On the rooftop of that building stood a slender figure.
She could feel that the energy making her uncomfortable was coming from that person.
That person was trying to control her, but the fluctuations from the control were too weak to affect her. They only made her feel somewhat uncomfortable.
The System suddenly cried out in surprise:
【Ranran, the ones running along the road are high-level zombies!】
Shu Ran lowered her eyes and looked again. Sure enough, those really were zombies, and their numbers were steadily increasing.
A heavy wave of malice came rushing toward her.
Shu Ran’s expression turned serious. Without hesitation, she rushed straight to Yu Yan’s room.
She scrambled onto the bed and shook the sleeping man awake.
【Yu Yan! Wake up! Someone is gathering nearby. They’re gathering zombies!】
But before she could finish speaking, her hand was suddenly caught.
Yu Yan, who had still been sound asleep just moments ago, slowly opened his eyes. Yet there was none of the drowsiness or confusion one would expect from someone who had just woken up in his dark pupils.
Under the moonlight, the man’s exquisite features appeared even more striking. His nose was tall and straight, and his thin, flushed lips parted slightly.
“You said someone was gathering zombies?”
Shu Ran nodded.
【Mm. They’re nearby. A lot of them.】
He wrapped the blanket around Shu Ran completely, since she hadn’t even put on her shoes, before taking a few steps toward the window.
After observing for a moment, he indeed noticed something strange about several buildings in the distance.
Even the magical vine had raised its leaves and begun restlessly darting around.
“I didn’t expect them to lose their patience so quickly. They’ve already made their move.”
With that, Yu Yan turned around at lightning speed, scooped Shu Ran up with one arm, and pulled a small communicator from his clothes as he walked.
“Notify everyone. Have them evacuate immediately.”
“Bzzzt… Boss, everyone’s been notified.”
“Don’t bother anymore.” Yu Yan had just been about to put the communicator away when the door was suddenly kicked open.
Standing in the doorway was Zhou Yong, wearing that same gloomy, feigned-innocent expression he always had. He withdrew his foot and looked at Yu Yan and Shu Ran with undisguised contempt.
“This entire area has already been surrounded by high-level zombies. Yu Yan, I know you’re powerful, but no matter how strong you are, do you really think you can get everyone out through a horde of so many high-level zombies?”
“Besides…” Zhou Yong turned his sinister gaze toward Shu Ran. “You’re even dragging along this useless little lover!”
The man and woman who had followed Zhou Yong inside immediately chimed in.
“That’s right! Boss Zhou is absolutely right!”
“I’ve disliked this woman for a long time!”
Zhou Yong was thoroughly pleased with being flattered like this. Especially after being humiliated by Yu Yan before, he enjoyed the feeling of finally being able to trample Yu Yan beneath his feet even more.
“If you want to stay alive, hand over everything you took from Jun County.”
Once he got his hands on those things, he would kill Yu Yan, take his little lover for himself, and then, right in front of Yu Yan, torment and humiliate her to his heart’s content!
Just imagining that scene was enough to make Zhou Yong grow uncontrollably excited.
As Shu Ran listened to their conversation, her brows gradually knitted together.
No wonder she had sensed such a strong feeling of malice coming from Zhou Yong and found him so annoying.
It turned out he was a bad guy!
And not just any bad guy—a traitor who would betray the people around him!
Shu Ran tightened her grip on Yu Yan’s clothes, wishing she could just jump down and punch Zhou Yong to death!
Yu Yan’s expression remained completely calm. He didn’t even bother giving them more than a glance, “You talk too much.”
The man didn’t even put Shu Ran down. He merely raised a finger slightly, and scorching purple-black flames surged toward the three of them like countless sparks!
The confident look on Zhou Yong’s face instantly froze. He desperately used his ability and everything he had on him to resist.
But no matter what he used, the moment it came into contact with the flames, it was instantly reduced to ashes!
“Fuck!”
Zhou Yong instinctively shoved the two people behind him forward, but they couldn’t stop the flames either. In mere moments, they were burned to a charred mess.
Zhou Yong stared at everything happening before him in disbelief, fear gradually filling his eyes.
“How is this possible? How is this possible?!”
“How did your ability become like this?!”
It had only been a few days, yet Yu Yan’s ability had actually leveled up?!
Hadn’t those old fools at the research institute said he could never advance any further? What the hell was going on?!
Zhou Yong wanted to run, but it was already too late.
Yu Yan controlled the magical vine and wrapped it around him, hoisting him into the air.
“As long as you don’t kill him, you can play with him however you like. Just remember to come back quickly.”
After giving the magical vine its instructions, he carried Shu Ran out the door.
Letting a traitor die easily was a kind of mercy. Only making them wish they were dead was the best punishment for people like them.
*
Yu Yan arrived at the meeting point as quickly as he could.
The moment Old Four saw him, he shouted: “Boss, you go ahead! We’ll move the supplies out and catch up with you.”
Yu Yan glanced into the warehouse, where there were still plenty of large weapons and food that hadn’t been moved yet. Then he turned his gaze toward Shu Ran.
“Can your space still hold more things?”
Shu Ran immediately raised her brows proudly,【Of course! There’s still plenty of room.】
With Shu Ran’s assurance, Yu Yan carried her and quickly made a round through the warehouse, even storing the helicopter that they had originally planned to abandon.
Old Four, Old Zhang, and the others were completely dumbfounded.
“Uh… this… this…”
Yu Yan, however, curled his lips smugly.
“What are you looking at? Hurry up and move.”
“Ah… right… right!!”
With their burden gone, the group quickly made it to the parking lot, got into the vehicles, and charged out through the horde of zombies…
On the rooftop of a high-rise building in the distance, a man in a black hood watched everything happening at Yu Yan’s base from afar.
It wasn’t until he saw the line of vehicles pass the building he was standing on that his entire face twisted into a vicious expression.
“Useless! You’re all a bunch of useless fools!”
They had claimed that they could get the supplies out for him and told him to just wait. And yet, in the end, Yu Yan had still managed to escape!
Without the slightest hesitation, he once again activated his mental ability and began controlling the zombies around him.
But before his ability could even spread out, a small purple-black flame drifted before him.
…
Yu Yan withdrew his gaze and lowered his eyes to the little zombie in his arms.
“Does it still hurt?”
Shu Ran took a deep breath and focused on the sensation. To her surprise, that energy she hated had really disappeared!
Her eyes curved into a smile as she looked up at the man,【Mm, it doesn’t hurt anymore. Thank you!】
The man looked down at the little zombie smiling brightly in his arms, his gaze growing even deeper. In the end, however, he merely pinched her soft little cheek.
…
Under the morning sunlight, the group finally broke out of the zombies’ encirclement.
Now that they finally had a chance to catch their breath, Old Zhang immediately glanced at the rearview mirror from the driver’s seat.
“Boss, where are we going next?”
Yu Yan glanced at the map in his hand, his tone calm.
“H City.”
“H City?” It would take them at least seven days to reach H City from where they were now. Why had Boss suddenly decided to go there?
Yu Yan didn’t hide the reason.
“The weapons arsenal is in H City. By the time we get there, the people from Jiaoyang Base should have cleared out most of the zombies.”
In other words, they could go and reap the rewards.