His gaze drifted unconsciously toward the diesel barrels in the corner.
Earlier, he had frantically thought that if they truly could not win, he would take those barrels of diesel and die together with the enemy. But the other side was so strong. They had endured being roasted inside a fire tornado in mid-air for so long without anything happening. Could diesel barrels really hurt them?
Even if it was a surprise attack, he might not even touch the edge of their sleeves…
Xiao Tao lowered his head and muttered, “We don’t even have the chance to risk our lives…”
The box vehicle drew closer and closer.
The distance they had estimated would take the whole night to fly across was crossed in the blink of an eye.
They had no watches and no other way to tell the time. They only felt that this moment was very short, yet because of the torment of despair, it seemed especially long.
The four of them sat beneath the only window, watching the box vehicle approach, closer and closer, until it finally stopped on the loading and unloading yard in front of the factory buildings.
They watched several people get out of the box vehicle, dragging a strange-looking piece of luggage, and walk straight toward their location.
Although they had already prepared themselves for death, when the moment truly came, their eyes still reddened.
They were unwilling!
They had clearly struggled in the apocalypse for so long and used every means possible to survive until now, only to die in such a suffocating, helpless way!
If they could do it again, they would definitely kill those people from Qing City immediately! Before they grew strong, they would kill them completely!
The four of them thought bitterly and powerlessly, then watched as the group walked out of their line of sight.
A minute later, they heard the door of the neighbouring workshop open.
“…?”
The emotions surging in their hearts suddenly jammed.
What? Did they go to the wrong place?
Pu Ling, who had a metal ability, forced herself to concentrate and used the tiny bit of ability energy she had just recovered to open another hole in the metal cover outside the side window.
Tan Haoge hurried over and opened the window.
In the wild night wind, they saw those people enter the neighbouring warehouse and then… begin searching through the cold-weather clothing piled in the workshop?
Those people had no lamps and had not lit a fire, so Tan Haoge and the others could only rely on their eyesight as fourth- and fifth-rank ability users to barely make out the movements in that workshop through the strong wind.
Xiao Tao was baffled. He tentatively said, “Were they frozen stupid?”
Tan Haoge: “…”
Pu Ling: “…”
Xin Nuo paused, a trace of hope in her heart. “Maybe… they’re not from Qing City?”
“Then why would they come all this way?” Xiao Tao instinctively retorted, then also froze.
Pu Ling said, “Maybe they really just came to look for clothes? After all, this factory is quite famous in Qing City. It’s a major producer of cold-weather clothing and outdoor cold-weather gear.”
After she said that, the tiny spark of hope that had already quietly risen in their hearts expanded.
Yes, maybe they really had come specifically to find clothes?
Tan Haoge made a prompt decision. “You all hide here first. I’ll go find them.”
“What are you going to do?” the others asked in worried unison.
Tan Haoge was the organiser of their escape this time. Now he stepped forward and headed toward the back door. “Apologise as soon as possible—if they really are just passers-by.”
Xiao Tao said, “But…”
“No buts.” Tan Haoge looked over, his tone firm. “No buts. If we don’t hurry up and apologise now, we’ll miss our only chance.”
In the darkness, they could not see Tan Haoge’s eyes, but from his voice alone, they could hear his resolve and determination.
Xin Nuo stood up too. “If you’re going, I’ll go with you.”
None of them were stupid. After hearing Tan Haoge say that, they had already reacted.
If those people had been sent by Qing City to hunt them down, they would die sooner or later.
But if, by some tiny chance—one in a million—these people were only passers-by looking for resources? Then they had just offended them. The fact that those people had not immediately come to cause trouble was their only chance to apologise.
If they missed it, a situation where nothing might have happened could be turned into a dead end by their own hands.
They had to apologise!
Xiao Tao and Pu Ling hurried over.
They could not let Tan Haoge face something this dangerous alone. They had to bear it together.
Tan Haoge was touched by their actions.
Sure enough, the people he had gotten to know in Qing City were all good companions.
It was just that nine people had set out, and now only the four of them were alive…
Tan Haoge collected his emotions and pressed the others back down. “I’m going to apologise, not pick a fight. If too many people go, it might have the opposite effect. I’ll go test the waters first. If the situation is good and they don’t make any life-threatening demands, then I’ll call everyone over to apologise formally face-to-face.”
After much persuasion, Tan Haoge finally managed to keep his companions back.
On the other side, Fu Erdie’s group had casually chosen a workshop and found many sample cold-weather clothes. They took off the messy clothes they were wearing—down and cotton all blown out of shape—and changed into professional cold-weather gear.
Cen Xiyang and Han Zhi were fifth-rank ability users, so their physiques were weaker than Fu Erdie and Sang Wenhao’s. Now they wrapped themselves in layer after layer, and only after a long while did they let out satisfied sighs.
Their stiff limbs finally belonged to them again.
