Bai Zhuo’s head snapped up on instinct, a huge black shape slammed straight into the windshield, cracking the glass outright. A snarling, hideous face was pressed right up against her, and the rank stench of zombie flooded into the car in an instant.
The off-roader lurched to a halt in the middle of the road, and the zombie, caught off guard, was flung off.
Countless zombies came clawing up from both sides of the road, twisting their bodies as they lunged toward the vehicle.
“Hold on tight!”
Bai Zhuo floored the gas without hesitation. The engine let out a roar like a charging bull, and the car shot forward like an arrow off the string, sending zombie after zombie flying.
Experiencing Bai Zhuo’s driving for the first time, Xue Yanhen had no time to brace and nearly cracked her head against the door.
By the time she’d steadied herself, she, who had never once been carsick her whole life, was on the verge of throwing up.
Xue Yanhen reached out weakly. “Xiao Bai, my life is a life too…”
“Saving our necks comes first.”
The gas station came into Bai Zhuo’s view. She slowly brought the car to a stop, but didn’t get out right away.
The ground was strewn with zombie corpses, clearly the place had been picked over more than once.
Xue Yanhen ached all over from the high fever, and now, dazed and foggy-headed, she no longer had the energy to watch what Bai Zhuo was doing.
Bai Zhuo tightened her grip on the wheel and called out to the system in her mind.
【System, open ten loot boxes.】
She’d been hoarding draws for so long, wasn’t it exactly for a life-or-death moment like this?
If not now, then when?
【Yes, ten-pull initiated.】
【Congratulations, host. You have obtained: purified water 500ml ×4, canned gas cartridge ×2, compressed biscuits ×3, anti-inflammatory medicine ×1. The above supplies have been sent to your system inventory. Please check them, host.】
Good news: she had anti-inflammatory medicine now.
Bad news: no gasoline.
Bai Zhuo frowned, took the frying pan out of the system inventory, and glanced back at Xue Yanhen, whose eyes were shut tight and her brow furrowed. Then she turned, got out, and locked the car door behind her out of habit.
The inside of the gas station was a wreck. Bai Zhuo swept her eyes over it and combed through the entire place as fast as she could.
Nothing. No gasoline.
Irritated, Bai Zhuo kicked an empty fuel drum beside her, her expression sour.
【System, pull another ten.】
She refused to believe her luck was this bad!
【Yes. Congratulations, host. You have obtained: a modao [1]a long, heavy two-handed war saber from the Tang dynasty jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_2936265_1_1').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_2936265_1_1', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], }); ×1, purified water 500ml ×6, flour 500g ×1, gasoline 20L ×1, gasoline 10L ×1.】
Bai Zhuo’s eyes lit up instantly.
Good system!
Not only gasoline, but flour and a modao too!
Still worried about Xue Yanhen out in the car, Bai Zhuo gave the system inventory a rough once-over and then hurried back outside.
“ROAAR!!”
A zombie’s shriek suddenly rang out. Bai Zhuo’s heart lurched, it was coming from outside!
At the gas station entrance, a zombie had already clambered onto the roof of the off-roader, while others battered relentlessly at the body of the car. If the vehicle hadn’t been so well built, it would probably have fallen apart by now.
Bai Zhuo bolted out, swung the frying pan, and smashed it down hard. Damn it! How had they gotten here so fast?!
“Move!”
The sudden, furious shout made Bai Zhuo instinctively stumble back a few steps.
A man leapt down from the gas station roof with a great bellow, seized a zombie bare-handed, and hurled it flying. Bai Zhuo could only stare.
Whoa!
Big guy, you’re basically Popeye! [2]the spinach-powered cartoon strongman jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_2936265_1_2').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_2936265_1_2', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });
Seeing the flung zombie flail and stagger back for another lunge, Bai Zhuo didn’t hesitate for a second, she raised the frying pan and brought it down.
The two of them worked in tandem, and the zombies were quickly all dealt with.
The burly, muscle-packed man turned to look at Bai Zhuo and asked in a low, gruff voice, “Hey, sis, how far is it from here to Yun City?”
Bai Zhuo’s hand tightened on the frying pan, though her face betrayed nothing. “Brother, what are you headed to Yun City for? There’s basically nothing left there.”
“Looking for someone.”
