One of the men frowned, clearly not buying it. "You think we're idiots?" he said, reaching out to climb down and check how much food was really left in the minibus.
The air grew tense.
Hong Bin slightly bent his knees, ready to strike if those men dared get closer. With one glance at Lǚ Liu, he silently asked, "Should I take them out?"
Before she could reply, another man, one who looked calmer and more refined, stopped the first. "Enough, Gou Tou. Don't act on your own. We're only here for food."
He shot a subtle glance at the group. Unlike Gou Tou, he'd already noticed that these people weren't ordinary survivors. Their clean clothes, healthy faces, and even a working vehicle filled with fuel—it all screamed of power and resources. Whatever they were doing here, they weren't people to mess with.
Gou Tou grumbled, "I get it, Wen Jun. I just wanted a bit more to eat. You know how long we've been choking down that disgusting crap? Finally seeing real people again, how could I not ask for more?"
Lǚ Liu handed the compressed biscuits over and asked calmly, "Alright, you've got the food. Now what about my teammate?"
"What do you think? He's coming back with us so we can take the egg out of his body," Gou Tou muttered.
"How about we go with you?" she asked politely. After all, the egg was still inside Yang Yang.
"The raft can't carry more people," Gou Tou said impatiently. "Relax, we just want food. That weakling's more valuable to us alive than dead. We don't eat people."
Yang Yang narrowed his eyes, his lips curling upward. "Keep talking. I'll make you eat those words soon enough."
"I'll use the planks to cross," Lǚ Liu said, pointing at two large wooden boards nearby. They were the same makeshift "rafts" Yang Yang had used earlier, both ripped off from the minibus doors.
"You're not going," Wen Jun said decisively, shining his flashlight around before pointing at Jing Shu. "You go." The woman was bundled up so tightly that she could barely move, and even if she had some tricks up her sleeve, one push into the swamp and she'd sink like a sponge-laden mule.
Jun Bao quickly raised a hand. "I'll go too, is that alright?" he asked weakly, playing the part of a fragile young master.
One look at his pale, delicate face and flashy clothes, and the men exchanged glances. Kidnapping him too would've been easy money, but... Xiao Wei definitely wouldn't have allowed that. Hell, what's the point of being kind in the apocalypse? They'd all become monsters anyway.
Gou Tou eventually snorted and started rowing back. "Come if you want, but our raft can't carry more people. Just don't try anything stupid. We're not nice guys. We've got powers you can't even imagine. If you're not afraid of ending up as monster feed, be my guest."
"Monster feed? Eggs? What the hell did that mean?"
Jun Bao's eyes lit up with curiosity. If those monsters could be eaten... wouldn't that solve the world's food problem? These people had survived in the mountains for months. What exactly were they eating? He had a bold guess forming in his head.
"Of course," he said confidently and quickly stepped onto the muddy plank. His eyes gleamed as he looked at Jing Shu, as if to say, Hurry up, row faster, let's catch up with them.
Jing Shu: "…"
The men's raft drifted slowly across the swamp, while Jing Shu struggled to balance herself by alternating between the two planks. One person was already hard enough to manage, but with Jun Bao on board, every unsteady shift sent water surging over the wood.
Mud soaked into her pants, and Jun Bao's pristine white clothes and cloak were quickly splattered. He tried jumping around to keep balance, but that only made things worse. Eventually, he gave up, gritting his teeth as the mud crept higher.
The swamp wasn't very big, but when they reached its center, Jing Shu suddenly sensed a faint reaction from her Cube Space. Her pulse quickened. Could the black liquid be buried right beneath the mud? The question gnawed at her. How deep was this swamp? If she used a stick to probe the bottom, she might be able to draw the black liquid into her Cube Space.
She itched to try, but now wasn't the time. Still, excitement burned in her chest, almost too hard to suppress.
While she was lost in thought, Jun Bao had already started chatting with one of the men.
Once they crossed the swamp, Jing Shu felt a twinge of disappointment. Wen Jun walked in front, Jun Bao followed eagerly at his side, while Yang Yang and Jing Shu stayed in the middle. Gou Tou and another man brought up the rear, keeping an eye on them.
"So, are you guys locals? How many of you are there? How long have you lived here? Got enough food to survive? Why not report to the local authorities? They'd send rations, you'd live better than this. Oh, right, we came to the mountains looking for someone, but we haven't found them yet. Good thing we ran into you," Jun Bao said cheerfully.
Jing Shu: "…" She never expected this guy to be such a chatterbox, especially now of all times.
Yang Yang stared at the back of Jun Bao's head, seething. "Dude, I'm the one who got kidnapped, not you. Can you maybe not act like we're on a school trip? Whose side are you even on?"
Gou Tou stayed silent, clearly annoyed.
Wen Jun, on the other hand, answered mildly, "We used to live in a small village north of Wu City. About half a year ago, the mountains started closing in from all sides, trapping us here."
"You didn't try calling for help? Or escaping to report it?" Jun Bao asked again.
"All communications went down," Wen Jun said with a sigh. "At first, we did try to get out. But then... our food ran out, and everyone who tried to leave never came back. They all died on the road. After a while, we gave up. Inside or outside, it's all the same. The apocalypse is everywhere. Surviving's all that matters."
Outside or inside—it made no difference.
Jun Bao's eyes brightened. "So, you found a food source?"
"Yeah," Wen Jun replied dully, unwilling to elaborate.
The landscape changed subtly as they moved on. Though they were still surrounded by mountains, the atmosphere grew heavier. Gou Tou, who hadn't talked to outsiders in ages, couldn't resist pointing things out as if giving a tour before the end of the world.
"That used to be our village's elementary school," he said, pointing toward a crushed, unrecognizable patch of rubble. "Two mountains squeezed it flat in seconds. Over there was our square. Only the pavilion's left now. Half the houses got crushed between the slopes. Now, this is all that's left... broken tiles and memories. A lot of people never even woke up that night. Guess they turned into fertilizer. Maybe that's what keeps this place alive."