The first night inside the instance was far from peaceful. The roars of zombies, unidentified explosions, and the occasional sound of cars speeding past the convenience store made it impossible to truly relax.
Jiang Qi and Ye Ling took turns keeping watch through the night. The whole time, they worried someone might break in for the supplies inside the store.
Fortunately, no one came.
That was probably because the convenience store’s front door was shut.
Forcing the door open would create noise and attract zombies. In the middle of the night, nobody wanted to be focused on prying a door open only to turn around and realize they were already surrounded by zombies.
“What time is it now?”
After tidying herself up a little, Jiang Qi came out of the bathroom and noticed the sky outside was already beginning to brighten.
Ye Ling lowered his head to glance at his phone. “6:23.”
“So early…”
Because the apartment she rented was only a thirty-minute bus ride from her company, Jiang Qi usually dragged herself out of bed around 8:40 or 8:50 every morning.
Thinking about it, she hadn’t gotten up at six in the morning for a very long time.
“Did you sleep well last night?”
Jiang Qi asked with a yawn.
Ye Ling lifted a hand and rubbed between his brows. “No. I couldn’t sleep at all.”
“What a coincidence. Neither could I.”
At two in the morning last night, the entire city had suddenly lost power. The two of them had been so frightened that they sat in the living room clutching their weapons, their nerves stretched taut for a full hour before finally relaxing.
Ye Ling walked into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator, completely lacking any awareness that he was technically an intruder. Instead, he naturally turned around and asked, “Jiang Qi, should we eat breakfast before heading out, or leave now?”
“Let’s eat breakfast first. What’s in the fridge?”
Curious, Jiang Qi walked over. “Eggs, tomatoes, noodles, vegetables…”
“Mm. We can make tomato and egg noodles.”
The two exchanged a knowing look and spoke in unison.
“You wanna cook, or should I?”
Just as Ye Ling was about to say he would do it, Jiang Qi had already raised her fist. “Rock-paper-scissors. Best two out of three.”
So she really is a fresh graduate…
There was still a kind of youthful college-student playfulness in her behavior, Ye Ling thought to himself.
“Sure.”
Still, he didn’t particularly insist on cooking. He was simply used to giving way to people younger than him.
Three seconds later…
Ye Ling resigned himself to fate, picked up the ingredients, and turned toward the kitchen to cook the noodles.
How did he lose that cleanly?
Best two out of three, and they didn’t even make it to round three?!
Behind him, Jiang Qi was absolutely delighted.
Hehe, not having to cook feels amazing.
Ye Ling spent twenty minutes making two bowls of tomato and egg noodles, and the two of them spent another twenty minutes eating. By the time they were ready to leave, it was already 7:20.
The sky was fully bright now.
On the second floor of the convenience store, Jiang Qi first tied her phone securely with a rope, then set music to play on a timer before opening the bedroom window and slowly lowering the phone downstairs.
“Ye Ling, the phone alarm will go off in ten minutes. Let’s head to the entrance and get ready first.”
After finishing her preparations, Jiang Qi turned around and informed Ye Ling. The two headed downstairs together.
Ding-ling-ling—
They didn’t wait long before faint music from the direction of the convenience store’s back door began drifting over, immediately attracting the attention of the twenty-some zombies wandering nearby.
Sure enough, the car that had passed in front of the convenience store yesterday had drawn quite a few zombies over.
Once most of the zombies had been lured away, Ye Ling decisively pulled up the metal shutter.
“Run!”
Jiang Qi dashed out first, with Ye Ling following closely behind.
The van was parked right in front of the convenience store. With less than five meters between them and the vehicle, both Jiang Qi and Ye Ling quickly climbed inside and successfully drove off before the zombies could approach.
Only after the van entered the wide roadway did Jiang Qi ask, “Does this car need gas?”
The gas station wasn’t far from here, only about one kilometer away. If they needed fuel, they could stop there now.
After thinking for a moment, Ye Ling answered, “We can refill it.”
