Chapter 195

Compared with Zhang Lesi, Su Yu was a reserved and quiet girl.

Her superpower was also highly unusual—arguably one of a kind.

Since they needed to work as a team, she shared certain information with her comrades, such as the fact that her barrier had an “inner” and an “outer” side.

But there were other things she knew that she had no need to tell anyone else.

For example, whenever someone passed through the barrier from the inside to the outside, it acted like a sensor and let her know who had gone through—and how many people had crossed it.

So when Zhou Wang took the three children through the barrier, Su Yu sensed it instantly.

Her pupils dilated.

Since last June, they had endured two outbreaks of the zombie virus, a city consumed by flames, and extreme cold. What Su Yu had experienced was unity, courage, and trust. It had never occurred to her that someone within the group might deceive them, betray them, abandon them, or run away.

And it was someone they had relied on and trusted like an elder brother.

Su Yu suddenly remembered that a long time ago, when they had been chatting privately, Gao Yuxuan had mentioned Zhou Wang’s superpower.

“Wind element? That’s really only good for running away.” Gao Yuxuan had worn a mischievous grin. “That old bro... deep down, he definitely wants to slip away and make a run for it.”

Of course, he could never say that in public. He had only said it privately among a few close friends.

Later, Zhou Wang had become an important companion and a comrade who fought alongside them. Gao Yuxuan never brought it up again.

Zhao Yi had also said that although it could be summed up as “the influence of psychological needs on the choice of superpower attributes,” put another way, it was simply that “everything was fated.” It seemed as if everything had been arranged in advance.

Countless zombies pounded against the barrier. There were simply too many of them, and the backlash reached Su Yu.

Her body began to hurt, but that pain was nothing compared with the blow to her spirit.

For one brief moment, her faith was almost shattered.

Then she opened her eyes and saw the backs of her comrades ahead of her.

In the cool spring morning, sweat had soaked through the backs of many people’s clothes.

“Get back!” someone shouted from behind, before charging forward himself.

The person who fell back dropped onto the ground, gasping for breath. Once he had recovered, he charged forward again.

And so Su Yu knew she could not break down.

How could she collapse because of one cowardly deserter when so many comrades ahead of her still needed her?

Su Yu closed her eyes and spent half a minute thinking about what to do. Then she opened them again.

“Get in the vehicles! Fall back! We’re retreating in five minutes! I’m taking down the barrier—!”

Taking down the barrier meant facing the tide of zombies head-on, as well as the giant zombies in the distance that had yet to move. This was already beyond what they could handle with human strength alone.

They had to retreat.

Everyone began to turn and withdraw, scrambling into the vehicles.

Someone helped Auntie Qian into one of them.

Someone shouted after failing to find Little Squirt inside the building, “Where are the children?”

Su Yu yelled, “They’ve already left! Get in the vehicles, all of you! Hurry—!”

Only then did the person climb into a vehicle with a sigh of relief.

Gao Yuxuan retreated to Su Yu’s side. “How are you getting out?”

Su Yu gritted her teeth. “Don’t worry about me. Get in the vehicle! I’ll cover the rear!”

Gao Yuxuan understood at once.

Su Yu had no intention of retreating.

There were many speed zombies among the horde, and the mutant zombies were monstrously powerful.

Without someone covering the rear, no one might make it out.

But whoever stayed behind to cover them definitely would not.

Su Yu shouted, “Go!”

Gao Yuxuan stood shoulder to shoulder with her. “I’m staying with you.”

“I can’t leave on my own.”

“If I did, how would I answer to Jiangbing?”

“That guy entrusted you to me.”

Su Yu froze. “He...”

Gao Yuxuan said, “He likes you. You know that, right?”

Su Yu had never been able to tell for certain whether Li Jiangbing liked her.

With a personality like hers, unless the other person expressed himself clearly, she simply could not be sure.

Sometimes she really envied Lesi’s personality, but she could never be like that herself.

Gao Yuxuan had wanted to speak for Li Jiangbing for a long time, but had never found the chance. If he did not say it now, there might never be another opportunity.

“That idiot.”

“He thinks he isn’t good enough for you.”

“His education level is low, while you have a master’s degree.”

“He said that if it weren’t for this ruined world, you never would have chosen him.”

“That you’re only settling because the world has fallen apart.”

“You may be willing to lower your standards and settle, but he can’t take advantage of your situation.”

Su Yu smiled.

Tears streamed down her face.

Idiot.

She wished Lesi could see this.

She really wanted to shout it out loud to Lesi—

See? I have good taste in men too!

Su Yu crossed her fists in front of her forehead and gave a mighty shout. Then she yanked her arms apart.

The barrier instantly expanded from an overturned bowl into a wall stretching endlessly in both directions!

The zombies were blocked. They could not get around it!

Su Yu screamed herself hoarse.

“Go! Get out of here—!”

Many people ran toward the vehicles, but slowed down when they looked back and saw what was happening.

Many had already climbed into the vehicles, yet froze when they saw the scene.

Gao Yuxuan performed his signature routine: rolling his wrists and rotating his ankles.

Then he charged forward once more.

“Daddy’s here!”

Purple electricity wove into a net, pierced through the “wall,” and spread outward. A whole swath of zombies collapsed.

Behind them came the roar of engines and the screech of tires against the ground.

Go. Live.

This handsome guy will die in your place.

Gao Yuxuan gathered his strength and was just about to fire a second blast when a fireball shot from behind him, passed through the “wall,” and struck a zombie in the head. It burst into roaring flames!

Gao Yuxuan stared in astonishment.

One fireball after another flew over from behind.

