This was a fierce battle. Her companions were elsewhere, and no one could help her.
Han Yanyan fought until she was exhausted; her physical strength was depleted, her abilities drained. At last, she managed to kill two mutated zombies, but even more zombies surged forth. Lying on the ground, she was overwhelmed by the aftereffects of overusing her powers, and her whole body ached, even her fingertips felt sore; she couldn’t move at all.
She stared at the zombies closing in, summoning her last bit of strength to create an ice dome around herself, resembling an Eskimo hut, before she finally lost consciousness.
When she woke up, she found herself in a vehicle, with Lin Ling watching over her. This was a camper from their convoy; much of its contents had been removed to create space for supplies, but the bed and chairs remained. Lin Ling helped her onto the bed to rest.
“You’re finally awake.” Lin Ling let out a big sigh of relief. “If you had died, how would I explain that to Boss Ding?”
Now that Han Yanyan had awakened, she was mostly recovered. However, during this outing, she had faced the electronic voice again. Having escaped the emotional state she had been in, she now looked at Lin Ling with a sense of distance.
The same went for Ding Yao.
It suddenly struck Han Yanyan that she might have developed some feelings for Ding Yao. In such a life-or-death world, with such a handsome and capable man, how could it be easy not to fall for him?
“Ling Jie, if I died, would Ding Yao care?” she asked.
Lin Ling paused for a moment.
After a while of silence, she sighed, “He’s a hard-hearted man. In this world, it takes someone like him to keep it all together. But when you reach my age, you’ll understand that a man's cold heart isn't a good thing for women like us.”
After she spoke, she fell silent for a long moment before continuing, “I’ve been with my husband since the early days. I still remember when he used to wear a suit, with a white shirt underneath. Back then, he looked like a white-collar worker who couldn’t relate to people like us. But back then, his white shirt was stained red with blood.”
“How was there so much blood? Zombies don’t bleed,” Lin Ling murmured, lost in memory.
“I’ve killed people too, and so has Old Sun. We’ve both got blood on our hands now, and we’ve gotten used to it. But back then…
Boss Ding, look at him now, he seems young, but he was truly ruthless. He said if we didn’t kill them, those people would come to steal our food, and they would definitely kill us. He forced us to kill.
Back then, our powers weren't as strong, and we were panicking without a solid resolve. Boss Ding said if we didn’t dare to act, he would go on his own. Without us to hold him back, he’d have a better chance of survival.”
Lin Ling didn’t admit she was afraid of Ding Yao, but Han Yanyan, like Qi Tongtong, could hear the fear in her words and expressions. This powerful middle-aged woman was deeply afraid of Ding Yao.
Han Yanyan understood her.
Ding Yao looked quite young, appearing to be only in his thirties. Yet his eyes held the depth of someone older, inscrutable and mysterious.
When you can’t understand him, fear naturally arises. Even if he is right beside you.
The car fell silent; neither Lin Ling nor Han Yanyan wanted to delve deeper into this topic.
After a while, Han Yanyan suddenly asked, “Ling Jie, am I different today?”
“Hmm?” Lin Ling didn’t quite understand.
“I mean…” Han Yanyan struggled to explain. “I feel like something about today is definitely different from before, either about me or something that happened today. I just have this strong feeling, but I can’t quite figure it out. Can you help me think of it? Maybe we can figure it out together?”
Lin Ling realized and thought seriously for a moment before suddenly breaking into a smile.
“Oh, Yanyan,” she chuckled. “Are you… thinking about Ding Yao?”
“Huh?” Han Yanyan was a bit confused.
“You’re probably further away from Boss Ding than ever before, right?” Lin Ling said.
Something seemed to click in Han Yanyan’s mind.
Even though Lin Ling feared Ding Yao, she still hoped that Han Yanyan and Ding Yao could be together well, so she chattered on about the ways of men and women in relationships.
But Han Yanyan hardly listened because she felt Lin Ling might be speaking the truth.
Since coming to this world, Han Yanyan had met Ding Yao, and this was the first time she had been this far apart from him during a mission.
The electronic voice hadn’t contacted her for a whole year but had appeared only today.
Lin Ling’s team had traveled a long distance; it would take two and a half days to drive one way. On their way back, they hadn’t even made it halfway when they encountered countless fleeing survivors.
The wave of zombies had finally surged down to Nanling City. The city walls could hold back ordinary zombies but not mutated ones. The mutated zombies broke through the defenses of the superpowers and invaded the ancient city of Nanling.
The once-thriving community crumbled. At that moment, discussions of factions, group conflicts were pointless; even the resources became unimportant. The zombies swarmed in like a tide, and the only urgent matter was survival.
The team members hesitated. With Nanling City collapsing, was there still a need to head back? At this time, Lin Ling felt a bit overwhelmed.
Han Yanyan spoke up, “Ding Yao won’t die.”
