Chapter 46

Everything Will Be Alright

Thanks to Pedro’s steady supply of Kumela flowers, their vehicle was holding up, but they were thoroughly stuck.

As people up ahead made desperate attempts to escape, their neighboring cars tried to cut ahead, blocking the lane beside them. Soon enough, more vehicles, driven by fleeing bandits, poured in, adding to their troubles. Not only did they have to worry about zombies, but also these rogue bandits.

“This is madness! It’s like we’re all going down together!” Chen Shan paced around the cabin, at a loss.

Before entering the city, they had discussed how to cross the bridge. This exact scenario—facing zombies ahead—had been part of their plan. Hu Xuan’s group would lead the way, while those behind would stick to their cars, crossing the bridge in an orderly line. It was supposed to be the fastest, safest way to get across.

But plans don’t always go smoothly. People got pulled out of their cars by bandits, which set off a chain reaction of panic. Some even tried to run, probably banking on their powers to get them to safety.

Unfortunately, this left those at the rear, like them, in a tight spot.

“Are we just going to rely on these flowers to chew through everything?” Looking out at the Kumela flowers biting the zombies outside, Chen Shan clutched his head and cheered on the flowers.

“If you’re going to cheer someone on, shouldn’t it be me?” Pedro remarked, exasperated. He then suggested to Chen Shan, “Tell the driver to move forward when the time is right.”

“Move forward? How?” Chen Shan was confused but did as told, teleporting to the front to relay Pedro’s message to Da Xiong and Damon in the driver’s seat.

“Move forward? Is Pedro going to grow more of those big-mouth flowers?” Clearly, Da Xiong had the same idea as Chen Shan.

“Maybe,” Chen Shan replied, watching nervously as cracks began forming on the windshield. Just then, layers of vines crept over the windshield from behind, covering everything but a small gap for the driver to see. With the vines reinforcing the glass, the cracking stopped immediately.

“Wow! Pedro can grow this kind of plant? What a sturdy thing!” Chen Shan exclaimed.

Expecting more of the large-mouth flowers, he was instead met by a strong gust of wind that blew the empty car in front of them off the bridge, allowing Da Xiong to move forward, gaining significant ground.

“Great job!” Cheers erupted from the cabin.

“That wind was exhausting; it’s too weak, and I had to cast it multiple times to create a big gust like that,” Pedro whispered to Juan.

“It’s not a hurricane spell, after all,” Juan replied. Watching Pedro skillfully control the wind, she marveled at his magical talent.

With the help of Pedro’s wind, they advanced by three car lengths. But on the fourth attempt, a strong gust came unexpectedly, sweeping them off the bridge. He was a wind-powered ability user, and among the bandits behind them was also someone with wind abilities who had figured out their route and began imitating it!

Unlike Ped, who would check to see if anyone was in the vehicle ahead before using magic, this wind user blew at every vehicle in sight, sending them all crashing off the bridge.

However—

Chen Shan, who had already closed his eyes and braced for death, suddenly felt the falling sensation stop. Opening his eyes, he realized that although their vehicle had indeed fallen off the bridge, it hadn’t plummeted downward; instead, vines had caught and held it under the bridge.

It was Ped! At the critical moment, he had once again used magic, conjuring Mandragora vines to secure the vehicle below the bridge!

Not only the vehicle but everyone in the rear compartment was also held in place by the vines.

The moment the vehicle flew off, the rear doors had swung open. If Ped hadn’t acted in time to secure everyone inside with vines, many people would have been flung out.

“Thank you,” said an elderly man holding a gun, dryly expressing gratitude to Ped as he noticed the seven chickens tied to him by vines.

“No need to thank me,” Ped replied, waving a hand dismissively.

He then looked upward, calculating angles to figure out the best way to pull the vehicle back up onto the bridge.

But just then, things took an even worse turn—

The Paradise Base had fallen far faster than expected, and even the base leader had abandoned it to escape.

In fact, the recent strong winds had been orchestrated by his subordinates to clear obstacles. The Paradise Base leader had crossed the bridge unhindered and, looking back at the pursuing zombie horde, extended his left hand coldly.

With a gentle pinch of his fingers, he opened them like a blossoming firework.

Following his movement, an explosion erupted on the bridge.

With a deafening roar, flames surged from the bridge, which severed at his end, sending the long stretch of roadway plunging downwards in slow motion. Zombies, along with survivors, plummeted into the abyss below.

Once he was certain the zombies wouldn’t be able to follow, the base leader ordered his convoy to continue forward without so much as a backward glance at “Paradise.”

