Under the cover of the white light, the wound quickly healed at a speed visible to the naked eye.
After about three minutes, the wound had completely disappeared, and Chu Tian’s weakened state disappeared along with it. Other than his somewhat pale complexion, he did not seem to have any serious problems.
If not for the bloodstains covering half his body and his torn clothes still bearing witness to everything that had just happened, everyone might have thought that Chu Tian’s injury had merely been an illusion.
Everyone else stared at Li Nan in astonishment. Only the Doctor wore a thoughtful expression.
“Brother Xiao, Brother Tian, those zombies are coming again!” Old Wu shouted from behind everyone.
The zombies that had suddenly stopped because of the mutant cats’ howls just now had begun running forward again.
Quan Xiaoyu caught Li Nan, who had leaned backward after expending a huge amount of his ability. He nodded at Chu Tian, then walked toward the car without saying a word.
At this moment, his heart had been dealt a tremendous shock.
Because of his strange personality, he had never had many friends throughout his life.
In his previous life, he had been pushed into a group of zombies by someone he had once loved, while the teammates he had once entrusted with his trust had all abandoned him in order to rescue Wen Tong.
Rationally, he could understand it. If Wen Tong died, all the supplies everyone had worked so hard to collect would be lost. Without those supplies, everyone might very well die together.
Emotionally, however, it was somewhat difficult for him to accept.
They had fought side by side and helped one another. For nearly three years, they had struggled together in the apocalypse.
They had come this far step by step. New people joined, old people left. It was only because they had each other that they could rely on one another and survive in this cruel world.
Being abandoned was truly something difficult to endure.
In this life, he had thought about many possibilities. He wanted to become stronger, strong enough to protect himself and strong enough to protect his family.
He knew that in the apocalypse, betrayal and abandonment would happen at any moment. He had also warned himself not to easily challenge human nature.
However, he also understood that he could not refuse to eat because he had choked once. Doing so would only make him cynical. His personality was already not very good, and that would make it even harder for him to integrate into a group. In the apocalypse, leaving the group would make survival even more difficult.
When necessary, he could entrust his back to a teammate he trusted. But he had never expected his teammates to risk their lives to protect him.
Yet Chu Tian had blocked a fatal blow for him without him noticing at all.
His mind was a complete mess right now.
He did not know why his usually keen ability to sense danger had disappeared this time. More importantly, he had never imagined that Chu Tian would be willing to risk his life to save him.
Just as Chu Tian had his understanding and doubts about Quan Xiaoyu, Quan Xiaoyu was not completely ignorant about Chu Tian either.
Neither Chu Tian nor Bai Mingxi were children from ordinary families. This could be seen from some of their daily habits and casual conversations. They were both from the capital. As long as he connected the dots, many things would have an answer.
Chu Tian was an extremely intelligent person, but his intelligence was not outwardly apparent.
In the villa complex, he never interfered with the Doctor’s decisions, nor did he easily influence other people’s thoughts. He was always smiling and gentle toward everyone.
At that time, Quan Xiaoyu already knew that this person’s ambitions and stage were not here.
But he was a very good and responsible teammate. He could make people feel at ease, and one could entrust their back to him during battle, because he would do everything in his power to protect you—
But—
Not with his life.
At least, before today, this was what Quan Xiaoyu had always believed.
Although he had never heard Chu Tian’s name in his previous life, he believed that Chu Tian would not be someone who accomplished nothing.
He knew that Chu Tian had always been waiting for an opportunity to return to B City. That was where his true battlefield and stage were.
Therefore, Quan Xiaoyu had long been mentally prepared for the possibility that once they arrived in B City, Chu Tian would part ways with them.
Quan Xiaoyu understood clearly that a person who wanted to accomplish great things would absolutely not easily sacrifice himself for someone else.
Yet Chu Tian had done something that completely overturned his impression of him.
It almost shattered, all at once, the psychological defenses Quan Xiaoyu had painstakingly built around Chu Tian by constantly hypnotizing himself.
For a moment, Quan Xiaoyu did not know how he should face Chu Tian.
After placing Li Nan in the back seat, Quan Xiaoyu sat in the driver’s seat and stared blankly ahead.
“What do we do now? Keep going forward, or take another route?” Chu Tian, whose body had recovered, asked Xiao Ziran.
“What do you think?” Xiao Ziran asked in return, seemingly seeking Chu Tian’s opinion.
Chu Tian’s eyes widened in surprise. He looked Xiao Ziran up and down in astonishment.
This great doctor had been domineering and accustomed to making his own decisions for more than a day or two. He might accept other people’s suggestions, but he had never taken the initiative to ask for someone else’s opinion.
Xiao Ziran became annoyed at being stared at.
“We just fought a major battle. We don’t know what the situation ahead is like. Do you still have the strength to fight again?”
Chu Tian could tell that the Doctor was somewhat embarrassed.
What did this mean?
Was he feeling guilty because he had failed to guard the front properly just now?
This really did not seem like the abnormal Doctor everyone knew!
Of course, seeing through something without saying it aloud, Chu Tian merely smiled.
“I’m still fine. Zombies aren’t much of a problem for me. What about you?”
“I’m fine.”
“Good. I’ll go ask Xiaoyu. He’s a local and knows the roads well.”
Xiao Ziran nodded, then waved at the others, signaling everyone to return to their vehicles and stand by. He himself remained where he was, waiting for the result of Chu Tian’s inquiry.
