Qiao Xi didn’t catch what he said.
It probably wasn’t anything good anyway.
Qin Wang’s expression, however, remained unchanged.
Qiao Xi toyed with the hammer in her hand.
The iron hammer felt ice-cold to the touch, only the size of a palm, like a small trinket, but it was by no means light.
She weighed it in her hand—at least seventy or eighty jin.
The hammer’s surface was covered in patterns. When energy was infused into it, the patterns would glow, and it could grow or shrink according to the wielder’s will.
From the size of a trinket to a single-handed grip, and then to something requiring both hands.
The handle stretched to over two meters tall.
“This thing can get this big?” Chen Zhiang’s face was full of shock.
Qiao Xi gripped the hammer and looked at it from left to right.
The handle spun once in her hand, and the hammerhead lightly touched the ground.
A crisp cracking sound immediately rang out at their ears.
The few of them looked down and saw the ceramic tile floor cracking from the hammerhead as the center, spreading outward like a spider web, startling Chen Zhiang into leaping aside.
Qiao Xi raised an eyebrow. Not bad.
Qin Wang watched from the side, still expressionless.
It was because of this hammer that the ice-type ability user from earlier had been able to hold his own against him for so long.
“Pack up. We’re setting out.”
He said calmly, then turned and headed upstairs on his own.
He seemed to be in low spirits.
Their target this time was a cold-chain warehouse at the border between Lijiang City and Jian’an City.
After the apocalypse, it had been converted into a survivor base.
“Why are we going there? Why not head straight back to Yunjing?”
Xia Manman’s expression showed some resistance at the mention of going to another base.
Qiao Xi glanced at her. Before getting in the car, she had asked Chen Zhiang—last night, Xia Manman never returned to where they were staying.
She had appeared later together with that group of people.
Xia Manman had most likely been captured by those people. If that was the case, then her injuries made sense.
The seaside guesthouse.
Not long after they left, zombies followed the scent and came looking, their roars echoing through the building.
In the badly damaged room on the second floor lay two corpses. One of them suddenly had a violent heave in the chest, and then its eyes opened.
This person was none other than the ice-type ability user Li Feng. At the critical moment, he had used his ice-sealing technique to protect his heart meridian and put himself into a state of suspended animation, barely escaping death.
He staggered up from the ground and looked at the corpse of the wind-type ability user beside him.
His expression gradually twisted into something vicious. He walked over and viciously kicked the corpse’s abdomen several times.
“A bunch of useless trash, making me lose my weapon to someone else!”
Thinking of the person who had taken his Black Iron Hammer, he gnashed his teeth in hatred.
No matter what, he would get the Black Iron Hammer back.
“They’ve developed some kind of potion over there.”
“I heard it can identify whether someone is infected with the virus. The detection success rate is as high as eighty percent. Those who are infected, whether or not they’ve shown symptoms, won’t be able to hide.”
Li Chuan sat in the passenger seat. He turned his head to look at the people in the back row.
It seemed like he was answering Xia Manman’s question, but he was constantly watching for Qiao Xi’s reaction.
Xia Manman met Li Chuan’s gaze, flinched slightly, and said nothing more.
Qiao Xi was resting with her eyes closed. Hearing this, her brow twitched.
“What does that have to do with us?”
“Our goal this time is to bring back some samples for research.” Qin Wang said.
Chen Zhiang, who was driving up front, casually chimed in, “Is that thing really that impressive?”
Li Chuan glanced at Qiao Xi and replied with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes, “I don’t believe it either, so we’ll have to test it to find out.”
“How do you plan to test it?” Qiao Xi looked at him lazily.
Their eyes met. A flash of ruthlessness passed through Li Chuan’s eyes, but it was quickly concealed.
“Exactly, how do we test it? None of us here are infected.” Chen Zhiang was puzzled.
Li Chuan chuckled. “You’ll find out when the time comes.”
Qiao Xi sneered inwardly. Li Chuan was probably about to lose his patience and make a move against her.
The reason he could stay calm and not openly clash with her was mostly because of his wariness toward Qin Wang.
He still hadn’t figured out Qin Wang’s stance, so he didn’t dare to act rashly against Qiao Xi.
