One day.
Two days.
By the third day, the acid rain had become extremely light.
Just as the rain was about to stop, Yu Yao looked at the suddenly appearing yellow light dot on the map and finally understood where her unease was coming from.
On Yu Yao’s mini-map, she herself appeared as an orange light dot.
Teammates were green, ordinary people blue, ability users purple, zombies red, and mutated animals and plants yellow.
Unfortunately, before encountering the target’s actual body, the map could not display its exact identity.
From the current situation alone, the instant this light dot appeared, it was already far more eye-catching than the psychic-type zombie Luo Mei had attracted earlier—and it even showed signs of continuing to expand.
Yu Yao immediately knew things had gone bad.
If this light dot kept growing so rapidly, with her current abilities, she definitely wouldn’t be able to handle it.
Luo Mei’s expression also turned grave. She subconsciously moved behind Yu Yao, standing back to back with her.
She vigilantly scanned their surroundings, her gaze dark and heavy.
“A-Yao, I don’t think this is good. There’s an energy that makes me very uncomfortable, and it’s constantly growing stronger—but my mental power can’t grasp it.”
Yu Yao said, “It’s probably a mutated animal or a mutated plant. Use your mental power to probe B-3 and see if you can find anything.”
Luo Mei calmly accepted Yu Yao’s response, without any hesitation or doubt.
She immediately extended her mental power toward Villa B-3, just as Yu Yao had said.
B-3 was located at the very center of the villa district. From the outside, it looked more refined and imposing than the others—most likely the prime villa of the area.
When Luo Mei’s mental power entered, she discovered that there were still living people inside.
A young woman with above-average looks and a slightly arrogant expression, and a handsome middle-aged man with a gentle yet melancholic air. The atmosphere between them was ambiguous and strange—indescribably odd.
But Luo Mei couldn’t be bothered to investigate what their relationship was.
She focused solely on Yu Yao’s instructions, trying to find whether there were any strange mutated animals or plants there.
The owner of this villa seemed to love gardening.
The front and back yards were filled with various rare flowers, and there was even a dedicated sunroom inside the villa.
However, most of it had been almost completely destroyed by the earthquake and acid rain. No matter how Luo Mei looked, she couldn’t spot anything unusual.
After searching the ground level without finding anything, she decided to check underground.
Unexpectedly, just as her mental power barely reached into the basement, an indescribable, searing pain exploded in her mind.
Luo Mei cried out. Before instinctively withdrawing her mental power, she saw a pair of blood-red eyes.
Noticing something was wrong with Luo Mei, Yu Yao hurriedly supported her.
She only heard Luo Mei exclaim in shock, “Rats! It’s rats! A gigantic rat!”
“Oh no—let’s go, now!” Yu Yao gasped, replying instinctively.
Rats weren’t scary. Mutated rats weren’t scary either. What was terrifying was a rat with energy this powerful—and still growing stronger.
This was a Rat King, a Rat King capable of commanding countless mutated rats!
Once it gathered enough rats, the consequences would be unimaginable.
Therefore, the smartest thing to do now was to leave immediately, before this Rat King could summon other mutated rats—absolutely do not provoke it!
As she spoke, Yu Yao supported Luo Mei and rushed outside.
While running, she pulled up the hood of her jacket and didn’t forget to take out a new piece of gear, draping it over Luo Mei to cover her body and head.
She had tested it before—the basic equipment from the shop could temporarily block the corrosive effects of acid rain.
Maybe it was due to the auto-cleaning function, or maybe it had a certain level of defense.
In any case, it could remain intact for ten minutes.
All they needed to do was get into the vehicle within those ten minutes.
The rain was already very light now, like a drizzle.
Even though the acid rain would still corrode the car and tires, as long as they replaced them frequently, it wouldn’t affect them directly.
If her memory was correct, this acid rain was about to stop soon. Just hold on a little longer, and they’d be able to leave!
When they reached the yard, Yu Yao directly smashed the gate open with her knife. From the storage space, she selected a modified off-road vehicle sturdy enough and placed it at the entrance.
She put the pale-faced Luo Mei into the passenger seat, then got into the driver’s seat herself.
The moment the engine started, Yu Yao hesitated briefly, then turned the car around and drove to Villa A-2.
While honking to warn them, she locked eyes with Ji Yan, who was standing by the window.
Seeing this, Yu Yao quickly rolled down the window. As Ji Yan was opening his window, she waved and shouted, “Ji Yan! Go!”
Seeing the sudden change in Ji Yan’s expression, Yu Yao knew he had heard her. After placing another decently performing modified vehicle outside their gate, she slammed the accelerator and sped away!
After the earthquake, there were hardly any usable cars left in this villa district. Even if there were, they wouldn’t be able to drive them.
