171

In order to detect the devil vine's range, the team first threw stones around the test area...It left them a little speechless and desperate, the devil vines actually surrounded the building, there was not even a gap left!

Not just here, a lot of the other farmland had grown the bizarre devil vines.

Luo Xun was not sure if these things came from the test building, but for now they have to give up, pack their bags and head towards the solar panel factory tomorrow.

"Those things can't grow here right?" They were delayed after checking the range of the vines. It was safer to spend the night after cleaning out a nearby house and making sure there were no zombies around.

After hearing Wang Duo's words, everyone looked at him, "Don't jinx us you blabbermouth!"

Wang Duo stiffened before placing his wronged head against Zhang Yi. "Wuwuwu, dear, they are bullying me..."

Zhang Yi shook his shoulder and said, "You should have said nothing."

Luo Xun coughed twice. "That...there should be no farmland near the factory but we should be careful on the road since there is open land..."

Although the majority of the land they passed did not seem to have those strange vines. But who knew if the land grew more dangerous the further away from base?

After a night of relative peace, the team who were used to being surrounded by zombies felt a tad strange. They ate breakfast early in the morning, packed up their things and subconsciously watched the vines that they had tried to observe.

The area was as quiet as ever, with the even snow, if they had not seen everything yesterday who would have thought there were devil vines around? Or was everything they saw yesterday all hallucinations?

They climbed into their respective cars. Luo Xun charted their course and they drove towards the road before following the highway towards the factory.

The cold air buffeted the team but fortunately inside the sled was very warm. The sun shining extra bright so the snow seemed to start melting. After passing the whole day on the road, on the sixth day after exiting base, they found a different scene than before...

"This...what's going on?"

"God, this is too..."

"Hey?! What are those dark things in the distance?!"

"Tank! Armored vehicles!"

"And the truck...it's the army that came out to get solar panels!"

"But around here..."

"It's...a zombie horde."

The team stood silently beside the sled while looking at the scene. Before the earth was covered in white snow, but now there was unearthed land that resembled a black dragon in the snow. The contrast hit their eyes hard.

The crowd was silent for a long time before Luo Xun took a step forward to look where the horde went. "It seems that they returned to base by this road...it's not the one where we came from."

"...Luo Xun, are these zombies cooperating?!" Li TIe turned his head, his eyes looked like they were about to fall out.

Zhang Yi squinted. "If they were not acting together, how could there be so many zombies in the siege?"

"But...I thought it was because they were attracted by the scent of the people inside base..." Li Tie's voice was quivering but the team could not help but laugh at his word choice.

"The ice in these muddy areas is hard and should have frozen over a long time ago." Yan Fei look a closer look at the border between snow and earth.

The 'road' showed the land underneath and was flattened by zombies. Since there were so many, the snow had been extremely flattened. Now there was only a thin layer of solid black that could be seen. It was similar to when the zombies trampled the ground around the base. Since they only passed once, there was an ice shell on the surface to be melted by ability users.

Luo Xun grabbed his telescope and climbed up to the roof. He looked around and determined that there was nothing nearby. "Let's go to those cars and see what happened."

They pushed the sled cars towards the turned over military vehicles. In several of the vehicles you could see some leftover hands and feet not eaten by zombies. The insides were relatively clean, except for some blood there were no traces of people

There were signs of tragedy next to the cars with bare land, some parts charred and with large holes and shell casings.

Luo Xun did not find any weapons, almost everything was completely destroyed. All instruments that might have been usable were damaged or contaminated with an unknown liquid that was completely frozen in this weather.

But in the trunk, except for a few things, the rest were in decent condition!

The trucks were really the ones being sent to solar panel factories, there were a large number of the things in storage.

"Grab them!" Luo Xun checked around and waved – there were plenty of batteries along with the panels. If all these things were collected, it would be more than enough for their walls! It would not even a problem for multiple homes!

Although only one of the two target locations was harvested, the gains were far higher than expected, a real 'bumper crop'!

Two of the trucks were turned over, the remaining three had undamaged solar panels and batteries. However the first two trucks had other materials that were salvageable. Together they sifted around four trucks worth of material.

If they wanted to move all this, it was obvious that Yan Fei had not collected enough metal along the way...

In the face of the car wreckage, would they actually be short on metal?

Without saying anything, Yan Fei put all the metal to one side. The three ladies were on the roadside. Xu Mei melted the snow, Song Lingling moved the water aside and Yu Xinran created a hole. They all worked together to bury the remains of the wreck, throwing the body parts into the makeshift grave.

Although they did not know who these people were since there only body parts, likely some of the dead had joined the ranks of the zombies. But these were all survivors from the same base and building a simple grave did not cost anything.

The sand became more solid after coming in contact with water. Yan Fei walked over with a metal plate.

They filled the four sled cars and Yan Fei simply made four metal boxes to pull behind them. But the size of the boxes was larger than one would normally expect.

"How are we going to get back to base..."

Looking at the comically large metal boxes, not to mention there would be trouble re-entering base, there was no place at home to leave it...

"And there's...won't people check the insides?" He Qiankun weakly raised a hand and reminded the group.