The people inside the vehicle watched as zombies fell past them one by one.

These terrifying creatures, even as they fell, opened their jaws to howl at the living. Fortunately, the distance prevented them from biting anyone.

Now, with the vehicle detached from the bridge, Ped had reached out his Mandragora vines at the last second, allowing everyone to cling to them—though two or three people had missed grabbing on and were ultimately bound by Ped’s vines.

Sliding down tens of meters, they still hung precariously beneath the bridge.

Barely, but still attached to the bridge.

The bridge deck loomed just ahead of them, with zombies running down from above. Below lay the abyss, while steep cliffs stretched into the distance. If not for the vines they were holding, they would be in utter despair. Even with the vines, despair was close.

“Those who can go, should go. Shan, you go,” Big Bear said after a long silence, looking at the unfathomable chasm below.

In his view, there was no escape for everyone, but because of Chen Shan’s unique abilities, he might still have a slim chance.

Hearing Big Bear’s words, Chen Shan gave a bitter smile, grasping his younger brother’s hand tightly. He gestured to his old partner to look up, “Brother, don’t just look down; look up. It’s all flames. Those guys have probably set the city on fire to kill the zombies. My powers aren’t unlimited either, and if I die in the middle of this, burning to death would be even worse, right? I’d rather go with you.”

He smiled at his brother, and when he noticed the young man crying, he tried to comfort him, “We’ve both lived a few extra years. I’ve let you see a bit of the world—even if you haven’t seen much, you’re not the little guy who knew nothing, right?”

He had initially been driven by the hope that his brother would experience some of the world before dying, so he brought him out of their hometown base, which had already fallen, often repeating those words to him. Back then, it was a joke; now, it was the truth.

“Yes! Thank you, Brother! These years, I’ve been happy! You’ve worked so hard for me—” Ah Hai said, gratitude evident in his voice, tears and snot streaming down his face.

Chen Shan had no spare hands to wipe away his brother’s tears, so he simply chuckled, grinning at him.

And so Ah Hai, watching his brother, began to laugh through his tears.

Inspired by this, Ah Hai’s friends also started expressing their thanks to those who had raised them with so much care.

Two orphaned youths smiled despite having no family left.

“I can go see Mom and Dad now, maybe even return to our homeland,” said Tony, smiling brightly and fearless, though he had been terrified before.

His name made it clear he was a foreigner, but he had been born in the apocalypse and lost his parents early. He had no real concept of his homeland.

Xiaolu, on the other hand, began calculating with his fingers, “I did the math. Our auspicious sign points down below; does that mean it would be better if we died?”

The others looked at him, speechless.

Seeing these innocent children, the doctor smiled. But then his attention was drawn to something nearby.

A small child was falling past him.

He recognized the child, likely from one of the other vehicles in their base. Few people fled with children, and those with such small children were rarer still.

Seeing the child with arms outstretched and crying in midair, the doctor instinctively caught him, pressing him close to his chest. He saw a moth resting on the child’s shoulder.

He realized almost instantly what was happening, but it was already too late—the little child transformed into a zombie in an instant and lunged at the doctor, ready to bite.

Before the doctor could be bitten, he let go of the vine.

He knew he had acted impulsively, but he couldn’t let his mistake endanger the others. As long as they were still alive, there was hope, and he didn’t want to destroy that hope because of himself.

With this thought in mind, he released his grip on the vine and closed his eyes.

However—

There was no pain from the bite. Instead, he felt a tight grip on his wrist, as if someone was holding him.

It was Juan!

Opening his eyes, the doctor saw Juan’s face.

Somehow, Juan had climbed onto the vine he had been holding earlier. With his black hair and dark eyes, Juan was gripping the vine with one hand while holding the doctor’s wrist with the other. As for the child who was about to bite the doctor, the little mouth was now sinking its teeth into Juan’s wrist.

Seeing the bite on Juan’s wrist, the doctor felt a surge of emotion. Why? He wanted to ask.

“You’re a good person; you deserve good things,” Juan said quietly, noticing the tears welling up in the doctor’s eyes.

After speaking, he looked over to Ped, who was hanging from a nearby vine.

Ped quickly cast a spell, and to everyone’s surprise, a circular portal, about one and a half meters in diameter, appeared in the chasm below.

The moment it appeared, Juan let go of the doctor’s hand.

Smiling at the doctor’s astonished expression as he disappeared into the portal, Ped waved goodbye.

“Everything will be okay,” he said with a smile.