Chapter 27

A Chance Encounter 

However, he didn’t have the intention to understand this place. 

He remained by “Juan’s” side, clutching the half-corpse that remained, sitting there as if he had turned into a statue. 

He sat like that, from dawn until dusk, then from dusk until the next dawn. 

Finally, the rain stopped. 

But that didn’t mean the weather improved— 

It started to snow. 

Still holding the corpse by the roadside, the snow fell on him, piling up more and more, turning him into a snowman. 

—

“What kind of crazy weather is this? It was so hot just a few days ago, then suddenly it rained, and now it’s snowing! Damn it—I didn’t bring any warm clothes when I came out. Does anyone have any spare clothes?”

In the car, a burly man grumbled to himself, dressed only in a black tight-fitting outfit and work pants, curling his body up in a way that looked somewhat amusing.

The two companions named pointed to the layers of clothing they were wearing, indicating that they were already dressed in everything they had and truly could not help him.

After sneezing loudly, the man turned to the driver and said, “Brother Du, you must have one over there. I remember there were down jackets among the supplies we collected this time, right? Get me one.”

A cold male voice replied, “According to the base’s current pricing, a down jacket is about 960 points. If you want one, you need to give me 960 points.”

“Damn! This is highway robbery!” the burly man cursed.

“No way,” said a female companion sitting across from him, dressed like a pink onion with her hands stuffed in her pockets. “The down jackets we received this time are all new, and they’re inherently expensive—about 800 points each. Considering the recent drop in temperature, it could easily go up by another 200 or so. Selling it to you for 960 points is already quite cheap.”

Shivering, the burly man stomped his foot and fell silent. After a moment, he saw something through the glass window and shouted, “Stop! Stop!”

Inside the car, his two companions were initially puzzled, but then they followed his gaze outside. When they spotted a motionless figure by the roadside in the snow, they instantly understood—it was a corpse lying by the road.

More precisely, it was the clothing on the corpse that caught their attention.

No one found anything wrong with this behavior. This was the end of the world; not taking advantage of free supplies would be a waste.

The car stopped.

After the burly man jumped out, three of his companions followed him, leaving only the man referred to as “ Brother Du ” in the passenger seat.

“Let me see what you’re wearing…” the burly man said with a grin, rubbing his hands as he approached the snowman.

“Be careful, just in case…” Brother Du called out from the driver’s seat.

“Don’t worry; it’s too cold for anything to happen,” the man replied, though he slowed down, cautiously reaching out his hand towards the snowman’s shoulder. However, at that moment—

With a hiss and a cry of pain, the burly man suddenly vanished. When he reappeared, it was not where he had been but beside the truck they had been riding in.

“What happened?” Brother Du asked from the driver’s seat.

The burly man raised his left hand to show him—there was a noticeable chunk of flesh missing from his hand!

The wound wasn’t deep, but it was a testament to how fast the man had moved.

Knowing how fast the burly man was, the man in the passenger seat also got out of the car.

Together with the burly man, the team surrounded the “snowman,” slowly closing in.

At that moment, the “snowman,” having just been attacked, stood up, shaking off half the snow covering him to reveal his true appearance beneath the snow.

Even though they considered themselves survivors of the apocalypse and had seen many people and events, when they saw the young boy’s current state, everyone gasped in shock.

Yes, they could already tell he was quite young.

Though his face was covered in dirt and blood, making it hard to discern his features, they could still make out his youthful face and build.

Then they noticed what he was tightly holding in his arms.

That sight was even more chilling—a corpse!

In this moment, a wounded child clutching his dead relative tightly…

There was no need to ask; it was clear that a tragic story lay behind this.

“I don’t see anyone else around here; where did this child come from? And why is he still…” the only female in the group said.

“Nothing surprising. I also escaped from somewhere else all alone back in the day, and I wasn’t the only one; it was pretty miserable,” the burly man replied.

“I remember you were already over six feet tall back then,” the female companion shot him a sideways glance.

“Over six feet tall is just a young adult!” the burly man said gruffly as he took out a small bottle of liquor from his pocket and poured it on his wound, then took a swig from the bottle, indicating he wasn’t going to hold the injury against the boy.

Compared to the tall, strong man who was already six feet tall as a young adult, the boy in front of them was clearly more pitiable, especially since he still held tightly to the corpse. Seeing this, the woman felt a pang of compassion in her heart.

