Chapter 92: A Village Without Zombies

Chapter 92 The Village Without Zombies

"Since Thunder Dragon refuses, let's not force it. We'll use our superpowers." Ever since Thunder Dragon could clearly express its thoughts, Ji An could no longer simply treat it as just a superpower. He always felt it was better to respect the dragon's wishes.

Thunder Dragon turned its large head and nuzzled Ji An's face. "An'an, you're so good. I like you so much, what should I do?"

Ji An blushed. For some reason, Thunder Dragon's words made his heart race, as if they weren't spoken by a superpower-manifested dragon but rather by Gu Jinsheng himself.

Thunder Dragon flew incredibly fast, like lightning, and within minutes had picked up all hundred-plus superpowered. However, these superpowered didn’t receive the same treatment as Ji An—each was wrapped in superpower and dangling mid-air, swaying like bungee jumpers.

The problem was, Thunder Dragon kept forgetting it was carrying so many people. Once it took off, it sped like a rollercoaster. Bi Xue couldn’t help but shout, "Thunder Dragon, slow down! If you keep this up, I’m going to throw up!"

The person hanging below Bi Xue immediately let out a horrified scream, "No, Bi Xue! Hold it in! Even if you die, don’t vomit!"

Thunder Dragon wagged its tail, its eyes rolling mischievously. It wasn’t that it didn’t understand—it did. Precisely because it understood, it deliberately sped up, flying high one moment and low the next, jerking abruptly up and down. Before long, Bi Xue vomited.

As one might imagine, many others who had been holding it in couldn’t resist anymore and started retching loudly.

At this point, Thunder Dragon acted like a child who had successfully pulled off a prank, letting out a triumphant, gleeful cackle in the sky.

Ji An was truly helpless. Gu Jinsheng’s face was completely dark. It was clear that if Thunder Dragon weren’t the manifestation of his superpower—meaning harming it would harm himself—Gu Jinsheng would have already caught the dragon and beaten it senseless.

Fortunately, once everyone was gathered, Thunder Dragon swooped down fast. Within two or three minutes, it delivered them all to the ground. By then, the superpowered were covered in grime, a complete mess.

Kong Zhongcheng climbed to his feet and called out to the team, "Who among us are water superpowered? Brothers and sisters, please generate some water so we can wash up. We can discuss supplies later."

"Yeah, yeah!" He Tao quickly chimed in.

Luckily, there were indeed a few water superpowered in the group. Each contributed some water, enough for everyone to clean themselves.

Ji An didn’t take advantage of the water superpowered’s offerings. He had his own Magic Spring and used it to wash up with Gu Jinsheng. Afterward, he mixed the Magic Spring with the water superpowered’s supply and gave it to everyone to drink, a small peace offering for Thunder Dragon’s mischief.

He Tao looked at Gu Jinsheng resentfully. "Boss, do you have some kind of grudge against us? Why did you let Thunder Dragon mess with us like that?"

He Tao noticed that the command unit’s superpowered, including Kong Zhongcheng, all called Gu Jinsheng "Boss," so he naturally followed suit.

Kong Zhongcheng, wiping his damp hair, walked over and explained, "Boss really didn’t mean to. He used to have a dual superpower, but after losing one, there might’ve been some side effects—his control over Thunder Dragon isn’t as strong. Boss even butted heads with Thunder Dragon before. But at least Thunder Dragon is still a manifestation of his superpower, so it’s still a force to reckon with."

After hearing Kong Zhongcheng’s explanation, He Tao understood Gu Jinsheng hadn’t done it on purpose, but he still felt aggrieved.

Kong Zhongcheng asked, "Boss, still no signal here?"

Gu Jinsheng glanced at a nearby abandoned signal tower. "None."

"I wonder if Wan Xueying received our distress signal and if she’s sent any fighter jets our way," Kong Zhongcheng mused.

Gu Jinsheng replied, "Before we jumped, I had the Captain send our location and all-clear signal."

