Apocalypse Survival Guide for a Beta [GB] - Chapter 68
The hurricane snowstorm came with violent force, affecting multiple regions in the south, north, and east.
The sudden hurricane covered the already desolate, post-apocalyptic city with a thick blanket of white snow.
The temperature dropped sharply.
Even the zombies on the streets were affected, moving sluggishly. Their limbs creaked with stiffness as they twisted, making them seem even more like the undead.
Elena and Tang Mary were the first to meet up. Bai Chuan, who was slightly farther away, had been held up by something and only managed to rendezvous with them after several hours.
Once the three of them were together, Tang Mary shot Bai Chuan a look of disdain. “Bai Chuan, you’re supposed to be a wind-based ability user, yet you’re this slow?”
“I was delayed for a reason,” Bai Chuan said as he pulled a communication device from his coat. His and Tang Mary’s devices were slightly more advanced than those of Elena, Lou Tiannan, and the others since they had a video function.
He showed them a thumbnail-sized image on the screen.
Since there was no projector, the two-centimeter-wide photo was mostly a blur of black and white, making it impossible to see anything clearly.
Tang Mary didn’t have the patience to examine it carefully and asked directly, “What did you take a picture of?”
“The side hall of the Aurora Church.”
“What about it?”
“I was blown near Aurora’s side hall by the hurricane. At first, I thought it was just an unused building, but just as I received your signals and was about to find you, I noticed a lot of Aurora priests transporting things inside.”
“Supplies?” Storing supplies wouldn’t be unusual.
“Of course not. It was potions and zombies.”
“Zombies?” Elena, who had been studying the tiny image, looked up in shock.
“Yes, zombies. All of them were alive and were being sent into the side hall,” Bai Chuan said seriously. “I wanted to get closer, but I realized that although the side hall looked abandoned, it was actually heavily guarded in the shadows. I did a rough count, at least a hundred zombies were sent in and their levels weren’t low either.”
Aurora. Living zombies.
Those two words together felt deeply unsettling.
“Forget the zombies for now. Have you contacted Lin Bai? I can’t pick up her signal frequency anywhere!” Tang Mary, though suspicious of Aurora’s actions, wasn’t too concerned. She just wanted to confirm Lin Bai’s safety first.
“I’ve been trying. The signal was already weak and with this hurricane snowstorm, it’s even worse,” Bai Chuan said while adjusting his communicator.
“What about Lou Tiannan? You can’t reach him either?” Tang Mary paced anxiously inside the building.
Elena was worried too but she knew panicking wouldn’t help. She forced herself to stay calm. “Let’s head to Eastern District Five first. Lou Tiannan will take the Primal Blood Vaccine to the Federation safe zone there to complete his mission.”
“But Lou Tiannan going doesn’t mean Lin Bai will,” Tang Mary snapped, uncaring about Lou Tiannan’s mission.
Hearing this, Bai Chuan’s head suddenly shot up as if he had just remembered something. “No! No, no, no! Lin Bai will go. She has to.”
Elena and Tang Mary didn’t know Lin Bai was a bionic human, but Bai Chuan did! From his observations over the past few days, Lin Bai’s energy source was most likely solar and thermal energy. With the hurricane snowstorm outside and such low temperatures, she would definitely stay with Lou Tiannan.
Tang Mary was still confused about why Bai Chuan was so certain when she heard Elena say, “Yes, Lin Bai will stay with Lou Tiannan.”
“Huh?” Tang Mary looked back and forth between Bai Chuan and Elena, completely baffled.
Meanwhile, Bai Chuan met Elena’s gaze and both of them were thinking the same thing: How does Elena/Bai Chuan know that Lin Bai will stay with Lou Tiannan?
While Bai Chuan and Elena were trying to guess each other’s reasoning, Lin Bai was indeed traveling with Lou Tiannan.
Their destination was the Federation’s Eastern District Five Safe Zone.
It was the largest safe zone under the Federation, where many high-ranking officials were gathered.
But Lin Bai’s goal wasn’t the Federation safe zone.
She was headed to the Aurora Church, which was also in Eastern District Five.
The snow was thick, reaching up to their knees, making walking difficult and slowing their progress significantly.
Lin Bai used to like snow, but now she absolutely hated it. The freezing snow was draining her energy faster than usual. If Lou Tiannan weren’t with her, she wouldn’t last a day before running out of power.
“Are you okay?” Lou Tiannan turned his head to check on her.
“Not really. It’s very cold,” Lin Bai answered honestly.
They had been walking for a whole day and had barely reached the border of Northern District Two. Along the way, they had encountered about ten zombies. Each one moved like a broken puppet, creaking and groaning as they chased after them at an incredibly slow pace.
They didn’t even need to use their abilities. A few swings with the sticks they had picked up along the way were enough to smash the zombies’ heads.
Lin Bai casually collected three second-tier zombie crystals.
Seeing her do this, Lou Tiannan finally voiced the question that had been weighing on his mind for a long time. “Why do you keep collecting zombie crystals?” He was worried that she might be using them to absorb energy and boost her abilities. That kind of shortcut wasn’t a good idea.
“For my partner’s grave,” Lin Bai lied effortlessly. When it came to making up excuses, she was a natural, especially when fooling Lou Tiannan. She felt like he would believe anything she said.
After walking a few more steps, she noticed he had stopped moving. Puzzled, she turned back to see him standing still, watching her. His brows were slightly furrowed, his sharp features tense, and he looked both angry and not angry at the same time.
