Two crystal stones, one blue and one pink, flew past Wang Haiting’s eyes and into Jiang Chenyu’s hand behind him. The energy contained within the crystal stones made his heart tremble.
He had originally thought that no matter how powerful Jiang Chenyu was, he could only be a fourth-order ability user at most, since that was the highest level known at present. But now it seemed that Jiang Chenyu was far more powerful than that!
Those crystal stones were at least fourth-order. Someone who could easily kill fourth-order zombies and extract their crystal stones—what level could his ability possibly be?
Wang Haiting did not dare imagine it at all.
While he was distracted, more than a dozen second-order zombies nearby were attracted by the energy of the crystal stones and entered the shop that had already been cleared out beforehand.
Wang Haiting turned around for help, only to see Jiang Chenyu leaning against the cashier counter with his eyes closed, absorbing the ability energy.
“Fuck!”
He cursed under his breath and turned around to deal with the dozen or so second-order zombies.
A wall of water rose up in an attempt to block them, but unfortunately, it was quickly broken through. He could only attack with streams of water while using the steel rod Song Qing had left behind to beat the zombies.
Unfortunately, he was no violent woman like Song Qing. He did not have enough strength to smash through a zombie’s skull with the rod, and his ability could not be continuously released. He ended up dodging around in an extremely miserable state.
He struggled to fend off the dozen or so zombies surrounding him and shouted desperately over his shoulder.
“Jiang Chenyu, hurry up and deal with the zombies you attracted! I’m going to die!”
He awkwardly dodged a blue-black claw reaching for his eyes and knocked the zombie away with his rod. The person behind him still showed no reaction, so he wisely lowered his voice and begged.
“Brother Jiang, Brother Yu, save me! You don’t want Song Qing to come back from collecting supplies and find that her companion is dead, do you?”
Jiang Chenyu still did not make a move. Wang Haiting could only desperately block the zombies’ attacks, the veins on his forehead bulging as large beads of sweat rolled down one after another.
When he was completely exhausted, the steel rod slipped from his hand, and his ability was also completely drained. His entire body fell heavily to the ground with a “bang,” and the zombies excitedly lunged toward him.
Wang Haiting despairingly closed his eyes and waited to become a zombie’s meal.
One second, two seconds, more than ten seconds passed.
He seemed to be fine?
Wang Haiting opened his eyes in confusion, only to see the heads of more than ten zombies in front of him split open, crystal stones flying out.
Then, with a series of loud crashes, all of them collapsed onto the ground. One of the corpses even fell on top of him.
The stench of the body and its ugly face made his hair stand on end. He desperately pushed the corpse off himself, then slumped onto the ground, his chest heaving violently as he turned to look behind him.
Jiang Chenyu still had his eyes closed. The two large crystal stones from earlier, along with more than a dozen second-order crystal stones, were all floating in the air, their energy being continuously drawn out.
Wang Haiting had fought desperately and only managed to kill a few zombies, yet Jiang Chenyu had made all of them fall with a single thought.
Seeing his methods with his own eyes, Wang Haiting could not help sucking in a breath of cold air.
If Jiang Chenyu had not moved his finger—if he had simply had a single thought—would his life not have been gone just like that?
Wang Haiting completely lost his temper with Jiang Chenyu.
At least he was still willing to save him, right?
That was what he humbly told himself.
Although Jiang Chenyu was the one who had attracted the zombies in the first place.
He turned his head toward the entrance of the shop, wondering when Song Qing would return.
That morning, they had left the small town and driven for several dozen kilometers before passing through Tonghua City. The place had been relatively prosperous even before the apocalypse, so there were naturally many zombies inside.
Wang Haiting had wanted to pass through quickly, but Song Qing said that Tonghua City had a strong medical system and many large and small pharmacies, so she wanted to stock up on some medicine in case she needed it later.
After driving into the city, they first entered a small shop and cleared out the zombies. Once they had scavenged everything inside, Song Qing left him there to protect Jiang Chenyu while she went to a pharmacy nearby.
Wang Haiting looked at the shop filled with zombie corpses and smiled bitterly.
He was supposed to protect Jiang Chenyu?
