Since extortion was out of the question, they began considering whether they could simply use force.
If this had been before, when none of their ability users had been lost, they might have been confident enough to do so. But now, they couldn’t help hesitating.
Yuan Shaohua, in particular, firmly remembered that there was someone on the other team who could terrifyingly control other people. Although he still had his doubts, he didn’t have the courage to test it a second time.
Therefore, no matter how much Wen Tong provoked him, he never stepped forward.
He was a spoiled rich kid, but he wasn’t actually stupid.
For a moment, the situation became tense and deadlocked.
At this point, someone walked over, raised an eyebrow at Xiao Ziran, and smiled.
“Long time no see. Let’s have a little spar. I’ll see if you’ve improved.”
His attitude was polite, but the implication behind his words was extremely arrogant.
“I’ll see if you’ve improved.”
It was practically said from a position of superiority.
Naturally, the person who could speak to Xiao Ziran like this was Pei Qianxing, the plant-type ability user who had fought Xiao Ziran ten days ago.
Ten days ago, Xiao Ziran had barely managed to fight Pei Qianxing to a draw with the help of a crystal core.
Ten days had passed, and Xiao Ziran had likewise relied on crystal cores. His rate of advancement had been extremely fast. Having just reached the late stage of Level Three, he immediately became eager to test himself when he heard Pei Qianxing’s proposal.
Therefore, the moment Pei Qianxing finished speaking, three vines shot straight toward him.
Pei Qianxing reacted quickly, summoning four vines of his own to block them. At the same time, one vine slipped through the opening and secretly attacked Xiao Ziran.
The two suddenly began fighting, catching everyone around them completely off guard. Lei Shi didn’t even have time to stop them.
Yuan Shaohua opened his mouth, but ultimately said nothing.
Over the past few days, he had already realized that Pei Qianxing was becoming increasingly difficult for him to control.
Yet Pei Qianxing was extremely powerful, and while they were out on the road, Yuan Shaohua didn’t dare provoke him easily.
So the few of them looked at one another.
Should they fight or shouldn’t they?
The doctor had been getting more and more willful lately, too!
Chu Tian rubbed his brow with a headache.
Back when Chu Tian hadn’t been involved in managing things, the doctor had still been willing to think things through.
But recently, that impulsive streak of his was actually starting to resemble Quan Xiaoyu whenever someone pushed him too far.
The moment fighting broke out on this side, everyone became tense.
The ability users from the Lei-Jia Team immediately gathered together.
The ability users on Xiao Ziran’s side did the same, and in an instant, the two groups formed opposing lines, as if a battle could erupt at any moment.
According to Chu Tian’s wishes, he didn’t want to fight.
He didn’t want to waste their combat strength on something like this.
However, someone from the Lei-Jia Team suddenly shouted,
“They’re fighting! They’re trying to steal our supplies! Everyone, get them!”
As he shouted, several fireballs mixed with ice blades flew toward Zuo Li, who was closest to them.
Zuo Li’s reaction was not slow at all.
He dodged to the side, then immediately counterattacked with a lightning strike that shot straight toward the person who had shouted.
The person who had shouted was a stranger. He hadn’t been among the people at the church back then and had probably joined the Lei-Jia Team sometime later along the way.
They had originally followed the smell of instant noodles here.
After seeing Lei Shi and the others arguing with Xiao Ziran’s group for so long without achieving anything, they had already begun harboring malicious intentions.
He had only brought his own people into the group three days ago and had originally joined with the intention of taking advantage of their supplies.
Why would he care about anything else?
Seeing Xiao Ziran suddenly make the first move, he simply decided to use the opportunity to stir up trouble.
There were only a little more than twenty people on the other side, while their own side had fifty or sixty people, including the ordinary people.
He genuinely couldn’t understand what Lei Shi and the others had been hesitating about before.
But soon, he understood.
After dodging Zuo Li’s lightning strike, he hadn’t even had time to launch another attack when his head suddenly began to hurt.
Then he collapsed.
As he fell, the only thing he saw was the cold eyes of the elegant-looking man standing across from him.