He whipped around. The vehicles really had driven away, fleeing to safety.

But some people had never gotten into the vehicles at all. Others had climbed out again.

Their comrades shouted, “Daddy’s here!” as they screamed and charged back toward the “wall”!

There were superpowered individuals among them, but even more were ordinary people. They gripped crescent-shaped shovels and used every last bit of strength remaining in their mortal bodies to hack fiercely at the zombies on the other side of the “wall”!

Gao Yuxuan’s eyes grew hot.

So did Su Yu’s.

There was no need to be too harsh on humanity.

The “many” in “when many hearts unite, a fortress can be built” had always meant many—not everyone.

Out of a population of more than a hundred million, perhaps a million people could stand united.

Out of a population of tens of thousands, perhaps fewer than a thousand might share the same goal.

Among two thousand people, if several dozen or a hundred were willing to abandon their chance to escape and stay behind to die together, then they had not been let down!

Tears streamed down Su Yu’s face, but her heart had never been more resolute.

The comrades who had been dragged out of the barrier and killed earlier began to turn into zombies.

Many familiar faces appeared on the other side of the wall.

Gao Yuxuan saw Cui Haiyang.

Cui Haiyang’s face had been gnawed beyond recognition. He walked up to Gao Yuxuan, raised his fist, and roared as he pounded against the “wall.”

Gao Yuxuan held back his tears.

“See you in the next life, bro!”

Purple electricity shot into Cui Haiyang’s eye socket and straight into his brain.

The “wall” stretched endlessly to the left and right to prevent the zombies from giving chase.

But this consumed an enormous amount of superpower.

Blood began to run from Su Yu’s nose, and her eardrums throbbed with pain.

At last, the giant zombies in the distance began to move.

They ran on all four limbs, like something between gorillas and enormous hounds.

Their speed was shocking.

If Su Yu’s “wall” had not blocked them, then at that speed, the giant zombies might well have caught up with the vehicles that had just escaped.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

More than a dozen giant zombies slammed into the “wall” one after another.

Su Yu felt a sharp pain in her chest!

Blood burst from her ears!

The giant zombies swung their fists, pounding furiously against the “wall”!

Blood mist burst from Su Yu’s eyes as well.

Even Gao Yuxuan’s electricity couldn’t numb the giants in the slightest.

The giant zombies possessed strength beyond that of ordinary humans. Only an existence as monstrously powerful as Mo Li could stand against them.

The giants raised their fists again.

Every bone in Su Yu’s body shattered, and she fell backward onto the ground, staring up at the sky.

Li Jiangbing had urged her to protect herself first.

But in the end, Su Yu couldn’t do it.

If she had, she wouldn’t have been Su Yu.

The “wall” flashed one last time before vanishing from the world.

The giant zombies raised their fists and aimed them at Gao Yuxuan.

Electricity crackled all over Gao Yuxuan’s body. He threw his head back and roared, “I—am—your—da—”

......

......

Zhou Wang actually regretted bringing the three children along. They were extremely burdensome.

But he simply couldn’t abandon them.

The oldest was about the same age as his own son.

Perhaps that was a hurdle he could never overcome.

He didn’t dare linger, pushing the handcart eastward at full speed.

On flat ground—especially on smooth roads—his wind-based ability consumed very little energy.

Only after he was certain that the zombie horde could no longer catch up did he stop to rest at a gas station.

He found several bags of potato chips in the convenience store and handed them out to the three children to fill their stomachs.

Then he sat there in a daze, wondering what to do next. He had been resting for more than half an hour when he suddenly heard a rumbling sound. He quickly hid with the Little Squirts.

He never would have imagined that it was the people he had left behind.

They were actually still alive. How had they escaped?

Taking advantage of the crowd, Zhou Wang emerged with the Little Squirts, pretending to act naturally.

Everyone had narrowly escaped death themselves, so no one noticed him.

Many people turned their heads when they saw him, assuming he had come from another vehicle. They were even relieved that he was still alive.

And just like that, Zhou Wang slipped back into the crowd.

Many people were crying.

From their conversation, Zhou Wang finally learned how they had survived—Su Yu, that young girl, had truly sacrificed herself for them, giving her life so the others could escape.

Zhou Wang was stunned.

He didn’t notice that Auntie Qian had been sitting in a vehicle, watching him through the window with a gloomy look in her eyes.

Everyone began discussing what to do. Someone said, “Brother Zhou is still here.”

So they all came to ask Zhou Wang.

Zhou Wang was at a loss as well.

Auntie Qian suddenly spoke up. “We should turn back and look for Jiang Cheng.”

As one of the rare wood-type ability users, Auntie Qian bore the important responsibility of providing food. She had always enjoyed a high status and special treatment.

But she rarely spoke up in discussions or participated in decision-making.

It was unusual for her to voice her opinion on such an important matter. Her suggestion also matched what everyone was thinking at the moment. Many of them wanted to go after Jiang Cheng.

Zhou Wang had no better proposal, either, so everyone decided to head east in search of Jiang Cheng.

That night, they camped outdoors. It was only when they needed ability users that they realized the situation: among several vehicles and hundreds of people, there was only one earth-type user, three fire-type users, and Auntie Qian, the wood-type user.

Where were all the other ability users?

Everyone began crying again.

After filling the vehicles’ tanks with fuel, they slept for one night before heading east at full speed the next morning.

By afternoon, something in the distance ahead was reflecting the sunlight, shining so brightly that it hurt their eyes.

Everyone crowded toward the front of the vehicles and squinted into the distance.

From the east came a massive convoy, rumbling toward them.

Blades encircled the silver-bright vehicles.

So familiar.