My Cherry Will Explode in the Apocalypse – CH87

Chapter 87: The Heavy Rain Finally Stops

Because of the torrential rain, the guards stationed outside the small building where Lin Jia was being kept had all gone indoors. There wasn’t a single person outside. Taking advantage of the cover of night, Wu Jing easily made her way to the building. Her figure swiftly dissolved into mist, floating effortlessly up to the second floor. She passed through the security bars and entered Lin Jia’s room.

Lin Jia was alone in the room. His face was pale as he lay on the bed, sleeping fitfully.

After resuming her human form, Wu Jing gently nudged him.

Because his body was unwell, Lin Jia was always a light sleeper, so he woke up almost immediately.

He looked at the unfamiliar yet beautiful woman before him in surprise. “Who are you? How did you get in here?”

“Hello, my name is Wu Jing.” Lowering her voice, Wu Jing briefly explained who she was and where she came from. Then she took out several transparent crystal cores and handed them to Lin Jia. “These are called crystal cores. They’re energy crystals formed inside zombies and can help ability users replenish their powers. Your weakness is due to overusing your ability. Just consume one crystal core and you’ll feel much better.”

Lin Jia looked skeptically at the crystal core in his hand and asked in confusion, “How do I use this?”

“Eat it.”

“Eat it?” Lin Jia stared at her in disbelief. How was he supposed to swallow something this big?

“Trust me. Once you put it in your mouth, you’ll understand.”

After hesitating for a moment, Lin Jia decided to give it a try and placed the crystal core into his mouth. Sure enough, the moment it touched his tongue, it quickly melted into a stream of liquid that flowed into his body, and his exhausted, weakened body slowly regained some strength.

It really worked?

“Miss Wu, earlier you said you were willing to take me away from here?”

“Yes. I wonder if you’d be willing to go?”

Lin Jia fell silent. In truth, he was deeply conflicted. For some time now, he had been locked up in this lightless place like a prisoner, forcing himself every day to endure his physical discomfort and treat people according to their demands. He had long since had enough and was desperate to leave—almost to the point of madness. Yet the woman before him was a complete stranger, and the Southern Base she described sounded like paradise to him. Could such a place really exist? If he left Línchéng Base for the Southern Base, would he be escaping one tiger’s den only to fall into another wolf’s lair?

Wu Jing didn’t rush him. She simply sat quietly to the side, patiently waiting for his answer.

In the end, Lin Jia agreed. He decided to gamble on his luck. If he won, he would gain his freedom and a brand-new life. If he lost, it would only mean being imprisoned in a different place—there was little difference.

“How do you plan to get me out?”

“That’s something you’ll have to ask our captain. I’m just here to pass along the message,” Wu Jing said with a smile. “Don’t worry. You’ll know when the time comes.”

After chatting a bit more, Wu Jing once again transformed into mist and left.

Watching her come and go without a trace, a faint sense of anticipation rose in Lin Jia’s heart.

Wu Jing returned silently to the small villa, not disturbing Zhang Maorong and the others resting on the first floor. She entered the second floor through a window and relayed her conversation with Lin Jia to Zhan Yun and Su Ruizhe. Since Lin Jia had agreed to leave, there shouldn’t be any major problems.

“Get some good rest. Once the rain stops, we may have a tough battle ahead.”

They enjoyed a good night’s sleep.

What they hadn’t expected, however, was that the heavy rain would last a full day and night.

It wasn’t until the morning of the third day that the rain gradually weakened, finally stopping completely by noon.

The downpour left pools of standing water everywhere in Línchéng Base, and the available labor force was organized to work on draining it.

Zhan Yun and the others, meanwhile, began packing up. Now that the rain had stopped, they were ready to leave immediately.

Zhang Maorong and his group had an old, beat-up van that could seat seven or eight people, but it was clearly not enough. Zhan Yun had Cheng Qi take a small bundle of supplies to find Xu Fengying and ask her to help secure a large vehicle with a full tank of fuel.

As a fire-type ability user, Xu Fengying had some connections in the base. It didn’t take long before she brought back a small bus. When she heard that not only were they leaving themselves, but also taking along a group of old acquaintances, she proactively asked if she could come along as well, saving them the trouble of persuading her.

The small bus had a capacity of sixteen people, more than enough for Zhang Maorong’s entire group, with room left for Lin Jia and Xu Fengying as well.

Because Zhang Maorong’s leg was injured, Du Jiang took on the task of driving, and Xu Fengying got on the bus with them. Zhan Yun instructed Du Jiang to drive straight out of the base, continue past Línchéng, and wait for them near the highway to regroup. They would stay behind to find a way to sneak Lin Jia out.

At this point, Zhang Maorong and the others followed Zhan Yun’s orders without question and drove the bus straight toward the city gate.

There was the usual questioning at the exit, but with two ability users—Zhang Maorong and Xu Fengying—in the group, the guards didn’t suspect anything and let them pass without much trouble.

When Zhan Yun and the others left the small villa, however, they ran into Fifth Master.

