The Max-Level Boss Just Wants to Be a Slacker [Apocalypse] – CH12

Chapter 12: Crisis

After the problem of the zombies blocking the road was solved, the vehicles of the convoy continued forward for a while. They only stopped to rest when they reached a relatively safe and spacious area.

The road here was flanked by forests on both sides, with only a single wide road in the middle. According to their route, they still had nearly an hour of driving before reaching the next town.

No one knew what unknown dangers might lurk in the dense forest. After all, this was the apocalypse—mutated animals and mutated plants could appear anywhere. Therefore, Mo Xiu had no intention of leading the group deep into the woods.

He planned to let the team rest here for half an hour, eat something, take care of some physiological needs, and then continue their journey.

Mo Xiu took out the food he had prepared earlier and fed it to Mo Qi. After both of them had eaten their fill, he took the man out of the car to get some fresh air.

After asking him, and seeing that Mo Qi did not seem to need to relieve himself, he told him to wait where he was while he quickly went into the nearby forest to take care of his own business.

However, Mo Xiu’s brief departure gave someone else an opportunity.

Xi Wenlin had been paying close attention to Mo Xiu and Mo Qi the whole time. When he saw that Mo Xiu had gone off to relieve himself, and considering that the surrounding forest looked dangerous, malicious thoughts arose in his mind again.

The other members of the team were busy with their own matters, and hardly anyone was paying attention to Mo Qi, who was leaning against the car.

Taking advantage of the moment, Xi Wenlin walked toward the man and coaxed him, “Mo Qi, I have something really delicious here. Do you want to come with me? I’ll give it to you.”

Hearing this, Mo Qi rolled his eyes internally. This guy really thought he was a fool.

“Something really delicious”? It was obvious that the man had bad intentions.

So Mo Qi ignored Xi Wenlin and continued leaning against the car door, quietly waiting for Mo Xiu to return.

Seeing that the man didn’t fall for it, Xi Wenlin gritted his teeth. He hadn’t expected that even a fool would be this difficult to deal with. But since the other party wasn’t a normal person anyway, he figured there was no need to keep pretending to be friendly.

He cautiously glanced around. Seeing that no one in the team seemed to be looking in their direction—and that Mo Qi was standing behind the off-road vehicle, forming something of a visual blind spot—he hurried over and grabbed Mo Qi’s arm, trying to drag him away.

But when he pulled, Mo Qi didn’t budge. The fool in front of him simply refused to cooperate, standing firmly in place like a wooden stake.

Xi Wenlin was furious. With time being limited, he decided to seize the opportunity and try carrying the man on his back instead.

But halfway through lifting him, Xi Wenlin nearly collapsed to his knees under the weight.

What was wrong with this fool? Why was he so heavy? Had he swallowed a weight or something?

After exerting tremendous effort, Xi Wenlin finally managed to drag and haul Mo Qi along, pulling him into the forest.

Xi Wenlin thought his plan was quite clever. The dense woods on both sides of the road looked extremely dangerous.

As long as he dragged the man deep enough into the forest, given Mo Qi’s inconvenient mobility and his supposedly slow mind, it would be easy to abandon him there.

By the time Mo Xiu realized something was wrong and came looking, he might not be able to find him. He might even assume the fool had wandered off and gotten lost on his own.

And even if he was found later, so what? The man struggled just to speak. Could he really accuse Xi Wenlin of bringing him into the forest and abandoning him?

Who would believe a fool?

Determined to accomplish his goal, Xi Wenlin put in all his strength and hauled Mo Qi along the entire way.

When they finally reached a secluded place that seemed satisfactory, Xi Wenlin was nearly exhausted to the point of collapse. He squatted beside Mo Qi, drenched in sweat and utterly drained.

Inwardly, he cursed the fool for causing him so much trouble even at the end.

Dragging such a heavy guy all the way here had nearly killed him from exhaustion.

Xi Wenlin felt he had already taken quite a risk. If he went any deeper, he was afraid he might not remember the way back. So he wiped the sweat from his face, rubbed his aching shoulders, and prepared to leave.

But after only taking a couple of steps, he heard movement not far away. Startled, Xi Wenlin thought someone had discovered him and followed.

When he looked carefully, however, he realized it was just a slowly moving zombie.

It had probably smelled the scent of living humans and was shambling toward their direction.

In such a desolate place, there was actually a stray zombie left behind.

Xi Wenlin didn’t know whether this meant his luck was good or Mo Qi’s luck was bad. Now that he had left the man here, he could feel even more at ease.

So Xi Wenlin ran away as fast as he could, leaving Mo Qi alone where he was.

Seeing this, a cold glint flashed across Mo Qi’s eyes.

This man had actually taken advantage of Mo Xiu’s absence to stab him in the back. He would remember this grudge.

In fact, the moment Xi Wenlin first approached him, Mo Qi had already guessed the man’s intentions.