His sudden collapse affected the two companions fighting alongside him.
They looked at him in confusion, their movements momentarily freezing.
As a result, one of them was struck by Zuo Li’s lightning and instantly fell to the ground, twitching violently.
The other was directly pierced through the heart by an ice arrow fired by another mercenary standing beside Zuo Li.
The noncombat personnel on Xiao Ziran’s side had already cautiously retreated behind the vehicles and taken out their guns.
The ability users also assumed combat-ready positions.
The ordinary people in the Lei-Jia Team were still wearing bewildered expressions.
But the other ability users, stimulated by the sight of blood, couldn’t help launching attacks of their own even without receiving orders.
Their prolonged flight and constant battles had kept their minds in a state of extreme tension.
At the slightest disturbance, they instinctively assumed that they were under threat.
The moment they moved, they were met with merciless retaliation from Xiao Ziran’s team.
Their counterattack was organized and absolutely ruthless.
After one round, two more people from the Lei-Jia Team fell.
Meanwhile, the people on Xiao Ziran’s team coordinated with and protected one another, and not a single one of them was injured.
“Stop! Hurry up and stop!”
Lei Shi immediately shouted.
But as his voice rang out, another member of the Lei-Jia Team fell.
Over on the other side, the doctor and Pei Qianxing were still fighting fiercely.
The plants beneath their feet were growing wildly, eventually forming a gigantic oval-shaped sphere that completely enclosed the two of them.
At present, only the sounds of fighting could be heard from inside.
Not even a glimpse of either man’s figure could be seen.
“Captain Lei, aren’t you going to make a move? What about Captain Jia?”
Chu Tian asked coldly, a trace of mockery at the corner of his mouth.
“We didn’t come here to fight you. We just wanted to—”
Lei Shi suppressed his anger.
He genuinely hadn’t wanted to fight.
After ten days of constantly running for their lives, what they needed most was rest and replenishment.
He wanted to explain, but Chu Tian interrupted him again.
“Don’t explain. I don’t want to hear it. None of us wants you here. Either fight, or take your people and get the hell out.”
With the doctor absent, Chu Tian could only continue using the doctor’s style of speaking.
“You’re going too far!”
Jia Lunxu said ominously.
At the same time, several spikes of earth suddenly erupted from beneath Chu Tian and the others’ feet.
He wanted to fight.
Ever since the church, he had been holding in a stomach full of anger.
They had repeatedly suffered losses at the hands of Xiao Ziran and Chu Tian.
And Quan Xiaoyu, of all people, had completely ignored him despite being his former lover.
Instead, he spent every day being intimate with this kid named Chu Tian!
He had wanted to make a move long ago.
But because of Lei Shi, because of Lei Shi’s ideals, he had been forced to endure it all.
He had to pretend to be a good person, a savior who rescued ordinary people and was completely without blemish!
But today, he didn’t want to endure it anymore!
He had had enough over these past ten days of Lei Shi constantly taking in ordinary people.
He had had enough of the supplies he had worked so hard to obtain continually disappearing because of those ordinary people, to the point where they had become so desperate that they needed to seek supplies from others.
Even he himself hadn’t eaten his fill for several days!
As their numbers grew larger and larger, Lei Shi had reduced everyone’s food portions.
He hadn’t even been exempted.
And ever since Yuan Shaohua had arrived, Wen Tong had practically ignored him, constantly trying to curry favor with that kid.
He had endured it because that kid was extremely useful to him.
But he had endured for far too long.
He didn’t want to endure anymore!
And today’s opportunity had come at exactly the right time.
“Careful!”
Quan Xiaoyu’s low voice rang out.
He picked up Li Nan and leaped, jumping behind the vehicle to where his teammates were.
He put Li Nan down, then flipped over again, his blade shooting straight toward Jia Lunxu.
Chu Tian was a mental-type ability user, but that didn’t mean he lacked physical skill.
He had sensed the danger long ago.
With a flip, he jumped onto the roof of the vehicle behind him. While retreating away from Ouyang Jing, he simultaneously launched an attack.
