Xiao Ziran frowned, his tone filled with confusion. “Why?”
“Xiaoyu feels that S City will face a major disaster in the near future,” Chu Tian answered seriously.
“A disaster? Where did you get this information?”
Quan Xiaoyu and Chu Tian exchanged a glance before Chu Tian said with a bitter smile, “It’s not information from outside. It’s Xiaoyu’s feeling.”
“What kind of joke are you two making!”
“It’s not a joke.” Chu Tian was also helpless. “Do you remember the rainstorm two months ago?”
“Mm-hmm!” Xiao Ziran snorted coldly in response. Although that incident had prompted his ability to advance, the process had been somewhat painful!
“I told you back then that there was something wrong with the rain and advised you to stop all activities and wait for the heavy rain to pass. But you didn’t listen.”
“So what?” Xiao Ziran was slightly annoyed. At that time, he had been too wary of Chu Tian’s abilities. So, in a rare moment of stubborn pride, he ignored the advice and continued sending people out to work in the rain. He himself had also gotten soaked, and the result…
He had actually benefited from the disaster, with his ability advancing. But among those who had been caught in the rain, apart from one young man who awakened a water-type ability, everyone else had mutated. In the end, Chu Tian had brought people over to help shoot the mutated individuals.
This episode was practically a dark chapter in Xiao Ziran’s history.
“Xiaoyu was the one who sensed that something was wrong with the rain beforehand. And during our usual battles, he seems to possess some ability to predict danger. I’ve fought alongside him the longest, so I believe in his instincts.”
With a loud “smack,” Xiao Ziran threw down the pen in his hand.
“Your reason has absolutely no basis! Based on this alone, you want more than a hundred people to abandon the home they’ve just established and follow you to that damn place called the north?”
Chu Tian spread his hands helplessly. “That’s why we’re only offering advice and a suggestion. We’ve told you everything we should, out of the friendship we’ve built over more than two months together. As for what you ultimately decide, that’s up to you. In any case, at the latest, ten days from now, regardless of what you decide, we’ll be leaving.”
He looked like he had said everything there was to say.
Quan Xiaoyu picked up the conversation, his attitude exceptionally sincere.
“I know our reason isn’t very convincing. I don’t have any precognitive abilities, but I believe in my instincts, and I hope you’ll believe me this once.”
It was rare for him to speak such a long sentence in one breath.
“If you decide to leave, we’ll continue traveling together, so we can look out for each other on the road. If you decide to stay, please give us an off-road vehicle and some gasoline. That’s what we deserve. As for the rest of the supplies, we can do without them.”
Whether it was Quan Xiaoyu or Chu Tian, both had already been preparing to leave this place for quite some time. Over the past two months, Quan Xiaoyu had secretly stored no small amount of supplies in his space, and Bai Mingxi had done the same. The only difference was that Bai Mingxi’s spatial ability was out in the open, while his remained hidden.
Therefore, they were not lacking in supplies.
Xiao Ziran sighed, troubled, and scratched at his hair. After pondering for a long while, he said nothing.
After spending so much time together, Xiao Ziran understood very well that neither Chu Tian nor Quan Xiaoyu was the type to make reckless claims.
From a perspective of self-interest, given the abilities of the two men, taking only Bai Mingxi and Li Nan on the road would still be relatively easy. More people—especially ordinary people—would actually become a burden to them.
Simply put, from a purely practical standpoint, persuading him to leave offered them no real benefit. Therefore, they were doing this out of goodwill.
It was just that the reason they had provided was far too absurd. For a leader, making a decision based on something like this alone would be far too rash.
Damn, this really was annoying!
Xiao Ziran stared resentfully at the two men.
Seeing this, Chu Tian immediately pulled Quan Xiaoyu, who was sitting opposite the Doctor, to his feet.
“You can take your time thinking about it. Anyway, ten days. We’re leaving in ten days. That’s all. See you!”
With that, he dragged Quan Xiaoyu away.
“Hey! Hey! Stop! You two, stop right there!”