Or rather, it would be more accurate to say that Fifth Master had come specifically to find them. He hadn’t forgotten their words—that they would leave as soon as the rain stopped—so he came to check, worried they might try to linger.

Seeing them fully packed and ready to go put his mind at ease.

“Hahaha, looks like I came at just the right time—perfect to see you all off.”

“Many thanks, Fifth Master. Before we leave, though, we’d like to exchange for some gasoline. Do you happen to know where we could do that?”

“Of course, of course!” Hearing that they wanted gasoline made Fifth Master even more relieved, and he volunteered to take them there himself.

“Xiao Zhe, you all wait by the vehicles. Old Song and I will be right back.”

“Alright.” The two exchanged a glance, each understanding the other’s intent.

Cheng Qi and Cheng Jiao took the car keys and went to the main gate to start the vehicles, ready to provide support. Su Ruizhe led the rest of the group to rescue Lin Jia.

Luck was on their side. The area around the residential building where Lin Jia was being held was flooded, and the guards responsible for watching him were all busy on the first floor draining water, paying no attention to what was happening outside.

They smoothly made their way to the rear of the building. Dongdong activated his ability and scanned the interior, confirming that there was no one in Lin Jia’s room. Su Ruizhe then had Wu Jing, carrying a rope, enter Lin Jia’s room and warn him not to make a sound.

Su Ruizhe then released the Devouring Stele Vine, silently opening a hole in the second-floor wall so Lin Jia could crawl straight out through it.

Lin Jia secured the rope to the metal bars of the window and slowly climbed down. Once he reached the ground, Wu Jing quietly blocked the hole with a cabinet, untied the rope, and returned to the ground without making a sound.

Su Ruizhe took out a hooded sweatshirt he had prepared in advance from his backpack, helped Lin Jia put it on, and then added a mask and a scarf. Only then did they walk away as if nothing were amiss.

Everyone was busy dealing with the flooding, and no one noticed anything unusual about the group.

Even after getting into the vehicle, Lin Jia still hadn’t fully come to his senses. It felt as though he were dreaming. He never could have imagined that he would escape so easily from the prison that had held him for several months. At the same time, he was deeply impressed by these people’s efficiency. From start to finish, not a single word had been spoken. Their coordination was seamless, their movements swift, and their use of abilities extraordinarily skillful. He realized that he needed to reassess his opinion of them.

“Mr. Lin, we’ll have to trouble you to squeeze into the trunk,” Cheng Qi said. The trunk was actually quite spacious compared to the front and was ideal for hiding someone. Cheng Qi and Cheng Jiao sat loosely at the back, while Lin Jia lay on his side at the bottom, making him hard to spot from the front.

Lin Jia lay down without a single complaint. Though the position was uncomfortable, once they were out of the city, there would be no need to keep hiding like this.

Zhan Yun and Song Chengshu soon returned, carrying two canisters of gasoline, with Fifth Master and the others following behind them.

“Then we’ll be on our way. Thank you for your hospitality.”

“No need to mention it. Come again if you have the chance.”

After exchanging a few perfunctory pleasantries, Zhan Yun and Song Chengshu got into the vehicle as well.

When leaving the city, some questioning was inevitable. The nine of them crammed tightly into a single off-road vehicle. Fifth Master had already spoken to the gate guards, so they only gave the vehicle a cursory glance before letting it pass. No one noticed that there was actually one extra person inside.

The vehicle sped out of Línchéng Base and raced all the way to the rendezvous point. The yellow minibus was parked at the entrance ramp to the highway.

“I’m sorry, but we have a mission to carry out and need to head to the northwest immediately, so we can’t travel with you,” Zhan Yun said as he had Lin Jia get out of the vehicle and board the minibus instead. He handed them a map and instructed them to follow it to the Southern Base. As long as they gave his name upon arrival, someone would naturally come to receive them.

Zhan Yun also asked Lin Jia to treat Zhang Maorong’s leg injury. No one could say what dangers they might encounter along the way, and having one more fighting-capable person was always better.

Xu Fengying didn’t know Lin Jia, but when she learned that he was a healing-type ability user, she froze in shock. She never would have imagined that Zhan Yun and the others had actually stolen the Línchéng Base leader’s “treasure of the city.” Línchéng Base had always recruited ability users extensively, leading to a mixed and complicated power structure. If not for the base leader’s control over the sole healing-type ability user—on whom all other factions depended—the base might not have been this stable.

“Don’t worry. They don’t know we’re from the Southern Base. All they know is that we’re heading northwest. Even if they realize something’s wrong, they’ll only chase after us toward the northwest and won’t suspect you,” Zhan Yun said, seeing Xu Fengying’s shock and assuming she was worried about being implicated.

“No, no, you’ve misunderstood!” Xu Fengying felt no sense of belonging to Línchéng Base at all—otherwise, she wouldn’t have been so eager to leave with them. This was her first time hearing about the Southern Base, but she believed that Zhan Yun and his group were extraordinarily capable and deeply loyal. They were even willing to help people as down-and-out as Zhang Maorong’s group. Following them couldn’t possibly be wrong. And a base that could produce people like them had to be a very good place indeed—one she very much wanted to see.

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