Li Chuan leaned against the freezing wall, squinting at Lu Chen with almond-shaped eyes.
Zhang Jun pointed out on the map that the location for descending into the well was far from the Bell Tower, close to the edge of the zombie horde’s territory. Realizing this, Su Mo also let out a sigh of relief.
They drove to their destination—on a craft product entertainment street, where the ground was littered with broken craft pieces.
Admiral Rong ordered all the soldiers to take all the weapons they could carry from the vehicles, and several rocket launchers were also carried on people’s backs.
A soldier handed over a crystal stone of strange color. After taking it, he glanced at the monster corpse still being dragged behind the vehicle and thought they could only abandon it.
Taking advantage of the gap in organizing ammunition, Su Mo entered a relatively intact craft store that sold bracelets, with many hand-woven red threads on the counter and some delicate and cute trinkets in a dish.
She picked out two strands from a bunch of red threads and then looked into the dishes.
"What are you doing?" Lu Chen walked in from outside and asked her.
"Ah, I’ve got it!" Su Mo carefully pinched a few festive little red beans from the dish; she threaded three red beans onto both red strings to make two bracelets.
She turned around with a smile and said to Lu Chen, "Hand it over."
The man did as told and stretched out both hands.
"Right hand, right hand."
Lu Chen put down one hand and stretched out his right hand towards her.
Su Mo looped the string through his long, fair fingers and placed it on his wrist, then pulled the two ends of the string and lovingly touched the small red beans.
"Do you like it?" she looked up at him with sparkling eyes and asked.
"It’s pretty," Lu Chen bent down and pinched her face.
"Then you put one on me," she said with a giggly smile as she passed the other one to him.
Lu Chen took it, picked up her hand, and gently slipped it on. Her fingertips were pointed, tender and cute—it was adorable. His eyes darkened, and he couldn’t help bending down to kiss her fingertips.
Su Mo’s face turned red again: "My hands are dirty."
"They’re not dirty," he stood straight up and lightly asked, looking at their bracelets, "Why three beads?"
"Because it means ’I love you,’" Su Mo’s eyes shone as she hugged his waist and rubbed against his chest, "Don’t take it off."
Lu Chen froze on the spot.
Seeing that he didn’t reply for a long time, Su Mo poked his waist: "You don’t want it?"
When she looked up at him with a questioning gaze, she was met with an overwhelming kiss.
When Jianxiong arrived, he saw his boss with his back to him doing something with his sister. Although he really didn’t want to interrupt, Admiral Rong was already rushing them. He cleared his throat, "Boss, can you kiss outside? We need to go."
After saying that, fearing he would receive that terrifying glare again, he made a quick escape.
Lu Chen released her and bit her mouth gently, sighing, "In this life, I’ve fallen into your hands."
Su Mo gripped his hand tight, their wristbands with red beans were very conspicuous.
When they came out, Admiral Rong waved at Lu Chen. They didn’t have many things, each person had a backpack filled with ammunition and food.
As for some tent-like living supplies, Lu Chen took responsibility for them. His vehicle, along with tents for a few hundred people, filled his Space to the brim.
As he was putting things away, he deliberately exposed a section of his wrist and casually flaunted it in front of Rong Bai.
"That bracelet looks quite unique. Did your wife give it to you?" Rong Bai’s attention was indeed drawn, the man before him had never worn such flamboyant adornments before.
"Hmm," catching his gaze, Lu Chen slightly lifted his chin, leading someone past Rong Bai, "We’ll go once we’re ready."
It was a manhole cover. Two soldiers moved it aside, and Li Qian stood by, extending his spiritual power into the complex network of pipelines below. He pushed his spiritual power to the limit before announcing, "No zombies."
Rong Bai led the way, climbing down first. His figure disappeared into the pitch-black hole, and shortly after, his voice echoed up, "Come on down."
Zhang Jun, the engineer, was the second to descend. He had just barely recovered from hunger and climbed down shakily.
Seeing people descend one by one into the well, the commotion among the ordinary convoy behind them grew; the superpower users mingled within came forward to inquire with Sergeant Yang.
Without an order from Rong Bai, Sergeant Yang’s lips were tightly sealed, no matter what, he remained silent.
Li Qian, with a serene smile, stepped forward to explain, "The edges of Yan City are swarming with zombies; we have to go underground."
"What?" The few people exchanged glances, but seeing more and more people descending into the well, they realized they weren’t being deceived—after all, the vehicles were still left above ground.
"You may be able to follow at the end of the line. I think Admiral Rong’s magnanimity won’t allow him to abandon you," Li Qian continued in a gentle voice, pushing up his glasses.
Realizing that the situation was genuine, people hurried back to gather their belongings and prepare to follow down the well.
Sergeant Yang, observing Li Qian’s seemingly dignified manner, asked in puzzlement, "Why tell them?"
"We’re all going to die one way or another. What’s wrong with having more meat shields?" Li Qian smiled at him before going to find Lu Chen and the others, leaving Sergeant Yang murmuring to himself:
"A refined scoundrel."
Only after Rong Bai and Li Chuan’s people descended did Lu Chen lead his group down. The remaining soldiers quickly followed suit; time was limited, and they had to hasten their pace.
When Su Mo landed, she felt somewhat sick from the dank air in the tunnel, which could only fit two people side by side. Pipes lined the walls, damp and emitting the foul odor.
"What’s all this stuff inside here?" She tugged at Lu Chen’s sleeve and whispered.
"...Oh, aren’t we entering the power conduit?" Su Mo pinched her nose, feeling her eyes sting as she tried to ignore the smell.
"It’s still ahead, some distance away," Lu Chen looked down at her, finding her pinched nose and teary eyes amusing.
They were leading the way, and after they had moved a considerable distance, the rest of the team finally finished descending into the well. A few skeptical civilians, seeing the military vehicles left on the road, decided to try their luck driving to the border themselves.
Bai Ling, who had been slapped twice last time, had since kept her distance from Su Mo. As a Dual Ability User, she received considerable care from the soldiers, who protected her in the middle of the group.
Watching Su Mo chatting with teammates not far ahead, Bai Ling felt a strong sense of injustice, yet she dared not provoke Su Mo and could only glare from behind, harboring thoughts of revenge for those slaps.
The electrical system lay beyond a waterproof sealed door. After confirming the plans were correct, Rong Bai turned back and said, "Keep quiet once we’re through this door."
This instruction reached the ears of the ordinary citizens; he had never stopped them from coming down, obviously having his own calculations.
Jianxiong acted as the strongman, slowly unlocking the wheel on the sealed door.
Darkness loomed beyond the door. Zhang Jun glanced at the pitch-black passageway before turning to a grimy cover to the side, revealing a row of buttons which he fiddled with for a while.
Small lights lit up along the previously dark corridor walls, spreading out, section by section, bringing light into the space.