Unfortunately, his control over his body was limited, and his divine sense had been greatly depleted earlier and couldn’t be used freely. That was the only reason he had been forced to let this guy drag him here.

Situations like this weren’t unfamiliar to him even in the cultivation world.

Watching the ugly zombie slowly approach him step by step, and smelling the nauseating stench of decay coming from it, Mo Qi felt genuine disgust from the bottom of his heart.

Did that guy named Xi Wenlin really think a single zombie would be enough to deal with him? How naive.

When the zombie entered a certain range, Mo Qi drained the demonic energy from its body through the air.

Without the support of demonic energy, the zombie quickly stopped moving and collapsed onto the ground, becoming a completely motionless corpse.

However, Mo Qi’s dantian was already filled with demonic energy. Absorbing another one now made him feel somewhat uncomfortable.

He sighed helplessly to himself. Being stuffed full of demonic energy wasn’t exactly pleasant.

Overall, it wasn’t the same as simply overeating. When a demonic cultivator absorbed too much demonic energy at once, the seven meridians and eight channels would feel swollen, and there could even be the sensation that the body was about to burst apart.

Fortunately, the current level was still barely tolerable for Mo Qi.

He could slowly make his way back little by little if he had to, but he believed even more firmly that Mo Xiu would never abandon him like this.

Even if it took a little longer, Mo Xiu would definitely find him. For some reason, Mo Qi had absolute confidence in that.

Too lazy to waste extra effort, Mo Qi simply stayed where he was and slowly refined the demonic energy inside his body.

But soon, he sensed another unusual presence approaching him.

Could it be that besides the zombie, there were other dangerous things lurking here?

Before he could examine it carefully, several green vines suddenly shot toward him. They were extremely thick, each one as thick as half of his arm.

These vines had been hidden among the dense vegetation. If not for his sharp perception, he probably wouldn’t have noticed until they had already wrapped around him.

Unfortunately, moving his body now required too much effort, and he couldn’t use his divine sense either. What should he do?

There was no need to think much—this was most likely the mutated plant Mo Xiu had mentioned. Judging by the situation, the main body of the plant was probably underground.

When it rains, it pours. Just after dealing with the zombie, now a mutated plant appeared. The series of events made even Mo Qi feel a headache.

Mutated plants didn’t contain demonic energy that he could absorb to stop their movements. However, he knew clearly that mutated plants did not attack zombies.

To them, zombies were already dead. Their targets were humans and mutated animals, which they would kill and use as nutrients.

Understanding this, Mo Qi released some of the demonic energy stored in his body, covering his entire body with it. He hoped the mutated plant would mistake him for a zombie and stop attacking.

Who would have thought that this plant was quite clever?

Aside from a moment of confusion at the beginning—when the vines slowed down slightly—it quickly realized it had been deceived.

Instead, it extended even more vines, tightly wrapping Mo Qi and even trying to drag him underground.

If the mutated plant succeeded, he would likely be finished.

At this life-and-death moment, Mo Qi had no choice but to forcibly use a bit of his divine sense to probe underground and examine the mutated plant.

He discovered that its main body was extremely massive, and within its core area there was even a faint, eerie glow.

It seemed the creature trying to eat him was quite formidable.

That small amount of divine sense wouldn’t be enough to save himself.

Feeling himself sinking faster and faster—half of his body already buried in the soil—Mo Qi had to make a choice.

His immense divine sense poured out again, striking directly at the core of the mutated plant.

Naturally, the plant was no match for Mo Qi. Sensing the approaching danger, it roared and quickly burst out of the soil.

Only then did Mo Qi see clearly that it was actually a mutated sunflower.

Its flower disk was enormous, and in the center it had split open into a huge mouth-like opening filled with rows of sharp, beast-like teeth.

A perfectly good sunflower growing vines was one thing—but it had grown a mouth and teeth too? And it even burrowed underground?

Weren’t sunflowers supposed to face the sun?

Mo Qi couldn’t quite understand the direction these plants had mutated in. Seeing it clearly intending to swallow him whole, he no longer held back.

Using his divine sense, he shattered the small brain domain that had just formed inside the plant with a single strike.

The massive mutated plant collapsed with a loud crash, spreading across the ground as it rapidly began to rot. Under the sunlight, it even strangely disintegrated into powder at an incredible speed.

Seeing this change, Mo Qi somewhat understood why it had been hiding underground.

Its nature had changed—it now feared sunlight.

But that was no longer his main concern.

Mo Qi had just risked his life to use his divine sense. Although his power surged and he killed the enemy instantly, it also placed an irreversible burden on this body.

Bloody tears flowed from the corners of the man’s eyes. He dropped to one knee on the ground and couldn’t help coughing up a mouthful of blood.

Mo Qi could feel that this body of his was withering. Cracks had already begun appearing on his hands.

Could it be that he was really going to die here today?

Then before dying, perhaps he should use his last bit of strength to release his divine sense and kill that guy named Xi Wenlin first—at least to drag him down with him.

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