After using a detection device on the boy and confirming he was fine, the woman took a few steps toward him and softly said, “Good boy, come with us. We’re heading back to the base; you’ll be safe with us there.”

As a combatant in the team, she had a certain aura of intimidation after years of fighting, and this was her most amiable demeanor. However, the boy remained unresponsive to her kindness.

Instead, their gazes met, and as she locked eyes with his left eye, which was wide open due to a damaged eyelid, she froze for a moment.

In that instant, when their eyes met, she felt a chill run down her spine.

What was going on?

Hugging her arms, the woman suddenly felt that the clothes she wore weren’t enough to keep her warm.

Finally, it was Brother Du, the driver, who spoke up: “Come with us. It just rained and snowed here; it’s not good for the corpse, and you might need some needles and thread?”

This time, the boy moved.

His light brown eyes, cold as ice, met the man’s gaze as he held tightly to the corpse in his arms and wordlessly climbed onto their vehicle.

Without looking at them, he sat down on the left side of the truck, taking up an entire row of seats. The burly man, who had originally been sitting there, opened his mouth but could only awkwardly sit with the other two companions on the right side of the truck.

The man referred to as Brother Du made a special trip to the back after heading toward the driver’s seat to hand the boy a brand new down jacket. The boy didn’t take it and said nothing; instead, he neatly folded the jacket and placed it in front of him as Brother Du prepared to turn and leave.

“Hey! Brother Du, aren’t you selling that down jacket for 960 points?” The burly man raised an eyebrow at Brother Du’s actions, still dressed in only a single layer.

Brother Du glanced at him and replied, “So I’ll cover that amount.”

After saying that, he stretched out his hands, and a steel basin and a piece of dry wood appeared out of thin air. “Do you want this? The steel basin is 50 points; the wood I picked up from the roadside, I can give it to you.”

A minute later, the burly man had lit a fire in the basin.

“Tch! Why didn’t you just take out such cheap and useful things earlier instead of forcing me to buy a luxury item for 960 points?” As he warmed himself by the fire, the burly man grumbled.

“Didn’t you ask Brother Du for that down jacket?” A small, thin man sitting beside him couldn’t help but speak up to Brother Du. “Plus, you just said you didn’t want a down jacket and then told us to stop. If we hadn’t stopped, I bet Brother Du would have suggested the fire basin next.”

Although they hadn’t known each other long, Brother Du was a decent person.

Realizing that he was right, the burly man pouted and stopped talking, spreading his arms wide as he focused on warming himself.

Night had fallen, and they were still on the road. It was colder outside than before, but with the addition of the fire basin, the interior of the vehicle was somewhat warmer. Glancing at the still motionless boy opposite them, he noticed the boy’s pitifully wounded state and his left eye, which couldn’t close due to a damaged eyelid… The thin man quickly averted his gaze and walked toward the boy, pulling the burly man along with him.

Squatting in front of the boy, the thin man pointed at the wound on the burly man’s left hand, smiled, and after a moment, placed his palm over the boy’s hand. After a minute, he removed his hand, and the wound on the burly man’s hand had disappeared.

“My ability is healing. Although it’s not very strong, it should make you feel a bit more comfortable, at least enough for you to close your eyes. Do you want to give it a try?” The thin man spoke slowly, but after seeing the boy remain motionless for a while, he scratched his head, unsure of what to do.

“Or should we knock him out so you can heal him?” the burly man suggested from the side.

“Don’t say that…” The thin man was about to refuse when suddenly—

Right in front of the two, the previously unresponsive boy collapsed to the ground as if he had been knocked out.

“Hey? Was it you?” The thin man looked at the burly man beside him.

“My speed isn’t that fast!” the burly man firmly denied.

The thin man and the burly man then looked at another companion in the vehicle—

Seeing him shake his head in denial, their gazes continued to move, moving… until they finally landed on the very last “person” in the vehicle, if the other could still be considered a person…

They looked at the corpse the boy had been holding tightly.

“Surely it can’t be him, right? Haha, why do I suddenly feel a bit cold?” The thin man chuckled awkwardly, then looked down to see the boy’s exposed eyeball, still visible even in his unconscious state. He carefully placed his hand over the boy’s eye, beginning to treat the wound on his eyelid.

In fact, it was indeed him—standing aside, watching the thin man treat the boy, Juan thought.