Apocalypse Survival Guide for a Beta [GB] - Chapter 4

The loudspeaker’s message echoed throughout the mall.

The fires upstairs were extinguished. Scattered survivors emerged from the corners of the mall, while others, trapped under debris or zombie corpses, were safely extracted by Lu Jia and Zhou Yu using their abilities.

Among them were the mother and daughter.

When Zhou Yu led them to the truck, Lou Tiannan was speaking with a military family member they had rescued. “Eastern District Three is currently one of the safe zones. If conditions permit, we will take you there.”

“Thank you, thank you! I’m truly grateful!” The military-affiliated was nearly in tears.

“No need to thank me,” Lou Tiannan responded casually. He glanced at the mother and daughter beside him just as the woman turned her face toward him.

The moment he saw her features, something felt… off. He couldn’t quite place it, but an instinctive dislike surfaced within him. Adding to that…

Lou Tiannan’s gaze dropped to the hand extended toward him.

The woman held out her hand and said, “Hello, my name is Lin Bai.”

Xi Ya, hearing this, looked up at the tall man in front of her with a nervous feeling creeping into her chest. She knew this man was a fire-type ability user and much stronger than her. There was a real possibility that Lin Bai would abandon her.

Xi Ya felt uneasy.

In the smoke-filled mall, a faint trace of cheap perfume suddenly stood out.

Lou Tiannan turned his face slightly and his blue-gray eyes swept over the woman. His sharp vision caught the black eyeliner tracing the corner of her eyes, the muted brown-gray eyeshadow, and the lipstick covering her lips. It was a simple and unremarkable makeup look.

But in the apocalypse, someone who still took the time to put on makeup…

Lou Tiannan frowned, pushing aside his thoughts. He reached out and briefly shook the woman’s fingertips. The moment they touched, he was startled.

So cold.

As the icy fingertips slipped from his palm, Lou Tiannan came back to his senses and said, “Lou Tiannan.”

As soon as their hands separated, a pair of warm and sweaty hands suddenly grabbed Lou Tiannan’s. A young man with yellow curls smiled obsequiously. “Captain Lou, hello, hello! My name is Peter. You must ensure my safety! My mother is a famous jeweler in Southern District Three. If you get me to the safe zone, I promise my mother will—”

Lou Tiannan withdrew his hand from Peter’s grip and said in a deep voice, “I will do my best to get everyone to the safe zone, no matter who they are.”

Nearby survivors who overheard him let out a sigh of relief.

Lin Bai turned away expressionlessly.

When Lou Tiannan glanced back, he caught a glimpse of Lin Bai’s profile but couldn’t see her expression. His gaze briefly lingered on the sheath strapped to her leg.

The sheath was about 35 centimeters long, with a handle wrapped in bandages. One section of the bandages had unraveled and revealed a scorch mark left by a bullet grazing it.

The bullet hadn’t pierced her knife?

“Captain Lou?” Zhu Liang followed Lou Tiannan’s gaze, assuming he was looking at the little girl. Children were rare in the apocalypse, so he didn’t find it surprising.

Lou Tiannan snapped back to attention. “Hmm?”

“We’ve checked everything.”

Zhou Yu and the others had finished sweeping the mall. Unfortunately, or rather somewhat luckily, only seven survivors remained, a mix of men and women. Most were Alphas, aside from Xi Ya, who had yet to differentiate, and three Betas. Lin Bai was one of them.

The mall had originally housed over forty survivors, but the remaining ones told Song Yan and the others that the rest had been fed to the zombies by the Blood Bone gang.

“Those bastards!” Song Yan’s face was filled with anger.

The survivors were also outraged and expressed deep gratitude to the Federal Army for arriving in time.

One clutched their chest and sighed in relief, “Aurora bless us!”

Hearing the prayer, Zhou Yu muttered to Song Yan, “We’re the ones who saved them, yet they’re thanking Aurora? I don’t see Aurora coming to rescue anyone…”

Song Yan elbowed him to shut him up.

The Aurora Church had risen in the apocalypse, with its leader, Bishop Monde Clair, claiming to be a servant of the gods who deliver divine messages. Many people followed him and the church had gathered a considerable number of believers.

But within the Federal Army, led by Lou Tiannan, no one believed in religion. If you had time to pray, you were better off eating more and saving your strength to believe in yourself!

