Who would have thought that when the earth-element ability user saw Pei Qianxing pull the fire-element ability user up first, he immediately panicked. He lunged forward and wrapped both arms around the fire-element user’s leg, anxiously shouting, “No! Captain, you can’t leave me behind! If you’re going up, then we both go up together!”
The rising vines immediately jammed to a halt.
The fire-element ability user also realized how dangerous the situation had become, so he kicked the earth-element user away with all his strength while shouting, “Pull me up! Pull me up! Hurry!”
But the earth-element user refused to let go. He lunged forward again and grabbed the fire-element user, and the two became tangled together.
From atop the wall, Pei Qianxing watched, both furious and anxious. The two men were tangled together, neither willing to let go. Given his current condition, there was no way he could haul both of them up. If this continued…
Before Pei Qianxing could get the words “Stop it!” out of his throat, several giant rats that had gone ahead of the others were already pouncing toward them.
The other vines on the wall immediately transformed into attacking tendrils, quickly spearing three of the giant rats to death.
But even that was too late.
The two men let out simultaneous screams before falling to the ground together. More giant rats swarmed toward them from behind…
Pei Qianxing stood atop the wall, vines whipping through the air, but against a massive swarm of rats, his vines were simply a drop in the ocean.
In less than a minute, the two men who had been tangled together were completely swallowed up by the swarm, disappearing from sight. They were already dead.
Pei Qianxing withdrew the attacking vines and stood atop the wall in silence, staring down below.
The giant rats began trying to climb the city wall. They leaped into the air, incredibly jumping five or six meters high in an attempt to grab the wall, but failed. The concrete wall was far too smooth for them, offering no footholds whatsoever.
They leaped up only to slide back down. After trying more than a dozen times, Pei Qianxing noticed that some of the giant rats had begun digging at the soil beneath the wall.
He took a deep breath, his eyes blank as he stared up at the dark, oppressive sky.
The disaster was about to arrive.
Where could he possibly go?
After Chu Tian and the others finished getting everything ready, they immediately headed toward the northern part of the city.
The map in Zuo Li’s hands proved extremely useful at this point.
Xiao Ziran and Chu Tian quickly found a road leading out of the city on the map. Of course, it was a map from before the apocalypse, so there was a good chance the road had already been sealed off.
But that didn’t matter. Even if it was blocked, there would always be a way through. And if it had been sealed off, that meant there were defenses there. It could be used for both offense and defense, making it an even better place to go.
The group set out fully equipped, and no one stopped them along the way. They already had permission to enter and leave freely. Besides, even though there wasn’t much commotion outside yet, they could all sense that most of the personnel originally assigned to guard the area had already been mobilized.
That was a good sign. At the very least, it meant the people in charge here were taking the situation seriously.
Along the way, they also saw several squads of guards hurrying somewhere. They were all dressed like soldiers.
“These should be Yuan Long’s people, right?” Xiao Ziran guessed.
“Probably. Although Cai Yuanhan isn’t completely inactive either, it’s obvious that Yuan Long takes this matter more seriously than he does,” Chu Tian replied.
“It concerns life and death. Yuan Long comes from a military background, so he can sense danger more keenly than Cai Yuanhan,” Ouyang Jing rarely offered his own opinion.
The doctor had later explained the entire course of the negotiations to him in detail. Although Ouyang Jing had realized that, as the situation grew increasingly critical, his ability to lead was becoming less and less useful, Xiao Ziran and Chu Tian’s attitude toward him had not changed. They still respected him and continued to regard him as one of the leaders.
After nearly an hour on the road, they finally reached the northern part of the city.
The sealed-off road was marked by a towering city wall that was impossible to miss.
“They really did put a lot of effort into their defenses. No wonder Cai Yuanhan is so confident,” Chu Tian remarked after seeing the wall.
Xiao Ziran didn’t respond. Instead, he immediately told Ouyang Jing to stop the vehicle.
“What’s wrong?” Chu Tian and Ouyang Jing asked at the same time. They couldn’t see anything.
Even Quan Xiaoyu, sitting beside Chu Tian, looked at Xiao Ziran in confusion.
Xiao Ziran hesitated for a moment before saying, “There’s a green figure on top of that wall.”
Everyone froze, then immediately remembered the doctor’s new ability.
“Is it a person?” Chu Tian asked.
“How would I know?” The doctor rolled his eyes. “It looks human-shaped. But what if I can see the abilities of zombies too?”
That was a possibility the three of them had discussed before. It was certainly plausible, but for now, they had no way to test it.
So everyone got out of the vehicle, and Chu Tian decided to take Quan Xiaoyu with him and slowly approach first to investigate.