Right, there was that...They had not thought about it and now they had an extra four metal containers...

"Get back first, if need be, hide it somewhere outside the base." Luo Xun thought a bit before explaining. "If we have to...take some back home and the rest can be buried in a pit..."

It was easy for the team to create holes with Yu Xinran and Yan Fei who could make sealed boxes. This stuff was not food so it should be storable with no contact with moisture or open air!

"Then head back to base first." Xu Mei looked at the boxes with some worry. "Can we really...pull these things?"

Everyone focused on the box, it was so large compared to their tiny sleds...

After experimentation, they found that it took two cars combined to pull a box. But they only four of them! What would they do with the remaining two boxes?

No other way, they could only find a place covered in snow to dog a pit and bury it. They left a mark on the map. As long as they came here, Yan Fei could detect the metal location and dig it out.

This operation took until nightfall. The team had to find a place to rest after tying up the box to be ready for the morning.

Zhang Yi was in the habit of using his wind ability to check around. This routine was something everyone was accustomed to. But this time, Zhang Yi's eyes flew open and he turned with fearful eyes.

"Zombies..."

171.5

"What?" Luo Xun and the others were still frozen, looking at Zhang Yi in bewilderment.

Outside base they had encountered a number of zombie waves. They had encountered many zombies when they left base before so there was confusion about the doctor's pale face.

Zhang Yi pointed in a direction. "I said, I am afraid we are near a zombie tidal wave...I can't see the end."

The team's faces changed as they gulped. Wang Duo trembled, "Um, dear...how far are they?"

"I only have bad news." Zhang Yi has a grimace on his face. "They seem to be rushing this way...fast since there are speed zombies."

"To the car!"

Zhang Yi was able to scout far distances, but now he said he could not see the end...Oh my God, they had such poor luck, such a massive zombie horde!

Just as they climbed into the car, everyone felt the ground shake. Luo Xun told them to speed up but found another problem. "Forget about the box in the back!"

The weight of those big boxes was enough to reduce their speed by at least half. Now that there was a bunch of pursuing zombies, how could they escape with these things? Right now, they were even sure that they could escape, when could they pay attention to these things?

"After driving in front, leave the metal boxes." Luo Xun planned to leave in the snow in front of some houses.

The completely sealed boxes would not get damaged and the zombies would not be able to open them, let along study what was hidden inside. Keeping it here, they had the possibility to come back up pick up things in the future. But if they kept them and reduced their fleeing speed...everyone would just wait to die together.

Two cars in tandem pulled the iron box next to some snow covered buildings. Yan Fei disconnected the iron chain and everyone's vehicles became faster.

The team struggled back towards the road, but the vibrations had not lessened.

They were thankful that they completely prepared themselves in case of an emergency halfway through. So their car had a lot of supplies, especially batteries.

Since there were at least two people sitting in each sled car, the passengers searched for a weapon to protect themselves. The driver focused on driving and keeping ahead of their pursuers.

At least half of the Otaku squad were ability users, but their powers were not unlimited. They had to reasonable allocate power consumed with ammunition expended.

Each car was filled with food, water, crossbow, arrows, mushrooms, waterguns and other things. Yan Fei had also made some containers to put all the excess metal. It seemed like these metal balls would soon be put to use.

During the first few hours, they felt no sign of zombies except for the vibrations. Everyone tried to think positive – was the zombie horde just passing through? It did not care about these few small fry nearby?

Sadly, Zhang Yi was right – the zombies were charging towards them. Even after they changed direction, the zombies followed them.

Their team only had 10 people altogether, definitely not enough for this group of zombies, why were they being chased?!

As they were guessing if they were as moving as fast as the army then they were in the clear. But at noon – they could see the zombie vanguard!

Speed zombies were running in the front. The team felt chills down their back – there were four wind zombies flying in the sky!

What were they doing chasing them like this? With this amount of firepower, wouldn't they surround a nearby base or something?

Luo Xun and the others dared not stop the car to dig a pit. This was a horde, but it could not be compared to the smaller scale battles from before. Even if they had gone to the city to fight zombies, they had been able to set up a base, traps to deal with their enemies. If one encountered so many zombies at once, they could not be careless and rush in!

"Prepare the waterguns, crossbows and bombs. Do not use abilities for the wave, pay attention to preserving your strength." Luo Xun commanded over the walkie-talkie.

"Okay." Everyone's hearts were heavy, knowing the future was grim. A crisis was in front of them, but there was no despair, only a burst of survival instinct.

Although their team was neither the strongest or arrogant, but they could at least be regarded as people would not complain and do everything possible in order to live.

Wrong judgements and decisions were learning opportunities, but with a crisis around the corner, people who complained showed they were not ready to survive. They wanted to shirk responsibility and push their fears and problems onto others, to relieve the stress in their hearts. As for how the actual problem was to be solved? That was not something they would think about at the moment.

A few wind zombies with cyan wings flew towards the team. Almost everyone in the Otaku squad could be considered a sharpshooter. When the air strikes started, the people in the back were ready. The first wave of arrows shot out towards the enemies.

