The "Turn the Tables" Plan

(This chapter has been slightly revised, but the overall story remains unchanged. Those who have already read it do not need to read it again.)

Of the five people in the other convoy, three stood out.

The three in the middle had dyed their hair red, yellow, and green, respectively.

They were hard to miss.

The first of the five from the left was a slightly overweight man wearing sunglasses.

But the sunglasses weren't over his eyes. They were perched on top of his head.

It was unclear why he had sunglasses but didn't wear them over his eyes.

The second from the left was the redhead, a young girl in a long black Gothic dress. She had a toothpick in her mouth and a cocky expression on her face.

Chen Fan noticed that when the girl saw him dressed all in white, in ancient-style clothing, she looked at him as though he were some kind of weirdo.

The third was the blond, a somewhat handsome man with both hands in his pockets. He regarded Chen Fan and the others with an appraising gaze.

The fourth was the greenhead. The redhead and blond both had somewhat exaggerated shamate hairstyles, but he had a green buzz cut. He had rugged features and a tall, muscular build.

Notably, he had a holster at his waist.

An entirely blue handgun sat inside it.

The fifth person, to the greenhead's right, was a man in a black suit. His undyed black hair was tied into a short ponytail.

His gaze was sharp, and he wore a tachi at his waist.

The five were clearly led by the blond in the middle.

The blond sized up Chen Fan, Nie Shufeng, and the others warily.

After all, Chen Fan's group had too many people.

So the blond decided to speak first and take the initiative.

"We're from the Red Yellow Green Convoy. Interested in making a trade?"

Chen Fan's expression remained calm, and he said nothing.

But he felt a little like laughing. The convoy's name certainly matched their hair colors.

Nie Shufeng, meanwhile, wore a friendly expression and smiled. "Of course. We were just looking to trade for some supplies, or information about the apocalypse."

Seeing that Nie Shufeng's attitude was reasonable, the blond sighed inwardly in relief.

"What do you want to trade for? Tell us, and we'll see if we have it."

At that moment, the tachi-wielding man beside the blond suddenly spoke. "This isn't a good place to talk. Why don't you come over to our place and have a seat?"

The blond frowned slightly and turned to look at him.

In the apocalypse, inviting strangers into your territory out of the blue was bound to make them suspect ulterior motives.

Was this guy trying to cause trouble?

A faint, cold smile appeared at the corners of Chen Fan's mouth. "Come over to your place? Can you prepare good food and wine for us? I'll tell you now, we're not going unless there are eighteen dishes. There are a lot of us, after all."

The tachi-wielding man's face tightened, and he looked displeased. "Eighteen dishes? I'm afraid you might bite off more than you can chew and have to carry the consequences away with you."

The atmosphere turned chilly for a moment.

Nie Shufeng's friendly expression disappeared as well. He said coldly, "If your convoy has no intention of trading, then we can each go our own way. But I'd advise you all that surviving the apocalypse isn't easy. You'd better not get any crooked ideas, or you might bring trouble down on yourselves."

The tachi-wielding man snorted and gripped his sword hilt. "I kindly invited you over as guests. Who can you blame for misunderstanding me?"

The blond gave a low shout. "Enough. Step back! Don't say another word!"

The tachi-wielding man's expression stiffened. He snorted heavily in anger and turned away, no longer looking at the blond or Chen Fan's group.

The blond forced a smile. "Sorry about that. He didn't mean anything by it; he just isn't good with words. Let's get back to trading. I'm short on food, cooking equipment, and containers for water. Do you have any?"

Nie Shufeng thought for a moment. "We do have those. Our convoy is rather short on fuel. Can we trade for that?"

Chen Fan spoke up too. Since the other party had backed down, he didn't dwell on the earlier incident.

"Do you have any monster materials? Our convoy needs fuel too."

The blond said thoughtfully, "We do have those things you mentioned, but they shouldn't be much use, should they?"

Chen Fan didn't elaborate. "You don't need to worry about that. Just name your price."

The blond seemed to notice something else. "From what you just said, aren't you from the same convoy?"

Nie Shufeng gave a brief explanation. "We're an alliance. I'm the captain of the Fairness Convoy, and he's the captain of the Mortal Convoy."

Understanding dawned on the blond's face.

He'd been wondering why they had so many superhumans. It turned out they were an alliance of two convoys.

Thinking that their nine superhumans came from two convoys, the blond felt somewhat better.

After all, that meant each convoy had only four or five superhumans, about the same as theirs.

He smiled. "This is my first time seeing convoys form an alliance. I'm quite curious. Could you tell me about it?"

Nie Shufeng didn't refuse. "When it comes to surviving the apocalypse, sticking together gives you a better chance. That's true for survivors, and it's just as true for superhumans.

"Our alliance's purpose is to form bonds and help one another as humans, seeking a ray of dawn in the apocalypse.

