Apocalypse Survival Guide for a Beta [GB] - Chapter 27

As they struggled to pull Lou Tiannan back up, another fireball shot straight at him.

Lu Jia’s wooden vine burned away instantly, leaving only Zhou Yu’s metal chain still intact.

“Damn it!” Zhou Yu cursed loudly. The added weight of Lou Tiannan’s fall nearly caused him to lose his grip. The chain slipped a few inches before he tightened his hold again, veins bulging in his arms from the strain.

Lu Jia quickly jumped in to help.

Zhu Liang, Song Yan, and the others provided cover fire, shooting at their attackers. When they finally got a clear look at who it was, their expressions darkened.

Leading the group were two familiar faces, Chang Ping and Chang Qi, the brothers they had encountered before in the Western District Seven’s mall.

“So this is what was causing all the commotion,” Chang Qi said, tossing a fireball between his hands like a toy. “Turns out it’s some old friends! What a coincidence, huh, Federal soldiers?”

“Heh,” Song Yan sneered. “Last time, you ran away faster than anyone when you couldn’t win. Now you’re back to take advantage of the situation? You really live up to the trash reputation of the Blood Bone gang!”

Chang Qi’s expression darkened at the insult. Without hesitation, he hurled the fireball straight at Song Yan.

A wall of water surged up just in time to block it; Wen Xiaxia reacted instantly.

“Sister Yan, be careful!” she warned.

Despite being fully geared up in combat armor, Wen Xiaxia’s voice and figure gave away the fact that she was a woman.

Chang Qi’s eyes gleamed with amusement. “Oh? A water ability little beauty, huh? Doesn’t seem like an Alpha… Are you a Beta? Or… an Omega?”

“Brother, don’t forget the main objective,” Chang Ping reminded, noticing that Zhou Yu was about to successfully pull Lou Tiannan up.

“Don’t worry, I know,” Chang Qi replied. He refocused and launched a fire attack at Wen Xiaxia while simultaneously throwing another fireball at Zhou Yu to stop his attempt.

Lu Jia turned back to block the attack.

In just those few seconds, Lou Tiannan had already used the momentum to flip himself onto solid ground.

The Blood Bone members’ expressions shifted the moment they saw Lou Tiannan stand up.

“Long time no see, Captain Lou,” Chang Qi said arrogantly, fire flickering at his fingertips.

Wen Xiaxia’s short hair was drenched from using her water ability to counter the fire attacks, but Chang Qi clearly enjoyed toying with those he considered weaker.

As soon as Lou Tiannan was back on his feet, he pushed out a burst of flames past Wen Xiaxia, clashing with Chang Qi’s fire attack.

The counterattack gave Wen Xiaxia a brief moment to catch her breath.

At the same time, both Lou Tiannan and Lin Bai narrowed their eyes. Chang Qi was far stronger than when they had encountered him at the mall. A lot stronger.

After exchanging a few attacks, it was obvious Lou Tiannan’s group was at a disadvantage. They were trapped on the bridge, with limited space to maneuver and nowhere to take cover. Their movements were completely exposed to the Blood Bone members.

On top of that, the abilities of Chang Qi and Chang Ping had improved drastically. Chang Ping’s thorny vines were now strong enough to tear through their specialized combat suits. It was clear that Lou Tiannan’s team was at a severe disadvantage in this fight.

“What the hell?! What kind of steroids did these two take?!” Zhou Yu cursed.

Wen Xiaxia, noticing their dark-circled eyes and unnaturally swollen muscles, made a guess, “They must have consumed a lot of crystal cores. They’re relying on pure energy boosts.”

Knowing this didn’t change much. The rapid power growth from crystal cores was undeniable. Most of the Blood Bone members had reached at least A-rank in ability strength, with Chang Qi and Chang Ping being particularly formidable.

Lou Tiannan, Zhou Yu, and the others focused their main firepower on holding the front line.

Zhu Liang and Song Yan used their dual-wielded guns to suppress the Blood Bone members, preventing them from advancing.

Even in the midst of all the attacks, the Blood Bone members had to be constantly wary of unexpected blades flying toward them.

At first, they were confused seeing their arms get slashed, their faces cut, and their clothes torn, despite successfully dodging the Federal soldiers’ abilities. They didn’t understand what was happening until Chang Qi barely avoided a blade aimed at his face, only to feel a thin line of blood appear on his cheek.

His gaze instantly locked onto Lin Bai, standing behind Lou Tiannan. He licked his teeth, his expression turning vicious. “You—are you trying to die?”

As soon as the words left his mouth, a burst of fire shot straight toward Lin Bai.

