Apocalypse Escape: Day One of Survival

Xie Ning gave He Zhi a faint nod, her gaze landing on Zheng Feina, who was staring at her provocatively.

She raised an eyebrow.

’The contrarian, Zheng Feina?’

”What are you looking at? Never seen a beautiful woman before?” Zheng Feina scoffed.

Xie Ning didn’t laugh, but her incorrigible younger siblings actually chuckled, earning a fierce glare from Zheng Feina.

To be fair, with her current appearance, Zheng Feina could hardly be called a beauty.

Her hair, which looked like a bird’s nest, hadn’t been washed in who knows how long. Her clothes weren’t exactly clean either—wrinkled and rumpled, she was a complete mess.

”Ha, so you’re the Xie Ning that He Zhi and Zheng Feina are always talking about. Hello, hello! I’m Zha Peng, and this is Zheng Heng. We’re third-year mechanical engineering students from East University...”

Xie Ning ignored the tall, burly guy who had extended a hand in greeting, instead taking down a nearby zombie with two quick slashes.

Instead, it was Song You’ai who hurried over, looking at He Zhi with pleasant surprise. ”Oh my, young He Zhi! You’re He Zhi, aren’t you?”

”Aunt Song, you remember me?” He Zhi was also filled with pleasant surprise.

”Mom, kill the zombies! Stop wasting time talking!”

’What is going on? How can they be in the mood to chat at a time like this? I guess there just aren’t enough zombies around.’

”Oh, oh.” A little confused, Song You’ai gave He Zhi a quick wave and scurried off to kill zombies.

Xie Ning simply didn’t want them to steal her kills.

’That tall, thin young man seems very skilled with his Fire Element.’

’Yes, very skilled at stealing kills.’

”Hey, hey, you! Leave some for us! He Zhi is a Water Element user. She needs these Water Element Crystal Cores so she can trade them at a large base for those... what do you call them... Promotion Potions specifically for Water Element users.”

”Otherwise, her Initial Stage water capacity is too low to provide our team with enough water.”

Looking anxious, Zheng Feina urged Zha Peng to go and snatch some kills.

Zha Peng scratched his head. There weren’t many zombies left on the bridge, and it really didn’t look like the others needed their help.

Song You’ai wandered back over, a smile on her face. ”Oh, He Zhi, you’re a Water Element user, too?”

”Yes, Aunt Song. You are too?”

”Mom!”

”Ah, I’m going, I’m going! I’m on it!” Song You’ai hastily dashed off, hacking at zombies as if she’d just received a royal decree.

There were only a few zombies left on the bridge to clean up, and they had already dealt with most of the mutated waterweeds.

Xie Ning glanced at the small pile of Crystal Cores. There seemed to be fewer than the Crystal Cores they had collected from the flying insects earlier.

However, the zombies they killed today all yielded Water Element Mutated Crystal Cores, which were leagues above ordinary Crystal Cores.

In the end, Zha Peng managed to snag two kills, but he only harvested a single Water Element Crystal Core.

He walked back to Zheng Heng’s side, wiggling his eyebrows conspiratorially. ”Zheng Heng, it seems that girl doesn’t know you.”

’That makes no sense.’

’Is there any student from East University who doesn’t know the campus celebrity, Zheng Heng?’

’This Xie Ning really doesn’t seem like she came from the East University campus.’

Zheng Heng shot him a look with a hint of warning in his eyes. ”It’s normal that she doesn’t recognize me.”

’He, on the other hand, did recognize this Xie Ning. She was his sister’s roommate, after all, so it wasn’t surprising he’d seen photos of the girls together.’

’Besides, he’d often heard his sister rattling off all of Xie Ning’s bizarre eccentricities...’

’But seeing her today, she didn’t quite seem to match the weirdo his sister had described.’

’This girl didn’t seem like a slacker at all; she was actually quite driven. She also gave off a cold and aloof vibe, as if she was keeping everyone a thousand miles away.’

