Three days later, everyone had finished preparing. With their supplies and clothes loaded onto the vehicles, the group set off for H City Base.
In the apocalypse, gold and jewelry were nothing more than useless trash—far less valuable than food. As a result, everyone’s backpack held little more than a few changes of clothes and some crystal cores and supplies.
There were fifteen people in total.
Luo Beiyao, Su Mu, Su Wanmei, Lu Shuangshuang, Jiang Sheng, Fang Yiyang, Shen Man, Xin Qimeng, and a few others rode in the cargo truck. Because Luo Beiyao’s emotional state had been off these past few days, Fang Yiyang took over as the driver.
Meanwhile, Xu Qingru, Su Yang, Zhou Haichen, Yan Yitao, Zou Huan, Deng Qinghuai, Wu Keke, and the rest rode in a small car they had picked up by the roadside, with Zhou Haichen driving.
They had deliberately spent an entire day siphoning gasoline from abandoned cars along the road. After all, the journey to H City Base was full of unknown dangers. If they ran out of fuel, relying on walking alone would easily lead to casualties.
A weight suddenly pressed down on his shoulder.
Su Mu pursed his lips slightly and shifted to the left. But Luo Beiyao, whose head had been resting on Su Mu’s shoulder, pushed his luck by wrapping an arm around him and quietly applying a restraining technique. Seeing that Su Mu no longer resisted his closeness, he finally settled into a comfortable position and fell asleep.
Su Mu stiffened, his expression blank.
He really wanted to know just what kind of ability Luo Beiyao actually had.
Buildings on both sides slowly slid past them. The sky was gray and overcast, not a trace of sunlight visible. Ever since the day the apocalypse broke out, it was as if the sun had vanished—no one had seen a blazing red sun rise in the sky again.
Yet the Blue Planet’s cycle of day and night continued as usual.
Humanity had merely lost, forever, the blue skies and white clouds of the past—along with the peaceful, safe lives they once took for granted.
Polluted land and water. No more clear skies or clean rivers. What humans had once ignored so carelessly could no longer be bought back, no matter how much they were willing to pay.
Meanwhile, in the apocalypse, the one thing that never ran out was crows.
Rotting corpses and skeletal remains were everywhere. Su Mu saw several crows pecking at zombie remains on the ground. With a flick of his palm, several ice spikes shot out. The crows didn’t even have time to react before they fell dead.
Su Mu paused slightly and moved his fingers—only then did he realize that the restraint on his body had been lifted at some point.
Luo Beiyao rubbed affectionately against his neck and said softly, “I’ve already released it for a while.”
Su Mu didn’t respond.
But unexpectedly, he didn’t push Luo Beiyao away either.
Luo Beiyao lifted his head in surprise.
“What are you thinking about? I’m finding it harder and harder to read you.”
Su Mu ignored him.
Luo Beiyao’s thoughts, however, spiraled uncontrollably. He couldn’t help but wonder—was Su Mu slowly trying to accept him?
In truth, Su Mu had noticed that Luo Beiyao’s emotions had been unstable lately, and out of a desire to calm him, chose not to push him away.
More importantly—
With so many people watching, if he shoved Luo Beiyao aside and the man reacted even more excessively, what then?
With so many eyes on them, Su Mu had no intention of taking the blame for the original owner and getting tangled up with Luo Beiyao.
At that point, even jumping into the Yellow River wouldn’t wash him clean.
[The real juice is @ https://www.lemonsociety.gay ♡]
Lu Shuangshuang had noticed Su Mu’s movements long ago. When she saw the two falling back into silence, she leaned over and asked in a low voice, “Mu Tou, why waste your ability on ordinary creatures like that?”
Su Mu replied calmly, “Zombie flesh is full of viruses. If they eat zombie meat and don’t die, they’ll most likely mutate into mutated beasts.”
Just like last time—when Xu Qingru and the others had nearly been killed by a mutated dog the size of a calf.
In fact, up until now, most people in the team hadn’t truly encountered mutated beasts firsthand.
Lu Shuangshuang froze for a moment before realizing it.
They had never seen real mutated beasts themselves. They had only heard about them from Xu Qingru and Su Yang—so they had unconsciously ignored these seemingly minor details.