"While allied, we don't interfere in the internal management of each other's convoys. When we encounter monsters, we advance and retreat together.

"As you can see, the people behind me are all superhumans from our alliance. There are a lot of them, which gives us much more confidence when we encounter monsters."

The blond's eyes brightened slightly as he listened. He seemed somewhat tempted.

Chen Fan half-jokingly said, "So, would you consider joining our alliance? Though we do have an assessment. We can't just let anyone in. At the very least, you have to understand the true meaning of forming alliances and helping one another!"

As he said this, Chen Fan's gaze swept over the tachi-wielding man, seemingly by accident-or perhaps not.

The tachi-wielding man clearly understood that Chen Fan was referring to him. He snorted. "The apocalypse is incredibly dangerous. Only by growing stronger can you carve out a path to survival. No matter how many weaklings band together, they'll only end up as monster fodder."

Chen Fan glanced at him and sneered. "Then may I ask what superhuman tier you're at now, oh mighty big brother?"

The tachi-wielding man's face flushed red.

"I've only been awakened for a short time, that's all. Just give me time, and I'll certainly have a place among the strong in this apocalypse. If you don't believe me, just wait and see!"

Chen Fan chuckled, disdaining to argue with him.

The man didn't dare say, so he was surely only a mere first-tier superhuman.

The tachi-wielding man snorted angrily again and turned away too.

Captain Blond stepped in to smooth things over. "All right, ignore him. Let's trade first."

With that, the blond instructed his assistant to fetch some fuel and monster materials.

Soon, the blond's group brought out several barrels of gasoline and a large box.

The red-haired girl and green-haired man also brought out some supplies of their own to trade.

Meanwhile, the man with sunglasses on his head walked over to the tachi-wielding man and said something quietly to him, taking no part in the exchange.

The blond opened the box, revealing three monster materials inside.

Chen Fan stepped forward to examine them. One was a severed limb resembling a mantis's foreleg, but it was enormous. The severed part alone was as large as a human thigh.

There was also a button that gave off an eerie aura and a ghost infant statue molded from black mud.

Chen Fan guessed that the mantis foreleg might have been dropped by a monster, while the other two might be remnants of anomalies.

"I'll take all of these."

The blond was delighted. "What are you offering in exchange?"

Chen Fan opened his hand and took a bottle of purified water from his Storage Bag. He first drew out a little with telekinesis and took a sip, then tossed the whole bottle to the blond.

"Try it!"

The blond was startled by his ability to produce an object out of thin air and control the flow of water.

He couldn't begin to guess what Chen Fan's superhuman power was.

He caught the purified water. Since Chen Fan had already drunk some, he didn't hesitate much. He opened it and took a gulp.

The blond's eyes immediately lit up.

After swallowing the water, he let out a satisfied "Ah!"

"Good water!"

Chen Fan smiled faintly. "Doesn't it feel good? Has the fatigue in your body and your injuries eased?"

The blond nodded hurriedly. Looking at the pale blue liquid, he asked, "What is this?"

"Purified water. Drink it regularly, and it can heal injuries and restore your health. It can also remove grime. How about I trade this purified water for those things?"

The blond was willing, of course, but he also knew how to bargain.

He feigned hesitation. "Your purified water is good, but a bottle would be gone in two gulps. I'm afraid it won't have much effect, will it?"

Chen Fan chuckled. "One bottle of purified water for one monster material. As for the fuel, I can also trade some more food for it."

The blond shook his head and said firmly, "Five bottles of purified water for one material, and two bottles of purified water for one liter of fuel!"

Chen Fan pretended to be dissatisfied. "Hmph, you've got some nerve asking that much for something this good at healing injuries! I'll tell you the truth: I spent a lot of money and used monster materials to have a potion-making superhuman refine it. I don't have much of it myself.

"Two bottles of purified water for one material, and one jin of food for one liter of fuel. That's my final offer!"

The blond looked a little anxious. "How can that do? That's too little. Add some more!"

But Chen Fan seemed to have seen through his poor acting and remained unmoved.

The two continued haggling, but Chen Fan stuck to his price and refused to budge.

The blond also understood that Chen Fan had seen how badly he wanted the purified water. In the end, he had no choice but to compromise.

After paying six bottles of purified water and some food, Chen Fan successfully obtained the three monster materials and some fuel.

While they traded, Nie Shufeng and the other superhumans, as well as the survivors from both convoys, were also exchanging various supplies.

After interacting for a while, Chen Fan and the others found the blond decent enough in his conduct and dealings, so they exchanged names.

Only then did they learn that the blond's name was Han Tai.

It was a somewhat steady-sounding name, quite a contrast to the yellow hair on his head.

The superhumans soon finished trading supplies, while things went a little more slowly among the survivors because there were more of them.