The remodeled crossbow arrows exploded upon impact, releasing the mushroom juice and burning a hole into the zombie's body! More than half of the hit zombies had their arms melted off, others were melted through the middle.

*Plop* A number of the vanguard fell from the sky and onto the ground. The people in the car breathed a small sigh of relief. There was little combat capability without limbs.

Wind zombies attacked several times but failed each time. Even if some dodged the arrows and rushed forward, their ability users were not decorations! Yan Fei, Zhang Yi and Xu Mei's abilities were very lethal. Just the three of them could scatter zombie parts around.

After there were almost no wind zombies left however the rest of the zombies had caught up the car.

"Yu Xinran, dig a pit!" Luo Xun saw the speed of the zombies was a little faster than their sled cars, which was enough for these tireless monsters to eventually catch up.

Yu Xinran formed pits every once in a while to trap some zombies. Although it was not lethal, but with Zhang Yi and Xu Mei's cooperation, it was a good obstacle to slow down the chasing zombies.

But it was not a solution, there just too many zombies.

Luo Xun and team had spent the day fleeing, if not for the batteries, their car would have stopped long ago. Everyone had a turn driving, but the people in the back had to deal with zombies while drivers had to focus on the road...They could not continue on like this!

After nightfall, there were screams of terror from the zombies chasing them, which caused nervousness and numbness. Even more chilling was – they could not charge their mobile phones, they were all out of power.

Mobile phones were of little to everyone who left base, except for one thing – it could send a location signal every two hours. Those functions were useless for distress signals, who could wait until base sent a rescue team? Coupled with that teams were unlikely to actually respond, the feature was not usable in the least.

So everyone only brought one phone, but it would have to charged through the car power supply. Luo Xun had a headache – their car adapter was lost on the road! Even more, since the phone had little effect outside of base, no one brought any extras!

So the question was – although Luo Xun could estimate the approximate direction, they were completely unaware of their exact location. It was dark outside, they could not even see the marks they left in the snow before.

"If you are sleepy, lean against me and rest for a while." Yan Fei suddenly said which soothed Luo Xun's slightly nervous heart.

He nodded, "I know." He patted Puppy's head. "If they catch, yell to everyone."

Not just Luo Xun, everyone else in the cars were exhausted, but they needed to conserve as much strength as possible and hold on.

Luo Xun took the walkie-talkie and spoke, "We have some distance between us and the zombies, we'll take a quick rest..."

172

Luo Xun had not finished when the car suddenly shook violently. Slender black things erupted from the snow like bizarre teeth!

"This...the devil vine!" Luo Xun's blood froze in his veins.

The night was pitch black, the surroundings murky and they had been desperately fleeing for the whole day. In panic they had also turned a few times and somehow arrived where the devil vines were!

Luo Xun did not know if the place was the test ground from two days ago. Or if there luck was so poor that they crashed into another place with the monstrous vines!

If Luo Xun had time to think, he could infer that they spent around two days to reach the convoy wreckage. But during those two days they rested more than once to stop for food, change diapers or reorient themselves. But when they were being chased by zombies, they went full throttle and it was natural that they crossed the same distance in only a day.

But, they had run into the devil vines! The mutant plant that did not let go of prey once entangled!

Luo Xun and company remembered the death of the huge mutant animal and did not expect to survive...

"Xu Mei! Fire! Song Lingling, try to drain the water from the nearest vine!" He stuck to Yan Fei's back and shakily said, "Wrap us in a metal ball..."

Yan Fei's expression was not good. He put up a circle of metal to stop the vines but these things were alive and attacked from all directions.

Xu Mei's fire could act as a barrier against the plants but would not repel them at all! Although Song Lingling could cause the vines to wither by draining water, she could only deal with one or two at a time!

Devil vines were also directly below the sled, countless plants rose from the ground and grabbed at the moving car...

Luo Xun's heart sank, compared to these terrifying plants, the zombies behind them seemed so easy to deal with...Were they going to die today? They went outside to avoid threats but encountered an even greater crisis...

He wryly smiled, he was reborn and had gotten things he had never expected: a lover, family, friends a happy and abundant life...But it was earlier than before...was he too greedy? Would it have been possible to live longer if he had stayed in base and forced to bear with the changes?

A small inner voice disagreed – no, even if he was allowed to it again, with the current atmosphere, he would still choose to find another way, rather than stay where was he was and die...

*Snore, snore* A faint voice was mixed in with the other's screaming. With all other sounds, the dog, the roar of the engine, and the creaking of the plants and metal those small sounds were barely heard.

*Snore, sniffle*

The entire Otaku squad, were still desperately struggling against the terrifying zombies.

*Snore....Waa, waa!"

The baby's cries were weak, especially since he was premature and was less than a month old. Luo Xun and Yan Fei knew that this child was well-behaved. Every time he was hungry or soiled himself, there were only a few sounds. Even if he cried, it was only a short while. It was the first time he had cried like this.

However, the cry did not stun only the couple. Puppy was also frozen and even the devil vines were stunned.

Yes, really 'frozen', Luo Xun did not know how else to describe why these devil vines suddenly became motionless.