Chapter 49: Kindness?
Chu Yang’s brows knitted tightly as he rapidly took count in his head: seventeen people in total! While not a massive group, it was certainly a considerable number.
Feeding so many mouths was an impossible task. His spatial storage held plenty of provisions, but in this ruined world, supplies only dwindled by the day. No one knew when or where they might find their next cache, so he had to prioritize his own survival, along with Jiang Jue’s and the rest of his team.
Besides, more people invariably meant more trouble.
In the apocalypse, human nature was entirely unpredictable. Who could guarantee there weren’t individuals with hidden agendas lurking among them? Who knew what dangers they might bring?
He certainly had no desire to play out a real-life version of The Farmer and the Snake, where an act of kindness ended up bringing disaster upon his own head.
Lin Xiao looked over the sallow, gaunt survivors, whose eyes were filled with raw terror. His gaze lingered on the few young children among them—their innocent faces had been worn down by the horrors of the wasteland, stripped of all childlike brightness—and an uneasy ache tugged at his chest.
He remembered what he had looked like when he first fled the university: just as helpless, just as terrified. If he hadn’t been lucky enough to trail behind a few groups of Ability Users back then, he likely would have ended up as zombie food long ago.
His lips parted, but he ultimately held his tongue. Instead, he cast a questioning glance toward Jiang Jue—decisions like this belonged solely to the leader.
Jiang Jue’s answer came without a second of hesitation, sharp and uncompromising: “No.”
His cold gaze swept across the crowd. His voice was not loud, yet it carried the heavy weight of an iron decree: “We are heading for N City. The journey is long and dangerous. A large group makes an easy target and invites unnecessary trouble. We cannot guarantee your safety, nor will we provide food or shelter. Find your own way to survive.”
The desperate hope in the survivors’ eyes dimmed instantly, replaced by a crushing wave of despair and panic.
“I beg of you!” An elderly man with graying hair stepped forward, tremblingly clutching the hand of a little boy who looked no older than seven or eight. The child’s cheeks were flushed bright red from the biting frost, a thin trail of mucus frozen at the tip of his nose, yet he clung tightly to his grandfather without crying.
With a dull thud, the old man dropped to his knees in the snowdrift, sinking deep into the white powder. His voice broke with choked sobs: “It doesn’t matter if an old bag of bones like me dies, but my grandson is still so young! Please, have mercy and give this child a chance to live! We won’t dare approach you or cause any trouble; we’ll just… just follow far behind your tracks, is that all right?”
The little boy held fast to his grandfather’s coat, his large, dark eyes looking timidly up at Chu Yang as he murmured in a tiny voice, “Big Brother…”
A flicker of reluctant pity passed through Su Mubai’s clear eyes. He turned his head slightly, averting his gaze from the kneeling grandfather and grandson. It was not that he lacked compassion, but in this brutal world, a soft heart was often the fastest way to get dragged down.
Seeing the child’s fearful yet hopeful gaze, Chu Yang felt a quiet ache in his chest.
For a fleeting second, he seemed to see a reflection of his past self.
His parents had passed away when he was very young, leaving him just like this boy—cowering behind his grandmother, staring out at an unfamiliar, unforgiving world with the same helpless dread.
If his grandmother hadn’t shielded him, and if kind neighbors hadn’t lent a helping hand from time to time, he didn’t know if he ever would have survived to adulthood.
These were living, breathing people whose raw instinct to survive felt unimaginably heavy against the cruel, freezing backdrop of the apocalypse.
Chu Yang was neither a reborn protagonist hardened by decades of bloodshed, nor someone who had suffered bitter betrayals that turned his heart to stone. He was simply an ordinary person who had crossed into this strange reality and acquired an ability.
Within his capabilities, and without jeopardizing his own team, he truly could not bring himself to turn a blind eye to so many lives that might be snuffed out in a matter of hours.
Besides, as the old man had pleaded, they would only be “following from afar.”