With nothing else to do, they exchanged information.

Most of it concerned things they had seen and heard on the road.

There were the monsters they had encountered, as well as villages and supply points they had passed along the way.

Han Tai said, "We passed through a village before, and it was terrifying. Every household had a shrine, and they were all worshipping a ghost infant. From the look of it, they'd been worshipping them since before the apocalypse.

"We accidentally disturbed those ghost infants, and over a hundred of them came pouring out of the village to hunt us down. Luckily, we ran fast. Otherwise, we really would've died in there.

"That ghost infant statue I traded to Chen Fan was dropped by a ghost infant we killed while escaping. But we never figured out what it was for.

"Chen Fan, if you find out what it does, let me know too, will you?"

Chen Fan chuckled. "That'll cost you a hefty information fee, sir."

Han Tai curled his lip. "Aw, I thought we hit it off and were already brothers."

Chen Fan said, "Even brothers keep clear accounts. Haven't you heard that?"

Nie Shufeng smiled and changed the subject, recounting their encounter with Killer Jisen at the gas station.

Han Tai drew his head back when he heard it. "Good grief, he was a ruthless one too."

Then Nie Shufeng mentioned something even Chen Fan and the others hadn't heard before.

"You might not believe me, but I really did see this before. Cases like these are rare, though, so you can't judge them by ordinary standards.

"Not all monsters are bloodthirsty. I've seen sleeping anomalies and even monsters that were friendly toward humans, being controlled by survivors or used as weapons."

Even Chen Fan was somewhat surprised. When had Nie Shufeng seen that? How come he hadn't?

But on second thought, it made sense. Nie Shufeng's superhuman abilities, Clairvoyance and Clairaudience, allowed him to see so much. He was certainly well-informed. He couldn't possibly tell them about everything, either.

Chen Fan suddenly realized that Brother Shu was a treasure trove.

He could dig more of what was in Brother Shu's head out of him in the future.

Han Tai and the superhumans from his convoy all looked thoughtful.

The greenhead among them mused, "If used well, that could be a way to increase combat strength."

Nie Shufeng shook his head. "Unfortunately, situations like that are rare."

Han Tai seemed to remember something. "That information you shared was quite good. I'll share a 'plan' we came up with and are currently carrying out."

The tachi-wielding man behind him frowned and hurriedly shouted, "Captain, you can't tell them that!"

Han Tai looked back and glared at him in displeasure. "We only just started carrying out this plan. It's still in the testing phase, and we don't even know whether it'll work. What's wrong with telling everyone in the alliance so we can all try it together?

"I think the Dawn Alliance's purpose is excellent. Humans need to help one another to survive better. Your outlook is far too narrow!"

The tachi-wielding man looked exasperated at Han Tai's failure to see reason. He glanced at Han Tai several times, wanting to speak but holding back, then turned and went back to his vehicle.

The slightly overweight man with sunglasses on his head followed him away.

Only the blond, redhead, and greenhead remained.

There was something the tachi-wielding man hadn't said: while it was certainly better for humans to grow stronger together, it also mattered who grew strong first and who grew stronger.

Those who grew stronger faster could obviously take the lead sooner.

Only the strong could have a say.

But he hadn't said those words aloud.

Han Tai couldn't see that for himself, so no matter how much the man said, it would be meaningless.

Seeing that things were a little unsettled in the Red Yellow Green Convoy, Nie Shufeng tried to smooth things over. "If the information is too important, we can understand if you don't tell us."

Han Tai shook his head and explained, "It's not that serious. This is just something we're trying.

"I wonder if you've noticed that, aside from regularly exercising your superhuman abilities through constant use and improving step by step, there's another way to grow stronger?"

Nie Shufeng had a guess about what he meant, but he didn't spell it out. Instead, he followed his lead. "I'd like to hear more."

Han Tai wore a serious expression. "We believe the other way is to temper our superhuman abilities through the intense pressure and sense of danger in a life-or-death crisis, thus rapidly improving our superhuman strength.

"That's why we're trying to carry out a 'turn the tables' plan. We actively seek out and approach monsters, and in battle with them, experience the pressure of being on the brink between life and death. We use that pressure to rapidly improve our superhuman abilities."

Just as I thought, Nie Shufeng said inwardly. He had expected this, because it wasn't the first time he had seen a group do this.

For some, he hadn't observed how things ended.

Of those whose endings he had seen, not one had met a good end.

Those who actively sought out monsters had all ended up in their bellies.

As such, he thought very poorly of this practice, and his convoy had consistently followed a plan of detecting and avoiding monsters.

After pondering for a moment, he said, "Your 'turn the tables' plan looks more like a 'courting death' or 'serving yourselves up as food' plan to me. Ever since the day the apocalypse descended, all kinds of monsters have appeared alongside the fog.

