“What’s going on?” In the back compartment, the two men were shoulder to shoulder, their heads touching. The uncomfortable squatting position in the compartment made them uneasy. Seeing that Xu Song closed the door, Yue Zheng quickly asked.
“Is your fire different from regular fire in terms of color?”
“Huh?” Xu Song was taken aback for a moment, then nodded after a slight recollection. “Yeah, it’s a bit different. My fire is red. I wonder if it’s related to the fuel they use?”
Yue Zheng’s vision was now very good, so he was the first to notice the difference after everyone switched to flamethrowers. “Perhaps, but it seems like your fire does more damage to those plants.”
Xu Song may also have enhanced observation skills now, but the sky was too dark and there were too many flamethrowers, the situation was chaotic at the time, so he didn’t notice it.
Surprised, he widened his eyes and said, “Really?!” He originally thought that fire was fire and there wouldn’t be much difference in the effects. Could it be that his fire was also unique?
But now that he thought about it, his fire was produced using his ability, so it was normal for it to be different from regular flames.
The space inside the car was cramped, and at first, they had to turn their heads slightly to talk. Now, when Xu Song got excited and turned his head, his breath sprayed onto Yue Zheng’s cheek and neck.
Yue Zheng moved his head slightly, feeling a bit uncomfortable, and patiently explained, “I’ve noticed that the places touched by your fire quickly carbonize. When I think about it, even when we were coming down from the mountain and later when we were at your house, your fire was like that, but there was no comparison at the time.”
Xu Song suddenly realized that it was indeed the case. The trees in the mountains were full of moisture, so when regular flames burned them, they would turn black at most. It was impossible for them to carbonize like with his fire ability, directly turning things into charcoal.
And when he cremated his father at home, he didn’t think much about it at the time, but now that he thought about it carefully, it didn’t make sense. How high was the temperature of the flames in the crematorium to turn a human body into ashes? His fire’s temperature was probably close to that of steelmaking…
Realizing all this, Xu Song’s eyes sparkled, and he smiled at Yue Zheng. “It seems like I need to be more careful when using fire in the future. Not only do I have to make sure that people don’t discover that the fire comes from me, but I also need to mix it with other people’s flames as much as possible.”
“Mm.”
Xu Song’s eyes were bright, flickering in the dim compartment, and his perfectly white teeth had a faint glow, making people inexplicably itchy.
A hand suddenly appeared on top of his head, and Xu Song was momentarily stunned. He realized that Yue Zheng was patting his head and then his shoulder expressionlessly.
“Just be more cautious. If there is no other choice, its fine to expose our powers, it shouldn’t be a big problem. Let’s go down.” With that, Yue Zheng turned and opened the car door.
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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The atmosphere in the camp was gloomy. Most people who were originally staying in tents chose to go back to the cars to sleep. After all, the cramped space inside the vehicles gave them a false sense of protection.
Xu Song and Yue Zheng still slept in their tent. If something happened, it would be easier to escape from outside than from inside the car. Besides, Xu Song felt safer with Yue Zheng, who had excellent skills, by his side compared to the others in the car.
They were awakened by a sudden shaking in the middle of the night, causing them to snap out of their half-asleep state.
“What’s happening?!”
“An earthquake?!”
“Could it be some kind of monster…”
“Whoosh…” The sound of flapping wings echoed from the surrounding trees as birds of various sizes flew in panic, scattering in all directions.
“Seems like an earthquake.” Yue Zheng got up by rolling over and peeked outside, half of his body leaning out.
“An earthquake? First the hail, now an earthquake?!” Xu Song was shocked and quickly climbed out of his sleeping bag. His sleeping bag zipper was broken, so he was faster at getting out than usual.
“Let’s pack our things first. This place is spacious, so the danger shouldn’t be too great.” Yue Zheng turned back, folding his own sleeping bag, while Xu Song rubbed his face a couple of times and hurriedly started packing.
Although the movement of the traveling group would be affected by the worsening road conditions, they were still better off here on the road than those who stayed in high-rise buildings in the city.
In the city of Y, where Xu Song and the others had left from, most people had returned to their previous residences due to the earlier hail. Although there was a threat from the walking corpses, these creatures mostly only moved at night. If you are lucky and find a corpse that is not covered by black aura during the day, as long as you dismember it in advance and burn it with a fire, they wouldn’t pose much of a threat to humans.
The cleaned-up high-rise buildings were obviously much better shelters than the open-air refuge. Moreover, although most plants had undergone mutations, the edible vegetables and fruits grown by some households had also grown larger, providing a significant amount of food.
Returning to the buildings and growing some vegetables and fruits should not have much impact on their lives once they endure the initial phase of urban reconstruction.
Due to the large number of people leaving, the military was unable to stop them and had to send vehicles to deliver water and supplies to various neighborhoods at scheduled times every day.
