Apocalypse Survival Guide for a Beta [GB] - Chapter 39

In a corner of the mall, the faint sounds of Blood Bone thugs talking and walking could be heard outside. Just a wall away, Lin Bai was pressing a powder puff against Lou Tiannan’s face, altering his appearance.

Her cool fingertips occasionally brushed against his skin, tickling slightly and making Lou Tiannan feel a faint, inexplicable unease.

Up until now, he still wasn’t sure about Lin Bai’s true identity. But one thing was certain; he had started to trust her.

What was this feeling? Lou Tiannan couldn’t grasp it. His mind drifted back to when Lin Bai described her partner’s appearance and the sorrow in her eyes when she spoke of her death. She must have loved her partner very much.

“Done!” Lin Bai pulled back just in time, noticing the strange way Lou Tiannan was looking at her. She picked up a broken piece of mirror and handed it to him. “Take a look. Not bad, right?”

Lin Bai’s makeup skills were impressive. In an instant, Lou Tiannan’s face had changed from a cold and grim man to an average-looking young man. His neck even bore the Blood Bone mark of two red wavy lines.

Lou Tiannan put down the mirror and asked, “What about you?”

Lin Bai flashed him a mysterious smile and pulled out a burlap sack from who-knows-where. Without hesitation, she stepped inside. “I’ll hide in here with Xi Ya. You take us both away.”

Take us both away.

Lou Tiannan thought he must be losing his mind because when he heard those words, his heart skipped a beat.

Seeing that he wasn’t moving, Lin Bai looked at him in confusion. “?”

“I got it.” Lou Tiannan tied up the mouth of the sack containing Lin Bai and Xi Ya and then hoisted it onto his shoulder. The sack had several slits cut into it, not only for ventilation but also to reveal parts of Lin Bai’s ‘flesh.’

Red-tinted liquid dripped from the bottom of the sack. At a glance, it really did look like a Blood Bone member had packed up ‘food’ to bring back to Qiu Tu.

Lou Tiannan carried the sack, waited for a moment when there were fewer people around, and then hunched his back, keeping his head down as he blended into the Blood Bone squad and left the mall.

Near the Southern District Three, Aurora’s followers had already received word from the Bishop. When they learned that the man in the picture was Lou Tiannan, they began monitoring the mall even more closely. Why would Lou Tiannan, a member of the Federal Army, bring a woman and a child to the Southern District Three? Could the priests’ suspicions be true? Had Lou Tiannan really defected?

But after watching all day, they never saw Lou Tiannan come out.

Perplexed, they entered the mall to search, only to find no trace of the three. At some point, he had managed to slip away!

After bombing Morda City, Zhou Yu and his two teammates quickly hid in a small compartment nearby, using the classic tactic of hiding in plain sight right under Blood Bone’s noses.

Blood Bone’s evacuation of their base was incredibly fast, so fast that it could only be described as supernatural. Nearly a hundred ability users packed up and vanished in an hour, leaving Morda City completely empty.

If they hadn’t seen it with their own eyes, no one would have believed it.

As night fell, Zhou Yu contacted Lou Tiannan to report their hiding spot and then waited for him to arrive.

When they saw a stranger carrying a sack enter, the three of them immediately became alert, releasing their abilities to subdue him. But with a wave of his hand, their powers were reduced to ashes under his black flames.

Seeing the familiar fire, the three were stunned.

“Captain Lou?” Song Yan looked him up and down in disbelief. “Why do you look completely different from this morning…?”

Zhou Yu, noticing there was no one behind him, asked curiously, “Where are Lin Bai and Xi Ya?”

Lu Jia eyed the bloodstains on the sack and had a bad feeling. “What’s in that bag?”

As Lou Tiannan set the sack down, he answered, “Lin Bai and Xi Ya.”

The three were even more shocked, their expressions filled with disbelief and even a hint of sorrow.

“Lin Bai… she—”

“What happened…?” Zhou Yu’s voice was heavy.

Lou Tiannan frowned at their reactions and then untied the sack. “What are you thinking?”

“We— Ahhhh—mmph…” Just as Zhou Yu was about to say something, the sack suddenly wriggled. He let out a startled yell, only to have Lou Tiannan clamp a hand over his mouth. His eyes went wide as he watched Lin Bai emerge from the bag.

“Oh, thank god,” Song Yan let out a breath of relief. “I knew Lin Bai was too strong to go down that easily…” She glanced at the unharmed Lin Bai and Xi Ya, finally relaxing.

Upon learning that the disguise was to evade Aurora’s surveillance, Zhou Yu sincerely praised, “Lin Bai, you’re seriously impressive. I didn’t even recognize Captain Lou at first glance.”

At that moment, Lin Bai was wiping off the artificial blood and flesh marks she had drawn on her legs and arms. Without looking up, she replied, “If you didn’t recognize him, then why did it take you so long to react and attack? If it had really been Qiu Tu, you’d all be dead.”

Her words left the three in silence. None of them could argue.

Because she was right. It was only after seeing Blood Bone’s ability users today that they truly understood that they had underestimated Blood Bone.

“You know Qiu Tu?” Lou Tiannan asked. Lin Bai had been in Western District Seven, while Qiu Tu was in Southern District Three, yet from the way she spoke, she seemed quite familiar with his strength.

“I saw him before the apocalypse. After the apocalypse… not anymore,” Lin Bai replied vaguely.

Before the apocalypse? Where had she seen him? The question hung in their minds.

Then Xi Ya added in a small voice, “I’ve seen him too, on TV. He’s a big bad guy!”

With that, the group understood. Lin Bai and Xi Ya were mother and daughter. If Xi Ya had seen Qiu Tu on TV, then Lin Bai naturally had as well.

