After watching the entire modification process, Xu Song turned around and looked for Yue Zheng. However, he noticed that more vehicles had arrived, all lining up for modification. There were also several people squatting, sitting, or standing nearby, chatting in low voices.
Yue Zheng was standing to the side, speaking in hushed tones with two men in police uniforms. Xu Song had no choice but to get back in the car, turn around, and drive next to them.
“Brother Yue.”
“Oh, so this is your younger brother?” one of the policemen wearing a uniform said with a grin, nodding his chin towards Xu Song.
The other one also smiled at Yue Zheng and said, “Why didn’t you let us meet him earlier? If it weren’t for this incident, you probably still wouldn’t have introduced us, right?”
Ignoring their banter, Yue Zheng introduced them briefly, “This is Wang An and Zhao Enyi, my colleagues from the criminal investigation team. And this is Xu Song, who was attending university in City B before.”
Xu Song quickly greeted the two men, saying, “brother Wang, brother Zhao.”
“Ah, we can’t even talk about getting together for a meal now. If the situation is good in City S when we go back, we should have a chance to have a meal together,” one of the officers said with a sigh.
Xu Song quickly expressed his thanks to the two men. Although he didn’t quite understand why Yue Zheng introduced him to his colleagues that way, he didn’t say much.
“Alright, we’ll meet at the North Gate tomorrow morning. We still have some things to take care of today,” Yue Zheng bid farewell to the two officers, turned around, and got in the car. Xu Song quickly moved aside and sat in the passenger seat.
“Brother Yue, are those two also going to City S?” Xu Song asked curiously as they left the place and received spare batteries, extra gasoline, and other items at the exit.
“Yeah, apart from the vehicles from the military and armed police, the criminal investigation team is also sending two cars. There are quite a few people going to City S this time, so they’ve assigned additional personnel from higher-ups,” Yue Zheng explained while handing a checklist to Xu Song.
“This is the inventory list for the items in the back. Let’s find a place to stop and check them later.”
Xu Song glanced at the contents and casually asked, “Why didn’t we check them earlier? What if something is missing?”
“Each vehicle receives different items. The items we received are according to the standard allocation for the criminal investigation team. It’s crowded and chaotic there, so it’s easy for things to go missing,” Yue Zheng explained.
“Oh, I see. I’ll check it later,” Xu Song nodded quickly, feeling extremely grateful.
“If it weren’t for you, I probably wouldn’t have found these things, let alone receive supplies.” It goes without saying that the weapons and such listed on the inventory were hard to come by. Even items like chocolates and portable water purifiers would be difficult for him to find now.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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After all, the main purpose of the convoy was to transport a certain number of people to City S. Not driving away those related individuals was already quite considerate, but they couldn’t provide more help. After all, resources were limited, and there were still so many displaced people in City Y that needed proper resettlement.
Xu Song felt increasingly fortunate to be able to travel with Yue Zheng. They had weapons and supplies for two people! In addition to the supplies they had already collected in the car… it was simply extravagant.
As the car made its way back to the vicinity of the shelter, Yue Zheng planned to enter the city to gather more supplies. However, when they approached the area, they saw a group of people arguing and fighting in the middle of the road.
Both of them leaned against the car window and looked outside. Several people had already chased and fought each other at the side of a car.
A man, with scratches all over his face, was trying to shake off a woman who clung to him desperately. The woman held onto his arm tightly, her hair disheveled, resembling a madwoman. She forcefully sat on the ground, wailing loudly, “Give me back my son’s life! Give me back his life!”
The man looked disheveled, his face flushed, and he wanted to use force but dared not. “It wasn’t intentional!”
“Even involuntary manslaughter leads to imprisonment!” someone in the crowd shouted, fearing that chaos would ensue. The woman became even more agitated upon hearing the voice.
Several men and women approached from a distance, leading nearby military personnel who were maintaining order. A man with a bloodied eye mask pointed at the two struggling individuals and said, “Comrade of the Army, it’s him!”
The others nodded in agreement, “It’s him! It’s him! He’s the one who used a large stone table to kill and injure many people last night!”
The man became anxious, “I was saving people last night! If it weren’t for me, the zombies from last night wouldn’t have been killed!”
“If you really wanted to save people, why did you hide? If you hadn’t been recognized, would you dare to come out and say that you killed zombies last night?!” someone exclaimed angrily. Several blood holes could be seen on his body from the stones that had been thrown. They couldn’t let him go!
“That’s right! Can you dare to do it or not?!”
The man appeared desperate, “I really was saving people last night, I… I…”
“He’s so strong that he can swing stone tables and chairs. Hasn’t he become a monster?” someone suddenly said loudly.
“He had an injury on his arm! I saw it last night! The zombie scratched his arm!”
“He’s infected! He’s infected! He’s not human, he’s a zombie!”
“No wonder he was hiding. It was to secretly eat people at night!”
“With that kind of strength, hasn’t he already turned into a zombie?”
The crowd suddenly became outraged. Someone took the lead and threw a stone at the man, and others who had lost loved ones due to this accident last night picked up broken bricks and iron rods and attacked him. The man desperately ran backward, but the crazy woman clung to his waist, and in no time, he was struck countless times on his head, face, and body.
“Stop! Everyone, stop!” The military personnel who had been brought over realized that the man might be a person with special abilities and quickly tried to restrain the crowd’s excessive behavior. However, the public anger had already erupted, fueled by days of fear, the grief of losing loved ones, and the panic of the previous night. The man with the mutated powers became their prime target for venting their emotions.
When Yue Zheng noticed that the situation seemed to be getting out of control, he had already started driving towards the roadside. Once they were away from the raging crowd, other police officers and soldiers who were maintaining order realized something was amiss and quickly surrounded the area, dispersing the onlookers and rushing toward the crowd.