Because even if the figure wasn’t a zombie, it had to be an ability user. At a sensitive moment like this, an ability user standing alone atop a city wall was certainly worth questioning.
Xiao Ziran insisted on going with them this time as well. The main reason was the figure’s color. Earlier, they had analyzed the colors associated with different people’s abilities, and they suspected that green most likely represented a plant-type ability.
However, because the doctor couldn’t see his own color, this was still only a theory. Now they had a chance to verify it. Besides, if it really was the same type of ability, he was very interested.
The three of them quietly approached.
Only after getting closer did they realize that there wasn’t merely a figure on top of the wall. From beyond the wall came enormous squeaking noises and the sounds of gnawing.
The three stopped in their tracks.
Although the figure on the wall had his back to them, he still looked extremely familiar. They weren’t meeting for the first time—especially not Xiao Ziran.
“Pei Qianxing?” Xiao Ziran called out in confusion.
Hearing the voice, Pei Qianxing suddenly jolted.
He had been so absorbed in his thoughts that he had completely let down his guard.
But when he turned around and saw the people below the wall, he breathed a sigh of relief.
“Xiao Ziran. Chu Tian.”
He had originally planned to ask Xiao Ziran whether he could join their group after dealing with his two companions. Even if Xiao Ziran refused, he had intended to quietly follow them.
But the sudden disaster had made him seriously question whether his original plan was even feasible.
When disaster struck and the city descended into chaos, who would even be able to find anyone?
He never expected to encounter them here so coincidentally.
Pei Qianxing didn’t know how to describe what he was feeling at that moment.
“What’s out there? What are you doing up there?” Xiao Ziran asked. He was somewhat irritated by the feeling of having to look up at someone.
“A swarm of rats!” Pei Qianxing said heavily. “A swarm made up of enormous giant rats. They can gnaw a person down to bare bones in just a dozen seconds.”
As he spoke, he glanced at the two sets of white bones faintly visible among the rats outside the wall.
The three people below fell silent.
Mutated beasts again.
And this time, they were rats.
Even if they hadn’t mutated, seeing rats appear in huge swarms was disgusting enough. And now they had mutated on top of that…
Xiao Ziran thought for a moment.
“I’ll go take a look.”
Before anyone could respond, two vines shot out and quickly anchored themselves to the city wall. Xiao Ziran was pulled upward with them.
“We’re going too!” Chu Tian shouted to the doctor.
Once the doctor reached the top of the wall, he didn’t waste any time. He lowered a vine and wrapped it around the two of them.
Soon, Quan Xiaoyu and Chu Tian were pulled up onto the wall as well.
Pei Qianxing watched in astonishment.
The last time the doctor had fought him, the two had barely ended in a draw. Now, his own strength had been slow to recover after the previous battle, which was what had ultimately led to the deaths of those two men.
Yet judging from the doctor’s performance just now, pulling two people up had been effortless. He showed none of the weakness one would expect after a major battle.
Pei Qianxing was deeply shaken. Countless possibilities flashed through his mind, but he didn’t dare voice any of them.
As soon as the three reached the top of the wall, they looked down.
One glance was enough to make them suck in a sharp breath.
It was a vast, densely packed black mass.
Most importantly, the creatures were slightly larger than cats. Their eyes were blood-red, and sharp fangs protruded from their mouths.
That’s right.
Fangs.
They had all mutated and grown fangs!
“This……” Even Chu Tian was speechless.
How were they supposed to get out of here?
Quan Xiaoyu tried throwing several fireballs at them.
The fireballs quickly ignited the rats’ fur. The burning giant rats shrieked and leaped around in agony, but as soon as they landed, they were swallowed up by the other rats. The flames went out along with them.
The rats were choosing to kill their own threatened companions in order to protect themselves.
“That’s really troublesome,” Xiao Ziran remarked after witnessing the scene.
“They’re afraid of fire!” Quan Xiaoyu said with certainty.
Xiao Ziran shook his head. “It’s useless. Including you, we only have three fire-element ability users in our group. Can the three of you really deal with this enormous swarm?”
“Look at the base of the wall,” Pei Qianxing reminded them.
He had been the first to arrive here and had been observing the swarm for quite some time. He had noticed those creatures digging at the foot of the wall long ago.
Only then did Chu Tian and the others follow the direction Pei Qianxing indicated.
“Brown rats!” Xiao Ziran exclaimed in surprise. “Three brown rats! What are they doing?”
It was too dark around them. Everyone’s attention had been drawn to the enormous black mass of rats, so Xiao Ziran had completely failed to notice the patch of brown at the corner of the wall.