“Lin Bai, watch out!” Zhou Yu shouted, too occupied to assist.

Chang Qi and Chang Ping’s eyes flickered with recognition. “Lin Bai? So it’s you!”

Qiu Tu had given orders to capture Lin Bai alive and they hadn’t forgotten.

Lin Bai sidestepped the fire attack and flicked a black blade toward Chang Qi. “Yeah? It’s me, your granny.”

Chang Qi leaned back to dodge the blade, but as he straightened up, the returning arc of the weapon slashed deeply across his back.

Lin Bai gripped the handle of her blade, watching a single drop of blood slide down its groove.

“Brother Chang, this is bad!” one of the Blood Bone members suddenly called out in alarm.

“What the hell do you mean, bad?!” Chang Qi snapped.

“The zombies! They’re here!”

Chang Qi glanced around and realized that, at some point, most of the zombies had started swarming toward them. He quickly understood why.

He cursed loudly, “You idiots, cover your wounds now!”

The scent of blood had greatly agitated the zombies.

With the Blood Bone members now entangled with the zombies, the advantage of the broken bridge became clear. The zombies couldn’t cross the gap and the ones below were more attracted to the fresh blood of the Blood Bone members than to Lou Tiannan’s group.

Lou Tiannan and the others took a brief moment to catch their breath.

But within just a few seconds, Chang Qi and Chang Ping launched another attack on the people on the bridge and this time, even fiercer.

Flaming wooden arrows shot toward Lou Tiannan’s group.

The exhausted Lu Jia and Zhu Liang were hit, their combat suits catching fire. They quickly dropped to the ground to put out the flames, while Wen Xiaxia rushed to check their injuries. Fortunately, the suits were tough and only the exposed areas where the fabric had been torn suffered mild burns.

But the fire arrows weren’t the end of it.

Chang Qi and Chang Ping then cut one of their own subordinates, making him bleed, and threw him onto the bridge. Seeing the zombies immediately rush after him, Lou Tiannan’s expression darkened.

Zhou Yu and Song Yan were drenched in sweat, while Lou Tiannan clapped his hands together and pushed forward a wall of black flames. The dark fire formed an impenetrable barrier, keeping the zombies at bay.

Chang Qi tilted his chin up mockingly. “You’re pretty good, Lou Tiannan. Let’s see how long you can hold out!”

As long as the black flame wall remained, Chang Qi simply tossed another wounded subordinate onto the bridge, letting the zombies do the work for him.

Chang Qi was in no hurry. The enemy was trapped on the bridge with no way to retreat. He and his team only needed to stand their ground and wait for them to run out of options.

Besides…

His gaze shifted to the subordinates who were crawling up from beneath the bridge, preparing for a sneak attack. A sinister smile crept across his face.

Lou Tiannan saw that smile and immediately felt something was wrong.

Lin Bai was the first to notice movement under the bridge since her thermal imaging system detected blurred figures climbing up.

“There’s someone under the bridge,” Song Yan quickly confirmed.

The moment they were discovered, the Blood Bone members sprang onto the bridge, trying to catch them off guard. At the same time, Chang Qi and Chang Ping combined their powers for another large-scale attack.

Boom!

Burning wooden debris exploded across the bridge.

The weaker members of the team like Wen Xiaxia, Xi Ya, and others were knocked to the ground by the blast wave. Zhu Liang, who had no abilities, clutched his chest and dropped to one knee, his breathing heavy behind his mask.

Seeing this, Lou Tiannan reached into his pocket and crushed two third-tier zombie crystal cores. As the energy surged through him, he gathered a massive black fireball in his palm.

Chang Qi and Chang Ping hadn’t expected Lou Tiannan to still have so much energy left after maintaining the fire wall for so long.

The fireball hurtled toward them.

They jumped out of its path, leaping high into the air.

Mid-jump, Chang Qi’s eyes caught sight of Lin Bai on the bridge.

He exchanged a glance with Chang Ping.

Chang Ping immediately understood his brother’s intention.

As soon as he landed, Chang Qi hurled a fireball toward the bridge, while Chang Ping took advantage of the distraction to precisely lash out with his thorned vines, binding Lin Bai.

Lin Bai had no way to dodge from her position.

“Mom!” Xi Ya cried out anxiously, unleashing her ability in an attempt to burn through the vines.

But her power level was far too low compared to Chang Ping’s. Her flames couldn’t even scorch a single leaf.

Chang Ping had planned meticulously. To prevent Lin Bai from escaping, his vines wrapped tightly around both her hands and feet. With a forceful tug, he yanked Lin Bai off the bridge, pulling her into the air toward the drop below.

