Earthquake

The delay held them up for nearly an hour before they set off again. It was already two in the afternoon. A few scattered zombies had emerged nearby in the meantime, but they had all been disposed of along the way.

The snowplow once again led the way, clearing obstacles from the road. Cheng Jing and Jiang Nian's vehicle came second, followed by Li Kaiyun and his two children, with Huang Qian and the others bringing up the rear.

The arrangement moved Li Kaiyun to tears.

They ran into several more zombie groups of varying sizes along the way, but none caused the group much trouble, and their journey was reasonably smooth.

Before it was completely dark, they reached an open plaza on the outskirts of the city with a clear view of the surroundings.

Camping out in the open had been Jiang Nian's request. Worried about a sudden earthquake, they had chosen open areas to rest throughout the journey.

Tang Yi and Zhou Rongbin, who had no guard duty during the day, pitched a tent and took turns keeping watch over their surroundings at night. With the game console Jiang Nian had given them to pass the time, it wasn't too difficult.

Everyone else slept in the vehicles, ready to flee at the first sign of trouble.

Since leaving Qingyun City, they had successfully avoided several dangerous nighttime earthquakes.

Although Jiang Nian had not taken part in any fighting himself, his decisions about their itinerary and route had won the team's wholehearted respect.

Without Jiang Nian, they would have been buried several times over.

Everyone ate dinner together. Since they intended to build a good relationship, Jiang Nian felt it was necessary to be generous.

His teammates all understood what he meant and what he had in mind, and they warmly welcomed the three members of the Li family.

Jiang Nian's way of handling people was direct and straightforward:

If he treated you well, he did so sincerely. If he didn't want to deal with you, he wouldn't give you a chance to get anywhere near him.

After dinner, Xiao Ya and Huang Qian took the initiative to draw Li Shuhui into conversation. Li Kaiyun and Li Liang offered to stand watch, but Cheng Jing turned them down.

"Just get a good rest and keep your energy up so you can keep pace with us during the day. Starting tomorrow, we'll spend less time stopped to rest and take turns driving. Let us know if you have any difficulties."

Li Kaiyun nodded.

"Then thank you. Xiao Liang and I can take turns driving during the day."

"All right."

As he spoke, Cheng Jing casually handed him a pack of cigarettes, then sat down beside him.

No one on their team smoked, but he had stocked up on plenty because Jiang Nian had said tobacco and similar goods were hard currency at the bases. After the poisonous rain fell, he had gone out and gathered quite a lot.

Seeing that they were going to talk, Li Liang tactfully walked away and asked the others on the team if there was anything he could help with.

Li Kaiyun gratefully accepted the pack and immediately pulled out a cigarette, but he had no lighter. Just as he was about to ask, Cheng Jing flicked his fingers and lit it for him.

"Phew-"

He took a deep drag, and the rush of nicotine perked him up. Li Kaiyun narrowed his eyes in satisfaction and smacked his lips a few times.

Cheng Jing took the opportunity to ask:

"Uncle, were you in the military?"

"Yes."

Li Kaiyun smiled and turned his head to look at him.

"So were you."

It was a statement. One could call it a kind of instinct and understanding between soldiers.

Cheng Jing nodded.

"Yeah. I only left the service recently."

Smoking his cigarette, Li Kaiyun looked at the others busy nearby and continued:

"Your team is well trained, and you work together and trust each other a great deal. You don't look like a group thrown together at random."

"Except for my partner Jiang Nian and Xiao Ya, we all worked for a security company before the apocalypse. After it began, we joined the Qingyun City Official Rescue Guild."

Cheng Jing answered truthfully, revealing some information without making a show of it and briefly explaining the team's circumstances.

After listening, Li Kaiyun understood. He tapped the ash off his cigarette and said:

"A group like yours would be welcomed at any base and could get excellent resources."

So they're partners. That explains why Jiang Nian is the one who speaks for them.

Cheng Jing neither agreed nor disagreed, but he still replied modestly:

"The official in charge of Qingyun City did give us a letter of recommendation... But with our families in tow, all we want is stability. Otherwise, we wouldn't have chosen South City Base."

Li Kaiyun nodded.

"True..."

"..."

The two talked for a long time, then returned to their respective vehicles to rest late into the night.

It was still very cold at night, so Jiang Nian gave Li Kaiyun and his two children two more blankets to keep warm.

The rest of the night passed peacefully.

Over the next few days, they encountered more zombies, but dealt with them all without trouble.

After collecting quite a few crystal cores from ability-wielding zombies, Cheng Jing discussed the matter with Jiang Nian and took the initiative to tell Li Kaiyun about them.

They were traveling together, after all, and Li Kaiyun was not a careless man. He would find out sooner or later, so they might as well tell him themselves.

To their surprise, however, the three members of the Li family also handed Cheng Jing the crystal cores they had obtained by splitting open zombies' skulls.

In addition, Li Liang and Li Shuhui had fewer chances to fight, so they took it upon themselves to handle the "logistics," cooking and tidying up when they stopped to rest.

After all, Jiang Nian and Cheng Jing had invited them to eat together on the second day after they joined. The others had been generous, and they needed to do their part too.

And so they traveled together for nearly a week.

As they drew closer and closer to the base, they often encountered base rescue teams escorting survivors at various intersections.

As a result, they encountered fewer zombies.

They had thought they could continue straight to the base at this pace, but just as they were about to drive onto a bridge across a river, an earthquake struck. The bridge collapsed, and several enormous cracks opened in the ground.

By coincidence, a rescue team was right ahead of them, transporting thousands of survivors in large green trucks.

When the earthquake struck, the rescue team was preparing to cross the bridge. Although they noticed something was wrong and turned around in time, several trucks were unable to get back quickly enough and overturned, falling into the cracks and rubble.

Cheng Jing left Huang Qian, Xiao Ya, and Li Shuhui to watch over their vehicles and led the others to help.

Although the base's rescuers acted quickly, the earthquake had struck too suddenly. The scene was chaotic, filled with screams, cries, and shouts. There were too few medical workers to save everyone.

Even though there were quite a few ability users among both the rescue team and the survivors, many people still died. Some who were pulled out were barely breathing and would not last much longer.

After the apocalypse, this stretch of the river had dried up, and with the pollution, the area beneath the bridge had become a pool of black mud where many zombies had gathered.

The bridge collapse and the ground giving way had not buried them all. Instead, they climbed up through the rubble.

Many people trapped beneath debris and unable to escape in time were bitten, scratched, or even eaten, leaving no need to save them.

And this was in broad daylight. Had it been night, there would have been no way to rescue them at all.

"Help us..."

"I don't want to die... Help me..."

"Someone, please save us..."

A family of three lay pinned beneath a long concrete slab: a middle-aged couple and their daughter, who wore a high school uniform.

Two zombies were crawling toward them, one from either side. Overwhelming terror made them scream.

Just as a zombie's sharp nails were about to rake the woman's exposed arm, lightning, fire, and icicles descended from above, instantly wiping out the zombies around them.

Zhao Lei manipulated metal into an iron chain and pulled the slab away, then rescued the family of three. Fortunately, they had only been pinned down and were unhurt.

"I can't walk anymore, sob... Carry me up..."

The girl shook like a leaf and could barely stand as she looked at Cheng Jing, tears streaming down her face.