Chapter 33
Chu Yang rubbed his sore eyes and pressed his fingertips against his brow, unable to stop himself from grumbling, “This place doesn’t look that big, so why is it so hard to track down one cold storage facility? My vision is practically blurry from staring out the window, and I haven’t even seen a trace of it. Man, what I wouldn’t give for working GPS right now.”
Jiang Jue kept his hands steady on the steering wheel, his sharp gaze sweeping methodically across every alley and intersection. Hearing the complaint, he turned his head to glance at the passenger seat.
Clear exhaustion hung over the young man’s features, and the rims of his eyes were tinged with a faint red—the inevitable result of hours spent straining to spot landmarks through the frost.
Jiang Jue’s Adam’s apple bobbed slightly. When he spoke, his voice was low, carrying a rare, quiet tenderness: “If you’re tired, close your eyes and rest for a bit. Recline the seat and lie back; I’ll wake you when we get there.”
Chu Yang blinked, slightly startled, and turned to look at him.
Jiang Jue was already looking straight ahead again, his profile sharp and steady, but the concern in his words had been unmistakable.
A pleasant warmth bloomed in Chu Yang’s chest, a faint smile tugging at the corner of his lips. He gave a small shake of his head. “Nah, I’m not that wiped out. Let’s keep looking together. If we really hit a dead end, then I’ll take a nap.”
Jiang Jue let his gaze linger on Chu Yang’s face for a heartbeat before giving a subtle nod.
After driving for another half hour or so, just as Chu Yang’s patience was wearing thin—his hand already reaching for the door handle to suggest searching on foot—the SUV behind them suddenly accelerated, pulling up alongside the RV.
Lin Xiao rolled down his window, leaned an arm out, and pointed eagerly ahead. His voice carried over the howling wind and swirling snow, trembling with pure excitement: “Third Brother! Brother Jiang! Look up ahead! A blue roof! It’s right over there in that industrial park!”
Everyone followed his finger. Sure enough, nestled within the industrial district near the old cargo pier, a massive structure with a vibrant blue roof rose against the gray sky.
Even from a distance, the sheer scale of the complex was obvious. A large wooden signboard hung above the main gate, battered and faded by years of wind and rain, but with a little effort, the bold characters could still be made out: XX Cold Chain Logistics Center.
“Yes! We finally found it!” Chu Yang slapped the dashboard in sheer delight, nearly denting the trim. “What did I say? Hard work pays off! This trip wasn’t a waste after all! We definitely need to cook up a feast later to celebrate!”
Jiang Jue eased his foot onto the brake, bringing the RV to a smooth stop in an open clearing several dozen meters away from the warehouse gates.
He cut the engine and sat in silence for a moment, listening intently to the surrounding air. Confirming there were no guttural roars or suspicious noises, he pushed the driver’s door open, stepped down into the slush, and surveyed the perimeter with cautious eyes.
Back in the SUV, Lin Weiwei pulled her heavy coat tightly around her shoulders. Gazing out at the eerie, deathly quiet industrial lot and the towering, sealed doors of the warehouse, her heart began to beat wildly against her ribs.
After hesitating for a moment, she rolled down the window and called out to the group with a fragile, timid expression: “Um… it’s way too quiet out here, almost terrifying… How about I just wait in the car?”
She paused, her eyes darting across their faces before she offered a meek explanation: “If I stay behind, I can keep an eye on the vehicles. If any zombies wander over, I can honk the horn to give you a warning. Besides… I don’t have any powers. If I go inside, I won’t be able to help, and I might just end up getting in your way.”
Chu Yang and the others exchanged glances.
Jiang Jue remained completely impassive, clearly indifferent to whatever she chose to do; Chu Yang stroked his chin, thinking there was some solid sense to her reasoning—bringing her along would only add dead weight, and if real danger broke out, protecting an extra person would be a headache; Su Mubai, gentle as always, agreed that leaving her in the safety of the car was probably best.
Seeing how frightened she looked, Lin Xiao walked over to the SUV window and gave her a reassuring smile. “Alright, stay inside, then. Lock the doors and don’t step out under any circumstances. If anything happens, lean on the horn, and we’ll rush right back.”
Lin Weiwei nodded hurriedly, relief washing over her face. “Thank you, Brother Xiao. Please be careful out there.”
With that settled, the four men made their way toward the entrance of the facility.
Reaching the front of the complex, they found the main building constructed of thick, reinforced concrete, built like an impenetrable fortress. The entrance was sealed shut by a heavy industrial security door, fitted so tightly that ordinary tools wouldn’t stand a chance.
Lin Xiao circled the perimeter, running his fingers across the electronic panel mounted beside the frame, his brow furrowing deeply. “This door is locked tight with an electronic keypad and a card scanner. Now that the power grid is down and we don’t have a keycard, we’re stuck.”
Chu Yang crowded in, standing on his tiptoes to inspect the mechanism before turning back to Jiang Jue. “What if we just use brute force? Brother Jiang, your Lightning Ability is ridiculously strong—think you could blast the lock to pieces?”
Jiang Jue gave a brief nod and stepped forward to test the mechanism.
Before he could raise his hand, the aggressive roar of an engine shattered the desolate quiet of the industrial park. The sound approached at breakneck speed, dripping with reckless arrogance. Three heavily modified off-road trucks skidded around the street corner, their chassis covered in deep gouges and dented armor, their massive tires churning through the snowbanks and throwing plumes of slush into the air.
Screeech—!