Several more people then got out of the minivan.

Xie Ning’s eyes immediately landed on Zhuang Xinyi, who was wearing a ruffled dress and stilettos, and carrying a delicate little handbag from ”Brand E.”

Although she now looked dishevelled and had lost her former radiance, the outfit was still quintessentially Zhuang Xinyi.

Xie Ning didn’t recognize the two women standing beside Zhuang Xinyi.

Her gaze swept over them, but she was surprised to spot Zhu HuiZhen holding her daughter, Qiqi, standing quietly at the back of the group.

Just then, He Zhi ran up to introduce the others. ”Xie Ning, do you remember Mr. Gao? Mr. Gao and his wife are on our team now. Mr. Gao is a Power Ability User.”

Xie Ning glanced toward Gao Zhiquan and his wife, giving them a polite nod.

’I know them.’ She remembered encountering the couple not long ago when she and her mom had driven out of the base to scavenge for supplies.

’At the time, their electric scooter’s battery had spontaneously combusted, and the entire vehicle had burned down to its frame.’

”Come on, why don’t we all squeeze in and travel together?” He Zhi said with a smile.

Xie Ning immediately shook her head.

’He Zhi’s seven-seater minivan was already overloaded by several people. If she and her group got in, they’d really be packed in like sardines...’

”It’s fine, we can just run. Our vehicle isn’t far ahead.” Xie Ning turned and gave a little wave. ”We’re off!”

”Hey, wait, Xie... Xie Ning...” He Zhi couldn’t get another word in before Xie Ning turned and took off at a run.

Aunt Song and the others immediately followed, apparently chanting some kind of slogan as they ran...

”What are they shouting?” He Zhi turned, speechless, and glanced at the stone-faced Zheng Feina.

”I think they’re shouting, uh... ’Full of poetic passion? Fighting spirit soaring, kill monsters, kill monsters, share the Crystal Cores??” Zha Peng gave Zheng Heng a bizarre look.

The corner of Beauty Zheng’s usually impassive face seemed to twitch...

”’Poetic passion?’” He Zhi blinked. ”More like ’corpse passion’, I’d bet.”

”Psychos.” Zheng Feina rolled her eyes. ”Get in the car. Everyone, get in the car.”

The whole group piled back into the van.

Squeezed in the back seat, Zhuang Xinyi pursed her lips and asked, a little uncertainly, ”Was that... really Xie Ning?”

Xie Ning led her family of long-suffering Superpower Users on a mad dash across the lake bridge. From a distance, they saw their minibus parked on the roadside, its taillights glowing.

Xie Ning led her wretched, dog-tired family right up to the minibus.

The door opened immediately.

The group followed Xie Ning onto the bus, panting heavily. They just waved away anyone who tried to ask questions, too tired to speak.

The moment Song Kexin and her brother collapsed into their seats, they pulled water pouches from their backpacks and started chugging. GLUG, GLUG, GLUG.

Running across a bridge hot enough to make your feet cramp in over one-hundred-and-twenty-degree weather was not exactly a pleasant experience.

”Song Shijun, I’m warning you! Don’t you dare take off your shoes! They reek!”

”But I think I have a blister from the heat!”

”Get lost, get lost, get lost!”

The minibus started up again amidst the sounds of bickering and complaining.

Xie Ning glanced at the quiet road under the night sky and breathed a sigh of relief. ”Are Li Dawei and his band of psychos gone?”

Zhu Yong, who was turning the wheel, didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. ”You mean them?”

As they rounded the corner, they saw Li Dawei’s two vehicles waiting just past the bend, hazard lights flashing...

Xie Ning was truly at a loss for words.

”Ningning,” Zhu Yong said as he drove. ”Traveling at night isn’t very safe. But if we try to travel during the day, the temperature is too high for the tires. We’d probably have to stop and rest the vehicle after every short stretch of driving.”