He just wanted to use the power of other bases to get rid of her.
Truly cautious and meticulous.
Qiao Xi didn’t take him seriously at all.
She felt that after absorbing the blood of the plant-type ability user, she was very close to a breakthrough.
She was probably just… one step away.
She glanced at Qin Wang. If only she could get a bit more of his blood to drink.
Qin Wang faced the window, staring absentmindedly at a small beetle clinging to the gap in the car window.
He extended a finger and pressed it against the beetle through the glass.
A faint wisp of electric current seeped out from his fingertip, penetrated the glass, and struck the beetle’s body.
The beetle’s body stiffened from the shock, and in the blink of an eye, it was swept away by the wind.
At the same time, in a villa on the outskirts of Jian’an City, a young man’s low cry rang out.
“Hiss…” He rubbed his numb and sore ear, speaking with displeasure: “What a stingy fellow.”
At three in the afternoon, they arrived at the Jian’an Base.
This cold-chain warehouse was adjacent to a main road.
After the apocalypse, they had raised the walls, strung up electric fencing, and had drones patrolling overhead.
A large iron gate separated the inside from the outside, leaving only a small door for entry and exit. There were guards outside the door, and everyone needed to register when coming and going.
When Qiao Xi and the others arrived, a truckload of people happened to be outside undergoing base entry inspection.
Among that group of people were men, women, the elderly, and children alike.
After getting out of the car, they had to strip off all their clothes—the men left with only their underwear, and the women with just one extra piece, a bra.
One by one, they stripped bare and lined up to enter the security checkpoint.
Checking for external wounds was one thing; the compliance test was another.
This kind of thing had become commonplace after the apocalypse. Human dignity meant nothing in the face of survival.
So even though they stood there like animals, stripped of all dignity, subjected to the stares and scrutiny of others—those with a bit of looks even getting groped by opportunists—no one dared to resist in the slightest.
Because they wanted to live.
The security checkpoint was about five or six meters long, with a gate at the other end.
When someone passed through, sensors triggered water mist to spray from above and all sides.
It didn’t look particularly special at first glance.
“Do we have to strip and go through there too?” Xia Manman’s expression turned grim.
There were too many shameful marks hidden beneath her clothes. She’d rather die than stand naked in front of everyone.
Chen Zhiang also felt it was unnecessary. “It’s no big deal for us men, but there are two girls here—this is too undignified.”
Li Chuan swept a cold glance over the two of them. “Dignity or your life—you have to pick one.”
At his words, Xia Manman and the other immediately shut their mouths.
Qiao Xi rolled her eyes and pushed open the door to get out.
Just then, a piercing scream erupted from the direction of the gate.
Following the sound, she saw that among the group being inspected, a slightly overweight man had started screaming the moment the chemical solution touched his skin, shrieking as he fled outward.
As if what had been sprayed on him wasn’t water, but sulfuric acid.
The others scrambled out of the way in panic. The man tripped over a stool and fell to the ground, rolling around endlessly.
Every patch of skin that came into contact with the solution was visibly burning and melting away—flesh and blood turning into a blurry mess, the stench of scorched meat sharp and pungent.
It was both horrifying and nauseating.
But it wasn’t long before guards rushed over with guns raised.
A single gunshot rang out, and the man went completely still.
A guard stepped forward to drag the corpse away for burial, and everyone around wore expressions of utter indifference.
Qiao Xi stood in place, frowning at the scene, as Li Chuan strolled over unhurriedly to her side.
He stopped two steps away, his voice low, dripping with schadenfreude. “Scared? Soon enough, that’ll be you.”
Qiao Xi smiled slightly, speaking in a casual tone. “I recall your parents and sister died at the hands of monsters, didn’t they?”
Li Chuan’s pupils contracted, his face instantly turning colder. “What does that have to do with you?”
“Nothing.” Qiao Xi shrugged. “It’s just that I ran into a young man the day before yesterday. He said one of us was going to kill him to avenge his family…”
“What did you say?!” Before she could finish, Li Chuan grabbed her shoulders violently, his eyes boring into her. “Where is that bastard now?!”