry branches by the roadside and piled up stones to make a simple stove. They set a pot over it and lit a fire to boil water.

They planned to have dried noodles for dinner, with some ready-to-eat braised meat looted from a supermarket.

The kind that came in small packages, like duck necks and boneless chicken feet.

They could boil a big pot of dried noodles and toss some of that in for a bit of meat.

It was already a rare delicacy in the apocalypse.

There was no hoping for greens. Fresh vegetables were harder to come by than transcendents in the apocalypse.

Most of the plants in the soil had already died, and the few that remained had mutated and were no longer edible.

The noodles cooked quickly. Once the big pot was ready, the five gathered around it, slurping them down.

Chen Fan watched the full pot of noodles rapidly empty and had a bad feeling.

Although he had a fair amount of supplies in his vehicle, they couldn't withstand five people eating like this.

Especially Li Yuanyuan. That girl ate more than any of the men, and she was already on her fifth bowl.

Damn it, the convoy is only just being rebuilt, and there's so much to do.

I'll let you all eat your fill this once.

When we reach the next supply point, everyone has to take responsibility for their own food.

How can this go on when you eat so much?

Chen Fan mulled it over as he slurped his noodles.

Footsteps sounded in the distance.

Holding his bowl, Chen Fan looked over.

The four transcendents from the other convoy were walking toward them.

Li Yuanyuan and the others noticed them too and put down their bowls and chopsticks.

"Everyone, we're not disturbing you, are we?"

The bespectacled man and his companions stopped twenty paces away from them.

Chen Fan asked, "What is it?"

The bespectacled man smiled. "We wanted to ask if you have anything you'd like to trade. We could exchange supplies so each side gets what it needs."

Chen Fan was tempted. He wanted to trade for some supplies, since he didn't know how long it would be before they found another supply point.

All five people in their convoy were currently relying on the little he had in his vehicle. If their supplies ran out, they would be in trouble.

He also wanted to see whether the other party had any transcendent materials. If they did, he could trade for them and increase his origin equipment.

It was just that they didn't seem to have anything to offer...

Chen Fan felt helpless. They really were poor, and some of their supplies had been damaged in the earlier battle in the fog.

They simply couldn't trade for anything now.

Needless to say, Li Yuanyuan was no better off. She had even lost her only motorcycle.

Now she was relying on him for food.

Chen Fan could only say, "Sorry, we have no plans to trade for now."

The bespectacled man didn't mind. He changed the subject. "I see there aren't many of you. Now that the apocalypse is here, everyone has a better chance of survival if we help each other. Would you consider joining us?"

Chen Fan's eyes widened.

He was a dignified convoy leader, and they wanted him to become a subordinate?

A great man is born between heaven and earth. How can he remain beneath another for long?!