The group returned to the box vehicle, readied themselves, and set off again.
This time, no irritating people launched any sneak attacks. They only needed to focus on dealing with the turbulent wind at the mouth of the valley.
Fu Erdie could only use two close companions’ abilities at once. Right now, she used Dandelion’s wind ability and Han Zhi’s mental ability, while Sang Wenhao handled the flying. Fu Erdie supported him through ability push-and-pull.
She opened her vision to the maximum. Through the layers of chaotic airflow, she saw several people pacing anxiously inside the factory complex.
She did not know whether these people were connected to the ones who had ambushed them outside.
But it did not matter. They were definitely entering this factory. Whether the people they encountered were attackers or merely defending themselves, she had to enter the factory complex before night fully fell.
Sang Wenhao and the others also saw the movements of the people hiding inside the buildings through the shared vision. Using the detector roughly, they found they were generally fourth or fifth rank, and several were injured. Handling them would not be a problem.
They observed and sensed the wind direction, then controlled the box vehicle to slowly approach the buildings, neither hurried nor slow.
Meanwhile, inside the factory halfway up the mountain, several ability users could no longer sit still.
Xin Nuo clutched her injured abdomen, which had not completely stopped bleeding.
Was heaven determined to kill her? Otherwise, why would such powerful pursuers appear again now?
Yesterday, that group had clearly been blocked outside the valley by the wind by pure coincidence. How had flying ability users joined them now?
Xin Nuo’s face was deathly pale. The others held binoculars and watched the black box swaying in the distant wind, clearly heading toward them. Their faces looked no better.
From fleeing Qing City Base to reaching this place, they had endured sudden temperature drops, hypothermia, pursuit, interception, swampy mud, and a lack of clothes and food. They were now exhausted and had nothing left.
They had thought this strange wind could help block their pursuers and win them a moment to breathe. They had not expected that to be wishful thinking too.
Xin Nuo said, “Those of you who still have the strength… run first. Run as far as you can.”
The other three looked at one another. There was barely any will to survive left in their eyes.
“How far can we run…”
A man put down the binoculars in defeat. “Our injuries aren’t as serious as yours, but we’re not much better.”
Flesh wounds were secondary. The most powerless thing was that their abilities were almost gone.
Xin Nuo’s ability was purification. Although she was badly injured, she actually had the most ability energy left.
The other three teammates had no fatal injuries, but most of their ability energy was empty.
A deathly silence fell.
“I don’t want to run anymore.” Another woman forced herself to stand. On her thin face, there was still one last trace of will to live. Not much, but enough for her to squeeze out the last of her ability.
She was a metal ability user. She went to the factory area where scrap metal was piled and mobilised the metal, slowly, slowly covering the workshop of over a thousand square metres where the four of them were.
The moment her ability was drained, she collapsed to the ground. The already dim workshop became completely dark. All doors and windows looked out onto the metal cover.
This was the group’s final barrier.
The woman’s face was pale as she sat weakly on the ground. “If any of you want to leave, you can go out through the back door of the storage room. There’s a passage there where the original door was, just big enough for one person.”
After she said that, the others’ hearts tightened, but none of them felt the impulse to leave.
It was too cold outside.
They had reached this factory and put thick clothes on, but there was still a chill seeping out from the depths of their souls.
Going out meant another fight. And probably a one-sided fight where they would have to stake their lives.
If, like their struggles along the way, they could fight for a path for themselves or their companions, then dying would be dying. At least it would have value.
But this feeling of throwing eggs against stone truly made them feel powerless.
Among the four, three were fourth rank and one was fifth rank.
Tan Haoge was the only fifth-rank ability user and the organiser of this escape.
In the darkness, he could not see his teammates’ expressions, so he lit a small flame.
In the flickering firelight, grief and despair were ignited. Tan Haoge clenched his fists until his knuckles cracked.
He opened the window and used fire to melt away a fist-sized patch of the metal cover, looking out from inside.
The little black box in the distance was still steadily approaching.
The despair in his eyes gradually turned fierce. “Since they want our lives, we’ll perish together with them!”
There was a backup diesel generator in the factory warehouse. Tan Haoge found all the diesel and piled it in a corner. As soon as that group rushed in, he would ignite the oil barrels and charge over, dragging them down with him. He would not even leave the crystal cores behind.
After doing all this, he pulled up another male companion who had been silent since earlier. “There’s still time! It’ll take them at least the whole night to get here! You’re a wind ability user. With your wind and my fire, we’ll kill them if we can!”
Fu Erdie had been watching the factory’s movements from midair. She watched them raise the metal cover and send a powerful fire tornado toward them. She raised her brows and entered the attack path without dodging.
Sang Wenhao sealed all the doors and windows, using his ability to strengthen the box vehicle.
Five seconds later, the fire tornado rode the already raging wind and slammed into the vehicle, erupting into a huge cloud of smoke and dust.
