Rebirth before Apocalypse: My Whole Family are Bigshots!-Chapter 226: Ruins Amid Broken Walls
In the living room, each member of the Bai Family held a crystal core in their hands.
The days at the safe base were too leisurely, and now venturing out as a family, the sense of crisis was still very strong.
Ordinary zombies were no longer a threat to them, but the many unknown high-rank zombies and unknown enemies were the most terrifying.
"Sister, where are we going?"
Bai Yifan looked at the scenery quickly moving past on both sides and touched his nose.
The bus was moving really quickly, and they hadn’t even decided on a destination yet!
"Anywhere is fine!" Bai Xiqin didn’t have any particular place she wanted to go.
As long as they weren’t cooped up in the safe base, anywhere could count as an adventure.
"How about we go back to the village?"
Bai Zhengxuan looked out the window, his voice very soft.
He still wanted to know how his old friends in the village were doing, and whether the fruit trees he planted had been ruined by zombies.
Before leaving the village, he had a long discussion with the village chief, hoping his warnings would help give the villagers a better chance of survival.
"Alright, Xiao Fan, let’s go!" Bai Xiqin said with a smile on her face.
She and Xiao Fan grew up in an apartment complex, but during winter and summer vacations, they would always return to the village.
The village held their childhood memories.
"Sure thing!"
Bai Yifan floored the gas pedal, and the bus made a sharp turn, heading towards Baiyang Village.
S City had already become a nest of zombies.
With Zhang Yiming’s identity exposed, everyone tacitly avoided mentioning S City.
Even without Zhang Yiming saying anything, the Bai Family vaguely knew that the high-rank zombie in S City was Zhang Yiming.
It was quite a complicated feeling.
They knew Zhang Yiming was a good kid, and dining and chatting with him never felt inappropriate.
But the fact remained that there was a real pile of zombies in S City, and those zombies were indeed man-eaters.
As long as zombies and humans existed in the world, there would be conflicts.
The Bai Family didn’t dwell on it for too long; zombies were zombies, and they made friends based on inner qualities.
If they ended up on opposing sides in the future, the choice would depend on their future inner selves.
The bus raced wildly down the road.
Occasionally, zombies attracted to them would embrace the bus and then be knocked flying.
"After so long in the apocalypse, why do there still seem to be so many zombies?"
Bai Yifan frowned as he looked at the zombies embracing the bus ahead.
The grotesque zombies fearlessly lunged at the bus, getting knocked into a bloody pulp, black liquid splattering against the bus.
"With so many people in the world, survivors turning into zombies, there’s no end to killing zombies." Bai Xiqin calmly watched the zombies lunging ahead, "Didn’t you notice? The speed of ordinary zombies has increased a bit!"
Zombies hadn’t been wiped out because they too evolved.
At the beginning of the apocalypse, zombies were very sluggish, unable even to catch up with elderly people.
A week or two later, survivors began adapting to the apocalypse environment.
Zombies adapted to the virus within them, embracing their bloodthirsty instincts.
Even if survivors reacted, the apocalypse remained uncontrolled.
Because ordinary zombies got a bit faster, like superpower users, they too were evolving.
Terrifyingly, zombies weren’t the only threat in this world; there were also mutant animals and zombie animals.
These were all human’s natural enemies.
"I haven’t noticed! They seem quite slow and still very weak." Liu Jing glanced at the grotesque zombies, shaking her head in bewilderment.
Were zombies powerful?
No, not at all!
They were just ugly, unable to resist her Ice Ability, making it easy to extract crystal cores without any difficulty.
"We really didn’t notice that. If only all zombies looked like Fan Tangtang and Zhang Yiming, then I wouldn’t have to restrain myself every day!"
Wang Yiyun looked at the crushed, bloody zombies, silently sighed.
It’s so tough for her!
As a Funeral Master, she couldn’t make up these ugly zombies or dress them in pretty burial gowns.
It’s really a bit disheartening!
It’s enough to drive someone with OCD crazy!
Bai Xiqin: ...
Forget it, let’s pretend she didn’t say anything.
Her family was so formidable, they probably didn’t think small changes in zombies could be that terrifying.
Anyway, none were stronger than them!
The road was smooth, any scrapped cars or zombies blocking the way were crashed through by the bus with force.
To avoid encountering the zombies of S City and unnecessary conflict, Bai Yifan drove the bus around S City.
The relationship with Zhang Yiming was decent, so there was no need to extract crystal cores from S City’s zombies.
They traveled leisurely, stopping here and there, enjoying some barbecued skewers and beer when the scenery was beautiful.
This journey really felt like a road trip.
On the second day, in the early morning.
They finally reached the vicinity of S City.
Baiyang Village was still some distance from S City, a very ordinary little village.
On both sides of the road, the weeds and trees grew wildly.
The fragrance of fresh grass mixed with the smell of earth filled the bus.
Leng Yebai sat on the sofa, eyes on the scenery outside the bus, a slight curve on his lips.
He had no home since childhood.
The orphanage roughly counted as home, but after growing up, he truly had none.
Even having bought a house, the sense of belonging wasn’t there.
He had never been to Xiao Niu’s grandparents’ place, yet now he felt a sense of returning home.
It was wonderful.
He too became someone with a home.
"Why does it smell like something’s burning?"
Bai Xiqin sniffed the air, frowning, leaning against the window looking out.
Outside was lush greenery, showing no signs of fire.
This indicated the source of the fire was still far away.
"There is a bit of that smell indeed."
Bai Zhengxuan also frowned.
This area was mainly farmland and forest, and this time of year, the wheat wasn’t yet ripe, still green, not likely to catch fire.
And the nearest place here was Baiyang Village.
As they drove on, the burnt smell in the air grew stronger and stronger.
"Grandpa, is that our village ahead?"
From a distance, Bai Yifan saw a stretch of scorched earth ahead.
Beneath the scorched ground, remnants of broken walls could vaguely be seen.
Houses collapsed, ground yellowed and scorched.
No flames or smoke were visible.
The fire was not from today.
Seen from afar, it was a stretch of blackened scorched earth, an intense burnt smell assaulting their nostrils.
The large fire had long extinguished, yet the remaining odor was still pungently overpowering.
"Drive faster!"
Bai Zhengxuan’s heart skipped a beat, his expression panicked.
The village didn’t have much flammable material, most houses were cement tile structures, logically there shouldn’t be such a big fire.
Even the road was yellowed and scorched, it’s difficult to imagine what happened to the people in the village.
Knowing Grandpa was anxious, Bai Yifan sped the bus madly forward.
The closer they got to the village, the more they saw its bleak state.
The entire village was black, the ground baked into a yellow, scorched color.
The intense blackness was too conspicuous, as if the fire had reached an extreme.
Bai Xiqin deeply frowned.
This didn’t look like a regular fire, but more like someone wielded a flamethrower, scorching every inch deliberately.
A normal fire shouldn’t have burnt even those surfaces without combustibles to such a deep black!
