Translator: AmidstTheSeaOfFlurries

Chapter 53

 At one o’clock in the afternoon.

The sun hangs high in the sky, unleashing its enthusiasm without reservation. The air is filled with a scorching taste under the high temperature.

“Compared to this damn heat, I find the rainstorm much better. At least it’s cooler.” Inside the armored vehicle, Yu Xiaole kept fanning beside his ears with his palms, trying to cool himself a little.

Liu Shiyuan also felt so hot that she kept on drinking water. Wiping her sweat: “Captain, let’s recruit an ice-type next time, ok? Anyway, when we go out to do a mission, we can enjoy the humanoid air conditioner.”

“Wife, you think the ice-type is a Chinese cabbage eh? If you want to recruit, it can be recruited?” Tang Ci threw a wink.

The five major elements account for almost 90% of the ability users, while the remaining 10% are mutants.

Liu Shiyuan rolled her eyes at him.

“How about… I turn on the car air conditioner?” Du Mingyu, who was driving, said tentatively.

They set off from the base two days ago and encountered a storm on the way, so they were delayed for some time. They were only now entering M City.

Du Mingyu has been driving the car along the way. Although ability users have good physical strength, Du Mingyu’s eyes are bloodshot due to exhaustion after driving straight for two consecutive days and nights.

But he didn’t seem to have complained in the slightest.

The other team members wanted to replace Du Mingyu, but the closed-eyed Bai Wen, who had been sleeping almost all the time, said, “He has good skills, let him come.”

The team members thought: Because he drives steadily that it was easy for you^[1]TN: The ‘you’ in here is courteous or the formal one. to sleep well right?

Bai Wen has a high position in the team. In short, others dare not disobey his orders.

So Du Mingyu, who had “good skills” above his head, kept driving like this.

When the water was released^[2]TN: This means deliberate accommodation. halfway through, Yu Xiaole patted Du Mingyu’s shoulder to comfort him: “The captain treats you as his own person so he orders you around. We were like this when we first followed the captain.”

Du Mingyu’s face looked proud. A hint of shyness rose from his sincere and honest face: “I’m not tired, this is what I should do.”

The more Yu Xiaole felt that Du Mingyu is a good person, the more he doubted the captain’s attitude in his heart.

But he turned his head and put this doubt behind.

“Don’t waste gasoline.” Liu Shiyuan shook her head and propped her head out of the window, “Do you guys think… the city is too quiet?”

On their way here, they would hear zombies howling from time to time. When they entered M City, the howling of zombies were gone. It’s as if walking from a lively place to suddenly entering another place that is extremely quiet, which subconsciously makes people vigilant.

“That’s right.” Yu Xiaole then took his head out, “Although high-level zombies will exude coercion, and low-level zombies will not dare to step forward, but this has a range, it will only take effect within a certain range… We entered the city from the highway intersection and drove for half an hour without seeing a single zombie. Could it be that there are also high-level zombies in this area?”

“No.” It was unknown when Bai Wen opened his eyes, he half-squintingly look at the outside environment. As if he felt something, his eyebrows wrinkled little by little.

“Captain, what’s wrong?”

Bai Wen pinched his eyebrows: “It’s nothing. Just pay attention and be on guard.”

“How long will it take to get to Jinxin Community?” After a while, Bai Wen asked indifferently.

Du Mingyu, who was driving, swallowed. Picked up the map next to him, and said, “Captain, it should be half an hour.”

According to the route on the map, they are about to arrive in Jinxin Community. However, there seems to be an invisible string in the air that’s gradually tightening.

“A high-level zombie halfway to the fifth level…” Tang Ci turned his arm, and suddenly made a tooth-aching “click” sound, “It’s a bit exciting.”

Liu Shiyuan said a sentence: “Be careful of being slapped in the face, a palm strike can turn you into a meat patty.”

“Then you will become a widow.” 

“Go away.”

To the Ye Feng Team, this mission didn’t seem to be difficult. But when it’s time to actually do it, no one dared to take it lightly.

“They’re here. They haven’t left.” Yu Xiaole said, “I feel it.”

