Chapter 108: There’s Something Wrong With This Place

Second Sister Shi’s face showed clear disappointment.

Shi Yuebai picked up a stick from the ground, found an open spot, and drew a shape for Guai Guai.

“Use this—a crossbow.”

Second Sister Shi was suited for ranged attacks, and her combat ability wasn’t weak.

Don’t be fooled by her blindness—every shot she fired had hit its mark.

That kind of talent was rare.

Even Huo Chenggui, the professional sniper from the mercenary group, might not have Second Sister Shi’s accuracy.

So it was important to develop her talent properly.

Since they didn’t have the materials to make bullets, the best option was to go back to basics.

Many weapons from the era of cold steel were still very practical.

Shi Yuebai believed Guai Guai could make one.

Guai Guai lowered his eyes, studying the shape Shi Yuebai had drawn. He didn’t say a word, just turned and went back to his tarp.

Making a crossbow would take time, but Song Yucheng and the twenty men he brought were already nearby.

This time, Song Yucheng didn’t take the drainage ditch.

He led ten men straight over the garbage mountain, arriving at the back wall of the Shi family compound.

“Why can’t we see anything up ahead?”

The man beside Song Yucheng was a member of their team.

He was the oldest in the search and rescue squad.

Zhong Zeqian frowned and said to Song Yucheng,

“It’s just pitch black up ahead.”

It was hard to describe how he felt—there was a sense of unknown danger lurking ahead.

Song Yucheng glanced at the few stars in the sky.

“According to the map, the area ahead is right behind the Shi family’s place.”

“If we go down this way, we’ll be behind their wall.”

He pointed forward.

Of the ten men following him, three were from the search and rescue team.

Zhong Zeqian held an infrared binoculars.

“Through the infrared, it looks like there’s a building up ahead.”

But without the binoculars, it was just a mass of darkness—nothing could be seen.

“I still think we should move forward a bit,” Zhong Zeqian said.

The area under the bridge, where the team was, was already close to the big city.

Since the apocalypse, this group hadn’t moved.

So there were hardly any survivors in this area.

Everyone knew there was no food here.

Everything edible or drinkable had already been scavenged—there was nothing left to dig for.

Song Yucheng nodded and led his men forward.

They carefully avoided exposed rebar on the ground, climbing over the garbage mountain made of ruins.

“Why is it getting darker and darker?”

Someone muttered behind Song Yucheng.

But thanks to Zhong Zeqian’s infrared binoculars, they all stumbled forward with a common goal, eventually reaching the public restroom area.

There was a light at the restroom. Although the area was shrouded in thick fog, as they got closer, they could faintly see a glow.

“I can’t take it—I’m going to puke.”

One man behind Song Yucheng bent over, dizzy, retching over the ruins.

He didn’t know what was wrong—he was usually healthy.

But the closer he got to the restroom’s light, the dizzier he felt.

Song Yucheng and Zhong Zeqian felt it too.

No matter how they pressed forward, heads spinning, they couldn’t clearly make out what the restroom looked like through the thick fog.

“How long have we been walking?” Zhong Zeqian asked, frowning and panting.

He plopped down on a relatively flat stone.

Just as Song Yucheng was about to answer, someone said in alarm,

“Someone’s missing from the group!”

The intense dizziness and nausea tormented every one of them.

As they walked, someone at the back of the group had fainted without anyone noticing.

Song Yucheng and Zhong Zeqian exchanged glances.

For professional search and rescue workers like them, once they had a general direction,

they shouldn’t be circling in place.

“Should we go back and look for him?”

One of the remaining nine spoke up.

Song Yucheng shook his head. “Going back for him will only waste our time.”

“We need to keep moving forward.”

But Zhong Zeqian frowned and said,

“I don’t think this path is right. We should be more cautious, or it could be dangerous.”

He said this because his head was pounding.

At his age and in his condition, this was highly unusual—he didn’t want to take the risk.

Song Yucheng looked Zhong Zeqian up and down.

“Brother Zhong, we’re already here. We can’t just turn back now.”

“You’re getting older. Maybe you should stay here and look for the teammate who fell behind. The rest of us will keep going.”

Although Song Yucheng’s head was a bit uncomfortable, he’d already suffered a head injury and chalked it up to that.

He still had the stamina to keep going, and since he’d come all this way, he wasn’t about to leave empty-handed.

But Zhong Zeqian was different—he was already in his fifties, the oldest in the search and rescue team.

Zhong Zeqian frowned in displeasure. He’d only said all this for Song Yucheng and the others’ sake.

But Song Yucheng was starting to resent his age and lack of stamina.

Zhong Zeqian, angry, forced himself to stand and keep going.

“I want to see just how much food the Shi family has that’s worth you being so stubborn!”

But they ended up circling in place for another half hour, their heads spinning worse than ever.

They still hadn’t found the public restroom, nor had they broken through the white fog ahead.

Instead, another four or five people had fallen behind, one after another.

Now, the only ones left in Song Yucheng’s group were the search and rescue team members.

Song Yucheng’s head felt like it was about to explode. He shouted ahead,

“Is someone playing tricks on us? Is that it?!”

He saw a shadow flicker ahead and immediately ran after it.

Zhong Zeqian noticed Song Yucheng’s sudden movement and shouted,

“There’s something wrong with this place—the magnetic field might be off! Song Yucheng, come back! Let’s regroup and think this through!”

But Song Yucheng ignored him, chasing the shadowy figure up ahead.

“Who the hell are you? Stop playing games!”

He shouted as he ran.

The figure stopped and turned, revealing a face Song Yucheng knew all too well.

Song Yucheng didn’t realize he’d already run deep into the ruins.

He just stared in horror at the bloated, fat man ahead.

“Ah Zheng, you’re not dead?”

“If you’re alive, why didn’t you come back for us?”

(My mind’s a bit foggy today.)"