Chapter 330
Very soon, Tang Yuan left with the little dragon, who had turned into a cat, and the little phoenix.
Although Yan Lie had a bit of regret, since he had already promised Xiao Longhui, he didn’t go back on his word. Instead, he traded 50 liters of beginner healing decoction with Tang Yuan.
“I’ll go find the Sea Dragon Clan first and see if they need this. Once you have time, you can come with me to meet them.”
The Sea Dragon Clan probably didn’t need the little phoenix, but if the healing potion proved effective, they would definitely have a large demand. They couldn’t rely on the Fire Dragon Clan to run errands forever.
“Alright, thank you both!” Tang Yuan replied happily.
Then, he returned to his original world.
During this time, Zhou Qi and Tang Sheng had already established Store No. 26. After transferring the more than two thousand local survivors to the small city via the teleportation array, they set out again.
From the map, it looked like they had arrived at a new shelter today, and perhaps new survivors would soon be relocated.
However, judging from the time they were stuck there, it seemed the team had run into trouble.
[Handsome Congee]: Nothing serious, we’ll sort it out soon.
Seeing Zhou Qi’s reply, Tang Yuan relaxed.
But what he didn’t know was that, on the other side, Tang Sheng, Liang Jin, and the others were on the verge of losing it.
After Zhou Qi dealt with the mutated creatures circling in the air and cleared obstacles on the ground, their aircraft landed at this new shelter.
They had thought it would go as smoothly as the first time, but instead, they walked into a tiger’s den.
In this shelter, the assembled ability users hadn’t chosen to protect civilians. Instead, they had formed a new regime. They gathered the refugees and enslaved them.
After the collapse of social order, in a world where the strong prey on the weak, both the beauty and ugliness of human nature are laid bare.
Tang Sheng had been struggling to survive in the apocalypse for over half a year. He had encountered bad people before, but honestly, he had never seen something this disgusting.
Zhou Qi, however, wasn’t surprised at all.
When An’an wasn’t around, his luck always seemed a little worse—he had gotten used to it. 🙂
The ability users of the base initially saw the ten imposing aircraft and thought the national team had arrived, so they held back. But when they saw Liang Jin and the others, they grew bolder.
Those who came with Liang Jin were elite, but compared to the ability users at this base, they were obviously inferior in both equipment and aura.
As a result, they were ambushed.
Sensing something was wrong, Tang Sheng lay down on his pillow without hesitation. The soldiers were momentarily stunned, then quickly gathered around him.
The ambush by the rebels was easily neutralized.
Then Zhou Qi made his move.
Faced with mutated beasts and aberrations, he had always been composed. Against these mere hundreds of ability users, they were no match for him at all.
Amid flashes of destructive abilities, the young man in a black cloak and dark mask looked like a true god of death. Almost no one could withstand even one of his attacks.
After the majority of rebels were killed or injured, the rest fled in terror.
As the rebels’ screams echoed, Tang Sheng sat up from the ground, staring dazedly at Zhou Qi’s back.
He knew Zhou Qi was strong and had seen him fight aberrations before. But… killing people was still different from killing monsters.
Tang Sheng asked himself—if it were him, could he do the same? Probably not.
It wasn’t that he thought Zhou Qi was wrong, but seeing him act with such ease made him uneasy.
This meant… this likely wasn’t Zhou Qi’s first time doing this.
Yes, after all, Xiao Qi and An’an had spent so long in that wasteland world. It wasn’t surprising for things like this to happen.
Still, Tang Sheng’s hands trembled.
They had missed out on too much of those two children’s growth. Could he and Ayun really stop them from being together?
Though to outsiders it seemed like Zhou Qi had gone on a killing spree, he was actually very calm.
He had learned aura-reading from Gu Ganli. The people here were covered in black aura so thick it was almost tangible—proof that they were irredeemably evil.
So he didn’t feel much guilt.
Of course, Zhou Qi didn’t enjoy killing. He just wanted to end it quickly.
Once the rebels fled, he didn’t pursue. Instead, he turned to look at Tang Sheng.
Snapping out of his daze, Tang Sheng scrambled to his feet and quickly organized the team to find a suitable building for a new branch store and to activate the protective barrier.
Zhou Qi’s prestige in the team naturally rose even further.
Meanwhile—
Just as Tang Yuan received Zhou Qi’s message, a system notification popped up.
[You have completed a loss-making trade with a new customer. EXP +3]
Only when Tang Yuan personally made a loss-making deal would he gain experience points—his employees wouldn’t count. So…
He had a thought and quickly opened the map to check.
On the map, a glowing point appeared in the lower-right corner. It stood out clearly on the fog-covered map.
It must be the drift bottle he had sent out—it had reached a blood-related family member!
“System, why was this a real-time notification this time?”
He remembered that when he’d traded with people from other planes before via drift bottles, no alert had popped up.
[You’re in the same plane this time, so instant settlement is available.]
“Oh, that’s why!”
Tang Yuan smiled and rushed off to share the good news with Tang Xueyun.
“They’re really still alive?” Tang Xueyun couldn’t hide her excitement. “So how do we find them? Wait for your dad to return?”
Tang Yuan thought for a moment, then shook his head. “Let’s go ourselves.”
“Just the two of us? Is that okay?” Tang Xueyun hesitated. It felt too risky.
“Mom, I’m really strong too!”
Tang Yu’an patted his chest and said, “I’m mainly worried that if we wait too long, they won’t be able to hold on.”
His dad and Brother Xiaoqi were escorting a flight team and wouldn’t be back anytime soon. In the apocalyptic world, anyone struggling to survive could die at any moment. Now that someone had appeared on the map, there was no way he could just stand by and do nothing.
