The sky was not as pale as usual; instead, it took on an eerie leaden purple hue. The clouds hung low, looking incredibly thick and heavy.
Yan Jiasui frowned as she looked at the weather.
Many of the refugees in the building had already been driven out, mostly the old, the weak, the sick, and the disabled. The remaining refugees, who were in better physical condition, simply couldn't be chased away.
Yan Jiasui had negotiated with these people for a long time. Ultimately, they both had to compromise: some refugees were allowed to stay, and in return, they promised to act as meat shields for the building's ability users.
Da Laocu drove the car unsteadily, while a smell of decay permeated from deep within the soil.
There was another vehicle ahead filled with those refugees. Yan Jiasui's frown deepened; she couldn't shake off an ominous premonition in her heart.
There was an exceptionally large number of zombies this time. Countless mutilated zombies crawled frantically along the road. The ability users hid behind cover and attacked the zombies, leaving a mist of blood in the air.
Just as they had promised, the refugees grabbed their weapons and charged forward, though several took advantage of the chaos to hide on the sidelines.
"Hide over there, over there!"
"Those idiots are actually going to act as meat shields."
Suddenly, a very faint cracking sound came from the road. Shortly after, fine cracks appeared on the flat surface.
Ji Zhaoxi had been cooperating with Yan Jiasui all along. Carrying a modified heavy machine gun, she continuously spat tongues of fire at the zombie horde.
The cracks on the road extended downward into the earth's crust, and a strong smell of sulfuric acid gradually filled the air.
Zombies surged forward one after another, their numbers growing by the second.
"Crack—Rumble!"
The sudden loud noise completely drowned out all the roaring.
Just as Ji Zhaoxi and the others were trying to fight their way out, the road surface exploded without warning, and the fine cracks instantly turned into a bottomless abyss.
"Boom—"
The zombies' roars abruptly stopped. They stood rigidly in place while everyone else's faces were filled with terror. Zombies fell into the crevices in droves, and the refugees and ability users screamed in fright.
They grabbed frantically at the ground in horror, but a sense of weightlessness continually washed over them. Ji Zhaoxi was flung entirely into the fissure, plummeting straight down into the abyss.
"Pei Yufeng—"
The wind nearly shattered Ji Zhaoxi's eardrums, and her tears vanished into the air.
Just as she felt she was going to be torn apart in mid-air, she was suddenly held tightly in a warm embrace that carried a strong scent of gunpowder.
As they fell, their vision grew darker. Stray rocks continuously scraped against their bodies as she was pressed firmly into his chest.
With the sound of the airflow being ripped apart in her ears, Ji Zhaoxi felt as if all the air in her lungs had been drained dry.
Pei Yufeng sensitively detected the blurry outline of the ground below. He forcefully twisted their direction in the air, aiming his own back at the rocky ground beneath them.
"Bang—"
A massive crashing sound echoed through the abyss, and the world suddenly fell silent.
A faint blue light seeped through the cracks in the rock walls. The ground was covered with rusty pipes, and murky groundwater gushed out. Sludge was everywhere, and a damp, cold white mist filled the air.
An unknown amount of time passed before Pei Yufeng's eyelashes fluttered. Every inch of bone in his body felt as though it had been repeatedly crushed, causing excruciating pain.
"...Little Moth?"
His voice was incredibly hoarse. His hands scrambled frantically in the darkness until he felt the warm weight in his arms; only then did he let out a long sigh of relief.
He closed his eyes and tightly hugged Ji Zhaoxi in his arms.
A heavy scent of blood constantly flooded her nose. Ji Zhaoxi slowly opened her eyes. Feeling a hardness beneath her that did not belong to the rocks, her eyes instantly turned red.
"Pei Yufeng."
Pei Yufeng was in so much pain that he couldn't speak at all. He closed his eyes, his hand instinctively stroking her hair to comfort her.
Unable to focus her vision in the darkness, Ji Zhaoxi subconsciously reached out to touch Pei Yufeng's face, only to find her hand covered in something sticky.
Not daring to cry anymore, Ji Zhaoxi wiped the tears from her face. A soft, faint light spilled from her hands, covering the wounds on Pei Yufeng's body.
"No need," Pei Yufeng gritted his teeth and avoided her hands.
She was also very weak right now. If she continued to heal him, her mental energy would definitely be depleted.
Ji Zhaoxi choked back a sob as she moved closer to him. Pei Yufeng's neck was icy cold. He sighed; he hadn't been wrong when he previously told her to be a water-type ability user.
The wounds on Pei Yufeng's body began to slowly squirm. Glowing threads gradually connected his torn tendons. Ji Zhaoxi was struggling to hold on, exhaustedly pouring out her ability.
Sensing that Pei Yufeng's wounds were mostly healed, Ji Zhaoxi rested against his body. Her somewhat aggrieved voice drifted through the darkness.
"I'm not doing this for you anymore. I need to save some for myself."
Hearing her voice, Pei Yufeng's heart felt as if it had been fiercely wrung by someone, aching and trembling. He clumsily wiped the tears from her face.
"Thank you."
The cold mist in the underground waterway continued to spread. If they stayed any longer, they would freeze to death here.
Pei Yufeng tightly grasped Ji Zhaoxi's hand and led her out.
It was extremely peaceful outside. The leaden purple sky had cleared, and the air was filled with the dry scent of sand and soil.
Under the scorching sun, the desert appeared somewhat distorted and deformed. The distant sand dunes shimmered slightly, and the sky was such a brilliant blue that it almost looked white.
Waves of heat continuously rushed toward them. Pei Yufeng released his mental energy, and holding hands tightly, the two walked westward.
Ji Zhaoxi's throat ached terribly. Sweat beaded on her forehead, and her footsteps gradually became unsteady.
An unknown amount of time passed before the scorching heat gradually faded. The setting sun blanketed the entire desert. Fine sand was blown into the air by the wind, and the sand dunes gradually shifted their positions.
Pei Yufeng's figure looked exceptionally tall and sturdy. With every step he took, his military boots sank into the sand, making a grinding sound.
Ji Zhaoxi lay on his back, resting her head on his shoulder. Her hands weakly encircled Pei Yufeng's neck; she was so exhausted that she had fallen asleep.
In the afterglow of the sunset, her hair blew in the wind, occasionally brushing against Pei Yufeng's cheek and bringing a faint, tickling sensation.
The two rested for the night on the leeward side of a sand dune and continued their journey the next day.
Today was even hotter than yesterday. The air in the desert was so hot that it distorted into ripples.
Ji Zhaoxi lay on Pei Yufeng's back, her mind feeling like mush. Sweat streamed down her face, her vision began to blur, and every breath she took brought a stinging pain.
Noticing that something was wrong with Ji Zhaoxi, Pei Yufeng quickly set her down. He half-knelt on the scalding sand and gathered her into his arms.
He poured water from a bottle into its cap and let it trickle into her mouth bit by bit.
Just then, the roar of an engine echoed across the desert. A modified pickup truck suddenly charged at them from behind and to the side.
They had clearly been observing them for a long time. The pickup accelerated directly toward them, showing no intention of stopping.
Pei Yufeng's expression turned terrifyingly dark.
"Courting death."
When it was less than a few meters away from them, the pickup truck's front wheels were forcefully pinned down. The body of the vehicle tumbled violently across the desert, letting out a series of ear-piercing metallic screeches.
