Shen Hanzhou opened the passenger-side door and got in. Lu Xi carried Paopao into the middle row, while Bai An’an was the last to get in and took a seat in the back row.
There was a faint smell of gasoline and dust inside the van. The fabric on the seats had been worn pale, but overall, the vehicle was fairly clean.
Paopao sat on Lu Xi’s lap and turned around to wave at Bai An’an.
“An’an, come sit closer!”
Bai An’an moved forward a little and sat in the other seat in the middle row.
The van slowly drove out of the residential compound and passed through the same street they had taken yesterday.
They were not driving particularly fast. Fu Shen’s driving style was just like his personality: steady, calm, and without any unnecessary movements.
Whenever there was an obstacle in the middle of the road, he would slow down in advance and drive around it. At intersections, he would reduce his speed and observe both sides. Occasionally, when the staggering figure of a zombie appeared by the roadside, he would not even slow down. He simply drove past them, and those sluggish creatures could not catch up with the van.
Bai An’an glanced at Fu Shen’s profile through the rearview mirror. His expression was emotionless, his eyes fixed straight ahead, and the hand gripping the steering wheel was steady, with clearly defined knuckles.
She quickly looked away and silently reminded herself:
Don’t stare. Don’t overthink it. He’s the male lead.
“An’an.” Shen Hanzhou suddenly turned around from the passenger seat. “I didn’t get a chance to ask yesterday. How powerful is your Healing-type ability?”
“I don’t know. I only discovered that I had an ability yesterday.”
“Your ability is more valuable than all of ours combined. Abilities can be upgraded. Perhaps you can only heal minor external injuries right now, but in the future, you might even be able to purify the Zombie virus or bring the dead back to life and restore flesh to bare bones.”
Bai An’an’s brain suddenly stopped functioning.
Bring the dead back to life and restore flesh to bare bones?
She instinctively looked at her hands. She had only seen the faint white glow in her palm for the first time yesterday.
She did not even know where it had come from, yet Shen Hanzhou was already telling her that this thing might one day bring the dead back to life?
That was ridiculous.
“Y-you’re joking, right?” Bai An’an’s voice trembled slightly. “Bringing someone back from the dead doesn’t make biological sense. Things like that belong in novels. How could they possibly happen in reality?”
Shen Hanzhou turned his head from the passenger seat. His eyes curved slightly, and his smile remained gentle.
“Do you think this world still looks like ‘reality’?”
Bai An’an was speechless.
He had a point.
Doomsday, zombies, abilities. If someone had seriously told her about these things three days ago, she would have assumed they had stayed up all night reading novels until they had lost their minds.
But now she was sitting inside a stolen van. Beside her was a Space-type ability user who could produce instant noodles out of thin air, while the man in the driver’s seat was a former special forces soldier who could practically barbecue zombies with fire.
Reality?
Reality had already been eaten by the zombies.
“How did you meet Lu Xi?” Bai An’an changed the subject.
“I hacked into the base’s radio channel and sent them a distress signal.”
Lu Xi’s voice came from beside her. His tone was as calm as ever, as if he were talking about something completely ordinary.
“At the time, Paopao and I were trapped inside a laboratory, and our supplies were almost gone. I dismantled several pieces of equipment in the laboratory and assembled a simple radio transceiver. Then I hacked into Dawn Base’s backup communications channel and repeatedly broadcast a distress signal over the public frequency.”
“You kept broadcasting it?”
“Yes. I also mentioned that I had awakened a Space-type ability. That increased the chances of us being rescued.”
Shen Hanzhou suddenly spoke.
“Dr. Zhao was forced to listen to your distress signal for three straight days. Be careful when you get to the base. He might come looking for you.”
“So your main mission this time was actually to rescue Lu Xi and Paopao?” Bai An’an asked.
“Not entirely. Fu Shen and I were on our way to carry out another mission when we received the rescue assignment. The radio had only recently been restored, so the communication waves were unstable. It took Dr. Zhao three days to fully intercept your distress signal. As it happened, there was a researcher at the base who knew you. Starting university at fifteen and pursuing a doctorate at eighteen would have made you extremely valuable even in peaceful times. And now that you’ve awakened a Space-type ability during Doomsday, your arrival at the base might even trigger the first direct confrontation between the research team and the combat team.”
Bai An’an looked at Lu Xi’s expressionless face and found it difficult to connect him with the words “young genius.”
Then again, when she thought about it, his usual behavior did fit the stereotypical image of someone with an exceptionally high IQ.
“So I was just someone you rescued along the way?” Bai An’an asked again.
“Yes,” Shen Hanzhou replied.
“Then we’re not actually heading back to the base right now. We’re on our way to the location of your first mission?”
“Yes.”
“So this is the secret mission you mentioned earlier?”
“An’an, sometimes being too smart isn’t necessarily a good thing,” Shen Hanzhou said with a smiling expression.
Bai An’an understood what he meant and immediately decided to keep quiet.
“Get out. We have to walk the rest of the way.”
Fu Shen’s voice came from the driver’s seat.
Bai An’an tilted her head and looked through the windshield.
The road ahead was completely blocked. Several vehicles were piled up in every direction, with an overturned bus wedged in the middle. Its body was blackened as though it had been burned, and all its windows were shattered. The inside was pitch-black and impossible to see clearly.
It was a textbook pileup.
“We’ll walk the rest of the way. Once we get through that commercial district, we’ll be there.”
Fu Shen turned off the engine.
The buildings along the road were even more densely packed than those around Bai An’an’s former home. Buildings of different heights stood close together, while various shops and residential compounds lined both sides of the street.
“There are even more zombies here than around my home, aren’t there?” she asked, swallowing nervously.
“Yes.”
Fu Shen’s answer was short and decisive.
Bai An’an’s mouth twitched. She wanted to ask something else, but Fu Shen had already opened the door and stepped out.
Shen Hanzhou followed closely behind.
Lu Xi was lifting Paopao off his lap and putting a miniature backpack on her.
“Paopao, there’s water and food for you inside, as well as a jacket. Carry it yourself. If you encounter danger, run the way your brother taught you. You remember, right?”
Paopao nodded seriously. She put on her little backpack and stood up straight, looking like she was completely ready.
Even the smallest backpack looked especially large on Paopao. Bai An’an felt both tender and sad as she watched her.
The five of them walked around the blocked intersection and continued along the sidewalk.
Walking was much slower than driving. After about five minutes, Bai An’an noticed something.
“Hey, didn’t you say there were lots of zombies in this commercial district? How come we haven’t seen a single one?”
From the back of the group, Shen Hanzhou asked in return, “Do you think that’s a good thing or a bad thing?”
Bai An’an thought about it, and a chill suddenly ran down her back.
Having too many zombies was certainly frightening, but what was even more frightening was finding no zombies at all in a place where there should have been plenty.
Either something else had cleared them out, or they had all hidden themselves.
Either possibility meant that the road ahead would not be peaceful.
“Then… how about we change direction?” she asked tentatively.
“We can’t.”
Fu Shen did not even turn his head.
“Going through this commercial district is the fastest route. Taking a detour would add another five days.”
“Then let it take five more days. Safety comes first.”
“The problem is,” Shen Hanzhou continued, “we don’t have enough food and fresh water to last five days. Unless you want to experience what it’s like to race zombies on an empty stomach.”
Bai An’an immediately shut up.