Chapter 6 – A Filial Piety Trip

Volume 2: Battlefield Between Two Worlds

"Ah…"

Wen Yu let out a huge yawn, stretched hard, and his whole body crackled with a series of creaks.

He had slept exceptionally well that night. He casually ate a bit of the food from the Spatial Ring, then handed the Little Soul Beast a Level 1 Magic Crystal. Seeing the Little Soul Beast hopping up and down, completely back to its usual liveliness, he watched as it swallowed the Soul Crystal in one gulp.

A Level 1 Magic Crystal might not provide Enhancement to a Soul Beast's Physical Attribute, but as everyday rations for a Soul Beast, it was absolutely a luxury item.

Sensing a ripple coming from the Second Soul Realm, Wen Yu sank his consciousness into it.

He saw that One-Eye's injuries had fully healed, and it was running around inside the Soul Realm. Strangely enough, the entire Soul Realm seemed to have no boundaries at all-no matter how the enormous One-Eye thrashed about, there was no feeling of confinement.

Sensing Wen Yu's consciousness sweep over, One-Eye clearly conveyed its thought: "I want to go out."

A beast still needed to be free-range.

"Wait a bit. We'll head out this afternoon," Wen Yu soothed it. Seeing that One-Eye had no complaints, he walked straight into the courtyard.

In the courtyard, most of the Survivors were already up, busy with their own tasks.

Sun Ruixing was off to the side, chatting with Grandpa Sun in a desultory way. The moment he saw Wen Yu come out of the house, Sun Ruixing looked as if he'd spotted a savior and walked straight over.

"Brother, you rest well?"

Watching Sun Ruixing approach with a beaming smile, Wen Yu nodded at him.

"We're heading out in a bit. I'll have to trouble you, Brother Wen Yu-help your Old Brother look after our home," Sun Ruixing said, making his request.

"No problem. But Sun-Ge, you really plan to take these people with no combat ability at all out there?" Wen Yu asked. Seeing the elderly in the courtyard stuffing luggage into the vehicles as if they were moving house, he felt especially helpless at one sight: an auntie in her seventies was even cramming pots, bowls, and ladles into Sun Ruixing's big truck. Were they really that sure the Government had completely stabilized the crisis?

Wen Yu said to Sun Ruixing seriously, "You should understand what it's like outside. Bringing them along-setting aside their safety for the moment-even your own safety will drop by a large margin."

"It shouldn't be a problem, right? We'll take the road we cleared out before. That route isn't very dangerous," Sun Ruixing said hesitantly. "And for some reason, there've been a lot fewer Mutant Beast these past few days."

"What to do is your business. I'm just reminding you. I'll wait here until nightfall today, and then I'll leave. Before I go, there won't be any problems at the Camp-that's my promise to you, and it counts as repaying the kindness of those meals."

Wen Yu made the promise to Sun Ruixing in earnest.

"Then I'm relieved." Sun Ruixing patted Wen Yu on the shoulder and said happily.

Wen Yu watched as Sun Ruixing organized manpower and arranged the Camp's Patrol Team.

Wen Yu sat down directly on the steps in front of the main house, watching everyone in the Camp bustle about. A sense of loneliness rose up unbidden. The people busying themselves in front of him had never experienced the cruelty of the Apocalypse-everything they were doing was a waste of time.

And time was life; it was the guarantee of staying alive.

Sun Ruixing took a large group of elderly people and got into the vehicles. Besides Sun Ruixing's big truck, there was also a half-derelict bus. Inside the bus, a group of middle-aged women chattered noisily, as if they were heading out on a spring outing.

Several elderly people sat in the private cars at the back. Watching the Vehicle Convoy about to depart, smiles spread across their faces.

They thought they were heading toward a good life in a time of peace, but in Wen Yu's eyes, those few vehicles were clearly driving straight into hell.

"Goodbye, everyone. We're going to take a look at Mudanjiang City. If things are good in Mudanjiang City, we'll come back to pick you up. And Hu-Hu-where'd he run off to?"

From atop the big truck, Sun Ruixing didn't see Lin Hu and shouted loudly.

"Sun-Ge, I'm here." Lin Hu slipped out from the side, as if he'd gone to check the Patrol Team's patrol route.

"Guard the place well. If there's anything you can't handle, you can go to that Young Brother we brought back yesterday-he's very strong." Sun Ruixing reminded him, nodded toward Wen Yu in the distance, then started the big truck and drove out in the lead.

Lin Hu watched as the entire Vehicle Convoy went farther and farther away. A flicker of complicated emotion passed through his eyes. He turned back, nodded to Wen Yu, and walked straight out.

Wen Yu looked at the Vehicle Convoy receding into the distance and couldn't help sighing. He didn't think any further about what would become of them, and quietly sat on the steps, wiping down his Steel Blade.

…

As the Vehicle Convoy traveled farther away, in the private car in the middle, Grandpa Sun looked at the people around him. In the front seats-the driver and the passenger-were two Class Holders, while the back row was filled with elderly people like himself.

Grandpa Sun took out the incense Mayor Li had given him last night, then pulled out the lighter he'd prepared in the morning. Ignoring the surprised looks from the others, he lit the incense. A foul, fishy stench immediately spread through the car, then drifted farther and farther away through the open window.

"What's Grandpa Sun doing?" The young man in the passenger seat sniffed the stink filling the car-as if someone had lost control of their bladder and bowels-and couldn't help frowning.

"Hehe. This is a treasure I kept from back in the day-something to ward off evil. We're heading out this time, and this Old Man knows it's dangerous. I'm just hoping for a good outcome. So I'm lighting a stick of incense, paying my respects." Grandpa Sun said dryly.

The two Class Holders in front muttered a couple of lines-by the look of it, nothing nice-then stopped paying attention to Grandpa Sun and chatted among themselves.

"Wang-Ge, what do you think is going on these past two days? In our Hualin Town, there've been fewer and fewer Zombies and those Mutated animals," the Class Holder in the passenger seat asked.

"How would I know? Isn't it better if there are fewer of those things? If it were like before, with a few Big Dogs popping out at the slightest provocation, wouldn't we be in even more danger?" Wang-Ge replied as he drove.

"True enough. Oh right, Wang-Ge-I'm telling you, a couple days ago I went out and saw other Survivors. Seems like there's also a Stronghold over by the Town Government. I even chatted with them a bit. They say there are lots of young girls in there." The young man in the passenger seat gave a lewd grin.

"You little Kid-focus on driving. And there are elderly folks in the back; stop talking about useless crap." Wang-Ge laughed and scolded him.

"Hehehe. When we get the chance, we should mention it to Boss Sun, see if he can organize some kind of matchmaking or something." Not long after the Apocalypse began, with all of Hualin Town seemingly sinking into an eerie calm, the other Survivors failed to realize that an even greater danger was about to arrive. Instead, they believed the disaster had already moved far away, and started thinking about things that had nothing to do with survival.