If only the main shop could come to the original world, then they could make a fixed-point jump to the location.
Unfortunately, the cross-world teleportation array was inside the main shop. If they brought the shop over, the teleportation function would be disabled.
Plus, Iceflame Fort still needed the protection of the main shop’s shield. They would have to wait a while, until the Iceflame General Store met the upgrade requirements.
Thankfully, he had packed food and some Purple Thousand-Layer powder into the drift bottle. The relative with whom he shared a bloodline should be able to hold on for a bit longer.
Eventually, Tang Xueyun was persuaded.
“I want to come too,” said Tang Yuxin.
“It’s so dangerous out there—why would you come along?” Tang Xueyun immediately objected.
“I don’t want to be left here alone…”
Seeing the girl about to cry, Tang Yu’an quickly comforted her, “Okay, okay, we’ll all go. A family should always stay together.”
He was actually quite confident about this trip. After all, he had just retrieved over 30 million points’ worth of Purple Thousand-Layer Leaves from the vending machine warehouse in the alternate dimension!
Each leaf was worth 100 points. Combined with what he had already saved, that meant—
He now had nearly 400,000 Purple Thousand-Layer Leaves!
How many leaves does one tree even have? Tang Yu’an figured the giants had probably stripped quite a few of those trees bald in exchange for good food.
He decided there was no need to grind the leaves into powder—just stuffing the entire aircraft full of them should be enough to keep any mutated creatures away.
It was basically a flying insect repeller!
Tang Xueyun thought that made sense too. Plus, they had used the super printing machine to make cloth from the Purple Thousand-Layer Leaves, which also had a repelling effect.
Wearing clothes made from that cloth, mutated creatures wouldn’t dare come close either.
With that level of protection, it really didn’t seem so dangerous after all.
So, they headed to the rooftop of the southern city’s general store, where Tang Yu’an purchased a new aircraft and began setting it up.
Not only did they pack the inside of the aircraft full of Purple Thousand-Layer Leaves, but they also painted the exterior with a special coating made from leaf powder—making it practically foolproof.
Tang Yu’an also summoned all of his pets: Black Pearl, Yuanbao, Wangcai, Yinbi, the little phoenix, the dragon cub, and Emerald, who always protected him at crucial moments. With all of them around, there was no need to fear any mutated creatures.
Once everything was ready, they boarded the aircraft.
“We’re heading out?”
“Let’s go!”
Tang Yu’an loaded the system map onto the aircraft’s dashboard—this was a new feature unlocked after the last system upgrade. Of course, it also cost points to use.
But Tang Yu’an felt the expense was worth it because—
With them at the center, the map fog within a 1-kilometer radius automatically cleared!
As the autopilot kicked in, the aircraft slowly lifted off. Since it didn’t have a stealth function, people on the ground quickly noticed it.
Everyone began talking when they saw the aircraft rising.
It ascended high into the sky—but instead of flying off, it just hovered in place.
“That’s a Peace Chamber aircraft, right? Why isn’t it moving? What are they doing up there?”
Tang Yu’an hadn’t anticipated this. He had considered many variables—but not the weather.
Once they ascended and exited the protective shield, they found the outside was filled with thick fog.
Their visibility was severely limited, and the aircraft’s autopilot system, being fairly standard, couldn’t operate in such heavy fog.
Even with the system map available, the autopilot went on strike and refused to move no matter how he urged it.
Was this trip already doomed?
“Chirp chirp chirp—!”
Suddenly, Ruby’s chirping echoed out.
Tang Yu’an was startled—it was clearly coming from outside!
He looked around and saw the little phoenix had somehow gotten outside. It stood proudly on the windowsill, chirping loudly.
“Ruby! Get back inside! It’s dangerous out there!”
The little phoenix puffed out its chest, struck a proud pose, and then leapt off the ledge.
Even though he knew it could fly, Tang Yu’an still rushed to the window, panicked—then his eyes widened.
A massive phoenix, at least five or six meters long, slowly rose into the air.
Its wings burned like fire, and it danced through the sky like a divine bird from legend—holy, majestic, and breathtaking.
Not only were Tang Yu’an and his family stunned, even the people on the ground were awestruck.
The dense fog around them quickly dissipated under the phoenix’s fiery wings, revealing the stunning scene more clearly.
“It’s a phoenix! A real phoenix from legend!”
“A divine bird has descended?!”
“Is that really a phoenix? Do mythical creatures really exist?”
Suddenly, someone in the crowd cried out—
“Look! It’s a dragon!”
A clear, youthful dragon roar echoed through the air. Beside the dancing phoenix, a long, elegant figure emerged.
It was a dragon!
Its scales shimmered with hues of blue and purple, glowing with a radiant light in the fire’s reflection.
The phoenix and dragon soared and played together in the sky. As they frolicked, the thick fog over the land gradually lifted.
Sunlight once again bathed the earth, and the sky returned to a brilliant blue.
“Dragon and phoenix bring prosperity!”
“Is the world finally getting better? Is the apocalypse ending?”
“Ahh! Does anyone have a phone? Quick—take a picture!”
Tang Yu’an also stared blankly at the thinning fog.
When the little phoenix ran off, the dragon cub had eagerly wanted to follow. Unable to resist, he had opened the window.
He was going to cancel the trip, but he hadn’t expected the two little ones to actually disperse the fog.
As the aircraft’s systems resumed normal operation, Tang Yu’an smiled.
“Then let’s get going!”
As for the phoenix and the dragon cub, Tang Yu’an didn’t worry about them for now. With their power, mutated creatures likely wouldn’t dare approach anyway.
So, under the watchful eyes of the crowd, the Peace Chamber’s aircraft took off—escorted by a dragon and a phoenix—and disappeared into the distance…