How wonderful~
Fu Erdie opened her huge outdoor backpack and started stuffing spare clothes into it, but Sang Wenhao helplessly stopped her.
“There should be a lot of vacuum packaging in the warehouse. I’ll find some. We’ll put the clothes and sleeping bags in those first, then put them in the bags. We can carry as much as possible.”
Fu Erdie hesitated. “If they’re compressed in vacuum packaging, will these clothes still keep us warm?”
Sang Wenhao was not entirely sure either. “Then let’s keep one set of cold-weather clothes and trousers and one sleeping bag each, using the original packaging here. The ones in our bags can be compressed.”
“Okay.”
It was already very late. They could tidy up, wash, have a late-night snack, sleep, and leave the rest until tomorrow.
Just then, a man’s shout came from the wild wind outside.
“Are you ability users sent by Qing City to kill us?”
The group paused in the middle of chewing zucchini fruit.
Sang Wenhao said, “You’re enemies of Qing City Base?”
Tan Haoge understood the implication immediately and said, “The people from Qing City Base wanted to harm us. They’ve already killed five of our companions. I’m very sorry. We mistook you for the people hunting us earlier. Truly, we’re very, very sorry.”
As he loudly apologised, he stopped a short distance from the window and bowed.
Fu Erdie was not too surprised.
Once abilities reached a certain level, especially since she often wandered around and pushed and pulled in her close companions’ ability spaces, she became more sensitive to others’ emotional fluctuations.
For example, on the other side of the valley, that group had been vicious people who wanted their lives. She had sensed it directly.
As for the people here, compared with wanting to kill them, they were more focused on protecting themselves.
It could not be ruled out that these people were connected to the ones on the other side of the valley, but Fu Erdie was warm now, and when they had been attacked by the fire tornado in the canyon, it had been fun and warm. Since she did not know the exact situation for the time being, she did not attack. Instead, she brought her companions to look for clothes.
After all, once the fire tornado had run out, they had gotten cold again.
Fu Erdie nodded to Sang Wenhao, and Sang Wenhao replied, “Understood.”
He did not explicitly accept the apology, nor did he pursue the matter.
Tan Haoge let out a huge breath of relief and bowed again.
What magnanimous ability users.
There were not many people like that left in the apocalypse.
Especially in Qing City, where people casually beat other ability users to death and dug out their crystal cores. Humans were more terrifying than zombies there.
He was about to leave when he suddenly noticed a person tied up on the floor inside the window, mouth sealed shut.
Tan Haoge’s eyes widened.
Wasn’t that the person who had chased and killed them all the way, causing the deaths of five companions?!
He had actually been captured?!
Han Zhi saw that he had not left and looked up, saying with a sinister air, “You know this person?”
Tan Haoge did not hide his hatred or the pleasure of seeing revenge delivered. “He’s the person Qing City Base sent to hunt us down! I never thought you’d have a day like this!”
Fu Erdie and the others exchanged glances.
There was something here.
The clue they had been tracking for so long had arrived, hadn’t it?
“You know each other, so come in and tell me about it,” Fu Erdie said. “I came from the north. I’m very curious about what’s going on in Qing City. The zombies and ability users around Qing City seem strange.”
Tan Haoge hurried around to the main door, knocked, and respectfully entered.
The room was pitch black. Tan Haoge tentatively asked, “Everyone, do you need me to light a fire?”
“Ah,” Cen Xiyang sighed briefly, “so that fire tornado earlier had your share in it.”
“Sorry, sorry…”
“You came at the perfect time.” Cen Xiyang was actually quite happy. “We can finally warm ourselves by a fire again!”
Tan Haoge: “…” As expected, for these big shots, their fire tornado had just been a toy.
Han Zhi helplessly glanced at Cen Xiyang, but still said, “Go light the fire.”
Tan Haoge told Han Zhi first, then went outside into the strong wind to gather firewood.
Xin Nuo and the others inside the metal cover had been watching this side closely. Seeing Tan Haoge come out and walk farther away, they could not help but hurriedly follow him.
Tan Haoge saw this and did not stop them. He told the severely injured Xin Nuo not to move, while the other two helped carry usable dry firewood. At the same time, he explained the situation inside.
“They should be powerful ability users from the north. Their purpose for coming here is still uncertain, but they probably aren’t vicious people.”
After all, even that Qing City ability user who attacked them had not been killed directly. He had been tied up instead. That meant these people, even now, were not the kind to kill casually.
That was enough.
At least if they approached with the right attitude, nothing would go wrong.
Xin Nuo let out a long breath.
“That’s good. Then ask them about their attitude later. If they need us to do anything, we’ll do it properly to make amends.”
After all, they truly had attacked without understanding anything first.
If it had been someone else who was not so strong, they might have already been knocked into the valley and fallen to their death, or roasted alive inside the metal box.
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