Lu Shiyan and Xiao Han returned to the car.
Xiao Han sneered, "These spineless cowards, they folded after a little scare."
"Since these people dared to set an ambush, they won't give up so easily." Lu Shiyan turned the steering wheel.
The car slowly drove past the temporarily moved roadblock.
Su Wan looked through the car window and saw Wang Jianguo and his men standing by the roadside. In the swirling dust, she could still clearly see Wang Jianguo's resentful gaze.
"You go slowly; you'll run into a Mutant/Variant sooner or later." Wang Jianguo's sinister voice drifted into the car from outside.
Xiao Han spat out of the car window.
"Bah, trash like them will end up as zombie food sooner or later."
Before he finished speaking,
a dark green shadow suddenly shot out from Lu Shiyan's sleeve.
It was a tough vine, as fast as lightning, wrapping itself precisely around Wang Jianguo's neck.
The vine tightened abruptly.
Wang Jianguo's feet left the ground, and he was pulled into the air, only making a few unintelligible gurgling sounds from his throat.
He desperately clawed at the vine on his neck with both hands, his eyeballs bulging and veins prominent, but he couldn't move it an inch.
Moments later, Wang Jianguo's body stopped struggling and fell limply.
The vine loosened, and the corpse crashed to the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust.
Several of Wang Jianguo's companions had their weapons clatter to the ground, while others' legs went weak, and they plopped down.
The resentment on their faces had long been replaced by extreme fear.
Lu Shiyan retracted the vine, as if merely brushing dust from his clothes.
"Scum."
His voice was flat, devoid of any emotion.
"An eyesore."
Su Wan stiffly turned her head to look at Lu Shiyan.
The light in the car was dim, the man's profile was distinct, yet it exuded a chilling indifference.
He had been so good to her recently that she almost forgot his true nature.
But this was the apocalypse, where human lives were as cheap as grass, and morality had collapsed. Lu Shiyan's methods weren't cruel; they were the rules of survival.
Her stomach churned, and she forced herself to swallow. Her fingernails dug deep into her palms.
She feared him, feared the cold ruthlessness in his bones. Yet, she also depended on him immensely, depending on the absolute safety this ruthlessness provided.
Xiao Han, however, whistled, breaking the dead silence in the car, his tone filled with unconcealed excitement.
"Old Lu, you're good! You haven't changed a bit, amazing!"
Damn it, that was satisfying!
The car drove for nearly another hour before the road conditions forced them to stop again.
The tunnel they were supposed to pass through was blocked at the entrance by collapsed concrete and rebar, completely sealing off the dark, gaping hole.
"Tsk, looks like our luck isn't so good." Xiao Han leaned out to look, pouting.
Lu Shiyan took out a map and re-planned the route. "Going this way will take half a day longer."
"We need to find a place to spend the night first." Lu Shiyan put away the map.
They found an abandoned highway service area nearby; the main building was still relatively intact. The convenience store's glass was shattered on the floor, shelves were toppled, and the air was filled with a mix of dust and decay. Compared to sleeping outdoors, this place was undoubtedly much safer.
Just as they got out of the car to check their surroundings, another modified minibus slowly drove over and stopped not far from the service area entrance.
The car door opened, and five or six people, three men and three women, got out. Their movements weren't fast, and there was some order among them.
The leader was a man of about thirty, wearing a faded security uniform and carrying a crowbar. He first looked at Lu Shiyan's off-road vehicle, then at Lu Shiyan and Xiao Han who had gotten out.
Xiao Han leaned against the car door, arms crossed, staring back without flinching.
After a brief standoff, the man in the security uniform walked towards them. The others remained in place, maintaining a vigilant stance, their crude weapons held tightly.
"Hello, everyone." The man approached, stopping at a relatively safe distance, a forced smile on his face. "We used to work around here, and after the apocalypse, we gathered to survive." He pointed to his blurry work badge on his chest. "My name is Li Xinhu, and I'm their leader."
Su Wan heard the name "Li Xinhu" and it sounded familiar.
She instinctively looked up, carefully scrutinizing the man in front of her. Around thirty, with a square face, an unshakeable weariness in his eyes, but his gaze was relatively clear. Was this the person in the book who had a difficult fate but always maintained some kindness?
Her gaze flickered quickly, looking at the several companions behind Li Xinhu who kept their distance, especially the three women. One young woman, slender and wearing a faded red T-shirt, was secretly glancing at Lu Shiyan's car, a hint of undetectable longing in her eyes.
There was also a pregnant woman, and a young girl who was relatively well-behaved.
Xiao Han's arms remained crossed; he just raised his chin slightly: "So what?"
Li Xinhu rubbed his hands, appearing uneasy: "No, nothing big."
"It's just getting late, and this service area is quite spacious, so I wanted to ask if we could team up and spend the night here together?" He quickly added, "It's safer with more people, and it's always good to have more help, right?"
Lu Shiyan's gaze swept over Li Xinhu's face, then calmly looked at the people behind him. Although those people held weapons, their expressions showed more fatigue and unease, completely different from the greed and ferocity of Wang Jianguo's group earlier. "We have no objection." Lu Shiyan spoke.
Li Xinhu breathed a sigh of relief, his smile becoming more genuine: "That's great, thank you, thank you all." He seemed to want to say something more, but meeting Lu Shiyan's and Xiao Han's eyes, he ultimately remained silent.
Xiao Han waved his hand: "Alright, find your own places to rest."
Li Xinhu nodded, then quickly turned to call his companions.
Su Wan watched as the group cautiously began to clear an open space at the other end of the service area, preparing to camp. She noticed the young woman in the red T-shirt looking their way more than once, her gaze always briefly lingering on their off-road vehicle. Li Xinhu was whispering something to his companions, occasionally glancing their way.
"Boss, they don't look easy to deal with." Li Xinhu's bespectacled companion whispered. Li Xinhu snapped, "Nonsense, look at that car, look at their aura, they're not ordinary people. We'll take the other side, and we'll mind our own business."
Another tall man leaned over to look: "There must be a lot of good stuff in that car..." His words were cut short by a look from Li Xinhu.
"Don't cause trouble!" Li Xinhu warned.
On the other side, Xiao Han leaned in and whispered to Lu Shiyan, "This guy named Li seems to have awakened some ability; when he walked over just now, his steps were much steadier than an ordinary person's." Lu Shiyan nodded slightly: "Hmm, strength enhancement, not a large Amplitude."
"Strength enhancement?" Xiao Han stroked his chin, "No wonder he dares to lead a team out; he has some confidence."
Su Wan's gaze, like a spotlight, fixed on the woman in the red T-shirt in Li Xinhu's team.
The woman was secretly glancing their way, a lingering desire for food seemingly still on her lips, but her eyes held a complex, ineffable emotion.
Was she the woman in the book who turned traitor at a crucial moment?