Just as Zhou Yu was about to speak, he saw Lou Tiannan’s expression tense. At the same time, Lin Bai raised a hand in a silent gesture to keep quiet.

They crouched down and peered through the cracks in the bricks. Someone had entered the abandoned building in Morda City.

It was Red Sand’s people.

They searched up and down the place, confirming that Morda City was completely empty. “Those Blood Bone cowards ran that fast?!”

Just as they were about to continue their search, another Red Sand member came sprinting from an adjacent building, screaming at the top of his lungs, “Run! There are bombs!”

The Red Sand squad exchanged panicked glances before turning on their heels and bolting out of Morda City.

At that very moment, a thunderous explosion erupted behind them. In the blink of an eye, Morda City collapsed in a massive blast.

Some Red Sand members who couldn’t escape in time were buried beneath the rubble.

The explosion caused a collapse that affected even the small compartment where Lou Tiannan’s group was hiding. As soon as the ceiling began to cave in, Zhou Yu and Lu Jia instinctively used their abilities to hold it up.

Lou Tiannan grabbed Xi Ya with one hand and pulled Lin Bai close with the other, shielding them both.

As Lin Bai was pulled into his embrace, she couldn’t quite figure out what kind of self-sacrificing heroism Lou Tiannan had been raised with. But she didn’t bother thinking about it too much. She might as well take the chance to recharge.

The aftershocks of the explosion lasted for a long time. Even with Zhou Yu’s strengthened abilities, falling steel beams still dented the iron barrier he had created.

Seeing the warped iron plate, everyone felt a chill down their spine.

Lou Tiannan’s palm was already ablaze with black flames, ready to act if needed, but fortunately, the falling debris gradually lessened and the explosion’s aftershocks finally settled.

“Lou Tiannan?” Elena’s voice came through the radio. “What’s going on over there?”

Lou Tiannan replied in a low voice, “Morda City exploded. Where are you?”

“We’re heading toward Southern District Three. For some reason, a lot of Blood Bone’s people have retreated from the Central-Southern border zone. Wen Xiaxia and I plan to take Zhu Liang to Southern District One first.”

Southern District One was located between Eastern District One and Southern District Three. It was indeed a relatively stable place to regroup.

Lou Tiannan responded, “Understood. We’ll head there too. Should take us about two hours.”

After confirming the meeting point with Elena, Lou Tiannan and the others emerged from the ruins and set off toward Southern District One.

Behind them, the sound of bricks and iron plates shifting echoed, revealing the Red Sand members who had been buried under the rubble. Watching Lou Tiannan’s departing figure, they immediately relayed the message to Tang Mary in the Central-Southern border zone, “President Tang, Morda City has exploded. Blood Bone has relocated and there are suspected Blood Bone members heading toward Southern District One.”

Tang Mary, who was still searching the Central-Southern border zone, stopped in her tracks. “Morda City exploded? Blood Bone relocated to Southern District One?”

Bai Chuan also halted, frowning. That didn’t seem like Qiu Tu’s style.

“Should we head to Southern District One?” Bai Chuan asked.

But Tang Mary firmly refused. “No, I’ll dig up this entire district if I have to. I will find Elena!”

Bai Chuan: “……”

Seeing that Tang Mary truly had no intention of leaving, Bai Chuan reasoned, “President Tang, you’ve been searching the Central-Southern border zone for an entire day and night. She might have already escaped. You need to consider why Elena came here in the first place if you want to find her.”

Tang Mary looked at Bai Chuan. “So, you’re saying you know what Elena’s goal is?”

“Elena defected from the Federation to cooperate with Blood Bone. She wouldn’t have come to the Central-Southern border zone just to steal your useless rock. Think. What has Blood Bone been doing lately?”

“They’ve been planting bombs near Eastern District One!” Tang Mary immediately answered. “But Blood Bone’s purpose in Eastern District One is to get their hands on those zombie crystal cores. Could Elena need them too?”

“There are more than just zombies in Eastern District One. Don’t forget. Before the apocalypse, which department was Elena closely tied to?”

“The 621 Biopharmaceutical Research Institute? That place is probably overrun with zom—” Tang Mary abruptly stopped mid-sentence, as if she had realized something. “You mean…”

Seeing her catch on, Bai Chuan added, “Three months ago, Federation Military Defense’s First Squad went into that zombie-infested area. Were they just looking for crystal cores?”

Tang Mary glanced around the Central-Southern border zone, unwilling to give up.

Bai Chuan caught the hesitation on her face and raised an eyebrow. “Now I’m really curious. What exactly did Elena steal from you that’s making you so obsessed with tracking her down?”

Tang Mary clenched her fists and snapped, “You don’t understand a damn thing! Move! We’re heading to Southern District One! Keep searching the Central-Southern border zone!”

***

Blood Bone and Red Sand’s movements were quickly detected by Aurora’s believers, who relayed the information in real time to the Aurora Church.

A handsome, golden-haired young man sat on the pure white bishop’s chair, a stack of printed images from the previous day laid out on the table before him.

Standing beside him, Coomber reported, “Your Excellency Bishop Claire, after their battle with Red Sand, Blood Bone is now retreating to Southern District Two. Red Sand is heading toward Southern District One. What are our next steps?”

Claire barely reacted to the report, only showing mild interest. “Still no trace of Lou Tiannan? Elena is also in the Central-Southern border zone now? Has anyone spotted them together?”

“According to information from Red Sand, Elena has been confirmed to have left Eastern District Two. She was last seen at the Guangming Building yesterday. As for Lou Tiannan, his whereabouts have been unknown since he left the mall and there have been no reports of them acting together.”

Claire responded indifferently, “Increase the number of believers near Eastern District One. Report anyone approaching the area.”

“Understood.”

Coomber acknowledged the order and was about to leave when Claire stopped him. “Call Caesar over.”