Chapter 41

Another Encounter with Moths

Wouldn’t you know it, he really did use it.

While Pedro was speaking, Juan suddenly slammed on the brakes. Fortunately, he reacted quickly enough to use the wind magic he had just learned to cushion himself, preventing his head from hitting the dashboard.

However, the others in the back compartment weren’t so lucky; Pedro heard several loud thuds as heavy objects collided with the compartment, followed by painful groans, the loudest of which came from Chen Shan.

The next moment, Chen Shan’s loud voice came from the back compartment to his side: “How do you drive this car? I guess it’s time for me, the seasoned driver, to give you some guidance—”

His voice abruptly stopped because he saw what was happening in front.

Ahead, the once orderly convoy had descended into chaos; it was clear that some vehicle had encountered a problem. The cars behind were unable to brake in time, crashing one after another, each one swerving haphazardly. Fortunately, their vehicle was not among them; Juan had reacted promptly, stopping perfectly alongside the rear of the vehicle in front.

Unfortunately, the drivers of the cars behind did not possess Juan’s quick reflexes. Their vehicle was still hit from behind by a car that had braked too late. Thankfully, it was a smaller vehicle, and the impact didn’t cause them much trouble.

Ignoring the pain in his head, Chen Shan patted Juan on the shoulder and praised him vigorously: “Young man, you’re driving really well! Your reflexes are even better than Big Bear’s!”

Big Bear—the original driver of this vehicle—had already opened the rear compartment door and was checking the damage caused by the impact on the back of the vehicle, clutching his forehead in pain. The person who drove the most often cared the most about the vehicle, and when the rear was hit, he felt even more pain than if he had been the one injured!

Fortunately, their vehicle was sturdy; it had only suffered some scrapes and a minor dent that didn’t require repair. On the other hand, that small vehicle had taken quite a beating and would probably need some fixing.

Thinking about this, he left the back of the vehicle and walked to the side of the road to see what had just happened.

There were quite a few people sharing the same thought; even the owner of the car that had collided with theirs was no exception. Instead of checking his own vehicle, the occupants got out and walked to the roadside to look ahead.

Taking advantage of his ability, Chen Shan instantly teleported to the front, then brought back first-hand information.

“It was a zombie that suddenly jumped onto the front vehicle. The driver was startled, but the zombie has already been eliminated.”

He spoke loudly, and not only did his companions hear him, but people from several surrounding vehicles did as well. Soon, many approached him:

“How many were there?” asked the owner of the vehicle that had crashed into theirs.

“Just one, but since many vehicles had issues with braking, the leader suggested we stop and do some repairs,” Chen Shan replied. “Some people will stay back to fix the cars, while others will scout ahead.”

Nodding, everyone felt there was nothing unusual about it.

They were all survivors who had fought their way out of hordes of zombies; during those years, they had almost dealt with zombies every day. Perhaps due to the use of vaccines or long-term hunting, the number of zombies had decreased significantly. However, with the large population base, even with regular hunting tasks, zombies would still occasionally appear, and people had long since grown accustomed to it.

Thus, they returned to their vehicles, with most people remaining behind to guard them, while only one person was sent to scout ahead.

The team sent out Chen Shan.

Although their vehicle wasn’t badly damaged, Big Bear took advantage of the rare opportunity to bang out the dent that had just been created and then covered it with a layer of steel plate. Meanwhile, the doctor was busy as well; the sudden brake had caused some injuries among the passengers, and knowing he was there, many came to seek his help.

He didn’t refuse, but he also didn’t let these people into the vehicle. Instead, the doctor pulled out a camping chair from underneath and started working.

Since the outside temperature was quite low, A Hai also divided the firewood from the cabin, setting up a small fire for him. Fortunately, their team had Pedro, the “plant ability user,” so they never lacked fuel. The fire continued to burn inside the vehicle, and everyone felt warm.

However, not every vehicle was as spacious as theirs, allowing for a fire to be lit in the back. Although there was air conditioning in the vehicles, with an unknown road ahead, all energy had to be conserved, and naturally, they wouldn’t waste it on heating. Many people were thus cramped in the small vehicles filled with supplies, feeling cold and squeezed. Now that there was a chance to get out, many immediately stepped down to stretch their legs, and seeing the fire with the doctor, quite a few people came over to warm themselves, even if they weren’t injured.

Of course, many didn’t come empty-handed. They tossed in twigs and grass, making the fire burn even brighter.

As they waited for those scouting ahead to return, the people left guarding the vehicles also came out, and more and more gathered around the fire.

