The convoy set off in a grand procession. Including the mercenaries and Xiao Ziran’s group, there were a total of ten vehicles.
The leader of the mercenaries was Ouyang Jing. He took his people to the front, since the route map for leaving the city was in their hands.
However, Ouyang Jing sent Zuo Li to ride in Xiao Ziran’s vehicle. Xiao Ziran was accompanied by Lao Wu and Zhao Bufan, bringing up the rear.
Quan Xiaoyu and the other three weren’t assigned any special tasks this time. They simply traveled in the middle of the convoy, which was relatively relaxing.
Presumably, Xiao Ziran had taken into consideration that they had fought a major battle the day before and had almost failed to make it back alive, so he was letting them rest for a day.
Chu Tian, however, still wasn’t entirely at ease. As soon as they left the area around the church, he pushed his mental power to its limit and scanned the surroundings.
With his current abilities, he could probably scan an area within a five-kilometer radius.
The moment they left, three vehicles immediately followed them.
The people in those three vehicles were the fourth group that had been at the church, apart from the students.
Their composition was extremely mixed. There were nearby residents, people who had fought their way here while fleeing from zombies, ordinary people, and a small number of ability users.
The people in those three vehicles were those who didn’t want to follow Lei Shi or join any other team.
They wanted to act independently, but they also knew that they were too weak on their own. So they had already made their plans: follow behind the alliance of the mercenaries and Xiao Ziran’s group and see what happened.
“Boss Xiao, those people are following us.”
Lao Wu, who was driving, spotted the vehicles following them in the rearview mirror.
“Don’t worry about them,” Xiao Ziran said indifferently.
Those little fry couldn’t cause much trouble, and he wasn’t concerned about them.
“Yes.”
Everyone in the vehicle except Zuo Li was accustomed to obeying Xiao Ziran without question.
Zuo Li quietly observed every person in the vehicle, but didn’t express any opinion about the matter.
Not long after those vehicles, vehicles from the Lei-Jia Team gradually followed as well.
However, they were nowhere near as orderly.
Because they had temporarily taken in so many people and had left in such a hurry, the team’s discipline and overall quality varied greatly. Everyone had different equipment, supplies, and vehicles.
There were even people arguing over which vehicle they should ride in.
There were also disputes over the distribution of certain supplies. For a while, everything was a complete mess.
By the time they had all gotten into their vehicles and were ready to set off, the advance vehicles Lei Shi had sent to closely follow Xiao Ziran’s group were already far ahead.
Fortunately, the advance vehicles had been following the convoy and leaving markers along the way, so they hadn’t completely lost track of them.
Actually, Lei Shi had approached the mercenaries earlier and tried to form an alliance.
However, Ouyang Jing had rejected him without even thinking about it.
Unlike Xiao Ziran’s group, who had only recently arrived at the church, Ouyang Jing had already observed the Lei-Jia Team for several days.
The way Lei Shi conducted himself was rather like the con men and charlatans from before the apocalypse. He was good at talking and fooling people, and he did have some real ability.
However, people like that were too full of empty rhetoric. Their convictions weren’t firm enough. They were either selfish or impractical.
Ouyang Jing had met countless kinds of people. How could he possibly think highly of them?
To put it bluntly, who would choose teammates who could do nothing but cause trouble while providing little, if any, help?
Of course he refused without hesitation.
As for Xiao Ziran, the two sides had already gotten off on the wrong foot from the beginning. Then there had been the incident where Wen Tong attempted to assassinate Chu Tian.
Naturally, there was no possibility of cooperation between them.
Lei Shi therefore wouldn’t deliberately go looking for rejection from them either.
So after discussing it with Jialun Xu, they decided to follow behind Xiao Ziran’s group and reap the benefits.
They could let them lead the way. If there was a battle ahead, the mercenaries and Xiao Ziran’s people would be the ones charging into it first, while they simply enjoyed the fruits of their labor.
Why wouldn’t they?
“How is it?”
Quan Xiaoyu and Chu Tian sat side by side in the back seat. When he saw Chu Tian finally open his eyes after keeping them tightly shut for so long, he asked.
“I didn’t sense its presence.”
The “it” Chu Tian referred to was naturally the Level Three psychic-type ability zombie that had fled in panic earlier.
It was the factor Chu Tian was most worried about.
“Isn’t that a good thing?”
Seeing that the worry on Chu Tian’s face hadn’t diminished at all, Quan Xiaoyu said this.
“Of course it’s good. But I still feel very uneasy.”
Chu Tian smiled bitterly.
As his ability had leveled up, his ability to sense certain things had become increasingly powerful. The uneasiness he felt now was not a good omen.
Actually, Quan Xiaoyu felt the same way.
He also had a very uneasy feeling. When he had just said those words to comfort Chu Tian, he was undoubtedly comforting himself as well.
But now, even Chu Tian was feeling the same way…
“So what do we do? Go back? Take another route?” Quan Xiaoyu asked.
Chu Tian still smiled bitterly and shook his head.
“No. It wouldn’t make any difference. Right now, we’re like trapped beasts in a cage. We have no choice except to break out. Wherever we go now, I’m afraid it’ll be the same.”
Yes. They would probably face the same thing wherever they went.
Quan Xiaoyu nodded.
Instead, he felt somewhat more relaxed.
Since there was no way back, then they could just charge forward with everything they had!
“I’ll do everything I can to protect all of you.”
Quan Xiaoyu spoke seriously to everyone.