Actually, the van’s fuel tank was still half full, which should have been enough to get them to the scenic area. But to be safe, they could top off the tank before heading to the university district in case of emergencies.
“Alright.”
Ten minutes later.
Jiang Qi used binoculars to inspect the gas station from a distance, then waved at Ye Ling. “Let’s go. There’s no way to refuel anymore.”
Some kind of explosion had apparently occurred there, and the gas station was still burning. The surrounding cars had all been destroyed as well, leaving behind nothing but empty shells.
Ye Ling quickly turned the vehicle around, though his eyes lingered on the binoculars in Jiang Qi’s hands as he asked curiously, “Where did you get those binoculars?”
“Oh, these? They were part of the drone shop owner’s collection.”
Jiang Qi had discovered them displayed in a glass cabinet while searching the owner’s study for supplies.
How could she possibly not take something this useful?
Not taking them would practically be disrespectful to her spatial ring.
Ye Ling withdrew his gaze, silently envious.
Spatial abilities really were incredibly convenient.
At that moment, the road outside the university entrance was still hopelessly congested.
Through the binoculars, Jiang Qi saw the dense mass of swaying heads and immediately felt uncomfortable all over. “Why are all these zombies crowded here?”
Ye Ling frowned deeply. “No idea.”
“Can’t we take another route?”
Even with eight drones stored inside her spatial ring, Jiang Qi still felt like there was no way they could get through.
“If we could change routes, I definitely would.”
Ye Ling opened the map app on his phone and explained to Jiang Qi, “Look at this road, this one, and this one. They pass through densely packed school district housing, narrow food streets, and areas with an elementary school, a middle school, and three kindergartens.
“Meanwhile, the road outside the university is not only the widest route, but also the closest road to Rong Mountain Scenic Area.”
Jiang Qi looked like she was about to cry. “…So basically, we can only gamble on this?”
Ye Ling nodded. “That’s right.”
Fine then. If they had to risk it, they’d risk it. It wasn’t like this was their first desperate gamble anyway.
That was what she told herself, but Jiang Qi still felt uneasy.
“But can drones alone really lure away all the zombies blocking the road? I suspect there’s something in the middle of the street attracting their attention.”
Otherwise, why hadn’t these zombies dispersed even after an entire night had passed?
“If the drone’s noise can’t lure the zombies away, then we’ll create an explosion to draw them off.”
Ye Ling’s gaze was resolute, leaving no room for argument. “No matter what, we have to get through this road!”
Inspired by her temporary teammate’s determination, Jiang Qi nodded in agreement. “Alright, we’ll do it your way.”
“If sound won’t lure them away, then we’ll make an even bigger commotion!”
As for whether creating a bigger disturbance would attract even more zombies…
That would no longer be their problem.
***
Qi Zhaozhao had been hiding in a car trunk for an entire day and night.
She hugged her numb legs, which had long since lost all feeling after going numb again and again. She didn’t dare move, and she didn’t dare cry out loud.
I’m going to die, aren’t I?
She was definitely going to die.
A person could only survive three days without food or water…
Every so often, Qi Zhaozhao could feel the trunk shaking as the zombies crowded outside bumped into it, and despair grew stronger in her heart. Whenever she thought about everything that had happened yesterday, regret consumed her.
Dear heavens, please have mercy and give this humble girl one more chance to survive… I’ll never trust strangers so easily again… sob…
Bzzzzzzz—
A sudden buzzing sound rang out. Qi Zhaozhao instinctively lifted her head and pricked up her ears.
That sound… a helicopter?
No, not a helicopter. A helicopter would be much louder. Was it a drone?
Why was she hearing a drone?
Just as confusion crossed her mind, she suddenly heard a violent explosion from the left.
“ROAR!!!”
The zombies surrounding Qi Zhaozhao’s trunk became restless. They seemed to be getting drawn away.
Qi Zhaozhao was frantic inside. Not enough—an explosion at this level still wasn’t enough!
Then…
She heard the throat-ripping screams of heavy metal death rock music.