Not getting Jiang Chenyu to protect him was already good enough.
While Jiang Chenyu absorbed the crystal stones to improve his healing ability, he did not forget to spare a strand of his mental power to follow Song Qing. After seeing her kill the few zombies in the pharmacy and put the remaining medicines into her spatial storage before hurrying back, he confirmed that she was not in danger and withdrew his mental power.
After absorbing the crystal stones, he sat down on the chair behind the cashier counter and propped his chin on one hand. He looked at Wang Haiting, who was slumped on the floor, and calmly ordered, “Go move the bodies outside.”
He did not want to wait for Song Qing to see a floor full of second-order zombies and become nervous again, frantically checking his wounds and asking him a whole bunch of questions.
Hearing this, Wang Haiting, who had only just saved his life, nearly spat out blood.
But what could he do?
He could not beat Jiang Chenyu, so he could only drag his aching, exhausted body to his feet, haul the zombies outside, and dump them somewhere out of sight.
Just as he finished moving all of them and was heading back, he ran into Song Qing returning.
He greeted her with tears of joy.
Finally, he no longer had to face that great devil Jiang Chenyu alone.
Song Qing nimbly dodged the filthy black hand he reached out with and looked suspiciously at the strange expression on his face.
“What’s wrong with you?”
“Nothing. I just missed you too much after not seeing you for a while.”
Wang Haiting awkwardly withdrew his hand.
“Crazy.”
Song Qing rolled her eyes.
As soon as she entered the shop, the expression on her face changed. She approached Jiang Chenyu with a radiant smile, happily circling around him as she told him about everything she had gained from going out.
She was a perfect example of what it meant to have double standards!
Wang Haiting sat on the red plastic stool at the entrance of the shop, gritting his teeth as he watched the two people talking nearby.
He could not understand it.
They were both men, so why was Song Qing’s attitude toward him and Jiang Chenyu completely different?
If it was about looks, Jiang Chenyu was not even that handsome. With that sickly body that looked as though he could stop breathing at any moment, there was no way he looked as tall and strong as himself!
And if it was because they had known each other longer, that was not right either. He had overheard them talking and knew that they had only known each other for a few days longer than he had.
So what exactly was the reason?
If Song Qing had heard his shameless thoughts, she definitely would have given him another eye-roll.
Putting aside the fact that Jiang Chenyu could save the apocalypse and the lives of her entire family, even if she only considered the two of them as individuals, she would obviously prefer someone with a gentle personality and stable emotions, someone who constantly praised her and accepted all her requests without question—Jiang Chenyu.
Not a big guy who chattered nonstop, whose emotions fluctuated wildly, and who would even fight her over a piece of chicken!
More than ten minutes later, the two of them were still talking, so Wang Haiting rudely interrupted their warm conversation.
“Are you done yet? It’s almost three o’clock. If we don’t leave now, we won’t reach anywhere to sleep tonight and will have to sleep out in the wilderness.”
“Then let’s go.”
Song Qing did not mind being interrupted. She patted the dust that had gotten onto her legs and stood up from the chair before speaking to Jiang Chenyu beside her.
“Mm.”
Jiang Chenyu followed her to his feet. Seeing a strand of black hair sticking up on top of her head, he held himself back for a moment, but in the end, he could not resist. He reached out and smoothed it down for her.
Song Qing was just about to walk outside when he touched her head. She looked up at him in confusion.
Her almond-shaped eyes were bright and watery. After the fight at the pharmacy just now, her fair little face was flushed with a healthy rosy color, full of vitality. She looked incredibly appetizing.
Jiang Chenyu could not resist reaching out and pinching her smooth, tender cheek before pushing her slender shoulder forward.
“Nothing. Let’s go.”
Song Qing was already used to him pinching her cheeks, so she did not mind. She moved toward where they had parked the car.
After leaving Tonghua City, they would have to pass a tertiary hospital in the city. Even before the apocalypse, it had always been packed with people. After the apocalypse, it went without saying that there would be many zombies there.
Even though Song Qing had prepared herself in advance, she still had not expected the number of zombies to increase several kilometers away from the hospital. From time to time, they had to get out and clear them away, making their journey extremely difficult.