As Lin Bai debated whether to fake a ‘limb-severing escape,’ she caught a glimpse of a dark figure leaping toward her out of the corner of her eye.

It was Lou Tiannan.

Seeing Lin Bai being dragged away, Lou Tiannan stepped onto a bridge pillar and launched himself forward to intercept.

He flung a fireball to burn through Chang Ping’s vines, but Chang Qi countered with his own flames to stop him.

Wen Xiaxia, struggling to stand, used the last of her energy to block Chang Qi’s fire. But she lacked the strength. Her water attack only managed to deflect the flames slightly and they still struck Lou Tiannan in the chest.

Lou Tiannan gritted his teeth against the pain and grabbed Lin Bai’s arm just as the thorned vines finally burned through.

By then, the two were already suspended in midair above the sea. With the vines severed, they plummeted straight down.

“Captain Lou!”

Lu Jia and the others immediately tried to use their abilities to save them, but they were too exhausted. The chains they conjured couldn’t keep up with the speed of their fall.

With a loud splash, both Lou Tiannan and Lin Bai plunged into the sea.

Seeing them fall into the water, Chang Qi initially wanted to press the attack, but Chang Ping stopped him. “Brother, we can’t keep fighting. Our people are down and the zombie horde is heading this way!”

Chang Ping was cautious by nature and his first priority was always his and his brother’s safety. His caution had saved them many times before.

Chang Qi saw the massive wave of zombies converging and didn’t insist. After all, Lou Tiannan had taken a direct hit from his ability and was now in the ocean. Since he hadn’t surfaced for a while, his chances of survival were slim.

“Fine,” Chang Qi said. “Let’s stick around a bit longer so the zombies can block their escape route.”

Their plan was to let the zombies finish off the people on the bridge.

But before they could even revel in their victory, they saw the remaining group members jump into the sea one after another.

“Are they trying to die?!” Chang Qi narrowed his eyes, completely baffled by their actions.

“Maybe they’d rather take their chances in the water than die to the zombies,” Chang Ping said. “Brother, we need to leave now!”

He had already spotted a third-tier zombie in the horde. Given their depleted energy, staying any longer was too dangerous.

Chang Qi glanced at the figures struggling in the water. Unwilling to let go, he threw a few fireballs into the sea before saying, “Let’s go!”

“Dive down, now!” Song Yan shouted as she noticed the fireballs approaching.

Zhou Yu, carrying Xi Ya in his arms, quickly pressed an oxygen mask onto her face before diving underwater with her.

They hadn’t gone far before the water heated up and explosions erupted above them. Fortunately, the ocean absorbed most of the impact and they were unharmed.

The six of them didn’t resurface immediately. They waited a few minutes to confirm it was safe before emerging from the water at Song Yan’s signal.

The Blood Bone members were gone from the shore.

But the shoreline was now teeming with zombies, making it impossible for them to land.

They remained connected by Zhou Yu’s chain. “We need to find Captain Lou and Lin Bai first!”

Using the chain to stay linked, they struggled to move through the water. Their gear made swimming incredibly difficult, but Lu Jia, now slightly recovered, created a floating log for them to cling to, allowing them to catch their breath.

“I can’t reach Captain Lou on the radio,” Lu Jia shouted.

“Neither can I!”

“Let’s search underwater!” Zhou Yu handed Xi Ya over to Song Yan. Being a strong swimmer, he and Wen Xiaxia, who had a water-based ability, took turns diving down to look for the two.

Zhu Liang and Lu Jia also dove underwater from time to time to help with the search.

But the ocean was vast and deep, and visibility was extremely poor. Despite multiple dives, they saw no sign of Lou Tiannan or Lin Bai.

Wen Xiaxia even held her breath and swam all the way to the seabed but still found nothing.

“No sign of them!” she gasped as she resurfaced.

“Could the underwater currents have carried them away?” Zhu Liang speculated. He had some knowledge about harbors and knew that Tongtian Port had deep-sea currents. Those currents didn’t affect the massive cargo ships much, but for people, it was a different story.

Wen Xiaxia immediately agreed, “That’s possible! I felt a slight current when I was at the bottom just now.”

“Xiaxia, Brother Liang, do you know which direction the current is moving?” Lu Jia asked anxiously.

Zhu Liang shook his head. “From what I’ve read, it’s random and unpredictable.”

Wen Xiaxia thought for a moment. “The current I felt earlier seemed to be moving east. Maybe we should start searching in that direction?”

“That’s our best bet! There might be a place to get ashore to the east.”

“Captain Lou and Lin Bai are both incredibly strong. They’ll be fine,” Song Yan called out, trying to reassure the others as well as herself.

They had to be fine.