After driving a bit farther, they heard gunshots behind them.
After a while, the crowd gradually dispersed. Medical personnel rushed into the crowd with a stretcher, and the man with the mutated powers, covered in blood, had already lost consciousness.
The two of them exchanged a glance with lingering fear. This incident was truly difficult to determine right from wrong…
Silent and wordless, the two continued on their journey until they arrived at the entrance of a water station. The station had already been visited by others, but luckily there were still a few supplies left inside. Each of them grabbed a water jug and placed them in the back compartment of the car.
Xu Song looked at the city map on his phone and directed Yue Zheng. Although they couldn’t make phone calls outside the city or access the internet due to the interruption, at least the downloaded maps were still usable.
The two of them explored their way to the central Star City Shopping Mall. The mall was composed of two connected buildings, with a passage on the first and second floors, while the upper floors were interconnected. They parked their car in the middle of the first floor.
Their current objective was to find some spare shirts and underwear. To their delight, after scouring the men’s section, they stumbled upon a candy store on the first floor. The store was filled with chocolates, lollipops, and other snacks scattered on the ground. When lacking food, these high-calorie, sugary treats that could easily cause tooth decay were all treasures!
With their loot in hand, they descended the stairs, ready to drive to other places for another round of scavenging. However, they unexpectedly noticed that the sky outside suddenly turned dark.
“It’s only eleven o’clock, why is it getting dark?” Xu Song was taken aback and quickly checked his watch.
“Is it going to rain?” Yue Zheng furrowed his brow and took a few steps outside after placing the items down.
The sky was covered with dark gray clouds, obscuring the sun completely. The air became heavy with moisture, making breathing burdensome. In July, Y City was not yet in the rainy season, but occasional thunderstorms were not unexpected.
“What should we do? Should we continue?” The weather made Xu Song feel uneasy, as if they would encounter significant trouble if they continued their journey.
Yue Zheng shared the same feeling and shook his head.
“Let’s wait and see how it develops. The road conditions are already bad, and encountering heavy rain might lead to accidents.”
Glancing at the entrances of the adjacent malls, Xu Song tugged at Yue Zheng’s sleeve. “Let’s be cautious later. Who knows… there might be something hidden inside the mall.”
When they had entered the mall earlier, the weather was fine, and they hadn’t deliberately searched in dark corners. However, they couldn’t be sure if there were any lurking zombies in the area.
Now the weather suddenly turned dark, and if those things caught the scent of human beings, it was highly likely that they would attack even in broad daylight.
The sky became filled with dark clouds in the blink of an eye. In the morning, the military had delivered a large number of tents to the shelter, but it still couldn’t provide accommodation for everyone.
Those who had initially wanted to go home but were persuaded by their loved ones couldn’t help but regret it when they saw the darkening sky. Those with cars quickly ran to their vehicles to seek shelter from the impending heavy rain.
After five minutes, the heavy rain arrived as expected. But what surprised everyone was that along with the rain, hail the size of chestnuts fell from the sky.
“Pitter-patter, crackle…”
The shelter instantly became a scene of chaos as the hailstones caused the tents to collapse, forcing the people inside to scramble out. People were hit on the head by the hailstones, causing blood to flow. Car windows shattered, and the roofs were dented and deformed. When the people inside the cars reacted, they hastily started their vehicles, trying to find shelter in nearby buildings. However, in the chaotic rain, they often accidentally collided with pedestrians running around.
Staring in astonishment at the hailstones falling not far in front of the car, Yue Zheng started the engine and quickly reversed. Something came to his mind, and he looked at the stunned Xu Song. “I remember you took down some down jackets upstairs earlier?”
Xu Song nodded absentmindedly, his brain still processing the situation. “And some thermal underclothing…” Because he didn’t know how long they would spend in City B, he had taken some winter clothing with the foresight to be prepared. Of course, he chose the best and most expensive ones.
Yue Zheng nodded silently, raising his hand unconsciously to touch his own head. “With this happening, it’s not impossible for it to even start snowing out of nowhere.”
Feeling a hand on his head, Xu Song felt a bit uncomfortable and quickly glanced at Yue Zheng but didn’t pull away from his touch. He looked at the hail dancing outside and fell silent for a moment.
“Yes, even if it suddenly starts raining knives, it wouldn’t be impossible…”
The riots from last night made some people have the intention to go home early in the morning to seek shelter. At this moment, many vehicles were roaming the city, searching for supplies and suitable places to live.
Suddenly, the hail began to fall. People whose cars were damaged and destroyed scrambled to find shelter. Two cars swerving wildly entered the place where Xu Song and the others were hiding.
This is so frustrating, the leads know its not contagious. They should’ve told it to the mutated person when they saw he was panicking during the onslaught of zombies to avoid innocent casualties, yet they didn’t and now they still didn’t say a word to the mobs to de-escalate the situation to avoid further misunderstanding that will endanger people with abilities 🙄 They didn’t have the initiative to lead and help people, too cowardly and think they too will also garner hate from the ignorant masses.
I thought he revealed it in the report he written few chapters back and it still needed confirmation. After all misinformation can be dangerous. But I’ll just wait and see.
Follow me on this –
I. There is (effectively) martial law. The government is in charge of investigating what is happening and protecting the people.
II. YZ is an officer of the law/government.
III. The investigation of the temple/tomb break in that probably caused this is an “open criminal investigation” that has been forwarded up the chain.
IV. Leaking any government information would be considered treason.
While an unrelated might be able to jump in to the zombie/ not zombie argument, if ZY (or his little brother apparently) starts to publicize information before the government has given the green light they will be possibly be in big trouble.
And finally….
If they said anything at that time, no one would believe them. They had no proof and would just be another voice yelling crazy ideas.