This jolted everyone awake. Indeed, with Ding Yao’s abilities, he was unlikely to die. Everyone exchanged glances before finally following Lin Ling against the tide of the fleeing masses. Halfway through, they encountered the Thunder Strike Squad withdrawing.
Reuniting with the larger group brought relief to everyone.
Many had fallen, which was expected, but no one had anticipated that Ding Yao would be injured as well.
The superpowered individuals had retreated later than ordinary people. By the time they withdrew, those who remained in Nanling were unlikely to escape.
After Lin Ling's team reunited with their companions, they heard the grim tales of the zombie tide's assault on Nanling, recounted by those used to killing zombies. They still had lingering fears from the recent events.
“...It injured our boss but got hurt itself, then it fled.”
“It was smart; the other zombies followed its command. Otherwise, there’s no way to explain how so many zombies acted so cohesively.”
“What a nightmare…”
The zombie that injured Ding Yao began to be referred to as the “Zombie Emperor.”
Ding Yao had separated from Sun Lijun when he was injured, but they regrouped later, and Sun Lijun had already treated him. However, he had lost too much blood, his face was pale. It was probably the weakest Han Yanyan had ever seen him since knowing him.
Thunder Strike's losses weren’t as bad as imagined. While they had lost some personnel, several space ability users acting as “mobile warehouses” remained safe, meaning most of the squad’s supplies were still intact.
Everyone understood that the bulk of the team’s supplies was stored in Ding Yao’s own space. According to discussions among the space ability users, they could gauge each other’s storage capacities but could never estimate Ding Yao’s. No one knew just how much he had stored away.
But with that, following Ding Yao gave everyone a sense of security.
While camping that night, Han Yanyan took a stroll, returning to ask, “Where’s Zhang Youquan?”
Ding Yao gave her a glance. “He’s dead.”
Han Yanyan fell silent.
She searched around but couldn’t find Qi Tongtong. There were a few women who had escaped, but most were missing. Han Yanyan had pinned her hopes on Zhang Youquan to protect Qi Tongtong, but now that Zhang Youquan was dead, Qi Tongtong was likely in grave danger.
There was no time for Han Yanyan to wallow in despair. Forced by the zombie tide, survivors were migrating northward en masse, and many weren't carrying much in the way of supplies, especially food.
Food had become exceedingly scarce. Although the squad had supplies, they couldn’t afford to be wasteful without knowing what lay ahead. The competition for resources grew fierce, and bloody conflicts were frequent. Those who escaped Nanling didn’t die at the hands of zombies, but at the hands of other survivors.
At night, while camping, sounds of pleasure echoed everywhere. With everyone uncertain if they would live to see another day, each night felt like the last indulgence, a frenzy before doom.
In stark contrast, Ding Yao had not engaged with Han Yanyan during these days. To him, her value as a superpower far exceeded her value as a woman at this moment.
After several discussions and arguments among the core members of the squad, they ultimately decided to head northwest. There was a city in the west known as Xijing, an ancient city grander than Nanling, and a great choice for those seeking a new place to settle.
Many ordinary people had no clear destination, wandering without knowing where to go. Upon hearing that Thunder Strike Squad was headed to Xijing, many decided to follow.
The remnants of the army bowed their heads to Ding Yao. Their leader, Team Leader Qi, had perished in the zombie tide, and they hadn’t had time to carry away much ammunition during the retreat, nor could they move the military workshop. Without their advantage of firearms, they could handle ordinary zombies but were no match for the mutated ones. Weighing their options, these sturdy men chose to follow Ding Yao.
That night, around fifty or sixty mutated zombies suddenly launched a night raid on the camp. Han Yanyan had never seen so many mutated zombies at once.
Thunder Strike’s fierce combat strength was demonstrated in this bloody battle; after the fighting, fewer than ten mutated zombies remained. In the distance, a mournful shriek rang out like a signal, causing the remaining mutated zombies to retreat en masse.
Under the starlight, everyone spotted a zombie on a distant rooftop howling. Unlike other zombies draped in rotting flesh, this one’s body was smooth and glistening, emitting a bluish shine.
The terrifying mutated zombies obeyed its commands like dogs. It stood on a distant rooftop but was fixated on Ding Yao.
Han Yanyan remembered hearing that when the zombie tide broke into Nanling, those zombies moved in perfect unity. It was only after Ding Yao had severely injured the Zombie Emperor that the horde lost its commander, turning into a bunch of headless flies, allowing the superpowered individuals to retreat safely.
This was Han Yanyan’s first time seeing the Zombie Emperor. No matter how many times she had read about it in doomsday novels or seen it on horror movies, nothing compared to feeling its presence right now, a chilling sensation creeping down her spine.
But, at the same time, an unstoppable thought formed in her heart.
She had not come here merely to survive; she had come to win Ding Yao’s heart.
Han Yanyan made a plan in her mind. She wanted to capture Ding Yao’s affection.