Apocalypse Survival Guide for a Beta [GB] - Chapter 15

The next morning, the snow outside was still falling.

Lou Tiannan did not appear and Zhu Liang briefly explained the travel plans to everyone.

He said, “I’ll take a team to scout ahead in Western District One. If everything is fine, we can continue moving in the afternoon.”

The survivors had no objections. Seeing that they were getting closer to the safe zone, they all prayed for a smooth journey.

After giving his instructions, Zhu Liang left the warehouse with Zhou Yu, Lu Jia, and others.

The ones standing guard at the entrance were Song Yan and other members of the Third Military Defense Squad.

About an hour after Zhu Liang left, Lin Bai overheard someone asking Song Yan, “Why hasn’t Captain Lou been seen all morning?”

Song Yan responded in a formal tone, “Captain Lou is resting. He’s on night duty.”

Resting? Or was his susceptible period beginning? Lin Bai silently speculated.

As noon approached, Zhu Liang and his team returned, covered in snow. They looked like they had just been through a fierce battle. As soon as he got back, Zhu Liang hurried into a separate section of the warehouse where Lou Tiannan’s resting area was located.

He stayed inside for a while before coming out, his expression not exactly relaxed. Addressing the survivors, he said, “The situation in Western District One is bad. There are a lot of zombies and the roads are blocked by snow. We won’t be able to leave today. We’ll have to wait until the ice melts at the very least.”

In fact, Zhu Liang didn’t even need to say it. Some people had already noticed the thick layer of snow outside the warehouse that morning. It was over ten centimeters deep. Many had already been wondering whether they would be able to depart in the afternoon.

Hearing Zhu Liang’s words and seeing the battle marks on his combat uniform, the atmosphere in the warehouse grew somber.

Zhu Liang reassured them, “Don’t worry, we’ll leave as soon as the ice melts.”

In the afternoon, Zhu Liang took another team out, but Lou Tiannan still did not appear.

Inside the warehouse, some people noticed Xi Ya training her body and, influenced by her, started stretching and moving around as well.

As night fell, Zhu Liang and his team returned. If one ignored the defeated look on Zhu Liang’s face and the battle scars on his uniform, the day had been fairly uneventful.

Late at night, while everyone was fast asleep, Lin Bai got up. As soon as she climbed onto a shipping container outside the warehouse, someone called out warily, “Who’s there?!”

A flashlight beam immediately shone on Lin Bai.

She calmly turned to Zhou Yu, who was holding the flashlight, and said, “Your vigilance isn’t that great, you know. But wasn’t Captain Lou supposed to be on duty tonight? Why are you here instead?”

Seeing that it was Lin Bai, Zhou Yu’s expression relaxed slightly. “Captain Lou isn’t feeling well…” Mid-sentence, he seemed to realize something and quickly changed the topic. “What are you doing outside so late? It’s freezing out here.”

“Slept too much during the day.”

Seeing that Lin Bai truly had no intention of going back to sleep, Zhou Yu remembered that he had been meaning to ask her for some private training. Since the opportunity presented itself, he propped himself up and sat on the shipping container next to her.

“Lin Bai, teach me again. That trick you showed me last time really strengthened my ability. Is there any way to make it even stronger?”

“Pay tuition and I’ll teach you,” Lin Bai said bluntly.

“Tuition? What do you want?”

“The metal pieces made with your ability. I want to make something.”

“That’s it? No problem!” Zhou Yu agreed without hesitation.

Seeing his quick agreement, Lin Bai smirked. “Alright, let’s begin.”

She pressed her hand against Zhou Yu’s chest. Whether it was because of the cold weather or her naturally cold hands, even through his clothes, the touch made Zhou Yu shiver. But this was a rare training opportunity, so he gritted his teeth and endured it.

Tsk, it was still not as comfortable as Lou Tiannan’s temperature. Lin Bai felt a little dissatisfied but continued her explanation seriously.

“Find the core of your ability. Everyone’s ability core is in a different location, but it’s usually at the back of the head, the chest, or the abdomen. Try channeling your energy. Do you feel it here?”

Last time, when Lin Bai had pressed on Zhou Yu’s chest, his metal ability had significantly improved. That confirmed that his ability core was in his chest.

“Yes, yes! Right there!” Zhou Yu had known about ability cores before, but until Lin Bai’s guidance, his metal ability had never been this strong.

“Even though your ability energy comes from your core, it’s also influenced by your surroundings. This place is ideal for your ability. Imagine your ability energy as dough and in your core area, knead it into a tight ball. Now, try it.”

“Dough? Knead it into a ball?” Zhou Yu repeated, then slowly channeled his ability from his chest’s core. A faint silver light appeared and a chunk of metal formed in his palm.

Seeing the metal, his eyes lit up. “Hey! It worked!”

“Worked? That was weak. Again!” Lin Bai scoffed, tossing the metal chunk aside and signaling him to keep going.

Zhou Yu had no choice but to obey. So he did it again. And again. And again…

That night gradually turned into his worst nightmare.

By the time the sky lit up with the glow of dawn, Lu Jia and the others arrived to relieve Zhou Yu from his shift. They found him with lifeless eyes, an unshaven face, and looking utterly drained, as if he had been completely wrung dry.

Pale-faced, Zhou Yu weakly waved his hand at Lin Bai and said, “I can’t do this anymore. I really can’t. If I keep going, I’ll die!”

