After an hour and a half of rest, the sun was still hot as well as the air. Inhaling it brought with it a sting to the lungs, as if they were inhaling fire. But the people on the move were high morale and kept pace, just because Gong Lixin was in the group and that made the team feel more at ease.

  With a source of strength, their courage and guts have grown a lot. The group of people went straight through the waves of zombies and the granary was just around the corner.

  "F**k! I’m so happy!" Liu Qing stooped to pull out a crystal nucleus of a second-level high-grade eart zombie and sighed exclaimed loudly. He exchanged his happiness with his three companions.

  The four of them traveled all over the country and had no permanent residence. They seemed to be unique in that, but what was so different between them and the others? They also tried to join a base at a certain point, but in the end, they chose to withdraw because they couldn’t stand the crowding and abandonment. However, unlike the others, Gong Lixin would teach them how to fight together and maximize the advantages of their abilities without any hidden motives. He would actively meet the strongest zombies and cover their safety. He would also hunt and kill zombies with attributes matched theirs and gave them to them. A person who was selfless and generous in this way, don’t even mention these days, even before the apocalypse these kinds of people were a rarity. How lucky would they be if they could follow the teenager?

  This thought floated in they heads at the same time and the four of them looked at each other with anticipation.

  "Old Liu, the most important thing for us at present is not to find food, but to help Young Master Gong find that person. What that person is found, we will be able to follow Young Master Gong, do you understand?" The three men pulled Liu Qing aside and whispered softly.

  "Yes, I think so too. We’ll still be around Fenghuang for a few more days, so we should pay attention." Liu Qing nodded.

  The four reached a consensus, all of them smiled with satisfaction and looked at Gong Lixin with bright eyes. Their secret talk however was all heard by Gong Lixin who was not far away, yet his face didn’t show it. These four people were calm and not reckless when they were in trouble and he liked that very much. As long as they asked, he was willing to take them back to Long Snake Island with them.

  Seeing the four of them looking at him, Gong Lixin’s lips were slightly curved up and he nodded at them with a smile, causing the four of them to have red ears and eyes in embarrassment. He felt that the embarrassed look of the four was quite amusing. The smile on the edge of Gong Lixin’s lips deepened. Looking around and seeing that the crystals from the zombies were almost packed, he raised his hand and signaled, "Let’s go."

  The group of people had already gotten used to obeying him and quickly responded in unison to head towards where the granary was located. Song Haoran and Lin Wenbo walked in the forefront as Gong Lixin took the initiative to occupy the most dangerous position in the team. It wasn’t because they wanted to lead, but it was a habit from when they were the leaders of their own team.

  Father Gong had a favorite saying: With greater strength, come greater responsibility. Blind sacrifice, dedication and selfless acts won’t always work and not everyone can clear the snow in front of their door. Being responsible also required acting within one’s means. It could be said that it was thanks to Father Gong’s teaching that Gong Lixin had become such a good seed. Or else he could have become a little devil like the big devil Xiao Lin under the influence of the apocalyptic days. Father Gong made a lot of contributions to the precarious fate of human beings.

  A few dozen meters in, the seemingly endless waves of zombies had finally ceased. Song Haoran and Lin Wenbo saw suspicion and alertness reflected in each other’s eyes. Suddenly, Lin Wenbo felt a prick at the back of his neck and goosebumps on his skin. He had detected something odd, and though he didn’t feel any pain, he felt prickling on his skin. Was this a bad premonition or something? A shadow passed by Lin Wenbo’s golden eyes. He promptly turned his head to follow it……

  But there was nothing behind him. The prickling stopped, as if it was all an illusion. Lin Wenbo squinted his eyes, took in every detail of his surrounding, and observed Jin Shangyu’s body. Her head hung low, making her expression obscure and unreadable.

  "What’s wrong?" Song Haoran asked in a low voice.

  "Did you feel as if you were pricked by needle in the back?" Lin Wenbo slowly turned back and asked.

  "If you didn’t say anything, I wouldn’t have mentioned, but yes. It happened just once and I thought it was my imagination." Song Haoran realized that something’s happening and his red eyes became dark for a moment. This whole situation was a little strange.

  "It’s not an illusion." Lin Wenbo shook his head and added, "Also, the low-level zombies blocking the way suddenly all disappeared. Don’t you think this scene seems familiar?"

  Song Haoran nodded, "You’re right. This is just like before we met that fourth-level low-grade zombie. Perhaps there’s a group of high-level zombies waiting to ambush us up ahead."

  The two looked at each other with cautious. They immediately stopped to announce the news. This caused a stir in the group and their deep fears nearly crippled them, making them pale, out of breath and weak in the knee.

  The first to calm down were the four in Liu Qing’s group who had seen the ’big fight’. Liu Qing gulped and moved to Gong Lixin as he waved the fear aside, "It’s okay. Young Master Gong is here. What’s a fourth-level low-grade zombie compared to him? With Young Master Gong, not just one, Young Master Gong can kill many. With Young Master Gong, what’s there to worry about?" Afterwards, he looked at Gong Lixin with hope and flattery, in hopes of getting his support.