Bai Zhuo’s chest went tight. He wasn’t here hunting for a space-type ability user too, was he?
“Screeeech—”
A black-painted armored vehicle pulled up at the roadside. The driver’s window rolled down and a voice called out loudly, “Bao Xiong, the boss found the location of the weather monitoring station, get in!”
Bao Xiong took a few steps forward, then stopped and pointed at Bai Zhuo. “What about her, then?”
Bai Zhuo: As long as you lot aren’t out hunting for a space-type ability user, I couldn’t care less.
The person in the car gave Bai Zhuo a look and couldn’t help frowning.
“No need to trouble yourselves,” Bai Zhuo said, waving them off tactfully. “My car still runs. Just point me the way and I’ll manage, I’m headed to Ning City next door.”
The rear door of the black armored vehicle opened, and a crew-cut man in black combat gear and protective goggles hopped down and jogged over quickly, handing Bai Zhuo a bag.
“Hope you two make it safely.”
With that, the man saluted Bai Zhuo, then climbed into the vehicle with Bao Xiong and they sped off.
Watching the black vehicle vanish into the distance, Bai Zhuo gripped the black bag in her hand.
Hope you make it back safe too.
After confirming Xue Yanhen wasn’t hurt, Bai Zhuo topped off the car’s fuel, hopped in, and gave the contents of the bag a quick check.
A pack of compressed biscuits and a bottle of water.
Bai Zhuo’s eyes darkened slightly. She drew a deep breath, gripped the wheel, and gunned it onward toward Ning City.
The moment she crossed into Ning City’s limits, it was all devastation, corpses everywhere.
Countless zombies roamed the streets, and the instant they spotted anything living, they hurled themselves at it without hesitation, trying to feed. Even after being knocked flying, they kept crawling along the ground, bodies twisted.
Bai Zhuo pressed her lips tight. She didn’t know Ning City or a soul in it, [3]unfamiliar with both the place and the people jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_2936265_1_3').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_2936265_1_3', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], }); and she had a feverish, unconscious Xue Yanhen in the back. The most urgent thing was to find a safe place to regroup.
Bai Zhuo drove and searched as she went, running over who-knows-how-many zombies along the way, until she finally settled on a house that looked reasonably safe.
The inside was a mess, but thankfully there was no sign of zombies.
After settling Xue Yanhen on the sofa, Bai Zhuo swiftly searched the whole two-story house, and only after confirming it was safe did she return to the living room.
Bai Zhuo couldn’t help collapsing onto the sofa. From the moment she’d set out that morning, her nerves and muscles had been strung tight the entire time, fighting zombies, and then dealing with those three ability users. Fortunately their power levels hadn’t been high, otherwise, armed with nothing but a frying pan, she’d never have gotten away.
At that thought, Bai Zhuo rolled over and sat up.
【System, can your frying pan be upgraded?】
【It can, host. In future plans, you’ll be able to draw evolution materials to upgrade weapons and other items.】
Come to think of it, the first time she’d pulled a frying pan from a loot box, Bai Zhuo had been dumbstruck. Who in their right mind starts apocalypse extreme-survival mode with a frying pan?
Did it take her for some battle-royale-game streamer? [4]a “chicken dinner” game like PUBG, where players fight with pans jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_2936265_1_4').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_2936265_1_4', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });
But once she’d gotten used to wielding the frying pan, Bai Zhuo had only one thought: this is amazing! [5]the “it’s so good” meme , swallowing your earlier scorn jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_2936265_1_5').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_2936265_1_5', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });
Shaking out her hand, Bai Zhuo transferred some of the supplies from her system inventory into the hiking pack beside her.
No matter what, she had to keep her system well hidden, at the very least, she couldn’t let anyone find out about it for now.
As for those people looking for a space-type ability user…
Bai Zhuo sneered. Let them look, then. If they actually found one, she’d eat her words.
Looking at the stuffed-full hiking pack, Bai Zhuo nodded in satisfaction.
Once Xue Yanhen woke up, they absolutely had to celebrate with a hotpot, otherwise those canned gas cartridges would have been drawn for nothing.
Just as she was about to rest, footsteps suddenly sounded. Bai Zhuo’s head whipped around, and she stared hard at the direction of the door.
Human, or zombie?
References[+]