Actually, as the strongest fighter among the original group of four, this was what he had always done.
“Pfft—”
Chu Tian couldn’t help laughing.
He simply felt that Quan Xiaoyu was incredibly adorable like this.
Previously, Quan Xiaoyu had been stuck at the late stage of Level Two and had been unable to advance for a long time. Compared with zombies that were constantly growing stronger, his combat power really hadn’t been particularly high.
But after reaching Level Three, it was as though he had opened the door to an entirely new world.
His perception, attack power, and control abilities had all seemingly doubled in strength.
Moreover, it was as though he had gained an understanding of the “Heavenly Dao.” There were suddenly many things he understood that he had never known before.
Chu Tian didn’t know whether every Level Three ability user experienced such an improvement, or whether he was simply a special case.
“What are you laughing at?”
Quan Xiaoyu glared unhappily at Chu Tian, dissatisfied with his attitude.
“Nothing, nothing.”
Chu Tian quickly said, leaning closer to Quan Xiaoyu.
“I was thinking that I must have saved the universe in my previous life to have found a treasure like you. You can kill zombies, fight monsters, and protect me too.”
Quan Xiaoyu turned his face away, his cheeks slightly red.
There was a child in the car!
What nonsense was he talking about?
And that tone of his was clearly making fun of him.
Bai Mingxi, sitting in the front, couldn’t help making two exaggerated “tsk-tsk” sounds.
Immediately, a knuckle landed on the top of his head.
“Ow!”
He cried out again.
“Drive your car. Shut your mouth and be a good piece of air. Otherwise, I’ll send you over to the doctor’s vehicle.”
Chu Tian naturally treated Bai Mingxi with a completely different attitude.
Knowing that Bai Mingxi was most afraid of the doctor, he threatened him without the slightest hesitation.
Bai Mingxi was furious.
He wanted to yell and scream, but he remembered Chu Tian’s threat.
His best friend really would do it if he decided to mess with someone!
What a bastard who always knew exactly where to hit someone!
Hmph!
Bai Mingxi’s face cycled through all sorts of strange expressions. He silently cursed Chu Tian a hundred times in his heart, but he didn’t dare say a word.
Li Nan, sitting in the passenger seat, gave Bai Mingxi a sympathetic glance.
Then his eyes couldn’t help drifting toward the rearview mirror, secretly studying the two people in the back seat through the reflection.
Although he was young, as a boy of the new era, he already knew quite a lot at the age of ten.
Li Nan more or less understood what was going on between the two of them.
His feelings were complicated and conflicted.
His experience and understanding weren’t enough for him to decide whether Xiaoyu-ge and Chu Tian being together was a good thing or a bad thing.
He was afraid that Chu Tian would bully Xiaoyu-ge.
At the same time, he really did hope that someone could take care of Xiaoyu-ge.
But then he worried that Xiaoyu-ge would be taken away from him by someone else…
All sorts of thoughts were swirling through his mind as he sat in the front with a deeply troubled expression.
Chu Tian noticed this little detail.
He reached forward and patted Li Nan on the head.
“Don’t worry. I’ll take good care of Xiaoyu. Xiao Nan is Xiaoyu’s younger brother, which makes you family too. I’ll take care of you as well.”
Having his thoughts exposed, Li Nan shyly lowered his head deeply.
Chu Tian continued, “Family is something for a lifetime. Xiao Nan won’t lose anything. He’ll just gain another older brother.”
His voice was very gentle.
So gentle that even Quan Xiaoyu couldn’t help looking at Chu Tian several more times.
Even he rarely saw Chu Tian like this.
And so Bai Mingxi was the only one who felt completely wronged!
Tiantian didn’t love him anymore!
He had been abandoned!
How sad!
He really wanted to go complain to Chu Xiaotian’s mother!
“All right, all right. And you too. I’ll keep taking care of you, just like before. What are you getting all sulky about?”
Chu Tian reached forward and patted Bai Mingxi on the head as well.
Naturally, he was nowhere near as gentle as he had been with Li Nan.
“Hmph!”
Bai Mingxi gave a heavy snort through his nose.
He wasn’t forgiving him!
Absolutely not!
He was so angry!
How could Chu Tian dismiss him with just one sentence?
He wasn’t going to pay attention to him!
Wasn’t going to pay attention to any of them!
He wasn’t paying attention to anyone!
Looking at Bai Mingxi deliberately throwing a tantrum, Chu Tian helplessly shrugged and stopped bothering with him.
Quan Xiaoyu also found Bai Mingxi amusing.
Actually, he was quite envious of Bai Mingxi’s personality.
Straightforward and adorable, he did whatever he wanted and said whatever he thought.
Even after two lifetimes, Quan Xiaoyu still couldn’t learn to be like that.
So Quan Xiaoyu imitated Chu Tian’s tone and said to Bai Mingxi, “Xiaobai, don’t worry. I’ll protect you too, just like Chu Tian.”
“Shut up—I’m not a kid anymore—”
Bai Mingxi finally exploded.
“Ahhh! I don’t want to be with you guys anymore! You all bully me!”
He slapped the steering wheel in frustration, causing the vehicle to swerve slightly.
Immediately, he received a warning from Chu Tian.
“Bai Mingxi! Drive properly, or go sit in the doctor’s vehicle!”
Bai Mingxi’s anger instantly disappeared.
Although he was still huffing furiously, he finally settled down and drove properly.
Just as everyone’s mood was beginning to relax, gunshots rang out from up ahead.