The coercion exuded by high-level zombies is like countless invisible needles suspended on the skin. The needle points are against the skin, and you can feel the danger it brings, which might pierce the body at any time.

“Stop.” Bai Wen stood up, “Get off the car and walk over.”

“Not driving over?”

Bai Wen opened the car door and jumped to the ground, and asked in reply, “How much did we pay for this armored car?”

Yu Xiaole rushed to answer: “Five third-grade crystals!”

Du Mingyu, who was the last one to jump down, frowned. His breathing accelerated for a moment, and then he regained his composure.

The others didn’t notice the change in his breathing. Only Bai Wen’s gaze seemed to shift in his direction.

Military armored vehicles were also rare even before the apocalypse, and only the military was qualified to use them. After the apocalypse, Beiji could expand to become the largest security base in the north because it was established by the military.

The ones who mostly died at the beginning of the apocalypse were soldiers. Ordinary people can still hide and wait for rescue. On the other hand, soldiers have nowhere to hide and no way to retreat. They must advance forward and continue their search and rescue for each and every survivor. 

As a result, a large number of soldiers died on the way to search and rescue. Becoming a member of the army of the living dead.^[3]TN: a.k.a. zombies.

Later, Beiji encountered several zombie tides and almost fell. At a critical moment, a survivor awakened the lightning ability and used thunder and lightning to fight off the zombie tide.

After the battle, he was naturally valued by the military, and the military focused on cultivating him. He did live up to the high expectations as he advanced quickly, becoming the well-deserved first and strongest ability user of Beiji.

Although human civilization was basically rebuilt in the security base, it is not the same as before the apocalypse. The first is currency—it’s no longer money, but crystal.

Second, it becomes very difficult to obtain many resources, such as oil, ores, etc., so much that many things become scarce. If an ability user wants to obtain them, they must bear them according to their expensive prices.

Five third-grade crystals for a military armored vehicle. Although the price is high, it’s worth it. It’s just that under normal circumstances, no ability user would spend so much third-grade crystals to buy a car.

Unless it’s a local tyrant,^[4]TN: A nouveau riche. who has too many crystals that they have nowhere to spend.

“Who will pay for the car that cost so much money to buy if it was damaged?” Bai Wen dropped this sentence, turned and walked down the street.

Everyone immediately reacted— later when they fought with those high-level zombies, in case someone wasn’t careful and accidentally spread the flames of war in the armored vehicle. It would be just like the tens of millions of luxury cars before the end of the world. When a stone suddenly falls from the sky and smashes the car in the first place, wouldn’t they feel distressed to death?

“Jinxin Community is in front.” The surroundings were so quiet that only the dull sound of everyone’s feet stepping on the ground could be heard. Yu Xiaole’s palms that were holding the gun were sweating. He obviously felt that this was an easy task, yet he didn’t know why. When they arrived at this destination, feeling the pressure of the advanced zombies, his heart became more and more nervous with a bit of anxiety.

The captain is here. Afraid of a fart!

Yu Xiaole cursed inwardly. In order to ease the inexplicable emotion in his heart, he whistled: “Hey, do you guys think there are survivors here?”

“Do you think you’re living too long?” Liu Shiyuan said irritably , “…Captain, why haven’t the zombies come out yet.” 

The five of them have already walked up to here, yet those high-level zombies couldn’t smell the fresh flesh and blood? They should have appeared long ago.

“Woohoo…”

A whimpering sound brought by the wind suddenly swept from the sky, and a strong gust of wind blew across the bodies of several people. This wind came and disappeared suddenly.

Everyone froze.

“Over there!” Tang Ci pointed his finger to the right, on the guardrail of the outer wall of a dilapidated building, “Fuck, what the hell is that?”

“Uh…is that a zombie?”

Liu Shiyuan rubbed her eyes: “This… was a hat?”

“Or, an iron bucket hat?”

“Sorry, I remembered a game I played before…” Yu Xiaole burst out laughing.

“That’s what, I’ve also played.”

They saw the head of the zombie—who is crouching on the guardrail—was surrounded by an iron sheet. The shape was similar to that of a toque blanche,^[5]TN: French for “white hat.” which was worn by the chefs, but was made of metal. The top was sharp, and it was also a bit like those typical wizard hats in the movies before. A little piece was missing at the edge, as if it had been bitten off.