Dissatisfied, Xiao Ziran casually grabbed something from the table and threw it toward Chu Tian’s back.
Chu Tian ignored him completely, turning his head to dodge the flying object before pulling Quan Xiaoyu farther away.
Once they were outside the villa, Quan Xiaoyu looked at Chu Tian with confusion. Seeing his expression, Chu Tian felt that Quan Xiaoyu looked especially adorably clueless at that moment.
Under Quan Xiaoyu’s gaze, Chu Tian finally smiled and explained, “The Doctor has a bad habit. Whenever he’s unhappy, he likes to drag someone else into it. If you don’t want to be dragged through his antics, you have to leave quickly.”
“Oh.” Quan Xiaoyu nodded in sudden understanding. It did seem to be true.
“Then, what do you think he’ll decide?” Quan Xiaoyu asked.
Chu Tian shook his head. “Hard to say. Actually, I think he’s inclined to believe us. If he were alone, I believe he would leave with us without hesitation. However—”
He spread both hands, looking helpless.
“He’s a leader, so there are many more things he has to consider. Therefore, I don’t know what decision he’ll ultimately make.”
“Oh.” Quan Xiaoyu nodded, looking somewhat disappointed.
“Forget about it.” Chu Tian draped an arm around Quan Xiaoyu’s neck and said, “We’ve said everything we needed to say. Everyone has their own fate, so let them be! Let’s go find Xiao Nan and make him cook. I’m starving.”
There was absolutely no sense of anything being wrong with making a child cook to feed him.
“Oh.”
Quan Xiaoyu barely had time to nod before Chu Tian hooked an arm around his neck and dragged him away.
Ten days later.
Chu Tian, Quan Xiaoyu, Bai Mingxi, and Li Nan stood in front of the villa.
All four were dressed in simple athletic clothing, each carrying a backpack. Behind them was an off-road vehicle that looked exceptionally sturdy.
Having finished preparing their luggage, they were ready to leave. Everything important from inside the villa had been stored in their spatial abilities.
To avoid arousing suspicion, Quan Xiaoyu had even deliberately locked the door to his home. Out of respect for them, the people remaining in the villa community probably wouldn’t touch their villa for quite some time.
And in just over ten days, S City would be subjected to devastating bombardment.
At this moment, an inexplicable sadness of parting unexpectedly arose.
Quan Xiaoyu was fine, after all, he had already experienced the apocalypse once before and returned to the beginning. But Li Nan was much more reluctant to leave.
This had originally been his home, filled with many wonderful memories. After moving here with Brother Xiaoyu, this villa had given them a great sense of security. Now that they were about to abandon it and leave, it was difficult not to feel somewhat sad.
“Xiaoyu, let’s go. The Doctor is waiting for us at the main gate.” Chu Tian walked over and patted Quan Xiaoyu on the shoulder.
He and Bai Mingxi had originally only been passing through this place, so they had no particular emotional attachment to it. The only person they cared about was leaving with them as well. Since everyone was together, there was nothing much to be sentimental about.
Quan Xiaoyu nodded, took Li Nan’s hand, and walked toward the off-road vehicle.
Li Nan looked back at the house several times before climbing into the vehicle.
Today, Quan Xiaoyu was driving, with Chu Tian sitting in the passenger seat. Bai Mingxi and Li Nan sat in the back, squeezed together with some of the supplies that couldn’t fit into the trunk.
Three days earlier, the Doctor had finally made his decision.
The reason Quan Xiaoyu had provided was only one part of it. More importantly, during their outings over the past few days, the Doctor had clearly sensed an increase in the number of zombies. There were more and more Level Two zombies, and some Level Two zombies had already shown signs of advancing toward Level Three. Dealing with them was becoming increasingly difficult.
The number of zombies around the villa community had also gradually increased. Every day, Level One zombies attempted to climb over the iron gates. Moreover, their ammunition reserves had already become severely depleted.
Over the past two months, the Doctor had once led people to raid the ammunition depot at a police station. But after using those supplies until now, they had plenty of firearms but little ammunition left.
