National Highway 316 Gas Station.
Zhou Yu'an furrowed his brows.
They had cleared out the nearby zombies and finally managed to get into the gas station, only to find that the fuel here had long been looted clean.
And their off-road vehicle was almost completely out of gas.
Gu Man's shrewd eyes looked toward a few other cars that were about to pass by the gas station.
She spoke up:
"Yu'an, I'll pretend to be a survivor asking for help and stop those cars."
"When they stop, you and Senior Yan can subdue them and take the gas from their cars."
Zhou Yu'an fell silent: "..."
He frowned.
Was this banditry?
Yan Qingdu also couldn't help but clear his throat.
He almost choked on his own saliva.
He had long heard that Gu Man was quite something, but he didn't expect her to make robbery sound so refined and unconventional.
"Shut up!"
Zhou Yu'an glared at her.
Gu Man curled her lips in dissatisfaction and looked at Yan Qingdu again.
"Senior Yan, with the remaining gas in our car, we won't be able to get very far."
"We might run out halfway, and by then we'll be stranded in the middle of nowhere. If we get surrounded by zombies, we won't be able to escape."
"I don't know why Zhou Yu'an is being so overly principled! It's the apocalypse now. So what if we rob them of a little gas? It's not like I'm asking for their lives!"
Yan Qingdu's eyes also turned cold.
His fingertips hooked around his handgun.
His voice was chilling.
"So, you want Yueyue's life instead?"
Gu Man finally realized how intimate that nickname was.
She couldn't help but retort:
"Senior Yan, that's just a woman who is about to turn into a zombie."
"Why are you calling her Yueyue?"
"She's nothing but a vixen with big boobs and a nice ass who seduces men with her body, you don't need to be so..."
Before she could finish her sentence, a pitch-black handgun was pressed against her temple.
As for the gun that was originally given to Gu Man, it had long been confiscated.
"Keep talking," Yan Qingdu said, his tone laced with impatience. "Let's see if your mouth is faster, or my gun."
Trembling, Gu Man cast a pleading look at Zhou Yu'an for help.
"My uncle is the governor of Sunan Province, he will definitely save me."
"If you kill me, even if you escape, you won't be protected by the government guards."
A flash of disgust crossed Zhou Yu'an's eyes.
He wished he could kill Gu Man.
But for now, there was nothing he could do.
The current order was in a state of partial chaos, and they wanted to return to a normal human society.
And in human society.
No matter what a person did, they needed to be judged by the law.
They couldn't do anything to Gu Man.
Zhou Yu'an shook his head slightly at Yan Qingdu. The latter gave a soft scoff and withdrew his handgun.
Gu Man's legs went weak as she finally let out a long sigh of relief.
After catching her breath for a long while, she said:
"Fine! If we're not robbing gas, then we're not. But we've already been at this gas station for half the day. If we keep staying here, it's going to get dark."
"Are you still not leaving? Are we just going to be trapped here alive waiting to die?"
Zhou Yu'an didn't even spare her an extra glance.
His tone was indifferent.
Yet it revealed a trace of imperceptible concern.
"Waiting for someone."
Hearing this, Gu Man let out a mocking smile.
"Waiting for someone?"
"Waiting for a zombie, more like?"
As soon as her words fell.
The butt of the gun in Yan Qingdu's hand smacked into her mouth with a loud smack.
Gu Man's mouth instantly became swollen and bright red.
The pain made her scream out in agony.
"S-Senior Yan, why did you..." She looked with a face full of grievance at the man standing before her, his hands in his pockets, his posture lazy.
Yan Qingdu's gaze passed over her.
Looking into the distance.
"If Yueyue really becomes a zombie."
"Then you won't escape either," he said.
Gu Man shrank back, her entire body trembling.
She widened her eyes in disbelief.
Just what kind of magic had that woman named Chu Liuyue cast to make every single one of them so obsessed with her?
She lowered her head, cursing silently.
She thought to herself: Fine! Then we'll wait. I'll just wait to see her turn into a zombie, and then we'll see how you can still stomach her.
...
The sky gradually darkened.
Car after car passed by the gas station, cautiously eyeing the green off-road vehicle parked there, before quickly and warily driving away.
Occasionally, one or two cars would stop, but upon seeing the firearms in Yan Qingdu's hands.
They immediately extinguished any other thoughts.
Of course, there was no shortage of people seeking refuge.
Zhou Yu'an rejected them one by one.
He wasn't a saint.
Much less the guard squad.
It was already hard enough to ensure his own people made it out of Jiang City alive.
There was no way he could bring along so much dead weight.
At this moment, two modified jeeps suddenly stopped on the national highway.
Drawing their attention.
Before they could react, the car doors opened.
Two women and three men jumped down from the vehicles.
The man in the lead—no, perhaps he should be called a youth—looked very young, yet he carried a heavy aura of hostility and murderous intent.
There was a faint knife scar on his handsome face.
His lips were pressed into a thin line.
Most importantly, his hands were empty; he had no weapons at all.
And the several people following behind him were the same.
Yan Qingdu leaned closer to Zhou Yu'an, lowered his voice, and said, "Be careful, they are espers."
"How do you know?" Zhou Yu'an shot him a surprised look.
Yan Qingdu pursed his lips.
"I'm a researcher from the lab. I've read all of their files."
"The one in the lead is called Li Xichen."
"Tsk, he's a wolf cub, a ruthless character. I don't know what their goal is."
Seeing them leaning in to whisper, Gu Man couldn't help but step closer.
Raising her voice.
"Yu'an, Senior Yan, what are you talking about?"
Zhou Yu'an frowned impatiently.
Yan Qingdu spoke up, even more displeased.
"Gu Man, can you just be quiet for a moment?"
"Will it kill you not to speak?"
His voice wasn't loud.
But in the distance, the tips of Li Xichen's ears twitched slightly, and his sharp, sword-like gaze quickly locked onto the tall, thin woman standing beside the two men.
So she was Gu Man.
Li Xichen narrowed his eyes.
Almost instantaneously, two ice blades shot out like thrown daggers, aiming straight for Gu Man's glabella and chest.
"Dodge!"
Zhou Yu'an's reaction was also very fast. He swiftly raised the steel pipe in his hand to block this fatal strike.
Gu Man turned pale with fright.
She patted her chest, her heart still fluttering with lingering fear.
Yan Qingdu first glanced at Gu Man, then at Li Xichen.
He questioned her.
"Just how many enemies do you have out there?"
"I-I don't know this guy..." Gu Man looked bewildered. To be honest, when she saw the youth's appearance, her heart had even skipped a beat.
He was very handsome, possessing a wild kind of charm.
Who would have thought that in the very next second, that person would try to kill her.
Yan Qingdu turned to look at Li Xichen again.
He pursed his lips.
Suddenly thinking of a possibility, he disregarded Zhou Yu'an and Gu Man.
Ignoring the strangers in front of him even more, he took large strides and walked quickly toward Li Xichen.
"Careful."
Brother Zhong warned Li Xichen beside him when he saw the man in the black trench coat standing at the gas station approaching.
But he shook his head.
"It's fine, it's an acquaintance."
"Researcher Yan."