This thing is worn on the head of the zombie, and at a glance, it is inexplicably festive.

“Du Mingyu, what’s wrong with you?” Yu Xiaole turned his head and found that the expression of his teammate was not right. If he had to describe his expression—excitement, unexpected and as expected surprise… It was very complicated.

Hearing his rapid heartbeat, Yu Xiaole was a little stunned. He couldn’t say why, but he just thought that Du Mingyu’s appearance at this time… was not very pleasing to the eye.

Du Mingyu secretly pinched the palm of his hand, and all his original emotions had been changed in a flash. His body trembled slightly, his eyes widened and his pupils contracted. As if he saw a terrible and incredible scene——

“Zhu Yuan…” He spat out these two words tremblingly, as if he was suffering from some kind of invisible torture. His eyes turned red.

“What?” Yu Xiaole raised his voice, “Zhu Yuan? You said this zombie is Zhu Yuan, that good friend of yours?”

Du Mingyu’s face was pale, his facial muscles twitched, and his voice was hoarse: “…It’s him, but why is he here… how is he…” 

The team members have heard Du Mingyu talk about him and his friend. They then looked at the zombie with an iron hat on the opposite side, and sighed. Yu Xiaole immediately attributed Du Mingyu’s strange expression to the shock brought by seeing his friend that has become a zombie. He patted Du Mingyu on the shoulder: “Alas, if you can’t do it, leave it to us.”

“I knew he might turn into a zombie, but I didn’t expect to meet him here.” Du Mingyu choked, “He even advanced when he turned into a zombie. I should be happy for him.”

“Don’t do anything yet. Everyone pay attention.” At this moment, Bai Wen suddenly said, “The mission target is not at the peak of the fourth level. It has already advanced to the fifth level.”

The appearance of the zombie in an iron hat attracted everyone’s attention. Only Bai Wen squinted and looked around. From the moment he stepped into the Jinxin Community, the alarm bells in his heart kept ringing.

This is very rare.

——Although Bai Wen was only at the peak of B class, he is a rare dual-type ability user, and his strength is no less than that of an A class middle-level. Even if the fourth-level zombie breaks through to the fifth-level, it is not necessarily someone he couldn’t beat.

After his reminder, the others remembered that there was still another zombie.

“Holy shit. Fifth-level.” Liu Shiyuan gasped, turned back-to-back with Tang Ci, and carefully observed. “Where is he?”

Du Mingyu slowly spat out the breath he was holding in his chest. Half lowering his head as his eyes flickered as he looked at the zombie with an iron hat. Full of calculation.

“Hoho–” 

A low roar sounded from the top of their heads. When everyone looked up, they saw that the window on the third-floor of one of the residential buildings in the community was pushed open, and a tall old zombie dexterously jumped down. When it landed, the ground seemed to shake. 

Bai Wen closely stared at the old zombie. His eyebrows did not loosen due to it’s appearance.

Not right.

The object that made the alarm bells in his heart ring was not this old zombie.

At the same time, on the third floor, Luo Yesheng, who was hesitating to come forward and talk to the few ability users downstairs, saw a sentence written on the whiteboard: “Ask Bian Bian. Do you want all those people to disappear?”

Luo Yesheng’s eyelids twitched. He subconsciously looked at Bian Bian with a worried face.

The little girl already knew what was going on.

Half an hour ago, Dad said that some very powerful villains were coming to kill Grandpa and Uncle Zhu Yuan, and Bian Bian was very angry.

Grandpa and Uncle Zhu Yuan didn’t do anything. Yet, why did those bad guys come to kill them?

They are so bad!

After Luo Yesheng relayed what Nong Jiusi said to Bian Bian, the little girl understood the meaning of her father’s words—she might not have understood it before, but under the influence of the milk powder that developed her brain. Together with some implied meaning, Bian Bian gradually understood a lot.

“…” Biting her petal-like lips, Bian Bian thought for a while before asking in a low voice, “Dad, can you beat those big bad guys?”

Lord Jiusi, who was questioned by the child: “…?”