"There are quite a few weak ones among them, but there's no telling how many powerful ones there are. Otherwise, humanity's greatest, most densely populated cities wouldn't have been destroyed in an instant.

"Unless you have a superhuman ability that can accurately judge a monster's strength, your plan can only be carried out at noon.

"Do you have an ability like that?"

Han Tai's expression froze, and for a moment he did not know what to say.

After a long while, he could only force out one question. "Why can we only carry it out at noon?"

The red-haired girl beside him sighed. "Because sooner or later, something will go wrong, A Tai, you pigbrain. I always thought this so-called counter-kill plan was unreliable, but Yang Fan insisted on doing it.

"He's a lunatic who knows nothing but fighting. If this goes on, sooner or later everyone in our convoy will end up at their own funeral banquet!"

Hesitation and conflict showed on Han Tai's face.

He seemed to be considering what path the convoy should take in the future.

A moment later, he asked in confusion, "The apocalypse is so dangerous. Shouldn't we be doing our best to grow stronger?"

Nie Shufeng put it concisely. "Lie low and seek victory. Stay alive first, then think about growing stronger."

He said no more. After all, they had only met the Red Yellow Green Convoy by chance.

When people barely know each other, they should avoid speaking too frankly.

With that, he patted Han Tai on the shoulder and returned to the vehicle with the driver, Zhou Yuanchen, and the supplies they had traded for.

Chen Fan smiled at Han Tai, who had fallen deep in thought.

"Listen to good advice and you won't go hungry, blondie. Once you've solved your convoy's problems, the Dawn Alliance will still welcome you."

With that, Chen Fan put the supplies into his Storage Bag and left as well.

Seeing this, the superhumans on both sides gradually finished trading and returned to their respective vehicles.

Only the survivors remained, still trading a few things here and there.

The Dawn Alliance's people generally did not have much gasoline, while the Red Yellow Green Convoy had a more plentiful supply.

Many of the alliance's survivors traded supplies for some gasoline to keep on hand for emergencies.

Although the superhumans had finished trading, both convoys tacitly stayed where they were for a short while.

They all planned to rest a little before continuing on their way.

For one thing, it would let the survivors behind them rest for a while after they finished trading.

For another, they had just traded for supplies and needed to sort things out and put them away.

A short rest of about an hour was not particularly dangerous.

Chen Fan returned to the RV and prepared to refine the eldritch monster materials.

What Chen Fan and the others did not know was that a disagreement had broken out among Han Tai and the others in the Red Yellow Green Convoy after they returned.

After Han Tai returned, he gathered the men with the tachi and the sunglasses. He glanced at the tachi-wielding man, who was still angry, but did not single him out. Instead, he spoke to everyone.

"After listening to Captains Chen and Nie of the Dawn Alliance, I feel they have a point. The strength of eldritch monsters defies all reason, while we superhumans have to improve step by step.

"It's still the beginning of the apocalypse. I think survivors should focus on lying low for now. Only by staying alive can we have a future. I've decided to suspend the 'counter-kill' plan and join the Dawn Alliance.

"Once we join them, along with the Fairness Convoy and the Mortal Convoy, we'll have fifteen superhumans. That would definitely make us a powerful force in the apocalypse and greatly improve our chances of survival. What do you think?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Yang Fan spoke up in opposition.

Yang Fan was the man with the short ponytail and the tachi at his side. He frowned deeply. "I disagree. Precisely because it's the beginning of the apocalypse and everyone is just starting out, we need to take the initiative to hunt eldritch monsters and improve our strength. That way, one step ahead means every step ahead.

"No offense, Old Han, but how can you be swayed by a few words from them? Just look at our team. For offense, we have my Bullet Time, A Shan's Laser Eyes, and Old Qin's Blue Fire Desert Eagle. For defense, we have your Traffic Light, and Xiao You can gather intelligence.

"With our group, where in the world can't we go? Are you really going to abandon our plan because of those crooked melons and misshapen dates?

"They have a few more superhumans, but you can tell at a glance that their powers are very ordinary. More people don't always mean more strength. If they were really strong, would they only be protecting around two hundred survivors? As I see it, they're nothing but a mob huddling together.

"But our convoy is destined to walk the path of the strong!

"Just look at the information Xiao You saw about them. That [Boxer] and that [Lightning Whip]-don't they sound like trash powers?

"If you ask me, you should have backed me up earlier. We could have invited them into our convoy, given them some sweet drinks with a little something added, and taken them all down.

"They have so many superhumans but very few survivors. They must have cheated plenty of survivors out of their supplies. If we take them down, we'll definitely score big.

"At the same time, we'd be avenging the survivors. Besides, the ultimate goal of our plan is to train ourselves. In that case, isn't hunting eldritch monsters the same as hunting some human scum? Wouldn't that be another way to fuel war through war?"