Chapter 131: Encountering the Betrayers
“Why did it take so long? That group was from the Li family. I saw them drive off earlier. Did something happen?” Lin Yimu asked, concerned.
Xiong Jie gave a brief rundown. “We really don’t have the strength to go on. Let’s find a place to rest and treat our wounds.”
“Alright, let me find somewhere,” Lin Yimu looked around at the roadside buildings.
Not long after, a voice came through the walkie-talkie—“There’s a truck following us,” said Chen Zhong.
Li Zhuang glanced in the rearview mirror. “Those are the ones the Li family abandoned. They’re no threat.”
They chose a roadside budget hotel as a temporary rest spot. It had only five floors, so even if there were zombies upstairs, they likely wouldn’t be many. Some went to clear out the zombies while the cars were parked to block the front entrance, ensuring no more could get in. Then, they headed inside.
As they regrouped on the first floor, the people from the truck followed them in.
“They don’t have any powers,” Li Zhuang whispered to the others, staying alert. He stood at the entrance with a blood-dripping triangular blade, his fierce demeanor stopping the others from stepping inside.
Just as they were debating whether to let them in, voices shouted from outside:
“Chen Zhong, let us in! We’re all former coworkers from the same company, please!”
“President Wu, please! There are zombies coming!”
“Manager Chen, save us!”
“Shen Xing, Shen Xing, I was wrong. Please, save me!”
The three people being called—Chen Zhong, Wu Yue, and Shen Xing—all looked uncomfortable. Lu Weiyi turned to look at Wu Yue. Ning Yuan answered quietly:
“They used to work under Mingxu.”
Used to—until they betrayed him halfway through…
“Oh.” Lu Weiyi didn’t say more. He turned and walked upstairs.
“Qingyue, help treat everyone’s wounds.”
“Got it.” Gu Qingyue followed him up. The rest trickled upstairs as well.
Shen Xing and Chen Zhong looked at Wu Yue. Did Wu Yue hate them?
Of course—he hated them deeply. Some of these people had been dug out of the ruins by him and Zhuang Mingxu. Yet in his darkest hour, they turned their backs without mercy and even took a large share of their supplies.
Wu Yue often didn’t dare think about what would’ve happened if Lu Weiyi hadn’t shown up. What kind of fate would he have faced?
But now, looking at their miserable state, Wu Yue suddenly felt at peace. Like that saying: Seeing you suffer brings me peace of mind.
“Come in. Stay on the first floor. Don’t make any noise.” Wu Yue stepped aside from the doorway.
The dozen people scrambled inside, slamming the door behind them as if that thin pane of glass could protect them.
Wu Yue looked around. Aside from one or two unfamiliar faces, the rest were clearly the former betrayers. “What happened to you?”
“The Li family… they’re heartless. We joined them, and they made us search for supplies with the powered ones. But we were just bait—to lure zombies. Today, when that black dog showed up, they ran off and left us. If we hadn’t risked our lives to keep one truck, we’d all be dead now.” A man around Chen Zhong’s age said, slumping to the ground in tears. “My son… my son got bitten by a zombie. My wife… she killed herself…”
His words clearly triggered painful memories in the others, and soon, the first floor was filled with low sobs.
Wu Yue nodded silently and turned to head upstairs.
“Wu Yue, I saw you… back in the flour factory…” The man looked up and said as Wu Yue didn’t respond.
“Oh.” So the Li family had been scared off by the black dog, and his group took the supplies. That wasn’t theft. Wu Yue didn’t care in the slightest and responded flatly.
“Aren’t you afraid I’ll tell the Li family?” the man asked again.
“Tell them what? That they ran scared from a mutated dog? Or that someone else killed it and took the supplies?” Wu Yue scoffed, looking at the man like he was an idiot.
As the three men turned to go upstairs, a woman’s tearful voice called out again—
“Shen Xing.”
Shen Xing froze at the sound.
“Shen Xing…” The voice repeated, soft and sobbing.
Shen Xing sighed and turned around.
The woman’s face was dirty, her clothes ill-fitting and torn, covered in dust and barely concealing the suggestive marks underneath. She looked nothing like the lively girl in his memories.
“Bai Lu.”
“What’s going on?” They were standing right by the stairwell, so everyone on the second floor could hear. Ning Yuan asked Wu Yue curiously.
“His fiancée. She ran off with one of Li Ji’s powered men.” Wu Yue said it loud, clearly for Shen Xing to hear.
The men upstairs didn’t comment. Even if they looked down on her, they wouldn’t say anything. After all, being selfish wasn’t the worst crime.
Bai Lu obviously heard Wu Yue’s words. Her body stiffened. She looked at Shen Xing, tears streaming down her face.