“Why haven’t they come back yet?” After finishing with the last injured person, the doctor glanced at his watch. “Are there any more injured? If so, come over quickly. We should disperse; it’s been so long since they left. We shouldn’t keep waiting down here; it’ll delay our return to the vehicle.”

Saying this, he looked around; the sky had darkened, and the orange-yellow glow of the fire cast dim shadows on people’s faces, filling him with an inexplicable sense of unease. Rubbing his knees, he prepared to stand up.

Just then, someone in the crowd walked toward him.

The person was moving slowly, limping, and thinking he was injured and coming over for treatment, he secretly moved his toes, which were a bit numb from being in the shoes for too long, and sat back down.

What a smell—being close, he caught a whiff of the person’s odor.

Well, after so many days without a shower, everyone was likely pretty dirty. Even while living in a base, people didn’t wash often to save water, so a bit of smell was unavoidable.

But this guy’s odor was overwhelmingly strong—almost nauseating.

Um… speaking of nausea, he thought, why did this familiar yet horrid smell remind him a bit of vomit?

Thinking this, the doctor still asked professionally, “What’s wrong? Did you hurt your leg?”

As he said this, he lifted his head, and in doing so… he finally saw the other person’s face.

A rather familiar face.

“Dr. Fang?” he was stunned. “Aren’t you a doctor? You can treat this small injury yourself; why are you looking for me?”

This was his first thought, but he quickly sensed something was wrong.

“Wait, aren’t you from the Happy Base? How did you escape with us?”

Dr. He frowned and stood up, still trying to process the situation. The next moment, with a whoosh, something flew past his shoulder, zipping by his ear and then cleanly slicing off the head of Dr. Fang in front of him!

The upper half of Fang’s head flew away and vanished, leaving the remaining half and the body standing right in front of him…

This scene… even though the doctor prided himself on his wide experience, standing in front of such a person still startled him.

Turning his head, he saw Juan, who stood calmly beside the front of the car.

Pedro had not completely exited the driver’s cabin; the object that had just flown out should have been thrown by him.

The doctor opened his mouth to speak, but someone beside him had already begun to question:

“What happened? Why did we suddenly attack our own?”

Juan didn’t answer, he simply stared at the body still standing in front of the doctor.

More accurately… it was a corpse.

In front of everyone, a moth slowly flew out from the severed head of the man.

Then, out of nowhere, a chicken suddenly leaped into the air, spread its wings, pecked at the moth, and swallowed it whole.

“What… what’s going on?” The man who had asked the earlier question was dumbfounded as he watched the scene unfold.

With a gust of warm air, the rear compartment door swung open, and an elderly man holding a gun appeared in front of everyone. Behind him were several equally confused young men, and at his feet were several chickens with their wings raised high, seemingly ready for battle.

In fact, they were indeed prepared for battle.

Almost as soon as the old man opened the compartment, the chickens seemed to sense something, flapping their wings and flying toward the crowd gathered around the fire.

“What else could it be? That moth is a zombie; it crawled inside a person’s stomach, bit the organs, and turned the person into a zombie!” The old man mocked, looking at the man who had questioned. “While you were playing in the mud at the base, my chickens were out here in the apocalypse, living off zombies every day.”

“Whether it’s a human or a ghost, none can escape their little beaks!”

As he spoke, the old man raised his gun, aimed, and pulled the trigger, exploding the head of a person in the crowd!

But this time, no one questioned him, as he had only blown off one person’s head; however, several bursts of blood mist erupted simultaneously!

Amidst the screams, everyone finally understood: zombies! They didn’t know how the zombies had mixed in among them!

Even after being briefly confused by the zombies, once they regained their senses, these apocalypse survivors displayed impressive combat skills, quickly eliminating the zombies and those bitten by them. They began to tidy up the scene.

Without Juan’s help, the chickens deftly flew to each corpse; it was unclear how they distinguished them, but they landed directly and began pecking, making holes in the corpses from which moths would emerge.

Not all corpses had moths, but they carefully examined the bodies: those with moths had no bite marks, while those without had obvious wounds.

“That’s Dr. Fang from the Happy Base; he was there the day I went to the Garden Base,” Dr. He remarked.

In the crowd, some abilities users recognized the identities of several other corpses: “This person, and that one, are also abilities users from the Garden Base. They’re quite powerful, probably top-tier at their base.”

Recognizing their identities made it easy to fill in the gaps: the doctor from the Happy Base discovered the new virus but failed to report it, even hiring abilities users to escape.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t avoid the inevitable.

“Good thing I left early that day.” Dr. He glanced at his former colleague, whom he had collaborated with many times.

No one spoke as they looked down at the bodies.