"That’s good. But Boss, how are we going to move forward? If we drive, once R-country’s stealth fighters catch up, we’ll be sitting ducks."

Gu Jinsheng surveyed the surroundings. There was no cover nearby. "Staying here is just as bad—there’s no cover either way."

Kong Zhongcheng looked around and realized it was true. Their problem was that whether they moved or stayed, they’d be exposed if R-country’s stealth fighters found them.

Gu Jinsheng said, "We’ll drive for now. Maybe there’s a place ahead where we can hide. We’ll stop and rest there while waiting for Wan Xueying’s reinforcements."

Kong Zhongcheng nodded. "With no signal here, there’s no telling whether Wan Xueying will find us first or if R-country’s stealth fighters will. Let’s hope it’s Wan Xueying."

The superpowered under Gu Jinsheng’s command were all high-level superpowered from the command unit. Many of them had vehicles and spatial storage. Once the cars were brought out, the hundred-plus people managed to squeeze in, though packed like sardines.

Driving from here to the Luo City base is unrealistic. Although they are heading in the direction of the Luo City base, they don’t actually intend to drive all the way there.

They simply don’t want to stay in place and wait to be discovered by Country R's stealth jets, and they also hope to find a suitable hiding spot ahead.

By nightfall, they’d stumbled upon a small abandoned village.

The village was small and crumbling, clearly abandoned early in the apocalypse.

"Captain, there’s a village here. Should we stop and rest?"

Gu Jinsheng looked at the sky—the sun was setting, and the moon was climbing.

"This is prime zombie activity hours, but we didn’t see any along the way. Maybe there really aren’t any here." He Tao glanced around.

The village indeed didn’t seem like a place with zombie activity, but Ji An still felt something was off. Though it could just be residual nerves after their recent near-death experience.

"Don’t spread out too much. Check if there are any recent signs of zombie activity, and see if there are any bunkers or tunnels—whether they’re safe and suitable for sheltering from bombings. If everything checks out, we’ll rest here for now," Gu Jinsheng said.

Ji An added cautiously, "Be careful when searching. There have been sightings of the Psychic Zombie King lately—don’t underestimate its intelligence. I suspect they’re evolving too. These aren’t your run-of-the-mill zombies; treat them as smart as humans."

Everyone nodded and dispersed.

Ji An and Gu Jinsheng naturally paired up to search the village together.

The village was small, with only about a hundred households before the apocalypse. Ji An and Gu Jinsheng checked many houses but found no traces of zombie activity—it was completely abandoned.

Since the village was small and their group was large, the supers returned within minutes.

"Captain, all clear," Kong Zhongcheng reported.

"No zombie tracks on my end either. We even made a lot of noise on purpose, but no zombies came out. This place is probably just an abandoned village," He Tao added.

"We didn’t see any zombies either. A few houses in the village were collapsed from explosions—probably blown up in super vs. undead fights before the apocalypse," Bi Xue said.

Gu Jinsheng nodded. "Let’s not go into the center of the village to avoid getting surrounded in case of trouble. We’ll rest on the outskirts."

"Copy that," everyone responded.

Ji An looked at the sky. "This place isn’t far from where we crashed. Country R's stealth jets could catch up quickly. If they see this spot as a potential hiding place, they might carpet-bomb the area just in case. Let’s dig a deep bunker first—so we can hide as soon as we hear planes. No signs of life, and they’ll probably assume we’re not here and leave.

By the time they realize their mistake and double back, Wan Xueying and the others should have arrived."

With over a hundred supers, including two dozen terrakinetics, they dug a bunker in under fifteen minutes.

After finishing, they didn’t immediately hide inside. Instead, they stayed in the houses above the shelter, on lookout. They could still hear approaching planes and dive into the bunker fast enough.

He Tao said, "Captain, there really might be no zombies here. We made so much noise earlier, and not a single one showed up."

Ji An replied, "With the Psychic Zombie King in play, nothing is certain."

