Apocalypse Escape: Day One of Survival

”Survival of the fittest is an unchanging law of nature.” Yu Tianfeng’s expression was serious. ”Let’s assume that these old, weak, sick, and disabled people hiding in the residential buildings have managed to stay alive since the zombie outbreak.”

”Then how much strength do you think they’d have to climb down from up there?”

”We can sweep through the single-story housing areas one by one, but what about those thirty- or forty-story residential complexes? We can’t possibly clear them building by building, floor by floor. We don’t have that much time.”

Song Kexin and the others all fell silent.

They felt that Dr. Yu’s analysis was spot on. Perhaps from the very beginning, what they could actually do was extremely limited.

After the air conditioning was turned on in the car, Xie Ning grabbed a thin jacket from the villa’s sofa and draped it over herself. ”You do what you can with the power you have,” she said lightly. ”All I can do is my best.”

’That kid Cres really sees things clearly.’

She wasn’t here to save people; she wasn’t some Holy Mother like Xu Yu. She was purely here to train and gather supplies, and to help Zuo Li out on the side.

’As for everyone else...’

She only knew that when danger came, she would do everything possible to protect herself and her teammates.

”When you go down to clear out that wave of zombies, remember to give me the Crystal Cores,” Xie Ning said, her face expressionless.

Cres was so exasperated he had to laugh. ”Is our captain not even going to fight anymore?”

”When you reach the Fourth Rank, you can sit in the car and enjoy the AC with me.”

How infuriating was that?

Everyone rolled their eyes and obediently picked up their weapons.

Once the car stopped, they quickly got out and began clearing a small cluster of zombies.

After stopping and starting like this, clearing out three or four small waves of zombies, they entered the Wang Lane area.

This area had a small section of antique-style courtyard homes, separated from the other side of the lane, which was filled with self-built, two-story houses.

Xie Ning, who had napped for an hour, now sat up feeling refreshed and had Housekeeper Youen stop the car.

”Cres, how many zombies are inside?”

Everyone crowded around the window to look. The car was parked in front of a ”Stupid Bird Post Station.”

’Obviously, our big sis has had her fill of sleep and is planning to go in and sweep up some goods.’

Cres was eating a pack of crab-roe-flavored sunflower seeds. Hearing her, he glanced ahead casually, but his expression immediately turned serious. ”Whoa, there are over a dozen zombies packed in there, and one of them is a Third Rank.”

”Respected Captain,” Housekeeper Youen began, his tone somewhat comical, ”please allow me to scout ahead first.”

”No need for all that trouble.” Xie Ning waved her hand. ”You guys stay here. I’ll be back in twenty minutes.”

Without waiting for a reaction, she quickly jumped out of the car and ran toward the Stupid Bird Post Station ahead.

After taking out the three or five zombies loitering at the station’s entrance with a few headshots, Xie Ning charged inside.

Before the zombies could lunge at her, a strangely shaped metal fence, crackling with arcs of electricity, suddenly dropped from above.

Because of its sudden appearance, the zombies were caught off guard and had their brains pierced by long metal spikes.

The remaining zombies were also electrocuted, their bodies twitching as they moved with great difficulty.

Xie Ning moved in for a quick kill, brandishing her blade. She cut down all the zombies in front of her as if she were chopping vegetables, one for each swing.

The Third-stage Power-type Zombie that Cres had detected was now scrambling to escape the Stupid Bird Post Station.

How could Xie Ning let it escape?

She was already very experienced in dealing with Third-stage Power-type Zombies.

She retracted the metal fence and then placed it horizontally in front of the Third-stage Power-type Zombie.

The zombie was running so fast that it couldn’t stop in time, and its legs plunged straight onto the spikes.

The current’s paralyzing effect after the impalement was absolutely decisive.

Xie Ning was being completely opportunistic.

She had made the metal fence just last night while they were staying at the bathhouse.

The electricity on it had been added by Zuo Li.

Feeling that her handiwork was quite good, Xie Ning had secretly stowed it back in her underground garage while everyone else was busy tidying up the bedding in the rooms.

Everyone was leaving in a hurry, so no one wasted time asking questions.

’Even if they did ask, the answer would just be that the Gold Ability User had recycled it.’

While the Third-stage Power-type Zombie’s whole body trembled from the electric shock, Xie Ning seized the opportunity to land two more blows on its head, easily extracting a Third-stage Crystal Core.

She put away her shiny black metal fence, tossing it back into the underground parking garage.

Xie Ning kicked the Third-stage Zombie out the main entrance of the Stupid Bird Post Station to keep it from taking up space inside.

Using her Spiritual Ability, she telekinetically extracted the Crystal Cores from the heads of several ordinary First-tier Zombies. Then, with a few violent kicks, she booted their bodies out of the way as well.

Only then did she have the leisure to observe the small Stupid Bird Post Station.

It was a single room of about twenty square meters, filled with rows of iron shelves.

On the shelves were shipping boxes of various sizes, all with tracking codes.

These were probably items that had already been coded and shelved. Besides those, hundreds, even thousands, of boxes were piled on the floor by the door, likely items that hadn’t been sorted and stored yet.

Xie Ning casually tore open a small package to take a look, her expression unchanging.

It seemed to be a bag of cheap rice some ”auntie” had bought on a certain shopping app. A one-jin bag, a cute little thing.

’But after being stuck in a stuffy box in this heat for over a month, it’s probably not good to eat anymore.’

Xie Ning quickly opened a few more boxes. There was a bit of everything: tea cups and tea leaves, a facial cleanser set, children’s toys, and so on.

When she opened a box of condoms, she silently stopped what she was doing. She moved all the goods inside the Stupid Bird Post Station, iron shelves and all, into her villa’s courtyard, tossing them aside to sort through later when she had time.

When she came out of the Stupid Bird Post Station, she saw three strangers—two men and a woman—standing in front of her MPV.

They were all disheveled, with sallow, gaunt faces, looking severely malnourished.

”Big bro, you’re here to save us, right?” The two men and one woman were excitedly knocking on the car window.

Seeing Xie Ning approach, Song Shijun and Song Kexin both got out of the car.

”Sis, they ran out from that house,” Song Shijun said, pointing to the one across from the MPV.

It wasn’t even ten meters away. Any living person would have run out to ask for help.

Xie Ning glanced at Cres.

Cres, still eating his sunflower seeds, froze for a moment, then looked astonished. ”I didn’t sense them. This isn’t scientific. Why?”

’Logically, that shouldn’t be possible.’

His current detection range could extend up to twenty kilometers.

He could clearly detect zombie hordes, Superpower Users of different Ranks, and humans with normal vital signs.

”Why?”

Xie Ning shot him an exasperated look, half amused and half annoyed. ”You can probably only sense humans with normal, active vital signs. Do they look like that to you?”

’They’re not zombies, but they don’t exactly count as living people, either. These three are just ordinary people barely hanging on.’

A sunflower seed fell from Cres’s lips. He looked shocked. ”Is there a way to improve it?”

’How can it be so useless?’

’So does this mean it’s impossible for me to use my spiritual power to find that group of weaklings on the verge of death in the residential buildings?’

”That’s up to you.”

Xie Ning walked forward and nodded at the three strangers.