The blizzard was far too heavy for driving anyway. They would have to proceed on foot, so as long as the refugees kept a safe distance, they shouldn’t pose much of a hindrance.
Chu Yang drew in a deep breath of the frigid air, the icy frost tightening his throat.
Turning toward Jiang Jue, he spoke in a soft, conciliatory tone: “Brother Jiang, this storm isn’t going to let up anytime soon. The roads are pure ice, so we can’t drive anyway. What if we let them… trail behind us at a distance? As long as they keep their space and don’t cause trouble, we can just pretend they aren’t there. If anyone does try anything crooked…”
He paused, his eyes narrowing with a sharp, decisive glint: “We aren’t pushovers.”
Hearing Chu Yang speak up, Lin Xiao quickly chimed in: “Yeah, Boss. If I hadn’t managed to tag along behind other Ability Users when I first got out of the city, I’d probably be dead in a ditch somewhere. We’re strong enough now; as long as it doesn’t slow us down, lending a hand to people in the same spot I used to be could count as… earning some good karma, right?” He scratched his head with an awkward grin. “Of course, we set the boundaries upfront: we’re only letting them walk behind us, nothing more! Everything else is entirely on them!”
Jiang Jue turned his gaze onto Chu Yang’s face.
In Chu Yang’s clear eyes, he saw compassion and persistence, but also firmly drawn boundaries. The boy was neither acting like a reckless savior nor being foolishly soft-hearted; he was merely offering the barest allowance in an unforgiving environment.
Jiang Jue glanced once more at the old man and the shivering child kneeling in the snow, taking in the sea of desperate faces clinging to a final thread of hope.
After a few moments of heavy silence, Jiang Jue closed his eyes briefly. When he opened them, the usual cold detachment had returned, though the rigid line of his jaw had softened ever so slightly.
He looked at the crowd of survivors, his voice sharp and carrying not a hint of warmth: “You may follow behind our tracks. But hear this clearly: we will provide no food, no water, no medicine, and no protection. You are entirely responsible for your own lives. If anyone tries to approach us, pester us, or harbor hidden intentions, we will eliminate the problem without hesitation. Understood?”
“Understood! We understand! Thank you! Thank you so much!” The young man in glasses who had spoken first, Chen Hao, nodded vigorously with tearful relief. “We swear we’ll keep our distance and won’t get in your way! We’ll look after ourselves!”
The rest of the group broke into desperate murmurs of gratitude. The old man pulled his grandson up, bowing repeatedly: “Thank you, thank you, kind sirs! Little Yu, hurry and thank the big brothers!”
The little boy bowed politely, his small voice trembling but clear: “Thank you, Big Brothers.”
A wave of relief washed over Chu Yang, yet a heavy sense of responsibility remained in his chest.
Without saying another word, he walked over to the side of the road where their modified camper van stood. With a single thought, the massive vehicle vanished into thin air, pulled straight into his spatial domain.
Although his storage had expanded significantly after his breakthrough, packing an entire RV inside took up a noticeable chunk of the available room.
Watching from the edge of the crowd, Jiang Lin’s eyes blazed with sudden excitement.
A spatial ability!
And it’s large enough to swallow an entire camper van whole!
Chu Yang’s value was far greater than she could have ever dreamed!
She absolutely could not let him slip away!
She was certain that as long as she found a chance to get close to him, armed with her past knowledge of his personality and her own charms, she could easily wrap this once-devoted admirer around her little finger once more!
“Let’s go,” Jiang Jue said, paying no mind to the onlookers. He took hold of Chu Yang’s wrist once again, pulling the boy along as he led the way forward, his heavy boots breaking a deep, steady trail through the thick drifts of snow.
Lin Xiao and Su Mubai fell in step right behind them.
Behind the four young men, the dozen or so survivors—including Jiang Lin, whose calculating gaze flickered with quiet determination—gathered their few belongings and hurried after them, carefully maintaining a respectful distance in the howling blizzard.
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