Brakes locked with a deafening squeal as the three vehicles swung around, boxing Chu Yang and his group in a crude semi-circle. The maneuver was aggressive and deliberately sloppy, sending a wave of dirty snow and grit flying straight onto Chu Yang and the others.
“Ptui, ptui, ptui… Damn it! What is wrong with you people?!” Spitting out a mouthful of gritty snow, Chu Yang dusted his coat in irritation, his temper flaring. “Driving like maniacs—are you in a hurry to get reincarnated?! Learn how to use a brake! Anyone watching would think a horde of zombies was biting your rear bumpers!”
Before he could finish his rant, the doors of the trucks flew open, and seven or eight burly men stepped out. Dressed in heavy military parkas and thick winter coats, they were armed to the teeth with steel pipes, rusted machetes, and a couple of crude hunting crossbows. Trouble was written all over them.
Leading the pack was a rough-looking, middle-aged man with a jagged scar carved into the left side of his face, stretching from the corner of his eye down to his jawline. His gaze was venomous, and when he smirked, he revealed a mouthful of stained, yellow teeth, practically reeking of thuggish arrogance.
“Well, well! Looks like perfect timing!” The scarred leader eyed Chu Yang’s group before his gaze locked onto the cold storage facility behind them, pure greed flashing in his eyes. “Boys, looks like these kids did the hard work of scouting the place for us! Saves us the trouble of wandering around in the cold!”
Chu Yang bristled immediately. Stepping in front of the main entrance with an eyebrow raised, he snapped, “Hold on a second! We found this cold storage first. Are you blind, or can’t you see us standing right here? Ever heard of first come, first served?”
“First come, first served?” A scrawny thug with dyed red hair standing beside the leader scoffed. Stepping forward, he looked Chu Yang up and down with sneering contempt. “Kid, this is the apocalypse, and you’re crying about first come, first served? Let me teach you a lesson: in this world, whoever has the biggest fist makes the rules! If you know what’s good for you, get lost and leave the loot to us, otherwise…”
He gave the broad machete in his hand a deliberate, threatening toss.
Lin Xiao, who had kept quiet until now, let his expression darken as his aura turned lethal. Stepping up shoulder-to-shoulder with Chu Yang, he stared down the red-haired thug with eyes as cold as ice. “Sounds like you’re itching for a fight.”
“And what if we are?” A bald brute in the pack barked out a raspy, grating laugh. He slammed a heavy fist against his muscular chest, shouting with absolute arrogance, “My fists hit a hell of a lot harder than yours! Looking at how soft you boys are, don’t start crying for your mommies the second we start throwing hands!”
Chu Yang’s face settled into an icy smirk. His gaze swept over the gang, dripping with mockery: “Man, were you guys petty street thugs before the world ended? Talking this loud—did you really think having a couple of heavy fists meant you could run the world? Looks to me like you haven’t taken a proper beating yet!”
“You’re looking to die, brat!” The red-haired man’s face flushed with rage. With a sharp whoosh, a fist-sized fireball ignited above his palm, crackling with intense heat. “See this?! I’m a Fire Ability user! If you don’t want to get roasted like a pig on a spit, get the hell out of our way!”
Just then, a neat, scholarly-looking man wearing wire-rimmed glasses stepped out from the back of their group. Clad in a clean down jacket, his refined appearance looked wildly out of place among the rough thugs. Pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose, he cast a calculating glance over Chu Yang’s party before leaning close to the scarred leader, muttering in a low voice: “Boss, don’t waste your breath on them. The warehouse is secured by an electronic lock; we need to force it open quickly before complications arise. If the noise draws other scavenging groups, we’ll lose our advantage.”
Seeing this, Chu Yang turned to Lin Xiao and deliberately called out in a loud, clear voice: “Old Lin, look at the guy with the glasses! Looks decent on the outside, but runs with a pack of scum. He’s definitely the sleazy advisor of the gang—the type who sits in the back cooking up dirty schemes!”
The bespectacled man’s expression twisted in fury. He shot Chu Yang a vicious, venomous glare, though he restrained himself from shouting, instead urging the leader through gritted teeth: “Boss, stop wasting time. Wipe them out fast so we can get inside.”
The scarred leader spat a glob of blood-tinged phlegm into the snow, grinding his yellow teeth as he leveled a murderous look at Chu Yang. “Kid, you’ve got quite a mouth on you. If I don’t break every bone in your body today, you won’t know what real pain feels like!”
Chu Yang took a theatrically timid step behind Jiang Jue, drooping his shoulders in mock fear, though a teasing smirk played at the corner of his lips: “Oh, I’m so scared! That scar on your face looks like an overgrown centipede—did you get slashed in a street brawl back in the day, or did a zombie bite you while you were busy stealing scrap metal?”
“You little bastard!” The veins along the scarred man’s temples bulged violently, clearly hit right where it hurt. He raised an arm, about to order his thugs to charge.
Throughout the entire confrontation, Jiang Jue had remained quietly at Chu Yang’s side. With his hands casually resting in the pockets of his windbreaker, his dark eyes had stayed as unreadable as frozen stone. Yet the atmosphere around him had grown suffocatingly heavy, the swirling wind biting with an unnatural, lethal chill.
Only when the scarred leader raised his hand to signal the attack did Jiang Jue finally speak.
His voice wasn’t raised, yet the quiet, chilling words sent a shiver straight down the spines of everyone on the opposing side:
“If you want to fight, step up. Save the useless chatter.”