Without the protection of a car against the acid rain, even if they ran out, they’d still be injured by it—there was no point.
Considering that they had initiatively helped her before and were fellow schoolmates, she didn’t mind helping them once.
In the passenger seat, Luo Mei watched Yu Yao’s series of actions and smiled weakly, asking, “So you actually have acquaintances here, huh~?”
“Schoolmates. When you were unconscious, they took the initiative to help me clear out the zombies.”
“Returning a favor?” Luo Mei asked.
“More or less.”
Hearing Yu Yao say that, Luo Mei’s eyes brightened slightly, and she let out a soft laugh.
Yu Yao glanced at her strangely, only to hear Luo Mei say again, “You know, young people really do react fast—look, they’re already chasing after us!”
Yu Yao glanced at the rearview mirror and, sure enough, saw Ji Yan and his group chasing after them.
Besides them, several other groups had also followed—perhaps they had heard Yu Yao shouting earlier, sensed that something was wrong, and decided to run after them.
Luo Mei raised an eyebrow and continued, “Quite a few people reacted fast.”
Yu Yao replied, “Who doesn’t want to live? If they want to follow, let them.”
Their car was moving fast. Within a few minutes, they had left the villa district far behind, speeding through the rain.
However, things were not resolved just because they left in time.
Yu Yao looked at the rapidly clustering yellow light dots on the map and cursed inwardly.
“They’re gathering!”
Luo Mei’s pupils shrank. She suddenly turned around, enduring the headache as she once again released her mental power.
Her face immediately turned even paler.
“They’re chasing us!”
Perhaps sensing Yu Yao and the others’ movements, the Rat King had prematurely gathered countless mutated rats to intercept them.
After all, in its eyes, the fattest prey in that villa district—aside from Yu Yao and Luo Mei—were Ji Yan and Ye Zi’ang.
How could it not be furious when these four juicy pieces of meat just up and left?
Even though the acid rain was terrifying, it no longer cared. After all, it would be the little rats underneath that got hurt!
As long as they could seize those four pieces of fat before being melted away by the acid rain, that would be enough!!
……
Yu Yao sensed the densely packed yellow light dots drawing closer and closer, along with the faint vibrations caused by a massive group of huge mutated rats running together. She clenched her teeth and said, “You drive!”
“Okay!”
The two clasped hands and quickly switched positions.
Although Luo Mei had been attacked by the Rat King, her mental power injured and her head aching as if someone were stirring her brain with chopsticks, she still gritted her teeth and drove at top speed.
Yu Yao, meanwhile, fully armed herself, then resolutely opened the car window and nimbly climbed out.
She flipped onto the car roof, which had already been corroded into a pitted mess by the acid rain.
Crouching on the roof to steady herself, she looked into the distance at the gray-black ocean closing in on the last car, her gaze heavy.
Without time to hesitate, she quickly purchased a longbow and dozens of basic explosive talismans from the shop.
The explosive talismans were incredibly powerful—one was equivalent to ten grenades.
Against mutated rats that were not only fast but also absurdly tough, they had the best cost-performance ratio.
……
She summoned the longbow and quiver. As she nocked three arrows onto the bowstring, she also fixed three explosive talismans to the arrowheads with her mind.
A moment later, under the shocked and baffled gazes of Ye Zi’ang and the others in the car behind, she calmly drew the bow and cleanly released.
The three arrows whistled through the air, streaking out like meteors and plunging into the front ranks of the mutated rat swarm.
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
Three enormous explosions rang out in succession. Countless mutated rats were blown to pieces, fragments mixed with acid rain, mud, and stones splattering everywhere.
Some chunks smashed onto the roofs of the vehicles with loud thuds.
Yet when those fragments reached Yu Yao, they were all blocked by a transparent light shield.
This was a mental barrier Luo Mei had forced open with all her strength, just barely large enough to protect Yu Yao’s body, afraid she might be injured.
In the car behind, Ye Zi’ang stared at Yu Yao calmly drawing her bow again and cried out, “Is Yu Yao a fire-type ability user?”
A boy named Jiao Yang in the back seat leaned forward eagerly and couldn’t help saying, “Doesn’t look like it. Did you see what was on her arrowheads? Don’t they look like talismans?”
“Talismans?” Ye Zi’ang exclaimed. “Don’t tell me Yu Yao is actually some kind of hidden master living apart from the world?”
Jiao Yang sighed. “Who knows? The apocalypse is already here, zombies exist—at this point, even if you told me there are gods in this world, I’d believe it!”
As he spoke, listening to the continuous explosions sounding behind them with Yu Yao’s every movement, he sighed sincerely, “So cool!”