“Why did you stop walking?” she asked.
At her words, Lou Tiannan started moving again, catching up to her. His gaze drifted toward the horizon as he asked in an indifferent tone, “What do you plan to do after this?”
“After this?”
‘Go to Aurora and settle the score, obviously,’ Lin Bai thought.
But on the surface, she remained innocent. “Well, you got the Primal Blood Vaccine, right? So I guess I’ll just wait for the good news from you and the Federation.”
“And after that?” Lou Tiannan pressed.
“After that?” Lin Bai was confused by his sudden curiosity. She let her mind wander and casually made something up. “If the apocalypse ends, we’ll rebuild our homes and live a good life. Oh, and there’s Xi Ya. I’ll raise her well. She’s pretty cute, isn’t she?”
“Mm,” Lou Tiannan responded softly. Xi Ya was indeed very cute. His Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed, feeling a dryness in his throat. Still, he asked slowly, “So… you plan to raise her alone?”
“Of course not,” Lin Bai denied without hesitation. She had no interest in raising kids.
Lou Tiannan’s hand clenched tightly at his side. “Then… you mean…”
“Bai Chuan, Tang Mary, and even you guys all seem to like Xi Ya. We can just split the time. Three days with Tang Mary, five days with Bai Chuan, and every now and then, Elena can take care of her too…” Lin Bai reasoned, figuring no one would refuse such a simple request.
Hearing her completely thoughtless answer, Lou Tiannan’s just-relaxed brows furrowed again. How could he forget? Lin Bai had absolutely no interest in raising a child. He glanced at her side profile, hesitating for a moment before finally asking the question on his mind, “Have you never thought about finding another partner?”
“Pfft.”
Lin Bai’s first reaction to Lou Tiannan’s question was to laugh. She didn’t even know why; it just struck her as funny. The question itself was amusing, but coming from Lou Tiannan, it was even funnier.
Amid the icy landscape, Lou Tiannan stared at Lin Bai’s laughter in a daze. It was the first time he had ever seen her smile like this. Uncomfortable, he quickly looked away to hide his emotions, pretending to ask casually, “What are you laughing at?”
“I’m laughing at you, Captain Lou,” Lin Bai replied as she kept walking. Deliberately teasing him, she added, “You better not ask that kind of question again. If my partner hears it, she might get mad! She won’t be able to rest in peace.”
Hearing her response, Lou Tiannan didn’t think she was joking. Her words felt like a weight pressing on his heart, an indescribable feeling, not exactly painful, but definitely unpleasant. He thought to himself, ‘So she really did love her partner.’
He had already known that, but hearing it confirmed again still left him feeling suffocated. There were still things he wanted to ask Lin Bai, but…
His fingers brushed against the box of vaccines in his chest pocket. Right now, completing his mission was the most important thing.
Lou Tiannan didn’t ask any more questions. They continued on their way, occasionally checking their communicators to see if they could contact anyone.
Finally, on their second day in Northern District One, they received a weak, intermittent signal.
The closer they got to the Eastern District, the better the signal became. At last, they heard Bai Chuan’s voice crackling through the communicator.
“The three of us have met up and are heading toward Eastern District Five. What about you two?”
“Lou Tiannan and I are in Northern District One, also on our way to Eastern District Five. But the snowfall is too heavy, it’ll probably take us a few more days to get there,” Lin Bai responded while sitting with Lou Tiannan in a cluttered warehouse.
Outside, the snow was still falling heavily with huge, thick flakes.
It had been snowing ever since they arrived in Northern District One. Two days and two nights had passed, and the snow, which had originally reached knee-height, was now almost up to their waists.
Bai Chuan’s situation wasn’t much different. “The snow is heavy here too. We also spotted Federal troops. Elena said they’re part of the Federation’s rescue team, but none of Captain Lou’s teammates were with them.”
Lou Tiannan’s expression darkened. “Not a single one of them?”
“None. We checked carefully and didn’t see any familiar faces. Xi Ya isn’t with them either. Elena is trying to contact them, but no luck so far.”
Lin Bai exchanged a glance with Lou Tiannan. Handing him the communicator, she started trying to locate Xi Ya.
At that moment, Xi Ya was being carried in Zhou Yu’s arms. They were running at full speed through the snowy terrain, trying to escape the ability-powered zombies chasing them.
Originally, they had been waiting in a high-rise building for Lou Tiannan and the others. When they saw an explosion at the upper levels of the 621 Biopharmaceutical Research Institute, they realized Lou Tiannan’s group was in danger. However, they couldn’t contact them and could only watch from the window.
But between the darkness, the blizzard, and the windstorm, visibility was terrible. They had no idea what was happening.
Then, on the second day of the storm, ability-powered zombies suddenly appeared and locked onto them.
If it were just one ability-powered zombie, they could barely manage to kill it by working together. But soon, more of them appeared inside the building. Realizing they couldn’t stay there any longer, they took advantage of the heavy snowfall and fled toward Eastern District Five.
Xi Ya clutched her doll tightly in Zhou Yu’s arms, gathering energy. Every time she built up enough power, she would create fireballs to clear the path for Zhou Yu and Song Yan.
Meanwhile, Zhou Yu occasionally tossed chunks of metal and chains behind them to slow down the zombies.
Just as exhaustion was starting to set in, Xi Ya suddenly shouted excitedly, “Uncle! Uncle! To the left! Mom! Mom is looking for me!”

Storyteller Dahliya's Words
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