Shen Xing just looked at her silently, not saying a single word.
After a moment, seeing that she didn’t intend to speak, Shen Xing turned over the backpack he was carrying and took out all the food inside, handing it to Bai Lu.
Bai Lu shook her head, crying softly.
“Take it. Let this make up for the past. I never blamed you, but there’s nothing left to talk about in the future. Next time we meet… let’s just be strangers.” Shen Xing pushed the items toward her, then turned and went upstairs.
Was he heartbroken?
Of course he was. Before the apocalypse, they had been planning to get married. After it started, he was the first to find her and protected her. Even when Li Ji appeared with a group of ability users, with the supplies Zhuang Mingxu had prepared in advance, she never had to suffer. Shen Xing never understood why she left him. But now, he no longer wanted to dwell on it.
There was no need. It was pointless.
People have to look forward.
*
With the large haul from the flour factory, the group didn’t go out to scavenge again. After resting, they simply swept the surrounding streets, killing zombies and collecting crystal nuclei.
The dozen or so people downstairs kept following them. No one protected them on purpose, but no one forced them to leave either. If they could keep up, they did. If not—if anything happened—no one would help.
At first, some cursed and complained. But later, whether from exhaustion or fear of the team’s zombie-killing prowess, they went silent. In the end, they just focused on killing zombies or scavenging quietly.
Around noon, per Zhuang Mingxu’s advice, the group rested for over three hours, resuming their sweep around 4 PM. That evening, the group safely returned to base—with the tagalongs in tow.
It’s unclear what kind of message this group thought they had received, but after entering the base, they actually tried to rejoin the Only Team. Wu Yue cursed and mocked them directly to their faces. No one dared to say another word after that.
The next day, the Li Family’s head, Li Ling, came to knock on the villa’s door with several ability users and a few from that group.
During the day, the villa was usually occupied only by Xi Shi, and the gate was always locked. If you weren’t one of their own, don’t expect Xi Shi to open the door.
Though the Li family led the base, there were countless people waiting to stab them in the back. They didn’t dare break in openly.
They knocked for ages, but Xi Shi refused to open the door, saying only: “If you need something, go to the Greenfield Community.”
Apart from a few residential buildings, the rest of the Greenfield Community had been converted into farmland by Zhuang Mingxu. Plots of land were planted with various crops, mostly for seed preservation. Aside from using plant abilities at set times to accelerate growth, the wood-type ability users spent most of their time directly maturing fruits and vegetables.
The entrance was fenced off with a tall gate. From outside, you could see everything inside.
Most of the land had been turned into fields. Near a few of the residential buildings, a row of simple sheds had been set up—formerly used by scavengers to sort through supplies. Now, only a few wood-type ability users who had exhausted their powers were sitting inside resting.
Though Li Ling had heard about Zhuang Mingxu’s big moves, he never thought it would affect him personally, so he hadn’t paid much attention until now.
He asked someone to call for entry, looked around, and asked, “Is this whole area enclosed with collapsed buildings?”
“Yes. It only took them one night,” replied someone nearby.
“One night?” Li Ling was surprised. That was no small task.
“Yeah. It caused quite a stir in the base. People thought their team had some powerful new abilities. But later, he personally clarified—they had everyone with space abilities pack up the debris and place it where it needed to go.”
“Using spatial powers to carry dirt and rubble, that’s quite generous,” Li Ling commented, then paused. “When we’re out gathering supplies, we could also have spatial users pack things up and drop them straight onto the trucks. That would really save on transport time.”
The surrounding ability users quickly caught on and agreed to try that next time.
Li Ling, unexpectedly pleased by this insight, was in a good mood. “You guys need to learn to be more flexible. Have you figured out how many spatial users they have?”
“Inside the base, only Zhuang Mingxu is known to have one. As for their scavenging team, no one knows for sure. They keep to themselves, don’t interact much, and there’s no way to find out.”
After a few calls from outside, someone inside responded. Soon, someone came and opened the gate, letting them in.
Vehicles weren’t allowed inside, so despite the early morning heat, the group had to walk. At the far end, several rooms made of colored steel panels had been set up.
Zhuang Mingxu sat inside a fully enclosed four-wheeled electric vehicle and gave a distant nod to Li Ling. “Mr. Li.”
“In the apocalypse, there’s no need for titles like that. Just call me by name,” Li Ling replied. His company had no previous ties with Zhuang Mingxu—he only knew him in passing. “That little vehicle’s nice. Electric?”
“Yep. Since I’m partially disabled, I needed a means of transportation. Xiao Yi specifically found one for me.” In fact, when they passed by a dealership, Lu Weiyi had looted the entire place.
Thank you for the chapter