They also encountered several groups of ability users who had come out to search for supplies. At first, seeing that Song Qing and the others were few in number, they had malicious intentions and wanted to make a move. But the moment they saw Song Qing get out of the car and fight the zombies, they immediately abandoned the idea.
All these ability users avoided the hospital. After traveling with Song Qing and the others for only a short while, they took a fork in the road and clearly had no intention of heading toward the hospital.
When one older woman left, she even kindly warned Song Qing that if possible, they should take a detour. She had heard that there were third- and fourth-order zombies in that hospital, and if they happened to encounter one, they would lose their lives.
Song Qing was indeed somewhat discouraged by her warning. After stopping the car again and clearing away the zombies blocking the road, she sat inside and studied the map.
There were two possible detours, but neither was a good choice. Not only were they smaller roads, but they would also require them to make a detour of more than a hundred kilometers, adding at least two days to their journey.
Song Qing sat in the back seat, biting her lip in indecision.
Which should she choose?
Should she take the shorter route and pray that they would be lucky enough not to encounter any high-order zombies, or should she choose the safer smaller road and add two more days to their journey?
Wang Haiting, who was in the driver’s seat, turned his head to look at her.
“Stop hesitating. Let’s just take the road by the hospital. Both you and I are second-order ability users, so what are you afraid of? You’ve also got that strange strength of yours. Even a third-order zombie might not be able to beat you.”
In fact, what Wang Haiting was thinking in his heart was that even third- and fourth-order zombies would not be enough for Jiang Chenyu to deal with. With a powerful expert backing him, why should he be afraid?
Song Qing looked at him suspiciously.
After spending more than a week together, she did not think Wang Haiting was someone who did not care about his life. Usually, whenever he was surrounded by two or three second-order zombies, he would already be screaming desperately for her to save him.
Wang Haiting awkwardly turned his head toward the windshield and muttered, “Isn’t it better to save two days of travel? It’s not like we’re definitely going to encounter a high-order zombie.”
Song Qing still could not make up her mind, so she habitually turned her head toward Jiang Chenyu.
Then she noticed that he had his eyes closed, resting. The light from outside the car window reflected across his face, making his features appear especially refined.
Song Qing reached out and tugged at his arm, speaking softly.
“Brother Yu.”
“Mm?”
Jiang Chenyu was not asleep. He had simply been resting with his eyes closed. The moment she touched him, he opened his eyes and quietly looked at her with his dark eyes.
“Brother Yu, which road do you think we should take?”
Jiang Chenyu said, “Take the main road. What others said about there being high-order zombies may not necessarily be true.”
“Okay, then we’ll take the main road.”
Song Qing immediately made her decision, as though she had suddenly found someone to rely on. She told Wang Haiting to drive.
Wang Haiting started the car with a sour expression.
So when he said something, she would not listen, but when Jiang Chenyu said it, she listened immediately?
They proceeded slowly. When they were only a few hundred meters from the hospital, they were blocked again.
This time, it was not only the zombies blocking the road. More than a dozen ability users were also fighting the zombies.
Song Qing even noticed that the tall woman leading them was a third-order ability user. Countless chunks of ice flew from her hands, striking down a large number of zombies with fierce force.
Out of caution, Song Qing had originally not wanted to get out of the car, but there were simply too many zombies. Those people could not finish dealing with them for the time being, and since they were blocking her path, she could not leave either.
She instructed Wang Haiting to stay in the car and protect Jiang Chenyu, then got out and joined them in fighting the zombies.
After this period of training, she had become much more proficient with her ability. She condensed hard clumps of earth and attacked the zombies’ heads. First-order zombies fell with a single strike, while for second-order zombies, she only needed to follow up with a hit from the steel rod before they fell as well.
This greatly reduced the pressure on the group. When several people finally had their hands free, they looked at her in astonishment.
They were all second-order ability users, so why could this little girl kill zombies as easily as chopping vegetables while they struggled so much?
She was not even much slower at killing zombies than their captain.
Their captain was a third-order ice-type ability user, after all!