"I’m afraid it’s the same," Li Qian walked up gracefully, his expression modest.
Su Mo turned her head to glance at him then responded, "We’ve encountered palm-sized cockroaches that are very cunning and immune to spiritual power, so it’s unlikely we’ll be able to track them."
"Oh?" Rong Bai looked at Lu Chen in surprise. After seeing him nod, his face turned stern, and the air around them became somewhat oppressive.
"Then let’s hope we’re lucky," Li Chuan sneered, not worried about his own reassurance.
Su Mo walked around the building. Not far ahead, in another tall building, a light flickered on and then quickly went out.
She immediately fixed her gaze on that small window, where a flashlight’s beam appeared and then went out in a second.
"Aren’t your superpower users aware of it? There are living people there," she whispered, pointing to where the light had appeared.
Everyone on the rooftop gathered around.
The people in the opposing high-rise knew they had been seen. They opened a slit in the window and pushed out a plank with a few words written on it.
Su Mo’s pupils shrank; the scene before her magnified, allowing her to see the words on the cardboard clearly: "Save us."
Rong Bai, who also saw it through his binoculars, decisively shook his head.
The people in the high-rise seemed anxious upon seeing their lack of movement, flipping the cardboard to reveal another message: "Without me, you can’t get out."
Su Mo grew curious about why this person was so confident. She looked around the rooftop and found nothing but a discarded newspaper on the ground. She walked over, picked it up, and asked Rong Bai, "Got a pen?"
Rong Bai spoke to a soldier beside him and handed over a marker pen.
Su Mo squatted down, took the pen, and began to write directly on the newspaper.
"What are you doing?" Rong Bai asked.
"Asking him," Su Mo replied, handing the written newspaper to him after finishing: "Hold it up so they can see."
Rong Bai looked at the two simple and stark characters on the paper before lifting it up: "Reason."
The person opposite seemed to think for a moment before writing down a dense line of small text that was difficult to read. Su Mo had to squint her eyes to make it out.
She read it out somewhat stumblingly, "He says he’s an engineer for the underground pipes of Yan City. The exits of Yan City are swarmed with zombies, and only he knows the way out."
Rong Bai’s face turned serious as he put down the binoculars, "How can we be sure he’s telling the truth?"
Su Mo took back the newspaper, wrote his question on the other side, and had him hold it up again.
This time the person opposite replied quickly.
"The Bell Tower at the top of Yan City allows a clear view of the surroundings."
The Bell Tower, most people present had an impression of it.
Li Qian spoke softly, "That’s the uniquely shaped building with a bell we saw when we entered the city, right?"
"This unfinished building is too short, completely obscured by taller buildings; we can’t see anything from here," Su Mo said somewhat helplessly, looking toward Lu Chen who had been silent all along.
If what the person said was true, was it rescue or not? That was the question of the century.
"Let’s have a look," Lu Chen finally made the decision.
Rong Bai took a large step to face him, saying sternly, "Are you mad? To go at night?!"
"You should know, we can’t afford the risk," Lu Chen replied, his limpid phoenix eyes coldly fixated on him.
Rong Bai choked, then his face darkened. They had brought many people with them, some of whom were his own doing. Without scouting ahead and in case of an accident, these people would still die:
Lu Chen shook his head in refusal, "Take care of your soldiers, I’m going."
The flock couldn’t lose its shepherd; everyone present understood this.
"Count me in," Li Qian raised his hand and spoke gently, "You can’t go without the map."
With things having come to this point, Su Mo couldn’t possibly let Lu Chen venture out alone. She took the man’s hand and said, "The three of us then, in and out quickly."
Lu Chen had never thought of letting her out of his sight anyway; he was only at ease when she was under his watchful eye, and without hesitation, he agreed, "Fine."
Rong Bai clapped a hand on Lu Chen’s shoulder and ordered a soldier behind him to bring over a small launcher to hand to him, "Signal gun, call us if something happens."
"Mhm," he accepted it, his eyes showing little fluctuation, and set out with the others.
Once off the rooftop, Jianxiong and the others occupied a compartment without windows, chilly with the breeze blowing in.
Su Mo briefly explained their whereabouts. Zhao Changsheng and Jianxiong insisted on coming with them, but Jianxiong was frightened off by a look from Lu Chen, whereas Zhao Changsheng was relentless.
"I’ve got to protect you, Momo!"
"Alright, stop fussing, we’ll be back soon," Su Mo placed a hand on her shoulder and gently pushed her back. Seeing her anxious to the point where her fox-like eyes were practically sparkling with electricity, Su Mo softened her voice and put on a smiling face, "Be good, we’ll return shortly."
Zhao Changsheng just couldn’t resist her face, falling right into the cuteness trap.
Lu Chen’s expression turned cold, and as he gripped Su Mo’s hand with more force, he nearly hauled her away directly.
"Why are you smiling so happily at others?"
"..." Su Mo looked up at him and immediately flashed him an even bigger smile, truly a sweet burden.
Li Qian, who had been following at a leisurely pace, now descended the stairs with them. Once inside the vehicle, Li Qian, the living map, took over the driving.
The Bell Tower was a landmark of Yan City and easy to recognize, but driving with the lights on at night in this forsaken city was indeed dangerous. He had to rely on his spiritual power to pick routes and also avoid areas dense with zombies.
The car’s small window was rolled down, and even though Li Qian had chosen the path with the fewest zombies, a dozen or so crazed zombies still trailed after them, charging towards them.
Lu Chen had thought about leaning out from the roof of the car to take shots, but as they approached the Bell Tower, the creatures stopped their chase and began to pace back and forth, agitated.
"Why aren’t they following anymore?" Su Mo looked back, puzzled.
"Animals are territorial," Li Qian said gently from the driver’s seat.
Lu Chen closed the window again and frowned at the darkness ahead, his voice cold, "Animals?"
Li Qian nodded slightly, "You’ve seen Animal Planet, right? For example, marking territory with scent."
Although Lu Chen hadn’t watched Animal Planet, he had experienced jungle combat. Wild animals in the forest would mark their territory by urinating, and his brow furrowed even deeper.
"If even zombies don’t dare to tread on this territory, it means that there’s an even more formidable player here," Su Mo realized, her mood growing heavy, "Could we have been deceived?"
She said this, but then thought it unlikely. The people there had neither the need nor the reason to deceive them. If anything happened to them, the people in the building would have to consider the consequences.
"Either way, we’re dead; it’s all the same," Li Qian took a turn and drove into the square that housed the Bell Tower, speaking calmly.
Su Mo had no way to argue with his words. If things kept going this way, even if they just stayed put and didn’t move forward, they’d end up picked clean to the bone. The monsters were getting stronger, and their only choice was to continue fighting for a way to survive.