***

After confirming that none of the seven survivors were infected, the group finished clearing the area. Lou Tiannan and his team loaded the survivors and the supplies they had gathered into their vehicles and drove away from the mall.

Perhaps the mall had already drawn in most of the nearby zombies because as the black pickup drove onward, they encountered surprisingly few zombies along the way.

“We should reach the temporary base in about twenty minutes,” Zhu Liang said after checking the route.

Just as everyone was beginning to relax, Song Yan looked out the window and said, “Captain Lou, something’s off at ten o’clock, northwest.”

Everyone turned in the direction she indicated. At first, they saw nothing unusual. But a few seconds later, someone gasped in horror.

“Zombies! It’s a horde! There’s so many of them!”

Lou Tiannan spun the steering wheel with one hand, making the vehicle do a sharp 180-degree turn on the spot to change direction. His sharp eyes gleamed coldly as his thin lips parted. “Prepare for battle!”

“Damn! Where the hell did this horde come from?!” Zhou Yu cursed, mounting his submachine gun on the roof and opening fire.

“Zhu Liang, Song Yan, focus on the zombies. Little Lu, protect the survivors. Zhou Yu, watch out for ambushes,” Lou Tiannan swiftly assigned roles.

“Ambush?” Zhou Yu was momentarily confused.

Song Yan aimed at the horde and muttered, “Doesn’t that lead zombie look like one of Blood Bone’s dogs from the mall earlier?”

Zhou Yu squinted at the figure in the distance. Damn it, she was right!

“Those Blood Bone bastards just won’t quit! They actually dared to set up an ambush!”

Song Yan and Zhou Yu fired round after round to slow the zombies down, but the scent of human flesh drove them forward, even with missing limbs. They relentlessly charged at the pickup.

“The dust is too thick! I can’t see clearly!” Zhou Yu shouted.

Dust and debris filled the air and severely affected their line of sight.

Lou Tiannan gripped the steering wheel tightly, maintaining distance, but when he swerved onto a side road, the tires suddenly got stuck and spun uselessly. A wall of earth erupted from the ground, tilting the front of the truck upward.

The sudden jolt sent the people in the back tumbling into each other. Panicked screams filled the truck bed.

Xi Ya clung to Lin Bai in fear.

The next moment, a barrage of metal arrows shot toward the truck bed.

“Aaahhh!!!”

Terrified screams echoed as Lu Jia reacted quickly and raised a wooden barrier to block the arrows. The sharp tips nearly pierced through.

Lou Tiannan slammed the gas pedal to the floor, spinning the wheel at lightning speed. Before the earth wall could fully form, he threw the truck into reverse and escaped just in time to avoid being completely overturned.

Once free, he kicked open the door and leaped to the ground.

Whoosh!

Black flames erupted and instantly, the surrounding temperature rose. The dark fire spread outward from the vehicle, creating a burning barrier that blocked the zombies’ advance.

Seeing Lou Tiannan in action, Tyke smirked and said to his men, “Go. Chang Qi, Chang Ping, we’ll handle Lou Tiannan. Whoever gets the two third-tier crystal cores gets to keep one!”

The Blood Bone fighters’ eyes glowed with greed as they charged toward Song Yan and the others.

Lou Tiannan might be tough, but his subordinates were fair game.

Tyke’s net-like barrage of arrows shot toward the truck, not at Lou Tiannan but at the survivors in the truck bed.

His expression was full of mockery. Those with unnecessary kindness have to pay the price of their action.

His plan worked perfectly.

“Get down!” Song Yan shouted.

But where could they go? Blood Bone attacked from one side, while zombies clawed from the other.

Lu Jia was kicked to the ground by a Blood Bone fighter and nearly fell into a zombie’s grasp, but Zhou Yu yanked him back with his chain just in time.

Apart from Lin Bai and Xi Ya, the other survivors screamed and jumped off the truck, scattering in terror.

Peter, seeing the arrows coming at him, was paralyzed with fear, until he suddenly felt a firm grip on his collar.

Like a steel vise, Lou Tiannan’s hand clamped onto him. Weighing nearly 150 pounds, Peter was effortlessly lifted and tossed back into the truck bed.

One by one, Lou Tiannan grabbed the fleeing survivors like they were chickens and threw them back into the vehicle.

His voice was cold. “If you don’t want to die, stay in the damn truck!”

Just as he finished speaking, someone jumped down from the truck.

It was Lin Bai.

Lou Tiannan’s brows furrowed tightly, but in the next second, he saw Lin Bai pull a gun from her lower back and aim it at him.

