"What happened?" Lu Chen jumped out of the truck to look around. This was the fourth major road blockage that they were dealing with.

After getting out of the stadium, they had been driving for about an hour now and the conditions of the roads looked worse and worse.

There were a few zombies and a few smaller mutated beasts that had come their way, but these were not the issue.

The big black dog that circled around the two trucks instead of sitting inside either, took care of these smaller anomalies. 

Qin Hua's agility was high enough that the trucks didn't even have to slow down because of this. 

She swiftly killed whatever came their way, absorbed the mana cores, and stored the beast meat in the blink of an eye.

Lu Chen as well stood up on the top of the truck and provided support for her by shooting out icicles whenever needed.

So they were able to smoothly keep moving, but there was another issue, the clustered roads. 

Either due to accidents or because of people simply abandoning their vehicles and running away on seeing zombies and weird creatures, the streets were cluttered with broken down and damaged cars and SUVs. 

Perhaps some were even trying to block the creatures by using their own vehicle as a roadblock. However, how could that be possible? The only outcome was heavy traffic jams and the impossible to navigate streets.

Even after managing to scavenge gasoline, it still looked impractical to be able to carry on in the comfort of the huge vehicles. 

Not to mention that they were losing valuable daylight every time they had to stop and deal with this nuisance of clearing the streets.

Lu Chen sighed and Guan Ye muttered loudly the same thing he was thinking about in his mind. "We have no other choice but to continue on foot."

The two looked at each other and nodded. 

Now that they had managed to put a decent amount of distance between themselves and the site of the massacre, it was time to make some painful decisions.

Guan Ye stopped the truck engine and then turned around to address everyone in the first truck. "Everyone get down from the vehicle and gather around."

Lu Chen patted Luo Zu who was driving the other truck and did the same thing. The 20 people whom they had managed to save slowly got out of the trucks one by one.

Most of them looked listless and pale, their faces showing no emotions whatsoever. 

However, thanks to Coco at least their bodies had been healed to some extent with just a few minor scratches left. 

Because of the shortage of time, Qin Hua had instructed the cat to only focus on major injuries so the little beast had obediently followed her words.

Despite this, there were still five people who were still heavily incapacitated. 

These people had lost one or more limbs and Coco's healing was not at that level where the cat could regenerate whole limbs.

It might be possible in the future but Qin Hua doubted that such a scenario could come true anytime soon. So these people were nothing more than burdens at least at the moment.

The other people were also mostly ordinary civilians, some old and some young, having only absorbed less than five mana cores at most.

The goblins had made sure to kill or vastly maim the stronger members of the group in the beginning itself like Bing Che who had lost both of his legs, leaving behind only the weaklings and the women to slowly torture them.

Most of these people hadn't even picked up a weapon before, constantly being in the protection of the others.

This would have been fine before, but such a thing was no longer possible. Especially when traveling in these big numbers, things could turn from normal to worse within seconds.

If something was not done soon, they would end up being nothing but a walking meal service for the mutated beasts and otherworldly creatures.

After everyone finished gathering, Lu Chen took a deep breath and calmly addressed the group. In the past, he was always used to being casual and nonchalant.

Since Su Yan was a natural leader, he mostly took care of everything and he was the responsible one while Lu Chen was the playful one.

But now, Lu Chen had no other choice. He had to step up and become more responsible. He was neither ignorant nor a bleeding heart. He knew what had to be done and was ready to do it.

"Listen up everyone. This is as far as we can carry you guys. From this point onwards, it is all on you. Every individual is responsible for their own safety."

"You have all seen now. This is the new world. There is probably nothing going to change in the near future. Perhaps normalcy might never return."

"And even if it returns, you have to be alive enough to pull through until then."

"So decide now and stick to your decision. Do you want to live or do you want to die?"

"If you want to die, all you have to do is take the dagger in front of you and use it to slash your own throat."

"And if you want to live, you have to do more. You have to pick up your weapon and fight. You have to kill at least the zombies until you are strong enough to deal with the mutated beasts."

"I know and understand that you have all been through something unimaginable only a few hours ago, but the truth is that we can't give you guys even a day's worth of rest or protection."

"We are all just that weak. If not for 'little white' all of us will not be alive right now. So even if it feels impossible, you have no other choice but to make the decision.

"You need to act like you are part of the group. Everybody has to contribute something else or they will be immediately thrown out."

"There is no space here for laziness or cowardice or self-pity."