“…”
Oddly enough, it fit the situation perfectly.
Bah bah bah! Qi Zhaozhao wished she could slap herself. At a time like this, how could she still have the mood to joke around?!
Death rock really lived up to its name. It was incredibly effective at attracting dead creatures like zombies. At least, Qi Zhaozhao could clearly feel the zombies that had been packed around the trunk collectively running in another direction.
Did she finally have a chance to escape?
Qi Zhaozhao’s eyes lit up, her hand already pressing against the trunk lid.
Not yet. Wait a little longer… wait…
Whoosh—
Roughly 132 seconds later, Qi Zhaozhao heard the piercing screech of tires scraping against the road as a car suddenly floored the accelerator.
To her, the sound was like hope itself.
Without hesitation, Qi Zhaozhao pushed open the trunk and activated her ability at the same time.
“Wait! Wait for me! I can help!”
***
Following their plan, Jiang Qi and Ye Ling detonated several cars. How did they do it? First, they soaked strips of cloth in fuel and wrapped them around the drone’s frame. Then, after launching the drone, they lit the cloth on fire and controlled the drone to crash into the fuel tanks of cars parked along the roadside.
After using the explosions to lure away part of the zombie horde, they tied a Bluetooth speaker to the drone and used the same trick they’d already relied on countless times before, playing death rock music to successfully draw another portion of the zombies away.
Now they could finally pass through the clogged roadway!
Ye Ling slammed the accelerator, hoping to charge through the now-scattered zombie crowd as quickly as possible.
Just then, they heard an unfamiliar female voice.
“Wait! Wait for me! I can help!”
Jiang Qi turned toward the source of the voice, and the moment she looked, her eyes widened.
“Shit! Am I seeing things?!”
The girl had crawled out from inside a car trunk, and even her running was staggered and unsteady, as though she might collapse at any moment. But none of that was the important part. The important part was that every zombie within ten meters of her looked as though time itself had frozen. Several zombies that had been lunging at her were even suspended motionless in midair.
We can save her!
The moment Jiang Qi realized the girl still had a chance to be rescued, she immediately climbed from the passenger seat into the back row, shoved open the car door, and shouted, “Ye Ling! Slow down!”
All of Ye Ling’s attention was fixed on the road ahead, but after hearing Jiang Qi, he still eased off the accelerator.
“Hey! Run faster!”
Jiang Qi urged.
To Qi Zhaozhao, the hand the strangers inside the car extended toward her looked like hope itself beckoning her forward.
She didn’t want to die!
She absolutely did not want to be bitten to death by zombies!
Fear overtook the pain, pushing her beyond her limits. Qi Zhaozhao sprinted with all her strength and finally grabbed Jiang Qi’s hand just before the ten seconds ran out.
Thud.
The moment she was hauled into the car, Qi Zhaozhao clung to Jiang Qi and broke down sobbing.
“Waaah… I thought I was definitely dead… waaah… lifesaver, I’ll thank you for the rest of my life… waaah… my head hurts so much… it feels like it’s going to explode… waaah… my legs hurt too… why are they numb again…”
Jiang Qi ignored Qi Zhaozhao’s crying for the moment. She first pushed her away, then got up and shut the car door.
Only after the van successfully made it through the congested university entrance did she wipe the sweat from her forehead and let out a long breath.
“Phew… that scared me to death…”
Ye Ling also leaned his head back, his shoulders finally relaxing.
They had finally made it through the most difficult stretch of escaping Rong City.
After calming herself down, Jiang Qi looked at the still-crying Qi Zhaozhao. Smiling, she handed her a tissue and asked curiously, “Hey, what was that thing you did just now?”
Sniffling, Qi Zhaozhao replied, “Time Stop. It was the ability I got from my beginner gift pack.”
Holy crap, they just rescued someone with god-tier luck.
That exact thought flashed through both Jiang Qi’s and Ye Ling’s minds at the same time.
How could such a ridiculously overpowered ability come out of a beginner gift pack?!