He stumbled as he jumped down from the shipping container and ran off without looking back.

Watching this scene, Lu Jia swallowed hard and whispered to Zhang Shan, who had come to change shifts with him, “Brother Zhou wouldn’t have gone down the wrong path… right?”

“Not entirely impossible…”

Beside the container, there was now a small mountain of metal pieces. Seeing that Zhou Yu had left, Lin Bai casually picked through them and selected three pieces. She jumped down from the container, saw Lu Jia and Zhang Shan, and waved the metal pieces in her hand. “You two want to give it a try?”

Both of them took a step back in unison, maintaining a safe distance, and politely declined, “No, no, we’re good.”

Xi Ya was the earliest of the survivors to wake up. When she opened her eyes and didn’t see Lin Bai, she panicked and was about to rush out to look for her, only to run right into her at the entrance. At the same time, Zhu Liang was also approaching.

Without looking to the side, Zhu Liang walked into the warehouse and told the survivors, “The ice and snow outside are melting. I’ll take a team to scout the road again today.”

“Got it, Vice Captain Zhu, be careful!” one of the survivors reminded him.

“Don’t worry. We’ll be back by noon,” Zhu Liang responded calmly.

Just as he was about to leave, Zhou Yu, who was supposed to be resting, suddenly ran over, looking a little flustered. He whispered a few words to Zhu Liang and the two of them immediately headed toward Lou Tiannan’s resting area.

Soon, Lin Bai’s keen hearing picked up their conversation, something about the suppressant being missing and Lou Tiannan needing to hold on a little longer.

“Captain Lou isn’t in trouble, is he?” someone suddenly muttered in a low voice.

Lin Bai recognized the voice as Li Meng’s.

That one sentence was enough to make the warehouse atmosphere tense. People began whispering among themselves.

When Zhu Liang reappeared, the warehouse instantly fell silent. Everyone looked at him with a mix of unspoken expectations, but he said nothing more. He simply assigned Zhou Yu and Song Yan to stay behind and then led the remaining ability users to continue scouting Western District One.

The temperature outside was higher today and melted snow dripped steadily from the eaves.

The survivors stretched and moved around near the warehouse, trying to warm up.

Lin Bai sat at the entrance, slowly tapping on a metal piece. Sunlight shone down on her and if one ignored her rather plain-looking, makeup-covered face, her silhouette alone could easily be mistaken for a stunning beauty.

Suddenly, she paused and lifted her head, sniffing the air.

She smelled rust.

The metallic scent of blood.

Her gaze swept slowly across the surroundings until she locked onto a particular spot. There was an iron gate not far from the warehouse. Snowmelt and… blood were dripping from it.

She sighed. Her energy wasn’t even fully replenished yet and trouble was already there again.

Soon, the red bloodstains were noticed by others. As they moved closer, their expressions turned to panic and someone shouted in alarm, “There’re bodies here! A lot of bodies!”

Members of the Federal Army’s Third Squad stepped forward to investigate. The moment they saw more than ten unidentified corpses and pools of blood on the ground, they knew that they had to leave immediately!

Song Yan made a decisive call. “Quick! Get in the vehicles! Hurry! We’re leaving now!”

As the sun rose, the blood of the fresh corpses melted into the snow and the scent of fresh blood would attract zombies.

The survivors scrambled to get into the vehicles. Amid the chaos, Lin Bai caught sight of Lou Tiannan, who hadn’t been seen for an entire day and night. His head was lowered and he looked unwell as Zhou Yu hurriedly led him into another vehicle.

Not everyone had boarded yet when Wen Xiaxia suddenly shouted, “It’s too late! The zombies are here! Hide!”

People instinctively looked up in horror and saw zombies crowding near the iron gate of the warehouse.

Driving away now was no longer an option. And it wasn’t just the gate. The walls that Zhou Yu and Lu Jia had reinforced earlier had started to crack, revealing glimpses of zombies outside.

Panic erupted as people scattered in all directions, either hiding inside the warehouse or climbing into shipping containers. The scene was pure chaos.

The scent of blood had drawn the zombies in quickly. The warehouse was surrounded and the survivors were too spread out. The Federal Army members couldn’t cover everyone at once. The zombies closed in, their claws nearly reaching the people.

Then suddenly, black flames surged up, halting the zombies in their tracks.

At some point, Lou Tiannan had emerged from the vehicle. He leaned against the door, his head slightly lowered, and the edge of a temporary suppressant patch was faintly visible on the back of his neck.

Under the black flames, the zombies had no chance of escape.

In mere moments, the zombie crisis was resolved. But in that short span of time, Lou Tiannan’s head and neck were drenched in sweat. If Zhou Yu hadn’t reached out to steady him, he might not have been able to stand at all.

Anyone with eyes could see he was in bad shape.

The survivors, still shaken, stared at the charred remains of the zombies. Just as they were about to let out a cautious sigh of relief, a sharp scream pierced the air.

“Ah!!!”

Their barely settled nerves were immediately on edge again. Everyone instinctively turned toward the source of the scream.

A survivor, his face flushed red with anger, was glaring at a woman. His voice burned with rage as he demanded, “Why did you push me?!”

Even though the woman was facing slightly away from them and half her face was obscured by her long hair, she was still easily recognizable.

It was Lin Bai.