Chapter 241 - 218: The Road Underfoot

Chapter 241: Chapter 218: The Road Underfoot

Ye Qingniao’s military-grade walkie-talkie had gloriously sacrificed itself during the first wave of lightning strikes. As for Cheng Qi, that rough-and-tumble guy was completely cleaned out, save for the pistol he’d forgotten to unholster from his hip.

As for Lin Fan... he glanced with some disgust at the black brick in his hand, which, despite its intact exterior, had an indicator light that refused to turn on and buttons that were completely unresponsive.

Evidently, while that insane stunt of attracting lightning had allowed them to escape with their lives, it had also taken out all their electronic devices in the process.

He handed the "brick" to Ye Qingniao, who was bored out of her mind inside the armored car, for her to fiddle with. It was better to give her something to do than have her constantly popping her head out to pester him.

The wheels rolled on, heading ever eastward.

By now, the armored car had traveled a long distance. The scenery on both sides of the outer ring road grew progressively desolate, the towering office buildings giving way to swathes of abandoned factories and low-slung bungalows.

This was the industrial edge of the city, dead silent. There were no telltale signs of survivor activity, nor had they encountered any of those skin-crawling, large-scale zombie hordes.

But for some unknown reason, a few rotting corpses would occasionally appear on the roadside or in the middle of the street. If it weren’t for the distinct lack of health bars, Lin Fan would have thought the zombies were playing dead.

In any case, a single vehicle could easily best an army of thousands.

On this wide-open ring road, the twenty-odd-ton steel beast was the undisputed overlord. The occasional "roadblock" of a few hundred zombies was nothing more than a set of fragile bowling pins before the armored car.

Lin Fan sat perched on the roof of the vehicle, not even needing to stand up. He just had to tap the armor plating with his spear from a distance to indicate a direction.

Cheng Qi, in the driver’s cabin, would understand immediately, maneuvering the war machine to deftly adjust its angle, either slipping through a gap or simply and cleanly plowing straight through.

SQUISH—

The dull sound of things bursting under the wheels was the only background noise.

Taking advantage of the tedious journey, Lin Fan acted as a crow’s nest lookout while simultaneously organizing his inventory, taking stock of the supplies, crystals, and potions he hadn’t had time to sort through.

His entire stock of round crystals had been fed to Ye Qingniao, that "Gold-devouring Beast." All he had left were five crystals from the Mutated Zombie that had emerged from the "Cage," and six [Regeneration Crystals] from the remains of "Jiang Jing."

As for the graded, polygonal crystals, aside from setting aside a single [10%] version of each type, Lin Fan began using his mind to merge and stack the remaining scattered crystals.

Among them, the [Activation Crystals] had been synthesized up to [80%]. Combined with the one [10%] crystal he had on hand, he now had a total of [90%].

Lin Fan figured that once he got one more, he would combine them all to reach [100%]. He had no idea what it would turn into at that point.

His various crafting materials had all reached quantities in the triple digits. Of his various potions, he had more than ten medium vials of each, and for the small vials, the counts ranged from the teens to the twenties.

This stockpile was the reason he’d been so bold about jabbing people with potions all day.

Besides these hardcore materials, potions, and crystals, the other half of his inventory was taken up by the various supplies that dropped from zombies.

Gasoline, Diesel, water, all sorts of food...

As Lin Fan’s mind rapidly scanned them, phantom images of bottles and metal cans flashed in and out of his hands, scrolling by like the reels of a slot machine.

Vegetables, canned goods, roasted chickens and ducks, even vacuum-packed Fresh Meat and rice... It was as if the warehouse of a large supermarket had been moved directly into his brain.

’Lacking seafood... and dried noodles, peanut oil, spices and seasonings, could use some drinks, candy, chocolate, that sort of thing. Some fresh fruit would be best of all...’

Lin Fan rubbed the stubble on his chin, making calculations like a picky warehouse manager.

The two of them had split the only can of fruit last night, and the can itself had been left behind at the hotel.

The thought of that single [Canned Fruit] from last night made the absurd yet hopeful feeling in Lin Fan’s heart grow even stronger. It was the first time he had tried sharing a system-generated food item. Ye Qingniao had eaten it with such relish, proving that these things were tangible, physical objects and not just illusions.

What was even stranger was the timing of the drop.

He had just been complaining internally that ’eating only meat is too "heaty,"’ when the system immediately dropped a "cooling" can of fruit for him.

’Aren’t the system drops based on random numbers? Is it voice-activated? Or maybe... a wishing well?’

Although he had just crushed dozens of zombies along the way without a second can of fruit dropping, that didn’t stop Lin Fan from forming a bold hypothesis and seeking careful verification.

’What if it’s real... It doesn’t cost anything to believe a little, anyway.’

Lin Fan silently clasped his hands together, looking as devout as someone who had just blown out their birthday candles. He muttered under his breath, making a wish, trying to use his sincerity to "hypnotize" the system.

’Oh, right, and some toilet paper would be great. It’s a pain to carry around...’

"...What are you muttering about?"

Just as Lin Fan was still haggling with the system, the cover of the lookout hatch next to him was suddenly pushed open.

Ye Qingniao popped her head out from under the thick leather flap that served as a rain guard. Blinking her mismatched eyes, she gave him a baffled look and asked,

"What are you doing, a ritual to make the rain stop?"

"Go on, go on... Nothing better to do again?"

Lin Fan waved his hand dismissively. His "prayers" complete, he settled himself securely back on top of the turret.

"Tch... Who says I’ve got nothing to do? I’m helping you fix this thing, aren’t I?"