His eyes narrowed sharply.

Without much time to aim, Lin Bai raised her hand and pulled the trigger.

Bang!

A zombie beside him dropped to the ground.

“You might want to keep your eyes on the others,” Lin Bai said as she fired another shot, this time hitting a Blood Bone ability user who was attempting to ambush Zhu Liang.

Zhu Liang instinctively leaned back just in time and dodged a fatal strike thanks to Lin Bai’s bullet.

Lou Tiannan glanced at the Blood Bone ability user who fell into the zombie horde after being shot. Without another look at Lin Bai, he sent his black flames surging toward Tyke.

The area was wide open, unlike the mall, which had plenty of corners and shops to use as cover. Drawn by the scent of living humans, hundreds of zombies swarmed toward them with their frenzied growls and shrieks filling the air.

But they couldn’t get past Lou Tiannan’s black flames, which trapped them outside the fire circle, leaving them howling in frustration.

Tyke and his two men were locked in battle with Lou Tiannan. Chang Ping and Chang Qi fought dirty and unpredictably, while Tyke’s abilities were raw and aggressive. For the moment, they were evenly matched.

Suddenly, the wind picked up, fanning the flames and making them burn even hotter.

The intense heat made many people uncomfortable and drenched them in sweat.

No one noticed that, after months of being cold, Lin Bai finally felt warmth in the embrace of the black flames.

But just as quickly, the wind grew stronger and the sky darkened again.

Lin Bai glanced up at the gathering storm clouds. What a headache. She had only been warm for five minutes!

The commotion was attracting even more zombies, as waves upon waves of them surged toward the battlefield.

“If we keep fighting like this, we’ll run out of bullets!” Song Yan shouted.

If this went on any longer, she’d be dead too! Lin Bai made a split-second decision. “Get in the truck! We’re leaving!”

“How the hell are we supposed to leave?!” Zhou Yu panted as he glanced at the sea of zombies surrounding them. The moment he finished speaking, Lin Bai shoved him into the passenger seat.

She took three quick strides, climbed into the driver’s seat, shifted gears, floored the gas pedal, and spun the wheel. The tires screeched against the ground as the truck moved smoothly under her control.

“Hold on tight! Pull your people in when you get the chance!” she called out, gripping the wheel with one hand while reaching into her pocket with the other.

Zhou Yu’s heart nearly stopped when he saw what she pulled out. A grenade.

Where the hell did she get a grenade?!

He watched in disbelief as Lin Bai bit off the safety pin, spun the wheel sharply, and counted one second, two seconds…

Why wasn’t she throwing it yet?! What was she waiting for?!

The moment two seconds passed, she spat out the pin and tossed the grenade out the window without hesitation.

She barely even aimed, yet it landed with pinpoint accuracy in the middle of the zombie horde at their five o’clock position.

Before anyone could react, the fist-sized grenade detonated with a deafening boom.

A mushroom cloud rose into the sky and a wave of scorching heat blasted outward.

The grenade explosion, reaching a deafening 180 decibels, left everyone momentarily stunned, their ears ringing.

Lou Tiannan was the first to react. Moving swiftly, he spun around and kicked Tyke in the chest, sending him flying a meter away.

Song Yan, Zhu Liang, and the others fired a few more shots, taking down nearby Blood Bone members before leaping into the pickup truck.

The black pickup roared forward, speeding toward the gap in the zombie horde created by the grenade blast.

“Damn it, we can’t let them escape!” Tyke shouted, rushing forward in an attempt to stop Lou Tiannan.

Bang! A gunshot rang out.

Tyke’s eyes widened as he saw the woman in the driver’s seat aiming directly at him, a bullet speeding his way. His pupils shrank in alarm.

He stopped abruptly, dodging to the side just in time. But before he could steady himself, another shot rang out. Bang!

Clang! The bullet struck the metal plate on his arm, denting it and getting lodged inside. The sheer impact forced him back half a step.

“Captain Lou! Grab on!”

Just as the heavy rain began to pour, Zhou Yu threw out an iron chain toward Lou Tiannan. Lou Tiannan caught it midair and, with a powerful leap, launched himself toward the black pickup, landing on the side of the truck bed.

Zombies lunged at him, howling, but Lin Bai gave them no chance. She floored the gas pedal and with a thunderous roar, the black pickup cut through the rain like a sharp blade, tearing away into the distance.