Inside the vehicle, the group held firmly onto the handles and did not faint from the impact. Instead, their brows relaxed as they continued sensing the changes in the air, smiles gradually appearing on their faces.
How nice. The world had warmed up so much.
Fu Erdie used Dandelion’s wind ability to merge her own wind with the fire tornado and the natural wind.
Soon, the box vehicle, spinning wildly like a giant pendulum ride at an amusement park, was flung out of the fire tornado during one rotation.
Tan Haoge froze for a moment and looked at his companion. “Xiao Tao?”
Xiao Tao also found it strange.
Although the distance to control the ability was very far, this was still a full-force attack from a fourth-rank ability user. Logically, there should not have been such a mistake.
Seeing his nervousness, Tan Haoge comforted him, “It’s fine. Again. It’s partly my fault too. I still haven’t managed to melt that metal shell after all this time. Let’s continue. We’ll create as much trouble for them as possible!”
Xiao Tao pursed his lips and nodded.
Half a minute after leaving the fire tornado, the box vehicle quickly opened a window. Under the wild wind, it dispersed the small amount of smoke that had seeped in, changed the air, and got fresh oxygen. Then it let itself be swept back into the fire tornado’s range.
Fu Erdie’s control of wind was becoming more and more skilful. Inside the fire tornado, she dissolved the resistance from the wind coming straight at them and borrowed the pushing force from behind.
This transformation did not consume much ability energy, but it did consume mental effort. Someone else might not have been able to sustain such delicate work, but from the moment Fu Erdie discovered her ability, she had been pushing and pulling ability energy with Sang Wenhao, the plant cubs, and the house. Now that this push-and-pull had shifted from ability spaces into reality, Fu Erdie did not find it unfamiliar at all.
So no matter how violently the fire tornado raged, the box vehicle only slowed down. It was still moving toward the factory buildings.
Tan Haoge watched this from afar and continued increasing the firepower, raising the temperature of the flames.
But no matter what, that ordinary-looking metal box would not melt. Tan Haoge even suspected that he had not actually raised the temperature of the box vehicle by much. After all, every time the temperature rose a little, the vehicle would slip out of the fire tornado, wander around elsewhere to cool down, and then get swept back in.
After this happened several times, Tan Haoge and Xiao Tao finally understood. Their full-power attack was not affecting this group at all.
Xiao Tao refused to give up. He stopped making the wind blow chaotically and instead formed a wall of wind in front of the box vehicle, pushing the box backward.
But the wind wall had a limited range. The box vehicle seemed able to see the state of the wall, slipping past from above or from the side every time.
Xiao Tao’s attacks landed on cotton again and again. He watched in shock as the box vehicle drifted here and there, still moving forward.
The two gritted their teeth and tried every method they could think of to attack or stop the vehicle.
But the result was that no matter how hard they tried, they could not stop it from advancing. Instead, as the vehicle drew closer and closer, they sensed its leisurely ease.
Yes. Leisurely ease.
Before the apocalypse, even when Fu Erdie and the others rode roller coasters, they would feel that it was not thrilling enough while still worrying about the tiny chance of an accident.
But now? Someone was heating their box vehicle for them. Someone was creating waves and turbulence in their path. And they were powerful enough to control their own safety.
Was there any activity more fun, exciting… and even somewhat relaxing than this?
At this moment, inside the box vehicle.
Sang Wenhao had already designed new seats, fixing everyone in place. They all sat there, swaying along with the vehicle.
The whole carriage was warm. Fu Erdie controlled the wind direction. Whenever she felt the wind’s force was too strong, she adjusted it, letting cold wind blow in to cool things down, or pushing the box vehicle out of the centre of the fire to cool off outside.
In short, for Fu Erdie and everyone in the vehicle, this process was very cheerful.
Except for the tied-up hostage.
His heart had been forcibly stabilised, but the wound was still there. Every jolt hurt him.
He had been unconscious from serious injury earlier, but now he had long since been woken by the pain.
Not only did it hurt, he was dizzy, and the shaking made him desperately want to vomit.
But the moment he opened his mouth, he felt something seal it shut. Looking closely, it was an enormous zucchini.
The captive: ???
And so, the vomit that almost sprayed everywhere in the vehicle was forcefully blocked back into the captive’s mouth by the zucchini…
The captive was so disgusted he almost passed out again, but this time he truly did not dare to let himself vomit. He could only force it down.
Inside the factory workshop, Tan Haoge and Xiao Tao tried every method with no result. Their faces turned ashen.
Their abilities were already exhausted, but that metal box did not have the slightest problem.
That could only mean one thing—the people inside the metal box were far stronger than them.
The sky had completely darkened.
Without the burning flames in the air, the world sank into darkness. Only the howling wind proved its existence.
They gave up resisting.
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