A few days earlier, another small safe zone established by a nearby group had been breached by zombies, and not a single person inside survived.
Xiao Ziran began to realize the seriousness of the situation.
After sending people out to make inquiries several times, he received the news that the government and military had already begun withdrawing northward on a large scale a month ago. It was said that the area up north was sparsely populated, and the situation of monsters running rampant was far less severe than in the south.
Those who had received the news early had already followed the government and military north. Those who had only recently received the news were also gradually heading north.
Xiao Ziran’s original reason for choosing to establish a base in S City was that it was Huaguo’s largest international metropolis, with a massive population. And a sufficient population was the foundation for construction and development.
But now, the developments in S City had somewhat exceeded his expectations.
There were already far more zombies than humans in this city, while survivors from the south were migrating north, bypassing S City, which had once been the country’s economic center.
This was a major departure from Xiao Ziran’s plan.
Therefore, he made the decision immediately: leave!
He first found Chu Tian and Quan Xiaoyu to plan the travel route and safety arrangements. Only after everything was prepared did he formally announce the news to everyone.
At this point, the safe zone already had more than a hundred people. As soon as the news was announced, the place erupted into chaos. Most people were opposed to the idea, but they were afraid of Xiao Ziran and did not dare voice excessive objections.
However, this time, Xiao Ziran was surprisingly democratic. He announced that those who were willing to leave could come with him, while those who did not want to leave could stay behind. They would only take a portion of the supplies needed for the journey, while the majority of the remaining supplies could be left for those who stayed.
This made even fewer people willing to leave.
In the end, aside from Quan Xiaoyu and the other three, only nine people were willing to leave with the Doctor.
They included Lao Wu, who had previously followed Zheng Ge. Ever since switching sides to follow the Doctor, he had become even more devoted to his work. He was highly capable at handling interpersonal relationships and had no particular bad habits. Before long, he earned Xiao Ziran’s trust and was put to good use.
There was also the head steward, Lin Ziqiang, and his young mistress, Ma Jingjing. After washing the makeup off her face, Ma Jingjing was actually quite pretty and delicate. After the new district was established, she no longer sought to cling to someone else’s power. Instead, she honestly followed Lin Ziqiang and began living a serious life, which was quite surprising.
As for He Gang, the man who had once hated them and stabbed Lin Ziqiang full of holes with tree branches—he mutated after that rainstorm and was shot in the head.
There was also the beautiful woman who had once been isolated by everyone. She was the woman who lived next door to Quan Xiaoyu, whose husband had been beaten to death. For the past two months, she had remained incompatible with everyone around her. When Xiao Ziran proposed leaving, she was the first person to stand up and respond.
Another unexpected person for Quan Xiaoyu was the middle-aged man who had once robbed him in the park and slashed his neck. His name was Xiao Minghan. He had remained taciturn here, silently carrying out daily tasks alongside everyone else. He had no special abilities, but he worked exceptionally hard.
The remaining people were the beautiful woman’s family of three, as well as the water-type ability user who had awakened after the rainstorm.
A total of nine people expressed their willingness to follow.
Without a second thought, Xiao Ziran instructed everyone to pack their belongings and arrange the vehicles.
The group of fourteen people, four off-road vehicles loaded with food and gasoline in their trunks, along with some personal belongings and luggage, was now ready to embark on a long journey.
Naturally, those who stayed behind had no objections. In fact, even if supplies had been distributed according to contribution, the Doctor and Quan Xiaoyu’s group of four deserved far more than what they were taking now.
Some of them even secretly congratulated themselves. With the strongest fighters gone, it would finally be their turn to take control of everything.
Of course, most people were filled with anxiety. Without the protection of those with high combat strength, they feared losing their shelter. Yet they did not dare leave this place and take the unknown road ahead, so they could only look dejected and helpless.
Those who were leaving didn’t care about any of that. Carrying another kind of hope, they drove away from the place they had guarded for more than two months and officially embarked on their journey.