Chapter 272 - 147: Gas Station

Chapter 272: Chapter 147: Gas Station

However, less than five minutes later—

"AAAHH—!! Help me!!"

"Run! It’s coming after us!"

Terrified screams and the chaotic sounds of running suddenly erupted from the west side of town—the direction the three had gone!

The expressions of Xu Mo and the two people who had stayed at the gas station changed simultaneously!

The short, stocky man who had just left and one of his companions came scrambling around the corner! Their faces were masks of pure terror as they desperately sprinted toward the gas station, though even then, they hadn’t dropped the gasoline in their hands!

About twenty meters behind them, a massive figure over two meters tall with ashen-gray skin and gnarled muscles was closing in with heavy yet swift steps!

A Level 1 Strength Zombie, and it looked even more powerfully built than the ones that had chased Xu Mo before!

"How could you lead it here?!" The tall, skinny man who had remained at the gas station shrieked, his voice cracking in fear. The woman screamed and dove behind a gas pump, trembling uncontrollably.

In the blink of an eye, the two men scrambled back into the gas station area, crying and shouting, "We wanted to run somewhere else, but there was no other way to go!"

The excuse left Xu Mo speechless, but he knew they were telling the truth. Besides, now wasn’t the time for blame.

Facing a single Level 1 zombie, regardless of its type, posed almost no threat to him.

Xu Mo didn’t even reach for the AK on his back. Instead, he moved to intercept it with his Mountain-Cutting Saber.

The moment the zombie charged within ten meters and swiped its massive, fan-like claws viciously toward Xu Mo’s head, carrying a foul gust of wind—

Xu Mo shifted his feet, sidestepping the powerful, heavy blow by a hair’s breadth. The Mountain-Cutting Saber was already in motion!

There was no dazzling flash of the blade, no boisterous battle cry.

There was only a simple, sharp, lightning-fast gray line arcing upward at an angle!

"SCHLICK!"

The blade sliced precisely into the vulnerable spot where the armpit met the neck, exposed by the zombie’s lunge! The muscle there was relatively thin, and it was close to the cervical spine and major blood vessels!

With a flick of his wrist, Xu Mo twisted the blade slightly. He leveraged the zombie’s forward momentum and the formidable arm strength from his Iron Bone Realm, pulling the saber through as if it were a hot knife through butter!

"CRACK... SSSHHH—!"

The sickening sound of slicing flesh and breaking bone rang out almost simultaneously!

The zombie’s massive, hideous head, trailing a spray of blackish-red filth, flew clean off its neck. It tumbled through the air a few times before landing with a THUD on the empty ground nearby.

Even though the Strength Zombie’s head was gone, its body stumbled forward two more steps from inertia before crashing to the ground, completely still.

From the moment the zombie charged to the moment it was beheaded and fell, the entire process had taken less than three seconds.

The gas station fell deathly silent.

The survivors, including the two who had just escaped death, all stared dumbfounded at Xu Mo. Their eyes flickered from him to the horrifying, decapitated zombie on the ground, then back to the Mountain-Cutting Saber in his hand—still pristine and gleaming, not a drop of blood on it—as if they had witnessed a miracle.

They had witnessed the terror of this kind of Strength Zombie before. A companion of theirs had once been caught off guard by one and was torn to shreds with almost no chance to fight back. Yet this man before them had dispatched it so casually, as if it were nothing more than child’s play?

’Just how terrifyingly strong is he?!’

After the brief shock came a surging wave of adoration, mixed with a hint of indescribable fear.

’This man is too strong! So strong it’s beyond our comprehension! If he decided to do something to us, we wouldn’t even have a chance to resist.’

Xu Mo flicked his Mountain-Cutting Saber clean and sheathed it. He looked at the survivors, who were still frozen in place, and said in the same flat tone, "What are you standing around for? Get back to what you were doing. I won’t be staying here for long."

Xu Mo’s words snapped them out of it. The short, stocky man and his companion nodded hastily. The tall, skinny man and the woman also came to their senses, looking at Xu Mo with complex expressions filled with gratitude, awe, and a hint of distance—the instinctive detachment one feels toward a being so powerful it defies comprehension.

Another twenty-odd minutes passed. The sound of car engines starting up came from a distance, and soon, three vehicles emerged from the west side of town, pulling up on the other side of the gas station. Five or six more people, men and women, got out. They were all gaunt and sallow, their eyes filled with a mixture of terror and hope.

A few of them began to fuel up the three vehicles, while the rest continued to scavenge the convenience store next door.

Throughout this whole process, although the newcomers were full of curiosity and awe toward Xu Mo, they all consciously kept their distance, not daring to disturb him. Only the tall, skinny man from the original group approached him again while his companions were busy. He cautiously asked Xu Mo a few specific questions about Jiang City and the situation outside, and Xu Mo answered him briefly.

Finally, all three vehicles were filled with gas, and their interiors were stuffed with scavenged supplies. The group looked as if they had accomplished something monumental, their faces showing both relief and a yearning for the future.

Xu Mo finished checking his own vehicle and prepared to leave.

Before departing, Xu Mo added one last piece of advice. "About a kilometer east of town, by the side of the highway, a large number of regular zombies have gathered. They’re feeding on the corpses of the Level 1 zombies I killed earlier." 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ

He saw some of their expressions change drastically and continued, "Zombies evolve by devouring their own kind, especially the corpses of mutated ones. If you decide to leave, you’d better do it soon, and make sure you avoid that area. It’s not safe to stay here for long."

Xu Mo’s words were like a bucket of cold water poured over the flames of their newfound excitement.

A brief commotion and murmur went through the crowd.

"Is that for real? They can change just by eating corpses?"

"So we can’t go east? We’ll have to take a detour?"

"Maybe... we should wait and see? Or prepare a bit more?"

"But he said it’s dangerous here..."

The woman who had first invited Xu Mo to their shelter now had a worried look on her face. She glanced at her companions, then back at Xu Mo, and said quietly, "Thank you for the warning, sir. We’ll leave as soon as possible." But her tone made it clear that not everyone had made up their minds.

Xu Mo could see it clearly. Some in the crowd had determined eyes; others had flickering gazes, their faces showing hesitation and retreat as they weighed their options. And then there were those who secretly glanced toward the east side of town, something else glinting in their eyes.

’Such is human nature,’ Xu Mo had long since ceased to be surprised by it.

"Take care," Xu Mo said as a final farewell. He stopped looking at their various expressions, pulled open the car door, and climbed into the driver’s seat.

The engine started, its low rumble filling the air.

Outside the window, the group of survivors stood by their cars, watching as the dark green SUV slowly pulled away from the gas station and back onto the cracked highway heading southeast.

In his rearview mirror, Xu Mo saw someone waving in his direction, while another was urgently pulling at a companion, seemingly arguing about something...

He pulled his gaze away and looked ahead.

The sun was setting in the west, painting the sky a magnificent yet desolate golden-red. Wind rushed in through the open window, carrying the scent of distant dust and vegetation.

Mori Town and the group of survivors were quickly left behind, shrinking into a small, gradually blurring black dot in the rearview mirror.

His journey continued, while their fate would be decided by their own choices.