From that moment onward, the situation truly spiraled completely out of control.
In the end, even Lei Shi and Ouyang Jing, who had not originally intended to fight, were forced to join the battle.
However, Chu Tian’s attack had not been aimed at Jia Lunxu.
The person who fell was—
Wen Tong!
The team’s space-type ability user.
The person upon whom everyone’s hopes of survival depended.
Before Wen Tong fell, he was still seeking Yuan Shaohua’s protection.
He was still urging Yuan Shaohua to make a move.
Then his eyes widened, and he fell backward stiffly, landing flat on his back.
Perhaps, at that moment, he was still fantasizing about a beautiful future.
Chu Tian, having dodged the attack, looked at the fallen Wen Tong and quietly said in a cold voice,
“Even if a space-type ability user dies, the supplies inside their space don’t just explode out.”
Wen Tong’s fall immediately made Yuan Shaohua understand.
That terrifying person had made his move!
Over the past few days, he had been too busy running for his life and currying favor with Wen Tong.
He had actually forgotten to tell the others that there might be a terrifying person on Xiao Ziran’s team who could control other people.
Now he understood something else as well.
That person could not only control others with ease—he could also kill someone without making a sound.
Knowing when to bend and when to stand was Yuan Shaohua’s greatest strength.
Therefore, he made a decisive choice.
He immediately dropped to his knees and sprawled facedown on the ground, shouting,
“I’m not fighting! I’m not fighting! I’m not with them! Don’t hurt me!”
Everyone else had already found opponents of their own and was locked in fierce combat.
The only person with nothing else to do was Chu Tian.
He gave Yuan Shaohua a cold glance.
Sure enough, he didn’t bother with him again and simply let him remain kneeling and sprawled on the ground.
Even when the two remaining ability users under Yuan Shaohua’s command secretly came over and dragged him away from the battlefield, Chu Tian didn’t pay them any attention.
Those two had received instructions from Pei Qianxing earlier.
If a fight broke out, they were to run into the crowd of ordinary people and hide.
They were not to participate in any fighting.
They obediently followed his orders.
Once the battle started, they quickly discovered that although the enemy’s attacks were fierce, they weren’t deliberately targeting the ordinary people.
It wasn’t until Yuan Shaohua was kneeling and sprawled on the ground shouting that they realized he was making such a spectacle of himself that they couldn’t bear to watch any longer.
Only then did they come out and drag Yuan Shaohua back into the crowd.
The crowd was already somewhat panicked.
Some people began running aimlessly.
Others drove their vehicles away, heading off in unknown directions.
But even more of the ordinary people, after realizing that they weren’t being attacked, chose to remain where they were and watch the situation unfold.
At that moment, another cloud of dust suddenly rolled up in the distance.
It was obvious that another convoy was heading this way.
Quan Xiaoyu’s attacks against Jia Lunxu came one after another, relentlessly pressing forward.
Facing that once-familiar face, the hatred buried deep within his heart was slowly being stirred awake.
The condescending disdain Jia Lunxu had once shown him.
The cold, mocking look in Jia Lunxu’s eyes when he had watched Quan Xiaoyu being swallowed by the zombie horde.
The false, malicious kindness Jia Lunxu had shown at the church.
Scene after scene flashed through Quan Xiaoyu’s mind.
Kill him.
Drive the blade through his heart.
Use his blood to say goodbye to the past.
Somehow, this thought began to take root in Quan Xiaoyu’s heart.
In truth, in his battle against Jia Lunxu, Quan Xiaoyu was the one who looked worse off.
His fighting style seemed to leave almost no room for defense, and more than ten times, the earth spikes merely grazed past him.
His skin was cut open again and again, blood instantly soaking into the wounds.
His entire body looked covered in injuries.
But Quan Xiaoyu didn’t care in the slightest.
The thought growing wildly inside his heart drove him to advance toward Jia Lunxu, one knife strike after another.
Author’s Note: Everyone wasn’t satisfied with what I wrote yesterday. Most importantly, I wasn’t satisfied with it either. So I simply rewrote the whole thing. Remember to come back and read it.