BXBX NOVEL Chapter 88 - Eighty-Nine: On the Road
Three armored vehicles drove imposingly on the road out of the city.
Su Jin had specially brought out the walkie-talkies she collected from the outdoor supply store. Now that mobile phones were completely unusable, luckily, these walkie-talkies could communicate within a certain range.
Su Jin and Lu Hao’s vehicles led the way, with Mao Zhihang driving. Su Jin, her aunt, and Mao Qiqi were sitting in the middle, taking into account that Mao Qiqi’s Special Ability was suitable for detecting emergencies. Mr. Su and Mrs. Su were in the back row.
The armored car was very spacious inside, so the group didn’t feel crammed at all. Plus, the wheels were wide, which made the ride less bumpy.
“Girl, girl, what’s the road condition ahead?”
“Big Beard, Big Beard, answer if you hear me!”
…
Nie Qing had become addicted to playing with the walkie-talkie; he’d seen these devices used for communication in cop shows.
“Uncle Nie… I will notify you all the first thing if there’s any situation,” Su Jin replied helplessly.
“Roger that, all clear in the rear,” Yin Chengtian’s voice came through. They sat in the last vehicle. Xue Wanyi was driving, who was awestruck when he saw Su Jin bring out these vehicles.
Armored cars, modified ones at that.
So cool, so dazzling, really top-notch!
No matter what, he had to drive one, but no one contended with him for it. After all, Yin Chengtian, Shi Jin, and Liao Yifan were used to driving such vehicles.
Everyone was extremely impressed by Lu Hao and Su Jin’s purchasing power. When hitting zombies with this kind of vehicle, those inside couldn’t feel the impact at all. Indeed, money spent in the right place was always good.
It would have taken about a day to reach S City from H City via the highway under normal circumstances.
But now, the roads were littered with vehicles haphazardly abandoned, and the highway exits were blocked, likely the conditions on the highway were no better.
Su Jin suggested taking the slower roads, reasoning that even if they encountered blockages, there were alternative routes available, unlike the highway which was easy to enter but hard to exit.
After communicating this plan over the walkie-talkie to the other two vehicles, everyone agreed. Hence, the convoy headed for the slower route.
Upon leaving H City, the number of zombies noticeably increased. Mao Qiqi was frowning tightly, her ‘little map’ filled with dense red dots and occasionally a few green ones, making her very uncomfortable.
Su Jin, observing her, asked her to relax her spiritual power slowly and guided her to try and control it.
Though she didn’t understand the Mental Element Ability well, she had heard about it in her previous life; the rarity of Mental Element Ability Users was due to some not being able to control their spiritual power, eventually leading from initial neurasthenia to paranoia, and finally complete insanity.
Mao Qiqi was in a better state, partly because of the trust and affirmation her family gave her from the start and partly due to Su Jin’s guidance, as well as the fact that children tend to have a better capacity to adapt than adults.
The three vehicles drove on a national highway, occasionally zombies threw themselves at the vehicles only to be shaken off by the seasoned drivers through swift turns.
Every now and then, a few zombies chased after the cars, but they were all left behind within minutes.
Sitting by the window, Su Jin watched the scenes beside the road. In addition to the still lush greenbelts, there were more people dead by the roadside, some zombies still feasting on the corpses. When they saw the passing vehicles, they would lift their heads and gaze in the direction of the noise with their gray-white pupils, only to bow down and continue eating once the cars had passed.
After watching these scenes for a while, one couldn’t help but be engulfed by an inexplicable sadness.
The world had changed completely. It was uncertain when human civilization could be restored. She couldn’t save the entire world, she could only lead her family to kill more zombies. She believed that each zombie killed meant one less in the world. She was eager to see who would prevail in the end: humans or zombies.
…
Gradually, the number of abandoned cars on the road piled up, with some zombies trying to crawl out from in between the vehicles.
“Qiqi, what’s the situation up ahead?” Su Jin asked Mao Qiqi beside her.
“There’s a lot… all zombies,” Mao Qiqi answered.
“Xiao Jin, I know there’s another road here that can circumvent this section, but it goes through a village,” said Mao Zhihang who was driving. He had delivered goods before and was familiar with the roads nearby.
“Then let’s bypass this section,” Su Jin decided.
She informed the other two vehicles that the road ahead was too clogged, they simply couldn’t clear it, and there might be a small horde of zombies ahead. If they could avoid it, so much the better.
Mao Zhihang nodded, turned the vehicle around, and headed down a side road.
Xiao Wu Village was at the edge of the city area. A narrow road passed through the village to the town next door. The road was less occupied by vehicles, which relieved them from the worry about traffic jams.
Su Jin and Lu Hao rolled down the windows and took the opportunity to take down a few zombies with their abilities. Seeing this, the people in the vehicles behind followed suit.
Liao Yifan was getting antsy inside, itching to get out and beat up a couple of zombies, but sadly, they couldn’t stop yet.
Old Man Wu lived at the entrance of the village. He looked down from his balcony and noticed the well-equipped vehicles approaching. Wherever the vehicles went, the zombies on both sides fell one after another.
“Ah, seems like some capable folks have arrived,” Old Man Wu sighed and sat down.