Chapter 118: Impending Convergence

Cao Fusheng’s illusions were completely shattered; he could not enter the building to await the results. Communication had been severed entirely, and with the mysterious arrival of the Heavenly Pillar, there was no telling what might happen next. He had to get inside before the situation escalated further.

But before that, he needed to find Shen Dong and see what good news he had brought back. If it hadn’t been truly important, he wouldn’t have asked Chu Wei and Han Shuqing to go.

Cao Fusheng pulled back the foot he had been about to step forward with, his mind racing through a process of elimination, imagining which route Shen Dong and the others would take to return. If one looked at the city center as four cardinal directions linked by four main avenues, there was a one-in-four chance of bumping into them.

As for the east, Cao Fusheng had never been there; it was unknown territory to everyone in the squad except for Chu Wei. Therefore, Shen Dong and Gao Yi certainly wouldn't choose the eastern route—even if they did, whether they could break through was another matter entirely.

The west was the path he had just emerged from via the utility tunnels, and also the route they had taken to enter the New Mart building. He hadn't encountered any major danger along the way, but would they take that path? If they had chosen the west, Chu Wei and Han Shuqing would have undoubtedly passed the tunnel entrance he had used and would surely have left a mark. He would set that aside for now.

The north was where the monsters were most concentrated; it was the front line of the Heavenly Pillar. Approaching from there would be no different than walking into a death trap.

That left only the south. After the process of elimination, this direction was the most likely candidate for their route.

"A choice between two... should I go west or south? Damn it! If I pick the wrong direction, I might never find them."

Cao Fusheng was burning with anxiety. The squad was unreachable, the Heavenly Pillar was acting up, and the situation was turning precarious. He tried to use his heightened hearing to catch the sound of a vehicle, but after lying pressed against the ground for a long while, he stood up in disappointment.

Nearby, some passing corpses stared at their "fellow" with confused eyes. Why was this one chewing on the ground? Was the pavement edible? Immediately, a few other corpses began to mimic him, pressing their faces to the dirt.

Cao Fusheng felt like laughing and crying at the same time. Did these things truly lack intelligence, or were they just remarkably fast learners?

South it is!

Cao Fusheng finally decided to head toward the southern sector, which he had not yet explored. He trusted that if Chu Wei and Han Shuqing had passed by the tunnel entrance, they would have left a sign for him. Since there was none, it proved they hadn't gone that way. It had to be the south; by process of deduction, this had to be the right choice!

***

"What’s going on? Our walkie-talkies are dead; the signal seems to be jammed!" Han Shuqing held the device frantically, having called out to Cao Fusheng countless times. Aside from a few fragmented sounds at the very beginning, there was now complete silence.

Her heart was filled with overwhelming dread. If something happened to Cao Fusheng, she would surely choose to die rather than live on. If not for him, she would have perished in the Isolated Land Settlement long ago. Loss was not what she feared; what she feared was the relentless cycle of losing everything—every time she began to cherish something, it was taken away. It was an inhuman psychological toll.

"Sister Han, don’t be anxious. Captain Cao is incredibly capable; he won't fall so easily. We have to trust him," Chu Wei comforted her. She then turned her gaze toward Shen Dong, who was nearly delirious, her expression complex. "What matters most right now is him..."

Seeing Shen Dong’s state, Han Shuqing’s resolve wavered. He was on the verge of mutation. If that moment came, would they really have to execute him? She doubted Gao Yi would ever agree to it.

Gao Yi sat beside Shen Dong, cradling the man’s head against his own body, showing no fear of the imminent transformation.

"Old Dog Gao... I’m done for... kill me... I can’t hold on anymore..." Shen Dong summoned every ounce of his remaining willpower, fighting to keep his eyelids from closing. Once he fell unconscious, he would never wake up.

Gao Yi growled, his face expressionless. "I know! If you howl one more time, I’ll snap your neck myself! Even if you have to bite your own fingers off, you hold on for me! Who was it that said they wanted to go out in a blaze of glory? How did you turn into such a coward now?"

Han Shuqing and Chu Wei stepped forward, their hearts aching at the sight of the dying man. Their feelings were particularly complex after Gao Yi revealed that Shen Dong had been infected back at the New Mart building, yet had still insisted on driving for hours to find a way to blast a path for everyone.

They were not yet in the city center, only just having entered the urban area, so the corpses were still low-level and scattered. Even the two Level 3 corpses and the group of minions they had encountered earlier had been devoured by the approaching Xiao Ye. However, that skirmish had nearly cost Shen Dong and Gao Yi their lives. For some reason, that swarm of corpses had been moving in the opposite direction; instead of gathering at the Heavenly Pillar, they were heading toward the outskirts.

"Well? Still can't reach the Captain?" Gao Yi asked.

Han Shuqing shook her head.

In front of her sat a tanker truck, but it had been modified with two-thirds more capacity than a standard large tanker, making it look like a long dragon. If such a massive vehicle were detonated, the blast would be more than enough to clear a path. The problem was that Shen Dong was on the verge of passing out, and he couldn't drive. If they were to use it to blast the road, someone with significant driving experience—like Gao Yi or Chu Wei—would have to do it. The person who drove the vehicle wouldn't be coming back; they would need to face it with a death-defying resolve.

"We have to let Captain Cao know our situation. We must make contact, no matter what! When the time comes... I’ll drive the truck!" Gao Yi gritted his teeth, making a shocking decision. Shen Dong had been the most suitable candidate, but that was no longer an option, and they couldn't let the tanker they had worked so hard to bring back go to waste.

Chu Wei said with a complicated expression, "Let me do it... My life was saved by you all anyway... and my own squad members died because of me... I’ve long since..."

"No! You can’t die!" Gao Yi’s eyes reddened as he glared at her, forcing her to back down.

"If we had known the signal would be cut, we should have told Fusheng before we left. He might still be in the underground tunnels, and those are filled with danger..."

Chu Wei comforted him, "You can't blame yourself. The signal cut out so suddenly, with no warning at all..."

Gao Yi suddenly looked up. "What!? The Captain is in the underground tunnels? Which ones?"

"Right at the base of the Heavenly Pillar."

Gao Yi frantically ran his hands through his hair and shouted, "Then we can't blow it up yet! If we drive the truck over and detonate it to clear a path, the ground will collapse, and the Captain will be buried alive!"

What they didn't notice was that Xiao Ye, who had been lingering nearby, had already vanished without a trace.