Chapter 291 - 152: Rainy Night

Chapter 291: Chapter 152: Rainy Night

The way it had burst out of the rain, the ease with which it took his first slash, the helplessness he felt as his full-force strike only produced a shower of sparks, and the desperate escape he was forced to make using his ability after his saber broke. Every moment replayed in Xu Mo’s mind.

The zombie’s strength far surpassed his own. His full-power slash could only leave a white mark on its scales, while a single full-power blow from it could send him flying four or five meters.

Moreover, its speed was no less than his own. Combined with the incredible defense of its scales, it was only natural that it could completely dominate him.

However, Xu Mo knew that this level-two zombie’s combat power was only slightly higher than his own. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have simply been suppressed while still managing to land a counter-attack or two—he would have been utterly crushed within a few exchanges.

What also made Xu Mo curious was that it would flee when injured.

After being severely wounded by the Barrett, the level-two zombie’s first reaction was to turn and flee. It wasn’t a fearless killing machine; it had developed some level of self-preservation instinct.

This made it both more dangerous and more troublesome than a level-one zombie.

Xu Mo opened his eyes and looked at the gradually brightening curtain of rain outside the car window.

On the eastern horizon, a line of gray-white appeared at the edge of the clouds. The rain had lessened a little, and dawn was breaking.

Xu Mo suddenly felt a sense of urgency.

’It isn’t fear, nor is it anxiety, but a clear self-assessment: My strength still needs to improve, and I should be more cautious.’

In Jiang City, in Mori Town, on those battlefields where he only encountered level-one variants, the Iron Bone Realm was overwhelmingly powerful. Back then, wielding his Mountain-Cutting Saber, he was unstoppable.

But today, that level-two zombie taught Xu Mo that there’s always a bigger fish. If he hadn’t had that "door"—he would now be just another nameless corpse in Luochuan City’s West District, waiting to be pecked by crows or devoured by zombies after the rain stopped.

"You can never be too careful."

Xu Mo repeated the phrase under his breath, as if admonishing himself.

At dawn, the torrential rain continued to pour.

Xu Mo dozed in the car for a while, his ears always tuned to the sounds outside. There were no heavy footsteps, no ominous rustling.

Sometime later, Xu Mo opened his eyes.

Outside the windshield, the sky was completely bright, though the light was uniform and gloomy, with no sign of the sun’s position. The rain was lighter than it had been at dawn. The wipers, now on medium instead of high, could just barely maintain a continuously clear field of view.

Xu Mo glanced at the time. He had slept for about three hours. Thanks to his Iron Bone Realm constitution, this kind of fragmented rest was enough to restore his energy.

He stretched his body a bit, then started the engine.

The low growl of the SUV’s engine didn’t travel far in the rain, which was good news. The tires rolled over the rain-softened mud, leaving two deep ruts that were quickly filled in and erased by the falling rain.

Xu Mo gripped the steering wheel, his gaze fixed on the fog-and-rain-shrouded road ahead.

Luochuan City was impassable.

He had confirmed this conclusion countless times in his review of the situation. The city’s zombie density, the frequency of level-two variants, the massive pursuit that would inevitably follow his exposure—any one of these factors was enough to turn an attempt to drive through into a deadly, high-stakes gamble.

Xu Mo knew he was no gambler. He needed to stay alive to get to Ming Pearl Port.

Steering with one hand, Xu Mo spread the map on the passenger seat with the other and quickly found the new route he would take.

The route followed the old provincial highway along the outskirts of Luochuan City, heading southeast for about forty kilometers before turning east onto a branch road near Liuhai Town that led into a hilly, forested area.

’This is it!’

The rain was still falling, but not as hard. Throughout the morning, the downpour followed a strange pattern, growing heavier and lighter in turns, but never truly stopping. Sometimes it was as dense as a drumroll, and even with the wipers on their fastest setting, he could barely clear a blurry arc on the windshield. Other times, it was as fine as mist, and visibility would stretch to over two hundred meters.

Xu Mo maintained a speed of about forty kilometers per hour, driving southeast along the old provincial highway.

The road conditions here were much better than on the outskirts of Luochuan City. Although there were abandoned vehicles, most had been pushed to the roadside, leaving a barely passable lane. It was clear that plenty of people had used this road in the early days of the apocalypse.

A little after ten in the morning, Xu Mo drove past Liuhai Town as marked on the map, but he didn’t turn in.

Having already decided on a detour, there was no need for him to test any additional dangers. About eight kilometers past Liuhai Town, an old highway forking to the east appeared ahead.

As the SUV turned onto the side road, the plains began to narrow, and low, rolling hills appeared in the distance. The distinct openness of the plains vanished, replaced by a somewhat oppressive silence, enveloped by hills and forests.

Then, Xu Mo saw a horde of slow-moving zombies appear in the distance. His eyes froze at the sight.

He didn’t understand why a horde of zombies would be blocking his way here, in the middle of nowhere.

This wasn’t just ten or twenty zombies, or even a few dozen, but a horde.

Though Xu Mo didn’t get an exact count, a quick visual estimate put their numbers at over two hundred. They were moving aimlessly in the rain, with no clear direction, yet they were perfectly blocking his path forward.

Xu Mo’s right foot moved from the accelerator and rested lightly on the brake pedal.

After turning the car around, Xu Mo’s brow furrowed tightly. He had assessed this branch road as a "low-risk route." Logically, the zombie density here should be far lower than at the city’s edge, not high enough to form a cluster of over two hundred.

’Where did they come from? Driven by the heavy rain? Herded by some high-level variant? Or did they simply get lost, wander around, and then happen to gather on this abandoned highway?’

Xu Mo didn’t know.

But he knew there was a way to verify whether these zombies were being herded by a high-level variant.

...

「That afternoon.」

Xu Mo drove the SUV, heading away from Luochuan City.

During the morning, Xu Mo had tried several different routes to bypass Luochuan City, but every time, he found his path blocked by hordes of zombies.

This happening once or twice could be called a coincidence, but after it happened several times, it was clearly no longer a matter of chance.

Upon realizing he was being targeted by a zombie capable of controlling other zombies, Xu Mo had immediately turned the car around and headed back. ’If I can’t fight it, I can at least run from it. Worst case, I’ll just take a huge detour around Luochuan City.’