Gu Jinsheng asked, "I wonder how far the Psychic Zombie King has evolved by now?"

"If it can infiltrate the Luo City base, it’s gotta be sharp as a tack."

Gu Jinsheng addressed the group. "We’ll rotate watch in three shifts. The rest should rest—even if you can’t sleep, shut your eyes and recharge.

We don’t know the situation in Luo City yet. Once we get there, rest might be off the table."

"Copy that."

As the Commander-in-Chief, Gu Jinsheng took charge of the first watch. He told Ji An to rest, but Ji An shook his head and said, "I'll stay with you. As a psychic superhuman, I should be more sensitive to the Psychic Zombie King. I just can't shake this uneasy feeling."

Gu Jinsheng didn’t refuse further. The two stood guard by the window, chatting idly.

Suddenly, Ji An raised a finger to his lips, signaling silence. He stood up and walked outside. The entire village was eerily quiet, with no signs of disturbance.

Bi Xue followed him out and looked around but saw nothing. "Captain Ji, did you hear something wrong?" she asked.

Ji An shook his head, closed his eyes, and expanded his psychic awareness outward.

His psychic reach seemed to have grown stronger since the last time he invaded Bi Xue’s mind and manipulated her to use space-warping. Now, his senses blanketed the entire village.

Ji An’s psychic energy spread like a tide, penetrating every window and doorway into every household.

Dilapidated houses, crude furniture, mildew-stenched, long-abandoned rooms—all of it flashed through Ji An’s consciousness.

Without exception, every house was empty. Not a single undead lurked inside.

A few minutes later, Ji An opened his eyes.

"What did you find?" Gu Jinsheng asked.

"Nothing. No zombies, just silence," Ji An replied, but his tense expression showed no relief—only growing unease.

Bi Xue said, "Captain Ji, maybe you should rest. Could it be that you’ve overused your psychic superpower today, making you on edge?"

Invading another superhuman’s mind and manipulating their abilities in battle or teleportation drained a psychic superhuman's energy.

If it were anyone else but Ji An, they'd be completely tapped out—or more likely, they wouldn’t have been able to do it at all.

"No," Ji An shook his head. "My gut's never wrong."

He cast his psychic net wider, this time searching even more carefully. But all he found were empty houses.

"Any discoveries?" Gu Jinsheng asked as Ji An withdrew his power and opened his eyes.

"Nothing," Ji An answered.

Gu Jinsheng said, "Why don’t you rest for a bit and recover your energy? I’ll keep watch here."

Ji An nodded. "Alright. Maybe I did overuse my psychic superpower earlier, leaving me jumpy now. I’ll recharge for a bit."

Having found nothing twice, Ji An began to doubt whether he was just being paranoid. He cleared a space, took out an air mattress, and lay down. But instead of calming down, his unease only grew.

The unease made it impossible to sleep. He sat up, racking his brain for what he might've overlooked.

Suddenly, his pulse spiked. He bolted out of the house.

"What’s wrong?" Gu Jinsheng asked.

Ji An looked at him. "Underground."

Gu Jinsheng’s eyes went sharp. He immediately channeled a surge of superpower deep into the ground. The force tore through the earth, upturning earth in a spray of debris. About a meter down, something shifted—then burst out of the ground. An elite zombie erupted from below.

Ji An and Gu Jinsheng attacked simultaneously, but the zombie threw up an energy shield around itself and counterattacked.

Then, more undead burst forth in explosions of dirt, surrounding the house where Gu Jinsheng and the others were.

"Mobilize all superhumans! Don’t stay inside—fight in the open!" Gu Jinsheng ordered Bi Xue, then joined Ji An in battle.

Bi Xue rushed back inside and shouted, "Wake up! We're under attack!"

Kong Zhongcheng had already caught the disturbance and was about to investigate when Bi Xue ran in.

"What’s going on? Our sweep showed clear—where'd they come from?" Kong Zhongcheng exclaimed.

Bi Xue said fearfully, "They're tunneling up!"