Chu Tian and Bai Mingxi returned to the vehicle together. Bai Mingxi consciously sat back in the rear seat and took care of Li Nan, who was resting with his eyes closed.
Chu Tian came to the side of the driver’s seat, rested one hand on the roof of the car, and leaned down slightly toward Quan Xiaoyu in the driver’s seat.
“Do you think we should charge straight through or take a detour? You’re the most familiar with the roads here.”
Quan Xiaoyu did not dare turn his head to look at Chu Tian’s face, which was so close to him. He only answered stiffly:
“Charge through!”
“Okay.”
As Chu Tian spoke, he laughed, as though he had seen through Quan Xiaoyu’s thoughts.
However, he did not say anything more. He simply straightened up and waved at the Doctor.
“We’re charging through!”
The Doctor nodded and silently returned to his own vehicle.
Chu Tian’s laughter made Quan Xiaoyu’s face grow slightly hot. For some reason, he felt particularly embarrassed.
Once Chu Tian got into the passenger seat, Quan Xiaoyu kept his eyes straight ahead and slammed on the accelerator. The car shot forward and was the first to crash into the approaching horde of zombies.
It was called a horde of zombies, but in reality, there were not that many of them. There were only a little over a hundred in total, with one-fifth being Level Two zombies. There were no Level Three zombies.
“Looks like there really aren’t many zombies on this road. Maybe it’s because this road is the territory of those mutant cats,” Chu Tian said.
At the same time, his eyes slowly closed.
The instant he closed his eyes, five Level Two zombies within the zombie horde suddenly stopped. Then they began pouncing on their own companions, biting and tearing at them frenziedly.
Quan Xiaoyu focused on driving, weaving through the zombie horde and occasionally knocking several zombies away.
Behind them, the Doctor’s vines danced through the air, occasionally lashing away zombies that approached the vehicles.
No one fired a gun.
Their current goal was to break through the zombie horde and leave, not to clear out the zombies.
They were afraid that firing guns would attract even more zombies. After all, they had killed the mutant cats, and the zombies might no longer have any reason to fear this place.
The process took some time, but they encountered no difficulties.
Everyone was already very experienced at dealing with zombies, and besides, the number of zombies was not particularly large.
However, when they had finally left the zombie horde far behind, they still lost one vehicle.
Fortunately, it broke down only after they had escaped the danger.
There was no other choice. That family of three had to squeeze into Xiao Ziran’s vehicle, while Zhao Bufan squeezed into Lin Ziqiang’s vehicle.
Everyone got out and reorganized themselves, repacking the supplies before preparing to continue forward.
By now, it was already late, and everyone could no longer reach the service area at the exit according to their original plan.
“Are there any suitable places nearby where we can stay for the night?” the Doctor asked Quan Xiaoyu.
Quan Xiaoyu glanced at the paper map in his hand and pointed at one of the locations with his finger.
“Here. St. Mary’s Cathedral.”
It was a Catholic church. After getting off the highway and traveling another ten kilometers, they would arrive.
The church was large enough, and there was not a large residential population nearby. It should be suitable for spending the night temporarily.
The Doctor took the map and looked at it before making his decision.
“Fine. Let’s go there. Same old arrangement. You lead the way, I’ll bring up the rear, and keep in contact.”
When he said the last sentence, he paused, looked at Bai Mingxi, and said earnestly,
“The communicators still need improvement!”
Bai Mingxi awkwardly rubbed his nose without saying anything.
To be honest, he was a little afraid of the Doctor, so he had always avoided speaking directly with him whenever possible.
Unexpectedly, the Doctor continued,
“When we reach the next place and replenish our supplies, I’ll look around for some equipment for you. Keep it up.”
Only after saying that did he return to his own vehicle.
Bai Mingxi stared blankly at the Doctor’s departing back. He always felt that the Doctor had been possessed by a ghost today. He was completely different from usual!
Chu Tian patted him on the head.
“Student Xiaobai, keep up the good work. We believe in you! All right, get in the car.”
“Keep it up, Big Brother Xiaobai!” Even Li Nan smiled and said something.
“Oh!”
Bai Mingxi nodded, seemingly still unable to recover from the idea that the Doctor had been “possessed by a ghost.”
The vehicles continued forward. This time, everything went very smoothly.
They did not encounter any large-scale zombie hordes along the way, nor did they encounter any high-level zombies. The few minor troubles they encountered were dealt with along the way.
After traveling for a little over forty minutes, everyone arrived in front of St. Mary’s Cathedral.
St. Mary’s Cathedral occupied a very large area. It was a very famous cathedral in S City. It was said to have a history of more than three hundred years since its construction. It had been built through funds raised by believers at the time and had survived several wars, remaining well-preserved to this day.
In recent years, more and more people had begun believing in the Lord, causing the cathedral to flourish even more.
At the beginning of the apocalypse, the priest here had organized rescue efforts, taking in many survivors and distributing some food.
The reason Quan Xiaoyu had chosen this place was because in his previous life, before leaving S City, he had stayed here.
It was also here that he had met his companions from his previous life, after which they traveled north together.
However, in his previous life, he had arrived here only a few days after the apocalypse erupted.
Thinking about it, the people he had known in his previous life had probably already left two months ago.
The road through the vast apocalypse stretched endlessly ahead.
Who knew whether he would meet any familiar faces again in the future?