Chapter 116: The Entrance

Chapter 116: The Entrance

Xiao Hua leaned over to look and saw a gas station at the edge of the C City map, marked with a faint, small red symbol.

Given the mark's size, it was clear Bai Mu hadn't initially paid it much attention, as they had previously started with targets closest to the city center.

Xiao Hua suddenly smiled, "Switching tactics to surround from the outside? Sounds good."

Hearing this, Xiao Zui looked at the map and realized it was indeed the case, so he nodded, "Let's give it a try."

For the past three days, they had been circling within the city, never too far from the downtown area.

Now, suddenly changing their strategy to the outermost area would require a significant amount of time to get there.

The nine of them split into two groups, boarding an off-road vehicle and a jeep. Bai Mu and Xiao Zui stepped on the gas, and the vehicles shot forward like arrows from a bow, crushing the zombies that came at the sound.

The city was now more desolate than even the countryside, with no pedestrians on the overpass, only some slowly moving zombies.

Xiao Hua stuck her head out of the window and observed for a few seconds, noticing that the levels of these zombies weren't very high, with some even lingering at the late stage of level one.

She quickly figured out the key point: the overpass was geographically high, preventing zombies from below from climbing up and those from above from coming down, effectively isolating the two groups.

Moreover, there weren't many abandoned vehicles on this overpass, so there were fewer zombies and less competition for survival, naturally slowing down their leveling up.

Xiao Hua pulled her head back in and briefed Bai Mu on the situation.

Upon hearing this, Bai Mu didn't say anything, only a momentary acceleration reflected his reaction.

Xiao Hua's back pressed against the seat due to inertia, and after a dozen seconds when the speed stabilized again, she exaggeratedly patted her chest.

"Brother Bai, take it easy, our lives are in your hands."

"Alright," Bai Mu didn't turn his head but slightly reduced the speed.

Two hours later, the group finally arrived at the target gas station.

Xiao Hua pushed the car door open and got out, seeing that the zombies here were much sparser than in the city.

Without waiting for the others to act, she raised her right hand and slightly moved her index finger, causing a large hail of ice accompanied by snow to fall from the sky, thoroughly smashing the nearby zombies.

"Holy crap!" Zhao Ye glanced and quickly hid back in the car, shouting, "Sis Hua, don't hit us by mistake!"

"Nonsense."

Xiao Hua glanced at Zhao Ye's scrambling posture and waved her hand, ramping up the hail's intensity but keeping it further away from them.

The hail lasted for a full minute.

Once all the zombies were smashed to pieces, Xiao Hua withdrew her powers and tilted her chin slightly towards the back, "Come on, let's dig for the crystal nuclei."

Su Mo looked at the mess on the ground, a crow flew overhead.

She tried to hold back but couldn't resist, "Next time we encounter such low-level zombies, we'll handle it. Xiao Hua, you don't need to step in."

Xiao Hua nodded pretentiously, brazenly saying, "I understand, no need to use a cannon to kill a fly."

Su Mo: "..."

Bai Mu walked over to Xiao Hua and lightly added, "That's the idea."

The nine of them then experienced a unique way of collecting crystal nuclei, which involved digging them out from a lump of bluish-gray "sludge."

The process was so disgusting, the psychological struggle so intense, and the scene so chaotic that it's not worth elaborating on.

In summary, it was enough to make your skin crawl like crazy.

After spending some more time finally digging out all the crystal nuclei, everyone rushed into the lobby and began searching everywhere.

Xiao Hua looked at the completely visible lobby and paused for a moment, unsure where to search.

In such a small place, could there really be an entrance to a secret vault?

She randomly chose a direction and began her slow search.

After making a round and finding nothing, Xiao Hua wasn't surprised by her luck. She walked up to an oil drum and reached out to feel around.

Then, she touched a protrusion.

Xiao Hua's hand paused, her eyes flickered, and she quickly leaned in to look, discovering a hidden button.

Without hesitation, Xiao Hua pressed the button firmly.

"Beep beep beep." The oil drum suddenly shook, and Xiao Hua took half a step back, watching as the drum moved aside, revealing the ground beneath it.

The ground wasn't as smooth and flat as elsewhere; there was a noticeable ring of gaps.

Xiao Hua: "Holy shit."

For once, her crappy luck had actually taken a turn for the better.

Hearing the noise, the others rushed over, their faces a mix of complex expressions as they looked at Xiao Hua.

They were all used to Xiao Hua's streak of bad luck, so this sudden turn of events was a bit hard to adjust to.

With a single glance, Xiao Hua could read everyone's thoughts like an open book. She quickly spoke up to cut off any exclamations that were about to come out: "Is this it?"

Bai Mu wasn't sure what the entrance was supposed to look like either. He glanced at the dark, shadowy passage and said, "I'll go down first and check it out."