Until they discovered the mutated animals.
Mutated pets, poultry, livestock, and some wild animals from the outskirts of Y City began appearing in the city. They were drawn to the scent of fresh blood and discovered that the creatures that used to pose a constant threat to them were surprisingly delicious and vulnerable…
Initially, safety could be ensured by guarding against the walking corpses at night. But now, mutated animals that attacked humans began appearing during the day. The people suffered greatly, venturing out only in groups during designated times, and most of them chose to stay at home all day, waiting for the military to eliminate the mutated animals that seemed to have appeared out of nowhere.
And then came the earthquake.
In the dead of night, while people were sleeping soundly, the earthquake struck. To ensure safety and prevent the walking corpses from breaking in, every household had piled up a large amount of furniture behind their doors and windows, which now became the biggest obstacle for their escape…
Buildings, already damaged by plant roots, branches, and leaves, collapsed one after another. The scene was tragic, with blood flowing like rivers.
“Seven solar panels are broken, and about one-tenth of the backup fuel has been consumed,” the deputy officer reported the just-tabulated information to Colonel Wu Zhong while standing next to a large tree that had fallen across the road.
Colonel Wu Zhong furrowed his brows and nodded silently. “Have the technicians replace the damaged solar panels as soon as possible. Be prepared to depart at any time.”
The road was filled with sinkholes and cracks, making it several times more difficult to travel than the day before. Communication had been completely paralyzed, they couldn’t contact neither Y City nor S City. Without knowing the extent and magnitude of the earthquake, Colonel Wu Zhong could only pray silently, hoping that the earthquake’s scope would be smaller and that there would be no aftershocks.
Fortunately, since the amount of gasoline the convoy could carry was limited, solar energy became the most important alternative resource. Almost every vehicle was equipped with several solar panels, which were now being replaced.
Xu Song crossed his hands behind his head, closing his eyes to catch up on sleep in the passenger seat. Having been busy all night before, his head was throbbing.
Yue Zheng was not in the car at the moment but standing with Wang An and Zhao Enyi.
“That was damn creepy. Did you get a clear look at that thing last night?” Zhao Enyi’s face was pale, having almost slept the entire night.
“It seemed like ivy,” Yue Zheng took the cigarette handed to him by Wang An but didn’t smoke it, instead placing it behind his ear.
“Even plants and flowers are now eating meat. How can we survive? I think humans are the easiest to bully these days!” Zhao Enyi cursed in a low voice.
Wang An chuckled, “Plants and flowers have always consumed everything, haven’t they? Think about it. Fertilizer, dead animals, humans, after decomposition, aren’t they all nutrients?”
Zhao Enyi stared at Wang An with a complicated expression, not knowing what to say.
“I’m afraid it won’t decrease in the future. At least until now, we haven’t directly encountered those mutated animals,” Yue Zheng reminded them with a sense of vigilance. While others may have only seen mutated animals after leaving Y City this time, he had witnessed them in Zhao Village before.
The previous encounter was just an ambush. If those animals realized that humans were even more vulnerable and easy to prey on than other animals, who knows if they would change their diet.
At this moment, both Wang An and Zhao Enyi changed their colors, and they looked at him together: “Yue Zheng, don’t be a crow’s mouth…”
As soon as the words fell, Yue Zheng seemed to hear something faintly, and looked to the east in doubt. The earthquake last night cracked the land and knocked down the trees in many places. Now, the originally dense ‘primitive forest’ has become relatively open, and it is convenient for people to look at a few acres.
On the eastern horizon, he can faintly see some small black spots, which cannot be seen clearly unless you look carefully for a while.
Others may only be able to spot those black spots, but Yue Zheng can clearly see the true colors of those things after condensing the marvelous power in his body around his eyes.
“Quick! Go inside! Get the weapon!” After seeing those things clearly, Yue Zheng’s face changed drastically, and he said loudly to Wang An.
“What, what’s wrong?!” Not only these two people, but also the busy people around them jumped.
Yue Zheng didn’t have time to explain, so he ran back to the car in a few steps, picked up the walkie-talkie: “018 calls 005, 018 calls 005, there is something approaching us in the east horizon, something approaching us in the east horizon.”
All the people in the cars heard the news, and before the commanding car came to give an urgent reply, they heard another yell: “It’s sparrows! Mutated sparrows! They are really big! A large group of sparrows! Flying over!”
Xu Song, who was taking a nap, was woken up when Yue Zheng got into the car, and then he heard a familiar voice from the walkie-talkie, and quickly picked up the binoculars in front of him to look at the eastern horizon .
Even with binoculars, from such a long distance, you can only faintly see a large flock of flying birds over there, but you can’t clearly see what species it is. But he didn’t doubt Yue Zheng’s words at all, what’s more, it was not just dozens or hundreds, but probably close to a thousand!
!!!