  "Hn, you can leave the fourth-level zombies to me. You can deal with the other zombies yourselves. I can’t protect each of you." Gong Lixin didn’t think it was a big deal and simply stated the facts. But his calm voice miraculously calmed everyone’s panicked state.

  "Of course. If we don’t have the ability to protect ourselves, how could we be qualified to follow you?" Liu Qing promised with a pat on his chest. Realizing he had leaked his intentions; he then nervously stole a glace at the teenager’s expression.

  Gong Lixin smiled light, as if he didn’t heart anything, making Liu Qing feel both at ease and frustrated at the same time.

  "Let’s go. This fourth-level low-grade zombie isn’t currently in the way. Let’s go to the granary first." After a quick glance at Jin Shangyu who was lost in thought, Gong Lixin took the lead.

  "How do you know that the zombie isn’t there? What if there’s an ambush in front of us?" Among the other people in the group, the water ability user named Ahjian questioned him.

  "My five senses tell me that there aren’t any zombies in front of us. Believe me or don’t." Gong Lixin pointed to his ears before he kept walking forward. Lin Wenbo and Song Haoran followed him closely. The four in Liu Qing’s group also quickly followed behind, not dare to fall behind.

  The five people, along with Jin Shangyu, stood dumbfounded for a while. They looked at the streets that looked extremely peaceful and bleak, eerily so, and immediately hurried after them. It’s still safest to stay with the strong instead of staying still and figuring out what to do next.

  Sure enough, as Gong Lixin said, there were no zombies in front of them and soon, they reached their destination smoothly. Looking at the rows of cylinder granaries, everyone got excited. It’s all grain! With this amount of food, they don’t have to worry about starving for at least five years!

  "I should’ve brought Li Dongsheng with us." Gong Lixin looked at Lin Wenbo with an expression of regret.

  "It’s okay, we can come back once we find Little Demon." Lin Wenbo lovingly smoothed his frown as he gently comforted him.

  "I’m worried that during that time, someone else will bring a space ability user and ransack all the grain." The youth blinked and said his thoughts.

  "It’s okay. I’ll send someone to bring it back immediately after we return. With this much grain, they can’t take it all at once." Song Haoran chuckled and rubbed the youth’s head.

  "Um." Gong Lixin, relieved, pushed open the door of the granary the front most granary. A single ray of sunlight came in, gradually driving away the dimness in the granary. The rich aroma of rice mixed with a hint of musty smell assaulted their senses. Everyone who was blocked from seeing the source of the smell in the back felt great joy in their hearts. There really is grain here!

  Rows of rice packed in tan, linen sacks had been piled in the grain silo and almost reached the skylight, it was that full! Lin Wenbo stepped forward and bent over to look at an open bag of rice and saw neat and smooth scratched on top of the bag.

  "Someone had come here before, but no bags have been removed. Don’t you think it’s strange?" Lin Wenbo straightened up and the grain in his hands fell as his deep voice snapped everyone back to reality. The atmosphere suddenly became a little oppressive.

  "Let’s go check the other warehouses." Song Haoran looked unperturbed as he suggested it. Someone had come, but the food that was more important than life, had not been moved. How bad was their situation?

  "Go on your own. We’ll stay here." AhJian and the others stared at the piles of grain as his voice trembled with excitement.

  Lin Wenbo and Song Haoran ignored them and left. Liu Qing and the others had already made up their minds to follow Gong Lixin and were not blinded by the food in front of them. After joining Young Master Gong’s base, was there any need to worry about eating in the future?

  Lin Wenbo pushed open the hatch of the second granary. The inside was still full and the bags of grain were cut but not removed. Lin Wenbo and Song Haoran looked at each other with tight expressions. Gong Lixin only glanced at the inside of the hatch before he walked away, heading for a warehouse in the corner of the last row. Seeing his route, Jin Shangyu’s face turned white and she quickly followed behind him.

  As he approached the granary, Gong Lixin’s brows furrowed and he paused in front of the hatch for a moment before finally reaching out his hand and slowly pushing the door open. The sun shined in and what came into his eyes was not a pile of grain, but a corpse covered with maggots. The rancid smell coming from the corpse was so strong that it was suffocating.

  Jin Shangyu quickly covered her nose and took two steps back. Aside from glimpsing at it at the beginning, she didn’t dare to look at the scene that came straight out of hell. Gong Lixin on the other hand, didn’t even blink an eye and slowly walked forward, bending over to see the condition of the corpse.

  Lin Wenbo and Song Haoran also followed them. Seeing the scene inside the warehouse, they eyes became dark. The bones were covered with a few strands of black and red rotten flesh and hundreds such corpses were all stacked on top of each other. This was not a warehouse, but a slaughterhouse. And human beings were the most important resource of this slaughterhouse!

  Liu Qing and his group who had followed behind, shrieked at the sight. They backed up, then bend down and retched. They had seen a lot of disgusting corpses and thought they could bear any sight, but when they saw the hundreds of corpses with nothing but bones and rotting flesh, the sight was too shocking and instantly broke through their psychological defense. Who did this? They asked even as they held their cramped stomachs.